The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enalamah, yesterday, said the results of the efforts by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration will surprise Nigerians in 2017.
The minister, who was in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital spoke with newsmen at the 8th Session of the National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment.
Enalamah said the Federal government is strifing to end the current economic recession. He said:”You will start seeing result at the end of this year and early next year. As far as I am concerned, next year is a year of results. All the work we are doing will start yielding results from this quarter.
“The level of delivery in 2017 will suprise everybody. People may be saying we are not doing anything but it is impossible for a man to start broadcasting a plan we haven’t really put together well.”
The Minister however, stated that the strategic focus of the ministry’s master plan for Diversification and Growth of the Nigerian Economy is: “Partnering with Private and Development Capital to Leverage and Catalyze Resources for diversification and growth.”
According to the Minister, ”The challenge in every economy is that of infinite demands and finite resources. With limited resources therefore, the Diversification and Growth plan, otherwise known as the MITI Plan is based on a partnership with the private sector.”
He emphasized that based on resource constraints and low price of commodities, including oil, it is an urgent necessity to partner with the private sector so as to leverage and catalyse resources and development capital.
According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the establishment of the Presidential Council on Ease-of Doing Business (PEBES). We, as Nigerians, must see the connection. The global perception is that this country is a tough environment in which to do business. We must change this negative perception. Positive perceptions will attract investors, capital, technology and best practices.
Enelamah explained that already, we are seeing results of these efforts at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), a parastatal under the Ministry, with the 24-hour online registration of businesses.
Marketing Made Easy with the Instagram Followers Hack
If you have business prospects to enhance, there is nothing like social networking sites doing the job for you. To use a hyperbole, almost everyone is online these days, and reaching out to customers has never been easier. However, with all the possibilities there comes the role of creating a profile good enough for people to follow. It is about understanding what people want to see, hear and like. There are entrepreneurs who want to go through all the hassles internet marketing could involve and then there are entrepreneurs like you who find ways to make their job easier. The Instagram followers hack has been essentially designed for people like you who are looking at accumulating a host of free Instagram followers without spending time or money on it.
The need of the hour is to popularize your products and services among masses in a way so that there is no looking back. When you gain Instagram followers, you are always one step ahead in the race that everyone around is running.
Why do I need the Instagram followers hack?
Instagram is a photography app that lets you capture and share important and meaningful moments in your life to your audience. You can play around with filters, and layouts and create a custmoized memory for you and for the people who follow you. Using hashtags, you can create a category for your images and ensure that your image of something pops up in a hashtag search. A social networking site that offers you limitless possibilities and opportunities to popularize your business in the best possible ways is your ultimate marketing tool. Instagram is well connected to other equally popular networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc, and this is further good news for your business potential. To make your business presentation more presentable, you will need a massive amount of followers. In other words, you will need to get Instagram followers to make your Instagram marketing successful. Furthermore, if you are an artist, an aspiring musician, actor or a model, Instagram will let you upload your video clips and images for more people to be able to have access to your talent. A reputable Instagram account can be created with the Instagram followers hack that will generated more likes and get you more followers on Instagram.
While you are wondering how to gain followers on Instagram, let us make this simple for you. The Instagram follower’s hack will ensure you are not spending money to buy Instagram followers.
This hack will allow you to get free followers on Instagram and do the marketing in a much more efficient way than you could have done it yourself!
How to get a lot of followers on Instagram with the Instagram followers hack?
The Instagram followers hack is a reliable tool, in the sense that its sole purpose is to equip you with enough Instagram followers to have an edge over others. It is not a hack that will only increase the count of your followers and do nothing to enhance your account’s potential. Neither will it spam you with adware and malware that could potentially get your account banned. For the Instagram followers hack tool to work, all you need is a secure and stable internet connection so that you could have access to the hack’s servers. The program would require you to enter the Username of the account you need the Instagram followers for. The account need not necessarily be your own, which implies that you can generate free Instagram followers for whichever account you wish to. The next step is to select how many followers on Instagram you need and the country from where you need the followers. It is not essential to choose the number of followers at once. You can gradually add to the number of the followers as and when you need. The final step is to click on ‘Generate’ that will add the required number of followers to your Instagram account. This is how simple it is to get free Instagram followers instantly with the Instagram followers hack tool.
