Feature/OPED
Ajaja: Good Governance and Development

By Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi
In recent times, the debate on the interrelatedness of equity, justice, peace and development is among the most presently discussed topics on the surface of the earth.
The reason for this unending debate stems from the time-honoured belief that without equity and justice, there will be no peace. And without peace, no society, group or nation should contemplate development.
Accordingly, for any programme/action to be typified as development-based/focused, development practitioners believe that such programme progress should entail an all-encompassing improvement, a process that builds on itself and involves both individuals and social change.
It requires growth and structural change, with some measures of distributive equity, modernization in social and cultural attitudes, a degree of political transformation and stability, an improvement in health and education so that population growth stabilizes, and an increase in urban living and employment.
As background to this piece, it is public knowledge that throughout the early decades, the world paid little attention to what constitutes sustainable development. Such conversation, however, gained global prominence via the United Nations (UN)’s introduction, adoption and pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which lasted between the year 2000 and 2015 and was among other intentions aimed at eradicating extreme poverty and hunger as well as achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health among others.
Without going into specific concepts or approaches contained in the performance index of the programme, it is evident that the majority of the countries, including Nigeria performed below average.
It was this reality and other related concerns that conjoined to bring about the 2030 sustainable agenda, a UN initiative and successor programme to the MDGs, with a collection of 17 global goals formulated among other aims to promote and cater for people, peace, planet, and poverty and has at its centre, partnership and collaboration, ecosystem thinking, co-creation and alignment of various intervention efforts by the public and private sectors and civil society.
Certainly, Nigeria is plagued with development challenges such as widespread poverty, insecurity, corruption, gross injustice and ethnic politics and is in dire need of attention from interventionist organizations (private and civil society organizations) as demanded by the agenda.
However, in view of this legion of challenges bedevilling the nation, the question may be asked: why is this piece fixated with discussing a topic Ajaja: Good Governance and Development? Why is it concerned with a personality, in the person of Smart Madu Ajaja, a registered nurse, entrepreneur, writer, public speaker, political commentator, Rasta, broadcaster, and a human and environmental rights activist with a deep interest in and passion for socioeconomic, civil, and criminal and environmental justice? Why is it coming at this critical time when Nigeria as a country is going through the pangs of insecurity in addition to the aforementioned developmental challenges in the country? And in the period when the nation recently slipped into its worst economic decline in almost four decades? Why is it not centred on calling interventionists and development-focused organizations to rescue Nigeria?
Essentially, aside from running an organization code-named Open Nigeria, a group strictly about Nigeria, not about north or south or about Christians and Muslims, and focuses on equity, justice, peace and development, one possible explanation for the above questions is that this author has realized with satisfaction that Smart Ajaja, going by his actions and inactions not only represent different things to different people, rather, his socio-political ideology if adopted, and applied to Nigeria’s nagging challenges, will act as a formidable tool for achieving Nigeria of our dream anchored on good governance and development.
Take, as an illustration, to some, he is a fearless, hyper-patriotic, courageous, passionate and uncompromising no-nonsense personality and social crusader whose strong voice has continually echoed and re-echoed over the years in matters of socioeconomic justice, good political representation, accountable leadership and politics generally in Nigeria and beyond. To others, he embodies (and rightly so) the quintessential gentleman: humble, respectful, sympathetic, empathetic, generous and above all, a man with love for all mankind regardless of tribe or creed, a man who also has the fear of God eternally engraved in a large warm heart.
Smart Madu Ajaja is indeed all of the above and more and even to any casual watcher or associate. The thing that definitely and usually stands out about him is his seemingly divine inclination and passion for selfless service, compassion for humanity, and peace through justice. This iconic Abavo-Delta State-born US-based Nigerian human and environmental rights activist has demonstrated these strong characters all his life. He is a good governance and development advocate.
An accomplished professional nurse, Smart Ajaja, now an Independent Case Management Consultant with a variety of healthcare providers in Texas has vast experience in general, orthopaedic, industrial, correctional, oncology, paediatric and geriatric nursing with licensure in three countries and has worked in elite hospitals such as the Houston Texas-based MD Anderson Cancer Hospital, and Corporate Healthcare institutions in countries including, Nigeria, South Africa and the United States.
As an inventor, Smart Madu Ajaja designed and deployed an unpatented dynamic immobilizer for the management of Volkmann’s Ischemic Contracture, an orthopaedic condition that arises from complicated cases of fractured dislocation of the elbow resulting in reduced blood supply to the muscles needed for flexion and extension of the elbow joint as the head of the Orthopaedic unit at the Bethal Hospital, Bethal in Mpumalanga Province of South Africa.
