AFRICAN QUEEN’S CROONER, TUFACE IDIBIA, PUTS AN END TO A DECADE DRAMA.

Early in March, 2013 (precisely first week of March), Tuface Idibia – Also known as 2Baba, tied the nuptial knot with his long time friend and mother to one of his six children, Annie Macaulay. The traditional wedding ceremony which was held at the Apostolic High School, Esit Urua Community, Eket-Ibeno Road, Uyo, had in attendance a large number of celebrities like Sound Sultan (best buddy), Nollywood actress Kate Henshaw, HipHopWorld Magazine boss Ayo Animashaun, Now Muzik chief Efe Omorogbe, Iyanya, Tana Adelana, Cynthia Amadi, Dotun Omotoye, Timaya, Kween, Florence Ita-Giwa and many more.

The traditional wedding is a first phase seal to the proposal which Tuface made with a sparkling diamond ring on Valentine’s day in 2012 to a shocked Annie at former Club 10 (now Club PoP) in Victoria Island, Lagos. A decision Tuface defended saying, “like any other thought about something important, you start feeling the need to do something or go somewhere different from deep within. Then you just make your move one time; no shaking. The timing for marriage should not be determined by any outside influences.”

There has been so many critics to the African hip-hop and R ‘n’ B singer’s decision to marry Annie Macaulay. One of the accusations is that he is being tribalistic. However, what many fail to fathom is the fact that, Tuface met Annie when he was still struggling in the industry as an upcoming artiste and member of the defunct pop group, Plantashaun Boiz.

When Tuface left the group to pursue a solo career, Annie stood by him and was unmindful of other women who flocked around him. She, Annie, has had her own fair share of humiliation and set backs in respect to her relationship with Tuface. One of which was when Pero Adeniyi (One of 2Face’s baby mamas) humiliated her in one of Tuface’s live in concert after party and another confrontation that happened at Airport hotel, Ikeja.

 The breath-taking wife of the handsome African hip-hop star, Annie, is from Ifiki local government area in Akwa-Ibom state. The only girl of a family of four. She studied Computer Science at the Lagos State University LASU and later did Theatre Arts at UNILAG. Though, her career as an actress has literarily been overshadowed with her fight as a single mother, Annie Macaulay has consistently been a subject of discourse ever since she got into the limelight through Sola Fajobi created talent hunt and reality TV show, NEXT MOVIE STAR which has produced great actors and actress like Tonto Dikeh, Uti Nwachukwu and Moyo Lawal. Pertinent to note is that most of her fame has been characterized with her on-off relationship and eventual marriage to Nigeria pop star, Innocent Tuface Idibia.





We are glad to inform you that the multiple award winning African hip-hop/R “n’ B artist who hails from Benue State, Nigeria, Innocent Ujah Idibia (a.k.a Tuface Idibia) is happily wedded to long time lover, Annie Macaulay in a traditional wedding.


What has looked like one of Nollywood’s film has finally been put to an end with the over 10years drama. Tuface Idibia and Annie Macaulay, who met when the bride was just fifteen years old at Even Ezra studio, sealed their marriage with a wow white wedding arrangement in Dubai on Saturday, 23rd of March, 2013 to finalize their marriage institution.

The wedding, which was followed minute-by-minute with physical presence of the mighty ones in the Nigeria entertainment industry and the ever buzzing social media show-cased the industry in another dimension to the ever watchful fans of Nigeria entertainment industry.

Though, prior to the white wedding, rumor had it that, Warri-born millionaire business man, Ayiri Emami gave over 20million Naira to 2face and Annie for their wedding. Ayiri is from Delta state but resides in America. A former Chairman of Delta Waterways Security Committee but now the CEO of A & E group of Companies (which includes areas such as Oil, Logistics, and constructions), 911 Hotels & Resorts, and 911 entertainment. Nunaijastories believes that, all has not been heard about the millions of Naira, 2Baba’s wedding to Annie has attracted to the African Queen crooner’s pocket.

The bachelor’s eve, which took place in Dubai before the wedding had DJ Jimmy Jatt, Kate Henshaw, Gabriel Afolayan, Basket mouth, Ini Edo, Susan Peters, and many more in attendant.

 
















The exchange of marital vows took place on the 23rd of March, 2013 at the prestigious Jumeirah Beach Hotel, a five star resort centre in Dubai. Guests were conveyed by luxury boats from the wedding venue to the reception at the Royal Island Beach. The after party was held at the same venue for the bachelor’s eve - Nigerian owned club, Kiza Nite Club.
 