Gain Instagram followers without compromising on security with the Instagram followers hack
You would be happy to know that the Instagram followers hack tool is absolutely safe and there is no risk associated with it. This is a tried and tested online solution to your search for Instagram followers. The developers of the Instagram followers hack tool understand that the security of their clients ranks first and they have taken everything in their stride to ensure that their services never cause any security hassle. While creating your stash of free followers on Instagram, the Instagram followers hack keeps your account safe and undetectable. To add to its security measures, the tool is an online generator which means that there is no downloading or installation in the way. Furthermore, the Instagram followers hack is virus or Trojan free which is an added security feature. The Instagram followers hack tool is also updated frequently so that it works efficiently each time you log in to the website.
How to get more likes on Instagram with the Instagram followers hack?
As mentioned before, Instagram is not only a potential source for acquiring more clients for your business but also a considerable exposure for people aspiring to be under the limelight. Free followers on Instagram can enhance the chances of your posts appearing on the Explore tab, which in turn increases the possibilities of your profile getting noticed by talent scouts and magazines. A considerable number of likes can ensure that your profile is pushed ahead when that is all you want. With the Instagram followers hack, this need is met almost instantly. Moreover, when you have a target audience from whom you wish to earn likes and free followers for yourself, this hack tool allows you to conveniently choose your target country. You end up with a filtered and customized audience to better your business or brand reach.
How to get more followers on Instagram in the fastest way possible?
When you need more followers on Instagram, there is a long list of things to do, like buying an expensive camera for high-resolution images, posting and updating every day, ensuring that your profile is in sync with what is trending etc. Instagram marketing does have its own complications. What if you have neither time nor that amount of funds at your disposal? With the Instagram followers hack, you will no longer need to spend hours, days, weeks and months to get free followers. This online generator will ensure free followers in the shortest span of time.
Free Instagram followers no survey hack- Is that even possible?
A lot of paid and unpaid hack tools will lure you with offers and surveys but end up adding no value to your profile. With the free Instagram followers no survey hack tool, you get to generate your followers without needing to fill out any information or availing unnecessary offers. This goes further in maintaining your anonymity.
Tips and tricks while using the Instagram followers hack tool
While using this hack tool there are a few things to remember in order to keep your account safe and get the most out of this online generator:
Ensuring a 30 minute interval while using this hack will prevent your account from getting detected.
Add the number of followers gradually instead of all at once.
Choose your target audience by selecting the country.
Find a legitimate website to avail the hack.
How to get followers on Instagram without any scam?
The Internet is filled with websites and applications that claim to get you more followers and likes on Instagram than ever before. Your job is to find out which one is genuine and which one is a scam. How will you find out? While using a genuine Instagram followers hack tool, you will never be asked for your email address and password. If a hack tool asks for these details, you should instantly leave the page because personal account details are supposed to be confidential. Such hacks are nothing but scam and will only lead a deletion or banning of your account. You are ideally not supposed to pay any money while using the hack tool but if an app does ask for money, it is definitely not the authentic version.
How have users taken to the Instagram followers hack?
Users who have tried the Instagram followers hack tool have considerably positive reviews to give. Not only is the time frame of great benefit but also the possibilities that are endless with the usage of this hack tool. This hack has been released into the market only after thorough research in order to fix the bugs that were earlier reported by the initial users. With no fake accounts that could be banned by authorities, this hack tool is definitely quite popular among users, considering the number of people vouching for it.
Transform your marketing ideas with the Instagram followers hack
Whether you have a digital startup, or aspire to be a fashion designer, a model or an actor; whichever business idea might be budding in your mind right now can be marketed at the word go with the Instagram followers hack. Building your reputation, enhancing your profile, bettering your reach and getting more people to follow you without spending a penny can be made possible without much ado. It is all about taking the initiative and click on Generate; life will never be the same again!
1. Of all the shapes to choose from, it had to be this one. Lets give them the benefit of doubt. Perhaps the railing was constructed on a cloudy day and the contractor was in a rush.
