Another early morning bomb attack has occurred in a mosque in Maiduguri, Borno state, killing and injuring many worshippers during the early morning prayer session, witnesses said.
The blasts, according to residents occurred in Jiddari Polo area at about 5am when Muslims were performing the first congregational prayer of the day.
Details of casualties are still sketchy as security officials have cordoned the area while rescue and aide workers tried to evacuate corpses and injured victims.
But a spokesman of the local Civilian-JTF, Abbas Gava, told PREMIUM TIMES that “it was two bomb explosion in a mosque in Jiddari Polo, very close to the Federal High Court complex. We are still trying to get the correct figure of casualties”.
PRNigeria, an agency that distributes press statements on behalf of Nigerian security and rescue agencies, said rescuers from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had so far evacuated six dead bodies from the scene of the attack.
The PRNigeria gathered that the incident occurred during the early Morning Subhi Prayer at a mosque behind Magistrate Court Polo Area in Maiduguri.
The agency said “the explosion was carried out by a suspected lone suicide bomber whose two accomplices escaped, when some vigilant members of the community accosted them on their suspicious movements”.
It quoted a senior health official as confirming that six bodies had been deposited in the mortuary, while about 17 other injured victims were being treated at the Specialist Hospital and the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.
Premium Times
Friday, October 23, 2015
Nigeria company Printivo aiming to become Vistaprint of Africa
Vistaprint has been around for twenty years, so if you live in the U.S. or Europe, ordering printed material online might not seem like a big deal. In Nigeria, however, getting business card and flyers are still a pain that requires multiple visits to a brick-and-mortar shop, says Printivo founder Oluyomi Ojo.
Ojo has family members who work in the printing industry, but he didn’t realize how complicated it is to handle orders until he became a managing director at an ad agency, especially for customers outside of Lagos, one of Nigeria’s printing hubs.
“Small businesses are not really catered to. If you want to print a quantity as low as 100 business cards, you might have to travel two hours to a print shop, sit down and have someone design them, then come back in a week and pick them up,” says Ojo.
“We saw there are a lot of problems for small-scale businesses that want to order print marketing. It’s a huge opportunity for us because there are more than 17 million small businesses in Nigeria alone.”
Founded in 2013 by Ojo, Ibukun Oloyede, and Ayodeji Adeogun, Printivo ships express orders throughout Nigeria and will expand to other English-speaking African countries after landing seed funding from EchoVC Partners earlier this month. In addition to business cards, flyers, and stationery, Printivo also produces tote bags, mugs, and wedding favors.
There are other online print businesses in Nigeria, including PrintSharply and InstantPrint, but Ojo says Printivo differentiates by offering a larger selection of products and templates created by its full-time graphic designers (customers can also upload their own designs to the site). Ojo claims that Printivo’s tech platform lets users create and order printed goods in as little as 10 to 15 minutes.
“It takes away the weeks and days of calling and finding graphic designers and printers,” he says. Shipments within Lagos usually take two to three days, while orders reach the rest of Nigeria in about five days.
Along with launching in new markets, Printivo will expand its business model by launching an online marketplace for graphic designers, as well as a service similar to CafePress that will handle orders for companies that want to sell custom goods. The startup also has a B2B segment, focusing on larger companies; Ojo says clients so far have included Google, DHL, and telecom Etisalat.
While Nigeria’s Internet penetration rate is one of the highest in Africa (and still growing rapidly), Ojo is not worried that companies will began rejecting printed products in favor of online marketing campaigns.
“Print gives you a level of tangibility that online cannot give,” says Ojo. “People get to feel and touch your materials and that really drives growth here.”
Techcrunch
Ojo has family members who work in the printing industry, but he didn’t realize how complicated it is to handle orders until he became a managing director at an ad agency, especially for customers outside of Lagos, one of Nigeria’s printing hubs.
“Small businesses are not really catered to. If you want to print a quantity as low as 100 business cards, you might have to travel two hours to a print shop, sit down and have someone design them, then come back in a week and pick them up,” says Ojo.
“We saw there are a lot of problems for small-scale businesses that want to order print marketing. It’s a huge opportunity for us because there are more than 17 million small businesses in Nigeria alone.”
