Nigeria Watch First Year Anniversary Celebrations

Nigeria Watch – One Year Anniversary

So I last blogged in January, I went to this event in May and I'm posting my write up now? Serious disgrace and epic fail. Apologies...It was sheer laziness. Will try not to do it again....

Sometimes I do some writing for Akwaaba magazine...I was invited to the Nigeria Watch celebration to cover it. It will appear in the magazine too but I wanted to show the article here :-)

Friday 17^th May 2013

I love African community events, especially ones that celebrate the success of our people. Nigeria Watch is a free monthly newspaper aimed primarily at Nigerians and those interested in the country. The topics covered in the newspaper range from jobs and careers through to health and beauty, education and travel.  The paper has been in circulation for about a year and has become increasingly popular and grown tremendously.  I remember first coming across Nigeria Watch at a free newspaper stand opposite Bow station. I immediately grabbed one. For me, seeing a free African newspaper was an exciting moment of discovery especially given the fact that the free newspapers that we normally encounter are Jewish, Polish or the more popular Metro.  What immediately struck me about Nigeria Watch was the snappy, informative, funny and interesting manner in which it was written.

Akwaaba magazine was invited to its first year anniversary celebration earlier this month. I went to see what how our West African neighbours  -yes neighbours, forget our rivalry for the moment – had in store for us.

Tucked away in Mill Hill stands Greenvue Venue, Mill Hill Country Club, our location for the evening. Driving up the winding path to the place definitely made my car bump and grind but when I finally arrived at the place I saw a woman in kente- walking to the place. I knew that had to be the place.

Inside the gazebo, drapes of green and white material covered the ceiling The tables were beautifully decorated and the guests were dressed to represent.

Swagged up Decor 

The event opened with speeches from Maryanne Jemide, the CEO of Nigeria Watch. The Guest of Honour, VIPs and other invitees themselves were also acknowledged. It was a joy to see so many people coming together to celebrate the milestone within the Nigerian community.

The popular MC Mark and hilarious Congolese comedian Eddie Kadi were our hosts for the evening. They both definitely knew how to keep the crowd entertained. I recall a competition of which side of the room could ‘Ah Ah’ the loudest!

Now what would an African celebration be without food? Dinner was served. There was jollof rice, chicken, moi moi, plantain etc. I even saw plates of pounded yam and egusi going round. There was also dessert which ranged from fruit skewers to cake and ice cream. Pure enjoyment! Throughout the dinner entertainment was also provided for the guests in the form of a musical group called Weray Ent who many may know from their unforgettably named single ‘Ching Chang Wallah’.

Dinner was punctuated by various speeches by important personalities such as Dr Dalhatu Sarki, the Nigerian Ambassador o the United Kingdom. We also heard from Western Union, one of the sponsors of the event.

As I was interested in what some of the guests invited thought of the success of the magazine and of the party itself I decided to speak to a few people.

Kabir Kareen Bello was my first conversationist. Kabir is an author who has had some of his work published in Nigeria Watch. When I asked him what he liked about the newspaper, he told me that he believed it provided a positive representation of Nigeria. For him it gives readers an opinion that displays an unbiased view of not just Nigeria but the African continent generally. We all know that many newspapers in this part of the world are quite the opposite. Kabir commended the engaging style of the newspaper and felt proud that they had achieved such a lot in only one year. When asked what advice he had for the magazine, Kabir responded that they should dig more into areas that Nigerians find hard to talk about.

Going back to the events on stage, the crowd was introduced to the beautiful Lola Rae, a singer of Ghanaian, Nigerian and British origin (nice mix eh!).  She got the crowd dancing and the highlight for me was when the dancers danced to one the songs from Coming to America. Remember the scene ‘she’s your queen to be’? The African dancers before the ‘queen’ enters? Yep that was what they danced to. Classic.

Walking through the crowd, I noticed that the event was dotted with a few familiar faces.  May7ven singer of the popular song ‘Ten Ten’ was one of the guests.  Speaking to her, it was clear that she like many others was impressed with the success of the newspaper. She admired the fact that it was keen to support anyone artist that was doing well. She also particularly liked the music and beauty section and described the recipes feature as bringing her closer to home.

May 7ven herself knows a lot about the industry having worked with a magazine herself. ‘It’s a job that isn’t easy’, she told me. Her words of advice for the magazine was ‘to keep going and never give up’. She praised the fact that they had found a niche within the market. She was impressed with the party itself too, giving bonus points to the food and the number of people who came to support!

Eddie Kadi and Me!

Eddie Kadi was the next person I spoke to who again described the night as being a great success. He observed that the night provided people with the opportunity to network as well as dress well. When asked his opinion on

Nigeria Watch itself he described it as informative, organised and well written. Keep up the good year. It’s been one year but there will be many more years to come!

It was a joy to see Richard Taylor OBE, the father or Damilola Taylor present at the event too.  He came across as extremely passionate and expressed how fantastic he thought the newspaper was. Mr Taylor was with the Nigeria Watch team in its earlier stages. He even mentioned the moment when Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former president was being inaugurated as the paper did a cover on the event. Mr Taylor had a positive reaction towards the celebration and said many people, not only Nigerians, were there to celebrate with them. I believe this to be a true reflection of things to come for the paper, which should increase coverage on African events -not only Nigeria but also Ghana, South Africa etc.

It was now time for the cake cutting. The Nigeria Watch team members were called up to cut the cake together and I must admit it was there I saw the diversity of the team. The team is made up of Blacks, Whites and even Asians and to be honest a diverse group of people will allow different qualities and opinions to come together and form a quality magazine. Having a diverse staff team means projecting different perspectives.

Jon Hughes works as the Managing Editor for the paper. I was interested in hearing his views. Jon is from Liverpool but has many Nigerian friends. He has 20 years experience working as a journalist and it was through mutual friends that he got to know about Nigeria Watch. He was interested in creating something from the start and also had an interest in what was happening in the African Diaspora. It was refreshing to talk to Jon because he agreed that newspapers should be honest and true. Stereotypes are easy to form and challenges should be taken to make people see the truth. Jon hopes to see Nigeria Watch increase its frequency and hopes to see it sold in Lagos.

DJ Unbeatable played the event out with a nice selection of Afrobeats from the motherland. As I took my notes for this write up I found myself jiggling in my seat.

After a pleasant evening and conversations with interesting people, I spoke to Maryanne Jemide CEO of Nigeria Watch. Her words of advice for someone wanting to start up a newspaper were. ‘be hard working and never compromise quality’ – Maryanna I couldn’t agree with you more!

I left the event satisfied even as others continued dancing and talking way into the night.

Cheers Nigeria watch! May your years be plenty!