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The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, in a text message sent through Boade Akinola, the Director, Media & Public Relations at the Ministry of Health, has said that he was not aware of the discovery of a cure for HIV/AIDS by Maduike Ezeibe, a Professor of Virology at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State.

“I’m not aware of his claims. There are standard ways of disseminating such information. The Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, in conjunction with the College of Medicine University of Ibadan, has been mandated to verify two claims of cure for HIV in Nigeria. We shall make our findings public when ready,” PUNCH quoted the message as saying.

In a statement on Wednesday, Prof. Francis Otunta, the university’s Vice Chancellor, announced ‘the discovery of a drug for the treatment and cure of HIV/AIDS by the institution’.

Ezeibe had said that the medicine had been used to potentiate Ampicilin, Chloroquine, Piperazine and Sulphadimidin, among others, and could be a major foreign exchange earner for Nigeria, if approved by relevant authorities.

According to Ezeibe, “local and international pharmaceutical companies will find the product as a veritable raw material”.

Credit: PUNCH

Are you an entrepreneur in Nigeria, here are 7 funding programs you should know.
For many entrepreneurs around the world, access to financing is a major concern. In “Listening and Learning for Success – What Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs Need,” I describe the needs of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Amongst the top issues discussed, was finding methods to reduce the costs associated with doing business in Nigeria and the need for competitive interest rates on loan products. Many young entrepreneurs in Nigeria feel that they cannot start a business because they do not have access to the capital required, and those who have started a business feel that there is little to no access to capital to expand or move on to the next level. It is important to highlight the grants, competitions, and prizes available to entrepreneurs around the world. Some of these funding programs are annual, while others are a one-time event. This article aims to inform entrepreneurs living in Nigeria of seven (7) funding programs to know. Some of these government programs and private organizations seek to increase accessibility, equality, and transparency by supporting the growth, development, and sustainability of businesses in Nigeria.

• The Government Enterprise and Empowerment Program (GEEP) – GEEP is an initiative of the federal government of Nigeria and Bank of Industry. The GEEP program offers a no-interest loan scheme with a one-time 5 percent administrative fee for costs. GEEP to date has disbursed 23,400 loans to artisans, traders, farmers and entrepreneurs across 13 states. You can make GEEP part of your success story by applying for funding here. http://www.boi.ng/marketreg/

• The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) – this is an initiative of the Lagos State government. The mission of the fund is to create employment and wealth for all Lagosians. The fund wants to target 100,000 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by 2019. Through the fund, entrepreneurs receive a loan at 5 percent interest rate per annum. It is also important to note that 20 percent of SMEs in Nigeria call Lagos home. Participants of this program have received funding as high as 5 million Naira.

• The Made in Nigeria Business Challenge (MINC) – this is an initiative of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki’s office. The challenge was created to promote nation building and to celebrate everything uniquely Nigerian. The ‘Made-In-Nigeria’ challenge provides entrepreneurs with locally sourced products a platform to connect with government officials, agencies and an opportunity to discuss how the Senate President can continue to support entrepreneurial efforts through policy changes and legislation.

• The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurial Program (TEEP) – is an initiative by the Tony Elumelu Foundation that provides a $5000 seed capital to enterprising young people with good ideas. TEEP requires its program participants to attend an intensive business training and mentoring course. To date, the program has reached a total of 51 African countries with an investment of over $ 4 million.

• LoftyInc Capital Management (LCM) – is an initiative of Idris Bello and partners. The firm recently announced the launch of a new $25 million fund for African entrepreneurs, which will focus on early stage Africa-facing enterprises that leverage technologies to create social impact and tackle big problems.

• The AWP Network – founded by Mary Olushoga is a platform powering business success for African entrepreneurs. The platform helps you to turn your ideas into a reality. What can you expect from visiting the site, you can: read a story about an entrepreneur, attend an event, learn how to apply for various business grants and competitions, how to pitch, write a business plan, create a pitch deck and be connected to experts from around the world.

