NEW THINGS, OLD THINGS

What's the difference?
I guess I always knew that there is nothing new under the sun. Things is that I only recently am beginning to realise it for sure.
I am watching the power tussle in my country Nigeria. At the same time I am watching this very excellent series - game of thrones. I have always been a fan of ancient movies, movies about ancient times, and history in general.
I see that lack of knowledge of history has lead many to believe that they are doing something entirely new that no one has ever done.
The truth is that there is indeed nothing new under the sun. We simply find new ways of doing old things.
Take slavery for instance. We think that the declaration of rights has made it impossible for slave trade but slave trade has simply just found a new way to hide in plane sight.
Many men and women are still slaves today. Unfortunately, this new form of slavery is unknown to many of its slaves. I'll elaborate more on this later.
Another thing that I have seem that has never changed is the power tussle I was talking about. It's all about who can control things, who has . The most money, who can manipulate people the most and all the rest of that stuff. It's like I am watching a reenactment of "300" or even this "game of thrones".
My point is that since there is nothing new really. Then we must look back at our own lives and the lives of others that have lived before us, both the good and the bad and learn from them before we can look forward in life.
We need to stop being in such a haste everyday and pay attention to the things that really matter. Theist upward flying invention is the rocket and there is a reason why what propels it is at its rear.
Think on this till next time.

As a continuation of my thoughts, I realise that even in this age of democracy, the downtrodden do not want to support their fellows who try to rise for the good of all.
Also, even with new technology available, it seems to leave those in power even more confused over what to do about public feelings, it's really funny to watch. Till next time

Five Nigerian Movies

Five Nigerian Movies, their Directors, Dates of Production, Locations, main characters, and a summary of the story

 1.      White waters:

·         Directed by: Izu Chukwu

·         Main Characters:

1)      O. C. Okeje         as Melvin

2)      Joke Silva            as Grandma

3)      Rita Dominic      as Norlah

4)      Hodom Suk         as Banji

·         Story: A young boy abandoned by his mother and step father, because of his inability to learn. He is taken to the village to be with his grandmother who is asthmatic. He constantly has to run to the doctor to get drugs for his grandmother, so he develops the skill of running. His potential is soon discovered and he becomes a champion against all odds.

1. 2.      In the Cupboard:

·         Directed by: Desmond Elliot

·         Year of Production: 2012

·         Location: Nigeria

·         Main Characters:

1)      Ini Edo     

2)      Uti Nwanchukwu

3)      Biola Segun Williams

·         Story: A family built on wrong values and a web of deceit is torn apart by the truth at the will reading of the late father of the Family. Each individual in the family except the last child kept a dirty secret to himself. After the will reading, however, they each had to unveil their secrets, this got the situation worse and they never wanted to see each other again. After much grief however, they decide to come together, and pick up the pieces of their family life, and continue as is nothing had happened.

1. 3.      Mrs. Somebody:

·         Directors: \Desmond Elliot and Tom Robson

·         Year of Production: 2012

·         Location: Nigeria

·         Main Characters:

1)      Uche Jumbo  as Kaira

·         Story: A young lady gets frustrated of her single life at thirty, and tries to seek God for help. She however interprets the help wrongly and gets into trouble in her next two relationships. This hurt blinds her and when the right man comes her way, she sees him just like the other. She however soon realizes her wrong, and they get back together and get married.

1. 4.      Bed of Roses:

·         Directed By : Pascal Amanfo

·         Year of production : 2011

·         Location: Ghana

·         Main Characters

1)      Majid Michael      as Jason

2)      Martha Ankomah as Zina

3)      Adjetey Anang     as Dennis

4)      Yvonne Okoro      as Ella

·         Story, it is a movie that teaches life lessons with practical examples - Life is a script, life is a puzzle, those who live by the sword shall die by the sword, life is a dice, and so on.

            The story is about a girl who spends her life destroying homes and even that of her step sister. She tries to turn a new leaf, but it is too late for her. Her step sister comes back to revenge and her revenge is complete. However, the instrument to the revenge is also killed for all the time he spilled blood.

