ACTORS SOURCE OF MONEY IS BEYOND MAKING THE FILM~ WALE ADENUGA

                                                                            

Wale Adenuga, chairman of Pefti Film Institute, disclosed at  the weekend in Ibadan while speaking with newsmen that film industry in Nigeria as unprofitable, adding that things are not going on well as expected with the sector.



He said the Federal Government had done its best by providing loans for film making but it isn't enough. He went on to advocate for a total restructuring of the sector.



He pointed out that the actors and actresses who live flamboyant lifestyles are able to do so from other sources outside of the film industry.



He added that "Many of them lift themselves by using sugar daddies and sugar mummies."



He said: "Many people are oblivious of the fact that many of the young Nollywood actors and actresses who live flamboyant lifestyles make their money outside film making. They make people believe everything is alright in the film making.



"You see them building big houses, living in affluence, but their source of money is beyond making the film."



He criticized lack of an organised association to govern the activities of the actors and moviemakers in the industry saying: "Although the average Nigerian may find this shocking but Nollywood is the only industry with no organised association to govern the activities of actors and moviemakers in the industry.



"This country cannot speak of a unified national association of filmmakers, the way that doctors talk about the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), lawyers talk about the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the gentlemen of the press have the Nigerian Union of Journalists(NUJ).



"It is true that Nollywood has all manners of guilds but these are all based on the sentiments.



"One is persuaded to believe that the inability to come together under an umbrella is one of the reasons why Nollywood have some of the problems that hinder them from the development of the business in Nigeria"



He added that the industry may witness bad days soon if deliberate efforts are not made to address the problem in the industry.



He said: "If things are not checked, there are disasters ahead. The cinemas that we have are too elitist in outlook and the common man cannot afford the luxury. What we need are community cinema houses where people can pay as low as N500.



"If Nollywood is well structured, there would be pension and health insurance schemes to the advantage of practitioners but that is not the case at the moment. What we have are self creations and growth of cabals.



"When there is no structure, there would be cabals. That is why there is high prevalence of abuse in the industry.



"A lot is going on in Nollywood and this is encouraged by lack of structure. Nollywood is the only industry that has no united front. In Nollywood, it is an all-comers affair. Anybody can become a director. There are no ethics and no professionalism. I can say that 90 per cent of the popular artistes in the industry do not belong to any association.



"I can name actors that died without proper care. Our members are too proud whereas all is not well with Nollywood. We just grandstand and create wrong impression. It is only the men that are painting the real picture in Nollywood and it is the picture of poverty. People who are enjoying from the muddy water of the Nollywood will not want things to be reformed."
Wale Adenuga has described the film industry in Nigeria as unprofitable, adding that things are not going on well as expected with the sector.



Adenuga, who is the chairman of Pefti Film Institute, disclosed this over the weekend in Ibadan while speaking with newsmen.



He said the Federal Government had done its best by providing loans for film making but it isn't enough. He went on to advocate for a total restructuring of the sector.



He pointed out that the actors and actresses who live flamboyant lifestyles are able to do so from other sources outside of the film industry.



He added that "Many of them lift themselves by using sugar daddies and sugar mummies."



He said: "Many people are oblivious of the fact that many of the young Nollywood actors and actresses who live flamboyant lifestyles make their money outside film making. They make people believe everything is alright in the film making.



"You see them building big houses, living in affluence, but their source of money is beyond making the film."



He criticized lack of an organised association to govern the activities of the actors and moviemakers in the industry saying: "Although the average Nigerian may find this shocking but Nollywood is the only industry with no organised association to govern the activities of actors and moviemakers in the industry.



"This country cannot speak of a unified national association of filmmakers, the way that doctors talk about the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), lawyers talk about the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the gentlemen of the press have the Nigerian Union of Journalists(NUJ).



"It is true that Nollywood has all manners of guilds but these are all based on the sentiments.



"One is persuaded to believe that the inability to come together under an umbrella is one of the reasons why Nollywood have some of the problems that hinder them from the development of the business in Nigeria"



He added that the industry may witness bad days soon if deliberate efforts are not made to address the problem in the industry.



He said: "If things are not checked, there are disasters ahead. The cinemas that we have are too elitist in outlook and the common man cannot afford the luxury. What we need are community cinema houses where people can pay as low as N500.



"If Nollywood is well structured, there would be pension and health insurance schemes to the advantage of practitioners but that is not the case at the moment. What we have are self creations and growth of cabals.



