Peace Oni: ‘Why I left Economics for screen writing’

by: Tolu George 

Peace Oni may just be 23 years old, and may even have started Career on a ‘wrong’ track, having studied Economics as a first degree. But after a 3 months course in screen writing at the royal arts academy, in Surulere, Lagos, 5 short films for Afriwood and several scripts for Daddy girls TV series, she is now ready to explore and go deeper into the world of screen writing. She spoke to Tolu George on her life as a screen writer, among other interesting issues.

How come you switched from a career in Economics to Screen writing?

I hated every minute of studying economics, economics was your regular story of, oh my daddy said I should study this course, but I have always been interested in the arts, but I just wasn’t sure whether I wanted to take it up as a career, I also did a little bit of stage acting in school, and then I decided that this is something I really wanted to do, but as at that time, it was acting, but I knew that my daddy wouldn’t allow me do acting, so I decided to go into screen writing, the idea was to go into screen writing and show my daddy that I am intelligent and I have good plans and from there I could switch to a career in acting. I did acting back then, just for the fun, nothing more, but after a while, I decided that maybe I could just take it seriously, and then I looked at the movie industry in Nigeria and I had a lot of issues with it, and I am a firm believer of doing something about things that are wrong, so I thought Screen writing may just be it.

When did you make the break into the industry?

As a writer that was in June 2013, I met Yinka Ogun, the creator of tinsel, he came as a judge for one of our exams in Royal Arts Academy and from there, we got talking and then he introduced me to Afriwood, which is a project Under Africa Magic MNET, he told me about the project and how they were interested in upcoming writers, that could write an hour script for them and then I wrote the first script titled, a shot in the foot, it took me two months to write that script, I sent the film to the guys at Afriwood and they replied after a month that they liked the story, they went on to shoot the movie, while I went on to write four other scripts for them and am still with them.

How would you describe your experience as a screen writer so far?

Well for me I would say it’s been encouraging and that’s because there are a lot of projects for upcoming writers, as opposed to years before where you had producers treating screen writers like thrash. I think right now the screen writers are getting the respect they deserve. Although it’s not been completely smooth, but then again it’s better than what it would have been.

Men dominate the crop of people who work behind the scenes in movies, do you sometimes feel intimated?

No, not really, I feel intimidated as young writer, more than I feel intimidated as a female writer, that’s because at times when they call writer’s conferences and you see all these mature people, the likes of the man who wrote Mortal Inheritance, and then everyone looks so mature and they look like they know what they are doing, and then I am there, all fresh and young and you know, you have to look like you know what you are doing too. It takes a while to convince people that I am actually into this thing and I’m in it to give the best, but as I said, am new, so maybe I have not entered the circles where I would feel intimidated as a female writer.

So why do you feel intimidated by these writers?

As I said they look sure, they look like they know what they are doing, they look like they dominate, like they are in charge and then they have all these ideas on how things should go and everything, mean while things are changing every day, new ideas, new technology are all coming up, but you know these old generation writers are sort of set in their ways and ideas, so young people seem like a threat to them. For me I think that you just have to respect yourself and do your own stories and you will definitely find an audience, and that’s the thing I like about Ivie Okujaiye, she has broken the norm, came out and is doing her thing.

How would you describe the Nigerian film industry?

This is with all due respect to the industry in Asaba, what I mean is that, we all like to say that we are all Nollywood and all, but these set of guys seem to have these set of movies, called Asaba movies, I don’t know if you know all these movies with the village scenes and epic stories, and whether we like it or not before new projects, the likes of Afriwood came out, we’ve had this Asaba movies and those are the movies that people outside see, and if you take a look at the story line, it can be entertaining but I’m a huge fan of intelligence, so in as much as they can be entertaining, some of them don’t have a certain level of intelligence that I look for in my movies, and that most of my generation look for in their movies, so that is why you hear most people say I cannot sit down and watch a Nigerian movie, what am I watching in a Nigerian movie? I would rather sit down and watch an American movie, and you can’t blame them because they believe that watching a Nigerian movie is just for the laughs, nothing more, so when I say, I have issues, those are the kind of issues am talking about, you know these movies are entertaining and you know the way we are in Nigeria we are very dramatic and all that, but there is more to us as a people than drama, we can be intelligent, we have issues that surround our lives and I think that you can use movies to show these ideas. What inspires your own writing style?