1. 5.      Damage:

·         Directed By : Moses Iwang

·         Year of production : 2011

·         Location: Nigeria

·         Main Characters:

1)                  Uche Jumbo     as Sarah

2)                  Kalu Ikeagwu  as Taiwo

·         Story: A husband and his wife are so in love with each other and at the same time hate each other so much. One minute they are in love, and the next, they are trying to kill each other. This attitude of theirs spills over to affect their kids negatively but this is not the worst case scenario. During one of their fights, they mistakenly kill their first child, who had just returned to tell them news of her passing WAEC. This puts an end to the marriage, but society is unaware of this, and the couple is about to be awarded couple of the year. They decide not to take the award as it will be a lie.

international public relations

here is my summary of a book chapter we were asked to summarise

chapter title: International Public relations: Opportunities and Challenges for the 21st century

This chapter of the book examines public relations under different topics and as it is practiced in different countries

The topics are

Extensions of symmetrical research

Many researchers have tried to study symmetry in public -relations around the world. Symmetry here means Mutual understanding

These research results below are extensions of the efforts of the IABC Excellence project. In an attempt to come about these results, the researchers have;

1)      Tested and retested existing models of research

2)      Merged different models of research to make for better results

Their result conclude that -

·         Public relations is better practiced when Public relations is made part of the management – China.

·         International public relations messages are better understood when they are applicable to large audience – India, Greece and Taiwan

·         public relations also involves ‘Personal influence relations” with government/and journalists often evading the masses –Developing countires

·         excellent public relations practice is reduced when practitioners are not involved in Strategic communication and planning –Slovenia

·         at the organizational level, a participatory culture is better than an authoritarian culture because participatory culture provides a better environment for symmetrical relationship building.

Contextualized/comparative research

This path of research seeks to compare public relations practices from around the world. This is based on the premise that cultural, social and political environments affect the practice of PR

·         In Hungary, PR is often misinterpreted to mean advertising. Employee relations and international communication is becoming more important than public and media relations.

·         Public relations together with new technologies are changing the face of public communications in former communist states – public attitudes can be assessed and the right communication is tailored to suit them.

·         In Romania public relations research discovered two opposing attitudes. On one hand, PR is still being viewed against the backdrop of Romania’s’ communist days, but  on the other hand, efforts of creating mutual understanding, are in existence.

·         In many other post-communist Countries also, skepticism is the attitude that citizens of such countries have towards PR and so the practice must be approached with care.

·         In Europe, the government policies make it in a way inevitable for the lobbying to be practiced, because it is needed to gain favorable influence.

·         Scholars encourage that PR practitioners be included in the top level management.

·         Cultural backgrounds affect PR practitioners - Austrian and Norwegian practitioners are less interested in prestige and are more concerned with avoiding uncertainties as opposed to their American counterparts

Pedagogy and ethics

This path of study examines the various bodies of knowledge that guide  practitioners in other parts of the world. Many parts of the world need more improvement in their teaching and knowledge base of PR.

·         In India , there is a short supply of experienced teachers

·         In Thailand, the teachers lack Thai content, and teaching is done based on knowledge gathered from other countries

·         In England Public relations is cloaked under business studies

·         On the ethical path, practitioners are encouraged to develop a universal set of ethics so that external publics will see the practice more seriously

Exploring presuppositions

This path is concerned with looking into the assumptions associated with international public relations. The findings are that

·         Cultural bias affects how far public relations is perceived as being able to better understand international publics

·         Therefore, practitioners must look beyond these biases to practice their proffession more effectively. These assumptions must be flexible in order to allow easy adjustment to whatever situation presents itself in a new country

·         There is a political angle to every PR activity that influences organizations decision making

Computer Assisted and On-line Reporting: FILM REVIEW- ACT OF FAITH- ETTEH IMA-ABASI

Computer Assisted and On-line Reporting: FILM REVIEW- ACT OF FAITH- ETTEH IMA-ABASI: Act of faith is a movie about a female pastor, Mrs. Uchendu, who receives a huge sum of money from a grateful church member and word of th...

summary of things fall apart

ENJOYMENT FOUR

A SUMMARRY OF THINGS FALL APART BY CHINUA ACHEBE

AS SUBMITTED BY ETTEH IMA-ABASI

MATNO 09BE08955

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE COURSE MAC 224

LECTURERA DR EKEANYANWU

                        MISS ADA SONIA

Things fall apart is he story of a man, Okonkwo, his love for his tradition, his zealousness to succeed, his misfortunes caused by a wicked chi and ultimately his regret for his clan which led to his suicidal act.

