Hey people, let’s see if we can find some heroes. Nigerians are also doing wonderful things all over the world. I mean we speak so much of the terrible Nigerians. Let’s speak also of the Nigerians in your neck of the woods doing something remarkable, probably unknown to all of us. The university teachers, the doctor running the life-changing foundation in his limited spare time, the super surgeon saving American lives, the computer or programming whiz re-writing the technological landscape, the lawyer doing Pro Bono work for less privileged Nigerians...

Yes, let’s put together a list of top achieving Nigerians in the Diaspora. I know that's a very loose term, but I'm sure you know what I mean. I refer to people who are walking the walk. I refer to the quietly or publicly inspiring Nigerians in the Diaspora, age or field notwithstanding. No rigid yardstick, but what would be nice is that you explain BRIEFLY (even loosely) why you think the party belongs in the list.

S/He should be a Nigerian currently outside Nigeria. Could be your mother or father or friend, as long as you think his/her dance is remarkable enough to be posted on these pages. They must be Nigerians either by birth, marriage or whatever legal way. You must give us a name and a brief description of the person. Don't post contact details please! You don't want the "Alaye boys" of the internet bombarding them with solicitations, do you?

Understandably, it takes different things to inspire different people. You may not think someone is worthy of emulation merely because I think he is, and that is why it makes sense for us to say briefly why that party is deserving of it. How high is your bar for excellence raised?

There are Professors heading key departments in reputable universities. There are also politicians, artistes, sportsmen, etc. I speak of names that can inspire, names that will make a cold blood come to boil. I want us to list on this board even as they come to mind the Nigerians who make us proud to be Nigerians any day. I will freeze this thread so that anyone visiting will also see these names.

Remember the name (if you know it), what he does, where he does it and why he qualifies. You can also post images and links if you have access to such. Just don’t forget to post a brief description and maybe why they should be worthy of respected attention. It would be nice to see how many people we can find.

Now, be warned. Others have a right to disagree with you! Be ready to defend your vote! But no one should disagree without a reason or offering an alternative.

And now to the great Nigerians in the Diaspora, ladies and gentlemen, a toast…

I'd like to nominate Sola, seriously

Also Oba Nsugbe QC and Fidelis Oditah QC, Nigerian barristers in the UK who have achieved the highest rank in an area which in the UK is still very conservative and not very minority friendly

Femi Oyebode, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Birmingham and poet

Elizabeth Uwaifo, First Class from Oxford.Partner in London branch of Sidley Austin, Brown, top law firm

Lord Victor Adebowale, Chief Executive of Centerpoint, one of the UK's largest charities and member of the House of Lords

Mr Francis Chinegwundoh, FRCS, Consultant Urologist at St Barth's Hospital and President/Founder Black and Minority Interest group of the Royal Society of Medicine

I could go on and on, but I ought to give others a chance. I don't even want to name those whose names are already out there in the public eye

Femi Oyebode is more than qualified, if only for his poetry. That guy is genius, pure rhythm in wordy motion!

Since no one else is contributing, can I add Dele Olojede, Foreign Editor Newsday

Dele Olojede has risen that high there? Good for him.
Don't worry, Mysteryman, this thread will grow in time.

I have met a guy a couple of times. His name is Kenneth Iwelumo. I hear he is the 1st Vice President, Investments, at Merrill Lynch. Yet he remains a pretty accessible guy. That's not a position you attain without knowing what you're doing in America. And his take home must be at least half-a-million, not counting the perks. He also works with and contributes to several charities developing and providing amenities to the deprived in Nigeria. That is worthy of this thread, I think...

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/blackpower/snapshot/0,15307,7,00.html

Adebayo Ogunlesi is his name, manages a $2.8b portfolio. He is listed in Fortune Magazine's prestigious annual Most Powerful Black Executives index. He is head of investment banking at the Credit Suisse First Boston. His # 7 rating keeps him above the likes of Oprah Winfrey.

Professor Gabriel Oyibo who seems to have come up with a solution for a Theory Of Everything (TOE) also known as the Grand Unified Theory, he personally calls it GAGUT.

see: http://www.geocities.com/igala1/GUT.htm

And it also goes without saying his kindred spirit Philip Emeagwali.
Sholly boy, you could turn this into a book. :D

Why not? What would be most interesting would be to interview each one of them on life and success. That would make the book.

I'll be awaiting your first signed copy. :D
By the way, are you related to professor Femi Osofisan ? is he your brother, uncle, father etc ? I no sabi say you be big man o. Abeg make una dash me one contract ojare :D :D :D

There is a Dr Akintade Oyetade reader in Yoruba, and lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) university of London. Author and publisher of several Yoruba tutoring books. I don't have his contact address, but a google search on SOAS should do the trick.

Enjoy your weekend my bro.

This guy's story is so quietly unknown, yet he is touted to be running the largest and most excelling black company in the US. He was born in Nigeria and is said to be quite philanthropic. Follow the links to read more. Sounds like a dream interview! Mine!

http://www.internationalguardian.com/070802.htm
http://www.pvamu.edu/alumnihub/one/article.php?story=20021031113739767

I would have to say Bayo Ogunlesi even though Sola mentioned him, I went for an interview at Credit Suisse First Boston and one of my interviewers liked me so much that he arranged for me to meet Bayo Ogunlesi ( I had told the interviewers that Bayo's achievements in CSFB is what made me seek out the institution) and when I did, his humility blew my mind. He didn't have any of the "do-you-know-who-I-am " naija syndrome. Did I mention that he is extremely smart too! He is one Nigerian that I aspire to be like career wise.

Originally posted by Gen Sani Abacha
And it also goes without saying his kindred spirit Philip Emeagwali.
Is anyone aware of some new developments from his stable? Or has he peaked? What has he done in the last 5yrs for instance? Or could it be that his earlier achievements continue to be relevant thereby carrying him onward?

Owner of CAMAC, a Texas based oil company. The largest black owned company in the US.

I would like to nominate Joe Ordia, M.D., F.A.C.S., is Professor of Neurosurgery at the Boston University School of Medicine,

http://www.ordia.com/



Joe Ordia, M.D., F.A.C.S., is Professor of Neurosurgery at the Boston University School of Medicine, and Attending Neurosurgeon at the Boston Medical Center. He is Director of the Neurosurgery Pain Group, as well as the Director of the Neurosurgery Spasticity Group. He is a member of the board of directors of the Hydrocephalus Foundation.


Academic Appointments
Professor of Neurosurgery, Boston University School of Medicine.
Instructor in Surgery, Harvard Medical School (1978-1988)

Clinical Appointment
Attending Neurosurgeon at the Boston Medical Center.

Major Clinical Interests
Brain Injury.
Spinal and Spinal Cord Injury.
Spinal Disorders including Spondylosis and Herniated Disks.
Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors.
Hydrocephalus.
Spasticity.
Pain.
Implantable Infusion Pumps.
Minimally Invasive Surgery.


Education
Bates College
University of Ibadan
Harvard University

Neurosurgery Residency
Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
Peter Bent Brigham Hospital.
Massachusetts General Hospital.

Board Certification
Diplomate, American Board of Neurological Surgeons, 1982.

Fellowships and Certificates
Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, 1983.
Advanced Trauma Life Support Instructor, American College of Surgeons, 1985.

Licensure
Massachusetts.
District of Columbia.
New York.
California.