Founded in 2013 by Ojo, Ibukun Oloyede, and Ayodeji Adeogun, Printivo ships express orders throughout Nigeria and will expand to other English-speaking African countries after landing seed funding from EchoVC Partners earlier this month. In addition to business cards, flyers, and stationery, Printivo also produces tote bags, mugs, and wedding favors.
There are other online print businesses in Nigeria, including PrintSharply and InstantPrint, but Ojo says Printivo differentiates by offering a larger selection of products and templates created by its full-time graphic designers (customers can also upload their own designs to the site). Ojo claims that Printivo’s tech platform lets users create and order printed goods in as little as 10 to 15 minutes.
“It takes away the weeks and days of calling and finding graphic designers and printers,” he says. Shipments within Lagos usually take two to three days, while orders reach the rest of Nigeria in about five days.
Along with launching in new markets, Printivo will expand its business model by launching an online marketplace for graphic designers, as well as a service similar to CafePress that will handle orders for companies that want to sell custom goods. The startup also has a B2B segment, focusing on larger companies; Ojo says clients so far have included Google, DHL, and telecom Etisalat.
While Nigeria’s Internet penetration rate is one of the highest in Africa (and still growing rapidly), Ojo is not worried that companies will began rejecting printed products in favor of online marketing campaigns.
“Print gives you a level of tangibility that online cannot give,” says Ojo. “People get to feel and touch your materials and that really drives growth here.”
Techcrunch
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Video - Nollywood director Kunle Afolayan looking to improve production value for worldwide appeal
Less Nollywood, more Hollywood. This is the aim of a new wave of filmmakers wanting to turn around Nigeria's reputation for poor quality film productions. Kunle Afolayan is directing a film called 'The CEO' which he hopes will showcase Africa's cinematic potential to a global audience.
Related stories: Video - Nigerian filmmaker Kunle Afolayan wants to transcend Nollywood
Nollywood: most prolific movie machine
Video - Nigeria beats Chile 1-5 in FIFA U-17 World Cup
The Golden Eaglets blistering start to the Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup has been hailed by Prince Martin Apugo, the President of Diamond Football Academy, Umuahia which produced the Eaglets duo of Samuel Chukwueze and skipper, Kelechi Nwakali.
Nigeria’s cadet side trounced USA 2-0 in the first game played last Saturday before another blockbuster performance against hosts, Chile on Wednesday morning at the Estadio Sausalito Vina Del Mar which produced a 5-1 win.
Two goals from Chukwueze in the first and 61st minutes, additional brace from Victor Osimhen in the 66th and 86th minutes and a goal from the captain of the side, Nwakali in the 17th minute from the penalty spot put the Eaglets five goals up while Marcelo Allende’s 81st minute strike was only a consolation for Chile.
Apugo pointed out that the performance of the Golden Eaglets and especially two products of his academy shows that talents abound in the country and that if they are properly annexed they can go places.
He said he was specially impressed with the form of Chukwueze who produced a man of the match performance to score two goals including a strike after 25 seconds which is till date the quickest goal of the current competition, and also assisted the Eaglets additional two goals.
He said the form of Nwakali, Chukwueze and the rest of the Golden Eaglets’ players at the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup is serving as inspiration to other young players and in his academy who are now eager to train all day in their attempt to emulate them and also become stars of tomorrow.
“I am happy with the feat of the Golden Eaglets in Chile and I want to specially congratulate Samuel Chukwueze and Kelechi Nwakali who are players of my academy. They have set a good example to emerging players that hard work pays. They have distinguished themselves, especially Chukwueze who scored two goals and was felled three times in the 18 yard box for three spot kicks to Nigeria.
“The players in my academy have derived additional motivation from the performance of the Eaglets in Chile and they have started coming to us daily for training even though we are on break,” Apugo told SportingLife.
The Golden Eaglets are top of Group A with maximum six points from two matches and are through to the second round but they will play their last group tie against Croatia on Friday also at the Estadio Sausalito Vina Del Mar.