2. I can’t imagine any scenario in which space is at this much of a premium. How do you even fit under there? and please dont tell me its still same place you wash your hands when you are done where the f*** is this architect
3. I can only imagine that the contractor who built this house found a way to go around a petition for the playground to remain in place. or he never planed on letting anyone play with this
4. This staircase makes me wonder whether they built it from the top. If you are going to start something, you might as well finish it. Especially if its the way to the top or bottom.
5. When the foreman is too drunk to inspect the building. Seriously, how do you forget to add a door for the balcony?
6. Clearly didn’t want to anger the gods by disrupting nature.
7. I am no engineer but i believe a wheelchair would require a lot of momentum to go up these stairs. Nonetheless, points for effort
8. I would expect an archer to miss the target but this is not even close to a situation that allows one to miss the target
9. Well, this is weird. How thoughtful to put a window there. I wonder if the light can go through the bricks of that chimney
10. Perhaps this door belongs to a time when everyone carries a jet pack.
A video posted by Desmond maximus (@desmondscepter) on
The fireworks have faded, the champagne bottles are lined up for recycling, and those midnight text messages you didn’t mean to send but did anyway are fading into memory – or so you hope.
2016 is here and with it a chance to start the new business year with a bang. Your goals are set, your team is pumped, and you’re already hitting the ground and running.
But what has changed since last year? How will the world of online marketing look in this new year? And what opportunities should you be aiming for in the year ahead?
All this week we’re looking at the most important digital marketing trends for 2016. Whether in the domain of SEO, online video, blogging, or social media, our four-post series will explain what you need to know about the year ahead so you can deploy your marketing resources efficiently, effectively, and hit those goals.
Want to download these blogging trends as a PDF?
Enter your email and get it for free!
The first blogs appeared in the late 1990s meaning that, in 2016, blogs are moving out of their awkward teenage years and entering a more mature stage. Much has changed over those two decades and, indeed, much continues to evolve in the blogging world today.
Some of the most popular blogging platforms have only emerged recently. For example, Medium is a daily destination for millions of internet users and the blogging platform of choice for a growing group of individuals and businesses. Just four years ago, Medium didn’t exist.
Also forcing change on the world of blogging are the social networks that, in recent years, have evolved from narrowly-focused content aggregators and sharing sites into elaborate content management systems of their own. Whether microblogging on Twitter, or posting long-form content on Facebook using a much-improved Notes feature, the line between social sharing and blogging has been significantly blurred.
Blogging, too, has also continued to evolve from a leisure activity one might engage in to share a passion or record their personal hopes and dreams and towards a legitimate career choice for talented content creators. While ‘blogging’ might have only been entered on a resume under ‘Hobbies and Interest’ in 2006, in 2016 it is just as likely to be found under ‘Work Experience’ on the same document.
But where is all this change leading?
And what other changes can we expect to see on the blogging landscape in the 12 months ahead?
Here are the five trends that will impact significantly on blogging in the year ahead, and how smart content marketers can take advantage of each to deliver value for their readers, grow their audience, and use their corporate blog to develop more and better leads.
Trends in Blogging #1: The End of the Blogger
How can you have a blog without a blogger? The simple answer is ‘you can not’, but that is exactly what we’ll see in the year ahead. Not fewer people blogging, but fewer people describing themselves as bloggers. Instead, we’ll read more and more about influencers.
This makes sense. Bloggers today are not simply writers looking for an outlet. Instead, they draw together text, images, online video, knowledge of pop culture and trends, business savvy, powerful and extensive social networks, and the skills to bring all of this to bear in a dynamic zeitgeist to deliver value for their audience, advertisers, and themselves. “Blogger” just doesn’t seem big enough to corral this diverse skill set, and when outreach is your career and your focus is on adding value, “influencer” seems so much more appropriate.
For those who see their blog as a tool by which to monetize their network, ‘influencer’ might be a synonym for ‘gun for hire’. For others with established distribution platforms and channels for their work – for example, television, books, or film – might see their blog as a chance to influence sales and conversions elsewhere. For those who will spend much of 2016 running for elected office in the United States, their blog is nothing less than a blatant appeal for influence upon the votes of millions of Americans.
