Category: Business Day

Abia State Governor Alex Otti has defended the removal of the petrol subsidy, saying government resources should be directed towards production rather than subsidising consumption.

Otti, who spoke in an interview with Arise Television on Thursday, warned against attempts to restore the subsidy, arguing that the policy encouraged inefficiency, waste and corruption.

‘I’ve always been consistent on subsidies. And I’ve written extensively. I also refer you to my backpage in THISDAY, including the one that I wrote in 2020 during COVID-19. At that time, nobody was buying oil, and I said it was a good time to remove the subsidy,’ Otti said.

The governor said subsidising consumption reduced incentives for efficient use of resources while creating opportunities for abuse.

‘When you subsidise consumption rather than production, you are just subsidising laziness. You are subsidising, sometimes, corruption,’ he said.

Otti said the removal of the subsidy was necessary despite the economic hardship it initially created for households and businesses.

‘You know, as election approaches, people will be making all sorts of arguments. But removing the subsidy was the right thing to be done,’ he said.

‘If you are pushing for a subsidy to return, you don’t mean well for the country.’

The debate over petrol subsidy has gained renewed attention ahead of the 2027 general elections, with some political actors proposing alternatives to the current market-based pricing regime.

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, said in August that he would restore petrol subsidy if elected president. He later clarified that his proposal would focus on subsidising production rather than reviving the former import-based arrangement.

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, another presidential candidate, has also rejected a return to the former subsidy regime, arguing instead that Nigeria should reduce petrol costs through the pricing of crude supplied to domestic refineries.

Otti said businesses that consume petrol for production would benefit more from reliable electricity than from fuel subsidies.

‘For the people who use it for production, for their factories, those people, they really don’t need the subsidy. They just need constant power supply. And once you’re able to guarantee them constant power supply, they’ll pay,’ he said.

President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy on May 29, 2023, shortly after assuming office. The policy resulted in a sharp increase in petrol prices and contributed to higher transportation and living costs.

Otti acknowledged the immediate pressure created by the reform but maintained that the long-term focus should be on building an economy where businesses can operate without relying on government intervention.

His position comes as the subsidy debate increasingly features in discussions around the 2027 elections, with political parties and candidates offering different proposals on how Nigeria should manage petrol prices and support consumers.

Atiku Abubakar’s presidential campaign has begun strengthening its policy structure and broadening its membership base as the African Democratic Congress (ADC) intensifies preparations for the 2027 election.

Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday, saying the campaign was bringing together party members, experienced political leaders, professionals, young Nigerians and other citizens to deepen its national structure.

Atiku’s presidential campaign council was announced on Thursday, with Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, former Borno State governor, named Chairman; Nasir El-Rufai,

former Kaduna State governor, as Deputy Chairman and Senator Austin Akobundu as Director-General and Campaign Manager.

Shaibu said additional appointments would be announced as consultations continued and the campaign expanded its operations across the country.

‘The campaign is still evolving. Consultations are continuing, and further responsibilities will be assigned as the structure expands across the country,’ he said.

He said the campaign was also developing a policy architecture designed to mobilise Nigerians with expertise and experience around the major challenges confronting the country.

According to him, the policy team will focus on the cost of living, food security and agriculture, security, energy and power, job creation, industrialisation, manufacturing and SMEs, education, healthcare, infrastructure, housing, public finance, governance, technology and innovation.

Other areas, he said, include social protection, natural resources, the environment and human capital development.

‘Nigeria’s challenges are interconnected and cannot be addressed in isolation. The objective is to ensure that every major national problem is matched with a serious, practical and implementable policy response capable of improving the everyday lives of Nigerians,’ Shaibu said.

Shaibu said the campaign structure would extend beyond the national level to the zones, states, wards and polling units. He also reassured supporters who were not included in the first batch of appointments that further engagements were underway.

‘To those who may feel disappointed that their names have not appeared yet, we ask for patience and understanding. No one should believe that years of commitment and sacrifice have been forgotten,’ he said.