"When there is no structure, there would be cabals. That is why there is high prevalence of abuse in the industry.



"A lot is going on in Nollywood and this is encouraged by lack of structure. Nollywood is the only industry that has no united front. In Nollywood, it is an all-comers affair. Anybody can become a director. There are no ethics and no professionalism. I can say that 90 per cent of the popular artistes in the industry do not belong to any association.



"I can name actors that died without proper care. Our members are too proud whereas all is not well with Nollywood. We just grandstand and create wrong impression. It is only the men that are painting the real picture in Nollywood and it is the picture of poverty. People who are enjoying from the muddy water of the Nollywood will not want things to be reformed."

EFCC ARRAIGNS WINNIFRED OYO-ITA OVER ALLEGED N3BN FRAUD

                                                                   

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Monday morning arraigned the immediate past Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winnifred Oyo-Ita, before the Federal High Court Abuja, over allegation of N3bn fraud she perpetrated while in office.



Oyo-Ita was sacked in September last year after about N600m was allegedly found in the bank account of her aide. Investigation by the EFCC led to the alleged discovery of N3bn in Oyo-Ita's account. The antigraft agency claims the money were illegally acquired via kickbacks on contracts, illegal estacodes and duty tour allowance she allegedly received from the government.



Others to be arraigned alongside with Oyo-Ita are Frontline Ace Global Services Limited, Asanaya Projects Limited, Garba Umar and his companies, Slopes International Limited; Gooddeal Investments Limited, Ubong Okon Effiok and his own company, U & U Global Services Limited and Prince Mega Logistics Limited.

 

NIGERIAN PASTORS: MIRACLES AND DECEITS

                                                                                   

Bible reveals that my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, this phrase applied to Nigerians that are looking for miracles at all cost from the so called 'men of God'.
A 44-year-old woman, Mrs. Bose Olasukanmi who was arrested by the Inspector General of police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) for used by several ‘fraudulent’ pastors to perform fake miracle is an eyes opener.
According to a source , the suspect Olasukanmi used to relocate to another church after being paid for every successful performance so that their trick would not be exposed by people or relations who may see her in the drama.

At the same time her familiess would not be able to reach her or find out whether she is the Olasukanmi they know or somebody who resembles her.Her first performance was at a Lagos Church followed by a church in Port Harcourt and the church in Abakaliki before the cat was let out of the bag.
 The modus oprandi this suspect, Olasukanmi is that;  “Once she enters the stage, she would pretend that the broken right arm had been hanging and all medical efforts to heal her in both orthodox and native hospitals proved abortive until one of her friends, who is a member of the church advised her to try the church.

“At this point, one of the ministering pastor or the general overseer would step forward and demonstrate as if the Holy Spirit had entered him.

After speaking in tongues for some minutes, he would order the woman to come very close to him while the congregation would be silent anxiously waiting to see the broken right arm that have been hanging.

“The pastor would ask the woman: Do you want to be healed? Have you been born again? If she answers in the negative, he then led her to Christ in prayer. He would then order the evil spirit that bent her arm to depart and be destroyed by fire. As he is ordering the evil spirit to depart, the hanging broken right arm will be coming back gradually to its form until it is completely stretched down and normal and he would ask the congregation to praise the lord. While the congregation is busy praising God, one of the church members whose role is to take the woman away, would appear and whisk her away.

“This drama would make the congregation to increase in the next service as the people who witnessed the fake miracle would spread the news when they get home”, the police source said.

The increase in the congregation, the source further revealed, would increase the revenue they would make from church offering including the seed sowing the desperate victims would make to get their own miracle. The amount often demanded as seed offering ranged from N20, 000 to N50, 000 or more. Some would even donate their best cars without knowing that the miracle is a scam.


When operatives of the Inspector General of police Intelligence Response Team (IRT)  swung into action, the woman, Mrs. Olasukanmi was arrested and brought to Lagos and she confessed to the crime and promised police that she would lead them to the pastors and all the people who played different roles in the scam to regain her freedom.

Speaking with newsmen, Olasukanmi said, “I am from Ilesha, Osun State. I am married. I had three children. Unfortunately, two died few hours after delivery. My husband loved me so much that he did not want me to do anything. He wanted me to be a housewife and he had been honouring my request and he treated me like a queen.

“Unfortunately, when he died, my life changed and I started suffering as everybody abandoned me. Though I had my primary school certificate, the only work available at the time was to go and serve a food seller at least, to be sure of daily bread. When the suffering became unbearable, I decided to relocate to Lagos for a greener pasture in 1989.
Unfortunately, in 1990, I lost my mother and I went back home to give my caring mother the last respect.

