Video - Alastair Soyode, from farming student to TV Network CEO

He may be the chief executive of a flourishing media company, but the last thing Alistair Soyode wants to be classified as is a media mogul.

"Classify me as someone like a farmer, because that's what I studied," he says as he attempts to describe a career arc that is as unorthodox as his television channel. "I'm a farmer who moved into television."

Soyode founded Bright Entertainment Network (BEN) television, the first and longest-running African and Caribbean-focused television channel in the United Kingdom, in 2002.

Eight years later, BEN TV's mix of entertainment, news and sports programs reaches nearly one million viewers daily -- not bad work for a man who originally came to England to play professional football.

However, his aspirations to become a pro footballer failed to materialize. "I think the chill and the weather didn't allow me to concentrate, so I decided to pack my bags and find something else to do," he says in an interview with CNN's African Voices.

After working in telecommunications and selling mobile phones, Soyode started BEN TV after trying and failing to find an appropriate production company to create shows for a Nigerian television station.

"I couldn't find a black TV station where I could go to ask them for programs ... so I thought 'if I set up a production house, I'll be able to produce a program and supply it to a Nigerian TV station'", he says. "And that's how the idea of BEN television came about."

While Soyode oversees BEN TV from offices in London, his first love is Nigeria, and he has two priorities toward this end. The first is to give something tangible back to his native country; the second to re-brand Nigeria as an iconic nation.

He is the European chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organization (NIDO), set up by the government in 2000 to unite Nigerians living abroad with an interest in contributing to the development of the nation.

Soyode said he recently joined NIDO members in installing solar panels on the roofs of villages in Niger State, giving its inhabitants electricity for the first time.

"We're not just talking about conferences where you go and present a paper and talk and at the end of the day nothing happens," he says. "NIDO is not just talking about things -- we're actually using our resources to build."

Soyode says that while the BEN TV brand may have grown and changed over the past eight years, the focus of the channel remains the same -- to promote the importance of media in African and Caribbean communities and to counter what Soyode sees as a negative worldwide perception of both Nigeria and Africa.

Soyode is also putting together an effort to rebrand Nigeria from the ground up, starting with Nigerians who he says are actively engaged with their communities, in order to reverse negative stereotypes of Africa's most populous country.

"The people in Nigeria need to know that the power belongs to them," says Soyode. "When people are corrupt, we need to challenge it. What is wrong is wrong, so what do we do to change it? The change begins with you."

CNN

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Yar'Adua's brother, Abdul'aziz, quits military for politics

Lt.colonel Abdul'Aziz Musa Yar'adua, younger brother to late President Umaru Yar'adua has resigned from the Nigerian military and may join the race for Katsina Government House.

Daily Trust learnt from sources close to the Yar'adua family that Abdul'Aziz, also known as Audu Soja, may be seeking to actualise his governorship ambition on the platform of the newly formed Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

The source said the late President's younger brother tendered his resignation last week and it has since been accepted by the Nigerian military authorities, and that he had already handed over his official duties last Monday.

The source further confirmed that Yar'adua would be going into partisan politics but said he was yet to declare for any political party until his resignation notice expires at the end of October.

Before his resignation, Yar'adua was a Lieutenant Colonel in charge of records at the army secretary's office at the military headquarters, Abuja. He was closest to late President Umaru Musa Yar'adua amongst the family members.

Since the demise of the former president, rumours have been flying round Katsina that Audu Soja was joining politics and had since started mobilizing towards his ambition to contest the governorship race.

Daily trust gathered that Abul'Aziz is seen as the most appropriate and emerging leader of the late Yar'adua's family due to his acceptability in the family circle as well as his antecedents as a very religious, firm but easy going person.

Further checks revealed, however, that there may be a crack within the family if he decides to challenge the incumbent governor because some of the family members have public endorsed Shema for a second term.