‘Our strength has always been our people and the relationships built over many years. We must preserve that bond,’ he added.

He added that the campaign was intended to be a broad-based national movement capable of attracting Nigerians who shared its objective of making life more affordable, creating opportunities for young people and improving the operating environment for businesses.

The re-election of President Bola Tinubu has emerged as a major priority as leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) gathered in Maiduguri, Borno State, for a three-day national strategic retreat focused on strengthening the party ahead of the 2027 elections.

The APC, in a post on its X handle on Saturday, said the retreat, which began on Thursday and ended on Saturday, was designed to review the party’s structures, improve internal coordination and sharpen its electoral strategy ahead of the polls.

BusinessDay reports that the APC’s preparations are unfolding against the backdrop of a rapidly changing opposition landscape, with major political figures pursuing different strategies to challenge Tinubu’s bid for a second term.

The party’s National Working Committee (NWC), led by Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, had met with state chairmen and other key stakeholders from across the 36 states at the retreat themed, ‘Strengthening party organisation, unity and electoral readiness towards 2027.’

According to the APC, discussions at the meeting centred on strengthening the party’s organisation and electoral preparedness ahead of the 2027 polls, with Tinubu’s re-election and the election of other APC candidates featuring prominently on the agenda.

The development came barely six weeks after the commencement of the presidential and National Assembly campaigns.

BusinessDay reports that the presidential and National Assembly campaigns began on August 19, while campaigns for governorship and State House of Assembly candidates began on September 9, 2026.

The presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027, while governorship and State House of Assembly elections will be held on February 6, 2027, under INEC’s revised timetable.

With less than four months to the presidential and National Assembly polls, the Maiduguri retreat provides the ruling party an opportunity to assess its readiness, coordinate its structures and address organisational issues ahead of the decisive phase of the campaign.

For the APC, the Maiduguri retreat therefore comes at a point when the party is seeking to consolidate its national structure, align its state organisations and translate its incumbency advantage into coordinated electoral mobilisation.

As the January 16, 2027 presidential election approaches, both the ruling APC and opposition parties are consequently intensifying efforts to strengthen their respective political structures and strategies, setting the stage for a contest in which competing parties will seek to convert their organisational and political alliances into votes at the ballot.

In a crowded landscape, memorable marketing is more essential than perhaps ever before. Whether you’re a not-for-profit organisation or selling retail products, creative marketing can help you grow brand recognition and recall. Fresh and innovative messaging can help you stand out and connect in meaningful ways, and benefit your organisation in a broader sense too.

What is creativity in marketing?

If you can surprise, delight or relate to your target audience in a unique way, they’ll be all the more likely to notice and remember you. Creative marketing can take a multitude of shapes, whether it’s evocative multi-channel storytelling or reaching your audience through unexpected channels. Rather than dazzling people with gimmicks or trends, the best creative advertising comes from a genuine and meaningful place. As the advertising icon David Ogilvy so succinctly put: Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating.’

Why marketing teams need creativity

Breaking the mould with your marketing doesn’t just benefit your bottom line: it can have far-reaching benefits right across your business. Here are some of the reasons to imbue extra creativity and innovation in marketing for your organisation.

Creative marketing compels action

Whether you’re speaking to customers, clients or other stakeholders, chances are your marketing strategies intend to drive some sort of action. A creative approach can help to inspire interest and interaction, and as such can improve all-important conversion rates.

Creativity can differentiate you and your offering

Every organisation offers something unique – but how do you get your point of difference across when everyone’s clamouring for attention? A blend of strategic marketing and creativity can help you cut through the noise and showcase your Unique Value Proposition (UVP).

Creativity can strengthen key relationships

Engaging, relatable messaging can help to create emotional connections with your customers or clients, who are in turn more likely to trust and recommend your brand. This can also benefit the employee-employer relationship, as a renewed sense of pride can empower your employees.

