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Much is written and speculated around the increasing risks to the business, such as the adoption of the latest smart devices, but turning the debate on its head - Can mobile devices actually be used to improve security? Could they, for example, be used for improved authentication? There is currently less mobile malware around than that to the standard PC, and although this will inevitably change with time, the security controls available to use with smart devices, such as encryption can offer some protection - However, the fundamental question we all need to be asking is: Are smart devices secure enough for what they are currently being used for? Do the benefits to the business outweigh the risks and ultimately, how do you turn their use to your business advantage?

The session speakers will all put their arguments for and against improved security through mobile devices in what will surely prove to be a lively debate!.

International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day is marked on March 8 every year.[1] It is a major day of global celebration of women. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general

Photos: Agbani,Akunyili,Asa, Genevieve,Chinamanda

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celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements.
Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries, primarily Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet bloc. In many regions, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day. In other regions, however, the original political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.

March 8 marks the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, a celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women past and present that is observed around the world.

The first International Women's Day was held in 1911 in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland. Then, over a million men and women attended rallies to campaign for women's rights to work, vote and hold public office.

This year over 200 events are slated to occur in the U.S. alone.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will host the 2011 International Women of Courage Awards Ceremony with First Lady Michelle Obama. The awards annually recognize women across the globe who have shown exceptional fortitude in advocating for women's rights and empowerment -- often at great personal risk. This year's recipients include women whose occupations range from blogger to head of state.

"I believe that the rights of women and girls is the unfinished business of the 21st century," Clinton told Newsweek in a recent interview.

Though the road to gender equality may still be a long one, International Women's Day is an opportunity to meditate on how far women have already come. In honor of the event's centennial, The Guardian asked women of all ages, from 15 different countries across the world, to share the changes they've witnessed.

"I come from an ethnic Chinese family where the women went from bound feet to Rhodes scholar within four generations," said Regina Yau of Malaysia.


Airlines fly '100% female-operated' flights for Women's Day:


Air India and Air France are among the airlines flying "100% female-operated" flights today, efforts mean to commemorate International Women's Day.

Air India says it's flying 11 such flights, including on one of its ultra-long haul routes between New Delhi and Toronto.

The carrier has been flying since the 1980s, including one last year on its Mumbai-New York run. Also in 2010, Air India "operated a record 22 all-women's crew flights across domestic and international networks," according to India's Economic Times.

As for Air France, it says it is flying a female-only crew today on Air France Flight 188 from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Hong Kong.

Air France says in a press release that a "fully female" crew of 18 will operate the flight, "welcoming a crew made up of 3 female pilots and 15 air hostesses."

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International Women's Day: Case for Equal Access for Nigerian Women

As Nigerian women join their counterparts the world over to celebrate International Women's Day (IWD) today, the issue of gender inequality in the nation's polity remains on the front burner, waiting to be comprehensively addressed.

Interestingly, this year's edition marks the 100th anniversary of the Day, which traces its roots back to the second International Conference of Working Women held in Copenhagen in 1910. There, over 100 female delegates from 17 countries voted unanimously that every year, in every country, the same day should be observed to call attention to their needs.

The first IWD was therefore launched the following year in 1911, nearly a decade before women in the United States, the world's democracy symbol, would have the right to vote.

Since then, IWD has taken on a broader meaning for women all over the world. With the growing international women's movement, sustained by four United Nations women's conferences (Mexico City 1975, Copenhagen 1980, Nairobi 1985 and Beijing 1995), the Day now signifies a time to build support for women's rights and equality in a number of areas, including education, the economy and politics.

The theme for this year's celebration is "Equal Access to Education, Training, and Science and Technology: Pathway to Decent Work for Women."

But even as gender equality and empowerment of women are at the heart of many national and international commitments, including the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), not much progress has been made..

 

Women in Nigeria proudly show a hand-painted banner for peace (file photo).

Although some developing regions of the world may have reached, or are approaching gender parity in secondary school enrolment and youth literacy generally, there are still some major challenges for many countries.

In Nigeria, for instance, though the Child Rights Bill, aimed at domesticating the principles enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Union Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, suffered several setbacks before it was eventually passed into law in 2003, early marriage (before the age of 18) still persists in some parts of the country, along with the associated risks of adolescent childbearing.