I think his achievements is worth celebrating

Once again i would like to nominate
Dr Oluyemi O. Badero, MD. FACC

Badero, Nigerian cardiologist in NY gets US Congressional citation


Badero has his own full fledged medical practice in the heart of Brooklyn, New York, but he is also affiliated with the State University of New York, SUNY, Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn, where he is Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine. Along with his job as a professor, Badero is also Associate Chief of Cardiology and Deputy Director of Cardiac Catherization at the Interfaith Hospital, in Brooklyn, New York. He is also affiliated with the New York Methodist Hospital, and Kings County Hospital both of which are in Brooklyn, New York. His fourth hospital affiliation is with the St. Vincent's Hospital, New York.


Badero, Nigerian cardiologist in NY gets US Congressional citation

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Oluyemi O. Badero has reached the highest levels of medicine in our country, all the way from Nigeria and he has used his expertise to improve the lives of his community."



those were the words of a US Congressman from New York, the powerful Ed Towns when he spoke recently at the US House of Representative to honor a young Nigerian cardiologist based in his constituency in New York City.

Last Monday in Brooklyn, New York Congressman Ed Towns held a remarkable reception for Nigerian born Dr. Oluyemi O. Badero, 43, where he presented the top class cardiologist with a plaque bearing his citation in the US Congressional Record entitled "A Tribute to Oluyemi O. Badero, MD. FACC."

In New York of today, Badero is regarded as one of the topmost interventional cardiologist, and only recently was named the topmost black doctor in New York by a newsmagazine, The Network Journal. In an edition of the magazine that emblazoned Badero's picture on the front cover page, the magazine noted that Badero "deals with matters of the heart by getting to the heart of the matter."

http://odili.net/news/source/2003/jun/14/100.html


http://www.badero.salu.net/index.html


http://www.allmedexchange.com/dir/ny/brooklyn.shtml


http://www.tnj.com/februrary_03_issue/coverstory1a.html


i think he is worth nominating

Solid entry, Abiola. Solid.

While this gentleman is not based abroad, he is a globe-trotter and this conversation with him, both in text and streaming video, is worth the time of anyone interested in this thread.

In the words of the HBS website, “HBS Entrepreneurs� is a video archive that captures insights from leading members of the HBS entrepreneurial community. Entrepreneurs speak on a common set of themes including their development as entrepreneurs, strategies for identifying opportunity and leadership. HBS is of course Harvard Business School.

His biodata from the site:Hakeem Belo-Osagie, (United Bank for Africa), HBS 1980, grew up in Nigeria, England and the United States. After graduating from HBS in 1980, he returned to Nigeria to work in financial services. He started at a securities trading outfit and soon realized that there was little trading activity going on in commercial paper, treasury bills and bankers acceptances. So, together with a few Nigerian shareholders and some international shareholders like the World Bank, he set up a niche firm. Later, he realized that if a large commercial bank were well organized and efficient, it would "blow a smaller group (like his) out of the market." When the Nigerian government decided to sell its shares in the United Bank for Africa, Hakeem recognized a bargain and purchased the bank. Today, Hakeem Belo-Osagie is Chairman of the United Bank for Africa. In March 2002, he described his his experiences as an entrepreneur and business leader in Nigeria. The interview link:
http://www.hbs.edu/entrepreneurs/hakeembeloosagie.html

Other interviews:
http://www.hbs.edu/entrepreneurs/

Dr. Olaniyi Kehinde

He and Dr. Howard Green invented "Transplantable sheets of living keratinous tissue" at MIT in Cambridge Massachusetts.

This is a method of producing transplantable sheets of keratinous tissue, by culturing keratinocytes in a culture vessel and subsequently enzymatically detaching a sheet of keratinous tissue employing an enzyme, such as Dispase.

In layman words they developed ways of growing human skin cells to be used as grafts for burn patients.

Prior to them there was NO record of anyone in the world using cells therapeutically. Cell contents and extracts were used, but Dr. Olaniyi Kehinde and Dr. Green pioneered a way of 'growing, expanding and grafting' entire human skin cells to replace the use of pig skin and amniotic sacs for burn patients.
With their invention, burn patients could now have their own skin regrown and grafted rather than that of pigs.

They eventually formed a company 'Biosurface Technology' which helped develop a division of the FDA to oversee the actual use of 'entire' cells (rather than extracts or cell contents) therapeutically.
{n.b. FDA has 2 sections - one approves 'drugs' and the second 'devices', under which this invention falls.}

Biosurface was eventually sold to Genzyme Corporation 5 years later, and additional information regarding the company can be attained through them.

Segun Aganga, Managing Director and
Head of Hedge Fund Consulting Services Goldman Sachs International

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/sunday_magazine/article05





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'When I See Our Girls On Italian Streets, I Get challenged'

Sonia Aimiuwu's childhood dream was to be an actress and singer but her mother would have none of that even though she was the one that encouraged the blossoming of the dream. Instead, she insisted that her little daughter take to a 'responsible and respectable' cause in life by having her study Business Management. But no sooner than Sonia Aimiuwu jetted out of the country and found herself in Italy that she decided to live her dream. With no mother breathing down her shoulder and watching her every move, Sonia decided on her path in life. She enrolled at the Academy of Music (Centro Jazz Di Torino) in Turin, Italy where between 1992-1997 she studied music. Within a short spell of time, she caught the imagination of the artistic community in Europe, as she became an instant theatre artiste, writer, dancer, choreographer and broadcaster, singer, producer as well as an activist. She has had the privilege of working with such troupes as Teatro Dell' Angolo Di Turino, Alma Teatro and Teatro Argentina Di Roma, National Television RAI 1, 2 and 3. Beside her making name as one of the few black faces who had been able to hold their own in Italy, she has toured Sweden, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and France among others plying her wares. Her work with immigrants and minority groups has stood her out. She is not just a flagbearer for the women folk only, but among Nigerian immigrants, she is held up as a role model, a saviour and the unofficial Ambassador for Nigeria. Her Alma Terra, a theatre group, is in the forefront of crusading for immigrants and minorities. They run among others what looks like a micro credit scheme to assist immigrants. She has also upped the stake by ensuring that issues concerning Africa are seen in a positive light and Africa voices heard. She is the founder and president of Afro Festival Association and she is also involved with a youth organisation known as Youth Express Network (based in Strasbourg). Sonia runs a radio programme, known as Afromania. Started in 2000, Afromania, which runs on Radio Flash of Turin 97.6FM, is a forum where issues affecting Africans are canvassed. It gives voice to Africans and government officials in Italy are engaged and made to explain their actions and policies as they affect immigrants and minorities group. On a recent visit home, Sonia, spoke to ANDREW IRO OKUNGBOWA




Being an artiste

"I think I was born to be an artist. I was born with it. It is from childhood. I have been acting all my life. That is what my mother used to say. She says, 'you have always been acting.' I used to sing as well. I was in the church choir from when I was a baby till I grew up. You know this Esigie Cultural Group (it was one of the famous cultural troupes in Benin then)... My mother was a member. They used to organise lessons, and my mother used to send me to them. So I was always there then.

"I was in the drama group in school. And I had the opportunity to do something with this guy called Friday Agbontaen (aka I go die), a comedian with the former Radio Bendel (now EBS) and then also, my music teacher (Bro Preacher), who had a school in Benin. He so much loved me that he allowed me into the school free of charge.