Another hurdle the younger Yar'adua may face, sources say, is that the widow of the late President, Hajiya Turai Tar'adua may not support his candidature. Turai was said to have told her aides recently that she was not interested in supporting any politician or participating in any political activity.

Daily Trust

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Sixteen local banks in Africa's top 100

THE reform exercise in Nigeria's banking industry is after all not a ruse, as 16 Nigerian banks have made the top 100 in Africa, according to the latest ranking by the African Business.

In the latest ranking, Zenith Bank Plc maintained its lead in financial strength across the West African sub-region. A survey carried out by best selling Pan-African magazine, African Business revealed that the financial giant had secured the choice position in the 2009 ranking.

In the Sub-Saharan ranking, Zenith also came first. According to the report, even though the bank's capital valued at $2.2 billion in this year's survey seemed to have downed from $2.9 billion it was in 2009, Zenith Bank appears to hold the number one position up till next year.

Statistics showed that the bank's pre-tax earnings for the first half of the year stood at N25.34 billion, a sharp rise from N12.63 billion for the period in 2009, even as year-on-year gross income fell by 12.8 percent due to low interest rate regime of the apex bank.

Already, as part of further consolidation strategies, new boss of the bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele has revealed that Zenith bank is currently seeking to expand its branch network at a time it has equally implemented a "strategy of ensuring a large capital and liquidity ratio to protect against harsh operating conditions.

Closely trailed by Zenith according to the survey is First Bank even with a similar drop in capital from N2.8 billion to her current N2 billion. The bank remains the largest in ownership of asset base in the West African region, a factor that has kept it strong even in harsh business operating environment.

The survey further revealed that "although the number of non-Nigerian banks in the top 20 has increased from two to five in one year to include banks from Togo, Gabon, Mali, Coted'Ivore and Senegal, Ghana Commercial bank leads two others within the Top 30 after securing 22 spot.

Giving details of the ranking process, the group said "the Top 100 African banks were ranked according to shareholders' equity as defined by Basle-based Bank for international Settlements (BIS)".

BIS stipulates that commercial banks should hold capital against risk-weighted assets. The BIS definition refers to the banks' soundness or underlying strength - the shareholders' core capital available for absorbing actual or potential losses occurring from non-performing loans, bad debts and investments in risky securities or speculative investment activities.

It said: "We used a $20m capital base as the benchmark for our listing. A number of smaller banks were excluded from the rankings because data on and from these banks is outdated".

"However, we hope to include more banks to our 2006 survey as and when up-to-date data becomes available.

"Banking profitability is calculated before corporate taxes and minority interest payments for end-reporting period. The financial health of a single bank is measured by annual Returns on Total Assets (ROA) employed and Returns on equity (ROE).

"African banking can be roughly split into two systems - sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa. The sub-Saharan Top 70 listing is dominated by the 'big five' South African financial giants, notably Standard Bank, ABSA, Nedcor, FirstRand and Investec - the investment bank. African Bank, South Africa's micro-credit specialist, occupies sixth position in our listing, ahead of three of the largest Nigerian banks. In fact, African Bank is ranked as the world's 14th strongest capitalised bank with a total BIS capital ratio of 40.4 percent. This compares with an average of 14 percent for the big five.

Further details showed that "In 2004, South African banks accounted for about 75 percent of the sub-Saharan Africa's total Tier 1 capital, 83 percent of aggregate assets and 70 percent of the total pre-tax profit".

Experts say the new generation of Nigerian banks, led by Zenith International Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank and First Bank is emerging as dynamic players in regional markets, adding that in future, there will be fewer but more vibrant mega banks as a result of the consolidation drive currently driven by the on going reforms of the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Mauritius Commercial Bank, Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Barclays Bank of Kenya, the Lome-based Ecobank Transnational, Socit Generale de Banque en Cte d'Ivoire, Banco Fomento Angola, Bank Windhoek (Namibia) and Ghana Commercial Bank, among others, are major financial institutions in their respective markets.