Creativity can unite

Developing and meeting a creative brief takes thought, which means an organisation’s marketing strategies can be more closely aligned with its overarching goals. Creativity can help to crystallise and clarify what it is you offer, both for customers and team members. Sales teams, marketing teams and after-sales support can therefore all gain a greater understanding of the customer and their expectations leading into an enquiry.

Creativity can help you adapt in a dynamic marketing landscape

When you have fresh thinking coursing through your organisation, it becomes second nature to adapt to external challenges and changes. You could do more with less and reach more people, even on a modest marketing budget. You can adapt to any competitor challenges with strengths and surprises of your own.

How to adopt more creative marketing strategies

It’s easy to see the value of creativity and innovation in marketing, but how do you put this into practice? Here are some of the steps organisations can take to boost originality in their marketing strategies and beyond.

Nurture creative thinking and innovation

Everybody benefits when creativity is infused throughout workplace culture. Foster a collaborative culture with support from C-suite executives and managers, and provide the tools, resources and time needed for innovation to flourish. Share creativity in marketing examples, from classic ad campaigns through to the latest search and social techniques. Focus on building a diverse team, as different perspectives and experiences can bring a lot to the table. Recognise those at every level who come up with great ideas, and support the development of relevant skills through creative marketing credentials.

Use a customer-centric approach

Organisations will commonly focus on their product or offering, but turning the primary focus to the customer can help you unlock new creative insights. What does your audience need and want, and what stands in their way as they’re purchasing a product or choosing a service? What do they find funny – endearing – meaningful? What information are they searching for? This knowledge can be used to drive more relevant and intriguing marketing to connect with your audience in a genuine way.

Focus on your point of difference

Your point of difference could be to do with service, support, expertise, design or something else entirely. How can you focus in and showcase your point of difference in a n surprising way that stands out from the crowd? An expert team could offer genuinely useful advice and information that no one else in their industry offers through high-quality content marketing. Or perhaps the durability of your quality product could be demonstrated in a novel way. Let your strengths guide the way and inspire your strategies for marketing.

Drive ideas through data

At first glance data and creativity might seem somewhat at odds, but data-driven marketing can be ultra-effective when combined with creative thinking. Just consider how Spotify and Netflix employ user data to create highly personalised customer experiences. The average organisation will have many data points that could be used to drive creative strategies, from CRM data and email databases to social media analytics. Powerful ideas could be sparked simply by exploring behavioural, demographic, psychographic and contextual data.

Embrace experimentation

The digital era makes it easy to experiment and adapt quickly, testing out new messaging strategies and digital marketing skills. Fear of failure can quickly stifle creativity, so it’s important to have the right approach. Aim to learn from any ‘mistakes’ with enthusiasm, and use these to refine and strengthen marketing strategies. Remaining open to new ideas as an organisation will help creativity and imagination thrive.

Last line

Amongst the human skills that are essential in any company, creativity is one that is so often undervalued and underestimated. But encourage fresh and creative thinking for your marketing strategies, and you could see the benefits flow right across your organisation.

Ogun State indigenes resident in Enugu State hosted a reception for PDP deputy governorship candidate Yemi Sowunmi-Kolapo on Friday, reiterating their commitment to political change in their home state.

Sowunmi-Kolapo, a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, was attending the 22nd All Nigeria Editors Conference in the state capital.

Speaking at the event, group chairman Lekan Oladapo said members had reviewed the manifesto of PDP governorship candidate Oladipupo Adebutu and concluded that the ticket offered genuine commitment to state development and public welfare.

Oladapo stated that Ogun State had fallen behind its development potential and pledged that the diaspora community would help secure progress in the 2027 general elections.

‘Ogun State, by all standards, is not where it should be,’ Oladapo said. ‘We have what it takes to join the struggle to protect our heritage and install good governance in Ogun State for future generations.’

