SOLUDOS FATHER KIDNAPPED / EAGLETS WIN

Hey guys, things happening now in Nigeria continues to amaze me, recently about 52 (sorry can’t remember the figure) candidates bought forms for the gubernatorial seat of Anambra state, I mean what on earth do these guys even women want to do for that state, and please note that all these people are from one party, that same party.

I am so pained that even when the party endorsed a candidate, the other one million candidates (or so) shouted from their noses and some even went to court. My ache now is why go to court if you have the interest of the state at heart? Why are humans selfish? Why would we never allow others stay on top, they think the man up there would get so much money in the office.

Today the political space in Anambra state has become so tensed that everyone is scared to walk or do anything in some states. Only yesterday a new twist took place, the father of the special one (the person picked from the party) was kidnapped.

The father of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and PDP governorship candidate in Anambra State, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, has been kidnapped.

The old man was kidnapped around 7pm yesterday at his Isuofia home in Aguata local government area of Anambra State. The kidnappers were said to have “stormed” his house in a Peugeot 406 car, according to sources close to his family.

DAYSTAR CHRISTIAN CENTRE walks for light.

I had a very good morning today; I was in church to join forces with my fellow compatriots as we started a revolution in Nigeria, you may want to ask what was I doing in church on a Monday  morning, when others are preparing for a new week? Well its WALK FOR LIGHT day;  Pastor Sam and Nike Adeyemi along side a host of pastors led over 4000 people to the government house in Alausa on a peaceful demonstration to change the present light situation to start a revolution as the power situation in Nigeria has refused to get better.We were received by the Deputy Governor on behlf of the governor.

Since I was born as that’s all I can remember, power situation has been poor, as I speak I have spent over N3000 on fuel to power my generating set. There are no jobs in Nigeria and companies are moving out, the economy is dying, well this is because our leaders have refused to pay attention to the most important sector that would sustain the economy.

The crisis of epileptic power supply is impoverishing us as individuals, as organizations and as a nation. Previous lives have been lost to explosion caused by kerosene and petrol. Whole family have died in their sleep because of fumes from power generating sets. Small and large businesses have folded up because of their inability to sustain the high cost of production. The list of woe goes on and on.

When would Nigeria ever get better? In physics I read that power is the ability to do work, so when there is no power what work can be done? People struggle to sustain their businesses, they pay through their noses and then add so much to the price, the consumers then suffer at the end, people are forced into dubious activities as they can not be employed nor open their own businesses.

We call on the federal government to break the monopoly of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria and allow private investors and state governments to generate and distribute electricity. The strategy that worked for telecommunications should be used to work for power supply. If there is no limit on the number of phone lines a telecommunications company should generate, there should be no limit on the volume of power a company should generate and distribute around the country. States in the Niger Delta who have gas flared in their backyards should generate and sell electricity locally and nationally. This will result in job creation in almost all facets of life in our nation.

I would like to call on all importers of generating sets and diesel, who have graciously helped to provide relief through their products, to support this call, and to subsequently divert their investment into power generation and distribution. We call on executives and legislative arms of government at the local, state and federal levels to show compassion for Nigerians, demonstrate leadership and facilitate the breaking of PHCN‘s monopoly.

It takes only 1 person to start a revolution, well Daystar Christian Centre has started it, so I am believing that others would emulate this act and help move Nigeria forward because what we did today would echo in future. We call on all Nigerians involved at all levels in the generation, distribution and consumption of electricity to accept honesty as a national standard and as a way of life. All forms of deal-cutting in the award and execution of contract must stop. The vandalizing and theft of power cable and transformers must also stop. Dishonesty and the greedy acquisition of money, though they may bring temporary prosperity, ultimately attract curses on individuals and the nation. To prosper corruption should be put aside.

Arise O compatriots, Nigerians call obey! We can create a New Nigeria, a paradise and the ultimate destination among Nations. I must say a big thank you to Pastor Sam and Nike Adeyemi, senior pastors of Daystar Christian Centre who birthed this idea, they are visionaries, model couple, God Bless you both and the church.

