In line with th Igbo culture, there is a need to have New Yam festival celebration known as “Iri Ji” annually. The festival signifies gratitude to God for the harvest and fruitful yield of the year. It is usually celebrated between the months of August and October.

The Igbo Community in Abesan, Ipaja and around Alimosho came out in numbers to celebrate the Iri Ji Festival at Abesan Estate and was hosted by Chief Bona Odinaka, a reputable High Chief in Lagos.

Not only celebrating the New Yam Festival, The Igbo Community used the occasion to reward well-meaning Igbo people that have contributed positively to the plight of Igbo people in the community and other parts of Lagos State. Titles such as Ezinne and others were given to carefully selected awardees.

Led by Chief Moses Nwokoro, the Igbo Community in Abesan, Ipaja has shown commitment to the welfare of their members.

In his welcome speech, Chief Moses Nwokoro, an ebullient leader, said: “we are here to thank God for His protection and for enabling us to see a good harvest. In a country that we keep hearing bad news, we are celebrating, and using this opportunity to thank those that have made The Igbo Community here in Abesan, Ipaja, Lagos tick; also thanking our able Lagos State Governor, Jide Sanwo Olu, for allowing us to thrive.”

In line with the welcome speech, Mr. Kachi Egwim, the Financial Secretary said: “ though we are new as an association, we are flourishing. Our aim is to ensure that the welfare of our members is looked into. We also liaise with other Igbo-speaking communities here in Alimosho; but our primary objective is to ensure that Igbo members in our catchment areas are well represented politically, and taken care of if there is a financial need.”

Ezinne Ben Okafor, the Women Leader, added that the women are in total support of the leader, despite a few teething challenges; which is normal in leadership. She added that they aligned with his leadership style, which was why the women came out en masse to ensure that the event was a success. Truly it was a huge success, irrespective of the little challenge that came up earlier.

Igbo Community in Abesan, Ipaja is a non-profit, non-political, and non-religious group that has evolved to be a strong association, recognised by the Mosan LCDA and Alimoso LG. Led by Chief Moses Nwokoro, the community has many respected members that have offered various solutions and interventions to the challenges many Igbo members have had over the years. Their Iri Ji Festival is an annual event.

“we are here to thank God for His protection and for enabling us to see a good harvest. In a country that we keep hearing bad news, we are celebrating, and using this opportunity to thank those that have made The Igbo Community here in Abesan, Ipaja, Lagos tick; also thanking our able Lagos Governor, Jide Sanwo Olu for allowing us to thrive.”

Prof. Muhammed Abukakar, the managing Director and CEO, Galaxy Backbone Limited, has expressed the company’s preparedness to provide ICT infrastructure and services to public institutions and the underserved communities in Nigeria.

Galaxy Backbone is a public enterprise of the Federal Government of Nigeria incorporated in 2006 with the primary mandate of setting up and operating a unified Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure platform that addresses the connectivity, transversal and other technology imperatives for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.

Abukakar was speaking on ‘Boosting Cloud Infrastructure for Digital Economy via Partnerships’ through a representative, Mr. Timi Fadeyi, head DataCentre at Galaxy Backbone Limited, at the (hybrid) Africa Tech Alliance Forum (AfriTECH2021) organised by TechEconomy.ng in Lagos (Nigeria) recently.

The Managing Director while streamline digitisation aligned with Bill Mcdermott SAP CEO who said: “Complexity is an obstacle to digitisation. To get the most out of the new world of digital business, you have to run SIMPLE.”

The trend of the new world

He said that the trends of the new world include hyper-connectivity, cloud computing, a smarter world and cybersecurity. These can be considered as four pillars necessary to drive digitalisation using infrastructure which will be used to service the community.

The realities of the digital economy as outlined by Abukakar the undeniable facts that digital economy is real and here to stay; “you have to embrace, innovate and thrive through it”.

He told the participants that reimagining your organisation cannot be overemphasised in this era.

“We need to work smarter, faster and simpler – a combination of a hybrid mode of working and harnessing relationships; virtual, physical, both.

“Artificial Intelligence is reshaping value chains, industries, communities, countries and the works entirely. You also need to secure your data; secure your entire digital experience, a combination of technology and you

Accelerators of the digital economy

Continuing, the Galaxy Backbone boss said, “To every action, there’s indeed a reaction. The digital economy keeps growing and transforming”.