"But my mother never wanted me to go further. For her, it was something you just have to do there and leave it there. I was learning to play the guitar but I couldn't go further because my brother was always laughing at me. Then, my mother, she was very tough. She would say, 'throw that guitar away.' She would go to my church and tell them that she didn't want me to come to the choir again. If I was singing in the choir she would come and pick me out of the choir, and so many things."

Going to Europe

In a way, her mother succeeded to have Sonia tow her way. She got into a higher institution in Nigeria where she enrolled for Business Management, but two years into the programme, opportunity to travel to Europe came her way in 1992.

"My luck came when I got abroad ... O! My God! But it was tough."

She had an Italian male friend way back then. She informed him that she would like to continue with her studies. The news gladdened her friend's heart, and he assured her that something would be done about it. But the friend's enthusiasm started to wane when Sonia suggested the impossible:

"Then I said to him, 'but isn't there an art school, a music school.' Then, he said, 'Sonia, what do you want to do?' I said I wanted to become an artiste and a singer as well. He just looked at me and said (she said it in Italian just the way her friend had said it to her then): 'All Italians who are here have been studying, and they have not been able to get anywhere, not to talk of you coming from Nigeria, from one village! You say you want to become an actress or singer Go away."

In search of art school

With her eye trained on becoming an artiste, Sonia was not the type to easily give up on her dream. "I would tell people, and they will say, 'why do you have to think about that. Go and study some other thing?'. I went to the university and they were telling me you have to sit for about 47 exams. "But I said to myself, it's my mother who wanted that. Me, I don't want this. You mean I can't go to art school? They were telling me, 'Ah! Sonia, it is too difficult, you can't do that'. Nobody wanted to assist me then."

Living on the outskirts of Turin then, she learnt how to take the train. And armed with a little knowledge of Italian language, she took to the streets of Turin on a daily basis in search of an art school alone. What she did then was to knock on any office that caught her fancy and voiced her request in passable Italian language to anyone who cared to listen to her.

"Any office I just see I will burst in and say in Italian: 'look, I am from Nigeria, my name is Sonia. I want to act and sing!' They will look at me and they will say, 'no, here, we sell plates. O! Don't you see we sell plates here?' They will then write the address of the place I should go to and even describe it for me.

"But I would just go to the next shop and say, 'look, I am from Nigeria, I am Sonia, I want to sing and dance!' They will just look at me and say: 'But we don't have a school here. We sell things.'

Her break

That was how she went about it until she chanced on the Music Academy (Centro Jazz Di Torino). At the school, she regaled the fellow she met with what had become her famous introduction. This time around, the fellow, an Italian, caught on and asked her to sing something for him, which according to her, she did so well, falling back on her repertoire, her personal composition.

Impressed with her performance, she was further sent to one of the teachers in the academy. Her encounter with the teacher was also interesting by her own account.

This was how it went: "I went downstairs to see the teacher. When he saw me, he said to me, 'Pretty girl, who are you?' I said, 'I am Sonia, from Nigeria ...' And he then asked me what I could sing for him.

"I sang one of the songs I composed. 'This is lovely', he said to me. 'Where did you get it?', he asked. I told him it was mine. 'Oh! Good', he said. 'Can you sing solfa?', he asked. 'Yes', I said and I did it for him. 'You can start with me,' he then said to me."

That was how Sonia, finally got her break. And so between 1992 and 1997, she studied under the tutelage of some of the best teachers, directors, composers and artistes in Italy. She, however, remains grateful to her Italian male friend, whose generosity and kindness made it possible for her to pull through the academy because "it was very expensive."

While studying, things happened for her so fast that she quickly came to the notice of everyone. According to her, she was quite sharp, studious and talented in her ways. She was among the few students selected to take part in the jam sessions that the school held every night. During those sessions, she expressed her desire to get on stage (acting) to one of her friends, Elizabeth, who then told her of a women organisation that had just set up a theatre group.

Introduction to Theatre and social activism

With Elizabeth's encouragement, Sonia sought out 'Alma Terra', and thus began her life-long relationship with the group that later opened up other vistas in life for her.

"That was how I met my organisation-Alma Terra. It was true that they just formed a new drama group. It was so nice. They didn't only do that but they also helped women. On my own, I was already working with a charity group in trying to help women. The first thing I was doing with them was translation. They were not really having a lot of problems then. But they will like people to sit by them and translate things for them. They were having workshops too, and I started doing those with them."

From Alma Terra, she got involved with such troupes as the National Youth Theatre and also the National Adult Theatre. She recalled with relish how she got her first role as an artiste in her first production.

It was William Shakespeare's 'Midnight Summer Dream.' It was her director, Gabriela in Alma Terra who encouraged her to go for the auditioning. At the auditioning, she introduced herself to the director and the following dialogue ensued:

'Okay, what do you know how to do?', said the director.

'I can sing, I can dance.' Then the director asked her to go on stage and prove herself. She climbed the stage and sang 'When I fall in love.'

"He said: 'Okay, you are for the show'. That was how he took me and everything started. I couldn't believe my eyes. I could remember all I went through, my knocking on doors, my studies, but to tell you how Sonia became star... no, no, because it happened just like that. People come to know you, directors, they want you to work with them, from radio and TV."

For her, quick break into the world of art in Europe is something she still finds difficult to fathom. However, she believes that her talent have sold her out.

"Yes, talent as well, I think. Even my directors, they tell me, 'Sonia, there is this quality that you have that is difficult to find in other artistes'. I don't know, but they know. They will say, 'when it comes to singing, you will sing. You have a lovely voice. When you move, you dance well. When you act, even with your accent, it is funny.'

"You are good looking. People like you. Even the audience would come to you. I don't really know how true it is; all these things they say about me. They would describe you and say you are this, you are that. There was a journalist in France who wrote that sometimes I was like a woman lion; lioness on stage! The guy was just writing and writing positive things about me in superlative terms. Then, my colleague would come to me and complain. 'Sonia, this is not fair! We are acting together but people will always focus on you. Are we not acting together?' I think it is also the star. The star is there as well. Talent? Yes, but I think there is something else as well."

I can't turn my back on Nigerians

With the stride she has made in her acting, singing, dancing, radio and TV programmes, there is no doubt that this Nigerian artiste has made it good for herself in a land where being black, being an immigrant and worst still, a Nigerian, stigmatises one. She easily admitted that, "I am okay with what I do. I don't have problems."

If she is fine and okay with what she does, why does she risk all that and stick out her head for Nigerians, immigrants and minorities?

"When you go out or you see your people on the TV and they say they just caught this girl today; she is from Nigeria, she is going to be deported. Or they've just caught some pimps;

they are going to be deported, and they are from Nigeria; and I am from Nigeria; o! my God something should be done. You can't just sit there and say 'I am okay, let's forget about my people'. It's like something is going to move within you. So with that I try to give a helping hand through the various organisations that I am involved with."

For her, activism is a mission. "I believe it is an assignment that I have to do. I sometime say probably, I will not live long! ... It is in you. You have to work to help people.

"I believe that what I am earning is not only for me, otherwise everything would not come off like that, just so easy. Now, for me it is easy, but it wasn't so easy. Sometime you get some contracts you don't even expect. They will say, 'we have this budget.' They will give it to you. So, why should I have to keep all the things to myself."

