MTN Nigeria and Pan-Atlantic University (PAU) today announced the launch of the MTN Media Innovation Programme (MTN MIP), which will be run by PAU’s School of Media and Communication (SMC).

The six-month, fully funded fellowship for Nigerian media practitioners is designed to support the sustainable development of the nation’s changing media scene. It is open to media practitioners across the spectrum, including print, electronic, online platforms and social media content creators.

The course is designed to give participants a greater understanding of Nigeria’s technology sector and the nexus between media and technology; it will also leave participants better able to adapt to changing realities. Fellows will also have access to professional resources and mentorship from the SMC faculty.

“We are driven by our belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected world and are driving accelerated growth by leading digital solutions for Nigeria’s progress. Against this backdrop, the media landscape continues changing at remarkable speeds, boosted by new technologies. Thus, it is only fitting that we support developments in the Nigerian media space with our infrastructure and enable capacity building initiatives to enable innovation in media practice.

“It’s a delight to partner with the Pan-Atlantic University, who, through their expertise, have contributed to the professional development of the media industry, not only in Nigeria but across Africa,” Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria, noted during the launch event.

“The School of Media and Communication was established to train professionals who will uphold the highest intellectual, ethical and professional values that promote creativity, critical knowledge, social responsibility and the spirit of enterprise. The MTN Media Innovation Programme could not have come at a better time for Nigerian media practitioners to imbibe these pertinent values,” Professor Enase Okonedo, Vice Chancellor, Pan-Atlantic University, added.

The course, fully sponsored by MTN Nigeria, will be available to twenty (20) successful applicants.

Interested media practitioners can visit https://smc.edu.ng/mtnmip/ to apply.

–ENDS–

“This gathering was to share research-based knowledge, something from research which I have been doing for a couple of years about how to light the black race.” The director/cinematographer, Stanlee Ohikhuare, said this while speaking at a one-day workshop on the 23rd of April, 2022. The workshop was organised by the Nollywood Studies Centre of the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University and supported by Zenith Bank Plc.

During the workshop, Stanlee Ohikhuare presented a formula for lighting the black race in film. According to him, “the entire film world is actually just configured around making movies and lighting Caucasian actors, and the emphasis on people of the black descent has not been really strong.” Stanlee, a trained fine artist and painter who communicates strongly with visual images, added, “So I went ahead to do some research and to find out the best practices that could help us to get this lighting done in a way that can be called a formula, something that is consistent, something that can be replicated, something that can be repeated and works every time that it is done.”

The research was carried out over various years under the auspices of the collective, Native Doctors. In the words of Stanlee, who is also the founder of M-JOT Studio, the goal is “to share the results in the midst of academic people, schools, universities, both in Nigeria and abroad so that we can add this to the archive, and people can go back and use it as material for research in the near future.”

The workshop was the first public presentation of the formula, which is a major contribution to filmmaking. The formula will subsequently be presented to a global audience via an international tour. The workshop was a success and had many young industry practitioners in attendance.

Tell us about yourself.

Hi, my name is Meksley Nwagboh, a father to three lovely kids and

married to an amazing woman. I can be very driven and committed when I set my heart to doing anything. Over the years, I have had to learn how to manage that drive and commitment so that it is not perceived as being overly aggressive. I am all about setting goals, trying new things, learning something about everything and always making one available to serve whenever called upon. I think if you stay close to me, you will probably notice my penchant for detail, orderliness, discipline and hardwork.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not a boring person. Many who know me, will tell you I am often the life of the pack, you perfect blend of sunshine yellow and fiery red temperaments.