Emirates Airline was the ‘official airline’ for the wedding as it conveyed most of the guests which were lodged in Frazier Suites, D Atlantis Hotels, Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Burj Al Arab to Dubai.

2Face and Annie Idibia’s story is that of love, disappointment, forgiveness, acceptance, restoration, decisiveness and predestination. Most important of all is forgiveness and love.

 

 
  Happy married life 2Baba and Annie.

 
                                          #2Baba, Dem Eye Don Sharpen As E Don Happen.

                                                                       #No Shaking!

THE STORY OF A RISING GIANT

She was born in the United Kingdom and at age 7, her family relocated to Lagos, Nigeria. On getting to Nigeria, the parents sent her to stay with her grandparents at their cocoa farm in Ondo state, to learn about African culture.

At age 11, she attended Fiwasaye Girls Grammar School but returned to the UK shortly after her father died and attended Hammersmith County Secondary School before moving to the Ridgeway School in Kent. After her secondary school education, she went to West Kent College and MidKent College. She is a Masters Degree holder in HR Management from the University of Westminister, London. Also, a member of the British Psychological Society, and qualified in occupational and personality testing. She started off her career in the UK as a recruitment consultant in 1987, becoming a branch manager. She went on to work for the Starform Group, managing the Corporate Credit Management Exhibition from 1990 to 1992.

In 1993 she joined Arthur Andersen for Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited (now ExxonMobil) to head their Human Resources and Training unit. By the year 2000, having successfully completed her responsibilities to the ExxonMobil HR Transition and Merger Team, She recognized Nigeria’s growing need for trained and highly motivated talent pool that would take Nigerian businesses into the 21st century. So, she resigned from ExxonMobil to start Vic Lawrence & Associates Limited (Popularly known as VLA).

While involving herself in a number of business, she conceptualized and built the Protea Hotel, Oakwood Park, situated along the Lekki Expressway in Lagos, which was commissioned in August 2004. The facility is built over 1 hectare of land, comprising of state of the art training, conference and leisure facilities. Ever true to her purpose, the concept of Protea Hotel, Oakwood Park was to create a facility that would meet the needs of professionals needing the serenity of a suburban location featuring fully equipped and dedicated training and conference facilities together with the comfort of executive accommodation and leisure.

Today, the Protea Hotel, Oakwood Park plays a significant role in the development of Nigeria’s business community hosting an array of business events, conferences, workshops and training courses.

In 2009, Mosunmola Abudu, popularly known as ‘Mo’ began her talk show, ‘Moments With Mo’ which focuses on issues such as lifestyle, culture, health, entertainment, marriage and politics. She has built her TV show Moments With Mo‘ to unbelievable heights with over 200 episodes by October 2009. Guests have included celebrities, Presidents, Nobel Laureates, and the 67th US Secretary-of-State Hillary Rodham Clinton The show is being aired on M-Net with TV coverage in 48 African countries, the show now also airs on terrestrial and cable TV in other parts of the world.

She has decided to take it further, with the announcement of her own cable channel that’ll span the entire African continent. According to source (NET) Mo’ Abudu (owner of Moments With Mo), a HR Consultant-turned media major, is getting set to launch ‘EbonyLife’, a lifestyle channel that’ll run on DSTV in several African countries. This very huge project is funded majorly by Mo Abudu with other investors and will be launched in April.

EbonyLife TV is currently shooting a movie/reality show that will be starring some of Nollywood reigning divas like Rita Dominic, Kate Henshaw, Funke Akindele and Uche Jombo. This is an addition to the just wrapped up flagship programme SISTAZ!

This energetic and daring entrepreneur is the creator and executive producer of “The Debaters”, a reality TV show funded by Guarantee Trust Bank, and launched on 3 October 2009. She is also the founder of The Inspire Africa Foundation, a non-profit organization and human investment arm of Inspire Africa Ltd. An organization focused on raising funds to implement society-transforming initiatives.

She is married with two children, a girl and a boy, and lives in Lagos, Nigeria with her family.

Mosunmola Abudu aka ‘Mo’ is an ACTOR in the Nigeria business setting and has continuously proved that being a woman changes nothing.

