Nigeria opposition slams BBC over Lagos documentary

Nigeria's main opposition party, the Action Congress (AC), has condemned the 'Welcome to Lagos' documentary, aired by the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC2, in the UK on 15 April, which portrayed Lagos as one huge slum and ignored world-acclaimed efforts by the state government to uplift the city.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Al haji Lai Mohammed, the party commended Nigeria's High Commissioner to the UK, Dr. Dalhatu Tafida, for his prompt and robust response to the documentary, saying he had shown that he was a true representative of all Nigerians.

``The timing of the documentary, which is being aired in a series, is inauspicious and the motive highly suspect,'' the party said, wondering why the BBC - which trumpets its professionalism to high heavens - chose not to balance its story by also documenting the great efforts of the state government in the past 10 years to change the face of Lagos.

``Much as we try to think otherwise, it is difficult not to feel that the BBC is acting out a script, as the voice of a colonialist that has long passed its prime and is now nostalgic about its past, which includes holding a whole people down and portraying them as incapable of managing their own affairs.

``It is nothing short of poor judgment on the part of the documentary's producers to give a big play to the disappearing slum in a city that is fast rising to global prominence, thanks to relentless developmental efforts of the state government,'' AC said.

The party noted that every city had its own share of slums, whether it is Lagos, London or New York, and wondered why those areas were given prominence over and above the cleaner parts of the city anytime Lagos was involved.

``Thankfully, other international media organisations have done a more professio nal reporting on Lagos. They have documented the 'miracle of Oshodi' and the 'greening' of Lagos. They have shown the massive road construction projects and other infrastructural development efforts, all of which the BBC has ignored!' it said.

AC urged other Nigerian Ambassadors/High Commissioners to emulate Dr. Tafida, who promptly protested against the unfair BBC documentary, adding: ``A slight on any part of Nigeria is a slight on all of Nigeria.''

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Newcastle forever I'll cherish - Ameobi

Shola Ameobi says Premier League-bound Newcastle United will not lose sight of the work ethic and togetherness that helped them defy their doubters to win the Championship.

The striker, a Newcastle supporter since childhood, spoke of feeling "privileged" at being part of the memorable title celebrations at Home Park - an evening Ameobi says will live with him forever.

The team toasted their superb achievement long into Monday night before taking to the team bus for an eight- hour drive back to the North East.

They had a midweek off-day but returned to training with a view to ticking two more goals off - topping 100 points and finishing the season unbeaten at home. From the way the players reacted on Monday night it is clear that this is a closely-knit group that has bonded over the course of a gruelling campaign. With a strong core of senior players, no one has been allowed to slack off and all have made a contribution to helping confound the critics - who predicted Newcastle would follow Leeds United into free-fall.

That work ethic was not always the case in the Premier League relegation season - turmoil at the top led to frictions in the dressing room.

Ameobi feels that having worked hard to create unity, it must not be allowed to happen again. He said: "It's great to get promotion but to win the Championship with two games to spare, the whole of the club, the fans, everyone can be proud.

"For me it's very emotional in terms of last season's disappointments. To get back up first time is something I will cherish for the rest of my career and for the rest of my life.

"As a Newcastle fan, I have been part of this as a player, and I feel it is a real honour just to be part of that. After the partying we are under no illusions, we know that it will be difficult. We came down last year and will have to strengthen. I am not the manager, I don't want to delve into his business, that's his job.

"But I know there's a core of players right now and we will give everything we have got. We didn't have a God-given right to win this league, we have had to give every ounce of effort to win it and that's what we will be trying to replicate in the Premier League." As for securing an immediate return to the top flight, Ameobi added: "I don't think as players we doubted it.

"We knew we had the quality and if we applied ourselves we knew we could come back up.

"There were eyebrows raised and people talked about us doing a Leeds, dropping down the divisions.

"But the belief in the dressing room has always been the same. We knew we had the quality to win the league."

"We knew it would be tough with the likes of West Brom, Middlesbrough and obviously Forest coming through.