“After the burial of my mother I came back to Lagos and secured a job in a food restaurant in Surulere area of Lagos without salary as Food Assistant. However the owner of the food center allows me to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner as I liked. Even customers sometimes gave me tip, which I used to buy soap to wash my clothes, body cream and personal need. I did not save a dime but it helped me a lot.


“I worked for 9years without salary and I had no alternative than to start planning on how to open my own food center or even food hawking in Surulere. Unfortunately for me, as I was walking on the road, one evening, a vehicle from nowhere had a break failure hit me to the ground and broke my right arm and left leg.

“I had no money to treat myself as the driver that hit me abandoned me later. Life became hard for me, as I had stopped living with my sister before I had the accident. I lost my husband in October 2018 and this made me to go and live with my sister, but when I secured this food-selling job, I relocated by renting a room in the same Surulere area.

“After the accident, everyone abandoned me and I had no money to continue to pay for a room.
It was under this condition that I met a woman friend in 2008. Her name is Fatila Musa. She used to give me money to eat and ameliorate my suffering. One day she took me to her church and told me that the church had a two-month programme that would start from September to October and she would like me to accompany her.

“When I accepted, she told me that I should use what I have to get what I want. I did not understand what she meant by using what I have as woman to get what I want considering what the accident had done to my body. She then told me that what I have can help me to get what I wanted and that that gift I have is my broken right arm.

“I then asked her how? She said she would teach me how to carry my hand and how to bring it down in such a way that the congregation would believe me and when I collect the money for the role I played, it will be reasonable to start my life.

“After a one-day rehearsal, she took me to a pastor at Calvary Close, Ogba area of Lagos.She said the name of the church is Radiant Army Deliverance Ministry a.k.a Anthony Anthony.

“The first day I performed, I got N9, 000.
Life became sweet as the pastors were happy with my performance, but when people started gossiping that police may raid the place one day, the pastor told members to be carrying me away fast anytime I finish my performance.

“When the suspicion became too much, they started substituting my role with video recorded performance. In 2009 she carried me to a church in Port Harcourt. I performed in three churches in the three days we stayed there. The same year, we moved to Abakiliki area of Ebonyi State.

“I am a moslem, but the pastor, prophet Goffrey Abbey would only ask me to bring my hand down and I will start bringing it down as if his power was the thing bringing it down and be jumping up in joy to the deceit of the congregation who often clapped with joy and praising God for the miracle.  I cannot remember the names of all the churches she took me to because their names were not disclosed to me.

“When I was in Lagos, she used to come and carry me in my rented one room apartment at Igando area of Lagos but in Port Harcourt and Abakaliki, she puts me in one of the rooms in the church premises. The performance in Port Harcourt was in Borikkiiri area.

After 9:00.am, I would follow Fatila to wherever she wanted us to go and sleep. She never used me for prostitution”.
She added: “I lost my conscience because suffering weakened my sense of reasoning. I needed money to treat my hand and everybody abandoned me. I needed to feed myself. I needed to survive.
  
‘Though I want to be healed, but with this experience, it would be hard for me to believe any pastor again. I don’t believe any pastor can heal me. If I see all the pastors involved in the scam with me, I will confront them. They cannot deny me. If I see the woman, Fatila that carried me to them, I will hold her. I won’t mind the help she rendered to me because she used me to make money also and paid me peanuts.

“My only regret is that I knew that it was a fake miracle performance, which deceived many genuine children of God and enriched the fake miracle performing pastors and prophets.

It is this same fake miracle performance I was involved in that made my father to get stroke when he heard that they were using me to make money.”She hinted: “In the first performance I got N9, 000, second performance N7, 000, third performance N10, 000. In Port Harcourt I got N10, 000, N7, 000 and N15, 000 while in Abakaliki, I performed only once before IRT operatives stormed there and whisked me from where Fatila hid me. If I regain my freedom, I will not do it again. I will look for genuine business to do.

“My advice to people who go to church is that they should open their eyes well and know the type of church they are worshipping.If they are careful, they would discover on time whether they are in a genuine church or with fake pastors and prophets.”B
SOURCE

NIGERIA CLOSES ALL AIRPORTS TO INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS

                                                                             

Nigeria closes all international airports in the country from Monday night, as the number of coronavirus cases in the country almost doubled.

