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Sir Thomas Sean Connery was a Scottish actor and producer. He is best known as the first actor to portray the British secret agent James Bond.

Ike Agu: A media cum music guru whose achievements in the United States speaks volume

One incontrovertible fact about the Igbo phenomenon is that, there is this natural inclination in every Igbo man that propels him to break unimaginable barriers and attain great heights; be it in business, medicine, arts and other stratum of human pursuit. The term ‘Igbo’ is synonymous to greatness and this burning desire to achieve success has made the Igbo man to have more foes than friends. Categorically, the story of modern civilization will be incomplete without referencing the contributions of the Igbo race

There is no country in the world one won’t find an Igbo tribe running all forms of legitimate business. Is it in Europe, America, Asia, Africa and down to the Middle East, the Igbo man is there waxing very strong. You can find the Igbo tribe in the boards of multinational corporations. They own and control large businesses across the globe. Mention some of the inventors, medical doctors and best economists in the world, an Igbo blood is there. The achievements of the Igbo tribe speaks so much volume about their peculiarity

It’s paramount to state comprehensively that this commentary is not designed in any way to whitewash any personality. It’s simply an attempt to commend the efforts of one of our own whose achievements in diaspora speaks volume

                        WHO IS IKE AGU?

Ike Agu, who is famously known as AllaBama is Nigeria’s International award-winning musician, songwriter, producer, businessman, a web developer, and award-winning Media Personality. The New York International Network is Ike Agu public notice board. Though, it is also known as AGU’s Center for Media and Music production/music Education.

Ike Agu who is an indigene of Imo State was the 1st Vice-Chair of PMAN, Lagos-Branch, and also served as the Chairman of the Anti-piracy group in Lagos, Nigeria. He has 4 albums to his credit and still actively plays music. Till date, Agu remains the first Nigerian musician who withdrew all his works from the Nigerian market and left the country on a self-imposed exile, due to tribalism and other political upheaval. Notably, he is a very outspoken man who started making headlines since he was a teenager. He is the founder of the Musicians of the Niger/NIGERIAN FM and the publisher of the NewsCap

Ike Agu was among the headliners that played at Obama’s inaugural ball in 2009. He performed his hit song “Obama: The Wind of Çhange” at the event celebrating the historic inauguration of President-elect. Ike Agu has won several awards in the United States. He is a man who cut his professional teeth in the late 80s. A man of few words but laced with staggering actions

Ndi Igbo are blessed with men and women of substance. The achievements of the illustrious sons and daughters of Ndi Igbo in diaspora keep re-defining the uniqueness of the Igbo race. However, Ike Agu presently resides in New York City and has remained a strong force to reckon with in the music and media industry

Kalu Nwokoro Idika is political analyst, investigative and freelance journalist

Kalunwokoroidika@yahoo.com

Rita Dominic   is a Nigerian actress, producer, and director. Nollywood Screen Diva

Please Save Neverland. Make Neverland a Museum and Tourist destination for Michael Jackson fans and people all around the world . Neverland is not MJ’s property anymore and MJ fans are not allowed to visit it. Fans are sad and heartbroken. MJ estate should buy Neverland back from Santa Barbara county , and open it to public just like Elvis Presley’s Graceland. Kindly sign this petition if you want to visit Neverland and want to preserve MJ’s legacy .

SEE LINK TO SIGN https://www.change.org/p/mj-estate-buy-neverland-and-make-it-tourist-spot?

Another thing is that it is a very profitable investment and with this MJ Estate will earn millions every year so kindly cooperate. If someone else would buy Neverland ,we will never be able to visit our MJ’s beloved place and we will left with nothing . We can’t let this happen!! guys i need your support so kindly take it seriously cause we have NO TIME !! Thank You..!!!

Courtesy: Change,com

SEOUL (Reuters) – Around 4,000 recovered COVID-19 patients from a religious group at the centre of South Korea’s largest outbreak will donate plasma for research, an official said on Tuesday, a day after local officials filed a lawsuit against the church. In February and March, a massive outbreak among members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus made South Korea the scene of the first large outbreak outside of China.

At least 5,213 of the country’s total 12,484 cases have been linked to the church outbreak, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). Church founder Lee Man-hee had internally advised recovered members to donate their plasma, which is badly needed for coronavirus research, Shincheonji media coordinator Kim Young-eun told Reuters on Tuesday.

Many of recovered church members wanted to donate to express thanks to the government and medical staff, she said. The city of Daegu – where most of the church infections were centred – filed a civil lawsuit against the church on Monday, seeking 100 billion won ($82.75 million) in

damages. Daegu authorities had previously filed a complaint against the church accusing it of not submitting a full list of members and facilities, and not cooperating with city health efforts.

Shincheonji says it fully complied with government efforts. The National Institute of Health said 185 people have so far come forward to donate plasma as of Monday and said they were in talks with Shincheonji for donations. South Korea health officials have said that in the absence of other treatments or vaccines, plasma therapy may be a way to lower the death rate, especially in critical patients.

At least 17 South Koreans have received the experimental therapy, which involves using plasma from recovered patients with antibodies to the virus, enabling the body to defend against the disease.

South Korea has reported 281 deaths from COVID-19. Health authorities said they were testing 176 people who came into contact with crew members on a Russian fishing vessel docked at Busan after 16 aboard the vessel were tested positive.

($1 = 1,208.4500 won)

Reporting by Sangmi Cha; Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by William M

Film festivals are not given prominence in the Nigerian Film Industry. Most of us film industry practitioners attend reputable Film Festivals outside the country. Our government sponsors some people that have attended Toronto, Cannes, Berlin e.t.c but find it too difficult to grow the local film festival. This is not the case in some of these countries’ whose Film Festivals we attend. For instance the French government supports French Cannes festival with 50℅ of the budget because of the tourism and growth of their film industry. 

The festival’s budget is about $22 million. Half of the funding comes from French taxpayers, the other half comes from corporate sponsors, according to france24.

Film festival is the only platform that attract most film industry practitioners to a particular country for some days, and the big ones last for two weeks and give opportunities for collaboration, film market etc.

Every government want to develop their tourism industry, and film festivals contribute so much in this area.

The population of California is less than 38 million but they have over 85 film festivals, including Hollywood and others, and generated $144.9 Billion in 2019 from tourism alone. These platforms attract over 250 million visitors annually. All their film festivals are under the California film commission that support and help them to flourish every year. Film festivals are too important for any country’s film industry to grow faster.