"But we have shown the real steel and the endurance, which has been lacking in recent seasons. That will hold us in good stead next year."

Next up for Ameobi and Newcastle is their coronation as champions at St James' Park on Saturday against Ipswich - a game which already has the striker licking his lips.

"We knew if we won the last three games we would be champions and we wanted to have that trophy handed to us at St James' Park in front of our fans," he said.

"It will mean a lot to have them all there. That's what carried us through.

"We wanted to show the fans that trophy and it will be a great day for us.

"What we have done is won a trophy for this club and that's not happened for a while.

"It's only the Championship trophy, but as players and as fans - you can see how much it made everyone happy."

Daily Champion

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Why Figurine stole the show at AMAA

Kunle Afolayan looms large in Nigerian film industry. And having hit international fame as a distinguished director, actor and producer, his second feature film, 'Figurine" recently put other African film makers on their toes, as it clinched five awards at this year's African Movie Academy Awards.

Afolayan believed that the landslide victory his film recorded at AMAA was as a result of his commitment to setting a standard for African film makers. For him, "Figurine" was a product of experiment to see how he can give Nigerian film makers an edge over other film makers from across Africa.

Speaking in an interview with HVP after his victory at AMAA during the week, Afolayan urged film makers in Africa to pay attention to details, picture quality and sound effects.

"My work speaks for me, simply because what I have been able to learn while growing up as well as when I was in the film school, coupled with the experience I have acquired in the last one decade has given me that edge over every other film maker within and outside the shores of Nigeria."

Afolayan said he learnt a lot after producing his first feature film, "Irapada' which also won the Best Indigenous Award at 2007 AMAA.

"For me, Figurine was an experiment. I wanted to see how I can add value to film making in Nigeria. After producing, "Irapada", I learnt a lot of lessons, which I tried to improve while shooting "Figurine". I didn't even totally achieve what I wanted to achieve in "Figurine". It wouldn't have come out better than what it is today because of a lot of hitches, which we recorded here and there. I thank God that the film is still a success. But I'm sure it would have done much better if those hitches were eliminated," said the celebrated film maker.

Figurine, he continued, "was purposely done in that class to prove to my colleagues and entire African film makers that if we take our time and add a few things here and there to our production, we can stand the chance of placing our films side by side with any film from either Hollywood or Bollywood."

The big budget film, which premiered in the UK and US cinemas, took Afolayan four years to produce. "Shooting the film took us three months, while post-production and pre-production took us four to three months respectively. Also, it took us almost a year after the script was ready to complete the production process.

The budget of Figurine was very huge compared to the budget of an average Nollywood film. It was higher because the set was huge. I had a huge cast and crew. We moved from location to location which really gulped a lot of money in return: on logistics and catering for the welfare of the team."

However, with a lower budget, Afolayan said he can still achieve the same standard as Figurine. Figurine parades top Nollywood stars like Ramsey Nouah, Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi, Tosin Sido, Omoni Oboli and Muraina Oyelami. It was shot on 35mm, not celluloid but digital, HD using 35mm adaptor and film prime lenses.

Afolyan said he is making efforts to release the film on DVD/VCD to give it a wider spread. "Figurine has costed me a fortune, over N50m. Right now, it had gone to the cinemas all over the world. We are looking for a platform where we can sell more than a million copies. Once that is in place, we will not hesitate to release the film on DVD/VCD. The film has got good production value and picture quality that gives it an edge over other films, and also make it to appeal to the international audience.

Five awards won by Afolayan's "Figurine" during this year's AMAA included Heart of African Award for Best Film from Nigeria, Best Picture, Achievement in Cinematography, Achievement in Visual Effect, and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role which was won by actor Ramsey Nouah.

Afolyan wondered why he did not win the AMAA Best Director Award, because,, "I see no reason the film that won theBest cinematography, Best picture and Best visual effects, the three key categories in film making, would not win the best directed film. I'm glad at our victory at AMAA. I was really expecting to win the best director award but it did not happen," he lamented.