The closure comes as Nigeria’s number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose on Saturday from 12 to 22, three of them in Abuja, the capital’s first positive identifications.

“All airports in Nigeria are closed to all incoming international flights with the exception of emergency and essential flights,” the authority said.

SOURCE

BREAKING; NIGERIA RECORDS FIRST COVID-19 DEATH

                                                                           

Suleiman Achimugu,the former MD of the PPMC is dead.He is the first casualty of COVID-19 in Nigeria.
In a statement by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC):

“The case was a 67-year-old male who returned home following medical treatment in UK.

“He had underlying medical conditions- multiple myeloma & diabetes & was undergoing chemotherapy

“Our thoughts are with his family.
“He was in self isolation upon his return from the UK and personally called NCDC after experiencing some discomfort that are related to COVID 19 symptoms,” the family spokesman Abubakar Achimugu said in the statement.

“He tested positive and was promptly evacuated to the specialist hospital. He died while receiving treatment,” the statement added.

Achimugu died at 2 am Monday morning.

CORONA VIRUS: PRESIDENT BUHARI ADRESSES THE NATION

                                                                                       

 President  Mohamadu Buhari in his  official twitter handle  has addressed the coronavirus outbreak in Nigeria. ..

CHILD TRAFFICKING: PARENTS PRESSURE CHILDREN TO BE TRAFFICKED

                                                                           

The Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) in a chat with ABIODUN ADESOGA speaks on children trafficking and the enormous pressure some parents place on their children.

Why did you convene a stakeholders’ meeting on human trafficking?
It is simply because we noticed increasing cases of children being trafficked and abused in Nigeria. Since December 2019, we have seen two cases of children being abused. One of the cases was in Lagos State, where a child was locked up in a dog’s cage. The second case was that of a woman, who ruthlessly flung a minor on the ground. These are consequences of child trafficking. Most of these children are not related to them. These children are treated like they are not human beings.
Above all, there was the trending cases of two women trafficked to Lebanon and other countries. We have had cases of young people trafficked to places like Malaysia for their organs to be harvested. So we thought that this had become a problem and that we needed to bring to a fore and understand what the law enforcement agencies are doing about them. Issues that have to do with human trafficking are becoming epidemic. NAPTIP told us that since inception of the agency, it had achieved over 400 prosecutions across the state and 80 in Lagos State. This did not reflect compared with the trend. It shows that not much is being achieved. NAPTIP needs to do and it’s obvious they need government support. The experience I had from NAPTIP is that it has showed more commitment to work than the police. The police, even though it has its mandate to deal with the issues of child trafficking are not diligent. They see every case as an opportunity to make money than to solve crime.

Do you think corruption in police is militating against human trafficking war?
I have seen a case where someone gave a child to someone and later wanted to collect the child, but the person that collected the child refused to return it. The owner of the child went to lodge a complaint with the police, but rather than handle the case diligently, they collected money from the suspect. That sort of behaviour discourages people from going to the police to make complaints. Police are not having in the fight against trafficking, rather they are complicating things. I, however, think that NAPTIP seriously needs to be empowered since it is the agency saddled with the responsibility of dealing with issues of child trafficking.

What is your reaction to allegations that policemen used to storm brothels, arrest underage girls, collect money from them and released them?
But you know that it’s not a new story. The research we did in 2006 about police abuse and a senior police officer in Lagos State told us that they like night patrol because it provides them opportunity to meet prostitutes. He said that arresting the ladies and raping them were the fringe benefits attached to night patrol. When you hear that policemen go to brothels, they didn’t go there to check crimes, but to commit crimes. It is also an opportunity to make money.

What can you say about family values in respect to human trafficking?
The question of family value is a legitimate question. But a bigger question is the area of economy. Many of these girls who offer themselves to be trafficked are put under pressure by their families. You see, when there are no jobs and level of poverty is increasing, there’s no hope. For me, government first needs to provide jobs for people, so that families wouldn’t be under pressures to send their children to become house helps or sent outside the countries. Most parents know that there are going outside Nigeria to prostitute, but what can they do?

Don’t you think that parents who pressured their children into going into prostitution should be dealt with?
It’s not easy to prosecute ones parents. How many children would want to stand as witnesses against their parents, to ensure they go to prison for trafficking? Ultimately, the root cause of all these issues is socio-economic. If you deal with the socio-economic, which is poverty and unemployment, lack of education, having too many children, then human trafficking will be curtailed.  In those days when there were jobs, people even give birth to as many children.

SOURCE