And all of this suggests that 2016 might sound the death knell for the blogger and the arrival in force of the influencer.
Trends in Blogging #2: Size Matters
The size of the post, that is.
With more people than ever getting their information online, blog posts and articles need to cut through the noise and deliver real value. And frankly, it’s the rare 200-word piece that is going to be as useful to the reader when faced with competition from extensive, data-backed 2000 to 3000-word pieces.
Orbit Media Studios surveyed more than 1000 leading bloggers and found that the average length of a post in 2015 was 900 words, an increase of 100 words or more than 10% over the year before. As marketing expert Ann Handley has said, “To thrive in an over-saturated content world, you’ll need to constantly write or produce (and syndicate) content with depth. Longer posts, more substantive content that people find useful and inspired.”
In 2016 you can expect to see this trend towards longer posts and more substantive articles continue. ‘Click bait’, thanks to the efforts of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and other search engines and content aggregators, is likely to die out, and low-value ‘listicles’ are likely to go the same way.
For companies and even individuals that are looking to bring in qualified traffic this coming year, there will be a greater emphasis on the length of the article being published as well as its value. While size isn’t going to be the be-all-and-end-all of blogging, it will be an increasingly important element in proving value, seriousness, and expertise to curious visitors.
Trends in Blogging #3: The End of Comments
Let’s call this one the ‘reverse Instapundit’.
For many years Professor Glenn Reynolds’ blog Instapundit was known for two primary reasons: first, a link from the blog could send enough traffic to crash all but the most well-prepared sites with an ‘Instalanche’ of readers; and second, the blog was one of the few high-profile blogs that did not have a space for readers to comment on posts.
More recently, though, Reynolds has not only brought a suite of co-bloggers on board, he has also opened up the posts for comments by readers. The site has always had a large audience, and now that audience has more of a reason to stick around.
For most sites, though, there is reason to believe that 2016 will see the end of comments on blog posts as we have known them for the last 15 years. The reason? It’s not complicated, it’s social. In simple terms, comments are not what creators want to spend their time managing, and they are not where readers want to have their conversations.
Comments on blogs require either active moderation on the part of the owner, or an acceptance that the discussion underneath a blog post will quickly devolve into the cesspool of disagreement, name-calling, and abuse. For readers, too, there is a big disadvantage in commenting on many blogs. Not only is it one more password/login combination to recall or record, it is a conversation that is limited on an internet that is not.
This is why in 2016 we’ll see the conversation move to the social sphere, perhaps entirely. Want to make a comment on a blog post? Cite the URL and share it on Twitter. Blog owners will encourage comments on Facebook, either using a dedicated comment/conversation plugin, or syndicating their posts entirely on the big blue social network.
The conversations will continue, but they won’t be the comments we’ve come to know.
Trends in Blogging #4: Great Graphics
Just as, by year end, we’ll be referring to bloggers as influencers, we’ll also stop thinking about blogging as a text-based communications medium. While the trend is not towards the disappearance of text altogether – there is really very little that is as fast, convenient and efficient at transferring an idea in an asynchronous way than text – we will see bloggers and influencers use text less and graphical elements more.
In a sense, this move towards blogging with graphics and images mirrors a wider trend online towards graphical content. Social networks have long reported that content, status updates, and shares that include an image are viewed, shared, and engaged with at far higher rates than text-only content. And the growth of social networks and billion dollar companies founded on image sharing alone (think Instagram and Pinterest, or Shutterstock and Flickr, for example) suggest there is power in not saying a word, so to speak.
In 2016 this trend will see graphical content (including high-resolution images, infographics, design elements and icon sets, and images designed for sharing on social networks) come to the fore. Instead of images being secondary to a post or a writer seeking relevant images for their post in the wake of its drafting, images will become a more central feature of the blog post, with the trend towards Tumblr-style image-blogging expanding.
And here’s a prediction. The best content will combine two trends in blogging: great graphics and longer posts. Nobody wants to wade through a wall of text on a screen, and long slideshows are equally unpopular. But the combination of long form text with high-quality images that support and augment that text will be near irresistible.