Well, for me, I write what I will like to go to the cinema to see, which is saying a lot, because we have people that will like to go to the cinema to see American movies, and whether we like it or not we don’t have the American culture, we are still Africans and there are still things that we do that make us who we are, I think we are more than drama, so the fact that there is more to us than what the world out there sees, which isn’t their fault, it is what we show them, inspires me to write.

Who are some of the people that you look up to in the screen writing industry?

I look forward to start writing like Tunde Babalola, I think that would be nice. Tunde Babalola is deep and he writes from the angle of someone that understands the Nigerian culture, you know he has lived here and he understands these things and he still aspires to show more about us, as an intelligent people.

Most of the recognition in films goes to actors, very little recognition goes to Screen writers, does that make you sometimes toy with the idea of going back to acting?

I think it depends on why you are doing what you are doing, you know some are in it for the glamour, if you are in the industry for the glamour, you are not supposed to be a screen writer, you are supposed to be an Actor, so people can see your face and all, for me actors are in the public light and I don’t want that, I want to be behind the scenes and that’s another reason why I decided to stick with screen writing. The screen writers guild of Nigeria are discussing about an award show, that is strictly for screen writers, where screen writers get to give directors award, basically, directors that can interpret their scripts well, I think those kind of things will work. I do not think that there is anyone, who would not like his work to be appreciated, in as much as most of us screen writers are quite people and we don’t want all the noise, but still, I think, it will be nice to get appreciated, because without a script, no other person would have a job. In as much as appreciation will be beautiful, it doesn’t mean that is what we live for, or that it is the reason we do what we do, there is passion for something and it is definitely not glamour.

How do you relax?

I sleep a lot, and then I like to hang out with friends, I also like to see movies and go for church activities

As a young screen writer, do you get pressures from men so as to accept your scripts?

No, not yet, but I hear that I would get that, but it hasn’t happened. I think it happens more for actors, than it does for screen writers, you know when a lady comes and she says she is a screen writer, it’s a whole new level entirely, it’s more of intellectual stuff, than just body, that is not to say that actors are not intelligent, I think actors are also intelligent. I happened to meet some guys and I could see from their look, that they already thought I was an actress, and they were ready to do their deed and when I told them that I am a screen writer, their entire demeanor and mood suddenly changed. It’s like a whole new level of respect, which of course I think, is a great thing.

Where do you see yourself, as regards screen writing in 10 years time?

In 10 years, I would really like to have my own production company, producing my own Christian movies.

Source: Thenationonlineng

NUC accredits Engineering Courses at Adeleke University

 by: Akinpelu Femi Joseph

The Nigeria University Commission (NUC) has approved engineering programmes for Adeleke University, a private university, situated in Ede, Osun State, for the new 2014/2015 academic session.

The institution was licensed by N.U.C to start academic operations fully 2011. Adeleke University offers various courses in faculties of Business and Social Sciences, Arts and Sciences. The recent approval of the Engineering programmes has added to the list of approved faculties in the faith-based institution.

Speaking about the accreditation, Director of Admissions in the institution, Mr. Dipo Aliu, who said; “the NUC has approved engineering courses for the institution (Adeleke University), and these include Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical/ Electronic Engineering and Agricultural Engineering. These four courses, thereby, will start running immediately, from this coming session, which commences on Monday, the 13th of October, 2014.”

Source: Thenationonlineng

48 STUDENTS TO BAG UNILORIN FIRST CLASS DEGREE CERTIFICATE

UNILORIN

Forty eight graduands of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) will be awarded first class degree certificates at this year’s convocation ceremony of the institution.

In a statement, the institution’s Deputy Director, Corporate Affairs, Mr. Kunle Akogun indicated that the 48 first class graduates  are among the 5,421 graduands, who will receive  their first degrees in various disciplines at this year’s convocation, which is the 30^th in the series.

The convocation ceremonies come up October 23^rd this year.

Mr. Akogun explained that a total of 1,190 are graduating with the second class upper degree; 2,814 graduands will be awarded the Second Class Lower degree while  1,068 will bag the third class degree and 84 will get the pass grade.

