Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Video - Plans underway to ramp up power generation in Nigeria




Nigeria's Electricity Transmission Company says it is planning to invest up to 7.5 billion dollars to revamp its ailing power sector. The five year plan aims at increasing Nigeria's power generation capacity to 11,500 megawatts from 5,500 megawatts.

Video - Nigerian army claims it has killed hundreds of militants




The army's claiming massive gains against Boko Haram militants. It says airstrikes killed hundreds of militants, and that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has likely been wounded. That's according to the airforce chief of staff. The strikes took place in Sambisa forest, where Boko Haram has been holed up. The army has in the past claimed its killed Shekau, but he's known for his videos refuting those claims.

Nigerian Roye Okupe creating an African comic-book universe

Roye Okupe didn’t read comic books growing up in Lagos, Nigeria. Comic book shops weren’t around. Instead, Okupe was introduced to superheroes through Saturday morning cartoons such as “Transformers” and “X-Men.”

So when he set out to create his own Nigerian superhero, he thought animation was the way to go. That idea led Okupe on a journey that culminated in him debuting a new universe of African superheroes. Just not in the way he originally planned.

Okupe, now 31, arrived in the United States in 2002, attending George Washington University and earning a bachelors and master’s degree in computer science in 2007 and 2009. In between those degrees he took a class in animation at the Art Institute of Washington. After college, while working as a web developer for International Software Systems in Greenbelt, Maryland, Okupe was able to put together an eight-minute animated trailer featuring his first superhero creation, Wale Williams, a young, 20-something Nigerian who suits up in high tech armor to become the African superhero E.X.O. (Endogenic Xoskeletal Ordinance).

Okupe shopped his trailer to distributors, television networks and investors for a year and got nowhere. One movie producer even told him that E.X.O. looked interesting, but he should think about changing the race of the character.

“That was a down period for me. I really had to dig into believing in myself that I could actually get this done,” Okupe told The Washington Post’s Comic Riffs. “Hearing that from someone who was in the [entertainment] industry, I almost took it for the gospel. But if you have a dream, it’s your responsibility to make it happen and then people will join the bandwagon once you start to get some recognition.”

Okupe decided to take inspiration from another superhero medium: live-action movies. He was impressed with Marvel’s ability to satisfy both hardcore fans and the general public alike with its movies. But Okupe concentrated on the format so many movie superheroes originally came from: comic books.

Comics were much more affordable to produce. Okupe had never written a comic before, so he ruled out trying to take his ideas to mainstream comic companies. And when he didn’t hear back from “lower-tier” publishers, he decided to produce E.X.O. independently.

So in the summer of 2014, he cashed out his 401k, resigned from his job and founded YouNeek Studios, the company which he would use to debut his first comic book, “E.X.O. The Legend of Wale Williams.”

“It’s a very big change and a particularly scary one,” Okupe said of the moment he quit his job. “But I knew that to make the impact that I want to make in the comic book industry, I couldn’t do it with a nine to five.

“I was working as web developer and making good money. But this has always been a dream of mine and I always tell people if you have a dream, no one’s going to make it happen for you.”

Okupe recruited four artists in Nigeria to help him produce his first E.X.O. comic. Ayodele Elegba would edit his writing. Sunkanmi Akinboye would be his interior pages artist. Raphael Kazeem worked on coloring and Godwin Akpan did cover art. Not counting the two times a year he returns home to Nigeria, Okupe does all his communicating with his art team from his apartment in Rockville, Maryland. It was important for him to have a team that could capture the cultural essence of his homeland, as E.X.O.’s fictional city of Lagoon City takes inspiration from Lagos.

“[The artists] are there on a day to day basis. They can feel the vibe,” Okupe said. “I wanted people that were close to home but I also really wanted to prove that Nigerian/African artists as a whole can do stuff that’s comparable to what you would see in Marvel or DC and I think I’ve been able to accomplish that.”

Marvel of course, is home to perhaps the most famous African superhero of all, The Black Panther, who is a king ruling over a fictional African paradise (Wakanda). Okupe’s tales are also fictional but he aims for a more authentic African feel. The book’s characters use Nigerian colloquialisms (translated in captions), traditional clothing and the country’s monuments.

