Tokkida Samlek and the poorly Organized Nigerian Broadcasters Merit Awards (NBMA) night

Tokkida Semlek,

I applaud the organisers of the 6th Nigerian Broadcasters Merit Awards (NBMA) which took place on 27th February, 2016 at Barcelona Hotel, Wuse2 Abuja, for their consistency and painstaking in the business of Recognising, Appreciating and Celebrating hard work and excellence in the broadcast (Media) profession.

Your choice of hosting the 6th Edition in F.C.T Abuja (Barcelona Hotel) other than Lagos State is indeed commendable. It shows your ability to carry all broadcasters along. I must say "Thumbs up".

Meanwhile, despite the successfully hosting of the 6th NBMA, I noticed a lot of flaws and lack of professionalism at the over HYPED Award event.

The event was poorly managed/organised, despite the presence of top-rated Government officials, media veterans, Broadcast gurus, media houses and fans.

Though, we took advantage of the boring moments to network with fellow personalities present.

I was disappointed when I heard some respected broadcasters said " When you hear of NBMA, just shout zero". "They better continue hosting the award in Lagos, cos Abuja is used to classic and well package events"

"A 6 year old baby suppose don dey waka and talk na" Growth and Development.

Here are my observations at the award event:

1. The event which was slated for 2pm (Red Carpet) and 4pm (Main Event), started 2hrs behind the scheduled time.
Nominees/broadcaster came exactly 2pm cos, it is a noble profession that values and respects time. Though, the RED CARPET was fantastic and amazing, couple with the cocktail for guest but less of media presence.
The Minister of Communication, Barr Abdur-Raheem Adebayo Shittu came-in some minutes to 6pm and immediately the main event started. Though, he spent just 20 minutes at the event.

2. The HOSTS (Isaac and Nneka Moses of Goge Africa) didn't impress us, while anchoring the event. Though, I blame it on the organisers, cos they weren't told of how to co-ordinate the event before time. (No Rehearsal)

3. The sound provided by DJ PHYZ was below expectation. There were a lot of sound distortion of microphones throughout the event.

4. No musical artiste/comedian to entertain guests at the event. Artistes performance is vital in an award event.
We kept hearing countless boring and unnecessary musical interludes by the DJ.
Guests are always seen with grim faces when musical interlude is being announced by the HOSTs.

5. No live tweets to feed their twitter/online followers of happenings at the event.

6. The categories were too much (117 categories), that some WINNER didn't receive their Plaques at the event. Though, they promised to send it to their various locations.
After wasting our precious time at the boring event, the Veteran Television personality Mr Isaac Moses (Host) Announced the closure of the event and that some categories won't be called.
We saw guests and nominees booing and screaming "No no no no, you must announce the WINNERS even though, the plaques won't be given to them"
It was obvious, not all plaques were available at the event.

7. The Award Presenters were un-professional and bored. We saw One person presenting award to more than 7 different categories at a go.
It was painful and disheartening to see the HOSTs presenting 80% of the awards to the WINNERS back to back.

8. 70% percent of the WINNER weren't present at the event to receive their plaque. Maybe, they under-rated the award event.

I adjudge the 6th Nigerian Broadcasters Merit Awards as unprofessional, wack and my worst ever attended event for now.

Nominees, broadcasters and fans traveled from far and wide to witness boredom instead of the most anticipated fun attached to award events.

RECOMMENDATION:

I gladly advise the Organiser/Initiator of Nigerian Broadcasters Merit Awards (Mr Kazeem Poopola) to CONSULT Tok86 Int'l (Organisers of Gospelite Music Awards) to manage the subsequent award event or provide professional award event management service to them.

Congratulations to NBMA
Congratulations to All Nominees
Congratulations to All Winners

Thank you!

Tokkida Semlek
CEO Tok86 Int'l
Founder/Initaitor Gospelite Music Awards (GomAwards)

Nigerian Govt. donated 15 cars and 100 motorcycles to Electoral Commission of Benin Republic.