NIGERIAN-AMERICAN MODEL FEATURES IN THE FAMOUS SPORTS ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE: 2013 EDITION

The annual swimsuit issue has elevated the careers of supermodels and superstars like Tyra Banks and Beyonce. Even our own supermodel, Oluchi, has been featured in several editions of SI's Swimsuit issue. It is awesome seeing another Nigerian model cover the pages of the SI magazine.

Nigerian-American model Adaora Akubilo born in Windsor, Connecticut, USA has been featured in the 2013 edition of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Magazine. She was photographed in Namibia by Kayt Jones.

She was highlighted in Sports Illustrated's 2012 Swuimsuit Edition. In 2007, she appeared on NBC as one of the 12 finalists in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search.

One thing is for sure, Nigeria has got talents in all fields and given the right platform, there will be too many stars to give light and strength to the new Nigeria.

Congrats to our own Beautiful Adoara.

SUPER EAGLES SOME DAYS BACK, NOW NOLLY-WOOD.

'DR. BELLO', the newly produced Nolly-wood movie by Mr. Tony Abulu is to debut in US theatres from February 22nd to February 27.

The film, 'DR. BELLO' which is said to worth over #150million will be starring Isaiah Washington, Vivica Fox, Jimmy Jean-Luis and Nigerian superstars Genevieve Nnaji and Stephanie Okereke.

It will be open at AMC theatres in New York, New Jersey Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Dallas, Miami and Jacksonville. Others are Columbus, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles.

 

FROM NIGERIA TO NEW YORK

You probably have heard of the SOCCKET - A re-invented soccer ball by a group of Havard students. It started as a group project in a 2008 class in Havard College where some students identified electricity problem in developing countries and came up with an idea of a functional soccer ball called the SOCCKET which can power an LED light.

Jessica Matthews, CEO and co-founder of Uncharted Play. Born to Nigerian parents and raised in America. She is a hardwprking and creative type and constantly looking for how to solve problems and make money from it too. She describes herself as a social entrepreneur. Matthew is currently an MBA student at Harvard Business School.

The SOCCKET is currently being used in poor communities in 10 nations around Latin America and West Africa, including Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria and, most recently, Haiti. Uncharted Play works with larger corporate partners like State Farm and Western Union, which pay for the balls, and NGO’s like Promundo and Children International, which distribute them. Bill Clinton endorsed the project in a speech at George Washington University last March, and high-profile musicians like Linkin Park and K’naan have also pitched the SOCCKET at their concerts.

THE NEW YAM FESTIVAL

THE NEW YAM FESTIVAL

The Yam Festival is usually held in August or September at the end of the rainy season.  The Yam Festival is named after the most common food in many African countries.  Yams are the first crops to be harvested. Before the festival starts, the yams are offered to gods and ancestors first before distributing them to the villagers. The ritual is performed either by the oldest man in the community or by the king. They eat the first yam because it is believed that their position gives them the privilege of being intermediaries between their communities and the gods of the land. The rituals involved in the new yam eating are meant to express the community’s appreciation to the gods for making the harvest of their yams possible. However, recently many traditional rulers have started acknowledging God (The Almighty) as the soul provider of this harvest.

It’s that time of the year when every Igbo person gathers to celebrate the festival called Iwa ji afo (New Yam Festival). For those who may want to know, Yam is the main agricultural crop of the Igbos and also the staple food of our people. The New Yam Festival known as ‘Iwa-Ji’ or ‘Iri-Ji’ is a celebration depicting the prominence of yam in the social-cultural life of our people.

The individual Igbo communities each have their days for this occasion. This day symbolizes the conclusion of a work cycle and the beginning of another. Invitation to the new yam festival is usually open to everyone. What this means, is that there is abundant food for not just the harvesters but also for friends and well-wishers. A variety of festivities mark the eating of new yam. These festivities include cultural dances, masquerades parades, parties, etc.

On the last night before the festival, yams of the old year are gotten rid of by those who still have them. This is because it is believed that the New Year must begin with tasty, fresh yams instead of the old dried-up crops of the previous year.

At the new yam festival, only dishes of yam are served since the festival is symbolic of the abundance of the produce. So much of it is cooked that, no matter how heavily the family eats or how many friends and relatives they invite, there is always so much food left over at the end of the day. It’s in fact a season of merriment and togetherness.

According to Raph Uwazuruike, the chairman of Igbo Council of Chiefs, Lagos, it aims "to strengthen the bond of relationship that existed between (the Igbos) before the civil war."

Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the star guest at the occasion, captured its importance vividly when he described "the new yam festival, in our tradition, as the culmination of a work cycle and the beginning of another."

