Talk about Niger Delta people, the things that come to mind are oil, militancy and youths restiveness occasioned by many years of exploitation of the oil rich region. But that does not take away the fact that apart from oil the region can still boast of producing some of the finest brains in the different areas of human endeavor.

Following the controversies that trailed the non emergence of a winner from the nine short listed poets for the 2009 NLNG prize for Literature which somehow strained the relationship between the writers and the sponsors of the Africa’s richest poetry prize, Liquefied Natural Gas of Nigeria (NLNG), the company last week at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs(NIIA) Victoria Island organized what it tagged a ‘Dialogue with Writers’ to look for the way forward.

Following his recent appointment as the Acting Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria, Martin Adaji, last week in Lagos at a Press parley with journalists outlined programs of action to help promote and propel the activities of the Parastatal forward.

THE news came as a good development, one which does not happen frequently in the industry, when MultiChoice Nigeria in partnership with the Cable News Network International (CNN) announced a two-day media workshop to enhance the skills of journalists plying their trade in Nigeria.

IT was indeed a Valentine gift to Arts and culture lovers and numerous customers of Mega Plaza Shopping complex as Cameroonian artist and designer, Catherine Pittet in partnership with Mega Plaza presented a special exhibition of unity tagged, Valentine Art Exhibition – an exhibition of Art works and paintings of Cameroonian and Nigerian Artists at Mega Plaza, 14, Idowu Martins Street, Victoria Island. The exhibition which featured about 50 works of arts mixed with fashion show opened on February 12 and will end on February 21, 2010.