Driven by the fear of becoming a social scorn like his father, Okonkwo had started fending for himself as a young boy, he started out with nothing from his father to use in farming so he had to practice share- cropping as the people used to refer to the system of borrowing yams to plant and then pay back with a third part of the harvest, he soon had large barns even though he had t o cater for his family of three wives and eight  children together with his mother and sister due to his father’s laziness. He also soon gained prowess as the fiercest warrior the clan had ever seen but all these could not be enough to wipe away the stench that Okonkwo’s father had left behind and that resulted in his uncontrollable anger at any man or woman who sought to remind him of his father by being lazy.

In the first part of the book Okonkwo had managed to amass wealth and fame for himself through hard work and much proving of his manliness. Though he made a lot of mistakes but he was still one of the most respected men of his clan at least until he made the mistake of all mistakes. He has always treated his family with a strong hand and all his wives and children feared him terribly, he almost killed his second wife for daring to challenge him, he beat up his wife on a day meant for peace, he had killed Ikemefuna for fear of being called a woman, but killing Ikemefuna was required of him by the Oracle and not killing a son of the clan – late Ezeudu’s son.

The punishment was seven years in exile which he spent in his motherland, Mbanta. During these years Okonkwo tried his best to seem pleased with the situation he found himself, but soon he could not hold it any longer and in defiance gave his son which he had in Mbanta a name which meant “ born in a wilderness”. He worked hard and was very prosperous and his chi seemed to be sober for causing him so much pain because it had mercy on him.

During these seven years Okonkwo had yearned for his homeland, unaware of the change that had occurred in his homeland and he planned for his return but on getting back after seven years, his people had abandoned the gods of their ancestors and payed no attention to the fact that a warrior had come back to his home, not many payed attention to his virgin daughters whom he had kept from marrying any Mbanta man. The white men whom he detested much had established their presence in Umuofia and the people payed more attention to the new religion, government and the shops, but soon Okonkwo gained a level of importance at least among his clan people who still respected their fathers and soon matters arose in Umuofia that made his peculiar anger visible again

 It got to the point when the sons of Umuofia and its neighbouring villages had to burn down the church and the house of one of them Enoch and this caused the chief commissioner to put the elders in prison and out of anger, Okonkwo killed a messenger of the colonial government and hung himself in resignation of the issues surrounding him.

summary of the gods are not to blame

ENJOYMENT THREE

A SUMMARY OF THE BOOK THE GODS ARE NOT TO BLAME BY OLA ROTIMI

WRITTEN BY ETTEH IMA-ABASI

WITH MATRIC NUMBER 09BE08955

The book the gods are not to blame is the dramatic tale of a man Odewale born with a destiny he tried to run away from. At birth when his Parents took him to the village diviner  the Ogun priest to tell his future, they met sadness amidst their joyful thronging of drums and dancing; their first son was destined to kill his father and marry his mother and the only way to avert this was to kill him.

However, unable to balance understanding of his assignment coupled with   love for the new born baby, the messenger Gbonka who was sent alone to dispose of the child in a forest found a foster father for the child and went back to his place of service.

The foster parents Ogundele and Mobike who had no child happily took the child as their own and only a few people knew that the child was an but did not know the true parents of the child as Gbonka had left the two men in the bush without saying much.

As an adult, Odewale’s uncle told him the truth of his destiny but failed to mention that his real parents were not known. Because of this, he ran away to far away land where he bought a farm at the place where the three foot paths meet and he worked hard to own a good living. Sometime later an old man came to the farm land he had suffered to get and keep and claimed the land to be his and called him a thief but Odewale did not react to all of this until the old Man insulted the village they both thought he came from and that was something Odewale could not take. He tried to use his mystic powers against the old man but the old man’s powers seemed to be more potent than his so in a last attempt to save his life, he struck th man with a hoe and he died.

Odewale then ran from town to town for months until he got to Kutuje where they had just lost their king and the enemy took advantage of this to attack them, but Odewale in his hot temper led the people to war against their enemies and conquered. Due to respect they broke protocol for him and made him King of their land which meant he had to marry the wife of the late king( his mother) therefore fulfilling the whole prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother.

However, all this was yet unknown to the king until he promised to find and punish the man who killed the former king of the land whose perturbed spirit was the cause of the terrible disease that plagued the people of Kutuje; the priest accused him of being the man he was looking for, and his old friend Alaka paid him a visit and old stories were told with a new meaning to them.