• Omojuwa Small Business Support Fund (SBS) – is the initiative of Japheth Omojuwa, chief strategist at Alpha Reach, the small business support fund provides grants ranging from 50,000 to 120, 000 naira to business owners in need of funding support. The purpose of the fund is to help young Nigerian entrepreneurs starting a business, it also provides existing businesses with the additional cash flow to move forward. The fund recently disbursed over 2 million naira to over 30 businesses. In addition, will help awarded entrepreneurs with website development services, media and professional support as well as business development training from volunteers.

Have more programs, organizations or firms that we should know about? Please share, email: mary (at) awpnetwork.com

The following article was written by Pius Adesanmi, a Professor of English at Carleton University, on his Facebook Page.
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President Buhari‘s administration, its supporters and well-wishers, do not want 2Baba to have his say in a democracy. They do not want him to organize a protest against the direction of Nigeria under President Buhari’s supervision.
They have denigrated him.
They have abused him.
They have abused his father and mother.
Those who defend the musician’s right to agonize and organize in a democracy have been surprised by the ferocity of those determined to silence the man.
I think that Innocent Idibia‘s traducers – the Buhari administration and its voices in the public sphere – have a better understanding of history than those who are acting surprised and are blindsided by the ferocity of the opposition to Idibia’s planned protest.
Let’s be clear: I support and endorse that protest and the spirit which informs it. If I were in the country, I’d join it to protest against the failures and the shortcomings of the current administration and insist on better, responsible, and accountable governance.
If we cede Nigeria to the crude and primitive instincts of those who would have us perish even the mere thought of peaceful and legitimate protest in a democracy just because they deify President Buhari, we are totally finished. A Nigeria in which the right to protest is demonized cannot contain us and such people.
It is instructive that many of those who are attempting to prevent legitimate protests against President Buhari in Nigeria see no contradiction whatsoever in hailing legitimate protests against President Trump in another democracy in faraway America. Perhaps we should not be surprised because irony and the Nigerian have never been good friends.
I said that the Buhari administration and its supporters who are trying to block Idibia’s right to dissent have a better handle on history than those who are surprised by the state’s reaction.
Come with me.
Centuries before Christ, in ancient Greece precisely, a fellow called Orpheus became the perfect embodiment of poetic genius in music. It was said that his father, the god Apollo, gave him a lyre and taught him to play it. Orpheus became the greatest musician in the universe. The world obeyed the command of his art. Rivers, mountains, animals, and humans all melted when he played the lyre. He fell in love with a beautiful lady called Eurydice.
Misfortune happens to this perfect love story and his wife died and descended to Hades – the underworld. Orpheus had one power, one weapon that no force could withstand – his music. With his lyre, he was able to descend to Hades, cross the dangerous Stygian realm, charm Cerberus the monster with three heads, and gain admission into the presence of Pluto, the god of the Underworld, whose heart he melted with music and retrieved his wife.
Nothing was able to withstand or block the liberating capacity of the music of Orpheus. Orpheus had served notice to humanity that music liberates. Music frees people from tyranny. Such is the awesome power of the musician.
Such is the awesome power of the musician. Fast forward to several centuries after Christ, in 13th-century Germany, the people of the little village of Hamelin were in bondage. The bondage of rat infestation. Doctors could not save them from that bondage. Armies could not save them from that bondage. A single musician and his pipe saved them. He also of course had the capacity to punish them for failing to compensate him as promised. Just as the Pied Piper of Hamelin used his music to lure the rats away, he lured the children away. Such is the awesome power of the musician.
Such is the awesome power of the musician. In Jericho, the invading Israelites had to make the transition from professional soldiers to professional musicians. They laid down their arms and blew trumpets. And the Wall of Jericho fell. Such is the awesome power of the musician.
Such is the awesome power of the musician. In folktale after folktale after folktale after folktale, Ijapa the tortoise uses song and music to conquer, to overcome, to liberate, to bring down tyranny in the Yoruba world. Such is the awesome power of the musician.
Such is the awesome power of the musician. If you watch the documentary, Amandla (find it on YouTube), you will gain an understanding of the fact that it was song and music that brought down Apartheid in South Africa. You will hear former Apartheid police officers and security forces declare that they were more afraid of the song and the chanting “of the blecks” (Blacks in South African English) than the stones and the bullets of the anti-apartheid fighters. Such is the awesome power of the musician.
The man who finds favour with the Muses and they invest the art of music in him immediately becomes an existential threat to power because he is in possession of a weapon that has been the nemesis of power throughout history. Whether he is singing or just operating in the secular realm of a protest beyond musical performance, he is still an existential threat to power.
This explains why the Buhari administration and its supporters are so afraid of Innocent Idibia. This explains why they are so jittery. And this explains why their reaction and hysterics should be familiar to those who have read enough books to understand the history of such reactions to the musician.
The Nigerians trying to stop the artist have ancestors dating all the way back to ancient Greece – agents of power and forces of reaction who have always tried to catch the wind and arrest the air. Sadly, they will go the way of all those who have tried to arrest the air before them. They will go the way of those who have tried to “arrest the music”, to borrow the title of Tejumola Olaniyan‘s excellent book.
If you are a blind Buhari supporter, Innocent Idibia is not your problem. President Buhari is. Face him and tell him to up his game and deliver on his electoral promises. You did not elect him to run Nigeria catastrophically on auto-pilot as he is currently doing. At any rate, if you are a patriot, your loyalty will always be to Nigeria and not to any President.
If you belong in Team Nigeria, the team of transcendental non-partisan patriots who believe that Nigeria is bigger than anyone, including the President, and his supporters must consequently not be allowed to reduce Nigeria to a theocracy run by their god, defend Mr. Innocent Idibia’s right to protest. Support him.
Physically, they may shut down that protest or even prevent him from holding it. Don’t worry. Idibia is an artist. He has song. He has music. He is beyond them.
Let them continue to arrest the air.
It’s their funeral.