As an entrepreneur, he is the founder and Managing Director of Allied Vision Group LLC, a company with a speciality in textbook procurement, sales, and distribution within the United States and around the world.
As a writer endowed with analytical thinking and creative writing, Smart Madu Ajaja has authored tons of breath-taking essays and articles on local, state and national issues bordering on leadership, corruption and socioeconomic injustice on Nigeria’s mainstream media and on social media, especially on Facebook, bringing to the attention of his global audience credible information on the challenges of corruption in Nigeria and how it has negatively impacted the people’s lives and their mindsets and also proffering solutions on the ways out of it and how to create access to opportunities for all so there will no longer be the need for the people to be struggling in the midst of Nigeria’s plenty.
As a philanthropist, Smart Madu Ajaja co-founded the Austin And Grace Foundation as a platform to provide assistance through scholarships to indigent students of all socioeconomic stratifications in Nigeria in his effort to inspire the energy to defeat ignorance through literacy from which many unannounced Nigerians have benefited to date.
As a broadcaster, Smart Madu Ajaja anchors two radio shows including Nigeria Now and Nurses Arise on Nightingale Radio Worldwide broadcasting Live @8pm and 7 am respectively on Saturdays and Mondays.
He is also a founding member and leader at Anioma Voice Worldwide Foundation (inc), a non-partisan Delta North Socio-cultural organization where he also has been deploying his resources and funds in concert with others for the group’s charitable and empowerment efforts for all Anioma people.
Smart Ajaja, a rare gem, is a blend of charisma, doggedness, courage, honesty, kindness, compassion, transparency, accountability, simplicity, humility, sensitivity, sensibility, responsibility and incredible intelligence that we cannot afford to ignore without tapping into the eminent qualities he possesses especially at this difficult time of our nation’s history.
His quest for selfless service to Nigeria inspired him to a novel and stellar issue-driven senatorial race in the 2019 election to represent Delta North senatorial District at the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the platform of the African Action Congress (AAC), now and the fastest-growing political party in Nigeria.
Smart Madu Ajaja, ever-restless and not satisfied with the way Nigeria and Nigerians are locked down with no access to opportunities, invented a novel common sense all-encompassing politico-philosophical ideology that he code-named Open Nigeria, which he believes would unlock the potentials of Nigeria for all Nigerians and put the country on the path to genuine nationhood and greatness.
Utomi Jerome-Mario is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Policy), Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Lagos. He can be reached via [email protected]/08032725374
Feature/OPED
PR Nightmares: Why Your Client Should Never Find Negative News Before You Do

Who will save PR professionals from the negative news nightmare? Before I get into this, let us set the scene. Imagine this: You are a PR professional, swamped with idea conceptualization, media engagements, stakeholder engagement, press releases, client approvals, and a never-ending to-do list. Suddenly, a message pops up from your client:
“Hey, did you see this negative news about us?”
Your heart skips a beat. Your face? A mix of confusion and dread. You check your media monitoring alerts—nothing. You scramble through Google—there it is. And then it hits you: your client found this before you did. The unspoken words in that message?
“Aren’t you supposed to be on top of this?”
Now, before you hang me for stating the obvious, let me explain.
I have spent over a decade working with multiple media monitoring tools—some great, some just there, and some that make you question life choices. And let me tell you, no tool is built to single-handedly protect PR professionals from one of their worst nightmares: missing negative news before the boss or client finds it first. Don’t get me wrong—automated media monitoring tools do what they were designed to do. They churn out reports, track keyword mentions, and alert you when your brand name pops up somewhere. But they don’t think. They don’t prioritize what truly matters in near real-time. And if you work in PR, you know that one missed crisis can undo months—even years—of hard work.
Here is where human-curated media monitoring comes in. This isn’t about throwing away your monitoring tool—it is about adding brains to the machine. Human analysts sit behind these tools, filtering through the noise, spotting what really matters, and making sure the most critical updates land on your desk before your client or boss finds them. It is not just about negative news. Human-curated services catch things automated tools often miss—like a journalist misspelling your CEO’s name, your logo being used incorrectly, or a miscaptioned photo that could cause PR damage. An algorithm won’t flag these nuances, but a trained analyst will. And that is the difference between knowing about a problem and managing it before it spirals into a full-blown crisis.
One of the worst situations I have seen? A client forwarding negative news to their PR agency before the agency had even caught wind of it. Now, we all know the unspoken words that follow when that happens:
“This doesn’t look good for you.”