Clearly, early marriage limits opportunities girls may have for education as their literacy rates, primary school completion, and secondary school enrolment are all lower than those for boys. This automatically limits the opportunities they have to effectively compete with their male counterparts in all facets of life as well as hinders their ability to even make decisions concerning their reproductive health.

If the occasion of the IWD, therefore, is to look back on past struggles and accomplishments, look forward to opportunities that await present and future generations of women, and continue to work for meaningful change, it is instructive to note that some issues that can advance women's rights, especially to participation in the political process are still missing in Nigeria as women are, largely, relegated to the background by the male dominated political class.

To some women groups, gender sensitivity, gender equality and equal rights between males and females, have never existed, particularly in some parts of the country.

Though over the last hundred years in Nigeria, some successes worth celebrating have been recorded, challenges still remain in the area of overcoming barriers to gender equality. A good number of women, for instance, are already making inroads in the corporate world, while some others have been appointed into political offices, yet some socio-cultural, political and religious factors hinder the full development of women.

Nigerian women have, indeed, continued to be underrepresented in governments and the political process as a whole.

This is in spite of government's commitment to implementation of various treaties at international, regional and national levels. In particular, Nigeria endorsed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA), which provides for the Affirmative Action Policy and the MDGs, and the National Gender Policy.

Despite these commitments and the numerical strength of women, they still occupy less than eight per cent of elective positions at all levels of governance.

Out of the about 469 members of the National Assembly, for example, only about 33 are women, constituting about seven per cent of the total number of federal lawmakers.

Nigeria does not boast of any past female president or vice president, and among the 36 state governors, there is no single woman. The best they have attained is the position of deputy governor of very few states.

This represents a systematic exclusion of about half the population of the country from mainstream political activities. Such exclusion fails the basic test of democracy and cannot facilitate Nigeria's achievement of its commitment to the MDGs.

We, therefore, ask the National Assembly to take urgent steps to speed up passage of long standing Bills on violence against women and domesticate the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Equal Opportunities' Bill and any other bills aimed at enforcing the rights of women.

On their part, the State Assemblies must ensure adoption of these bills when passed into law. More advocacy groups should also be formed to carry the message of equal access to the grassroots.

Although the 30 per cent affirmative action policy of the Beijing Declaration, which Nigeria endorsed, is yet to be fully implemented, we urge the Federal Government to take the National Gender Policy, which entrenches the affirmative action policy of 35 per cent representation of women in political, social and economic endeavours more seriously.

Gender inequality could be devastating, not only for women but also for the nation in general, because a society that marginalizes women is cutting its nose to spite its face.

Education of the girl child must be given serious attention for it is said that to educate a man is to educate an individual but to educate a woman is to educate a nation.

Government must ensure that all girls have free access to basic education and stiff penalties should be meted out to parents that fail to offer their children such opportunity. Government can afford free education if it adequately addresses the issue of corruption.

And if securing peace and social progress as well as the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms require active participation, equality and development of women, then sidelining them would amount to shooting oneself on the foot, since nowhere in the world has anyone been found, effectively, clapping with one hand.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, today denied ever accusing Supreme Court Justices of collecting bribes. In a statement released via his communications adviser, Mr. Bankole said that it was a "lie" that he had a 2-hour meeting with the American Ambassador as stated in the leaked diplomatic cable. He did admit to having met the US ambassador but only in the presence of other House leaders. The Speaker challenged the American authorities to prove " the wild allegations that strike at the integrity of Nigerian judicial institution and its foremost anti-corruption agencies."

PRESS STATEMENT

The attention of the Office of Speaker, House of Representatives has been drawn to the publication in some media quoting "Wikileaks"

alleging that Rt. Hon. Dimeji Bankole, Speaker of House of Representatives says that Supreme Court judges took bribes to validate Yar'Adua/Jonathan election as well as describing EFCC as "not worth a penny"!

We deny in strongest terms that Speaker Bankole ever made such allegations or statement against respected justices of the Supreme Court and the anti-corruption agency, EFCC in any meeting with the then US Ambassador, Ms. Robin Sanders. The official meeting Ms.