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29 yr-old man organizes own funeral while alive

The people of the Otuasega community were last Thursday taken aback when a young man chose to organise his own funeral vigil before his demise. The action of the man, aged 29, identified as Donald Banono, was said to have caused a stir in the sleepy Ogbia settlement with the elderly staying away from the ceremony seen as abnormal.

It all started as a joke when this reporter received a phone call from a long time acquaintance who incidentally is a Roman Catholic priest from the area of the bizarre development.

At the venue, youths observed the wake keep with the supposed 'dead man' whose obituary posters were pasted at the arena. Music blared out from giant loud speakers mounted at the venue with bottles of local gin, popularly called ogogoro being passed round to those present.

The 29 year old school leaver said his supposed obituary party was a symbolic protest against the hardship faced by majority of the youths from poor background.

He noted with sadness that, "it is only when a man drops dead that relations come out to waste their money on the frivolities of organising burial, instead of providing assistance when the person needed their help. "I decided to organise my wake keep while alive. When you are alive nobody wants to help you but when you die relations and others will come and donate for burial," he said.

A top government official from the area who spoke anonymously told Saturday Vanguard that he had to run away from the wake keep ground when the celebrant approached him for a handshake.

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Chinese blame businessmen for fake goods

China has blamed Nigerian businessmen for the fake and sub-standard products coming into Nigeria from China.

Consul-General of China in Lagos, Mr. Guo Kun, made the allegation at an interactive session between the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and a delegation of Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) held at NIIA, yesterday in Lagos.

Mr. Kun said some Nigerian entrepreneurs compel some Chinese companies to produce sub-standard goods and Chinese companies consent because they do not want to lose good business.

"It is a real problem for a product that is say 10 dollars (about N1500) of standard quality, some of the [Nigerian] entrepreneurs went to China, and asked the host to make it thinner and cheaper. At the very beginning, some of the [Chinese] companies were very reluctant to produce for them. But later, you know they are entrepreneurs, they want to make money. These host factories don't want to make for them, to produce for them. Finally they [Nigerian entrepreneurs] went to many factories, at least they can find one or two factories to make for them sub-standard goods and they bring it back [ to Nigeria]," he said.

When asked what Chinese government is doing to stop the production of sub-standard goods in China.

Mr Gun said: "We have regulations. We also educate Chinese entrepreneurs. As I am a government official, I also talk with Chinese in the so-called China Village and with those in Balogun market, 'don't bring these to the Nigerian market".

He promised that the Chinese government will strengthen its products quality control system in order to stop the production of sub-standard goods in China.

Earlier in his address, the leader of CPAFFC delegation, Mr Feng Zuoku, who spoke through an interpreter, said the visit is to strengthen bilateral relationship with Nigeria given the strategic positions both countries occupy in their respective continents and in the world as well.

Mr. Zuoku said future co operations between the two nations are very broad since their respective leadership have continued to share similar positions on global issues and have shown increasing commitment to work together.

Receiving the Chinese delegation, the Director-General of NIIA, Prof. Osita Eze, said Nigeria has a lot to learn from China, given China's increasing ascendance as a global force in political and economic issues. "China is a major power in economic and political issues in the world. It is about the second largest economy in the world and is a member of the United Nations Security Council. You just cannot ignore China in today's economic and political arena. Nigeria must learn from China, how to bring about development in all its facets," he said.

Prof. Eze expressed the hope that the visit will not just stop at NIIA, but extend to all areas of our national life given the shared experiences between the two nations.

In his address, the founder and chairman Nigeria-China Friendship Association (NICAF), Ambassador Vincent Chibundu, expressed appreciation at the expanding and deepening bilateral relationship between Nigeria and China. In his words: "You need to go to the Consulate-General of the PRC [People's Republic of China] or the Embassy in Abuja to witness the long queues applying for visas to China for all sorts of businesses and positive relationship between our two countries is indeed flourishing."

The Chinese delegation comprises local government officials, entrepreneurs and a journalist.

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