Several components influence this growth and Abukakar summarised these thus: “The customer experiment which is driving the changes visible on different platforms; the core business processes on platforms that are smarter, faster and simple; smarter and engaged workforce to prevent different levels of possible disconnections; supplier-partner collaboration has never been this critical for an enhanced digital economy; and cloud harnessed Internet of Things and assets to drive real-time insights and new business initiatives.

He also said that cloud investments must be channeled right to enable an increase in revenue

The cloud and the digital economy

“The cloud is the preferred ‘currency’ for digital transformation and for reducing the initial cost of ICT infrastructure acquisition.

“Cloud computing is gradually reducing the downtime in public service delivery, increasing government and citizen engagement. It enables agility, flexibility, connectedness and the opportunity to scale your business”, he added.

Abubakar noted that with the help of the Ministry of Communities and the Digital Economy led by Prof. Isa Pantami and support from the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the National Communications Commission (NCC), Galaxy Backbone is well-positioned to provide ICT infrastructure in a way that both parties — governments, institutions, NDAs among others can benefit.

Meanwhile, he said that the pillars that drive the mission of Galaxy Backbone include; to becoming the leading enabler of digital inclusion in Africa: Provides state of the art digital infrastructure and services for a digital Nigeria; to align its operations with government priorities; promote data sovereignty and security of government data, amongst others.

“Galaxy Backbone improves long-term financial sustainability, customer satisfaction, improve satisfaction, adoption and confidence in digital services

“Enhancing the digital economy through partnership, GBB provides its data services from two major locations including Abuja and Enugu. Data lost at one centre can be recovered at the other. This can be described as a data continuity solution”, he said.

According to Abukakar, data sensitivity determines which data centre to be used. This can be a virtual data centre, computing pool, resource pool; storage resource pool, elastic cloud server, among others.

“Economies of scale is an important factor to be considered that allows you to save a lot while running your own infrastructure,” he concluded.

Anyone who lives in the southeast must have heard the word mkpụlụ mmịlị on the streets, thats the the name that has been given to the hard drug methamphetamine popularly called crystal meth.

This is what the young people in the East are into now, there seems to be zero concerns from parents religious leaders and the government on the negative effects of this drug.

This drugs have destroyed millions of teenagers in North America and other parts of the world and if our people do not pay attention to this now we will have a big problem on our hands in few years to come

“Crystal meth is the common name for crystal methamphetamine, a strong and highly addictive drug that affects the central nervous system. There is no legal use for it.

It comes in clear crystal chunks or shiny blue-white rocks. Also called “ice” or “glass,” it’s a popular party drug. Usually, users smoke crystal meth with a small glass pipe, but they may also swallow it, snort it, or inject it into a vein. People say they have a quick rush of euphoria shortly after using it. But it’s dangerous. It can damages the body and cause severe psychological problems.”

Crystal meth can me cooked or made locally as long as the chemicals needed are available and the fact the law enforcement agencies are not going after the suppliers of this drug, the chemicals are easily accessible and the drugs are quite affordable for young teenagers.

Teenage boys are into different criminal activities just get funds that will enable them get a dose of mkpụlụ mmịlị while the teenage girls are going into prostitution for quick money to sniff this drug.

Mkpụlụ mmịlị has become very popular in the secondary schools and universities in the South-East and some people have overdosed and died while taking this drug.

Nigeria is a major corridor for the transportation of hard drugs to North/South Americ and Asia and we all know the our people are into this trade.

Someone must have introduced this drug to the street of the cities Ala’Igbo and if it’s not curtailed it will spread to other parts of the country and become a Nationwide problem.

Crystal meth is not something to mess with we are looking at a huge population of our young people ending up in rehab and suffering mental/psychological problems if something is not done.

Chidubem Ukamaka Onyejemuo

You have heard of Oru and you have heard of Igbo, you have also heard that “Oru na Igbo bu Ofu” meaning Oru and Igbo are one, meaning that we stem from the same ethnicity…but what prompted the different names??

1. Because Igbo are those who went to live in the forest hinterlands while Oru were those who settled by the River banks…
2. To say that one has gone to Oru and has gone to Igbo means that one has gone round the entire nation, in common Ogba parlance, Orul’igbo means everybody.