Soon, Odewale saw a conspiracy between the son of the late king Adetusa and the Ogun priest and for this he swore never to set eyes on Aderopo again. When the chiefs pleaded with him to disregard the words of the priest he almost turned against them also until the queen mother, his wife told him of her first son who the priest had asked to be thrown away in the bush because he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother and that the king was reportedly killed by armed robbers. Many others bits of stories were told to confirm that old age had gotten the better of the priest and he could no longer be trusted.

When it came to the issue of the former king being killed by robbers, Odewale got interested and asked for the eye witness to be brought unaware that the same messenger who had handed him over to Ogundele was the same eye witness to the murder.

Gbonka, now grey with old age was helped by Alaka to make more sense of the stories and he finally told the truth; that Odewale was the abandoned child, the son of the late king and the son of the queen mother whom he now called wife and who was the mother of his four children. Unable to bear the truth, the queen killed herself and the king in order to fulfill his promise to the people of Kutuje plucked out his eyes and gave an order for the proper burial of the queen and banished himself with his children after mending the wounds he had created in his relationship with his brother Aderopo.

marketing techniques of MTN Nigeria

INTRODUCTION

MTN Nigeria operates one of four GSM licenses and has been in commercial operation since 2001. MTN Nigeria aggressively focused on subscriber growth, supported by rapid network roll out amid keen competition in the market. Consequently, the company significantly increased its subscriber base from 5,6 million to 8,4 million. Coming off a low base, mobile penetration again increased significantly to 13%, reflecting continued demand and intense activity by mobile operators.

AIM

The effect of marketing strategies used by a telecommunication company (MTN).

Marketing strategies in which MTN uses as the logic in their business unit hoping to achieve a successful sale and attract customers are:

PACKAGES

PAY GO

MTN offers free calls at night to its customers.  They can also register one number called magic number that allows free calls all day.

MTN ONE RATE

 MTN offers to its customers that make a lot of calls during the day like business men, marketers etc. MTN offers to all call rates, 3kobo per second across all networks all day. Additionally, the network also reduces sms rates of 5kobo all day to any number plus one free daily sms, full voice mail service, and seven free call backs per day. MTN one rate charges you for only what you used not a second more and they have numbers given in which you can subscribe to if you want the MTN pay as you go.

MTN MUZIQ

            MTN MUZIQ price plan gives you free music especially to music lovers. Get to experience music in as many ways as possible.

SPONSORSHIP

MTN sponsors of programs in other to boast sales and purchase e.g. who wants to be a millionaire, MTN/ project fame, MTN/ family challenge which in other to participate in this program one has to have an MTN line therefore it increases sales and purchase.

INTERNET SERVICES

The very best 3g services offered by MTN include fastlink mobile internet data card, voice and video calling. You can search on the Google web search engine with MTN Google sms on your phone, which does not require internet connectivity, only search by key words using text messaging service.

ADVERTISING

MTN also uses adverts which seems one of the most effective medium of marketing on t.v., radio or newspaper, internet e.t.c.

CALLER TUNEZ

One can also record his or her own tunes by downloading the latest tunes for ringing tones with MTN CALLER TUNEZ. Now there is even MTN sim plus with a huge storage capacity.

BLACKBERRY SERVICES

MTN also offer to the customers who use Blackberries various services e.g. the internet and pinging services in other for them to purchase it.

METHOD OF RESEARC H

 In the course of our research questioners were printed and distributed to MTN users using Covenant University as a case study. Based on the results we got the effect of the marketing strategies of MTN are very effective.

THE OBSERVATION

We’ve observed that as MTN roles out more marketing strategies, other network operators try to compete with them and therefore copy or further modify the offers given by MTN.

According to Ogundolapo Olawunmi – who is on pay go says she got to know about the package through a TV advert and it was the reason why she bought Mtn because she wanted free calls at night. She also can register one number called magic number that she can call for free.

According to Anyakwo Patricia – says she got interested in MTN through project fame because she feels it is nice for them to sponsor projects that bring out talents and she bought MTN in order to vote for her friend and she hasn’t had to change the line since then.

According to MR Taiwo Michael – he uses the internet services offered by MTN and he feels the N 100 the common one used by many people.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the MTN marketing strategies have been effective in attracting customers to purchase the product which is the main aim of marketing. Judging also from the level of increase in the number of subscribers which shows in MTN having three subscriber groups – 0803, 0806 and 0813 there has been an increase in purchase.