 To convoke also are 18 Diploma graduands, 642 masters degree 106 Ph.D and 142 postgraduate Diploma graduands.

“A further breakdown of the performance of the graduands shows that 12 of the First Class graduates are from the Faculty of Engineering; 11 are from the Faculty of Physical Sciences; nine  from the Faculty of Life Sciences; six from the Faculty of Agriculture and five from the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences. The Faculty of Management Sciences produced two First Class graduates this year while the Faculties of Arts, Basic Medical Sciences and Education produced one first class graduate each.

“The Faculty of Education is producing the highest number of graduating students this year with a total of 1,640, followed by the Faculty of Physical Sciences (694), the Faculty of Arts (627), the Faculty of Life Sciences (491), the Faculty of Social Sciences (431) and the Faculty of Engineering and Technology (299).

“Others are: the Faculty of Management Sciences (254), the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences (238), the Faculty of Agriculture (224), the Faculty of Clinical Sciences (217), the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences (168), and the faculty of Law (156).

“In the postgraduate category, the Faculty of Management Sciences will issue 147 higher degrees, made up of 66 postgraduate Diplomas, 77 Masters degrees and four Ph.Ds. This is followed by the Faculty of Physical Sciences with 145 higher degrees, consisting 18 postgraduate Diplomas, 104 Masters degrees and 23 Ph.Ds. The Faculty of Arts is issuing 122 higher degrees, made up of 102 Masters degrees and 20 Ph.Ds while the Faculty of Education will present 121 graduands for higher degrees.

“Others are: the Faculty of Life Sciences, 89 higher degrees; the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences, 70; the Faculties of Agriculture and Law, 50 each; the Faculty of Social Sciences, 42; the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, 31; and the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, 23,” Akogun stated

Source: Thenationonlineng

Fire in UNILAG

Scene of the fire . Picture by Tolu George

By: Tolu George

A fire outbreak has occurred in the Madam Tinubu hall of the University of Lagos.
The fire was said to have started around 4am Sunday morning.
No life was lost before the fire was put off .

Source: Thenationonlineng

Members of the Writers Guild of the Kenyatta University in a group photograph with African liberty champion, Adedayo Thomas

African liberty champion, Adedayo Thomas (in cap) with members of the Writers Guild of the Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya on October 25 after Thomas delivered a lecture entitled The Role of Student-Journalists in Creating the Foundation for a Free African Society. The event was attended by over 150 students.

Photo: Writers Guild lecture, Kenya

Source: Thenationonlineng

Kogi varsity goes tough on sale of handout, sexual harassment

The Management of Kogi State University (KSU) in Anyigba has warned staff, that textbooks, and harass of students to desist or face the law.

The management said it would not condone any form of extortion of students by lecturers and non-academic staff.

In a statement by the Registrar, Mr J.A. Zhizhi, the university noted that the warning had become necessary in view of several allegations bordering on exploitative sales of unauthorised hand-outs, journals and books before, during, and after registration of students.

Other activities frowned at included deliberate delay of project assessment by supervisors in order to extort gratification, collection of unauthorised levies during defence of thesis and dissertations.

While stressing that the reported cases were being investigated, the management appealed to students and members of staff who may have been affected by these activities to promptly report to management.

Our investigations revealed that aside from money extorted from students on the sale of the hand-outs, journals and text books at exorbitant rates, names of such students are written for undue advantages

“Some members of staff give assignments to students and make them  contribute several thousands of naira each. The staff will then direct the unsuspecting students to town to hire equipment and facilities owned by them to do the assignments.The staff’s private equipment and facilities are poor and substandard, but are hired by students at exorbitant costs, compared to the state of the art equipment and facilities owned by the university, which are never made available to students to use for assignments,” some sources lamented.

source: Thenationonlineng

Students hooked on hookah

. HABEEB WHYTE (Nigerian Law School, Abuja campus) writes.

t is a beautifully designed object. The affluent use it to cool down, puffing smoke from their mouths and nostrils. In the Arab world, men sit in circles on a mat in the open, the object before them. It is also common in highbrow clubs and hotels. Hookah “is a cool way of smoking”, so say those who use it.

The device has found its way onto campuses, where student-smokers take delight in using it. To them, it is bye-bye cigarette, welcome hookah.