Popular Nigerian socialite Seun Egbegbe has proved that he doesn’t just want to get off the news headlines just yet.
The Lagos big boy was recently accused of stealing and trying to defraud a phone store at the popular computer village and when it seemed many had forgotten, Mr Seun Egbegbe had to come back in our faces again.
According to a certain Pearl9ja Instagram page, Mr Seun was caught trying to rip off an unsuspecting mallam of ten million Naira earlier today pretending to be a medical doctor. Reports we got from the instagram page is that Mr Seun is back chilling in the police custody.
We will be bringing you updates on this issue soon enough.

Harrysong has had a tough week.. from getting arrested, to getting rearrested and probably holding a press conference to apologise to his former record label.
Now, the alter plate boss has declared he misses his ex… Five Star Music.
In a post he shared on his Instagram page. He captioned the logo of his former label with:

I miss my family. Love forever

 

Oladapo Olajide also known as Dapo Tuburna is an Afrobeat musician.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, on February 1^st 1994, Dapo Tuburna grew up greatly influenced by music from greats such as Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Damian Marley, Femi Kuti and 2Face Idibia. 
“Nothing” is the first single off his soon to be released debut EP, and it serves as his single to be released under the imprint of The Zone Agency. 
The Quebeat-produced song is a strong fusion of Afrobeat and Afropop. I wrote Nothing at a point in my life where all I actually had nothing but just hope – “Dapo Tuburna“ says. 

Dapo Tuburna performs with his band called the Officers Band.

