As Platinum sponsor, content of OK! Nigeria will also be available exclusively on the MTN network for a year to the entertainment and delight of its over 40 million subscribers, the largest in the country. The deal includes a two staged launch of the magazine in London and Nigeria.

The magazine will be a monthly publication and content will be 60% Nigerian celebrities on a global scale, whilst just 20% of the 60% will be local Nigerian celebrities in Nigeria. The remaining 40% is divided into 30% African American celebrities such as Will Smith and Oprah and the remaining 10% will be the usual celebrities we love to read about such as Paris Hilton and David Beckham.

Speaking on the motivation for sponsoring OK! Nigeria, Kola Oyeyemi, MTNs General Manager Consumer Marketing, says, the telecom giant has come to a stage where it must contribute to the happiness and well being of society.

“Nigerians, like people all over the world, get a certain innate pleasure from prime and entertaining information; the kind of information that helps us better able to deal with societal differences because one has been enlightened about the peculiarities and beauty in our different cultures.”

“We are interested in how celebrities and role models live their lives and how the rest of us can learn from their experiences and OK! Nigeria can help in that process”. He said.

Alexander Amosu, CEO of OK! Nigeria, said, “We are delighted to partner with MTN on this venture look forward to a rewarding business relationship. Joining forces with MTN means that more people will have access to the magazine on the go and with the click of a button.”

The new magazine is the latest addition to the 22 editions of OK! Magazine worldwide. OK! UK, OK! USA, OK! Dubai and OK! Australia already exists with several others in the works.”

Trade deals – and an African free trade area – will do more than protest marches or Live Aid-style concerts to eradicate poverty from the continent, he said.

The trip is designed to bolster Britain’s business links with some of the continent’s fastest-growing economies.

The trip means the Prime Minister will be out of the country as politicians take stock of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson’s resignation over the phone hacking scandal.

Mr Cameron was on a flight to South Africa as Sir Paul announced his resignation. He was briefed on the development via satellite phone, speaking to the Home Secretary Theresa May and senior officials. . .” Read more on Telegraph.co.uk

Putting an end to all rumours that Amber Rose was not booked by Music Meets Runway 2011.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Jul 04, 2011 – Music Meets Runway: “Update”

Early this morning, one of the major headliners of the highly anticipated show, Music Meets Runway, Amber Rose tweeted that she will not be coming to Nigeria to host Music Meets Runway 2011.

Due to recent developments of Amber Roses nude photos that surfaced on the internet last week, we were in discussion as to what to do about the situation with some of our sponsors who had understandably shown some concern (brand affiliation).

We were still working to accommodate Amber when we read Amber Roses tweet about her not being booked to host Music Meets Runway.

Amber has indeed been booked and paid for through a reputable international booking agent and we were shocked as anyone to see the tweet.

This situation is under investigation and details will be passed as more information comes.

The show, Music Meets Runway WILL STILL HOLD comes Saturday, July 9 at Expo Center, Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos.

Music Meets Runway is an event poised & designed to create awareness for the laudable and fledging growth the Nigerian fashion industry which has been placed on the international map in recent times.

The event won’t be all about fashion as 10 musical artistes will also grace the runway, dishing out hits after hits.

It will be a great networking opportunity for fashion industry, professionals including educators, retail buyers, fashion journalists, trendsetters and consumers.

We want to assure the public that we are bringing you a great show with some of the most amazing Nigerian Artists and Designers and that this event will be nothing short of a phenomenal experience.

A press conference will be scheduled shortly and information will be sent to all media houses.

For more information regarding this press release please email press@musicmeetsrunway.com or bigsam@bigsammedia.com

# # #

The Bobby Taylor Company is a Public Relations firm that provides services in
Branding, Creative Advertising, Publicist Services, Events Management, Public Relations, Marketing, Hospitality for the Corporate, Entertainment, Lifestyle & Fashion Sector.

