“I did not have to go borrowing. My husband helped me at the time. I started with about N1 million but that was for the decoration part. The cake part was a bit less because I did not buy everything at once. So people should not get scared because of the money involved, you can buy things bit by bit as you go on and before you know it, you would have acquired a lot more than you can imagine. “Initially for the cake, I don’t think I had more than N200,000.

My hard working parents. I was born in Ewohimi, Edo State, but my father relocated to Ijebu-Ode where he worked as a rubber plantation manager. He managed a group of people at a rubber plantation in Ijebu- Ode. This inspired me to be hard working. My widowed mother too summoned up courage when my father died and gave us (the children) needed support in her little way.

Lagos lawyer, Ebun Adegboruwa, says President Muhammadu Buhari ought to be properly advised on human rights issues amid to the on-going anti-corruption crusade so that he is not accused of vendetta.

A former presidential candidate of the defunct All Peoples Party (APP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD), and Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Olu Falae, has been in the news in the last few months.

Mentally challenged persons on the streets of Abuja are becoming an eye sore.Many of them have to deal with being abandoned and treated as less than human by the society.The stigma mental illnesses carry has broken strong family bonds and made the most caring person to turn cruel.

At 29, Sowemimo Abiodun Alex, has not only become a big success in the ICT business world but has been able to provide employment for Nigerians in his company, PageOmni.com, a multidimensional networking, advertising, marketing and communication services website. His founded PageOmni Technology Company, operators of the networking website which according to him is available to more than 500 million clients in more than 100 countries of the world proffering solutions to global business competitiveness that is beyond social media network. The young Managing Director, has other ICT subsidiaries. He is a recipient of many awards and a Nigerian to reckon with in ICT world. Excerpts:

Jesutega Onokpasa, APC chieftain, lawyer and public affairs commentator was a veteran of the June 12 struggle and pioneer member of the Campaign for Democracy. In the build up to the last elections, he was noted for his supportive stance behind the All Progressives Congress, APC at both the national and at home in his native Delta State. Onokpasa in this online interview, however, expresses reservations with the pace and pattern of the Buhari administration.

Igwe Ezeoba Alex Nwokedi, a former Press Secretary to the Head of State during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s military regime and erstwhile Chairman, Eastern Nigerian Traditional Rulers Council and Anambra State Council of Traditional Rulers, says it is unthinkable for a one-time Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Na’Abba, to want to denigrate Obasanjo to score political goal. According to the Igwe of Uthakoneze Achalla in Awka North LGA, Anambra State, his former boss remains one of the best few fit to advise President Muhammadu Buhari on matters of state. He also speaks on the pro-Biafran campaign. Excerpts:

Hearing Governor Aminu Masari speak about his state, Katsina, you will not miss, in his voice, the passion to uplift his people from under-development and abject poverty. That was the situation, last week, when Masari spoke on how his administration is delivering democracy dividends in Katsina, the first time a party, All Progressives Congress (APC), which used to be in the opposition, will take the mantle of leadership in the state, after 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) being in power.

Chief Osarowese Amehor is the Owenso of Benin Kingdom. In this chat, he calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to focus on reviving Nigeria’s crashing economy among other issues. Excerpts:

Mr Ahmed Ogembe is United State-trained Business Administrator who has been spurred by his humble beginning to always strive to give back to the society.

They should come and see what is happening in the country now. These were young people, who came out of the university and went into the army. They had been indoctrinated. They came out of school wanting to see an ideal society. They had their mindset on the right things they felt the country should do. Any other way would not be tolerated. And they swallowed all they read and learnt. They were looking for perfection. It is not that they came out wanting to kill because they wanted positions. They came out to do what they did because they were indoctrinated and they wanted a country that is perfect. But I think also that they may have been used by some greedy politicians.

Senator Adamu Aliero was governor of Kebbi State between 1999 and 2007. He was later appointed as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. He is presently the Senate Committee Chairman on Customs. He explains, in this interview, why he supports the pro-Biafra protesters but disapproves of their break-away plan. Aliero says importation of rice must remain banned and describes the present revenue sharing formula as unconstitutional.

The issue of Nigeria has changed. Of course, Buhari brought this bandwagon, the change initiative which he told God that he wants to implement and Nigerians decided to follow him. But Buhari should be very careful because some people do not want him to go into the implementation stage of the change mantra. Change has many stages. You cannot remain a good egg forever. You either hatch as a chicken or you get eaten as a good egg. So, Buhari’s change has to be implemented and he should note that there is a bloc within the National Assembly that wants to undo him and they can go to any length because they do not want Buhari to continue.

Third what are we as Africans doing to solve the problem? I announced that AfDB will increase our support for climate financing to $5 billion a year by 2020. That will make us one of the largest financiers of climate change among the development banks in the world. So climate finance in the AfDB by 2020 will represent 40 percent of all of our portfolio as I want greener Africa and the Bank is ready to support that.