Hollywood film begins pre-production in Nigeria

Governor Segun Oni of Ekitit State in collaboration with the HekCentrik Productions(UK) is facilitating a pre-production visit to Nigeria to explore filming locations for kayfabe films thriller, "Sole Redemption."

The 10-day trip which commenced since last week will see the team visiting majority of the local governments in Ekiti, in addition to areas in Osun, Ondo and Lagos Island. This project, HVP leant is significant as it will be the first Hollywood motion picture to be shot in its entirety in sub-Saharan Africa, and will also see several recognizable Hollywood actors and production personnel fly into the country for the two month- long filming.

According to Niyi Towolawi, CEO of HekCentrik and writer/director of the movie, "Twisted" , "it has been hard convincing the producers and investors that Nigeria is a viable location for a production of this scale, and it's rewarding to shoot films in Nigeria, rather than on a fabricated set or western location elsewhere. We are able to influence how Nigeria is represented and portrayed to the world."

The film, Towolawi noted, offers to correct a lot of those wrongs through factual storytelling and by casting skill. The ensemble cast led by British born Oris Erhuero, an acclaimed Hollywood actor of Nigerian parentage are already on location in Nigeria. The director of the film, Christopher M. Anthony is also very excited about capturing the serenity of picturesque hills, waterfalls and Nigerian landscape that will compliment the story.

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Google maps Nigeria

Global IT giants, Google, have started a training programme with Nigerian application developers on how to fully utilize and get more conversant with Google applications especially the Google Maps. The three day event themed, G-Nigeria, opened at the Afe Babalola Hall, University of Lagos, on Thursday.

The programme could be a positive development for Information Technology in Nigeria, and is meant to serve as a medium for Google to show its presence in the Nigerian market and to the Nigerian public. Subsequent days of the programme would include marketing professionals and computer science students.

Yesterday’s seminar aims at showing developers how to fully utilise the Google maps, such that it would benefit users and their businesses, like advertising their business on Google maps; how to create their own maps and find locations and navigation. Part of the training also involves how to cite local businesses on the maps, for customers who are sourcing for products and services in the user’s locality.

At the training session were several key Google officials including Nelson Mattose, Vice President Google Engineering Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Christian Miccio, Product Manager Google Maps EMEA. Mr Mattose in his keynote spoke of the strategies Google would use to improve IT in Nigeria, which include increasing access to the Internet, engaging in more training and improving access to computer products.

Developing applications

Mr. Miccio, in his lecture, taught participants how to develop applications for Google maps. He taught how to effectively use the application, and how it could benefit the users business.

He also showed how to integrate Google maps on personal websites and finding locations through navigation.

Nyimbi Odero, Google’s West Africa Lead, earlier told journalists, “We’re very excited about the launch today and we hope this is just the beginning for Google Maps in Nigeria and across Sub-Saharan Africa. Google Maps isn’t just searchable digitized maps helping you to find a local place, service or product - our goal is to make information with a geographical dimension available to everyone and to allow users to update the maps and develop on top of them. We believe more accurate, representative local information can greatly improve the breadth of information available about a given area and in turn can help efforts to bolster tourism and business investment.”

He explained that the activation of the Google map will show detailed maps of many Nigerian towns including Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and other areas which will now be accessible on any web browser or also through Google Maps on mobile. The mobile version would be particularly useful for navigation.

Google already has strong Google Maps presence in Sub Saharan Africa including Kenya and South Africa.

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Blair in Nigeria to urge fight against malaria

Former British prime minister Tony Blair on Saturday called for concerted efforts to combat malaria in Nigeria which accounts for a quarter of the one million malaria deaths annually in Africa.

"Malaria has no barrier and does not discriminate. When we think of malaria we think particularly of children and women, and how to prevent it becomes particularly imperative," Blair said at a training workshop sponsored by his Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

Some 75 million Nigerians, or half of the population, get infected with malaria at least once a year while children under the age of five (around 24 million) suffer up to four bouts each year.

The workshop held in Nigeria's administrative capital Abuja focused on the use of bed nets to help prevent contracting malaria which is a mosquito-borne disease.

The Nigerian government plans to roll out 62 million bed nets in a country where nearly 300,000 people succumb to malaria each year.

Around 97 percent of the 150 million Nigerians are at risk of infection, says Roll Back Malaria, a global initiative aiming to eradicate the disease.

The British premier from 1997 to 2007 lauded Africa's largest Muslim and Christian alliance, the Nigerian Inter-Faith Action Association (NIFAA), for its role in combating malaria.

"This model of inter-faith action can be readily adopted to join the state and public sector in other developing countries if government and funders are willing to provide external support to make this a reality," said Blair

"That is at the heart of my own faith foundation. When faith communities collaborate and work together for justice and human development there is a pay-off. That is, things get done and then respect and understanding between them grows," he said.