I live for others

For Sonia, who says she draws strength from her inner being, there are occasions one has to contend with agonising and frustrating moments in her social crusading efforts, especially when friends and family members confront her with the hard facts of life. Often she is hit with such words as: 'Sonia, you will get mad; you think you are the only one; you want to help this, help that; don't go and use your money and enjoy yourself and start thinking of marriage and getting children; you will get old and still be there.'

Upon deeper reflection, she admitted that, "They are right sometimes. Yes, you get frustrated as well, anyway. Sometimes you really sit down to think. And say, do I have to continue like this, especially when you come back home and you see what is happening."

Consequently, she said: "I am living for people. I am not living for myself. I don't have my own private life." Yet, despite the fact that she is overtly accommodating and goes all out to satisfy others, she confesses to that she is not good at keeping relationships.

I am almost a recluse

"I know a lot of people but I can't cope with friends. I am not good at it. With a friend, I will just say hello. I can't talk for long. I am always alone. I don't go out. I want to be alone on my own. I just walk by the street. I go around seeking information about immigrants. That is my first target in life.

"But I am open. I am very open. I don't like parties. All these official things-wearing lace (material) or what have you... no, no, no, I don't like that. So whenever Nigerians in Italy invite me to a function, I don't go because when I get there I don't feel comfortable. I always give them something (monetary donations) and that is all. Maybe in churches they call me sometimes and say, 'Sonia give us a special number'. I will go there and give them a special number and they take me back home. That is all.

"But when they are wedding... ah, no, no, I am not used to it. Once I tried it with my younger sister, who is in Italy. I went to visit her and she was talking about a wedding; 'Sister, you will come with me, when everybody sees you, they will bow.' I was like telling her, 'please, my love, I can't go'. But she insisted, so I accepted. Could you believe that all the time I was at the bar, while the party was upstairs because I was not able to climb up. Even half of the people were now with me. It was like I was discussing with them. I will chat with some guys and they will now go up and say, 'one babe dey here o!' And everybody was now coming downstairs."

I'm not doing well in my music

"As an artiste, you have a dream. You say you want to achieve this goal, and you pray, you work hard. You do whatever you can to get there. When you get there, it is always higher. It is not because you want to show off. No, it is your brain, your mind, it is the environment; even the people, your audience, who are requesting for more.

"Like in my music, I am not doing so well because for many years I have been trying to get a good producer for my type of sound (Afro-pop with highlife), but I haven't been able to get one. You need a direct contact. You know when some of the producers have some artistes they don't care about you.

"I don't want to do a CD to just copy what others are doing as well. If I want to do something, I do it damn well. I wanted to become an actress, an actress in a responsible way; a singer in a responsible way, I won't just go on a local level to do my CD. I can't put that into the market. I did that to get a producer, which is very difficult."



Visit to Nigeria

"I last came to Nigeria five years ago. It's like I have been working. I just work. I don't go on vacation. And when I was getting bored, I said, okay, I have to do something. I have to see Nigeria, just to renew myself: It was very lovely to be back home to meet loved ones. It was something very emotional for me to see the social conditions... It's really, really bad. It's like you are happy on one side, and on the other side you feel somehow bad. Probably, if I was only an artiste or that I don't care about people, I wouldn't suffer any psychological trauma.

"I am an artiste and I am also an activist. You do a lot with helpless Nigerians over there and you see that things are changing, and when you get back home, it is like, oh, My God, all that you are doing over there is in vain. It is painful because you see that here is worse. People are starving, even children, they are exploited... And women too. They are being abused. I am tired. I said I want to go back. Not because I am not enjoying my stay but what I see when I go out. Babies begging for alms; the situation of things... people sleeping outside and what have you. I feel so bad. That moment, you say, let me give something to help but what can you do? You can't do more than give N100 or N200.

"Then you ask yourself, why do things have to happen this way? When we have such a rich country! Everybody knows Nigeria to be a rich country, with many resources... but our leaders; I don't know what they do. There is a very big gap between the rich and the poor. The rich people look down on the poor. I hate it. It's not good."

Although her exposure to the realities of her people back home has raised some conflicts within her, she however, contends that coming home has been a learning process for her even as she informs that she intends to come up with a new strategy when she gets back to her base on how best to collaborate with some NGOs in the country on ways of tackling some of the problems frontally.

Said Sonia, "My experience is a lesson. It is going to encourage me as well, work out new strategies, probably trying to get in contact with the NGOs here, that is the ones really working. I didn't do that before. I would now sit back and think properly to try to get in contact with the people, and try to discuss with them what they are doing, and then see what we could do together."

The government should help to get Nigerians off the streets of Europe

"I want to plead with this government, I know it is not easy to lead a country, I can understand that. But notwithstanding, I believe, I don't only believe, God knows, God has given us all the resources, wealth is in this country. There is money in this country. Why can't the government look for a way out. I don't want everybody to be the same but just a balance between the low class and the rich. Even here you don't talk about the middle, high, low classes.

"I mean create more job opportunities, try to give free education as well. Many families don't keep their children in schools again because it is too expensive. And when a child doesn't go to school, what future has that child? We should help in a way that children hawkers shouldn't be in the streets. Children hawkers wouldn't be in the street when there is free education. The government can afford this.

"They should create new things. I see imported things here and there. Before things are out in Italy, they are already in Nigeria. Why don't we focus on what we have? Can't we make the same jeans as from Europe, the same shoes as from Italy?"

Nigerian youths should work to secure the future

"They should plan for the future, they should work for the future and not for the moment. This is what I always tell them. When you are working for the moment it is always 'I need money. In Benin City, Adesuwa built four flats; the other one seven flats, cars, whatever.' That's what is reigning.

"Then, you are not planning for your future. You are planning for the moment. Then, you are ready to do anything, to even give one part of your liver. We shouldn't be carried away by what others have. Do you know how many of those girls who have flats over here had died of HIV/AIDS! And some are still in the hospitals? Young girls, pretty girls. The last one I was taking care of died three years ago. Her friends called me, 'Oh sister Sonia, she is dead. I think the family (of the girl) were too bad. They killed her'. I just laughed. It's not the family, but you don't have to go and tell them. This is another issue that is going on: The issue of HIV/AIDS that is killing most of the girls over there."

"I have written a script. Someday, I will bring it out. It is a real story. Maybe they will look at it and they will be crying. Let them cry but that is the reality. If you watch a film like that before you will go abroad you will think twice. It is not the government alone, artistes and filmmakers should show the real thing, the reality. They should help the society to grow. They should emancipate people. They should go deeper into things."

Nigerian home video filmmakers are part of the problem

Sonia is also not happy with the Nigerian home video filmmakers. She sees their works as too superficial and not helping to treat social issues critically. "What the film makers here are doing, is giving us a bad image. I saw some films that they would go abroad, make their money, come back and become rich. That is not the fact. They have left out the real story. Why don't they do a research to see what is going on? Why not show the other part? It's very wrong. They should know that prostitution does not involve only money. It involves HIV/AIDS, death, because most of them are being killed on the streets. It involves exploitation. But that exploitation is so big, so huge that there are many things that go with it. Why not show those aspects of it as well? Let us see the way they really are over there. How things happen to them, how they are raped, how they will chain them as slaves, how they will use iron to burn their hands, how they die in hospitals.