2. Tell us about your career path.

I started out at MTN Nigeria in 2007 and joined Guaranty Trust Bank plc in 2008 and was posted to the commercial banking division. While there I established and managed several of the key relationships in the Ikeja region. This helped my development as it helped me in improving my skills in public speaking and relationship management. Over the course of my career at GTBank, I worked in several other branches and got the chance to manage several key relationships in the bank and to this day, I have a relationship with almost all of them. In 2015, I took the giant leap from core sales to the marketing and communications unit of the bank. While working there, I was in charge of public relations and crisis communications and eventually became the Head of Corporate Communications and the bank’s spokesperson. To this day, I am forever grateful to my bosses for the opportunity they gave me to learn despite coming from a core sales background. Mind you, my core academic background was in Industrial chemistry. In 2018, having worked in a “big bank” across several units like events, CSR, product marketing, online infrastructure management, internal comms, media relations etc, I resigned from the bank and joined Coronation Merchant Bank. In terms of career decisions, looking back, that was probably the best decision I had ever made. You see, Coronation was a breath of fresh air and presented a totally different challenge. At GTBank, most of the primary marketing functions were already established and you then built on them. At Coronation, I was tasked with setting up the marketing function and developing a brand strategy covering brand positioning, social media, CSR, corporate identity, marketing policies etc. Let me just add, that it was fun from the very first day to my very last day and I learnt so much while at Coronation. In a way, it prepared me for my next and hopefully, final career move to Fidelity Bank in January 2022 as the Chief Marketing Officer of the Bank

3. What do you have to say about new beginnings since assuming your new role as the Chief Marketing Officer of Fidelity Bank?

Embrace them. First, I pray and get God’s leading to proceed. I have received several offers in the past to lead the marketing & communications functions of some banks but when I prayed, God said NO and so, I rejected the offer. Once you have the clarity in your spirit (which you will know by the peace you feel in your mind) my advice is that you embrace every new beginning that life throws at you. If you look around, you will observe that even life is designed to function on the principle of new beginnings and seasons. There is a new day, new week, new month, New Year, new decade, new parents, new baby, new job etc so we really can’t run from it. As regards my new beginning at Fidelity, these are still very early days but I can tell you for a fact that I have loved every single day spent here.

4. How did your time at SMC help to prepare/impact you for your current career?

Truth is, most major changes I have had in my career came as I was just completing a program at SMC. In 2013, I started my Master’s program at the school. I resigned from GTBank in 2014 to allow me sufficient time to focus on my studies. As I was concluding my studies at SMC, I rejoined GTBank to oversee public relations, communications and crisis management. The same thing happened in 2021. I had enrolled for my PhD in 2016 and just as I was about to finish, Fidelity came calling.  While we can attribute the 2015 encounter to chance, the 2021 event definitely became a pattern. Who knows what would happen next if I undertake another major program at the school. [He laughs]

5. What are you most proud of from your experience at SMC?

First is the system the school has built. SMC is simply world-class.

Everyone knows their job and does their job without requiring any form of third-party inducement. They have built a system that is efficient and I am proud we have such a school in Nigeria. Secondly, are the people (facilitators and students). You would often find managing directors and corporate executives of big execs in your class. The most beautiful part is that chances are that your classmates move on to become top officials in large corporations and public parastatals. So the relationship you build there is priceless and would serve you a lifetime.

6. What does a typical day look like for you as the Chief Marketing Officer of Fidelity Bank?

I love what I do and my advice to anyone in paid employment is to ensure that whatever role or function you have in an organization, must be one that gives expression to your God-given talent. If you are analytical, do something that helps you analyse all day. If you are gifted with your hands, do something that gives your hands the liberty to express themselves. If you do this, you will be happy at your job and every typical day in the office will be exciting, engaging, informing and passion-filled for you and that’s how my typical day as CMO is.

7. How do you keep up with your work and family life?

I think it’s unrealistic for anyone to expect a balance in their work and family life. It simply doesn’t work that way. Rather the goal should be to have work-life equilibrium. You see, life is not measured in absolutes but in averages. There will be days when the job will demand more and there will be days when the family will demand more. However, over time, when we add all the overages for work and family, there must be a balance. I think that is a more realistic goal and that’s what I have had. Also, it helps to have a very understanding spouse who knows that you are committed to the family even when you are not there and that the only reason why you aren’t present is that you have tried everything to make it but simply couldn’t. This is where family communication plays a key role, if you don’t communicate this level of commitment to your family members, they will interpret your absence as not being committed to them.