Well I know this would birth a change in Nigeria, let’s watch out.

OBAMA WINS NOBLE PEACE PRIZE AWARD

Guys I think this is truly news, I just have to write on this and make my contribution on the success of Barrack Obama the president of the united States. President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a stunning decision that comes just eight months into his presidency.

Less than nine months into his presidency, Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it honored Obama for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

The decision appeared to catch most observers by surprise. The president had not been mentioned as among front-runners for the prize, and the roomful of reporters gasped when Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Nobel committee, uttered Obama’s name.

Nominations for the prize had to be postmarked by February 1 — only 12 days after Obama took office. The committee sent out its solicitation for nominations last September — two months before Obama was elected president.

The president, who was awakened to be told he had won, said he was humbled to be selected, according to an administration official. Obama will make a statement Friday at 11 a.m. ET from the Rose Garden, administration officials said.

The Nobel committee recognized Obama’s efforts to solve complex global problems including working toward a world free of nuclear weapons. Watch the announcement of Obama as 2009 Nobel Peace Prize recipient”Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” the committee said. Jagland said the decision was “unanimous” and came with ease.

He rejected the notion that Obama had been recognized prematurely for his efforts and said the committee wanted to promote the president just it had Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 in his efforts to open up the Soviet Union. —– CNN

This is another accolade for Obama, barely 9 months into his inauguration he has bagged a nobel prize, this means a lot to Americans and the world in general, Obama has over the months tried to rescue the world economy by the stimulus plan which has seen the world stock market picking up slowly, also world peace is priority on his agenda, he is doing good on his health plan.

Minutes after the news broke, social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook were flooded with comments.

Half of the trending topics on microblogging site Twitter were about the prize and the U.S. President. Opinion was largely divided on Twitter between those who think Obama is a worthy recipient — and those who question how he won the prize after just eight months in office. Numerous tweeters said President Obama should refuse the prize.

One, jester from London, UK, wrote: “I think he should give it back until he has achieved real world peace.”

When would a Nigerian president win a noble prize? Since Wole Soyinka won a noble prize nobody has done it again, but this is a way to put Nigeria in a positive light in the world, well I am hoping our dear Fashola would soon be on the list of noble prize winners.

Welldone Obama, keep up the good work.

LEGEND EXTRA STOUT Relaunched

Hey guys, it’s been a while, well I have been so busy with work and forgot to blog, I really would like to appreciate those who have kept in touch via my blog, Thanks a lot. I would like to expand my blog tenet by starting digital PR and this would enable me give a lot more insight on our in-house brands here in Insight communications. Recently Legend extra stout was re-launched in Lagos to increase awareness about the brand which has been struggling to gain a share of the stout market.

The NB management may have decided silence may not always be golden, especially in brand management. Last week, on Friday 7 March, the management, at Jogor Centre, Ibadan, and in a show laden with pomp and personalities, re-presented Legend Extra Stout in a brand new and fashionable packaging. Two weeks earlier, the company’s officials had embarked on a tour of the North Central, East, West and South-South zones of the country to introduce the alcoholic beverage to its key distributors and retailers.

The new Legend Extra Stout, complete with new body and neck labels, also comes with a back label for the first time since it was first launched. To observers, this may signal a strategic repositioning for a brand which many consumers believe has the potential of rejuvenating the stout market.

Launched in 1994, Legend has always played the laggard behind Guinness Foreign Stout, indisputably the market leader on the sales shelf. NB plc is, however, resolved to seize the market in the next few years with Legend and has unfolded aggressive marketing plans. Mouthing a new pay-off line, Carry Da Touch, NB officials told distributors, retailers and consumers that for a long period, Legend had been too quiet. Now, they declared, it is time the drink made a loud statement in the stout market

The competition between the two major players in Nigeria’s brewing sector, the Nigerian Breweries plc and Guinness Nigeria plc, is itself legendary. Nigerian Breweries is the dominant leader in the brewed products sector in Nigeria. The company arguably leads in the lager and malt drinks sector, with its flagship, the Star lager beer and the Maltina range. Guinness fights back in these categories with its Harp lager beer and Guinness Malta. But Guinness’ Foreign Stout incontrovertibly controls the stout market and has been successfully warding off the Legend challenge.

