Meet Ihuoma, the Queen of Insurance

By Yemi Olakitan

THE recently celebrated 50th anniversary of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), which was held amidst pomp and pageantry, also witnessed the crowning of Miss Insurance 2009.

The beauty pageant, which was part of the golden jubilee celebrations of the institute, was a gathering of who is who in the Nigerian insurance sector.

The event, which was held at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, was designed to identify the insurance sector with fashion, beauty and entertainment. Organisers of the event hoped that the pageant would make positive statements and remove much of the mystery behind insurance. It was also a way of celebrating the achievements of the insurance sector in Nigeria.

Contestants who participated in this year’s pageant were from different insurance companies in the country, with Miss Brenda Ihuoma Nwakama of Scib Nigeria Limited emerging the winner.

A native of Abia State, Ihuoma is a graduate of Public Administration from the Enugu State University of Technology. She is an Account Executive with Scib Nigeria Limited in Lagos.

Ihuoma, who joined Scib as a member of the National Youth Service Corps in Abuja, was later posted to Lagos as a staff of the company.

Speaking in an interview, Miss Nwakama said she was elated to have won the competition. She said she had always known that she would become a beauty queen one day, but did not suspect that it would be within the insurance industry. She expressed her deep appreciation to the staff and management of Scib for their moral and financial support, which enabled her win the competition.

Speaking further on her celebrated victory, Ihuoma said she will use her tenure as the new Miss Insurance for the year 2009 to pursue her pet projects, which include; creating awareness concerning the numerous insurance policies within the Nigerian insurance sector by partnering with members of the print and electronic media. She also wished to use her reign to promote corporate governance, also known as due process within the insurance sector.

She said she would endeavour to sensitise the insurance community on their social responsibility to the less privileged, the motherless and the poor in the society. Ihuoma plans to work together with all stakeholders within the sector. She hoped to work with the Insurers Association of Nigeria, the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria with support from her company Scib Nigeria & Company.

This queen is not new to the beauty pageant sector, having participated in various competitions in the past. She participated in the Prettiest Girl in Nigeria pageant organised by Phemy Concepts, an entertainment company in Lagos. She was also the winner of Miss Rotaract Nigeria 2005/2006, organised by the Rotary Club of Nigeria. Ihuoma was also Miss Rotaract, Enugu State University of Technology. She was also the district winner of the pageant before she went ahead to win it at the national level. Ihuoma was also, Miss Scib; a competition she won at her company’s new year party held in Lagos last December.

Ihuoma went home with the grand prize of a Kia Picanto car as the winner of the Miss Insurance beauty pageant. The car was donated by Goldlink Insurance Plc.

Speaking on the relevance of the pageant to the insurance sector and Scib Nigeria & Company Limited, Head, Human Resources Department, Miss Adeyemi Aderemi, said the pageant is a vehicle for youth development, growth and opportunity. She said it was important for the insurance sector to identify with other areas of human endeavour such as fashion, beauty, and entertainment because insurance is related to all aspects of human life.

She said Scib was proud to be the winner of this year’s competition, having emerged second runner up in last year’s competition.

Scib Nigeria & Company is an insurance broking and risk management firm based in Lagos. The company, which has been operating in the insurance sector for about 30 years, is a partner of Willis, an insurance firm based in the United Kingdom.

Men Talk, Women Talk

By Omiko Awa and Yemi Olakitan 

 THE society will be at its best when men and women play their natural roles, compliment one another, and swallow personal and gender prejudices. Man talk, Woman talk, one of the unpublishedworks of the late playwright, Ola Rotimi, humorously tells the chaos the society faces, when the sexes accuse each other instead of finding how they could harmoniously solve their problems.

   Set in a courtroom, though devoid of the usual court technicalities and legal jargon, the play uses humour, arguments and counter arguments to present the views of two idealistic youthful contenders, Mike Osaga, and a sassy lady, Soye Ogunye, who accused each sex as being the main cause of the ills of the society. While Mike accused Soye of using her succulent female body to entice male folk to do her biddings, Soye countered it with the arguments that man’s sensibility lies upside down between his legs and that he uses his machismo to make ladies conform to his desires. And the urge to satisfy the male folks have made ladies to go the extreme to outdo one another, bleach their skin, dress cute, paint their faces and attached foreign hairs to their heads.

  As this arguments and counter-arguments continue, the two-man jury, made up of a counselor, Professor Omola and a judge, becomes divided; the judge, a man, supports the male folk while the counselor, a woman takes side with the female gender. This created a wry humour that puts each character against the other. But in a twist of imagination the arguments change with the judge being carried away by the beauty and logical presentations of the lady contender, Soye Ogunye, especially when his son (a friend of the court) was invited to give evidence.

    Flooring her opponent with her logical arguments, even when it was obvious, the judge reverses the result on the grounds that women are the cause of the troubles in our society; showing that women’s vote don’t count and things must be the way men want them.

  Not meant to prove which gender is superior, but to uncover the complementary roles men and women play in the society, the play shows that if we must make the right impact in the society both sexes must forgo their egos, listen to one another and act the talk.

  Speaking about the play, Dr. Edem Duke, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, said, “the play came at the right time. It’s high time we rejuvenate the theatre and provide platforms for the top government and corporate executives to unwind.

 “Before coming here I spoke with the Director General of National Theatre to see if the days of traveling theatre could be brought back. We need to reactivate the scene, keep it active as a way to enliven the intellectual aspect of the Nigerian tourism, create platform for the academia to participate and as well provide platform for high executive officers both in public and private to unwind.”

   Accompanying the minister was his predecessor,  Chief Alabo Graham-Douglas, Bikiya’s  father, who exuding satisfaction said, he had wanted her daughter to pursue other career, but with what he has seen, he is satisfied with the production and the calibre of people that have come to watch the play.

    He called on corporate bodies and the necessary government agencies to partner with theatre practitioners to rejuvenate the theatre.

Dr. Edem Duke, Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation

 “I am impressed with the production and hope that organisations would support BUAF to make the theatre lively again.”

  Israel Eboh, the director of the play stated that the late playwright captured the Nigerian society of yesterday and today. The question Man Talk, Woman Talk, raises is that weather the Nigerian nation will still be talking rather than acting, using the age long debate between the sex as a subject matter.

  “While all the issues raised are what every Nigerian is aware of and will continue to debate on the streets, homes, offices and our many assemblies, yet the issues have not only refused to go away, but have taken more daring form. For man to talk and woman to talk to bring about a society built on mutual respect, we must acknowledge the fact that to talk, we must learn to listen and understand one another and be ready to sacrifice our egos on the alter of collective good,” he added.

   Bikiya Graham Douglas, chief operating officer of Beeta Universal Arts Foundation (BUAF), saidMan Talk, Woman Talk is one of the rich Nigerian theatre heritage that need to be sustained for the enjoyment of this generation.  “The play is in line with my organisation’s culture to rejuvenate the theatre in the country, educate and entertain the people.”

  On whether the play would be shown in other parts of the country Bikiya said, “I would have loved to take it round the country, but I am constrained by funds. The greatest challenge facing theatre in the country is fund and the only way to overcome this, is when corporate organisations and private individuals partner with various theatre groups for stage production.”

Returning to Aku (aka Ọmọ Oduduwa) Traditional Religion

Below is a an interview with an Aku (aka Omo Oduduwa) woman who returned to the Way, having been drawn to home to Ifa by Olodumare – a sample of the mass return to the Truth to happen in these times as prophesied in Deuteronomy 30; notice her apparel which is probably similar to Osara’s, Deborah’s, Moremi’s (Miriam/Mary), etc. The interview was first published in page 48 of The Guardian of May 5, 2012 but is no longer available on The Guardian website.

‘We Are All Traditionalists’

Saturday, 05 May 2012 00:00 By Yemi Olakitan Saturday Magazine – Saturday Magazine

Ebun Osunnike a.k.a Iya Adunbuyinbo, is the President of International Congress of Orisa Congress, Lagos State Chapter, an umbrella organization for all the Orisa Worshippers in Nigeria and in the Diaspora. She had once been a Christian named Ruth, She had once been a Muslim, named  Falilat, but today Osunike is dedicated to the propagation of traditional religious worship. She fervently believes that a return to tradional religion will bring about a better society.  In this interview with Yemi Olakitan, she bares her mind on various issues affecting tradional religion in Nigeria and why she believes that traditional religion  is the best .  Excerpts.

MOST people have abandoned traditional religion for Christianity and Islam, Why have you remained in it?

The Christians and Muslims have not abandoned our traditional religion. They deceive themselves when they say that they have abandoned our traditional practices and I will tell you why. There are ways in which they still observe our traditional religion.  The Muslims still use what they call ‘‘Tira’’ which is a kind of charm if you look at it well. During the Salah celebrations, a good Muslim must slaughter his own ram and share such with the neighbors.

In the Christian Bible, Jesus was sacrificed for the sins of the world. The death of Christ was a sacrificial offering. In the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, God told them to make sacrificial offerings of bulls and rams. Therefore, it is all interwoven and related. Tradition is supreme and we are all involved in these practices in one form or the other. Each religion has its own rites and rituals. So, don’t tell me that they have abandon tradition. In actual fact, traditional religion is the first-born. Look at our Muslim and Christian brothers, particularly in Yorubaland, there are few names that do not have a connection with a Yoruba deity. Our names are either attached to Ogun the god of iron, Ifa the god of Divination, or Osun, the River goddess. These are deities that are attached to traditional religion, although these people may claim to be Christians or Muslims. The fact is that  traditional religion is the religion of our ancestors.  Look at Governor Fashola. He may claim to be a Muslim; his name is derived from Ifa. Traditional religion is the first. Islam and Christianity are foreign religions. Islam was imported from Saudi Arabia, while Christianity was imported from Europe. They are not our culture originally. We accepted these religions because we do not know the value of what we have. The white man knows what he has and he packages it well and he gave it to us and we accepted his own religion to the detriment of ours.  I had been a Christian before, my baptismal name was Ruth and I had been a Muslim as well, my Muslim name was Falilat. I have examined the two and I prefer Orisa Worship.

Don’t You feel odd Atimes, being a traditionalist among a sea of Muslims and Christians?

I grew up with traditional religion. My father was a staunch traditionalist and so was my mother.  I know the value of what we have. We have inherited a strong religion full of deep spirituality and strong philosophy of life. Honestly, there is nothing in Christianity or Islam that is not in Orisa Worship. My father’s name was Ogundeyi, my son’s name is Ogunshina and my other son’s name is Ifashola.

You see, traditional religion works if you practice it with truthfulness and right living. I believe in the Orisas. People have different problems. Christians, Muslims and even atheists all come to us for help including those who condemn us in public. I want to appeal to Christians to stop castigating us. They say, all we do is evil.  That is a lie!

People come to us with problems and we are able to help them. Some come with unemployment problems, some barrenness, some business problems. We consult the Orisas for the solution and the solutions are always there.

What is the position of traditional religion on life after death?

In Yoruba traditional religion, there is a strong belief in life after death.  Life does not end here on earth. If you do good, you will have your reward and if you do bad, you will also be rewarded. Everyone has spiritual groups in heaven (egbe orun). These groups depend on your character and the kind of life you live on earth while you were here. You see, birds of the same feather flock together. If you are a robber when you are alive, you will have spiritual affiliations with robbers in heaven and you will suffer with them. Let me give you a very classic example. A woman came to me in search of a child. She had been married for many years. I told her what she must do to cure her barrenness. She must offer sacrificial offerings to her spiritual group but she screamed “Jesus!”  She went away because she found it difficult to accept because of her religious background. She came back to me after two years ready to offer the offerings. Today, she is blessed with a bouncing baby girl because of her obedience. You see, there is no one without groups in heaven. However, you need to live right in order to enjoy their blessings.

Tell us about your work and your association

Well, I am the president of the Orisa Congress in the whole of Lagos State. I went to Abuja to establish it. I have established it in Minna, Sokoto, Benin Republic and every state of the Western Region. We are present in the United States of America. We are in Europe as well.  Professor Wande Abimbola in Ile Ife established Orisa Congress, when he was a Professor at the Obafemi Awolowo University. He is the President of the Association, worldwide. Araba Awo of Oshogbo, Chief Yemi Elebun Ibon is the National President of the Congress of Orisa Worshipers. Traditional religion is the first-born and it is supreme.

Our Association is fully registered with the government. We are registered just like the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). However, the government does not recognize us. They give attention to the Muslims and the Christians but not to us. We want to move close to the government, but our government is like a woman who gives birth to three children but abandons one. They have thrown traditional religion away.

But we are the true identity of the country. The others are foreign importations. In traditional religion, you cannot lie. If you do evil, evil will overtake you. Many people today cannot practice traditional religion because their works are evil; and the Orisa don’t condone evil. That that is why they hide under Christianity and Islam and yet many still come to us for deliverance. As an Osun Priestess for example, I cannot lie or cheat. It is what Osun asks for that I must ask for from the client. If Osun does not ask for money, I cannot ask for money. Yet, you will never lack. All the Orisas do not encourage wickedness. Therefore, it is wrong to associate traditional religion with evil. I also want to appeal to the Nollywood people who are making films to portray us in good light. They are castigating our collective cultural heritage. The images of Christianity and Islam are just products of good branding.  Let us portray our culture and tradition in positive light to the outside world.

True, there are some people that go about parading themselves as Orisa Worshipers. They are dressed in white and they sit in public places begging for money. These people are not part of us. It is not Yoruba Culture to beg for money. It is not even in the tenets of Orisa worship. It is completely unacceptable.  You don’t beg for money. You work with you hands. This is what the Orisas instruct us to do, although there is a certain deity that instructs his followers to go and ask for money and pray for those who give. However, this comes up at a particular season and when that season is past, you cannot continue to do it as if you are a beggar. It is totally against the religious inclination of Orisa Worship to turn oneself into a beggar and be begging in the name of religion. I have trained several priestesses. You cannot find them begging for money. Those who are doing that have deviated from tradition.

What other advice do you have for the Government?

The government should recognize us more. A father who has three children but throws away one is not a good father.  If the Christians can help in nation building, we can also help. The Boko Haram issue, for example. They are not spirits, they are human beings. The government should involve all of us in finding solutions to the problem of the nation.

Fayose blasts Obasanjo over letter to Buhari

Nigerians have already made up their minds to show Buhari the exit next year with or without Obasanjo’s self-serving letter

“So Obasanjo should not take the credit. He should not reap where he has not sown.

“Nevertheless, President Buhari should heed ex-President Obasanjo’s advice and go home and rest. President Buhari has overstayed his welcome,” he added

Fayose added that “Obasanjo himself should heed his own advice to Buhari by also going home to rest. Both Obasanjo and Buhari are analogue in this digital age and have expired.

“We have been hearing of Obasanjo since we were in the primary school.

“It is time for him to vacate the public political space. When Nigerians hear him speak nowadays, they hiss.”

A wonderful reunion

He made the disclosure during an appearance as a guest on an ongoing reality TV show, ‘Celebrity Housemate’, in Lagos on Thursday, January 25.

According to him, Davido’s popularity made the rift “bigger than fighting Abacha”.

He told his audience, “The Davido issue was my biggest battle ever. It was bigger than fighting Abacha because of the blistering popularity of David; he is an extremely popular guy and it was very unfortunate because a baby was involved; very beautiful girl, Imade. When it happened, I tried to avoid a collision with the family because I am very close to the family especially because of Ademola who is now a senator.

“So when the baby issue came, I didn’t know about it, if Sophie (Davido’s first Babymama) didn’t tell me she was pregnant, I wouldn’t have known, she was able to hide it perfectly from everyone.”

“We used to sleep in the same house when I was in exile in London. Whenever Ademola was around, he would call me and then pick me up to his house and I’ll sleep there and when I need to go back to my own house he would drop me

Momodu also mentioned that Davido’s father, Tunji Adeleke, was the one who facilitated the “true reconciliation”.

Afrobeats Nigerian artists like Davido are slowly but surely seeping their way into the U.S. music industry. Nearly 10 months after joining forces with RCA Records/Sony Music International, the songwriter/producer finally premieres a new track entitled “Gbagbe Oshi” (pronounced Bahg-Bae Oh-Shi).

On the Shizzi aka Magic Fingers-produced single, which loosely means “kill the drama or “leave the matter” in the Yoruba language, the Afropop singer, known for hit songs like“Skelewu,” makes it clear to his anxious fans that he’s still here with his signature sound and that he’s looking onward and upward, all negativity aside. As a bonus to this track’s release, Davido teased the song’s official visual on Facebook, which is set to premiere on Saturday, October 1 in honor of Nigeria’s 56th annual Independence Day.

To hold fans over until the release of his next studio album under his partnership, the“Dami Duro” artist will release a 5-track EP, Son of Mercy, featuring South Africa’s ownNasty C and labal mate Tinashe. If you’re a fan of Afropop music or new to the sound, spin Davido’s new track down below and/or download it on iTunes. You can also pre-order Son of Mercy which officially drops (in Nigeria) on Friday, October 21st and then in the U.S. afterwards.

NIKE DAVIES OKUNDAYE; THE ARTIST

By Keith Richards

It is not possible to fully appreciate the work of Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye, the artist, without having some understanding of the cultural, social and religious environment that has shaped her life and her work. The very essence of Nike can be seen very clearly in this collection from the early monochrome pen and ink work, through her time at the Osogbo School under the spiritual influence of her mentor Suzanne Wenger and right until her latest collaboration with Tola Wewe in their “Stitches of Partnership”.  Throughout her life Nike has always remained utterly connected to her being as a Yoruba woman. From leaving home at 13 to escape an arranged marriage, the experience of being the junior wife in the Twins Seven Seven compound, the profound mysticism of the Orisha religion and the witnessing of the failure of Western Nigerian Society to improve the economic and social lot of rural and working class women. In fact, the very fibre of Nike’s work is woven from these threads both in terms of the subject and the media she works in.

Much of the work in this retrospective is from a prolific period when, working with Watercolour and Pen & Ink, she documented the lives of women in the village.  Sometimes working but usually singing or dancing, the women are invariably reflected with dignity and humour, warmth and affection.  Despite the economic hardship which led Nike to create centres and workshops where local girls could learn the traditional skills of Adire (Batik), dyeing, weaving and making an independent living (usually selling their output through Nike’s own Galleries) the emotions depicted are those of joy, love and hope. Her determination that Art can be a weapon for the empowerment of her native Yoruba women continues to be her motivation.  Her technical accuracy aligned with her native passion for deep colour and rich texture are eloquent testimony for her beliefs.

Her recent work with Tola Wewe brings yet another dimension albeit from within the same cultural and spiritual framework. Tola defines the shape and broadly the subject matter, which are inspired by the spirits that inhabit his world of Onaism (a group that develop art through the use of traditional Yoruba symbols and beliefs).  Nike develops the texture specifically through the filing of spaces using traditional Adire patterns and Yoruba symbols that represent the emotions and the insight of their ancestors.  This collaboration seems to me to be unique in that the two artists are clearly drawing from the same well of belief, fusing a single mystical motif from their differing techniques and methods.  Renaissance artists, post-impressionists, pre-Raphaelites and others all worked together within their broadly shared value systems, most usually Christian for example, but it is tempting to believe that the same spirits and ancestors were present for both Tola and Nike in their separate studios ensuring a particularly cohesive association.

The range of their collaboration is also of interest.  The early pieces are highly evocative, clearly reflecting the belief that humans and spirits inhabit the same world.  As their work develops, more secular themes such as the “Feminine Power Series” or “Seeking for Love” consider a more overtly sexual side of African Womanhood and the consequence of economic disability, misplacement and desperation.  Nike’s influence in these pieces ensures that dignity and beauty are somehow maintained despite the more graphic approach.  Displaying their versatility there are also examples of a lighter touch, documenting everyday cultural activity and events, as in the “Trip to the Hills”.

It goes without saying that African Art is still a ‘Frontier Market” and buying as an investment is not without its risks.  Having said that, the surge in interest in both modern pieces and older tribal art, encouraged by the development of quality auctions and galleries in Africa itself as well as by the increase in auctions in London, New York and Paris has seen healthy growth in prices.  Given the smaller Watercolour and Pen & Ink pieces in Nike’s show are GBP 3,000 this seems a reasonable risk for a genuine insight into an ancient and vibrant culture from a unique woman.  This November the Smithsonian will be celebrating 50 Years of its African Art Collection and amongst the honourees will be another Nigerian friend and confidant of Nike, Bruce Onobrekpeya.  Something tells me the Gallery of African Art will be somewhere to keep an eye on.  Nike Davies-Okundaye – A Retrospective, is on till 22nd November.