8. What are the qualities you seek in young people and prospective employees?

Three things really and these three things guide my life. Number one is

effort. Don’t kid yourself or be fooled by peer pressure, to get ahead in life, you must put the work in. There are no short-cuts or free meals anymore. Even the government is removing subsidies [He laughs]. It is the effort you put in today that pays off tomorrow. Think about a farmer that plants a seed. He waters it every day and continues to water it even though he doesn’t see anything. Today, science has taught us that even though the farmer sees nothing happening on the soil, something is happening inside the soil and in time will produce a sprout if the farmer remains consistent in watering the ground. What you find today is people expecting success without putting in work. The second is numbers. It is one thing to apply effort to one thing and expect one thing in return but imagine what would happen if you applied effort in five different things, your expectation would increase 5-fold. Successfully may not know everything but they definitely know something about everything. Simply put, you are measured by the “number” of results you produce. The bible echoes this when Jesus taught us about the parable of talents or what I call the parable of numbers. The good servant was the one that increased the number of talents he was given while the bad servant maintained the talent as he/she received it. So, if you want to get my attention, I must see you learning new things, trying new ventures, acquiring new skills etc. Lastly and most importantly, is creativity. This is the glue that holds the other two principles. There is always a better way to get things done and the most successful people find that way. They are always finding new and better ways to do things and this for me really, is where the magic lies. So, I look for three qualities – effort, numbers and creativity – when accessing people

9. What three books would we find on your bookshelf at home?

You’d probably find Aig Imokhuedo’s ‘Leaving the Tarmac’, What would Google do by Jeff Jarvis and my book titled Building The Nigerian Dream which I published in 2013.

My Fascination with African Culture!

Behold the African culture! Behold the allure of familism and tough parenting! That style of living where kinship, parental authority, family bonds, and mutual interdependence hold sway. Warmth is the cord; respect is the compass; cooperation and support constitute the spine of the affiliative spirit that fuel family relationships. The family is nuclear and extended and family ties are prioritized. So frequent in celebrating robustly but hosting of feasts and festivals are collective. There is always one celebrant, but multi heads of resources from all that counts as family members. Each member contributes according to the capacity and available resources. Never alone in joy and sorrow, good mental hygiene is enabled. The individual is subsumed in the family while the family prioritizes the wellbeing of every family member. The ripples of kinship bind the community into a family. Every child is a child of the community; every adult is a parent to all children in the community. Though the burden of this bond could sometimes be overwhelming, communalism and solidarity are seen as superior to individualism.

Parental authority encompasses overt discipline, obligation, support,

and referent. Spare the child and spoil the rod underlying parental directives. Reprimands and sanctions accompany misconduct. Love and praises are covert in the attitudes and behavior of the parents towards the children. Wisdom resides in maintaining family honor in decisions and behavior.  Obedience to parents, respect to elders of the family, and others outside the family are sources of blessings. The child takes up responsibilities in the family wellbeing  dutifully.

Behold a culture that is now more in the past than in the present! Behold the regret of individualism and soft parenting! Is the centrality of familism waning, or taking different dimensions? The extended family network is overtaken by focus on personal achievement. The community and the adults have little or nothing to add to parenting the children of the others. The parents have “invisible” competitors in providing guidance and directions to their children. The ubiquitous media abound in role models. For the children and adolescents, there is push and pull over the values ingrained in the family culture and the external influence. Some measure the standards of parental discipline and love with those of the other climes in the media content they consume. The parents have to deal with adopting parenting styles in tune with the children’s expectations or struggle with the children’s opposition to the high parenting authority. Whether soft parenting or tough parenting, the answer resides in the results reaped from global history and experiences!