Nigerian Breweries’ lager brands – Star, Gulder, Gulder Max and Heineken – control about 60 per cent of the lager market. Guinness Nigeria plc, on the other hand, derives its strength from its Foreign Extra Stout which controls a huge 91.2 per cent, leaving a meagre 4.6 per cent for Nigerian Breweries’ Legend, 2.4 per cent for Consolidated’s Turbo-King and 1.8 for other players.

Sustaining the Name ‘Legend’
Michael Jackson, Coca Cola, Mandela, Mercedes Benz and Fela Anikulapo Kuti have one thing in common: their names evoke originality, uniqueness and freshness.  Hate them or love them, it’s difficult to ignore them because of their legendary attributes. Either young or old, these attributes follow them like star and it never diminished.
When it was reported recently in some foreign newspapers that 83 year-old Brooklyn-born comic Legend, Mel Brooks, was still riding high with his raspy and assertive voice; it was not a surprise to those who knew the power of being legendary.

Market Segmentation
Though Legend was seen mainly as a brand that was out to challenge existing brands when it was introduced, its spin doctors had bigger plans; they saw a vacuum the oppositions didn’t see and quickly moved in.
According to an inside source, the company had before the introduction of the product, established through a research that the youth segment of the market was yet to be captured.
Having discovered this fact, NB directed Legend’s communications materials toward the youth. Like a call to order, nearly all the campaigns that have been used to build it since it was first launched in 1992 have continued to remind them that stout was not an exclusive drink of the old.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE- NIGERIA AT 49

It’s October again and as a Nigerian that means a lot to me, October 1st 1960, Nigeria got her independence and that sums to 49 years. My dear country is 49 years older and we are celebrating, rolling out drums. I had the best of times yesterday hanging out with my Ono, we went to see the movies and had a lot of fun shopping. It was worth the holiday.

I take a break to look into 49 years of independence, how are things coming, well enough on the sad side of Nigeria, I would like to say that we as a country are doing well although things are not coming out as we want but they are looking better, Lagos is a model city and is really growing, roads, hospitals, and streets are looking better, there has been reduced crime rate as an effect of street lights built around Lagos. There has been relative peace in Nigeria especially in the Niger-Delta, militancy has become history as the restive youths have laid down their arms and embraced peace. Just yesterday, Egberi-papa (not Timaya) surrendered to the federal government making him the toughest militant to be cracked. This tells a lot about the good side of Nigeria coming out already.

But for a minute I would not shy away from telling our leaders the truth, the power situation is getting better, but there is a lot to be done, the judiciary system is doing well but the killing of Bayo Ohu should be investigated and killers brought to book. The sport sector is in shambles, Samson Siasia’s eagles are doing so poorly now, and the administration of soccer should be given to those who know what to do.

I was in the galleria yesterday and while watching a movie, guys came up to offer free Lucozade boost to people watching the movie, this is a good engagement strategy for GSK, Lucozade boost is a non-alcoholic drink configured for instant energy burst with glucose as its major ingredient. Lucozade has been around for a very long time and has controlled the market for so long. Most people misconstrue Lucozade for a medicinal drink but this is as not correct as it has been recommended in hospital because of its high energy content and its healthy nature.

This kind of consumer engagement should be encouraged to build brand and keep them in the minds of consumers for ever. Ride on GSK way to go.

I wish Nigeria many more happy years and for those who wish Nigeria bad luck, you would be shocked at what you would get.

Happy independence my great 9JA.