SD VIDEO: OVATION RED CAROL THEME SONG 2011

Performed by Various Nigerian Artists, including WizKid, Ice Prince, Waje, Sir Shina Peters and more. Song produced by OJB Jezerel, video produced and directed by Iykeman-Urban Touch Entertainment, video co-produced by Tobi Sunny-Daniel-State Of Mind Entertainment. Executive producer-Chief Dele Momodu-Ovation International.


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FIRE AT DOLPHIN ESTATE: 999 Call In Naija-Professionally Answered and Handled....!

After making numerous phone calls trying to find a welder (needed to fix a metal frame in my shop) with no luck, I decided to hit the streets and ask around, a detour through Dolphin Estate, I found one right at the top of Kosofe Road and just as we started to talk about my requirements, someone screamed in yoruba "Yeeee Yeeee, Inaaa jo Ile yen oh" (translates to 'that building/house is on fire')...instinctively we all turned back to look.

There were sparks and dark smoke puffing out, cables were burning right at the top of the building (3rd block of flats on Kosofe Road)  and even as the maze of cables burnt profusely, just like in movies, heroes emerged, as concerned citizens ran to rescue residents who were probably unaware of the fire.The Nigerian "Be Your Brother's Keeper" spirit was on full display...Everyone had an idea of what could have been done and a crowd quickly gathered with people screaming, watching and hoping ....

I asked someone to call the Fire Fighters but no one seemed to know their number. With nothing to lose I called 999 and was not only  shocked that it rang (with some Lagos state message playing) but also that when it was answered it was done professionally. I was in such a state of worry that people may be trapped that I spoke so fast. The operator must have noticed I was quite perturbed so she politely asked me to calm down.
She asked the details of where the situation was, the nearest bus stop and what I thought was the problem was. FIRE!FIRE! I screamed, she asked my name and said fire fighters would be despatched immediately.....! I got off the phone thinking 'WOW', something actually works in Lagos!

I then hoped that the Fire Truck would turn up like magic but 15 minutes after nothing -  I looked up and realised I was standing right under electrical poles and wires connected to the building on fire and thought - BAD IDEA! I was panicking so much I thought I was better off leaving, I couldn't stop worrying about what happened, so I went back today.

There was good news!!! I was so pleased to see that the fire had been contained and only the corridor was badly burnt. Homes were saved and thankfully no lives were lost "LAGOS STATE FIRE SERVICE" saved the day. According to Mr Toye, an eye witness, 3 Fire Engines turned up yesterday to the delight of residents and onlookers as they quickly and swiftly calmed the situation...

Isn't it great to know that  something actually works in Naija...????
There is hope oh - Nigeria Go Better!!!
Long Live Lagos State Fire Service and yes...Naija Emergency Service..."Very Well Done Oh!"


N.B: Meanwhile I still need a welder oh....infact now I'm wishing for IKEA in Naij...LOL! 

TOKE MAKINWA - Queen Nice or Queen of *WASH*

You've prolly (dats naij for 'probably'..heeehee!)heard about Vic O, Italy based Nigerian R&B Singer with  the most hilarious 'wack' songs and music videos EVER but what we don't see or hear Vic. O does and believes in himself and although he gets us in stitches every time he opens his mouth, he just carries on belting out more and more musical comedy for our enjoyment ...checkout his 'After Party' video below;




So Toke Makinwa of Flytime, interviews Vic. O and completely lies to the guy through the interview...I know I'm all for love but meen Toke Makinwa is either the Queen of love or Queen of *wash*...just check out the interview...




This Vic. O guy we know but this Toke chick is on another level meeen, she is such a pro, no giggles just major *WASH! WASH*....LOOOOOL!!!

Meanwhile if you don't know what *Wash* means in Naij just ask Eldee :)

OK peeps, how do you crown Toke Makinwa? Queen Nice or Queen Wash-Wash!

But dang...., I liked her rendition of the 'Hafter Parry' ...LOL! Maybe we should all have a 'Hafter parry'....hee!hee!

Seriously Doughnuts Quoted in Sun News Over Trans Amusement Park, Ibadan.

A family friend drew my husband's attention to an article published yesterday in Sun News (12 Dec 2011) which took an exert from my blogpost on my family trip to Trans Amusement Park earlier in the year. See the post here

Here is the article as published in Sun News on Monday 12 Dec 2011 ;

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Ajimobi, Alao-Akala’s unending face-off:
Fresh war over amusement park
From PATRICK AKPUH, Ibadan
Monday, December 12, 2011        

Unlike her next-door neighbour, Lagos, which boasts of a sprawling number of beaches, cinemas, theme parks, gardens and recreational centres, residents and tourists visiting Ibadan, have only the University of Ibadan (UI) Zoological garden and the Trans Amusement Park as the only two choices of recreational haunts.

Unfortunately, Trans Amusement Park, otherwise called Trans Wonderland, which used to be one of the most impressive wonders of South West Nigeria, is now a ghost of itself. Its cranky wheels, broken down rides, torn seats, ill-maintained machines, collectively make the park an eyesore and a source of dangerous amusement.

In her web blog, seriously doughnuts, fashion writer, Bola Obileye, could not describe her heartbreak enough. She, in company with her husband, had taken her kids to the park during one of the holidays. According to her, her husband always talked about the park, how great it used to be and how much he missed the place. But, she knew, that, like everything else in the country, the park would be “lying derelict, unused and mismanaged.” And truly, they met it so.