My fascination with Africa lies in the beauty of her values and norms that entrench us in the realms of the essence of creation. The nature of man is cultivated in filiation and fraternity. The community of kinship with a high level of family bonds provide succor to life challenges. Would the community of ideologies be more effective than family bonds? My fascination with Africa is not nostalgic! It is the dynamism of culture which breathes with the best practices in the civilization of humanity.

Ifeyinwa Awagu Esq is the Director, Institute of Humanities at Pan Atlantic University, Lagos.

Setting the Pace on Every Race; FT8

– by Anthonia Elemoso

That beautiful morning, we had listened to three facilitators talk about how we were about to embark on a tough race, but we had no imagination or idea how tough it would be.

Few hours before, we had shared our stories, experiences, and the varied but similar reasons we individually chose this particular race. Some had funny stories, some sassy attitude and some appeared intimidated listening to others’ achievements. Then we had the ones that spoke with boldness and a sprinkle of pride; some spoke beautifully and a few like me laughing loud gently sat behind waiting to see where we were headed. Little did we know that the race was going to humble us in different ways.

After those introductory speeches came a wise man called “Sly”. He stood before the class and chipped a piece of advice. “I will advise that you bond and have fun while on this (race).” It sounded generic but it was the best advice we got. It was truly race with different participants and diverse goals, but we didn’t lose sight of our togetherness. We ran together. Through the pressure, through the heat, we kept flying no defeat. Speaking of flying, our cars “flew” at different times when we had to drive to school the morning after a long night of assignments to beat the almighty Turnitin countdown. Yet, we stood, “WE PIN”.

At various intervals we would take another route on the race to enliven ourselves and refill our tanks. We sang, we cooked, we ate, we danced, we partied, we read, we did not sleep, we tutored, we fought, we went on a getaway, had movie nights, we slept and prayed…together. And I remember our Old School Day and Trad Day!We even had a class anthem (Lol). We didn’t only study for a Masters in Media & Communication; we practically became the masters of “study and chop life balance” and we were audacious about it.

We expected the race to be refining, but we didn’t quite expect the precious stones we have turned out to be. Who would have known that a year together would birth great friendships, lot of laughter, tears, and awesome memories? Now we are celebrating marriages, promotions, relocations, childbirth, and beautiful memories together as we grow. We came to bag a degree, but we bagged a lot more; more that we will cherish forever. And, we left a mark! We were more than a class; we were and still remain a family. Thank you FT8, thank you SMC.

-Anthonia Elemoso, FT8.

What do you want to be remembered for?
by Dr. Añulika Agina

While trying to read in a Bolt taxi I took from Ilupeju to Lekki Phase One on the 8th of March, I was ‘interrupted’ by a loquacious driver, who went on about how several men had failed to pay their fares at the end of each ride. The men would tell him, “I’ve transferred o”, “The money has gone” (while flashing their phones across his face) or “The money is not going…network problems; I’ll transfer it later”, but later never came. And so, the driver lost thousands of naira to these men. I sympathised with him, and tried again to read, but he continued talking. This time, he focused on one woman. Since he started working two years ago, only one woman has cheated him out of his eight thousand naira. He took her to the airport amidst Lagos traffic and they arrived barely 40 minutes to her departure time. She pleaded with him to hurry into the airport in order not to miss her flight. “I believed her, but she never paid me. I called and texted her several times until she said she would pay me with her body when next she was in Lagos!”