Trends in Blogging #5: The Era of Engagement
In the past bloggers would brag about their traffic. The key statistics were unique visitors and page views, and the bigger the numbers, the better the blog. When your numbers climbed high enough you’d try and monetize, selling a bit of your screen real estate to AdWords or a display ad serving company. Times were good for high-traffic blogs, but there was trouble ahead.
As content creators realized that advertisers preferred eyeballs above all else, they started doing whatever they could to build massive audiences, no matter how temporary. Click bait, hate bait, listicles, low-value content, slideshows, memes, and sometimes just flat out content appropriation – OK, content theft – all reared their ugly heads. Traffic spiked but users were left unsatisfied – and advertisers, too. What was a win-win was now trending lose-lose.
Luckily, in 2016, this will start to turn around
The most important metric for bloggers in the year ahead will not be their traffic or their page views. It will be their engagement rates. Can the blogger attract readers – no matter the size of the audience – and keep them on the site? Can the blogger create a community, giving readers something to come back for other than just fresh writing and attractive images? Can a blogger press publish and be rewarded with Twitter shares, Facebook posts lauding the content, and the launch of dozens of discussions on social media? And can the blogger remain at the center of all of this?
Whether a small but dedicated niche audience or a community of hundreds of thousands of committed devotees, what will matter for bloggers in 2016 is the engagement rate of that audience – the higher, the better.
Conclusion
Blogging isn’t going anywhere and will continue to evolve in its role as one of the most important content creation, publication, and distribution strategies for businesses and individuals online. The trends in blogging outlined here are the most important in terms of their impact on the blogging landscape in 2016, but they are far from the only trends impacting bloggers and blogging generally.
A new one from the producers of 30 days in Atlanta a comedy movie and bluckbuster
After a successful debut as a producer in 2014 with the highly acclaimed ’30 Days In Atlanta’ which broke all Hollywood and Nollywood box office records to become the highest grossing movie in the history of Nigeria, award-winning comedian AY is back again to engage and entertain movie lovers across the country with his highly anticipated movie ‘A Trip To Jamaica’.
According to Ayo Makun (AY), the executive producer, the movie is a hilarious installment of the Akpos series and was shot in Lagos, Atlanta and Montego Bay in Jamaica, with an all-star cast drawn from Nigeria, Ghana, America and Jamaica. “After the success of ‘30 Days In Atlanta’ there were a lot of calls for more so we decided to do a spinoff to showcase further adventures of Akpos”.
‘A Trip to Jamaica’ which bridges the gap between Nollywood, Gollywood, Hollywood and the Jamaican movie industry will be showcasing AY again as the no-holds-barred Akpos, alongside the award-winning FunkeAkindele, who plays Bola in the high voltage potpourri of love, adventure, crime and lots of comedy.
Other members of the high profile cast for this movie includes, celebrated Hollywood veteran Eric Roberts, Paul Campbell of ‘The 3rd World Cop’ fame in Jamaica, Nollywood A- List actress NseIkpe-Etim, Ghanaian Lover Boy Chris Attoh, Dan Davies from Hollywood and Rebecca Silvera who was the former Miss Jamaica and the Winner of ‘She’s Got Game’ American reality television dating game show.Also including cameo appearances from Music Stars: Cynthia Morgan, Patoranking and Olamide.
Building mounds of new lean muscle means hitting the weights hard. This month-long program will have you doing just that.
It’s a lofty goal: Gain 10 pounds of muscle in just one month. While such results are aggressive and can’t continue at the same torrid rate indefinitely, we’ve seen firsthand individuals who’ve followed our mass-gaining programs and reached double digits in four short weeks, averaging gains of 2-3 pounds a week. Trust us, it can be done. But if there’s one thing such a bold goal needs, it’s an ambitious training and nutrition strategy. In regard to nutrition, don’t even think about taking that aspect lightly. You can work out all you want, but if you don’t ingest adequate calories and macronutrients, you won’t build muscle. What and when you eat is paramount to your results, and you’ll find all you need to know about gaining mass in a short amount of time in our bulking diet meal plan.