Blair who arrived in Nigeria on Friday at the start a west African tour that will also take him to Liberia and Sierra Leone, will attend an award ceremony in Abuja on Sunday, organised by privately owned newspaper This Day.

AFP

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Nigeria to manufacture cellphone handsets and hardware

A Nigerian-based company, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), has announced plans to start producing mobile handsets and computer hardware in less than two years.

Ahmed Rufai, the CEO of the company, who announced this in Abuja, said that the company had completed and commissioned a locally made Printed Circuit Board Micro Electronics Centre, manned by NIGCOMSAT engineers.

According to him, the centre would focus mainly on the production of printed circuit boards- which is the basis for electronic systems – for computers and handsets, adding that it will have diverse implications on the electronics industry.

“Imagine if all the basic electronics we use are produced in Nigeria. Everything you are holding today is imported. But our projection is that in less than two years, we will have standard handsets produced locally.

“We are also talking to some local computer assembly companies to use our mother boards produced here”, he said.

Currently, said Rufai, the centre has the capacity to produce 500 handsets a day and can also produce good quality motherboards for computers. He added that within the next two years they will be able to perfect the products, adding: “What we have here is the prototype. We just want to show the concept and prove that it can be done.”

He said that NIGCOMSAT engineers have been trained to produce these boards, utilising the best international standard to bridge the gap in the ICT industry in Nigeria and Africa at large.

He also said that the technology is a spin off from the Know-How Technology Transfer and Training of over 100 Nigerian engineers in China, UK, US and the United Arab Emirates.

“It therefore affords these talented engineers the opportunity to look at this aspect of engineering, which is rare on this continent”, he said.

The NIGCOMSAT CEO explained that this technological intervention is crucial to the achievement of Nigeria’s vision to be amongst the top 20 economies of the world in the year 2020, and the realization of the present administration’s seven-point agenda, since technology is the driver of every economy.

Furthermore, he said the revenue prospects for printed circuit boards is high, as China has an annual production capacity of six million valued at $80billion (N12trillion), which if replicated in Nigeria will have a great impact on the socio-economic life of the nation.

“It will not only impact on our technological advancement, but also, the socio-economic effect will be positively felt especially in the area of job creation for the youth”, said Alhassan Bako Zaku, Minister of Science and Technology, while commissioning the project.

He commented that “in the area of education, the microelectronic centre will also serve as a learning ground for our undergraduates to receive hands-on training and firsthand experience in electronics manufacturing, as the centre is fully equipped to meet their educational needs.”

The minister said the centre will also serve local manufacturers and reduce production time and costs- as before now, they had to import the circuit boards for the manufacturing and assembling of local electronic products – thereby moving Nigeria from a resource to knowledge based economy.

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Chinese denial puts Nigeria telecom sale in doubt

China's No. 2 telecoms carrier China Unicom on Thursday denied any involvement in a $2.5 billion bid for Nigeria's former state telecoms monopoly, putting in doubt what would be the African country's biggest privatization.

The Nigerian government body overseeing the long-troubled privatization of Nitel announced on Tuesday that a consortium involving China Unicom was the preferred bidder with a bid far higher than any of others or than many had expected.

"There's no involvement of this project from the parent company, the listed company or any subsidiary of the company," Unicom spokeswoman Sophia Tso said in an emailed statement.

The National Council on Privatization said New Generation Telecommunications Ltd had become the preferred bidder for Nitel, which Nigeria has struggled to sell since liberalization in 2001 made it uncompetitive against rivals.

The government made no immediate comment on Unicom's statement.

"If this is true, it discredits the Nigerian authorities and the privatization processes itself," said analyst Thecla Mbongue of Informa telecoms and media group.

"It's not the first time they have tried to sell Nitel, which obviously doesn't send a good signal to investors."

GROWING MARKET

Besides Unicom, the National Council on Privatization said the consortium included Minerva Group of Dubai and local company GiCell Wireless Ltd. No details on various members' holdings in the consortium were given.

An official at GiCell Wireless in Abuja said the company was involved in the bid for Nitel, but gave no further details.

There was no comment from Nigeria's privatization agency, the Bureau of Public Enterprises.

Nigeria has overtaken South Africa to become the biggest telecoms market in Africa with more than 62 million subscribers and is one of the fastest growing in the world, making it a potentially attractive country for foreign players.

But early reports of Unicom's participation in the Nitel bid had surprised many, as the company has little experience in overseas mergers and acquisitions. Unicom's state-run parent owns about 20 percent of PCCW, Hong Kong's former telephone monopoly, but has made few if any forays outside Greater China.

Chinese telecoms carriers in general have been receptive to selling strategic stakes to other major global carriers, but have largely focused operations on their own lucrative home market, the world's largest with about 750 million subscribers.

The reserve bidder in the Nitel sale was Omen International Ltd (BVI) with a bid of $956 million.

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