© 2003 - 2004 @ Guardian Newspapers Limited (All Right Reserved).
Powered

By virtue of his birth, I would ask that this Nigerian be given some props; Hugo Weaving better known as Agent Smith in the Matrix series and Elrond in the Lord of the Rings Series.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0915989/bio (Hugo Weaving)

Originally posted by maverixz
By virtue of his birth, I would ask that this Nigerian be given some props; Hugo Weaving better known as Agent Smith in the Matrix series and Elrond in the Lord of the Rings Series.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0915989/bio (Hugo Weaving) Yeah, I was recently informed that is fact.

Oh, and Keem Bello-Osaigie above got thrown out of UBA for all sorts of allegedly shady decisions. Na wa o! Omo Adamo!

Originally posted by Sola
Yeah, I was recently informed that is fact.

Oh, and Keem Bello-Osaigie above got thrown out of UBA for all sorts of allegedly shady decisions. Na wa o! Omo Adamo!

Sola, Ah AH ? Sebi yu be Naija man now ? In the current dispensation of things back home, I believe principled folks face rough times ( perhaps more so than ever before :( ).

ciao

Dr. Philip Emeagwali, the father of the modern Internet.

www.emeagwali.com

May I nominate Prof. Adedeji Badiru, author, Engineer, Administrator, etc. Formerly the Dean, University College & also formerlly Dean of Engineering, University of Oklahoma. Presently Head of Industrial and Information Engineering, University of Tennesee, USA. Detribalized, he has helped several Nigerians from different geo-political zones to obtain American education. His consultancy is www.abicsnet.com (http://www.abicsnet.com)

I nominate myself for passing my G-2 in flying color. In addition, I have lots of potential.

Panasharp, what is the G-2???

Some Nigerian Artists ...

Sokari Douglas Camp for her depiction of "ordinary people as heroes" - http://www.fourthplinth.co.uk/sokari_camp.htm

Bruce Onobrakpeya

Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu (1921-1994) has been described as "the most renowned Nigerian artist of the 20th century. Already in 1937 Enwonwu held his first exhibition in London and drew favourable attention. Twenty years later he became known as the sculptor who had been officially commissioned by the British court to make a bronze bust of Queen Elisabeth II." http://www.culturebase.net/artist.php?884


p.s can anyone actually confirm that Professor Oyibo was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics? I gather there is some confusion about whether or not he was nominated in 2002 [see http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/PEEPS/oyibo_gabriela.html], some websites claim he was also nominated in 2003, but the many reports of his nomination this year if (also?) false borders on the callous! And there is no point going to the Nobel prize website:
"According to the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation, information about the nominations is not to be disclosed, publicly or privately, for a period of fifty years. The restriction not only concerns the nominees and nominators, but also investigations and opinions in the awarding of a prize."

Welcome to the NIA Progress

Guess I should have introduced myself properly ... will do!

No problem Progress...No problem at all my love!

No problem Progress...No problem at all my love!
?????????????????................ where is mob?

?????????????????................ where is mob?

ooh cut it out Mav.

u are over-exaggerating here..

i'm just greeting our newest member :bgrin

Mav, are u trying to get
a nigga busted or something around here?? LOL...................
gheez! :ringed

Hats off to...

Jacob Olupona, Professor of African and African American studies at the University of California, Davis.

In January, 2003, it was announced that African religion scholar Dr. Jacob Olupona had been given more than $500,000 from the Ford Foundation to help America see what he calls its most invisible immigrants. Until 2006, Mr. Olupona of the University of California, Davis, professor of African and African American studies will be working with African immigrant religious communities in major U.S. cities to develop ethnographic and historical pictures of their lives. The study is documenting the effect and transnational importance of Africans in America, in terms of how they continue to affect politics and economics in their home countries. Using his own scholarly lens of religion, Dr. Olupona is studying how immigrant identities and communities are shaped in a context of North American religious landscapes, civic engagement and social change. He is focusing on African communities in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angles, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Dr. Olupona has pointed out that Africans participate in a variety of religions: Islam, evangelical Christianity and indigenous African religions. He stresses that these groups differ from other American spiritual communities in that many worship in native African languages; emphasize African dress, performance, dance and rituals; or use indigenous African symbols and metaphors. He adds that African immigrants are also spiritual leaders for others who practice New World religions with African roots: the Orisha tradition, affiliated with vodou in Haiti; Santeria practiced among Afro-Cubans; and Candomble, developed among Afro-Brazilians.

He is also planning a conference of African religious leaders who will meet at UC Davis in 2005 to form an action plan that addresses issues affecting their communities.

Two years ago, the Ford Foundation gave Dr. Olupona $98,000 to map the diversity of African religious communities in the nation. He received another $414,000 Ford grant in December ‘03 to continue his research, coordinate national African religious community researchers and hold the 2005 leadership conference.

In 1999, he convened in Miami, a major international conference on the Orisha devotion as a world religion.

Dr. Olupona has authored and edited more than eight books including "Kingship, Religion and Rituals in a Nigerian Community."

He is the president of the African Association for the Study of Religion.


Source: Dateline UC Davis - faculty and staff newspaper for the University of California, Davis.

Sadly, Dr. Olaniyi Kehinde passed away this morning. He would be fondly missed by his fellow scientist, all those for whom he served as a 'Guardian' and Mentor for in the Boston metropolitan area, those with whom he worked at MIT and Harvard, and most especially his family and friends.
Humble until his last breath and loved by so many.
May His Soul rest in perfect peace.

Dr. Olaniyi Kehinde

He and Dr. Howard Green invented "Transplantable sheets of living keratinous tissue" at MIT in Cambridge Massachusetts.

This is a method of producing transplantable sheets of keratinous tissue, by culturing keratinocytes in a culture vessel and subsequently enzymatically detaching a sheet of keratinous tissue employing an enzyme, such as Dispase.

In layman words they developed ways of growing human skin cells to be used as grafts for burn patients.

Prior to them there was NO record of anyone in the world using cells therapeutically. Cell contents and extracts were used, but Dr. Olaniyi Kehinde and Dr. Green pioneered a way of 'growing, expanding and grafting' entire human skin cells to replace the use of pig skin and amniotic sacs for burn patients.
With their invention, burn patients could now have their own skin regrown and grafted rather than that of pigs.

They eventually formed a company 'Biosurface Technology' which helped develop a division of the FDA to oversee the actual use of 'entire' cells (rather than extracts or cell contents) therapeutically.
{n.b. FDA has 2 sections - one approves 'drugs' and the second 'devices', under which this invention falls.}

Biosurface was eventually sold to Genzyme Corporation 5 years later, and additional information regarding the company can be attained through them.


A GOOD NAME IS TO BE CHOSEN RATHER THAN RICHES. Prov. 22:1

___________________________

I know I havent posted in a while, but I have been following TIME magazine's lead up to the Health Summit 2005, which will be taking place in a few days. IS aw this story about Dr. Akunyili, and couldnt resist posting it...She was identified as one of 18 global heros in health, and her story was the cover story for the profile...I am going to try to paste the feature picture here...Enjoy!

http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2005/0510/heroes/akunyili.jpg

Dr. Dora Akunyili and her family were driving down a rural road in Nigeria three years ago when snipers opened fire on her car. "The back windscreen was shattered," she says. "A bullet pierced through my head scarf and grazed my scalp." Akunyili had been targeted by a drug gang--but not the kind that sells heroin or cocaine. These drug dealers traffic in counterfeit medicine--ineffective at best, deadly at worst--and as director general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Akunyili's job aims to put them out of business.