First up, however, is training. Our two-phase program is designed to build muscle via the right balance of mass-building exercises, sufficient volume and intensity-boosting techniques. It’s time to get started on your next 10 pounds.
Weeks 1-2: Heavy Hitter
The first two weeks of the program are all about lifting heavy with mass-building compound exercises. For everything but abs and calves, reps fall in the 6-8 range; for those accustomed to doing sets of 8-12, this means going heavier than normal. There are very few isolation exercises during this phase for chest, back, shoulders and legs because the emphasis is on moving as much weight as possible to add strength and size. The volume here isn’t excessive. You’ll do 11 sets total for large muscle groups (the one exception being shoulders, for which you’ll do 15) and train each bodypart once a week. Reason being, to pack on tons of mass you need ample recovery time. Doing endless sets in each workout can easily put you in a catabolic (muscle-wasting) state in which lean tissue is broken down, not built up. Gaining 10 pounds of muscle in such a short period requires the right balance of adequate volume to rest and recovery. The four-day split pairs a large bodypart (chest, back, shoulders, quads/hams) with one or two smaller muscle groups (tri’s, bi’s, traps, calves, abs) in each workout. This helps ensure that you’re fresh when doing your heaviest compound exercises.
Weeks 3-4: Intensity Boost
The second half of the program is all about maximizing size with slightly higher reps and an emphasis on intensity. Rep ranges move up to 10-12 for most exercises, which is ideal for promoting muscle hypertrophy (growth). Overall volume increases slightly during these two weeks, mainly due to the addition of isolation exercises that you’ll perform before compound movements for your chest, back, shoulders and legs. Called pre-exhaustion, this technique dramatically increases workout intensity. You fatigue the main target muscle with an isolation exercise, then hit it in this fatigued state with a compound move, which if done right will lead to your main muscle failing before assistance muscles give out. (For example, for chest the dumbbell flye hits the pecs directly, so your triceps shouldn’t end up being the weak link and cause the termination of the set during the bench press). This phase continues to employ a four-day split, but bodyparts are paired differently - namely, chest and back are trained on the same day (Day 1), as are biceps and triceps (Day 4). This is little more than a means of changing things up, giving your muscles a slightly different stimulus to spark new muscle growth. Each workout includes drop sets to increase intensity, but for only one set per bodypart, so as to avoid overtraining and muscle catabolism. As a parting thought, we can’t emphasize enough the importance of consistency and staying focused. Your workouts shouldn’t be two-hour affairs - each visit to the gym needs to be fast-paced and intense. With that as your guide and following the heavy-duty blueprint laid out here, we can’t promise it’ll be easy, but the results should be worth every drop of sweat. Just think, 10 more muscular pounds may be a mere month away.
The Niger Delta Avengers has pledged to lay down arms and resume talks with the federal government after months of attacks on the country’s oil and gas infrastructure. In a message posted on the group’s website late on Saturday, the NDA said it would “observe a cessation of hostilities” in the Niger delta and would support any effort to negotiate with “the federal government of Nigeria, representatives from the home countries of all multinational oil corporations and neutral international mediators.” Details soon….
According to the Mayo Clinic, one of the world’s largest medical research groups, the causes of male infertility come under three broad categories; medical causes, environmental factors and lifestyle.
The Mayo Clinic said medical causes of infertility may come from infection or antibodies attacking the sperm. There are many other medical causes like undescended testicles and hormone imbalance.
The following are the other factors that may destroy your fertility:
Exposure to lead or other heavy metals
Exposure to radiation or X-rays
Overheating the testicles through frequent use of saunas or hot tubs
Sitting for long periods, wearing tight clothing or working on a laptop computer for long stretches of time
Use of anabolic steroids taken to stimulate muscle strength and growth can cause the testicles to shrink and sperm production to decrease
Use of cocaine or marijuana may temporarily reduce the number and quality of your sperm as well
Drinking alcohol can lower testosterone levels, cause erectile dysfunction and decrease sperm production.
Liver disease caused by excessive drinking also may lead to fertility problems.
Do you really have to travel to another country to learn the language? The 10-language twins undertook the challenge of learning a language in a week in Berlin, their city of residence. What can we learn from how they learned?
What’s possible in a week? If you dedicated seven days to the achievement of one goal, how ambitious could you make this goal? These were the questions that the multilingual twins Matthew and Michael Youlden posed themselves when they determined to learn Turkish in one week. They would attempt to liberate themselves from the distractions and responsibilities of modern-day life in order to cram eight hours of study time into their daily routine. Here are the seven things that I learned by observing some of the world’s most capable language learners.
1. Get To Know Why
Lesson learned: Clearly define your goal at the very beginning and then plot a route towards this goal’s achievement.
The twins set themselves the challenge of learning a language in a week in order to stretch themselves, and then it was a question of choosing which language to learn. Turkish presented itself as a natural option; there are nigh on 300,000 Turkish speakers in Germany’s capital, and the areas of Kreuzberg and Neukölln are dotted with stores adorned with signs in Turkish. Truly understanding one’s environment in these neighbourhoods requires one to first understand Turkish.
2. Get Sticky
Lesson learned: Map and label your immediate environment in the new language from the very first moment. You’ll build and reinforce associations passively while going about your daily life.
The first operational step in the twins’ learning process was to decorate the entire apartment with sticky notes. This had an almost ceremonial touch to it as the twins delved into dictionaries and proceeded to label everything with its corresponding Turkish name. Within the space of about an hour it was impossible to carry out any menial task, be it making a coffee or flicking off a light switch, without first being presented with at least three different words related to this action.
3. Get A Partner
Lesson learned: There are few better motivations than a peer with the same goal. Whether you’re motivated by competition or a sense of mutual responsibility, the mere presence of a learning partner is likely to exert just the right amount of pressure to keep you on track. The importance of the other twin’s presence became immediately apparent as Matthew and Michael delegated responsibilities for rooms to decorate with sticky notes. This simple task was augmented by continuous little tests that they would spring on one another, and the fact that they split up their day slightly differently and studied different topics meant that each twin became a source of knowledge for the other; the question how do you say that again? was met surprisingly often with an answer. The most extraordinary moment came towards the end of the week when the twins simply switched their everyday conversations to Turkish, asking one another if they wanted tea or coffee, were ready to cook dinner or when they were going to leave the house the next day.
4. Prepare Mini-Motivations
Lesson learned: You need landmarks on your route towards your goal. These landmarks can consist of small challenges - real life interactions in the language, for example - which force you to prepare areas of vocabulary to overcome them. The gratification that will come with their completion will serve to spur you on to ever greater heights.
Matthew and Michael had numerous micro-challenges throughout the week. On the first day they were visited by a Turkish friend who greeted them in Turkish and complimented them on how quickly they’d picked up their first words and phrases. They then learned the names of fruits and the numbers from one to a billion so that they could visit the Turkish market in Kreuzberg (although they refrained from purchasing nine hundred thousand kumquats). Displaying their haul after their first functional exchange in Turkish, they beamed with pride and a palpable sense of accomplishment before marching back home to study further.
5. Eat The Language
Lesson learned: Find a way to tie everything you do to learning. Surround yourself with the food, the music and the films, so that even in your downtime you can prime your mind towards the language and perhaps trigger further areas of interest and motivation.
On our second visit to the brothers’ apartment 24 hours into the week, we found them sampling dozens of different kinds of Turkish snacks. Like kids staring at the backs of cereal packs before heading to school, the nutritional information and various special offers and competitions on the packaging were analysed during snack breaks. There was no moment of complete removal from the language learning process during the eight hours that the twins had allotted to it. The intensity ebbed and flowed, but it never dissipated entirely.
6. Use What You Already Know
Lesson learned: The greater the depth of processing, the more likely the information will be remembered. Find pleasure in drawing parallels and making comparisons between the language(s) you already know and your new language.
One of the twins’ most common phrases was, “ah, that’s a bit like in … ?” They were constantly using their existing knowledge to support the ever-growing knowledge of Turkish. Not only did this spark some energetic exchanges regarding the etymology of various words, but it also ensured new words would never be forgotten once woven into their web of associations. Even if you are learning your second language, you will likely come across words that share common origins with words in your native tongue.
7. Variation is the spice of life
Lesson learned: So you have your route plotted and an idea of your favored methods, but do remember to try new things; your new language has just as many sources as your native language.
The twins spent a lot of time engrossed in books or on their computers and apps, flicking and swiping their way through exercises eagerly, but at other times they were to be found searching busily for Turkish radio stations and write-ups of Turkish football games on the web. There is no definitive method to learn a language, nor any tool or teacher that will single-handedly deliver you to the holy grail of fluency. Language is written, spoken, read and heard. Each of these areas is considered a core skill within which there are myriad potential inputs; would you restrict yourself to one in your native language? All too often, people enter their weekly language class to converse with their teacher, but then barely have any contact with other native speakers or the media being broadcast in their target language. Try something new every day. Listen to a cheesy song, read a newspaper article from a newspaper whose politics differ from your own, write a story for kids, attempt some improvised theatre and talk to yourself while cooking. Spice it up and add some flavour to your language learning!
...Set to Premiere First at the Toronto Film Festival
The eventual release of Prince Tonye Princewill's Military Blockbuster, '76' would be an experience well worth the wait.
Mr Wabiye Idoniboye-Obu, the Personal Assistant on Media and Publicity to Prince Tonye Princewill who made this known in a statement said that the movie, which has been in production for over 6 years, and has passed the scrutiny of many movie critics, including having the full endorsement of the Nigerian Army; just recently got the nod of Former President Olusegun Obasanjo who became Head of State to succeed Murtala Mohammed whose assassination is depicted in the film.
“This is very good achievement for the Adonis production team as Gen Obasanjo was well placed in the Army hierarchy when the actual events depicted in this movie took place in 1976” the statement noted
. A private screening was held for the former president at his Presidential library in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The former President used the opportunity to reflect on the events of the past, and reemphasized the importance of the unity of Nigeria.
According to him, the killing of a Muslim on a Friday by a gang thought to be Christians, particularly when we remembered the first coup, which upturned the political situation in the country, gave a very bad signal. We thank God Dimka was caught. What this will amount to; where will it lead us to and how can we get us out of this mess? These were the questions Nigerians had in mind.
While describing the film as “a mixture of sweet and sorrow”, Obasanjo commended the team for the production. He said: “It will make us remind ourselves not to go back to the dark days, which put us in go-no-go situation. We might not yet have lived up to our best, but we have lived through our worst."
He added: “We can have more of this, as there are more national issues that can be portrayed. We are capable of the best and that is what this film has shown,” he said.
The Executive Producer of the film, Prince Tonye Princewill, who led a delegation of the Cast and Crew including Rita Dominic, Izu Ojukwu and Chid Mokeme, responded saying the cast and crew of ‘1976’ were on tour of the country to seek support and stakeholder endorsement for the film, billed to premier in cinemas in November.
“The youth of today need to have a sense of the past, we have no sense of history, hence the resolve to have the film 1976, which is simply called ‘76”, he said.
Princewill said the visit to Obasanjo was important, “considering his position at that time in the country. He was there - in the front row. We deemed it wise to come and show him the film and curry his esteemed endorsement, which as you can see we have just got. We give all the glory to God."
Hours after the former President gave his nod, the landmark cinematic production, hit another milestone by being the first all-Nigerian, made in Nigeria movie chosen to have its own world premiere at the prestigious 41st Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). This is the first of two in its world tour which is set to span across six continents.
According to the statement, “the film will have its specially laid out red carpet premiere on Sunday the 11th of September 2016 at the one and only Isabel Bader Theatre promises to be a truly unique & momentous occasion. All the key cast, crew and many special guests are all committed to walking the red carpet. Thanks to our Canadian media partners, the event will also be transmitted live via social media. A first for Nigerian audiences”
It would be recalled that the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is one of the most recognized film festivals in the world - a very important partner in facilitating the rise of emerging Oscar contenders, and as a key precursor in the awards race, all eyes will be on TIFF’s full line up, which often hosts high-profile premieres of Oscar-bound movies.