Sanders had with Mr. Speaker was in presence of leadership of the House and did not last more than 20 minutes. It is a lie that Mr. Speaker had a two hour private meeting with Ms. Sanders

The Office of the Speaker challenges US officials to authenticate this wild allegations that strike at the integrity of Nigeria judicial institution and its foremost anti-corruption agencies.

It is an open an open secret the cordial relationship that existed between the late President Yar'Adua and the Speaker aside the fact that he is part of the Yar'adua government. He could not have made an allegation against the justices which impugn on the Yar'adua government.

We are however surprised that any Nigerian medium could give credence to and publish what in essence could be mere gossip and unconfirmed summary of diplomats trying to get a grip of issues on-going in their host countries for their home government.

We want to counsel media organizations that such sensational allegations bordering on crime against the highest judicial officers of the land and its foremost anticorruption agencies should be handled more responsibly with full and verifiable authentication from all parties in the interest of protecting the institution of judiciary, the last hope of the common man.

Signed:

Chief Kayode Odunaro

Special Adviser (Communications)

Speaker, House of Representatives

Chris Brown is at the centre of another naked photo leak scandal - and this time the saucy shots are of him.

A full-frontal nude photo of the disgraced Kiss Kiss star emerged online on Friday night.

The snapshot appears to have been taken recently - because it features Brown with his newly-bleached blond hair standing in front of a mirror.

Taking to Twitter.com on Saturday, Brown seemed to be far from upset about the leak, writing, “Another day!! Another lesson! Another party!! I’m so thankful to have the support of my fans with my music!”

It’s the second controversial photo leak involving Brown in two weeks - last month, new photos of a battered Rihanna were published online, showing the injuries the singer sustained when she was assaulted by Brown in February, 2009.

Previous naked photos of Rihanna, taken while she was dating Brown, hit the internet just before the couple split in 2009...

WorldStarHipHop.com were the recipients of the leak, featuring Brown standing in front of a bathroom taking the self-portrait.

It also appears that the photo was snapped sometime over the past few months or so - with Brown's bleached hair and an iPhone 4.

The Dirt understands that the saucy pic was meant to be sent to an ex of his. Which ex, we're not too sure.

Was this a publicity stunt for his album or a case of sexting gone wrong?

Nigeria’s Oldest Governor, Murtala Nyako in Teen Sex Escapade

Huhuonline.com can authoritatively reveal that Adamawa’s dictator governor, Murtala Haman Yero Nyako has so far spent over N100million from the state resources on teenage girls for fun and sometimes travelling with them to as far as the United States and Germany where there will be absolute ‘secrecy’. As a result, according to a very credible insider, two of the governor’s teenage girl friends are now university drop outs as they could not concentrate in their studies because they are always with the governor everywhere he goes either officially or privately.

One of the victims of Nyako’s unbridled sexual life, a seventeen year old Aisha B. Dauda, whose exclusive picture with Nigeria’s oldest governor, seating on his lap in a chartered aircraft to the United States (see photo attached) clearly demonstrate how irresponsible Mr. Nyako is and how he has wasted Adamawa’s resources over the years to enjoy himself at a time his people are dying of cholera, malaria, poverty and other curable and preventable diseases. Bills/expenses of the chartered plane to US, hotel, logistics and money for shopping for Nyako’s fun with his girlfriend was borne by the Adamawa State Government.

This exclusive picture with teenage Aisha and many other nudity scenes that were later taken in Nyako’s hotel room had not only exposed the recklessness and lack of moral values of an old man but how he wasted state resources at a very difficult times to ‘enjoy’ himself and destroy the lives of girls old enough to be his grandchildren.

Our investigation reveals that poor Aisha whose photo you are seeing with Mr. Nyako could not complete her secondary education due to consistent demand of her services by Nyako. Aisha, who lives at Unguwan Rimi in Kaduna, had spent most of her time travelling to Abuja, Jimeta or the usual foreign trips abroad with her sugar daddy, Nyako to the detriment of her educational career. While he was busy destroying the life and future of Aisha, Mr. Nyako’s children have either graduated, undergoing their masters programme in some of the most expensive schools abroad or working.