He warned against political exploitation, noting that the state’s rich history and global professional talent require safeguard through accountable leadership.

Oladapo highlighted unrealised opportunities in infrastructure and local industries, pointing to historic hubs such as Abeokuta and Ijebu Ode. He noted that former administrations had failed to leverage cultural sites and traditional herbal medicine for sustainable revenue.

He argued that Ogun State could generate substantial foreign currency through global exports of certified herbal products if supported by government backing and structured export policies.

He added that elite voters across Nigeria and in the diaspora were actively mobilising voters at home to ensure strong turnout for the PDP in 2027.

In her response, Sowunmi-Kolapo expressed gratitude for the support and reaffirmed the party’s commitment to fulfilling its campaign promises.

She highlighted the private philanthropy of the Adebutu family, arguing that public office would enable them to scale these initiatives into structured government policy.

She urged supporters to maintain momentum ahead of the 2027 polls, resist political intimidation, and vote for economic relief.

The numbers alone tell a good story: Lagos’s 2025 Detty December season generated an estimated N396.54 billion in consumer spending, according to BusinessDay’s own reporting, more than triple the N111.5 billion the season pulled in just a year earlier.

Diaspora visitors accounted for 55 percent of that spending, and arrivals from the United States overtook the United Kingdom for the first time. But Nigeria’s own tourism watchdog wasn’t celebrating in the middle of it.

Femi Fadina, national president of the Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria, warned partway through the season that the growth was starting to eat itself. ‘Detty December did not become a global phenomenon because Nigeria had a well-structured tourism framework. It grew despite the absence of one,’ he said, adding that operators were attempting ‘to extract a year’s profit within a single month.’ The result, in his account, is a market where luxury pricing gets attached to average service, and visitors start looking elsewhere on the continent instead.

Into that gap steps StayAfrik, a Nigerian travel company whose December 2026 flagship, Eko for Show (Lagos): A December to Remember, is a seven-night, twelve-guest package running December 11 to 18, built, its founders say, to be everything that complaint is not.

The price tag: from $5,300 a guest.

StayAfrik is confident the number holds up, arguing that guests already spend close to that on a single big night out at one of Lagos’s popular lounges during the season, tables and drinks alone.

Held up against that kind of spending, a week starts to look less like an indulgence and more like arithmetic: seven nights in five-star accommodation, transportation handled door to door for the full stay, curated evenings at handpicked restaurants and lounges, entry to one of December’s biggest concerts, a private boat cruise on the Lagos lagoon, and a day trip out to Badagry, as far as the Point of No Return itself. Twelve guests, no more, per cohort.

None of this started as a business plan. It started as five years of watching December get harder to love. Bisola Animashaun and her sister Bukola have run a Lagos hospitality and short-stay rental business since before Detty December was a headline, and they watched the season change in real time: roughly three years ago, what had been a loose cultural spike turned into the phenomenon it is today, and the city’s capacity never quite caught up.

Visitors flying in from London or Houston or Toronto for the first time got quoted prices that bore no relationship to what a local would pay, purely because they read as outsiders. Money that should have bought a five-star night bought something closer to average. People who could afford anything still didn’t know who to call.

What StayAfrik is actually selling is origin, not just familiarity. Bisola and Bukola aren’t Lagosians by relocation; their state of origin is Lagos State, Eko itself, and that shapes the small decisions a package like this lives or dies on: which route survives a bridge backup, which nights on the Island are worth the traffic and which are hype, which restaurant is worth the wait. Behind that sits five years running a hospitality and short-stay rental business, a real, unglamorous guest experience, combined with their own travel habit and an eye trained on luxury and curated experience elsewhere.