About Elite Model Look Nigeria
Created in 1983, the Elite Model Look contest has become the largest glamorous and prestigious model search in the world. It is an essential form of scouting for Elite’s 37 worldwide agencies. The contest gives the agencies’ managers the opportunity to evaluate the contestants a chance to launch successful careers as professional models.
Each year, and in over 50 countries, local organizers, strictly recruited by Elite, set up regional and national contests, in which some 350,000 applicants take part.

One of the major pillars in the modelling industry, 34 year legend Elite Management has represented some of the biggest stars in the business such as Gisele Bundchen, Oluchi, Naomi Campbell, Karen Mulder, Vanessa Hessler, Yasmin lebon, Paulina Porizkova to Victoria secret model Alessandra Ambrosio.

The group clients includes leading fashion houses and famous customers including Channel, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Versace and L’Oreal.

Elite has an international presence in all the major markets and just celebrated their 5millionth booking in their 30yrs.

The list of top models who have participated in the Elite Model Look contest includes Cindy Crawford, Elaine Irwin, Tatjana Patitz, Stéphanie Seymour, Karen Mulder, Ines Sastre, Gisele Bundchen, Ingrid Seynhaeve, Natalia Semanova, Yfke Sturm, Mini Anden, Irina Bondarenko, Raïca Oliveira and Alessandra Ambrosio, among others

CASTINGS
JULY 9th PORTHARCOUT – X-LOUNGE BAR. J
ULY 16TH BENIN-LINCX BAR
JULY 30TH LAGOS – REHAB POOL LOUNGE
AUGUST 6TH ABUJA – TERMINAL 5 BAR.

QUALIFICATIONS
You must be:
- Genuinely interested in being a model
- Female
- A Nigerian Citizen
- Between age 14 and 23
- Minimum 5ft 8in or 172cm tall
- Have no signed contract with another modeling agency
- Must be ready to travel abroad

Prize
-Modeling Contract with Elite Model Management.
-All expense paid trip to New York City
-Opportunity to represent Nigeria at the Elite Model Look Finale in Asia 2011
- A chance to win 150,000USD at the international finals

Goodluck!

NOTE: PLEASE VISIT ELITEMODELLOOKNIGERIA.COM TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FORMS AND APPLY. ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE, CONTACT THE MODEL AGENCY DIRECTLY ON FACEBOOK HERE.

-Courtesy photo
-Photo description: Ituen Basi Lace Design

In this new music video, Ms. Adetiba interprets Ty Bello’s song brilliantly to deliver a finished product that showcases Nigerians from diverse socio-economic backgrounds who are all dealing with corruption, tribalism, insecurity and so many other hosts of issues. All Nigerians are affected whether they be Yoruba, Hausa, Calabar or Ibo. In Adetiba/Ty Bello’s video, these Nigerians become fed up. The lead Nigerian character and star of the video, Ty Bello, really gets to the “enough is enough” breaking point and demands change. Her anger is the catalyst that fuels change.

Nigeria’s arts and culture aesthetics are incorporated throughout the video, including Nigerian fabrics and fashion.There are cameo appearances by Nigeria’s media, music and film personalities. Motivational speaker Fela Durotoye’s appearance, however, leaves the strongest of lasting impressions as he completes the video with the following plea,

“The Future is not a time zone that is yet to come. The Future is everything that we can be but have not yet become. The future is everything that we can do but have not yet done. The future is here, the future is now. So go ahead and deliver the future because you can, because you must. Together, we will.”

Be inspired. God bless Ty Bello & Kemi Adetiba. God Bless Nigerians. God Bless Nigeria. VOTE on Monday. Make your vote count.

TY Bello – The Future from Kemi Adetiba on Vimeo.

~Uduak Oduok

StandUPNaija gives a voice to the issues faced by average Nigerians, and their expectations from elected leaders. Across the country, the Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI) is helping Nigerians speak up about the policy issues that matter to them such as Electricity, Health, Security, Education, Transportation and Employment.