Mr. Nyako’s notoriety has earned him the very opposite of a man supposedly responsible to the people of Adamawa, his home state and to his oath of allegiance and office even as his insatiable lust for teenagers remains timeless. The exclusive pictures in nudity he took with Aisha and some of his other encounters with underage girls in hotels/guest houses in and outside Nigeria speak volume for themselves. Some of these pictures of Nyako’s unbridled sexual life were taken by Aisha’s friend who accompanies them to US. Despite his unrelenting determination to rule Adamawa state by all means Nyako, apart from his age and being among the elders of the North is already married to four wives with children and many grandchildren. Some of his contemporaries, who are upset with his style of governance, say that Nyako is a highly ambitious and greedy politician, who has sold out his conscience and integrity for President Goodluck Jonathan and thereby betraying the northern agenda based on PDP zoning agreement.

Sadly enough, Mr. Nyako is not only one of the most extravagant governors in Nigeria today but one that has legalised corruption by a clique and members of his family through unprecedented looting of the state treasury and saddled with very poor performance. Nyako is arguably, by this revelation of wanton sexual urge, the worst governor the people of Adamawa ever had and yet the first regime in Adamawa’s history that got higher statutory allocation from the Federal Government, running into billions of naira with nothing in terms of projects to justify the huge allocation.

Mr. Nyako rightly runs what people of Adamawa called government of his family, business associates, in-laws and a few clique. Now that technocrats like Bello Tukur have resigned from his government to contest for the senate, the moral crises for the government will even be worse. Nyako’s poor performance as governor of Adamawa and his wanton mismanagement of the state resources is still being lamented by the citizens of the Sun Shine State coupled with how he allowed his family members to manipulate the resources of the state through bogus projects and over inflated contracts.

Pundits query why this controversial governor of Adamawa State and unarguably the oldest governor in Nigeria today have resorted to dating teenage girls by using millions of naira from the state resources to attract them and eventually destroy their future. You will not know what Nyako represents until you read our next story on his scandalous nudity clips. Watch out!

A WIFE told yesterday how she became the world's youngest gran - at just 23.

Mum-of-two Rifca Stanescu was 12 when she had her first child Maria.

She urged the girl not to follow her example - but Maria gave birth to son Ion while only 11.

Rifca had married jewellery seller Ionel Stanescu when she was 11 and he was 13.

They eloped because Rifca feared her father wanted her to marry another village lad in Investi, Romania. She was forgiven when she had her daughter - making her mum, also Maria, a great-gran at 40.

Son Nicolae was born a year later. The young mum later tried to persuade Maria to stay at school.

But Maria left to wed when she was ten - and had her baby six months later.

Rifca cuddled grandson Ion, now two, and said: "I am happy to be a grandmother but wished more for Maria."

Britain's youngest gran was an unnamed 26-year-old from Rotherham, Yorks. Her daughter, 12, gave birth in 1999.

more:

Huhuonline.com can disclose that the U.S. Marshals have added Jessica Rene Tata, a Texas daycare provider to their 15 Most Wanted fugitive list.

Jessica Renee Tata is wanted on four counts of manslaughter, six counts of reckless injury to a child, three counts of abandoning a child under 15 and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

As huhuonline.com previously reported, on Feb. 24, Tata who owned and operated Jackie’s Day Care in Houston allegedly left the premises leaving seven children alone in the house with a pot of oil on a burning stove.

The Houston Fire Department (HFD) responded to the residence at 1:30 p.m., following a 911 call reporting a fire. Upon arrival, the HFD discovered the seven children inside, four died from their injuries and three survived the fire.

Huhuonline.com checks reveal that the HFD arson investigation determined the pot of oil left on the burning stove was the cause of fire. Investigators also determined through recorded video surveillance at a nearby store that Tata arrived at the parking lot and entered the store at 1:09 p.m. The video shows her leaving the parking lot at 1:24 p.m.

HFD investigators attempted to interview Tata on the morning of Feb. 25, but she refused to answer any questions about the fire. During a second attempt to interview her later the same day, she told investigators to refer all questions to her lawyer. This is the last time law enforcement saw Tata.