It is enough to make you break out in a cold sweat! The real issue here isn’t just the tool you are using; it is about how that tool is supported by human intelligence. No media monitoring tool currently on the market filters out just the negative news and plants it right in front of your face. They all do the same thing: send you alerts about your brand stories, whether positive, negative, neutral, or balanced. The tools, after all, were programmed to work this way, and it is not their fault. The pain point arises when PR pros have to sift through all that noise to get to what really matters.
Let me share a personal experience. During my first competitive pitch as the founder of P+ Measurement Services , we were invited to pitch to a well-known tobacco company. Now, there were three other agencies competing—one local and two international media monitoring agencies. Yes, we won that pitch, and the feedback was humbling. The client said,
“We are looking for an agency that will be humanly responsible to keep an eye on our brand in the media as our media watchdog and provide us with local media intelligence to drive our communications and PR engagement.”
Fast forward seven years, and we are still providing that service to the same client and more. What was the differentiator? We used tools, yes, but it was the human support behind the tools that provided invaluable media monitoring, intelligence, and analytics.
Beyond just detecting negative news, these human analysts can identify subtle nuances that automated tools often miss—like spelling errors in a brand’s name, the incorrect use of a CEO’s image, a miscaptioned photo, or even the wrong logo used in a major publication. Imagine the embarrassment when your boss flags a wrong spelling of the company name, and you, the PR professional, missed it. The automated tools are not designed to catch these kinds of errors, and it is unfair to blame them when they don’t. But human-curated services? They go above and beyond to ensure these mistakes are flagged and addressed before they turn into PR disasters.
So, the next time you are reviewing your PR budget to include media monitoring, ask yourself:
- Who will make my job easier—just a media monitoring tool or a media intelligence partner that ensures I sleep better at night?
- Who will I hold accountable if a negative story slips through the cracks while I am in function or having my lunch or a dinner with my spouse?
- Will a tool catch that tiny but costly brand name error before my boss does?
- When a crisis brews, do I want automated alerts—or real intelligence that helps me act fast?
The choice is clear. While AI and automation are great, human intelligence is what truly saves PR professionals from their worst nightmares.
And trust me, in this industry, peace of mind is priceless.
Philip Odiakose is a leader and advocate of public relations monitoring, measurement, evaluation and intelligence in Africa. He is also the Chief Media Analyst at P+ Measurement Services, a member of AMEC, NIPR, AMCRON, ACIOM and Founding Member of AMEC Lab Initiative
Feature/OPED
Strategies for Launching Your Real Estate Tech Startup Successfully

By Dalip Jaggi
Launching a real estate tech startup requires a lot of focus. But at its core, the primary goal is to eliminate pain points commonly seen in the industry.
Unfortunately, the process of buying, selling, and managing a property is rarely straightforward in real estate deals. For one, there tends to be endless paperwork to complete, regular back and forth between agents and clients, and long drawn-out closing periods.
If you can create a real estate company that actively eliminates these challenges, it can be transformative for both agents and clients alike. However, getting to this stage takes a lot of work in terms of strategy and vision.
This guide will outline key strategies you can implement to help you launch your real estate tech startup.
Address a Specific Industry Need
The foundation of a successful real estate company rests on its ability to solve a specific, ongoing problem. Overly general solutions usually don’t resonate in the market, but a focused approach can build a loyal customer base over time.
To begin, you need to carefully analyze the market, looking for consistent challenges. This is more than just a surface-level skimming of the market. It means finding overlooked areas or specific pain points that significantly impact a particular group of users.
Try to focus on problems that might be solvable with new technology or unique market approaches. This ensures that your startup’s efforts are directed toward creating solutions that people genuinely want and are willing to use.
Clearly Articulate Your Brand Value
After finding a relevant market need, you need to clearly define what makes your new company different from existing competitors. This is your unique value proposition.
A strong value proposition requires more than just listing your product or service’s features. It should also explain the real, tangible benefits users can expect to experience. Articulate precisely how your offering solves the problems in your target market, and highlight the specific ways it stands out from other options available.
Create a Proof of Concept
Most startup companies that develop software will start with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). An MVP has the fundamental features that software will have, but won’t include more sophisticated components that the customer may expect in a complete product. This keeps costs down while trying to develop a full-functioning platform or service.
The main goal of an MVP is user testing. They help capture a user’s first impressions of how the software performs in real-life scenarios. To gather meaningful feedback from your MVP users, you’ll want to ensure that only the most essential functions are present. Over time, feedback from MVP users helps you to prioritize relevant product additions.