Bisola frames the opportunity less as beating competitors than as catching up with an industry that hasn’t caught up with itself. ‘Lagos has a lot to offer. It’s just unpackaged,’ she says. ‘Nigerian tourism is still in its growth stage. Nigerians are friendly, Lagosians especially, but we’re not a naturally touristic country the way some other African destinations are, places that built real revenue on tourism for decades. Nigeria is only just starting to take tourism seriously, and because of that, a lot of the infrastructure isn’t there yet to take care of visitors properly without an expert travel concierge guiding them. That’s what we’re doing with StayAfrik.’

The expertise isn’t new, only the branding is. For years, StayAfrik’s founders quietly built December itineraries for their existing hospitality clients, sourcing drivers, negotiating tables, choreographing an entire week without ever calling it a product. 2026 is the first year they’re doing it under a dedicated name, open beyond their existing client list, at a fixed price.

The package has a specific traveller in mind. Diaspora Nigerians coming home for the season. Foreigners who have never had to find their way around Lagos and discover, fast, that the city rewards a guide. Landing in a group solves a real problem for anyone without a ready Lagos-based friend circle willing to build a week around them. Nobody’s turned away; Lagosians curious about their own city are welcome too, but the design centre is the outsider.

Bookings for the Lagos package, and StayAfrik’s other 2026 offerings, are open now: at stayafrik.com, by email at [email protected], or on WhatsApp at +234 815 557 7245.

The cohort holds at twelve. Opening this many weeks out looks unusual only until you remember who’s running it: five years of watching December’s calendar fill early, and prices climb late taught them to move first. It’s a small, deliberate step toward the bigger claim Bisola makes about where this is headed. ‘Nigerians have mastered hosting each other,’ she says. ‘The next step is hosting the world.’

The Rivers State House of Assembly has issued a warrant of arrest for the vice chancellor of PAMO University of Medical Sciences and ordered the recovery of approximately N24 billion in scholarship funds disbursed to the university.

This followed the failure of the vice chancellor to appear before the Assembly’s ad hoc committee investigating the use of state funds disbursed to the institution since its establishment in 2017.

The resolution was reached on Friday during the Assembly’s 53rd legislative sitting and followed consideration of the ad hoc committee’s report presented by Dumle Maol, committee chairman.

The committee report cited the failure of PAMO University’s vice chancellor to appear before it despite several invitations to explain how money given to the university under the scholarship scheme was expended.

It also chronicled how the university received over N29 billion from the state government with no corresponding student enrolment, giving credence to the reason behind the vice chancellor’s refusal to honour the invitations.

Martin Chike Amaewhule, Speaker of the Assembly, said that though the intentions of the government in entering into the scholarship scheme agreement were good, the implementation was a cog in the plan.

He frowned at the situation where documents presented by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education and the Office of the Accountant-General were at variance, adding that, by simple deduction, out of the over N29 billion released by the state government to PAMO University, it utilised only N5 billion.

Amaewhule harped on the determination of the assembly under his leadership to do the right thing irrespective of whose ox is gored, stressing that no individual can be bigger than the House as an institution empowered by the Constitution.

The House, among other recommendations, also urged the state government to set up a committee to recover all unaccounted funds in possession of PAMO University and deposit them in the state’s Consolidated Revenue Account.

Some brands are remembered by their logos. Others by their products. A few become attached to moments in people’s lives.

For many Nigerians, Coca-Cola belongs in the last category.

That is what makes the Coca-Cola 75th Anniversary Anthem, featuring Johnny Drille and a 75-person choir, an interesting piece of anniversary storytelling. Rather than simply reminding consumers that Coca-Cola has been in Nigeria for 75 years, the song attempts to answer a more difficult question: what does 75 years of being present in people’s everyday lives actually sound like?

The answer is warm, nostalgic and deliberately communal.

Coca-Cola arrived in Nigeria in 1951, and over the decades its presence has extended beyond the beverage itself. It has appeared at birthdays, weddings, family gatherings, office meetings, roadside shops and countless informal moments of celebration and connection. The anthem leans heavily into that collective memory.