The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Violent Offender and Fugitive Task Force were called in to help locate Tata. The Task Force discovered Tata flew to Georgia Feb. 26 and suspect she has fled to Nigeria. Jessca Tata parents migrated from Nigeria to the United State of America.

“Jessica Tata chose to flee from the consequences of her actions that left four innocent children dead,” said T. Michael Earp, U.S. Marshals Service Assistant Director of Investigative Operations Division. “We will do everything within our power to ensure she has her day of judgment in a U.S. court of law.”

On Feb. 28, the 180th District Court charged Tata with reckless injury to a child and a warrant was issued for her arrest. On Tuesday, the court charged her with six counts of reckless injury to a child and three counts of abandoning a child under 15, both charges are felony offenses. The Southern District of Texas charged her with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution on Wednesday. An Interpol Red Notice has also been published.

A grand jury indicted Tata on four counts of manslaughter Thursday in the 180th District Court.

Tata is a black female, 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 180 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes...

A reward up to $25,000 is being offered for information leading directly to Tata’s arrest.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to contact the nearest U.S. Marshals office or theU.S. Marshals Service Communications Center at 1-800-336-0102.

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG & LAIDE AKINBOADE INDICATIONS emerged, weekend, that no fewer than six Nigerians had been killed in the ongoing political crisis in Libya while more than 12,440 others were trapped in Tripoli and Benghazi.

This came as 1,243 Nigerians who had been stranded in Tripoli were evacuated, yesterday, with the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, using three aircraft for the operation.

Vanguard learnt that the six Nigerians were killed on their way to Tripoli from Benghazi after a bus they were travelling in came across Libyan soldiers who ordered the driver to return to where he was coming from. When the driver reportedly refused, the soldiers opened fire on the bus and the six Nigerians were killed instantly.

It was gathered that the whereabout of the only survivor remained unknown, though he was believed to have managed to join other trapped Nigerians at the Tripoli airport.

Giving details of the predicament of Nigerians in Libya in a statement, a group named Destinymakers Community Christian Campaigns & Action Network, DCCCAN, said that of the Nigerians stranded in Tripol 1000 were women; 170 babies; 5,720 youths, and 235 men, giving a total of 7,125. The group said that in Benghazi, there were 306 children; 2, 502 women and 2, 507 men, giving a total of 5, 315.

The statement said: “In the wake of crises in the Mid-east, none has posed more danger to Nigerians like the on going onslaught and massacre in Libya. Statistics put together by our organization through, Mr. Ben Igbokwe, and Mr. Solomon Okoduwa, both Nigerians at the Tripoli airport shows the figure of Nigerians stranded in Tripoli as women 1000, babies, 170, youths 5, 720, men, 235 giving a total of 7,125 Nigerians at Tripoli airport alone. Also, another Nigerian in Benghazi, Mr. Samson Aja, gave the latest figure of Nigerians in Benghazi as, children 306, women 2, 502, men 2, 507, giving a total of 5, 315 Nigerians in Benghazi.

“In the same vein, six Nigerians were reported to have died today (Saturday) on their way to Tripoli from Benghazi. We gathered from the only survival, that on their way to Tripoli on a bus they came across Libyan soldiers who ordered the driver to return to where he was coming from, but the driver refused, only for the soldiers to open fire on the bus and six Nigerians were killed instantly. The where about of one is unknown as the only survivor managed to join others at the Tripoli airport.

FG evacuates more Nigerians

The Federal Government, yesterday, evacuated more Nigerians from crisis-turned Libya. Director General of National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, the coordinating agency for the operation, Muhammad Sani_Sidi, said three aircraft arrived Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, yesterday, with 1243 Nigerians who had been stranded in Tripoli due to the on_going political crisis in Libya.

He said: “The operation has witnessed the deployment of four chartered planes with capacity to accommodate 500 passengers each as well as a commercial aircraft that could accommodate around 200 passengers. So far, the total number of Nigerians that had been evacuated is 2278.”

The agency targeted 2000 Nigerians initially, but discovered that more stranded Nigerians continued to troop out from remote areas of Libya to Tripoli Airport, seeking to be evacuated back to Nigeria.