The Oru more specifically are Igbos who adapted to Riverine life, not just in habitat but culturally as well, their cultural norms, customs, deities and cuisine took on a riverine outlook and their civilization became aquatic centred.

Going back to our origins the proto igboid migration down from the grasslands as they adapted to forest life split in two settling on both parts of the Niger river.
A branch of these Western group settled in the low lying marshlands now known as Ukwuani. Our comprehensive study of the common Oru dialects and migratory parts shows that the Oru were an offshoot of these marshland settlements who became more aquatic and adapted to fishing, they moved to the banks of the Niger and eventually dominated it along the span and width of the Igbo nation.
They also moved to the Eastern banks of the Niger and subsequently other big rivers adjacent to the Niger such as the Orashi and the Omambala.
Amongst the Northern Igbo they were know as Olu. It is worth noting that Oru communities dominated trade along the Niger and as a result had a series of contact with Benin, Igala and Izon traders and fishermen… these contacts would eventually leave their mark.

Oru communities include, the towns of Ndokwa East(also known as Ndoshimili) such as Aboh, Ase, Ashaka e.t.c
Onya, Osekwenike, Ndoni, Ogba, Egbema, Ogbaru(Atani, Akili Ozor, Odekpe etc) Osomari, and most famously Oguta.
It also includes Anam, Olumbanasaa, Illah, Nzam in the North.

Onitsha is not generally considered Olu because the aboriginal Oru people and Igala that they met at the River banks there they later assimilated into a quarter, the Onitsha were Enuani and did not adapt to fishing but continued to depend on Ogbaru communities for that.

The Oru are astute fisher men and canoe builders(ugbo na amala), there are some unique cultural traits…

They settled in nucleated settlements/towns by the River Banks not dispersed.. The Igbo in the hinterland had an aversion for water and will normally settle 2km away from water bodies.

They have a unique dance known as egwu amala.

The eldest man is known as Oduah
Elders are greeted Ogene and men are greeted Ajie.

They have a rich cuisine filled with all kinds of fishes and aquatic foods..
they have a variety of fishing festivals.
The Oru were the earliest Igbo clan to develop an elaborate centralized monarchy centred around Royal families (Umudei) and the monarch or King known as Obi or Igwe(Ezeigwe)

They had an elaborate Ozo society that makes up the ndichee and Ndi Okpalaeze that functioned as a town congress. They hinterland people copied the offices of Iyase-Onowu, Onise and Odogwu from them.
They had a guild of Leopard warriors/titled men known as Igbu(Ogbuagu)

The Oru had two major masquerades that functioned as police, they were mmanwu and Owu,
Owu came from Oru and diffused into the hinterlands from there.

Although the Oru adapted to the waters they never quite forgot their Agrarian ancestry and one unique thing about them is that they remain accomplished farmers…unlike the Ijaw that takes entirely to the water, the end result that although the Oru lived by the River banks, they amassed vast lands inward which they maintained for farming and for hunting thus, till this day the Oru still feeds much of Igbo land not just in fish but in crops especially yams.
Because of space I’ll talk briefly of just a few Oru clans..
Ogbashu, Oguta, Akarai and Aboh. (Continued)

By kaycee Alozie

Yul Edochie a popular Nigerian actor has commended the songstress Tiwa Savage on her sex tape saying that he is impressed with the way she handled the issue and not falling to the blackamailers act.

Speaking via his verified Facebook page ,Yul said “I commend you @tiwasavage for the way you handled the issue.You may not know this but you’ve inspired so many other people who may be going through blackmail silently.

He added that “You said capital NO to blackmail and it takes a lot of strength to do so.It is well.You’re a human being, like the rest of us.Nobody holy pass.In life there will always be ups and downs.”

Finally the actor said that “You enjoy the ups and learn from the downs.
Anything that doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.Keep your head up.
Keep being strong.This too shall pass.”

Lately Tiwa has been immersed in a funny video where her private and sex life was made public, allegedly it is said that she has lost some endorsement contracts from top organisation and the pretty actress has come out to own up, she has demonstrated maturity in this issue by apologizing to her teaming fans

Anthony Emeka Nwosu