Bad medicine is a huge problem in Nigeria. Before Akunyili took over her post in 2001, a staggering 80% of the medications sold there were deficient in one way or another. Some contained less of the active ingredient than was specified on the label. Others were past their expiration date. Some were filled with inert lactose or powdered chalk. Still others were poison. In 1990 more than 100 Nigerian children died from a painkiller that had been made with toxic ethylene glycol instead of propylene glycol. In 2003 phony adrenaline led to the deaths of three children undergoing surgery in the city of Enugu. Akunyili's sister Vivian, a diabetic, died in 1988, a victim of fake insulin.

Akunyili's first move, when she took over the drug-control agency, was to restrict pharmaceutical imports to just two airports and two seaports, each staffed by NAFDAC officials. The agency also made a list of 19 Indian and Chinese companies that had been indicted for manufacturing fake drugs and banned their products. It placed analysts in India and China to recertify any drugs manufactured in those countries before they could be shipped to Nigeria.

NAFDAC went on the offensive back home as well, conducting nearly 800 raids on drug-distribution outlets and 90 "destruction exercises" on counterfeit or substandard medicines. "We are winning," says Akunyili. "Made-in-Nigeria drugs are now acceptable in other West African countries. Multinational [drug manufacturers] that left out of frustration are coming back."

None of this has made her very popular with the local drug cartels. The sniping incident was only one of several attempts on her life. NAFDAC'S offices have been fire bombed and its personnel attacked by gunmen. No wonder her family wants her not to accept another five-year term when the current one expires next year. But Akunyili, 51, has not made up her mind. "God gave me the opportunity to do something," she says, "and so far, God has been protecting me."

Like many committed health professionals in the developing world, Akunyili brings an almost messianic zeal to her work. "Drug faking or counterfeiting is the greatest evil of our time," she says. "Malaria can be prevented, HIV/AIDS can be avoided and armed robbery may kill a few at a time, but fake drugs kill en masse."

Akinboboye Named Among Nigeria, Top US Heart Doctors
FROM LAOLU AKANDE (NEW YORK)

A NIGERIAN-trained doctor has been named a top heart doctor among about 60,000 around New York.

According to the Castle Connolly Medical Guide, a leading yearly publication of distinguished US doctors in New York, Chicago and Florida regions, Dr. Olakunle Akinboboye is among the top US doctors based in the New York region and he is identified as a leading specialist in cardiovascular disease.

The publication stated that the process of selecting the top doctors "begins with the identification of a selected pool of board-certified physicians from the total number of doctors practising in a given area" who will make the nominations. The process also involves a survey of already distinguished and leading physicians and hospital CEOs and medical directors, who are asked to nominate top doctors on yearly basis.

It is also noted that the selection is predicated on an extensive nomination procedure and a set of standards "which each nominated doctor was required to meet, in respect of their peers and academic excellence."

The nominees are asked to suggest names of doctors, "especially those to whom they would refer their patients and their own family members." The publication noted that only doctors who deliver outstanding patient care are chosen.

Akinboboye, now a nuclear cardiologist based in New York, graduated from the University of Ibadan College of Medicine before coming to the US about 18 years ago. And although he had completed his training in Nigeria, he took up (as required for practice in the US) another internal medicine residency and a cardiology fellowship at the Nassau County Medical Center and the State University of New York, both in the New York area.

Afterwards, he moved to the prestigious Columbia University and completed another fellowship with dedicated training in nuclear cardiology and advanced echo cardiology. Not just a medical doctor, Akinboboye is also an academic and taught at the Columbia University in New York between 1995 and 2000 as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine.

Akinboboye has the unique distinction of earning degrees not only in medicine but also an MBA from Columbia and also a Master's degree in Public Health from the same school. He also has to his credit over 100 scientific publications in the fields of hypertension, diabetes and heart imaging.

Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the State University of New York at Stonybrook and also the Director of Nuclear Cardiology at a leading international medical center in New York, St Francis Hospital.

Recently Akinboboye, an active member of the Ibadan College of Medicine Alumni Association in the US and the immediate past president of the body opened his own private clinic- Laurelton Heart Specialists where he is director, in Laurelton, New York

Recognised as a nuclear cardiology expert by both the American Heart Association and the Association of Black Cardiologists both in the US, Akinboboye was recently featured in another US magazine, Network Journal as a leading US black doctor. He was also featured recently in the publication of the American Heart Association as someone who "wants to make sure heart failure patients have the best chance of long-term survival, as well as lead active lives."

The association's publication noted that Akinboboye's research is "addressing ways to improve the ability of heart failure patients to increase their exercise tolerance."

Earlier this year, the Ondo State-born Nigerian doctor was awarded the humanitarian award of the College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan for his "ongoing efforts to spread expertise in the field of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation in Nigeria."

He also received the award of the US Association of Black Cardiologists for his "dedicated service as a board member from 1999 to 2005. He has received grants from the US government through the National Institute of Health, and also from the American Heart Association in recognition of his outstanding expertise and skills as a medical researcher and physician.

Akinboboye, who is in his 40s, expressed deep concern about how Nigerian professionals abroad can make an impact at home in their various areas of expertise. He cited University College Hospital (UCH) graduates abroad who are involved in activities to improve the level of medical education in Nigeria.

Among these is the taking up of MacArthur Foundations offer that if UCH alumni in the US and beyond can raise $250,000.00 the foundation will provide a counterpart fund of $250,000.00 grant.

The challenge came earlier this year and Akinboboye, who is an active fundraiser towards that goal said already, about $20,000, have been raised.

Akinboboye is a board member of the Nigerian Higher Education Fund set up in the US to improve university education in selected Nigerian universities, including University of Ibadan (UI) , Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Port Harcourt.

Similarly, Akinboboye said he is also involved with other colleagues in what he called "tele-medicine" training, whereby US based doctors through satellite can begin to train and impact doctors and residents back in Nigeria.

According to him, "this is a mechanism for distance learning, so that we can take advantage of technology and the time difference between here and Nigeria." He said about $100,000 would be needed to do this and the plan was already in the offing.

For Nigerians who can also afford it, Akinboboye said there is also an "Executive Health Screening Programme" for highflying Nigerians to come to the US for detailed health screening and relaxation as is done in other countries for executive of companies.

Excellent!!

I am even more proud of my people! :stretch

The Drug Warrior - Dora Akunyili

Nigerian women like her are unsung heros....Her simplicity and drive for "doing the right thing" is so admirable and makes me so proud....She one of the few women I "look-up"to and hope I can be like someday...

How is Dora abroad, Berta?

How is Dora abroad, Berta?

Sola, I dont understand your question?

How is Dora abroad, Berta?

Ok now I understand!!

She doesnt live abroad right now; but she lived and schooled in England before going back to serve her nation...I dont know if her case is similar to Dr Okonjo-Iweala's....

Shirley Veronica Bassey is best known for her three James Bond themes - Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and the Moonraker.

She was born on 8 January 1937 in Cardiff's Tiger Bay, the seventh child of Henry and Eliza Bassey. Her father was a seaman from Nigeria, and her mother was from the North of England.

Never knew Shirley Bassey was a part nigeria !

Guys thank you for keeping this thread going. It definitely serves as a source of inspiration and motivation for us all to be the best that we can be.