Director, North and Horn of Africa Division, Mr. Timloh B. Nkem, who represented the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr Odein Ajumogobia, said about 3000 additional Nigerians had been registered with the Embassy official in Libya, indicating their desire to be evacuated.

The returnees, who looked exhausted and tired from the stress in Libya, commended President Goodluck Jonathan for initiating the move for their evacuation. Two of them delivered babies at Tripoli Airport while awaiting the arrival of chartered aircraft from Nigeria.

Another pregnant, woman among the returnees, who simply gave her name as Mary, said “if not for the evacuation, I wonder how I could deliver in that hard condition in crowded open camp.

“Many bad things have been written about me, but this one is written with such malice and deliberate intent to hurt that I cannot ignore it. You need to read the reports; it was written in such a way that you would know the writer is cooking up lies. My lawyer has written them, I am taking the paper to court,” these were the words of Funke Akindele at her new residence in the heart of Ikeja.

A soft-sell magazine had written that Funke Akindele was allegedly raped during a robbery incident on location of Omo Ghetto (part two) and that she had become so arrogant that she slaps people at will on location.

But in refuting the story, Funke and her management company, Stingomania Entertainment, said the story was not true and that the writer wrote with deliberately intent to malign the star.

“The robbery took place on location where lots of people were present, and if I were raped the people in the house next to the hotel, who were looking at us while the robbery was going on, would have known. It would have been a common knowledge, I don’t know why a newspaper reporter would just sit down and fabricate such a lie,” Funke said...

Chief Executive Officer of Stingomania Entertainment, Ope Banwo, said a letter had been written and sent to the magazine through its lawyer and the magazine’s response would determine the next step. “This impunity against celebrities cannot continue, it has to stop,” he said.

Meanwhile, Funke has concluded work on The Return of Jenifa, a movie she said would dwarf whatever height Jenifa reached. “You need to see The Return of Jenifa,” she said after showing this reporter a promo copy. “We didn’t spare cost or efforts, this project will make my past jobs look like child’s play.” With sparkling location shots that had not been seen in her previous works, the actress, who is a Lagos indigene, might be aiming at another box office.

The movie would be in the cinemas from August, but before that Funke would be hosting friends, fans and corporate stakeholders to a dinner later this month to unveil her plans for 2011 and appreciate those who have stood by her.

Victor Uwaifo has a string of firsts as taut and sound as those on his guitar. Among others, he is the first to break the mould of Nigerian bandleaders being either trumpeters or horns-men; Nigeria’s first true master guitarist and one of the best in world contemporary popular music. He is also the first to give a leading role for the guitar in Nigerian popular music; the first Nigerian musician to play a double-necked guitar; the first to have his record on the BBC Home Service chart-in 1966 (that hit went on to become the first Gold disc in Africa and, remains the only Gold disc in West Africa, because it was the only 45 rpm record Gold Disc before the format was phased out) and the first-ever Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism in Edo State.

It’s no wonder then that Uwaifo exhibits a streak of confidence in his art as he declares candidly and uncompromisingly, “I am not just a master guitarist; I am an institution as an instrumentalist, mostly on the guitar and flute and, basically in all spheres of life.” He might not be modest, but he has risen from being a guitar boy into a guitar maestro, genius and national musical icon.

Guitar Boy

For nearly five decades Uwaifo has continued a creative love affair with the guitar that has flourished. He has produced an exhaustive and varied catalogue of world famous contemporary popular music as well as structural innovations to the musical instrument.

Uwaifo recalls that he did “manual labour” to earn money to buy his first guitar in the 1960s. A decade later, he produced and released a tune, ‘Guitar Boy’, which became one of his greatest hits and national bestseller of the 1960s. Uwaifo had every right to tag himself the Guitar Boy back then. He is still an active instrumentalist and continues a famous musical and artistic life! His influence on guitarists in other genres of Nigerian popular music is enormous. “I inspired Sunny Ade and other juju music guitarists to stand up and play as against sitting down to play the guitar,” Uwaifo asserts.