To be remembered on an International Women’s Day in such a pitiable manner is no testimony to women, but we could say that this is an isolated case. Indeed, it is! Before dismissing it too quickly, pause and think of what goes through the taxi driver’s mind whenever a female steps into his car. Why did he care to narrate his unpleasant episode to me? Undoubtedly, there are countless and unnamed inspirational women all over the world who will be remembered for the positive change that they have initiated and continue to promote. One of them is Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who now heads the World Trade Organisation (WTO). A colleague recently told me, to my amusement, that @NOIweala (to use her Twitter handle) is the real slay queen, not those who wear 100% human hair the length of a walking stick, or those who can afford the most expensive clothes or those who weaponise their bodies in different ways (no body shaming intended). Okonjo-Iweala will be remembered for the remarkable achievements she made as Finance Minister in Nigeria, and for what she is now doing in the international space at the WTO. Another woman who will be remembered for the social change she has been campaigning for is Malawi’s Memory Banda, who is fighting against child marriage in her small community and succeeding. Banda is from a humbler background and did not go to Harvard – pointers to the fact that all women can contribute positively to the common good regardless of their origin or history. Obviously, not all women will necessarily be national or international icons, but the small positive change they make wherever they are is important, should be encouraged and will be remembered by someone including a Bolt taxi driver.

In a world that seems to be dominated by the me-myself-and-I syndrome and a desire to take advantage of others to one’s personal gain, there is a lot of good that women can do in the society to reverse a self-centred approach to life. They have and can develop all it takes to be successful at home and in the public sphere, to be selfless and supportive of others, and to be proactive in the choice of their career and in attaining financial or any other kind of independence. But above all, women have all it takes to be remembered for what is noble and edifying.While trying to read in a Bolt taxi I took from Ilupeju to Lekki Phase One on the 8th of March, I was ‘interrupted’ by a loquacious driver, who went on about how several men had failed to pay their fares at the end of each ride. The men would tell him, “I’ve transferred o”, “The money has gone” (while flashing their phones across his face) or “The money is not going…network problems; I’ll transfer it later”, but later never came. And so, the driver lost thousands of naira to these men. I sympathised with him, and tried again to read, but he continued talking. This time, he focused on one woman. Since he started working two years ago, only one woman has cheated him out of his eight thousand naira. He took her to the airport amidst Lagos traffic and they arrived barely 40 minutes to her departure time. She pleaded with him to hurry into the airport in order not to miss her flight. “I believed her, but she never paid me. I called and texted her several times until she said she would pay me with her body when next she was in Lagos!”

To be remembered on an International Women’s Day in such a pitiable manner is no testimony to women, but we could say that this is an isolated case. Indeed, it is! Before dismissing it too quickly, pause and think of what goes through the taxi driver’s mind whenever a female steps into his car. Why did he care to narrate his unpleasant episode to me? Undoubtedly, there are countless and unnamed inspirational women all over the world who will be remembered for the positive change that they have initiated and continue to promote. One of them is Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who now heads the World Trade Organisation (WTO). A colleague recently told me, to my amusement, that @NOIweala (to use her Twitter handle) is the real slay queen, not those who wear 100% human hair the length of a walking stick, or those who can afford the most expensive clothes or those who weaponise their bodies in different ways (no body shaming intended). Okonjo-Iweala will be remembered for the remarkable achievements she made as Finance Minister in Nigeria, and for what she is now doing in the international space at the WTO. Another woman who will be remembered for the social change she has been campaigning for is Malawi’s Memory Banda, who is fighting against child marriage in her small community and succeeding. Banda is from a humbler background and did not go to Harvard – pointers to the fact that all women can contribute positively to the common good regardless of their origin or history. Obviously, not all women will necessarily be national or international icons, but the small positive change they make wherever they are is important, should be encouraged and will be remembered by someone including a Bolt taxi driver.

In a world that seems to be dominated by the me-myself-and-I syndrome and a desire to take advantage of others to one’s personal gain, there is a lot of good that women can do in the society to reverse a self-centred approach to life. They have and can develop all it takes to be successful at home and in the public sphere, to be selfless and supportive of others, and to be proactive in the choice of their career and in attaining financial or any other kind of independence. But above all, women have all it takes to be remembered for what is noble and edifying.

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