The Nation
Related story: Nigeria World Champions Super Eaglets start title defence by beating U.S.A
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Video - Nigeria's version of Spotify attracting investors from MTN to Jay-Z
The mansion, the pool, the Bentley, the life-size portrait and the gold medallions are the spoils of a revolution in Nigeria and music superstar D’banj is enjoying them.
The 35-year-old used to have to bargain with street-market traders to sell his CDs because there were no formal distribution outlets. Today, MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest mobile-phone operator, and Emirates Telecommunications Corp. sell songs by D’banj and other stars like Davido and 2Face as ringtones and downloads. Now Tidal music streaming service owned by U.S. rapper Jay-Z is interested in the Nigerian market.
“Our consumers can’t get enough of it; you only need to give them a way to get the music,” 35-year-old D’banj, whose real name is Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo, said at his home in the up-market Lekki neighborhood of Lagos, dressed in a shiny fuchsia shirt. “The telecommunications companies are bridging the gap and they’re raking in billions and billions of naira every year, just from content.”
Thanks to Nigeria’s answer to Spotify and Apple Music, the music industry has seen sales triple in the past five years as mobile downloads surged despite rampant piracy. With at least 550 albums each year, revenue to artists from sales is now worth more than $150 million annually, according to Sam Onyemelukwe, chief executive officer of Lagos-based Entertainment Management Co., partner of Paris-based Trace TV.
Enough for a Ferrari
Outside of his revenue from Apple Inc.’s iTunes, D’banj said that in the past 18 months he’s earned more than $200,000 from sales in Nigeria. “It’s close to buying me a Ferrari,” he said by the pool at his home, where he has his own recording studio.
More than two-thirds of MTN’s almost 63 million subscribers in Nigeria are using its ringtones service, for as little as 50 naira (25 cents) a song, with downloads on its Music Plus platform growing about 25 percent a year, said Richard Iweanoge, MTN Nigeria’s general manager for consumer marketing.
“We have become the largest distributor of music in Nigeria,” Iweanoge said. “It turned out that Nigerians actually wanted to buy music, they just didn’t have a legal way to acquire it.”
The boom has drawn the attention of Jay-Z, the rapper whose real name is Shawn Carter. “My cousin just moved to Nigeria to discover new talent,” he said April 26 on his Twitter account. It was part of his move to make his Tidal music-streaming business “a global company,” he said.
Boosted by satellite television outlets such as Trace TV and MTV Base Africa, a unit of Viacom Inc., many Nigerian musicians have won international acclaim.
“Trace and MTV Base have played a very good part in bringing the artists to the rest of the world,” Onyemelukwe said. “We pay royalties and it brings the viewers to whom we can advertise to gain revenue.”
Awards Sweep
At the 2015 MTV Base Africa Awards held in South Africa in July, Nigerian musicians swept the most prestigious awards, with Davido winning best male artist and Yemi Alade best female artist. D’banj, ambassador for brands from Apple’s Beats Music to Diageo’s Ciroc Vodka, clinched an award for popularizing African music.
“We’re operating in a music industry that doesn’t really have clearcut structure,” D’banj said. “It’s a global thing. Everyone is trying to come up with new formulas.”
In the 1960s and 1970s Nigeria had a robust music industry, with EMI Group Ltd., Philips Records and Polydor Ltd. publishing the works of musicians including the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, King Sunny Ade and Osita Osadebe who went on to achieve global appeal. Most of the companies pulled out in the 1980s as an economic crisis led to currency devaluations and lower disposable income.
Mobile-Phone Revolution
“When the big recording companies left Nigeria and the local ones took over, things went south,” said Tola Ogunsola, co-founder of Nigerian music-download website MyMusic. “There was no formal distribution in Nigeria anymore.”
That left musicians resorting to selling their rights to distributors for a one-time fee, or heading over to the open-air Alaba market in Lagos to get traders to distribute their recordings.
Then, in 2001, MTN led the introduction of mobile phones in Nigeria, and today there are almost 149 million lines. That’s given local artists an unparalleled avenue to distribute their songs.
“In the last five years, the market was ready to buy, the market was ready to consume, consuming more of our own content,” D’banj said. “I believe it is just the beginning; it has not even reached the threshold yet.”
Bloomberg
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)