Director Ryan Coogler Premieres Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in Nigeria

Some cast and crew members of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, are in Lagos, Nigeria, ahead of the first-ever Marvel Studios’ premiere on 6th November.

The group is visiting Nigeria for the first time to kick off continent-wide celebrations ahead of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s release on 11 November.

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, a sequel to the 2018 box office hit movie, ‘Black Panther 2, is an American action superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character.

The film is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole and directed by Ryan Coogler. It continues with the story of T’Challa, the king of Wakanda.

The movie stars Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Dominique Thorne, Isaach de Bankole, Dorothy Steel, and Michaela Coel.

On Sunday morning, some cast and crew members were present at a press conference held at Lagos Continental Hotel, where they fielded questions from the media.

In attendance were filmmakers and cast from the highly anticipated sequel to 2018’s Black Panther, including stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Winston Duke, as well as director Ryan Coogler.
 

Why Nigeria?

At the occasion, the film director, Coogler, recipient of four NAACP Image Awards, four Black Reel Awards and an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, justified why the cast and crew decided to kick off the continent-wide celebrations ahead of the film’s release in Nigeria.

Coogler, an African American, said Lagos has a lot of history and cultural significance for filmmakers. He also informed the ecstatic audience that he recently took a genealogy test that revealed his lineage.

‘‘If you know, like African American history, it’s tough for us to trace our genetic lineage due to some purposeful things that happened to us during the transatlantic slave trade.

So one of the things I spoke with the late Chadwick Boseman about when we first met and were getting ready to put his movie on was that he put me up on something called africanancestry.com, another company I like.

It was specific about finding out where you have a heritage to know. So Chad had done his own, and he explained how it is done. So when I did mine, it came back as having lineage to a part of Cameroon, but mainly Yoruba lineage. It was something that I held on to and always wanted to know, to travel to Nigeria for that reason.”

The 36-year-old filmmaker said different parts of Africa influenced the film; however, the Nigerian culture exudes a specific energy that is hard to ignore.
 

Soundtrack Album

Roc Nation Records, Def Jam Recordings, and Hollywood Records released the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack album on 4 November.

In addition to the already-released Rihanna single “Lift Me”, co-written by Tems, the soundtrack features other Nigerian artists Burna Boy, Tems, Fireboy DML, Ckay, Rema, Tobe Nwigwe and Fat Nwigwe, amongst other African acts. The media asked the team why they featured several Nigerian and African artistes on the soundtrack album.


Responding, Coogler, who produced the album, said his team wanted a representation of various genres and music spaces on the album.

‘‘I mean, music is critical to film as a medium. The film is a combination of a lot of different mediums. For me, Sonic manipulation, I’m trying to get a form of sound design, production design at, like, all of these things, you know, all the artboards representing the music is a massive part of it.

‘‘And the music was a big part of the first field. We were able to line up a great collaboration. And we wanted to do something different on this particular project, where to get, you know, more into the continent. We want a representation from various genres and music spaces,’’ he said.
 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is one of the most highly anticipated films of the year. It is the sequel to Black Panther (2018), starring Chadwick Boseman, who died two years ago of Colon Cancer at 43.

It features Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba) fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death.

As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War queen Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) to forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.

The movie introduces Tenoch Huerta Mejía as Namor, king of a hidden undersea nation; the film also stars Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livinalli.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theatres on 11th November.

Premium Times, by Jayne Augoye

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Nigerian police launch search for 21 abducted farm workers

Police in Nigeria are searching for 21 people abducted by gunmen while working on farmland whose owner is believed to have owed the alleged kidnappers coerced payments.

Katsina state police spokesperson Gambo Isah said on Thursday that the people kidnapped were teenagers working on a farm in the remote Faskari council area of the state when the gunmen “singled out the farm and abducted them”.

“According to our investigation, the bandits placed some levies on some of these farmers, and this particular one refused to comply with their demands,” Isah said. “That was why they went to their farm and kidnapped the workers,” Isah said.

Police and Nigerian soldiers from a nearby military outpost were working to find the abducted farm workers, who are ages 15-18, he said.

Residents in remote parts of the northwest and central regions of Nigeria targeted by armed groups have complained of gunmen requiring farmers to pay huge levies to work their farmland.

Katsina, the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari, has been one of the hot spots in the abduction scourge.

The groups initially consisted of young men from the Fulani ethnic group, whose members traditionally worked as nomadic cattle herders and are caught up in a decades-long conflict with Hausa farming communities over access to water and grazing land.

But experts say multiple armed groups are now taking advantage of the situation to practise banditry in those areas, too.

Nigerian security forces carry out aerial bombardments of the known hideouts of the armed groups. Authorities blame their continued operation on the cooperation of some local residents.

Most of those residents are farmers who say they risk getting attacked if they do not pay the levies imposed on their villages.

The police are “worried and disturbed that terrorists are placing levies on people”, police spokesperson Isah said. He said villagers must still “desist from cooperating and from whatever demands made by these terrorists”. 

AP

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Amazon Web Services opens office in Nigeria

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) has announced the opening of its first office in Lagos, Nigeria.

Disclosing this in a statement on Wednesday, the company said the new office was part of its support for the growing number of customers and partners in Nigeria.

AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon, an American e-commerce company, that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis.

The development is Amazon’s latest investment in Africa, and it comes five years after its first office was opened in Johannesburg in 2017.

The e-commerce company said the office will support organisations of all sizes, including startups, enterprises, and public sector agencies as they make the transition to AWS cloud.

With the Lagos office, it said, AWS can better address the increase in customer and partner adoption of its services in Nigeria.

Commenting on the development, Amrote Abdella, regional manager of Sub-Saharan Africa, AWS, said with its local presence, the company will support new and existing clients looking to use its products and services to innovate, lower their information technology (IT) costs, and grow their organisations in the cloud.

“We are excited to open our first AWS office in Nigeria. Lagos offers a highly skilled and creative talent pool, and the area is home to many fast-growing startups and notable Nigerian enterprises leading the way in digital innovation,” Abdella said.

“We look forward to fostering the country’s pioneering spirit and helping our customers accelerate their digital transformation as they deliver innovative new products and services to the Nigerian community.”

Regarding plans for businesses, Amazon said it would actively support Nigerian startups and the community with educational programmes.

“AWS activate provides startups with the resources they need to get started on AWS, including up to $100,000 in AWS credits, training, support, and contact with incubators, accelerators, and venture capital firms. AWS academy helps university students and educators develop knowledge and skills about AWS cloud computing, to accelerate cloud-related learning,” it added.

“…member institutions in Nigeria include the University of Benin, University of Jos, and Igbinedion University. AWS re/Start is a 12-week, in-person, skills-based training program that covers fundamental AWS cloud skills and practical career skills, such as interviewing and resume writing, to help prepare individuals for entry-level cloud positions.

“AWS also has a vibrant user group in Lagos, with hundreds of members that organise local meetups for developers to network and share best practices and knowledge. To join the AWS Nigeria user group, visit the AWS User Group page.”

On his part, Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, said having such a development will boost the digital economy of the country.

Pantami said the service infrastructure pillar of the national digital economy policy and strategy (NDEPS) emphasises the importance of “digital platforms in the development of a robust digital economy”.

“The programs of Amazon Web Services support the development of such platforms and we look forward to partnering with AWS to accelerate the implementation of NDEPS,” he said. 

The Cable, by Busola Aro

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Dozens of children kidnapped from farm by Gunmen

Dozens of children were abducted by gunmen from a farm in northern Katsina state and the kidnappers were demanding a ransom for their release, police and residents said on Wednesday.

Katsina is the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari and is among states in northwestern and north central Nigeria where armed gangs on motorbikes have killed people or kidnapped them for ransom from villages and highways.

Police spokesman for Katsina Gambo Isah confirmed the abduction of the children but did not give details.

Residents told Reuters that the children were taken on Sunday while harvesting crops at a farm located between Kamfanin Mailafiya and Kurmin Doka villages in Katsina.

A resident whose son was among those kidnapped said 30 children were abducted but that at least two escaped while another one was released because she was sick.

"Only four of the children are boys, the rest are girls aged below fourteen (years)," said the resident, who declined to be named for safety reasons.

A village head from the area said the gunmen were demanding 30 million naira ($68,435) as ransom. Police records showed that at least 22 children were missing.

The use of underage children as farm labourers is common in some states in northern Nigeria, which has the highest number of children out of school in the country, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The military has been bombing suspected hideouts of the gunmen, known locally as bandits, as the government seeks to end the attacks that have raised concerns ahead of a general election next February to choose Buhari's successor.

Reuters, by Hamza Ibrahim

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3-year-old son of Davido drowns in home pool in Nigeria

Singer Davido's 3-year-old son appears to have drowned at his home in Nigeria, police said.

The incident happened Monday night, two weeks after Ifeanyi David Adeleke celebrated his birthday.

Davido, the Nigerian music star whose real name is David Adedeji Adeleke, and the child's mother, Chioma Rowland, were not home at the time, Lagos police spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin said in an emailed statement.

Authorities questioned eight members of Davido's team who were at the home and released six of them. A nanny and another unidentified person are still being questioned, Hundeyin said.

He said the investigation continues to "ascertain if it was truly drowning or otherwise."

Lagos Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu said Tuesday on Twitter that the child had a smile that "made the world smile" and offered his condolences to the grieving parents.

"Death leaves a heartache no words can heal and today, I express my deepest condolences to David and Chioma, over the death of their son," he wrote. "I pray that God grants you strength even as my thoughts and prayers are with you."

Davido, 29, and Rowland, a popular chef, have not publicly commented on the death. His representative could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Last month, they shared pictures of their son as he celebrated his birthday.

"I pray with all my heart that God grants you perfect health and pure happiness for as long as humanly possible. You will grow to be greater than Me, Happy birthday, son #BIG3," Davido wrote in an Oct. 20 post.

Rowland called her son the "love of my life.

"Mummy loves you so much, may God always bless you for me. God has been so faithful to us and I’m so grateful to be called your mummy," she posted. "May you be greater than your parents in Jesus’ name, amen. Love you twin! #big3."

Davido, who was born in Atlanta, has more than 25 million Instagram followers and is one of Africa's most prominent artists. His 2018 single "Fall" became the longest-charting Nigerian song in history in 2019, Billboard reported. He has collaborated with several high-profile artists, including Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, Nas, Stefflon Don, Young Thug and Lil Baby.

NBC News, by Minyvonne Burke 

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