Johnny Drille is an appropriate voice for the exercise. His music is often built around warmth, emotion and nostalgia, qualities that allow the song to sound more like a reflection than a conventional advertisement. His background in church music and experience working with choirs also make the decision to build the anthem around a 75-person choir feel less like a marketing gimmick and more like a natural extension of his musical identity.

The choir is perhaps the most effective idea in the entire project.

One singer for every year Coca-Cola has spent in Nigeria turns a numerical milestone into a musical device. The 75 voices do not merely accompany Drille; they represent the generations through which the brand has travelled. When they come together, the message is clear: the story being celebrated is not only Coca-Cola’s story, but also the memories Nigerians have built around it.

That distinction matters. A 75th anniversary campaign could easily have become a corporate exercise in celebrating longevity. Instead, the anthem tries to shift the attention from the company to the consumer. It is effectively saying: we have been here for 75 years, but the reason that history matters is because you have been here with us.

The song’s Nigerian identity is another important part of its appeal. It does not attempt to sound like a generic global corporate anthem. Drille’s delivery, the rhythm, the choir and the references to everyday Nigerian experiences give it a distinctly local character.

There is, however, room for the cultural representation to go further. The inclusion of Hausa in one section acknowledges Nigeria’s linguistic diversity, but a song celebrating 75 years in a country as culturally diverse as Nigeria could arguably have explored more of that richness. The absence of stronger Igbo and Yoruba elements leaves some of the country’s cultural palette unexplored.

Adanna Madueke is a digital creator whose natural hair tutorials and cultural commentary have amassed over 1.5 million followers across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, earning coverage on major international outlets like CBC News, CityNews, and ELLE Canada. But behind the digital numbers lies a deliberate, multi-layered business strategy.

For Madueke, social media was never the end goal; it was the proof of concept. Over the past decade, she has systematically converted digital trust into a diversified cultural and economic ecosystem. Her brand, OurHairitage, now spans product lines and wellness platforms across North America, the UK, and Africa. Through Stop the Cut, she leads a growing movement advocating against institutional pressures on African women to alter their hair, while her original entertainment format, Date My Hair, brings unscripted African beauty narratives directly to mainstream television.

Now, Madueke is anchoring her global reach back home in Lagos. With the upcoming launch of the OurHairitage Academy in Lekki, she is establishing physical infrastructure to train young women in natural hair care, certifying their skills, and equipping them to treat beauty as a formal, high-value trade rather than informal labor.

In this exclusive interview with Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha, Madueke speaks about transitioning from creator to founder, navigating the operational realities of building physical assets in Lagos, advocating for hair policy reforms, and why the future of diaspora enterprise relies on turning online influence into long-term local ownership.

You built a digital footprint reaching over 1.5 million people across platforms. At what exact moment did you realize that this community wasn’t just an audience, but a proof of concept for a broader cultural and economic ecosystem?

Honestly, this whole journey has felt spiritual. It just happened. I’ve loved hair since I was six, but I’m a Nigerian first-born child, so you already know how that story was supposed to go. The plan was medicine, full stop. My father was already proud of ‘Dr. Adanna’ before I’d even finished secondary school, and ‘hairstylist’ was not an option anybody was entertaining in that house. Then I moved to Canada, where I didn’t look like anyone around me. I struggled with my confidence and my identity, even with how to style my own hair.

So I went back to the interest my family had tried to shut down and started doing my hair myself. Classmates began asking how I did it, and soon they wanted me to do theirs too. Once university got busy, especially during exams, I couldn’t keep up. So I started recording myself doing my hair on YouTube so my friends could follow along. Those videos took off out of nowhere. People asked how I parted the back and which products I used. They asked how to make their natural hair look flawless, and whether there was a salon near them that understood their hair. Then the messages started. People told me I’d changed how they felt about hair they had grown up hiding, hair they’d been made to feel was inferior or ‘local.’