He developed into a confident innovative master guitarist and showman. His repertoire of choreographed stunts include a stylish sequence of aerobatic somersaulting, complex body gyrations, dancing, doing the splits, playing behind his back and even with his teeth. “I bite my guitar,” he declares with relish. He attributes his physical fitness and ability to perform these tasking stunts to body-building, which he started as a secondary school student at St. Gregory’s College, Lagos. At school then he established a high jump record of 6 feet 6 inches that still stands.

Victor Uwaifo’s trademark as a guitarist include a sustained fluency in extended solos; multiple ripples of melodic sounds and harmony interlaced with percussive chords. Marvelous multi-layered guitar solos distinguish two of his greatest hits, ‘Joromi’ and ‘Guitar Boy’.

Joromi

His ingenuity with the guitar has also inspired him to design different types and shapes of the instrument. Unique to these Uwaifo wonder guitars is a combination guitar and keyboard he named Joromi.

The Guitar Boy of yesteryears is now a 70-year old Hon. Sir, Dr Victor Efosa Uwaifo JP MON. After his secondary school education, he won a scholarship to the Yaba College of Technology where he obtained a National Diploma with Distinction in Graphics. He obtained a first class honours degree in Fine and Applied Arts from the University of Benin in 1995 and went on to earn a Doctorate degree. Currently, he is Chairman of Joromi Organisation, Chairman/Director of Joromi TV (JTV) and Recording Studio. and the Victor Uwaifo Art Gallery in Benin City.

Uwaifo became a Nigerian popular music icon and international superstar in the 1960s. A many-faceted pioneer, he has contributed his own distinct musical flavour to the genre of Nigerian popular music called Highlife. His megahit ‘Joromi’, that made the BBC chart in 1966, propelled him to monumental and permanent fame. It became Africa’s first Gold disc and, over the years, Uwaifo accumulated 12 other Gold discs.

‘Joromi’, however, remains special. Its lyrics and theme, like the bulk of Uwaifo’s music, is deeply rooted in his native Benin culture. “Everything about my sound and rhythm is Benin,” he explains. “Ekasa is a rattle you tie around your ankle when you dance. The sound creates the Ekasa rhythm, which is similar to the sound of a locomotive engine. The only time they dance Ekasa in Benin is during the crowning of a new Oba (King). Some of my songs are also traceable to certain Obas and their eras. It is a way of documenting history through music.” The story of Joromi is an intriguing Benin fable. According to Uwaifo, “Joromi in Benin mythology was a wrestler, a world champion who after conquering the whole world decided to go to hell and fight the Devil with seven heads.” It is no wonder that Uwaifo named his first studio in Benin, opened in 1978, Joromi.

Legend

His background as a trained artist contributed to his creative process as a musician. “Art has form, music has form,” he explains, adding: “Art has colours and the colours have relativity with sound. Sound and colours are in harmony. If you take the harmony one by one, you have do re mi fa so la ti do…do, you represent with black, re-red, mi-blue, fa-green, so-neutral/white (which is no colour), la-yellow, ti-violet, do-you go back to the same octave. Then you can mix several colours to begin to have other families of colours. These are just the basic things. Music, art, writing, creativity, are all the same thing. They are all interwoven, co-cyclic and they work in motion and action. Once you can see art on a deep level, you can also see music.

Music has form and structure just like in architecture. You cannot put certain sounds in wrong places. Even if you are doing abstract art, the deliberate distortions must make sense.” What are the flavours of his unique sound and rhythms? “To explain the different forms of my music, I gave them different names. They have different time signatures and interpretation. Their rendition is also different. That’s why I identified them as Akwette, Sasakosa, Mutaba, Ekasa, Titibiti, and so on.” What about his approach to instrumentation? “I inter-marry African instruments, Benin instruments, percussion and other instruments with contemporary musical instruments to make African sounds. And I still retain the authenticity of the African sounds. That is the beauty of it.” How does Uwaifo classify his music? “Some of my music is Highlife. All other music whether the Ekasa or Titibiti and, all other ones put together from the East and West of Nigeria are under the same umbrella of Highlife. Highlife is the music of Nigeria and West Africa. The sounds may differ but all these various sounds put together come under Highlife!”

so if you see mammy water neva neva you run away ... eh ! 

But where is king Pago !