“The country of Nigeria and the continent as a whole, you always see war, famine, terrorism — we touch on those points,” Okupe said. “But I try to pump up as much positivity as I can, because I feel that’s lacking when it comes to Nigeria and Africa as a whole in the mainstream.”

The first E.X.O. comic debuted on Aug. 31, 2015, and a second will arrive Wednesday. Instead of publishing monthly like many comics, YouNeek Studios produces chapters as graphic novels, a format Okupe hopes gives potential new readers an easy jumping-on point without having to worry about catching up on back issues. In the future, Okupe hopes YouNeek Studios will publish two graphic novels a year.

Okupe worked with printing company Print Ninja to get his comics printed and into select comic book shops, but they can also be purchased digitally via the YouNeek Studios website, ComiXology, Amazon and Apple Books.

Okupe used personal savings and family support to fund YouNeek Studios. Two successful kickstarter campaigns, which Okupe promoted via blogs and social media, helped cover the cost of printing. He puts “every dime” he makes from the comics back into YouNeek Studios and supports himself via freelance web design work.

“I haven’t been kicked out of my apartment yet,” Okupe joked. “So I guess I’m doing something right.”

Okupe is now ready to focus on expanding his YouNeek universe with new characters, including Fury, a female character introduced in the E.X.O. books, Malika, a warrior queen based in pre-colonial Africa, and Windmaker, a hero who the ability to control the wind.

Creating superheroes is a thrill, but Okupe is most proud of the self-built, diverse fanbase that he hopes will stick around for more adventures.

“I’m having people in South America buy my books. People in Europe and Asia buy my books,” Okupe said. “So it’s not just African or African-Americans, it’s pretty much anybody who is interested in a great story.”



Japanese surgeon says Nigeria olympic football team would have received $390K reward even if they lost



The Japanese surgeon who gifted the Nigerian Olympic football team nearly $400,000 said they would have received the money even if they didn't win a medal.

Katsuya Takasu said he was so taken with the spirit of the Nigerian side that he planned to give each player $10,000 even if they failed to win a medal in Rio.


He told CNN: "I didn't tell anybody. I didn't want to diminish the morale and I told them you have to win."

Takasu said he wept after Nigeria won the bronze match against Honduras in Mineirão on Saturday.

"Although it was a close game all the way till the end. I was so happy and cried for their winning. Japanese are sentimental," he told CNN with a laugh.

The plastic surgeon said he was impressed by their resilience after they emerged victorious in the Olympic football group stage, despite being stranded at the airport in Atlanta due to inadequate transport preparations.

They arrived in Rio just seven hours before their opening match against Japan-- which they won 5-4.

After the players received their medals last week, Takasu presented two checks amounting to $390,000 to their coach and captain, Samson Siasia and Mikel John Obi.

"I've always wanted to help people who are bravely trying their best without any support," Takasu said.

Takasu took to Twitter to promise he would reward the team after hearing about their payment woes. Nigeria's coach Siaisia was owed five months salary and the players threatened not take part in the quarterfinals after wrangles over allowances payments.

He declared his support for the team and promised to give them $200,000 plus an additional $30,000 bonus to each player if they won gold.

The surgeon who has been president of Japan Society of liposuction surgery since 1987 is known for his philanthropic acts.

In 1995 when Japan experienced the Great Hanshin earthquake, which killed more than 6,000 people and injured thousands more, Takasu created a volunteer group of surgeons to carry out plastic and reconstructive treatment to the earthquake victims for free.

But the payment has not been without controversy, some players accused the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) of hijacking the money awarding process and demanded that the money should go directly to team members.

The NFF president Amaju Pinnick took to Twitter to deny the allegations saying the money had to go through "integrity checks" before it could be released.

He said: "Nigeria is a sovereign nation and such a donation must go through a process. If we get the go-ahead, it will go directly to the team, to say NFF has 'hijacked' the money is outright mischief.

"The checks must be concluded and we are given go-ahead to collect by government. Nobody has collected any money.

"We have duly informed the Minister and integrity checks are on presently," he added.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Video - U.S. Secretary of State to hold talks with President Buhari




U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to arrive in Nigeria today on the second leg of his African trip. Kerry has already met with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and several regional foreign ministers in Nairobi. They've discussed the instability in South Sudan and al-Qaeda-led terrorism in East Africa.