Nigeria has donated 15 cars and 100 motorcycles to the electoral commission of neighbouring Benin. The Nigerian Ambassador to Benin Republic, Lawrence Obisakin, during the donation, lauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts at asserting Nigeria’s leadership in Africa.
Mr. Obisakin said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Cotonou on the sidelines of the donation of 15 Hilux vehicles and 100 motorcycles to the Independent Electoral Commission of Benin by Nigeria.
The outgoing ambassador said the gesture would further strengthen the excellent bilateral relationship between the two countries.“I want to say bravo to President Muhammadu Buhari, the government and the people of Nigeria, and the diplomacy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”The diplomat said the donations were made despite the financial challenges facing Nigeria.“We know the economic conjuncture of Nigeria, However, our president, in his wisdom in spite of the economic difficulties, has been able to be sensitive to the dire need of Benin.“President Buhari, in his wisdom, has been able to find a way of helping a country that needs by far more assistance,” he said.
Mr. Obisakin said the people of Benin were grateful and will continually show appreciation over Nigeria’s support.“You heard the Chairman of Benin Electoral Commission saying this is the most welcome gift that they’ve ever received because the election is next week Sunday.“It is a presidential election and it promises to be very keen and very serious and they need the means because Benin is one of the least-developed countries.“So, Nigeria is lifting up Benin just like Europe, Germany and Britain, did to the Southern countries.“This goes to show that Nigeria is indeed a friendly nation, Nigeria is a country that is sensitive to the needs of others,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bulus Lolo, also commended Mr. Buhari, saying he had given visibility to Nigeria’s contributions to African countries since his assumption of office.“As far as I know, we have supported several countries but visibility being given is only under the Buhari’s administration.“The quantum of support may even be more by previous governments, but they did not take the necessary step to make it public.“You can see that marked on these vehicles is an inscription: `Donated by the Federal Republic of Nigeria’, that is an advertisement that you are making.“Clearly, wherever these vehicles go, everyone seeing them will know that they have come from the Government of Nigeria. We made donations in the past but wedid not declare.”Mr. Lolo had earlier presented the items to Tiando Emmanuel, President, Commission Electorale Nationale Autonome of Benin toward the March 6 general elections in the country.
NAN

Edo Guber Race: Parties worried over legality of the use of Card Reader

Following the pronouncement made by the Supreme Court that the Electoral Act does not capture the use of Smart Card Readers for the conduct of elections in the country, the Forum of Registered Political Parties (FRPP) in Edo State has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare if card readers will be used in the 2016 governorship election in the state or not.
The FRPP expressed worry over the position of the Supreme Court on card readers, noting that jettisoning card readers would return the country to manual voting with its attendant vices such as ballot box snatching/stuffing, multiple thumbprints, over-voting and outright falsification of election results.
Speaking with journalists in Benin yesterday, chairman of the FRPP and the state chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Comrade Ogba Victor, called on the National Assembly to as a matter of urgency amend the Electoral Act so to ensure that the deployment and use of the Smart Card Readers were inserted in the Act and the Nigerian Constitution.“We frown seriously at any conscious or unconscious attempt to revert Nigeria back to yester years of sorrow, anguish, maiming, arson, killing, impunity and imposition of political gladiators facilitated by the non-usage on Smart Card Readers on the Nigerian citizenry," Comrade Ogba stated.
He noted with dismay a fast emerging tendency whereby some politicians try to hijack the structures of some political parties so as to use them further their political aspirations, citing the example of an attempt by some individuals to hijack the structure of the state chapter of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).The group also expressed dissatisfaction at the spate of illegality being exhibited by some governorship aspirants in apparent contravention of the Electoral Act by displaying campaign messages on billboards as well as in the electronic media when the time was not yet ripe for such.
On the 2016 governorship election in Edo State, the group said that only a development-inclined and political driven candidate should be elected to govern the state, adding that such a candidate must go through credible sets of elections conducted at the level of political party primaries and the general election devoid of rancor and electoral fraud.



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