But Hookah (or shisha, as it is popularly called) is enjoyable and hazardous. Hookah is a single or multi-stemmed apparatus for smoking flavoured tobacco in which the smoke is passed through a water basin before inhalation. For smokers, the experience and enjoyment are nothing compared with the satisfaction derived from smoking cigarette. From the thickness of its smoke and its tobacco content, Hookah is seen as the favourite of smokers, who derive pleasure in puffing dense clouds of smoke from their noses and mouths.

The apparatus comes with four major components – a bowl, pipe, hose and smoke chamber- which are set up by smokers. This is unlike a cigarette, which is lit effortlessly.

An average Hookah smoking session lasts more than 40 minutes, in contrast to cigarette, which burns out in a few minutes. However, in an hour-long of smoking hookah, smokers consume about 100 to 200 times the volume of tobacco in a cigarette.

Also, the chemical composition of tobacco in a cigarette and hookah are different. The charcoal in hookah causes the tobacco, which is mixed with other ingredients, to be heated at a lower temperature, in contrast to a cigarette, where the tobacco is burnt at high temperature.

Since smokers consume higher tobacco in Hookah than in a stick of cigarette, it is believed hookah is hazardous to health. Despite the health consequence, student-smokers are gradually changing from cigarette to tobacco-rich hookah, spending thousands to buy the instrument.

A complete set of hookah is expensive. The least affordable electronic hookah goes for N2,100, compared to a stick of cigarette that sells for N10.

In 2005, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that water-pipe (hookah) smoking poses a serious health hazard to smokers and people around them. The body said hookah is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking.

But student-smokers are not deterred by this warning. A single hookah is enough for a group of 10 to smoke tobacco to their satisfaction. Some smokers claim hookah is good to keep the body warm during the cold. But in all weathers, the instrument is not far away from student-smokers.

To the surprise of many, hookah smokers are not limited to male students; female undergraduates also engage in it.

To Abu Bakre, a student of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, Kaduna State, hookah is the best way to smoke. “I smoke it whenever I hang out with my friends. We catch fun, smoking it together. I love the gum and mint flavour a lot. I smoke it twice in a week. It has made me stop smoking cigarette and I am happy about it. I used to exhaust a pack in a day but now, I prefer hookah because of its flavour.”

To relax, Solomon Ebiaku, an HND II Accounting student of Moshood Abiola Polythecnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta, Ogun State smoke hookah. He said the instrument comes with a different smoking experience. He said: “It is something that I do once in a while. Although, some people smoke it daily but personally, I see nothing bad in it. Whether I smoke hookah or not should not be anybody’s headache. I believe I have rights to my privacy. Hookah has helped to reduce the number of cigarette smokers among students. Cigarette is cheap and harmful but hookah is expensive but reasonable.”

In some campuses, hookah is not readily available to students. They only have opportunity to smoke it in clubs and hotels.

With N1,000, you can enjoy hookah 100 times more than the way you enjoy cigarette, Supo Laniyan, a 500-Level Agriculture student at the Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State said.

“The only thing that is disturbing is the abuse. Normally, the bottom container is meant to be filled with water but students now fill it with gin and rum. Also, the flavour is meant to be inhaled without being mixed but smokers here have devised means of mixing it with weed and other hard drugs. This distorts the concept,” he said.

According to Ibrahim Salako, an ND II Civil Engineering student of the Federal Polytechnic in Ilaro (ILARO POLY), Ogun State, hookah smokers are deceived by its sweet flavours. “The bottomline is that hookah smokers die faster than people who smoke cigarette because carbon in hookah is equivalent to 200 sticks of cigarette. So what makes hookah less harmful?” he wondered.

Abimbola Solola, a 300-Level Sociology student of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), said: “Hookah is dangerous to our health, but the manner students are getting addicted to it is worrisome. It has become an everyday thing on campus now.”

Odunayo Whyte, a 300-Level Business and Education Studies student at the Federal College of Education (FCE), Abeokuta,said he learnt about hookah when the photogragh of a female smoker went viral on the social media.

He said: “I discovered that students who smoke hookah are being influenced by people who are supposed to guide them. It is now everywhere on campuses today. We even have hookah competition, where students in various schools post their pictures on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to compare thickness of smoke. This is reality of ill in our society.”

Source: Thenationonlineng