 DOWNLOAD: “Dapo Tuburna - Nothing“

Migrating anywhere is not easy. It is even more challenging when you’re constrained by the absence of the educational or professional requirements for the place you’re moving to. The challenge of settling in – with or without family- always seems like a daunting feat. BellaNaija Contributor, Uloma Ezirim, has decided to share a 3-part series called Diaspora Chronicles. In this honest and refreshing segment, she shares some of her experiences since she moved to the UK. Read Part I HERE
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State, Grammar or Private? For every forward thinking parent in the UK with a 9 year old child, that is a familiar question.
So I live in a nice-ish neighbourhood in Greater London and my child is 9 – already attending a state primary school. For us, private school was not an option as we could not afford it. However, I feel confident that I am making the right choices for my child – as they are attending a “2” school.
In the UK, all schools are regulated and inspected for effectiveness by Ofsted (Office for standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills). After each inspection exercise, schools are rated 1-4. Where 1 is Outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is requires improvement and 4 is inadequate.
Soon my comfort zone would be rocked as some vital information became apparent.
In the first term of year 4, my child informed me that 3 pupils had left the school because they were preparing for secondary school. Running errands on a Saturday, I encountered a group of pupils filing out of what was called an 11+ preparation centre.
On investigating further, I realised that there is an option out there that other parents are exploring for secondary school other than state schools. That option is what is called the grammar school. To get in, my child had to pass the 11+ exam which was due in 2 years.
Some parents have been preparing for this exam since their children were 7! It was a race against time. Uloma, I thought: “where have you been?” The nearest grammar school in my catchment area was about 60 miles away.
Let me slow down and put things in perspective. For secondary school education in the UK, there are 3 options. Your choice will probably be dependent on the outcome that you are seeking.
Stats are as below:
State Schools
Attended by majority of UK children and are government-funded. Performance of state schools vary from year to year, published school league tables confirm their status at each time.
Grammar Schools
They are also government-funded but only children who pass their entrance exams by 80% or more can attend. These entrance exams are commonly known as the 11+ and are taken in the first term of year 6 (age 10/11). The exams covers one or more of the following 4 areas: English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal reasoning. Grammar schools are highly selective with a strong emphasis on academic achievement and they are usually at the top of the national school league tables.
Private schools are not government-funded. Although some do give bursaries and scholarships to a select number of students each year. In private schools, class sizes are smaller, children are more confident, driven and have access to a greater range of extra-curricular activities. Some say in these schools, mixing with affluent families builds contacts and improves their chances of getting better jobs.
The burning question now was how to get my child to attend a grammar school. They are presumed to be the next best thing to a private school and most times even better. League tables have shown that the recent attainment of grammar schools at GCSE’s, A-Levels and the International Baccalaureate had far exceeded that of some private schools.
My thinking cap was well on at this stage. I needed, a new home, new job, new school and in that order. I needed to move to a town that would tick all the boxes. I chose Kent for two main reasons. They have a whopping 37 grammar schools, and my sister was already living there.
Now, one of the influencing factors for house prices is schools but we were lucky enough to afford a house close enough to 6 grammar schools.
I also got a job in London about 45 minutes from home. So in 2.5 months, we sold up, packed up and moved up like “a thief in the night”. I had no time to say goodbye to friends. After all they don’t call me the “the hustler” for nothing.
My child got into a “1” primary school in Kent and battled with being at the top. She did not feel so brainy anymore, but in a couple of months she took her rightful position.
Thereafter, it was one tuition class after the other, online practice tests, practise test centres, mentorship and prayers. About 2000 pupils applied to our choice of grammar and she was one of the 170 that got in.
A familiar story for many I hear you say. This accomplishment remains one of my greatest yet.
This write-up will irk some particularly as it is a controversial one. However, please don’t get me wrong, as I am well aware that, a dedicated and gifted child with a strong support system will smash any exam regardless of the choice of school.
For all of you that know this story, that called me and encouraged me, my Abubabes old girls group, my friends, family, God, I say thank you.
Share your stories as always. Thank you for reading.
Photo Credit: Ron Chapple | Dreamstime.com

With Frank Donga, singer, Issi is back with visual to her single ‘Dumebi’ a lovely tune that can get you moving your body any day.

Watch here

Veteran musician Charly Boy and his model/designer daughter Dominique “Dewy” Oputa are set to be co-presenters on a new show called “Charly on the Pulpit”.
Charly Boy made the announcement on social media while posting new photos of the two of them from a recent shoot.

We love the unique angle of a father-daughter combo for a talk show.
Will you be watching/listening?