That’s when it clicked for me. People weren’t just watching. They trusted me enough to ask where to spend their money, and they deserved businesses built for them, not just videos. So in a way I did end up treating people. Just not in a hospital, and my father has made his peace with it.

Many diaspora creators build audiences globally, but you are specifically channeling that reach back home through the Lekki-based OurHairitage Academy. What are the unique operational and strategic challenges of converting diaspora influence into physical infrastructure in Nigeria?

Online, I can reach a million people in a day. On the ground in Lagos, everything takes longer, and anyone who has tried to get anything done in Lagos traffic knows exactly what I mean. You have to find the right space, build the right team, set standards and earn people’s trust in person. The hardest part is consistency. People know the quality they see online, and they expect the same thing when they walk into a classroom. What’s made the difference is working with people who really know the market. Our Lekki flagship has a founding operator who understands Lagos deeply, and we bring the brand, the curriculum and the audience. My reach can open the door, but it’s the team on the ground that keeps it open.

As a creator who transitioned into an entrepreneur, how do you balance the authenticity required for community building with the discipline required to build sustainable, revenue-generating businesses like OurHairitage?

I’ve never seen them as opposites. My community has been with me for years, and trust me, Nigerians will tell you when something isn’t real. So I only put my name on things I’d use myself, whether that’s the Hair Growth Journal or our training programmes.

The discipline is in the structure behind it: pricing, margins, operations, and having the right people in the right roles. If the business can’t sustain itself, I can’t keep showing up for the community. For me, building something profitable is part of being authentic to them.

With Date My Hair, you are taking African hair and identity into mainstream unscripted entertainment. What inspired the format, and how do you leverage media IP to alter mainstream beauty narratives on a global scale?

I kept noticing that people have strong opinions about hair that they rarely say out loud, and those opinions show up everywhere: in dating, at work, and at family gatherings where an aunty will ask when you’re ‘going to do something’ with your hair. Date My Hair puts all of that on screen in a way that’s fun to watch. You laugh, you react, and then you catch yourself questioning what you believed. Owning the format matters to me. When the IP is ours, we decide how our hair and identity are shown, instead of waiting for someone else to tell our story. People will sit through entertainment when they’d never sit through a lecture, and that’s how minds start to change. The show premieres this December.

Your project Our African Hairitage explored hair traditions across Nigeria, Senegal, and Kenya. How did filming across these distinct regions change your perspective on how hair functions as living history, survival tools, and identity?

Going across Nigeria, Senegal and Kenya showed me that hair on this continent has never been only about beauty. It told people your age, your status and where you came from, and at times it was even a tool for survival.

Seeing those traditions in different places made me realize that the pressure to cut or relax our hair isn’t a small cosmetic choice. We’re losing a piece of living history. That experience shaped everything I built after it, especially Stop The Cut and the way the Academy teaches hair as heritage, not just a skill.

Having been featured on outlets like CBC News, CityNews, and ELLE Canada, do you feel Western mainstream media understands the distinction between ‘natural hair as a trend’ versus ‘natural hair as economic and cultural infrastructure’?

It’s getting better, but it still mostly gets covered as a trend. What people miss is the economy underneath it: the products, the training, the salons, the jobs, and the billions women spend every year on hair care that wasn’t designed for them. I’m grateful for the coverage I’ve had from CBC, CityNews and ELLE Canada, and each time it gives me a chance to push that conversation a bit further. I’d love to see natural hair talked about in the

business pages, not only the beauty pages.

The Stop the Cut movement directly challenges the institutional pressure placed on African women to relax, alter, or hide their natural hair. How do you move this conversation beyond personal beauty choices into addressing corporate policy, school dress codes, and professional grooming standards across Africa and the diaspora?

It starts with the individual, but the pressure comes from institutions: school rules, workplace expectations and grooming standards nobody writes down but everyone feels. Many of us remember being told at school to cut our hair low or relax it to look ‘neat.’ So that’s where we’re taking the conversation.