Hey people, let’s see if we can find some heroes. Nigerians are also doing wonderful things all over the world. I mean we speak so much of the terrible Nigerians. Let’s speak also of the Nigerians in your neck of the woods doing something remarkable, probably unknown to all of us. The university teachers, the doctor running the life-changing foundation in his limited spare time, the super surgeon saving American lives, the computer or programming whiz re-writing the technological landscape, the lawyer doing Pro Bono work for less privileged Nigerians...

Yes, let’s put together a list of top achieving Nigerians in the Diaspora. I know that's a very loose term, but I'm sure you know what I mean. I refer to people who are walking the walk. I refer to the quietly or publicly inspiring Nigerians in the Diaspora, age or field notwithstanding. No rigid yardstick, but what would be nice is that you explain BRIEFLY (even loosely) why you think the party belongs in the list.

S/He should be a Nigerian currently outside Nigeria. Could be your mother or father or friend, as long as you think his/her dance is remarkable enough to be posted on these pages. They must be Nigerians either by birth, marriage or whatever legal way. You must give us a name and a brief description of the person. Don't post contact details please! You don't want the "Alaye boys" of the internet bombarding them with solicitations, do you?

Understandably, it takes different things to inspire different people. You may not think someone is worthy of emulation merely because I think he is, and that is why it makes sense for us to say briefly why that party is deserving of it. How high is your bar for excellence raised?

There are Professors heading key departments in reputable universities. There are also politicians, artistes, sportsmen, etc. I speak of names that can inspire, names that will make a cold blood come to boil. I want us to list on this board even as they come to mind the Nigerians who make us proud to be Nigerians any day. I will freeze this thread so that anyone visiting will also see these names.

Remember the name (if you know it), what he does, where he does it and why he qualifies. You can also post images and links if you have access to such. Just don’t forget to post a brief description and maybe why they should be worthy of respected attention. It would be nice to see how many people we can find.

Now, be warned. Others have a right to disagree with you! Be ready to defend your vote! But no one should disagree without a reason or offering an alternative.

And now to the great Nigerians in the Diaspora, ladies and gentlemen, a toast…

Me

MeSo what have you done ?

Me
Good on you chiomze!

A Nigerian who values themself, at last!

So what have you done ?
An easier question would be what haven’t I done? To avoid tooting my own horn I will just wait until someone discovers me.:p
Hey I am trying to avoid ego massaging my dear.:bow: :bgrin

An easier question would be what haven’t I done? Finest trick in the book to deploy when diverting a question...Change it! :roll

An easier question would be what haven’t I done? To avoid tooting my own horn I will just wait until someone discovers me.:p
Hey I am trying to avoid ego massaging my dear.:bow: :bgrin

please do :)


I was told (at one of those "girl power" meets) that you SHOULD toot your own horn..

you can do it without coming off as arrogant (practice makes perfect)


let me rephrase the question to make it easier for you.

of all the things you have accomplished, which are you most proud of?
what did you do? what challenges did you face and how did you overcome those challenges?? what lessons did you learn and how did you use that in your 2nd greatest accomplishment?

what is your 2nd greatest accomplishment?


:)

Finest trick in the book to deploy when diverting a question...Change it! :roll

:lol No really I am actually tongue tied on what to talk about. :bgrin

An easier question would be what haven’t I done? To avoid tooting my own horn I will just wait until someone discovers me.:p
Hey I am trying to avoid ego massaging my dear.:bow: :bgrin
Ok chioma mara nma..What have you not done? you could start with a least of what you set out to do and then you can tell me what you haven't done..sounds good.? .:)

please do :)


I was told (at one of those "girl power" meets) that you SHOULD toot your own horn..

you can do it without coming off as arrogant (practice makes perfect)


let me rephrase the question to make it easier for you.

of all the things you have accomplished, which are you most proud of?
what did you do? what challenges did you face and how did you overcome those challenges?? what lessons did you learn and how did you use that in your 2nd greatest accomplishment?

what is your 2nd greatest accomplishment?


:)

My greatest achievement is typically my latest accomplishment. When I set a goal for myself and accomplish it I am see myself as an achiever. I do have mentors and people I admire but I think I may be my biggest mentor and admirer.
See I feel like I am tooting my own horn. :1168: No I did not invent the cure for cancer but I am an achieving Nigerian in the dispora *toot toot*.:)

Ok chioma mara nma..What have you not done? you could start with a least of what you set out to do and then you can tell me what you haven't done..sounds good.? .:)

I don tell you I no go boast. :happy024: But I will tell you I have done well.

please do :)


I was told (at one of those "girl power" meets) that you SHOULD toot your own horn..

you can do it without coming off as arrogant (practice makes perfect)


let me rephrase the question to make it easier for you.

of all the things you have accomplished, which are you most proud of?
what did you do? what challenges did you face and how did you overcome those challenges?? what lessons did you learn and how did you use that in your 2nd greatest accomplishment?

what is your 2nd greatest accomplishment?


:)Lil sis, you've been interviewing everybody so it's your turn.
Will you be upo for it ? panic:

Chiomze, you have to answer ms. luvincali...she is the resident expert in investigations and she is also a damn good reporter. Please don't make her go Barbara Walters on you...

By the way, tooting the horn is ok. I think it's a good thing cause you could be encouraging someone else to get their stuff together and become something great.

Lil sis, you've been interviewing everybody so it's your turn.
Will you be upo for it ? panic:

:roll

sure.. why not :)

Chiomze, you have to answer ms. luvincali...she is the resident expert in investigations and she is also a damn good reporter. Please don't make her go Barbara Walters on you...

By the way, tooting the horn is ok. I think it's a good thing cause you could be encouraging someone else to get their stuff together and become something great.

LOL I thought it was Rosie... I need to catch up with this pop culture thing.
K I will just say one thing, currently I am the only black and female in my department. Two times minority. :lol
Rose quickly through the ranks to get there with plenty of hardknocks along the way. It wasn't easy but we did it anywayz. :)

Titles

WBE Light Heavyweight World Champion

WBE Super Middleweight World Champion

WIBF Light Heavyweight World Champion

Ijeoma "The Praise" Egbunine (born December 30, 1980 in Lagos, Nigeria) is a female boxer and is currently the WBE Light Heavyweight World Champion and WIBF Light Heavyweight World Champion. She trains under Henry Okafor of Team Praise in Marietta, GA.



Biography
Ijeoma Egbunine's first professional match was a win by unanimous decision against Janaya Davis in December 2004. That decision was highly contested by Davis, however, who claimed she was set-up to lose by the promoter. Egubine did not take these comments lightly, and promised to be more aggressive during their next fight. In her second match against the Atlanta favorite on February 25, 2005, Egbunine KO'ed Davis in the second round. According to , "In the second round the intensity did not let up as the bad blood began to boil between the two. At the 30 second mark of the 2nd round Egbunine landed a crushing overhand right that sent Davis brutally to the canvas. Davis struggled to get to her feet as she fell for a second time trying. As she stumbled to her feet referee Jim Korb stopped the fight -- Jose Santiago"

Her only loss came on March 12, 2005, to Nikki Eplion (in her first fight since losing to Laila Ali) in a close decision . The bout, only the third for Egbunine, was the main event on the seven-fight "A Punch Of Class" in front of 600 fans in the ballroom at the Radisson Hotel, Huntington, West Virginia.

Since then, Egbunine went on a string of victories (including 7 more KOs) against a number of talented boxers, including Carlette Ewell and Valerie Mahfood .