“Through a series of impactful videos shot across Nigeria’s 6 geo-political zones, we havehighlighted the issues that affect average Nigerians and hope to put pressure on elected officials to address them during and after the 2011 elections,” said Simi Idowu, the organisation’s Operations Director. “The overall goal is to frame the policy issues for the 2011 elections (from the viewpoint of average Nigerians) and the expected actions of government officials in the next administration.During the next administration, these issues will be tracked.”

The videos have thus far been shown on national networks including the Africa Independent Television (AIT) and Channels Television – and have been broadcast in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. The videos are also available for viewing and download at www.nli-global.org or www.standupnaija.org. At launch, over 10,000 people viewed the videos online.

StandUPNaija, working with a coalition of election-focused organizations, named What About Us recentlyco-produced Nigeria’s first youth-centred presidential debate, hosted by international award-winning writer Chimamanda Adichie. The coalition included EnoughisEnough Nigeria, Vote or Quench and Sleeves Up.

StandUPNaija’s parent organisation, Nigeria Leadership Initiative, is an international non-profit, non-partisan organisation that mobilises the energy, talent and resources of credible and accomplished Nigerians in-country and the diaspora to tackle the challenges that confront the nation.Established in 2006, NLI has activated several projects including a free comprehensive civics curriculum called CLEVER and an animated video on the values of Nigeria’s founding fathers on the Naira notes called Notes2Note.

NLI is a registered Charity in Nigeria and the United Kingdom and its fellows are members of the Aspen Global Leadership Network

As a child growing up in a single parent female home in Nigeria (which was highly unusual at the time), I had the “privilege” of living with and among the poor. I say privilege because my life’s lessons began there and have served me well through life and till today.

In the early 80s, we lived in a 2 bedroom in the poor part of Ikeja, Lagos. Our apartment had a shared latrine (hole in the ground), which all neighbors used. You definitely had to be careful navigating your way in the latrine. Undeterred by the hardship and truly the Nigerian/African mother that my mother is, she worked very, very hard to raise us all, four children total. She was keen on education and understood its value. Accordingly, she managed to save and send us all to some of the best private schools in the country. Getting to elementary, grade and ultimately high (secondary) school meant walking very long distances and taking public transportation, even though there were times, later, were my mom would take us to school in the family vehicle we ultimately purchased as things got better.

I am so grateful for the experiences as I think back in hindsight. Walking those long deteriorated and at times horrendous roads (especially during the raining season-think floods) in Ikeja and later Ejigbo, meant I was exposed to a different Nigeria, one that majority of the country’s citizens still experience today.

The Nigeria I grew up and experienced had children scavengers hunting in larger than life heaps of waste for food, plastics, bottles and whatever they could get to survive. I wondered often where their parents where? Why did they have to live that way? Did they ever get sick from eating such bad foods? The images of these children hunted and would hunt me in my dreams well into adulthood.

The Nigeria I saw as I “trekked” and took buses with my siblings back and forth to school was one were citizens took the law into their hands because they couldn’t trust the government to do so. Repeated burglaries and armed robberies meant when thieves were caught, they were stripped naked, beaten to a pulp, car tire(s) thrown over their heads and then, right before my eyes, and those of many including children who watched, were burnt alive. The corpse(s) stayed on the streets for what seemed like weeks bloating, bursting. The stench. Jesus Christ, the stench was nauseating I can’t even begin to describe what it felt like to go through that, as I navigated my way to school, and had to pass one of these corpses.

I was exposed to a Nigeria where orphaned children begged on the streets for food and money. The Nigeria I saw well into the early 90s before I left the country had the mental and physically disabled citizens on the side of railroads begging for money, some in their own excrement, many times oblivious to the trains approaching.