She writes: “We walked in and my heart sank as I saw tell tales of what once was great – carcasses of rides and games that had since broken down and disintegrated. The electric bumper cars were completely knackered and were manually being pushed by kids. Shockingly enough, amidst the rust and cranky wheels, some of the rides still worked but from where we were standing, it didn’t look like an engineer had looked at them in years. There was absolutely no way that I would allow my children on any of them.”
Previous governments in the state had attempted to resuscitate and reposition Trans Amusement Park but, all efforts have led towards the undesired direction – backwards. Millions of Naira had gone down the drain and attempts at privatizing it have failed.

The last attempt was by the immediate past administration of Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala. He had invited concessionaires to look at possible ways to make the park world class. In 2009, his administration concessioned it to a private company, Ahmak Engineering Ltd, for 30 years. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by both parties, stated that the company was to pay N50 million annually for three years. And a source in the company claimed that Ahmak paid the sum of N150million, being an advanced payment for three years to cover 2009, 2010 and 2011.
But the move has become a source of controversy as the incumbent Governor Abiola Ajimobi alleged that the process was irregular and fraudulent after reviewing it on assuming office. According to Dr. Festus Adedayo, his Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity, the whole process leading to the concessioning by the Alao-Akala government was found to be fraught with fraud and an intention to rip off the people of state.

The administration accused the former regime of slanting the process to favour Ahmak Engineering Ltd, which it said was the major contractor to the Akala government who constructed the over N30 billion LAUTECH teaching hospital and virtually all the major multi-billion naira contracts of the former government.
He also said that Ahmak and the Akala government lied about the N150million payment, revealing that contrary to the claim that the money was paid in advance, the payment was made in 2011 instead of 2009, which made the then government reject the sum of N70m paid by another bidder named Atlas Ltd.
The governor’s aide also argued that the person who signed the agreement on behalf of government then was, at the material time of appending his signature on the agreement, no longer in the service of the state government, having retired more than two months before the agreement was purportedly executed.

It was in light of all these revelations that the State Police Command, acting on the orders of the Ajimobi-led administration, invaded the park on Friday November 25, 2011, abruptly halting activities in the park and putting it under lock, an exercise which the government referred to as “repossession.”
Although the park was re-opened on Thursday, December 1, 2011, in response to the express plight of owners and operators of businesses at the park, some of the ad hoc tenants in the facility expressed disappointment at the way and manner the action was carried out, notwithstanding the underlying rationale of the invasion.

Mr. Kehinde Olaosebikan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lyrics, a Nite Club located inside the park, told Daily Sun that the invasion by over 50 gun-wielding policemen, which took place at about 9pm, caused his management and customers “huge emotional, physical, material and social damages.” According to him, the club’s musical equipment could not be put off, bills were not paid and customers were not even allowed to leave with their vehicles.
“In a commando manner, the gun wielding policemen immediately on invasion of our premises without any contact with the management of the club started shouting that everybody must vacate the premises within three minutes and threatened to shoot anybody that failed to do so,” he said.

Mrs. Afolake Ojo, chairperson of Trans Arcade Marketers Association, told Daily Sun, that traders in the park were shocked when they resumed for business on Saturday, November 26, 2011, and found the whole premises and the business areas under heavy lock and security.
Apart from the pain experienced from the business, human and legal angles, the forceful takeover has also been described as an episode in the seemingly unending political war between the present and immediate past governments in the state.

A statement signed by Prince Dotun Oyelade, press secretary to the former governor of the state, Alao-Akala, on behalf of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Synergy League, described the invasion as “democratic gangsterism.” According to the group, the action was taken to discredit the works of the immediate past regime of Alao-Akala.
The group said: “The misstep was a result of a pathological determination by the current administration to undo and discredit anything in which the immediate past administration is involved.”
But Adedayo said that his principal’s action was absolutely necessary and in the interest of the people of Oyo State, without any recourse to political witch-hunt.

“The repossession is simply in the interest of the people of Oyo State,” he said. “The state executive council sat down to review the whole concession process and discovered that the people of Oyo state have been short-changed massively.”
A recent visitor to the park who refused to have his name mentioned in print, in reacting to the government’s bid to resuscitate the facility said: “Should every great legacy in Nigeria go from “richly stupendous” to “hugely dilapidated”? Do our leaders hate the magnificence of the great parks in China, South Africa, France and the United States of America? I think the government should answer this question by making the repossession or whatever they call it worthwhile.
In what could be an attempt to assuage the fears of the latter, Secretary to the State Government, Akin Olajide recently announced that the government has “immediately instituted a new process through which the expansive land in the heart of the city would be utilized to the benefit of the people of Oyo State, rather than a small minority of individuals.” The State Ministry of Trade, Investment and Co-operatives has also been directed to liaise with tenants in the premises of the park for a review of their tenancy agreements in the interim.

The present government’s move is believed to be a passionate will to revamp the park and return it to its glorious days, but many have expressed fears that the amusement side of the park may be phased out and the place simply turned into a plaza of sort. If that happens, observers fear that festivities in the city will don the garb of funerals, weekends will become “weak ends”, holidays would become “boring days”, and Ibadan would become a tourist’s nightmare, a kid’s heartbreak, a fun seeker’s boredom and the giant that has simply refused to wake up.

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What Next?

It's great to know that our collective voice on Seriously Doughnuts and your comments (including the Anons..LOL!) regarding the matter really counts for something.Maybe if we as citizens start to cry out over issues rather than turning a blind eye and accepting things as they are , change might actually come to Nigeria.

However, at the risk of being pitched against any political group or persons - I'm issuing a disclaimer as to any affiliation with any persons or political group concerned! I can't shout oh!!! 

Just sort Naija out - Shikena!!!

Disclaimer:

Seriously Doughnuts is in no way affiliated with any political party, group or persons or associated with any political issues around Trans Amusement Park. Comments I made were solely as a concerned citizen, wishing and hoping for change in Nigeria. 

God bless and save Nigeria!!!!