On Saturday, June 17, 2006, she took on the well known Åsa Sandell of Sweden at the Joel Coliseum Annex, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Sandell had fought Laila Ali in December 2005 and lost in the 5th round. Egbunine won with a TKO in the second round, taking her one step closer to an inevitable first-time match-up with the popular Ali.

Ijeoma Egbunine is scheduled to fight 28-year-old Laila Ali this summer in Cape Town, South Africa . Some proceeds from the August 5 bout will benefit the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and the light heavyweight matchup will be part of a monthlong celebration of women's empowerment in South Africa.

Professional boxing: 13 Fights; 12 Wins; 8 KOs

Career
IWBF World Light Heavyweight 1st champion
WIBA World Light Heavyweight 1st champion


RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE 2006 Ali's Camp Lies to Stop Fight

The Praise is scheduled to fight LaiLa Ali in South Africa on Aug 5, 2006. However, per Damon Bingham/Team Ali, The Praise has backed out do to passport issues and that is flat out lie.

LaiLa's camp Team Ali used Ijeoma Egbunine heritage, because The Praise is from Nigeria, to build awareness of the fight in Cape Town South Africa. Ali is in South Africa and conducted a 3 week marketing campaign for the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Now that the fight is 2 weeks out they are running scared.

Ijeoma Egbunine is resident of Atlanta GA and small business owner of THE PRAISE GYM in Smyrna GA.

The Praise is ready to fight Ali on Aug 5th. The public has a right to know that Team Ali will stop at nothing including lies and trickery to sabotage a fight with Ijeoma "The Praise" Egbunine.

Without Laila Ali, they would be no women boxing. She is the poster child of female boxers and carries torch for her father’s legacy. They do not want The Praise to knock her out in South Africa 26 years after original Rumble in the Jungle.

The Praise to LaiLa Ali "COME LET US FIGHT". She is more that ready to Knock LaiLa Ali out, almost 26 years to date of Muhammad Ali's Rumble in Jungle.

Articles regarding the fight: Just cut & paste in web browser

1) http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slug=ap-ali-africa&prov=ap&type=lgns


2) http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=6&click_id=21&art_id=qw1151133122369S163

africamasterweb.com/AdSense/MuhammadAliDaughterFightAfrica.html

4) Boxrec.com world ranking: http://www.boxrec.com/ratings.php?nationality=&sex=F&division=Light+Heavyweight&status=A&SUBMIT=Go

TEAM PRAISE BRAND U PR brandupr@gmail.com

Links: Myspace (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=173032314), Ring of dreams (http://www.ringofdreams.com/boxers/ijeoma_egbunine.shtml), Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijeoma_Egbunine)

LOL I thought it was Rosie... I need to catch up with this pop culture thing.
K I will just say one thing, currently I am the only black and female in my department. Two times minority. :lol
Rose quickly through the ranks to get there with plenty of hardknocks along the way. It wasn't easy but we did it anywayz. :)

chiomy... you gat to give us more jist than that...depending on your field, most women are usually the only black females/black ppl in their dpt.. :)

so, what do you do?

LOL I thought it was Rosie... I need to catch up with this pop culture thing.
K I will just say one thing, currently I am the only black and female in my department. Two times minority. :lol
Rose quickly through the ranks to get there with plenty of hardknocks along the way. It wasn't easy but we did it anywayz. :)

Welcome to the club. I too am the only black and female person in my office. To top it off, I am the youngest person here as well. I think most of the women here on NIA are engineers and scientists. I am an engineer and I suspect you might be one too.........

LUVINCALI..get in here and do the interview!!!

Welcome to the club. I too am the only black and female person in my office. To top it off, I am the youngest person here as well. I think most of the women here on NIA are engineers and scientists. I am an engineer and I suspect you might be one too.........

LUVINCALI..get in here and do the interview!!!

You guessed right. ;)

You guessed right. ;)

cool..

another female engineer :)

what type of engineer are you?

what industry are you in?

what path do you see your career taking? (ie management or more technical??)

cool..

another female engineer :)

what type of engineer are you?

what industry are you in?

what path do you see your career taking? (ie management or more technical??)

Mrs Kenna you weren't kidding :shock the girl don put me under the glare of the lights :p :)
Electrical and Test Engineering
Manufacturing
Management (Na there the money dey)

Mrs Kenna you weren't kidding :shock the girl don put me under the glare of the lights :p :)
Electrical and Test Engineering
Manufacturing
Management (Na there the money dey)


@ bold ya know..

kewl (i'm an engr too (chem e), so are abvaogril (arche. enr??) and berta (pet. engr)


so how long have you been an engr?

how old are you? (a range will be just fine)

are you currently in a r/ship?

if not, why not?


hmm.. you get you'll get your own Q&A thread :D (then you become an official NIAian :D)

Titles

WBE Light Heavyweight World Champion

WBE Super Middleweight World Champion

WIBF Light Heavyweight World Champion

Ijeoma "The Praise" Egbunine (born December 30, 1980 in Lagos, Nigeria) is a female boxer and is currently the WBE Light Heavyweight World Champion and WIBF Light Heavyweight World Champion. She trains under Henry Okafor of Team Praise in Marietta, GA.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijeoma_Egbunine)

i really like boxing, but i haven't seen too many females lately. i look forward to seein her box.

Mrs Kenna you weren't kidding :shock the girl don put me under the glare of the lights :p :)
Electrical and Test Engineering
Manufacturing
Management (Na there the money dey)

Ha ha, I KNEW IT!!! :fest30: We must talk....I'm doing project management now. I need to take the PMP exam.

Luv, go in depth with the interview~~~:322:

Ijeoma Egbunine is scheduled to fight 28-year-old Laila Ali this summer in Cape Town, South Africa . Some proceeds from the August 5 bout will benefit the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and the light heavyweight matchup will be part of a monthlong celebration of women's empowerment in South Africa.



If Laila beat her ehhn? She is embarking on a suicide mission...cant you girls advise her?

If Laila beat her ehhn? She is embarking on a suicide mission...cant you girls advise her?She fit no beat am..

@ bold ya know..

kewl (i'm an engr too (chem e), so are abvaogril (arche. enr??) and berta (pet. engr)


so how long have you been an engr?

how old are you? (a range will be just fine)

are you currently in a r/ship?

if not, why not?


hmm.. you get you'll get your own Q&A thread :D (then you become an official NIAian :D)

The buck stops here my sister. When we start to PM each other I go tell you :)

Ha ha, I KNEW IT!!! :fest30: We must talk....I'm doing project management now. I need to take the PMP exam.

Luv, go in depth with the interview~~~:322:

Oh yeah, that is cool I am working on the management degree right now, wow I am thinking of taking that PMP exam too. We need to talk :)

Ijeoma Egbunine is scheduled to fight 28-year-old Laila Ali this summer in Cape Town, South Africa . Some proceeds from the August 5 bout will benefit the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and the light heavyweight matchup will be part of a monthlong celebration of women's empowerment in South Africa.

hmmm, I like both of them.

I dont know who to root for.

hmmm, I like both of them.

I dont know who to root for.

Thats the only thing you hear from prejudiced fellas....Whom do you follow, ms Allowed? Paul or Apollos?

Thats the only thing you hear from prejudiced fellas....Whom do you follow, ms Allowed? Paul or Apollos?

:confused: :confused: