Personality in Focus
Nigerian Cultural Tourism Odyssey: Remi Tinubu’s Poetic Response to Hannatu’s Endless Tales
By Frank Meke
Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu, practically showcased depth to creativeness and empowerment mechanics in our cultural tourism space by initiating the first ever national cultural dress code for Nigeria.
The First Lady, a former Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, easily disconstruted the Web and shenanigans around certain cultural misteps, which has held down our people, particularly the young persons, from taking giant steps and assured confidence to tell their stories of creative influences and identity, usually bulied and waved aside as nothing by eurocentric merchants of foreign cultural superiority.
Unlike Hannatu Musa Musawa, Nigeria’s failed minister of culture and supposedly our culture’s chief driver, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, mobilisied young persons across the country, incentified their passion for creativity in indigenous fashion designing and pronto, one of those young nigerian persons, emerged the winner and her design which thousand of tailors will give a grace and light to its operational reality, will be on showcase on October 1st during the celebrations of Nigeria 64th independence anniversary in Abuja.
Jobs has just not only been created across board by the first lady, the effort is a strategic cultural fashion reorientation agenda, a call for us to be proudly nigerian once again in our way of dressings, it also could help reactivate our dead textile industries, bringing life back to the rural communities.
Our first lady, Senator Remi Tinubu, may be accused of being culturally ” political” by those outside our cultural tourism space, but what she has done with the search for a cultural national dress code for Nigeria with a focal elegance, ease and simplicity is to show that we don’t need an endless oddesay, a fantasied , dreamy and tales by moonlight talkshops on cultural economy as desperately parroted and canvassed by Hannatu Musa Musawa.
Indeed, the first lady’s practical, cultural fashion designing skill acquisition exposition targeting our youths and creative young persons resonates with me, highlighting the urgent need to critically evaluate our trust in our national character as against imported ideas and characters on how to husband the huge creative geniuses in our culture space.
No doubt, Nigeria is gifted in every area of cultural tourism diversity, but our problem, just as we are currently being punished by the presence of Hannatu Musa Musawa who has refused to read the hand writings on the wall, running from one eurocentric academic cultural pillar to another in the past one year, is the failure of leadership to carefully interrogate and boost these gifted children and make them the culture billionaires.
As much as we are blessed with these talented creative and cultural assets, we equally have the market in Nigeria, with our over 200 million people, ever willing to consume our cultural tourism products, not with the world shutting its doors against us out of endless economic and political foreign policy shenanigans .
What madam Senator Remi Tinubu has done may actually not be novel but it is indicative of the truth and reality that we need leaders who are at home with some measure of street sense and creative leadership to stimulate the our cultural tourism economy, and not the likes a pratting minister of culture who is looking up to either Taiwan, or India and many other countries to blindly copy developmental models which will only gulp our little resources in paying smart foreign cultural consultants, many who in the first place, trembles and fears our entrepreneurship in music, fashion, movies, and artistic works.
Go to Aba, Oshodi, Dugbe, kaduna, sokoto, Enugu and Abakiliki and see first hand the cultural fashion entrepreneurship passion of Nigerian young persons, whose only misgivings are the lack of opportunities for easy access to funding and export platforms.
I honestly wonder what Mr. President wants to do with our cultural tourism economies by appointing the two ladies, wasting our time and resources in the culture and tourism space. They don’t just fit into the system. The two, Hannatu Musa Musawa and lola Ade John, equally and sadly compete to muddle and poison the system, throwing around weights, which rankle the private sector players instead of pushing them to geometric boisterous achievements and presence.
While the first lady practically attracted the support, goodwill and collaboration of the private sector known influencers in the Nigerian fashion sector, same cannot be said of Hannatu Musa Musawa who is being regarded by self made industry players from Nollywood, to Music, fashion and artistic works communities as an irritating stranger, and a “waka pass” minister who has no known pedigree in the business and largely an unwilling servant employed by Nigerian citizens through the office of the president to learn , assist and honour those who have toiled in the past and are still toiling to make Nigeria culturally great.
Our cultural tourism narratives do not have a Hannatu Musa Musawa content, neither has she in the past one year shown capacity to understand the intricacies and flow with the power brokers. Unfortunately, her many oddesay of fanciful retorts to outdated statistical information or should I say a politically weaponised cultural statistics gain fails to impress.
Since her coming a year ago and quite sadly, Hannatu Musa Musawa has hugged controversy like bees and indeed, behaved like a boss rather than a servant of the industry where many had committed blood and passion without government helping out in any way .
She trotters around as queen mother of culture ( unpopular one at that), flooded her office with a national team of aides, picked blue eyed and equally day dreaming chief executives for the agencies under her watch, turned our television stations to platforms to showcase her ignorance, and market her beauty and is ever unwilling to read the handwriting on the walls for a change in strategy and corporate relationship.
Our Hannatu wishes we “CLAP” for her many failings, for shopping for pedestrian achievements, which her office neither influenced nor gave a bite.
Recently, she went on her national propaganda mission, as usual, with the most untested media troupe, which has a challenge of understanding the critical inside knowledge of the cultural tourism industry and regaled us to no end. Nobody CLAP’ PED” to her confusion.
It has indeed become boring and tiring to listen to Hannatu Musa Musawa on national television even to read her in our newspapers. She is clearly a desperate cultural spin doctor, the type that the gods sent as messengers of hopelessness and frustration.
To those who possibly wish to fact check the many cultural tales and missteps by this latter day mother saint of our cultural economy ” renaissance ” , please go read a certain piece written by one ” cultural anthropologist” a certain Dr Deji Ayoola in the vanguard newspapers of May 7th, 2024 and compare it to her recent national cultural evangelical propaganda wherein she told us of her mission to help us get a united States based Boston Consulting Group ( BCG) , her new Olympic god that would make our culture economy egg down to 100 billion dollars, transporting our global ranking in the business as world class and gainfully unbelievable.
What about her two million cultural jobs? Her microwave cultural jobs machine is still not timed to deliver since a year ago!. Instead, Hannatu went shopping at the portal of Nigeria Corporate Affairs Commission, appropriated and harvested twenty three thousand new creative cultural start up jobs without telling us how she funded them or assisted them.
Her propaganda oddesay is top-notch, endless spins and tales, cultivating captivating make-believe narratives that could make Nollywood film producers green with envy. All na shakara! Na magic!
Her cultural renaissance agenda has jumped us from the mere 1. 3% ranking in the economy to an impressive 2% by the end of second quarter in 2024, a conjured statistical equivalent according to Hannatu, birthing a 420 billion naira, exceeding government target of 1.8 % for the entire year, 2024, ” reimaging” and reflecting her assumed and self posturing submission of over 50 % in nominal terms in showcasing how effective she has delivered on cultural renaissance policy. All na wash, propaganda, bare faced fallacies which is built on nothingness.
Honestly, I should not waste our time, detailing all Hannatu Musa Musawa desperate cultural conjures just to impress and remain in office or to equally waste our time to audit her managerial incompetence of our cultural economy, doing that is to tell you the many woes which is a daily sing song of those who has the misfortune of being inherited by her from the Ministry of Information, Culture , Tourism and National ORIENTATION.
Her so-called ground zero cultural rebuilt ecosystem brought with it the famous proverbial dog in a manager. Those who work with her are living in hell fire . Her agency operators are divided down the line, as everyone must kiss the hand of the queen even for the most mundane issues.
At a recent public event in lagos three weeks ago, one of her agencies’ head publicly brought to the public the internal administrative rot in the ministry, which she was alleged to turned to her farm yard.
The guy in question who is a direct reflection of failings in her ground zero cultural renaissance management is a known shopper of achievements before his coming and a direct competitive cultural orientation propagandist , only second to Hannatu Musa Musawa fairy cultural tales .
If President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must get Nigeria cultural tourism going, and impactful, Hannatu Musa Musawa is certainly surplus to requirement, ditto Lola Ade-John in the ministry of Tourism. Those two ministries should be remerged and go getters, I mean fearless and powerful of game changers not lame duck and pedestrian propagandists, be appointed to lead us to our deserving cultural tourism destination of hope and empowerment.
We are tired of being told stories of ages past. Mr. President, please give us peace of mind by resting Hannatu Musa Musawa and lola Ade John to the sidelines.
Find them filling jobs at the villa, at least the ones they won’t mess up as they had sadly done in the culture and tourism assignment in the past one year!
By NOMA
The Nigerian Online Media Alliance (NOMA) has celebrated Mr. Olakunle Aderinokun on his 55th birthday, describing him as a distinguished strategic communications expert and media professional whose nearly three-decade career continues to shape Nigeria’s communications and business landscape.
In a statement by Theresa Moses, Chairperson, NOMA highlighted Aderinokun’s current role as Head, Media and Public Relations at Access Holdings Plc, where he leads group-wide media strategy, executive communications, crisis management, and corporate reputation positioning across local and international markets.
The Alliance noted that his ability to align corporate narratives with business strategy, stakeholder expectations, and regulatory realities has strengthened institutional credibility and public trust.
Aderinokun’s career reflects a unique blend of journalism, financial services, and corporate leadership. He spent 24 years at THISDAY Newspapers, rising to the position of Group Business Editor and Associate Editor, where he played a significant role in shaping Nigeria’s business journalism ecosystem. He later served as Editor, Business at ARISE News Channel, further consolidating his reputation for editorial excellence and impactful storytelling.
Throughout his journalism career, he covered critical sectors including banking, capital markets, energy, aviation, and macroeconomics, engaging directly with top policymakers, regulators, and corporate leaders. His extensive international exposure includes participation in global platforms such as the IMF-World Bank Meetings, African Development Bank Meetings, TICAD in Japan, the Nigeria-China Business Forum, Africa Oil Week in Cape Town, and Vaasa Energy Week in Finland.
Beyond journalism, Aderinokun brings strong financial and investment expertise, having worked with United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Wall Street Trust Company (now WSTC Financial Services), where he handled equity analysis, market research, and investment advisory. This foundation, NOMA noted, has enabled him to effectively bridge financial performance with strategic communication outcomes.
An entrepreneur, he founded Pure Synergy Ltd in 2013, a firm focused on reputation management and strategic communications, and later served as CEO of Excite Enterprise Ltd, an online business solutions platform.
In the public sector space, Aderinokun served as Media Adviser to Senator Tokunbo Abiru in 2020, where he led media strategy and publicity for the Lagos East Senatorial campaign, contributing to its successful outcome.
Academically, he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics (Pure and Applied) from the University of Ilorin and an MBA from the University of Lagos, complemented by executive education at Lagos Business School and professional training with the World Bank Institute, NIPR, and Standard Bank Group, South Africa. He also holds multiple professional certifications across public relations, banking, marketing, and digital communications.
NOMA described him as a quintessential, multifaceted professional whose career embodies excellence, innovation, and leadership.
“Olakunle Aderinokun represents the very best of strategic communication and media practice in Nigeria. His journey is not only inspiring but also instructive for the next generation of professionals navigating the evolving media and corporate landscape,” the statement read.
As he marks his 55th birthday, NOMA commended his enduring contributions and wished him continued success, good health, and greater accomplishments in the years ahead.
The Executive Secretary/CEO of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), Dr. Ayodele Ogunsan, has congratulated the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, on the occasion of his birthday, commending his visionary leadership and reform-driven approach to policing in Nigeria.
In his birthday remarks, Dr. Ogunsan described the IGP as a “distinguished officer whose career has consistently reflected professionalism, courage, and a deep commitment to public safety.”
He noted that since assuming office as the 23rd Inspector-General of Police early this Year 2026, Disu has demonstrated a clear resolve to reposition the Nigeria Police Force towards greater efficiency and public trust.
Dr. Ogunsan particularly praised the IGP’s emphasis on intelligence-led policing, a strategy aimed at enhancing proactive crime detection and prevention, as well as his push for the integration of digital tools and forensic capabilities into police operations. These reforms, he said, signal a shift towards modern, accountable, and citizen-focused policing.
He further highlighted Disu’s decisive steps to strengthen the state policing agenda and officers’ welfare. He praised him for the effective policing model through the restructuring and reduction of tactical units, a move designed to address concerns over excesses while redeploying personnel to police divisions for improved community-level security.
The LSSTF boss also acknowledged the IGP’s consistent advocacy for discipline, integrity, and professionalism within the Force, noting that such values are critical to restoring public confidence and enhancing institutional credibility.
Reflecting on his track record, Dr. Ogunsan recalled Disu’s impactful leadership roles across key commands, including the Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory Commands, where he contributed significantly to crime control and intelligence-driven operations.
His tenure as the Commander of the Rapid Response Squad in Lagos is a testament to his operational excellence and urban crime management.
Ogunsan wished the IGP good health, wisdom, and continued success in his efforts to build a more secure Nigeria. “On this special occasion, we celebrate not only a remarkable leader but a reformer whose vision continues to inspire confidence in the security architecture of our nation,” Ogunsan said.
Terrorists in northeast Nigeria killed a brigadier general in an assault on a military base, a local government chairman told AFP on Thursday, the second killing of a high-ranking officer in five months.
Africa’s most populous country has been fighting a terrorist insurgency for 17 years, since Boko Haram’s 2009 uprising, which has seen the emergence of powerful splinter groups, including Islamic State West Africa Province.
In an overnight attack, unidentified terrorists killed at least 18 soldiers and torched vehicles at a base in Benisheikh, about 75 kilometres from Borno state capital Maiduguri, an intelligence source told AFP.
“Unfortunately, the brigade commander, Brigadier General O.O. Braimah, lost his life,” Kaga Local Government Chairman Zannah Lawan Ajimi told AFP in a phone interview.
Two intelligence sources confirmed Braimah’s death to AFP.
His death follows the killing of Brigadier General Musa Uba by ISWAP in November. He was the highest-ranking military official to die in the long-running conflict since 2021.
“They overran the brigade,” one of the intelligence sources said, giving the death toll as “at least” 18.
The second intelligence source said that “the terrorists killed several troops” and “burnt vehicles and buildings before they withdrew,” without giving a toll.
The army and Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
– Rising terrorist violence –
Researchers have warned of an uptick of violence since 2025.
Borno capital Maiduguri has seen two suicide bombings since December — the type of bloody, urban attacks reminiscent of the insurgency’s peak a decade ago.
On Wednesday, the US State Department said in a notice it was authorising “non-emergency US government employees” to leave Abuja “due to the deteriorating security situation”.
While the insurgency is concentrated in the northeastern countryside, terrorists from Nigeria and the neighbouring Sahel have made inroads western Nigeria, where organised crime gangs known as “bandits” have been raiding villages and extorting farmers and artisanal miners for years.
Gunmen killed at least 90 people across several remote villages in northwest Nigeria this week, according to an AFP tally of tolls given by local and humanitarian sources.
Among the attacks was an assault in Kebbi state that police blamed a local terrorist group known as Mahmuda, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
Kebbi sits on Nigeria’s border with Benin and Niger and since 2025 has been targeted by a rising number of terrorist attacks.
Conflict monitor ACLED says there has been a surge in violence in the area carried out by militants affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
In nearby Kwara state, in October, fighters from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM claimed an attack after years of researchers warning that the terrorist conflict ravaging the Sahel risked spreading south towards coastal West African states.
In December, the United States, with Nigerian assistance, bombed northwest Sokoto state, targeting Islamic State Sahel Province fighters usually found in neighbouring Niger, along with Mali and Burkina Faso.
AFP