The UK bank Barclays' $5.5bn takeover of ABSA will create the biggest pan-African banking group - managed from Johannesburg rather than out of London. ABSA, ranked third-biggest by assets, is the largest South African retail bank with 6.3m customers, 700 branches, 4,500 ATMs, and about 20,000 staff. According to Barclays, synergies from the two banks should increase ABSA's pre-tax profit by R1.4bn ($223m) per year. ABSA will remain a South African-registered company with its primary listing on the JSE securities Exchange.

Daily Champion

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Transcript of Henry Okah's interview on Aljazeera

Henry Okah: On Saturday morning, just a day after the attack, a very close associate of President Jonathan called me and explained to me that there had been a bombing in Nigeria and that President Jonathan wanted me to reach out to the group, Mend, and get them to retract the earlier statement they had issued claiming the attacks.

They wanted to blame the attacks on northerners who are trying to fight against him [Jonathan] to come back as president and if this was done, I was not going to have any problems with the South African government. I declined to do this and few hours later I was arrested. It was based on their belief that I was going to do that that President Jonathan issued a statement claiming that MEND didn't carry out the attack because they were expecting a kind of retraction from the group

Aljazeera: So just to be clear, why do you think that political aide was asking you to ask MEND to make that retraction? What was the reason for that?

Henry Okah: They don't want it to seem as if Jonathan does not have the support of his people, you understand? For months now they have been lying to everybody that everybody is so pleased with Jonathan, that he is going to bring peace to the region which is entirely false.

This attack now was actually going to be a great smear on his aspiration. They just needed the group to retract that statement which was why I was contacted. But I declined to make any such move.

Aljazeera: As far as MEND is concerned, what is the situation with MEND, because Goodluck Jonathan is trying to say that this group is not a problem anymore; the previous president had tried amnesty and rehabilitation programmes, can you give us a summary of what the situation is with MEND?

Henry Okah:Not just with MEND, with everybody who is fighting and to whichever way they are fighting. You don't just give people an amnesty and ask them to forget about the reason why they are fighting. Every one of us is fighting for something and if what we are fighting for is not addressed, it ushers problem in the area. You understand. It is not about Jonathan being president or about an amnesty being given. I mean, why will you steal my land and you give me an amnesty and then you expect me not to continue fighting you? Why would that happen?

Aljazeera: Are you saying none of these concerns you have are been addressed by the government?

Henry Okah: Absolutely none. With Yar'adua it was much better. He had a good understanding of the problem. And regardless of the fact that he was from the north he was making good attempt at addressing these problems. But with Jonathan it is entirely a different story. He doesn't know what the problems are and is also being tele-guided by other people, you know, who are giving him very bad advice.

Aljazeera: So Henry what do you think is going to happen to you now?

Henry Okah: I don't care, I really couldn't care. But one thing I tell you for sure, is just like I was able to talk to you, it only shows that South Africa is not like Nigeria. In Nigeria I was held for one year and four months in solitary confinement. I didn't kill anybody, I had no books, no newspapers, no TV, no radio, not even electrified. But the fact that I can speak to you on phone, even though I am being detained, shows that I am in an entirely different country from Nigeria. And I am arrested here at the instance of Nigeria, which threatened the South African government with diplomatic action if they didn't arrest me. That is the only reason why I am in detention. All those people I learnt have been arrested in Nigeria I have no contact with any of them, I don't even know them. They are just trying to do this thing, to point the finger at other political opponents in order to scuttle their attempts at being president. But as you see I am not a politician and I have no any business with any of the other aspirants for the posts of president in Nigeria. I have no connection with them. The story that I have been given a lot of money by different politicians to do one thing or the other, but I promise you I don't even have that kind of money myself. I don't have money.

Daily Trust

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FIFA suspends Nigeria

Lagos/Abuja — The crisis in the Nigerian house of football reached its zenith yesterday with the world football ruling body, FIFA, finally taking the decision to suspend the country's football federation (NFF) with immediate effect.

