01122019 - 13 states struggle for 7.5 metric tonnes of rice

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PAGE 16—SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 1, 2019 OTI UKUBEYINJE: Cybercafe enthusiast who became digital comms guru By Charles Kumolu,Deputy Editor & Urowayino Jeremiah President, Digital Marketing Professionals of Nigeria, ADMARP, Mr. Oti Ukubeyinje, narrates how he used his likeness of the internet in its early days, to build a career in Digital Marketing Communications. Today, he is the Head of Operations and Sales, Opera Mini, Nigeria. Ukubeyinje also analyses the prospects of the field in Nigeria, emphasing that it is evolving at a slow pace. You are among those making waves in Digital Marketing Communications. Given that the discipline is not being taught at the universities how did you become an authority? I studied Business Administration at the university and marketing was my favorite subject. I have been a huge fan of the internet since my cybercafé days in 1998 till date. Practically, everything I do revolve around the internet. It has been my primary environment for communications, entertainment, commerce, and education. When I decided to go into marketing, digital was a natural path for me. I taught myself marketing, took professional courses and went back to basics to build a career, starting as an intern at a marketing technology company in the UK. And here I am, nine years after. How would you describe digital marketing in Nigeria? The advertising and marketing communications landscape in Nigeria is evolving at a very fast pace, and with a lot of casualties along the way. The Advertising Agencies Association of Nigeria, AAAN, has in the last five years delisted over 12 of its agency members who have gone out of business due to nonprofitability. Another 14 of them are reported to be struggling with a lack of business. Brands have an objective to communicate to consumers in the most creative and cost-effective ways. In recent times, this has been influenced by technology and economic conditions which put pressure on their marketing spend. As a leading professional in digital marketing communications, heading the Operations and Sales in Nigeria for Opera Software’s fast-growing global advertising business, we explore the current landscape of marketing communications in Nigeria, the challenges, and opportunities for the client-agency relationship to flourish. What are the prospects of digital m a r k e t i n g communications industry in Nigeria? In comparison to what is happening in other markets, the industry is slow in Nigeria. You can’t solely blame the players though, as marketing communications would evolve according to the opportunities presented by the environment including but not limited to population demography, technological advancements, and investment coming in from businesses that need to communicate. The industry is currently valued at $300 million. Compare this to $150 billion in the US, $26 billion in the UK, and around $3 billion in South Africa. Ours is equivalent to what a single-player spends in some of these markets. With very little to go around, most players here would die, and others would bootstrap on tech and talent to survive. In terms of investment, how can the industry attract more spend? In business, money follows value. For some organisations, in-trade marketing and experiential delivers more value, so you would find that line item constantly attracting budgets. For others, it is direct sales that matter, so they invest in personnel and equip them to execute this. In most cases, it isn’t very straight forward to evaluate marcomms contribution to the bottom line. It is often the first area to face budget cuts during tough times. The only way to avoid this is to become more measurable with clear attribution models to prove value down to the last naira, where possible. Let us agree that this isn’t very easy across all channels, but it should always be the aim. How do you t h i n k Marketing Communications I taught myself marketing, took professional courses and went back to basics to build a career, starting as an intern at a marketing technology company in the UK. And here I am, nine years after can become more measurable? Technology, people and intent should be •Oti prioritized. Nigeria used to be very behind in banking and financial services, but the country has used technology, skilled people and the clear intent to expand financial inclusion (for profit mostly) to get us to where we are now with mobile money, micro lending and alternative payment solutions. Agencies and media houses have thrived in the ambiguity of measuring marcomms, but this has only led advertisers to lose confidence and turn to alternative channels to drive the bottom line. For this reason, most agencies are still in a vendor-client relationship with their advertisers, instead of being in a consultancy relationship, ensuring the most value is extracted from every communications activity. Digital has proven that communications and its impact can be measured, almost in real time. So it is important that traditional communications channels evolve and build measurement technologies that are more efficient and accurate. This is already being done globally across TV, and radio among others. You should be able to run a billboard over time and find out from consumers in that location how they feel about your brand or product via mobile for example. Do you see d i g i t a l communications outgrowing the traditional marcomms? Maybe, but not anytime soon as it currently accounts for less than 10 percent of marketing spend in this country. There are several factors to consider here. You can’t grow faster than the technology available to the audience. There are more eyeballs and ears than mobile phones out there, yet brands want to reach as many people as possible so they would surely need beyond digital platforms to do so. However, there is a big debate about what constitutes digital - once a channel becomes powered by the internet. Does it suddenly become a digital channel or is it still traditional with digital ability? Take IOT enabled digital OOH for example or online radio that you can listen to on your car radio, and Digital TV ,Netflix, Showmax, etc, that you can watch on your home TV. If more people move to consume content and advertisements on traditional devices but via internet transmission, would you attribute the communications and they spend on such channels to digital or still traditional? The answer to that would determine whether digital spend would soon overtake the traditional system. In the UK, digital already accounts for over 66 percent of all advert spend. It is indeed a possibility. There are talks about the likelihood of advertising agencies going into •Oti extinction. What is your take? It is a tempting thought, but I don’t see that happening. If you were to launch a shoe company today, your priority would be to make shoes, and then how to market it comes after. For most companies, making the product takes a lot of their resources. They rely on experts who have sold similar products to help with marketing. Flooding your company with comms staff even before the product has proven itself not the smartest thing to do in my experience and opinion. While agencies would be needed, the real question is what type of agencies would be needed? Value, creativity, and relevance would be the key determinants here. While more organisations are internalizing comms services to avoid bloated agency fees, smart agencies are evolving with tech and fresh talent, combined with the adoption of valuebased pricing, replacing time-based billing, to provide more value to advertisers. I also see opportunities for agencies that choose to specialise in specific industries or specific areas of marcomms, deepening their strengths through focused innovation and collaboration. What role can ADMARP play in all of this? While our focus is on the digital side, we are actively working closely with all stakeholders in the marketing communications industry to drive this agenda of effective measurement. In fact, we have our conference and awards coming up next year, where we would focus on the benefits of effective communications measurement, and celebrate brands and agencies that have demonstrated this. We aim to educate and equip all stakeholders with the skills and tools to effectively measure marketing communications, which would give businesses the confidence to keep investing in this area.
Don’t blame the executive, blame the judiciary, legislature “Decency, security and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperilled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself. It invites anarchy” - US Supreme Court Justice, Louis D Brandeis, 1856-1941, in the OLM- STEAD case, 1928. ne of the regular read Oers of this column for many years sent me a text message a few weeks ago. He raised objection to my advice to the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, who had announced that Nigeria was approaching a US court to intervene in the case between Nigeria and P&ID. The latter, as we all know, is sitting on a $9.1bn judgment in its favour. The Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN, has appealed the case in Britain; it has started the prosecution of two staff members of P&ID in Nigeria and it still wants the US court to rule in its favour. I am not a lawyer. But, I very much doubt if a court in the US can over-rule a UK court on a matter already decided in London. We wait to see if a precedent will be created just to please Nigeria. But, the real reason for bringing the private text exchange into the open has to do with my comment that “all the lawyers for P&ID have to do is to point out to the US court that the FGN is a habitual lawbreaker when judgments are not in its favour and no court in the US will entertain the case”. My friend accused me of providing information to the other side. I replied by pointing out to him that the American embassy in any country has a very large section which monitors compliance with the rule of law by all the countries in the world. They follow ALL cases involving fundamental rights of citizens in every country and record infractions. Nigeria is no exception. Already, the files are bursting at the seams of various instances when the FGN and its security agencies have flouted court orders since 2015. Malami himself actually published an article defending government’s lawlessness. I am sure that my friend knows that Nigerian newspapers are read worldwide. I receive messages from Nigerians in virtually all the nations of the world in response to articles appearing on this page. So, the people in the US already know that the FGN is a habitual and remorseless lawbreaker. They don’t need me to tell them that. P&ID’s lawyers also don’t need anyone to teach them how to get the case in the US thrown out. And, if they did, the continuing detention of Omoyele Sowore by the Department of State Services, DSS, should provide them with all the evidence they need to brand the FGN a lawless government which has scant regard for the rule of law. So, why should a US court entertain the case when it is obvious that all the government is doing amounts to shopping for a favourable Love the skin you are in The black skin is not a badge of shame but rather a glorious symbol of national greatness.” – Marcus Garvey n 2014, I wrote ‘Brown is Ithe new white’ I did so in response to the fact that Nigeria was top of the league table for bleaching. It ratcheted up the love for bleaching by going even paler, in the shade of white. From creams to potions to all out white. No, this is not progress, it is self loathing and misguided. It is shallow and narrow minded. It is very dangerous and harmful. So here we are, in 2019,and we are watching a car crash of a horror show as a woman is in a bath and stripped of her melanin. This is utter repugnance and repulsive. How can anyone in their right mind go to the length(or depths)to strip themselves of their God given gift of dark skin?. Self loathing and disrespect of our black skin knows no bounds. Frankly, they do not deserve the melanin. Our skin is, to protect from the sun and elements. I am sure many more are falling over themselves to have this horrific experience of being stripped of their top layer. More fool them. verdict? An unfavourable judgment will most likely be ignored given their track record. Recently, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, said that the FGN only obeys foreign courts. It treats with contempt Nigerian courts – including the Supreme Court of Nigeria. That statement is beyond dispute. One only needs to add that the courts in Nigeria, without exception, deserve the insults – in more ways than one can deal with in one article. Our “My Lords” are among the most pathetic group of people sitting on the benches of any democratic nation on earth. On recent event confirms this. Governor Rotimi Akeredolu lined up the “Justices” in Ondo State and handed them keys of new vehicles “donated” (that was the word used for God’s sake) by “government”. The men and women under the wigs bowed in appreciation as each clutched the coveted keys. Readers should correct me if I am wrong. But, in elementary school we were taught that in a democracy, government consists of the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary branches. Each of them is coequal and independent. Where then was the equality on display when the head of one branch calls the head of another branch and hands him “gifts” when they should have been entitlements. Unfortunately what happened in Ondo is the rule and not the exception and it underlines why government at state and federal levels operates with unbecoming impunity. The judiciary has either willingly surrendered its role as coequal branch of government or has allowed itself to be bullied into submission by the Executive branch. If the reader thinks the judiciary is subservient, when it should not be, he will be shocked to the marrows about the “slaves of the Executive” who parade themselves as lawmakers. Almost without exception, they have been slaves of the President or Governor unless very unusual circumstances push them towards asserting their independence. But, that show of A moment of madness is a lifetime of regrets. These places are not regulated and anything that artificially strips your upper layer, has untold health consequences It is so wrong on so many levels. In the video which was viewed by over a million, we see a woman soaked in a bath of murky water,another woman can be seen scraping the skin off the back of the woman in the bath. And she shows the dominant as if it was a prize. I do not know about you, but it was like peeling tripe of its outer layer. Sadly, this is not tripe, it is a living person ! The mind boggles where these people’s heads are at. Who in their right mind sits in a vat of chemicals to have their upper layer peeled off? It is a shame. The more, the woman scraped off the skin, the darker the water becomes. And of course,you hear the woman praise her business; “As you can see, it’s very fast. You can see now it’s peeling off and this is December period, it’s very, very effective. The result is instant. Can you see this? It works just for 30,000 naira. The skin peels off immediately and you get whitening immediately.” A moment of madness is a lifetime of regrets. These places are not regulated and anything that artificially strips your upper layer, has untold health consequences. What message are they sending to people and what are the government doing about shutting such establishments down? Ghana and Rwanda have been very proactive in banning bleaching creams and paraphernalia. Time Nigeria followed suit. We have an epidemic when over 7 out 10 Nigerians ‘tone' or bleach or worse still, remove pigmentation. Bleaching methods are paint strippers and in spite of the warning from reputable scientists and dermatologists, it falls on deaf ears. The gullible and the opportunists Buyers be beware. There is a discussion to be had at home, social gathering, in schools, in faith groups, at work, at institutions and in the media. From my archive : Say it loud, I am black and proud; sang James Brown. The song carried so much weight courage seldom lasts. It started in 1999 at the federal level. Newly-elected President Obasanjo had ordered N10 billion to be given to the late Chief Anthony Anenih ( Mr Fix-it) already appointed as Minister of Works for the advertised Poverty Alleviation Programme, PAP, without the approval of the National Assembly, NASS, on the basis of what Obasanjo called “anticipatory approval”. There is no such term in the Constitution of Nigeria and in another democracy an impeachable breach of the Constitution. (See details in my book PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPO- RATED pages 137-140). The PDP controlled Senate refused to consider a bill by Senator Arthur Nzeribe, then of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, to call Obasanjo into account for the brazen lawlessness. Even the Alliance for Democracy, AD, a largely South- West based party in opposition took sides with the PDP. Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State declared Nzeribe “persona non grata” in Lagos State – adding more illegality to the show in Abuja. The mostly Yoruba AD took sides with the PDP on ethnic grounds. “He is our brother; we cannot allow him to be thrown out of office just like that.” Those were the kinds of drivel that our Yoruba leaders uttered while defending presidential lawlessness. Obasanjo paid them back twice with his trade mark ingrati- SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 1, 2019, PAGE 17 tude. First he rigged five of cy” asked him to get up. He their governors out of office spoke for five minutes, after in 2003. Then, despite Supreme Court order, he withrection to be sure it was safe. glancing anxiously in my diheld local government allocations for Lagos until he Excellency that some of our He had come to tell “Your was almost out of office in unserious members are opposed to some of his nominees 2007. I should not forget that Bola Ige, one of the AD leaders who supported OBJ’s dis- proceeded to list their names. for Commissioner.” He then regard for the rule of law, It was agreed that the ring died in mysterious circumstances after tendering his Not for one second was he of- leader should be suspended. resignation as the Minister fered a seat. My heart bled for of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation. That The Governor must have Nigeria. was AD’s reward for betraying the people of the South- face for the Speaker; because noticed the contempt on my West. The party expired after the poor man left, he shortly after 2003. Good riddance, if you ask me – espe- America. Unless you keep said: “You know Dr, this is not cially since they supported these small-minded people in Executive lawlessness – not their places, they will not allow you to achieve anything.” only at Abuja but in all the states governed by AD from Still, two days after, the “ring 1999-2003. leader” was suspended by the The picture in most of majority on a trumped-up the states of Nigeria is as bad charge. I was still in the state if not worse. In theory, the and with the Governor when Speaker of the House is supposed to be independent and see him. The episode was the state Chief Judge came to be responsible only to the worse. It came as no surprise legislature. But in practice, that the Governor was a monster. Nigerians have seen a he is the puppet of the Governor. In fact, his primary assignment is to whip into line Kogi State before the last similar thing happening in behind the Chief Executive “elections”. Mark my words, all the members of the state the people have enslaved House of Assembly. In that themselves. And, they have role, he acts as the Governor’s CIA or KGB. He is al- and judges to thank for it. only their gutless lawmakers ways on the look out for dissident members who could weeks, we have read three dif- Finally, in the last three be suspended if they persist ferent statements released by in their rebellion – however the Directorate of State Services, DSS, for not releasing justified. Former Ekiti Governor Ayodele Fayose, when Dasuki, El-Zazaky and Sowore. Each of the victims of about to present his last budget, boasted that “it will Executive lawlessness had refuted the DSS claim through be passed because I put them there.” He was not joking as their lawyers. The DSS this true story will demonstrate. degree – I don’t know in what. spokesman holds a doctorate I had gone on appointment to meet with a Gover- dissembling. Common sense One can only hope it is not nor in one of the Middle Belt would suggest that the easiest states about five years ago. way of finding out whether or While I was seated in the not the three detainees are Governor’s office, the voluntarily seeking DSS protection is to open the gates and Speaker of the state House of Assembly was ushered in we all will see whether they after several desperate attempts to see the Chief Exec- Granted, that might appear will walk out or stay put. utive. He came in, and despite being about eight years educated elsewhere; but at like a simple solution to those older than the Governor, literally prostrated in front of arise and solutions sought, we UniJankara when problems the man whose functions he believe in KISSS – keep it was elected to oversee. Furthermore, he remained in the position until “His Excellen- The picture in most of the states of Nigeria is as bad if not worse. In theory, the Speaker of the House is supposed to be independent and be responsible only to the legislature and when you sang the song, you believed it. It meant so much to hear that when I was growing up. It was a time when race and colour was wrestled out of the hands of those who systematically defiled and oppressed the whole black race and wrote us off as inferior. ” I am not tragically coloured. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes… Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I don’t weep at the world- I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.” – Zora Neale Hurston Unfortunately, some of us carry the complex and scars till today and we merely pass the inferior complex from our generation to the next. We need to break this chain of self-hatred and identity crisis. And yet, there was a time when we did take back our pride, dignity and affirmed that we were, who we are; black and jolly well proud to be black. In Nigeria, then we went better than that, we hosted FESTAC in 1977 to showcase Black peoples’ achievements and our rich heritage. The world sat up and took notice and we truly inspired Africans and Diasporas alike. That now it seems so long ago, as Nigeria tops the league of skin lightening users in the world. A recent World Health Organization report has revealed that Nigerian women are the biggest users of skin-lightening products. The study revealed that 77 percent of women bleach their skin. Togo came second with 59 percent and Senegal third with 27 percent. So, according to the report, nearly 8 out of 10 Nigerian women bleach their skin. So there are unscrupulous people capitalizing on the gullible and their insecurities. They are laughing all the way to the bank. They peddle this whiteners and laud it as the solution to life’s obstacles and the panacea to success. So this young talentless musician, attention seeking musician has put Nigeria, again on the map (for the wrong reasons)with her brand of whitening products and she is a living advert for this product. Dencia, before, was a pretty black girl, who for the reason known only to herself decided to go white from head to toe. Now she wants to get more black sisters to do the same even when she admits that her products have not been scientifically examined and approved and what if they get cancer? She glibly said, “People can also catch cancer just by breathing!” She does not care much who uses her products or what they do with it, she said! So, I am sure she is not bothered if those using her products get cancer. All she is concerned about is how many units she can sell and how rich it can make her. If we accept whitening as a choice we run the risk of normalizing a trend that has serious implication on the health of the nation and its psyche. Look around you, if you have not noticed ,we now have an altered view of beauty; whitened, heavily made up, with large pneumatic chest, fake hair and a very serious identity crisis. Nigeria has a serious societal problem and we need to face it. “Dipped in chocolate, bronzed in elegance, enamelled with grace, toasted with beauty. My Lord, she’s a black woman.” –Yosef A.A. Ben-jochannan For those who use this potion, they should beware there are health consequences, which may not be apparent in the short term, but it will eventually and perhaps they could justify their loss of pigmentations to cancers and serious skin conditions. These people are psychologically damaged, that they do not understand that they cannot buy acceptance by changing their skin. It would be more prudent to work on their self-esteem rather than,who people think they should be. We have a herd mentality and they often follow a trend without questioning the rationale; we always want what the other has.You name it; we want it,be it the latest car,jet, appliances, the largest party, the biggest hair,clothes and now this, extreme change of skin colour. Our society has a misplaced sense of beauty if these whitened people are put on a pedestal and has an example of what is beautiful and best of our women. Don’t get me wrong, I have been told, it is not only women domain that men are into whitening too. We seriously have a societal problem. I have been told that men like whiter looking black women or so we are made to believe. But I hasten to add, that some men including my father, loved my mother’s dark skin. It is smooth and velvety and it ages less as a result. It is important that self worth is taught at home and our role models starts at home and if we do not have one, we look somewhere. So, the media becomes the go to. A very unrealistic expectation ensues and it is not attainable or sustainable. Unfortunately, some people believe, that in order to be successful, that you have to be fairer that darker people cannot make it. I beg to differ.
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01122019 - 13 states struggle for 7.5 metric tonnes of rice

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