That perhaps explains why in a traditional Igbo setting invitation to the festival is usually thrown open. What this means, according to Uche Momah, the president of All Igbo Speaking States in Lagos, is that there is abundant food for not just the harvesters but friends and well-wishers alike.

You may never really understand what I’m saying unless you’ve tasted or experienced it.

Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ)

LEKKI FREE TRADE ZONE (LFTZ)

Free trade zones are created to attract foreign investment and promote foreign trade. They are notified areas where special laws operate with regard to ownership, taxation, recruitment of labor, value addition and income repatriation. As globalization gains ground, free zones has become the preferred areas for foreign investment as they offer the most cost effective mix of factors of production, transportation and distribution in addition to other benefits.

A free trade zone (FTZ) or export processing zone (EPZ) is an area of a country where some normal trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas are eliminated and bureaucratic requirements are lowered in hopes of attracting new business and foreign investments. It is a region where a group of countries has agreed to reduce or eliminate trade barriers.

It can also be defined as labor-intensive manufacturing centers that involve the import of raw materials or components and the export of factory products.

The first ever free trade zone was established in Shannon, Ireland- a rural area in Ireland. It was the idea of the Irish government to promote employment within this rural area, making use of a small regional airport and generate revenue for the Irish economy. It was a huge success and it’s still in operation today.

Though free trade zones have often received domestic criticism for encouraging businesses to set up operations under the influence of other governments, and for giving foreign corporations more economic liberty than is given to indigenous employers who face large and sometimes insurmountable “regulatory” hurdles in developing nations, many countries like Nigeria are increasingly allowing local entrepreneurs to locate themselves inside FTZs in order to access export-based incentives.

Just as the Dubai free trade zone that as now become a place for business enterprise who want to not only make profit but register their prowess in the international setting, the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ), an addition to the already existing five (5) FTZ in Nigeria was conceptualized and been processed to bring it into existence eight years ago by the former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. And the project has been kept on track by the current governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN).

The Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) is located at lekki peninsula, southeast part of Lagos state, facing the Atlantic in the south, backing lekki lagoon in the north and bordering with 5kilometres of golden ocean line, 50kilometres stretching to Lagos downtown centers, 70kilometres to the Lagos International Airport, while 10kilometres to the proposed new international airport, and 50kilometres to Apapa port, the largest west African port and 55kilometres to Lagos railway station, while the proposed new lekki port will be standing in the zone. And every state in Nigeria close to neighboring countries can be linked to each other through the highway and railway.

According to Mrs Olusola Oworu- the former Special Adviser to Governor Fashola, “the concept of the zone was envisioned to create an industrial park for manufacturing, oil and gas, real estate and leisure within the area for the singular purpose of improving the lot of Lagosians by creating employment, increasing and improving commercial activities in Lagos”. She went further to say that, “the administrative complex has been fashioned to house the Nigerian Customs Service, the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Nigerian Police, being the essential service providers within any free trade zone”. She added that, necessary information and communication technology equipment have also been provided to enable the officers of these services carry out their functions effortlessly and effectively in a manner befitting the 21st century. Also to be included in the zone is a gas-powered Independent Power Project (IPP), sewage treatment plants, refineries and so many other facilities.

The Zone which was initiated by former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2003 with a land area of 1000hectares was later increased to 3000hectares on registration with the Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA). Realizing the relative advantage of a free zone in Lagos above other parts of the nation, the vision was expanded to building a model city devoid of stress and accompanying social vices, and the land was increased to 16500hectares.

It is analysts believe that there is hope for the Nigerian economy as the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) stays on track. The zone is going to serve as a magnet for international investment, attracting pioneering minds and partners. And also encouraging economic growth, sustainable development and create a brighter future for Nigerians.

With over 70 local and foreign companies signing a memorandum of understanding and making financial commitments, signifying interest in the zone, 53 companies registering in the free zone investment agreements while 12 companies have executed investment agreements that have ensured that over 800 Nigerians and 70 Chinese nationals have been employed within the zone, especially in construction.

Truly, for the federal government to achieve its vision 20:20, such project as this, building of infrastructural facilities and most importantly creating an enabling environment should be the governments focus for investment.

Pertinent to note is that the Federal Government (FG) and the Nigerian Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA) included the Lekki Free Trade Zone regulation in the 2010 Gazette, which spells out the rules and regulations applicable in the zone, as well as the incentives available.