Encomium
Recall June 30 of last year, I mean the vehicular and human traffic in the precincts of the prestigious Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island in Lagos, with the singular motive of honouring one of their own, Mo Abudu. That was the day she threw open the doors of her entertainment and lifestyle television network. The launching, by all standards, was A-class.
365 and a quarter days have gone by. And she and her team players are set to pop champagne for surviving the murky waters of business in our clime. Authoritative sources from her office said the outfit is dotting the i(s) and crossing the t(s) preparatory to hosting the world as they mark the first anniversary of its broadcast outfit and dominance in the media and entertainment landscape of the continent.
Programmes lined up for the celebration include a brand new African first – a live pop-up activation entitled, The Studio Experience, designed to showcase the making of some of its favourite programs in an interactive, captivating and entertaining way. The event is scheduled to take place live at the Tinapa Studios in Calabar, on Sunday, July 20, 2014. It is packaged to be a must-attend event where TV, arts and music will be inter-married.
Several shows of the network are billed to come alive before the guests, thus giving the audience a unique and exclusive experience of how some of the channel’s major shows are put together, from pre-production to post-production. It will be a day of glitz, gloss and glam.
Rated in the top 25 percent of all channels watched on DStv with over 15million viewers in 44 countries, Ebony Life TV has within the past one year become the envy of Entertainment Television in Africa, and beyond.
ABOUT THE RISING PROFILE OF BEATRICE JEDY AGBA
Beatrice Jedy Agba is the Executive Secretary of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP. She has been named the 2014 Trafficking in Persons Hero. The award was conferred on her last week by the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the state department.
Scoops from her office have it that the award is in recognition of her tireless efforts in fighting human trafficking and her passionate commitment to end modern day slavery, while the U.S. government says she is one of the 10 notable persons globally, who despite resistance, opposition and even threats to their lives protect victims, punish offenders and raise awareness of on-going criminal practices in their countries and beyond.
Beatrice Jedy-Agba graduated from Bendel State University, Ekpoma in 1989, with a bachelor’s degree in Law, was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1990 and retained as a prosecutor with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in 1992, after undergoing the mandatory National Youth Service Corp Programme at the agency. Her career stints include working at the Federal Ministry of Justice as Chief State Counsel, Department of International and Comparative Law in 2004 and the National Boundary Commission as Legal Adviser and Special Assistant to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice in 2010.
She was appointed Executive Secretary of the agency by President Goodluck Jonathan in September 2011. During her period with NAPTIP, Jedy-Agba succeeded in repositioning the agency to meet the challenges of combating human trafficking, transforming the anti-human trafficking landscape by incorporating anti trafficking issues into national development discourse, planning and policy, and capping it with the 2014 trafficking in persons report placing Nigeria on tier two ranking.
Her husband, Goddy Jedy-Agba is one of the frontliners in the Cross River State 2015 guber race.
TROUBLE IN COMRADE OSHIOMHOLE’S CAMP AS MORE AIDES RESIGN
These are not the best of times for the comrade-governor of Edo state. More of his aides are dumping him and his party, All Progressives Congress (APC), with each passing minute. And their arch-rival, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is smiling as its rank and file grows with more returnees to its fold.
The news is that two of his senior aides, Prince Osama Erediauwa, son of the Oba of Benin and Gaskin Eke, last Thursday not only resigned their appointments, but defected to the PDP.
Before the defection, the prince was the Executive Director, Office of the Governor, while his colleague, Eke was the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Inter-Party Relations.
We heard that the prince’s action was based on the political calculation that the PDP will not only win the 2015 presidential elections, but will also go ahead to capture the tenancy at the Dennis Osadebay Government House in Benin come the 2016 guber election in Edo State.
Some people are saying that he was induced to join the PDP, an allegation he has denied insisting that he voluntarily resigned from the APC, and the Oshiomhole-led government. But Eke is rumoured to have resigned because for sometime now, he has been openly opposed to some actions of the government.
And trust PDP, they made a carnival out of it; even the state chairman of the party in Edo state, Chief Dan Orbih led other party chieftains to present the party’s membership cards to the duo.
ELISHA ATTAI GATHERS AFRICAN WOMEN IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA
It is quite soothing to know that the era of women struggling for recognition is waning in Africa, especially with the likes of Akwa Ibom – born Elisha Attai, CEO of Studio 115 Integrated Services, an international media consulting firm and founder of African Women in Leadership Organisation (AWLO). Attai believes Africa’s hope for advancement can only be achieved when its women are embraced as partners in progress.
Hence, he has since 2009, devoted his life to positioning African women through his annual AWLO conference whose 2010 edition hosted in Nigeria planted the seed for Women for Change Initiative. This year’s edition slated for August in Atlanta Georgia, USA, is holding in partnership with American female parliamentarians.
The conference started out as West-African Women in Leadership Organisation in 2010. It was held in Abuja and was chaired by Dame Patience Jonathan.
It was a successful gathering of women leaders from across West-Africa. And the United Nations who came as observers recommended that it be made an African instead of West-African issue. That move gave birth in 2011 to African Women in Leadership Conference.
By the end of that year, US Senator, Donzella James, the host for this year edition in Atlanta, had interest in making it a global affair, suggesting partnership that will also benefit African women leaders resident in America.
And August 20-23 this year, the Council of Female Senators in the USA has volunteered to host AWLC 2014 in Atlanta. The theme will be Harnessing our strengths: Growing in all spheres. According to Attai, a former consultant for Ghana High Commission in Nigeria, the organizing body will use the opportunity to inaugurate the US chapter of AWLO.
We learnt that the Special Guest of Honour is the wife of the US President, Michelle Obama, while Almas Jiwani, President at the United Nations Women NC Canada, will be the keynote speaker aside several other speakers from Africa, America, and other countries, including the Caribbean.
The high point of this year’s conference will be the introduction of the youth session for young people aspiring to be like these successful women.
The AWLO, a non-profit/non-governmental organization with membership open to all women leaders across Africa.
The 4-day leadership and empowerment programme which will be open to all African women across the continent and in the Diaspora will include a welcome cocktail, networking sessions, the main conference sessions and a day of beauty, style and wellness tips.