NFF got the FIFA hammer "on account of government interference" in football matters.

FIFA said in a statement announcing the ban that elected members of NFF executive committee were prevented "from exercising their functions and duties".

Other actions and decisions, which infuriated the world football body included "the stepping down of the acting NFF General-Secretary on the instructions of the National Sports Commission, the decision of the minister of sports to have the Nigerian League start without relegation from the previous season and the fact that the NFF Executive Committee cannot work properly due to these interferences".

The suspension of Nigeria from all football matters would, however, cease, according to FIFA, the moment the country put its football house in order.

One of the ways listed by the global body in putting the house of football on the right path is for all court actions against football administration in the land to cease and the duly elected NFF executive committee placed in a position to work without any interference.

The suspension means Nigeria cannot participate in all FIFA-organized football activities. This means the country will not be represented in any regional, continental or international competitions.

It will also involve bans at club levels including international friendly matches, grassroots football relationship with any other country and friendly matches for any of the country's national teams with other countries.

"In addition, neither the NFF nor any of its members or officials can benefit from any development programme, course, or training from FIFA or CAF while the federation remains suspended," said the FIFA statement announcing the ban.

Nigeria had emerged the top issue on the agenda of FIFA's emergency committee meeting in Zurich.

The meeting was called to discuss the immediate and constant threats to the game of football among other issues.

The ban is the consequence of the decisions and events of the last few months in the country, beginning from the middle of June after the Super Eagles was knocked out from the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

After the Super Eagles' ouster, President Goodluck Jonathan placed a ban on the national teams from participating in international football for two years in order to plan and reorganise the sector.

The ban was greeted with public outcry from both within and outside the country and following a threat of a possible sanction by FIFA, the Federal Government rescinded the decision.

But this was followed by moves suspected to be anti-football such as the sacking of top members of the federation and the inauguration of a government appointed interim board to run football.

Meanwhile, the Acting Secretary-General of NFF, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, has disclosed that the Super Eagles will not be disbanded as the team will step up its preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations match against Guinea billed for Conakry on Sunday.

Reacting to the ban, Ikpeme assured Nigerians that everything would be done to overturn the ban before Friday.

By its action, FIFA had insisted on the validity of the August 26 board election, adding that it recognized Aminu Maigari as the elected president of the board of Nigerian football.

The home-based national players have been preparing for the Guinea match under the watch of interim national coach Austin Eguavoen since last week, while some of the foreign-based players were due to start trickling into Abuja last night.

"We won't disband the team, because the issue raised by FIFA disciplinary committee could be resolved at the higher level before we head for Conakry. While you can't be too sure what will happen I remain positive. We will sort the issues out before Friday. We don't want o dampen the morale of the players by asking them to disband," Ikpeme said.

The senior national team is due to travel to Conakry on chartered flight on Saturday, while the U-20 team, the Flying Eagles, will host Mauritius next week in Abuja in the second leg of the African Youth Championship qualifier.

It won the first leg away from home 2-0 to put its hope of a place at the African championship billed for Libya on course.

Ikpeme said he was not shocked by FIFA's action as the reasons given by the international governing body were very clear as it is against football matters being subjected to civil court dispute.

Maigari and 27 other people standing trial were yesterday cleared of contempt charges by Justice Okon Efreti-Abang at the Federal High Court of Lagos.

The NFF election became a subject of litigation arising from an application by the National Association of Nigerian Footballers (NANF) on the two grounds that its representative was not recognized to occupy one of the NFF board slots and the failure of the board to conduct the state FA elections as most of the state chairmen had overstayed their terms.

FIFA felt offended by NANF's action which was in violation of FIFA's statute and had asked NFF to sanction the footballers' body.

But a source at the NFF said the federation could not take action against the Harrison Jalla-led body because it is not affiliated to the NFF.

This Day

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