The Nigeria I saw, as a child, had heavily congested traffic jams and vehicles that had no business being on the roads because the smog they generated created such pollution it was crazy.The Nigeria I saw also had high rates of road accidents and many times a medical response team that was nowhere to be found. I could go on. Of course there were happy memories, lots of them, with family, friends and schoolmates but I also remember these vivid images from my past.

These images and experiences, among others, shaped and drove me to be intensely focused to succeed. It was never a question of “whether” I would succeed. As far as I was concerned, I knew I had to succeed, PERIOD. My drive was fueled by the fact that, even at such young age, I felt a strong urgency and a strong sense of responsibility, empathy and compassion to be a part of the solution for a better Nigeria. The children I saw were my age mates. Some much younger. I felt, strongly, they deserved better.

Ultimately, my mother being the hard and smart worker she was who had God on her side, worked her way up Nigeria’s corporate ladder and by the time we left Nigeria to return to the States, we were arguably part of the country’s middle class.

In the early 90s, my family was among the initial set of Nigerians that began an exodus from the country for greener pastures in the US. While I left Nigeria, my heart stayed there and the images of these children, among other things stayed with me. When I visited the country, over a decade later, the latest being  in 2006, the realities I grew up with were still present. Nothing seemed to have changed much.

In 2010,  a state like Lagos where I grew up has seen significant changes thanks to Governor Fashola. But, many of the problems I discussed above still exists; plus Lagos is but one state in Nigeria.

As the nation celebrates 50years today, for me and for you, the question really is, how far have we come as a nation; and are we doing our part to build a better country for Nigeria’s children?

We can continue with the excuses i.e. “ngbati, ngbati” as they say in the Yoruba language. But, at the end of the day, why is Nigeria, as big as it is, with its many resources constantly in the dark i.e. power outages? Why is it so common these days and the norm to hear about citizens being kidnapped? Child trafficking of our children to European countries continues in alarming rates, where is Nigeria’s criminal justice system when our children need them? In terms of infrastructure, it is truly ridiculous that as of September 2010, 2million of Nigeria’s citizens in the North are displaced because of man induced flood. At what point do Nigeria’s citizens get sick and tired of being sick and tired? At what point do the citizens decide to shake the status quo and demand for a better Nigeria for the future? Are Nigeria’s children not worth the sacrifice? The Christian and Muslim conflicts in Jos etc. how long will these continue ? What systems are in place, if any, to aggressively address these ongoing religious conflicts once and for all? How much more bloodshed before we say, enough is enough?!

It makes no sense to me that majority of the country’s graduates cannot seem to gain employment. Healthcare is in a deplorable state, orphaned children continue to beg on the streets, children continue to scavenge for food at these waste dumps around the country. Aren’t Nigeria’s citizens fed up?

Yes, the country has made strides. But, there is still a lot more to do. Today, I pray and hope for a better Nigeria. A Nigeria where our children, not just children of the elites, but all children can have a chance at a good future. OUR CHILDREN ARE our future, the leaders of tomorrow, I am a living example of that slogan. The government and its citizens MUST invest in the future. It is my hope that as the 2011 election rolls around the corner, you, YES YOU will go out and vote. Equally, I pray 2011 is the year that a true leader emerges, one that can begin turning the country around.

For us at LadybrilleNigeria.com, our job is barely getting started, there is so much more to do. We thank you all for your continued reading, comments, emails, daily visits and sharing our messages with your friends, colleagues and family. All of what we do here is truly towards the ultimate goal of lifting our country up. When all is said and done, we want to be a part of the solution. We want to be known as a  Nigerian brand that facilitates and inspires fashion entrepreneurs who then create jobs, educate, hire, encourage and empower Nigerian citizens, especially girls and women.

As one of my new favorite rap artists X.O Senavoe who is of Nigerian and Ghanaian parentage raps, “We’ve Got the Power.” It is my prayer we use use it.

Happy Independence Day and God bless Nigeria!

Yours truly,
Uduak Oduok, Esq.
Editorial Director
LadybrilleNigeria.com