Government worker Iorliam Shija sits in one of the ramshackle bars along the banks of the Benue river in central Nigeria sipping from a gourd filled with frothy burukutu. The vinegary alcoholic beverage has been made here for generations from the fermented grains of sorghum and millet and consumed as a traditional alternative to beer. […]

THE history of music in Nigeria would be utterly incomplete without the inclusion of Commander Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi, a Juju maestro that has bestrode the landscape for more than 40 years. He is one of Nigeria’s oldest living and active Juju musicians and is reputed to have churned out a musical repertoire of 660 songs, a feat yet to be equaled by any African musician in history.

IN an attempt to give insight into what royalty really means, an unknown author once wrote: “A crown! What is it? It is to bear the miseries of a people. To hear their murmurs, feel their discontents, and sink beneath a load of splendid care.” That insight perhaps is the closest description of the man, Prince Bola Ajibola. Though born into royalty, the Olori Omo Oba of Owu Kingdom has spent virtually all his royal life serving humanity and dispensing justice.  

CHIEF Mbazulike Amaechi, popularly known as ‘the boy is good’ is the only surviving minister of the First Republic. He was born in Ukpor in the present day Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State on June 16, 1929. As a young boy, Mbazulike Amaechi developed the passion and desire of liberating his people. He had a burning zeal of extricating his dear country Nigeria from the clutches of the colonial masters.

SINCE today’s generation of Nigerians ignorantly regards virtually all successful people of his age as politicians, some may think he is one. That is certainly a misconception that reflects how today’s Nigeria sees being in politics as possibly the surest path to fame and wealth.