In August, we brought leaders together for a Stop The Cut roundtable at Capital Club Lagos. This month, we started our school tour, which takes the conversation straight to students and teachers, with a petition that gives young people a voice. What we want is simple: schools and workplaces where natural hair is accepted as professional, full stop.

You’ve often spoken about how certain salons and beauty standards perpetuate the myth that 4C or natural hair is ‘hard to manage’. How is OurHairitage actively rewiring that narrative through education and product access?

4C hair isn’t the problem. The problem is that so many stylists were never trained to work with it.We’ve all sat in that salon chair while someone combs your hair like they’re settling a personal grudge, then tells you it’s ‘too strong’ and suggests a relaxer.

So we work on both ends. Through the Academy, we train stylists and young women to care for natural hair properly, and our Hair Growth Club gives our community access to a trichologist. On the product side, tools like the Hair Growth Journal help people understand what their hair actually needs. Once people have the knowledge and the right products, ‘hard to manage’ stops being true.

The OurHairitage Academy in Lekki focuses on equipping young women with practical, income-generating skills. What does the curriculum look like, and how are you positioning hair care and styling as a high-value trade rather than informal labor?

We have three levels: Foundation (6 weeks), Certification (10 weeks) and The House (8 weeks). Each one builds on the last. We keep class sizes small at our Lekki flagship so every student gets proper hands-on time. Hair is one of the biggest consumer markets in Africa, yet the people doing the work are often treated as informal labour. We want to change that. We train to a professional standard, certify students’ skills and teach them the business side too, so they can charge what their work is worth.

Our top graduates from The House are positioned for investment to start businesses of their own. The Lekki flagship opens on November 1.

What is your message to other young Africans in the diaspora who want to build global brands while anchoring their investments, operations, and long-term impact back on the continent?

Don’t let your reach stay online. Build something you own, and bring at least part of it home, where it can create real jobs and opportunities. Start with the people who already follow you. If you listen, they’ll tell you what they need. And partner with people on the ground who know the market better than you do.

And to my fellow first-borns: it’s okay if the path doesn’t look like what your parents planned. Build it well enough, and they’ll come around. Mine did.

The Plateau State Government has assured motorists and other road users of safe passage along the Jos-Barkin Ladi highway following an attack in Kassa community, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, which left three vigilantes dead.

The government also condemned the attack and appealed for calm, urging residents to avoid blocking the highway as security agencies intensify efforts to identify and apprehend those responsible.

The assurance followed protests by women and youths in Kassa, who reportedly blocked the major highway after gunmen attacked the community at about 1am on Friday, killing three vigilantes, including the community’s youth leader.

The road blockage reportedly caused traffic congestion and left some travellers stranded for hours, as protesters expressed anger over repeated attacks in the area and demanded improved security.

In a statement signed by Joyce Ramnap, the Plateau state Commissioner for Information and Communication, made available to Journalists on Friday in Jos described the attack as ‘deeply regrettable and unacceptable.’

The government commiserated with the families of the victims and assured residents that security agencies were taking steps to apprehend the perpetrators and prevent further attacks.

It also appealed to affected families and communities to maintain peace, warning that blocking the highway could expose travellers to further danger.

‘Government wishes to assure travellers that the road is clear and open to motorists and other road users. Citizens are therefore urged to go about their lawful activities without fear, while remaining vigilant and cooperating with security agencies,’ the statement said.

Confirming the inincident, Rwang Tengwong, the spokesman for the Berom Youth Moulders-Association (BYM), described the killings as sad and disturbing.

Tengwong said the victims were killed while protecting their community, adding that their deaths had heightened fear among residents and dealt a setback to local security efforts.

He urged security agencies to intensify efforts to track down the attackers and bring them to justice, while calling for urgent measures to protect communities in Barkin Ladi and other vulnerable areas of the state.

BusinessDay reports that Security personnel were subsequently deployed to the area to maintain peace and prevent further escalation.