In the iterative process leading to a fully launched marketable product, ensure that you try to incorporate any mission-critical improvements before launch. This will help to avoid major setbacks post-launch that might impact brand perception.
Gain Enough Financial Support
To move from a simple prototype to running an actual real estate technology company, you will need the right level of funding. There are different ways to obtain this capital, each having its own benefits.
At the outset, self-funding can help you continue to maintain control of the venture, although you may be a bit more limited in terms of initial growth opportunities. Working with a private investor, on the other hand, can lead to a sizeable cash injection in the business along with experienced mentorship to help you through the initial growth stages of your business. Unfortunately, though, this will likely come at the expense of giving away equity in the company.
Build a High-Performing Team
A successful real estate company needs a strong team. It’s important to try to source new individuals with a wide range of professional experiences. Among other skills, you should be looking for employees with strong real estate knowledge, a technical background, and a good understanding of sales and marketing principles.
Aim to source candidates who not only master these skills but are also passionate about the company’s goals. This helps build a sense of ownership and responsibility with all your team members, keeping everyone focused on ensuring the startup’s success.
Consider Integrating Helpful Renovation Tools
Homeowners and property managers are always looking for ways to increase a property’s value by completing various types of home renovation projects. By integrating helpful renovation tools into your software, you can help your new real estate technology quickly stand out in a crowded market.
Adding helpful features that let users estimate the costs of their renovation, plan different elements of a bathroom remodel, or track the statuses of their home projects can add significantly more value to your solution.
Put Together a Digital Marketing Strategy
Having a solid digital marketing presence is critical for new businesses to attract clients and expand their user base. This includes the use of SEO, paid advertising, and content marketing to increase brand visibility and create more touchpoints between businesses and potential clients.
Social media is equally important for helping to raise brand awareness. This helps you connect with clients directly and network with other industry professionals. By partnering with other real estate organizations, agencies, and commercial businesses, you’ll further help your brand’s visibility and credibility as you start launching new services.
Focus on Customer Engagement
Building lasting relationships with customers all rests on being able to provide excellent support. Earning their trust requires consistent dedication. This means responding quickly to questions and concerns that come up and keeping your focus on ensuring their satisfaction.
Actively soliciting user feedback, through surveys and reviews, allows you to take the necessary steps to improve their experience. It’s also important to keep users informed with regular updates and offer additional support to show them that they are a top priority. All of these initiatives add a personal touch to your brand, helping you stand out from others.
Give Your Startup the Best Chance for Success
Starting a successful business in real estate comes with its own set of challenges that need to be tackled. However, by following the strategies discussed, you’ll be sure to stand out in the industry better while introducing high-value solutions to your user base.
Dalip Jaggi is an entrepreneur, technologist, and passionate business leader sum up the core of Dalip Jaggi, co-founder of Revive Real Estate, a PropTech company to democratize house flipping. Since its 2020 inception, Revive has become the smartest solution for homeowners to maximize their home’s sales value across the nation.
Feature/OPED
Sunusi Bature: Time to Take the Podium

By Ahmad Dambazau
The National Assembly is a constitutional locomotive for any purposeful democratic government, it provides checks to the government of the day and a legal basis for the system in general .This basically accounts for the high respect usually accorded and, of course, the attendant high expectation placed on it. The legislative arm of government like any other is saddled with the responsibility enshrined in the constitution and among such major functions includes representation, oversight and law making in addition to many other numerous functions.
Be that as it may, it has been a genuine cause for worry for Nigerians that, despite our series of experimentation with democracy, our legislators have performed below expectation. Their handling of national issues has especially remained without constitutional decorum and political experience required of people of their exalted status. Part 2, Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, vests the legislative powers of the federation on the National Assembly which comprises the Senate and House of Representatives.
Dawakin Tofa ,Tofa and Rimin Gado Federal constituency is one of the few constituencies in Nigeria represented by the same legislator for 18 years(2007-2005) despite poor representation .
As the federal constituency searches for the best man to represent them for this serious legislative task. One name keeping ringing bell is Hon Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa ,Media and Communication Expert and Director General of Media and Publicity to Kano State Governor.Sunusi has earlier served as the Chief Press Seceretary to the Governor in the early days of the administration .
Mallam Sunusi is a seasoned PR guru, development communication and stakeholder engagement expert with 21 years working experience in both international development, private sector and the Media in Nigeria.
He is a winner of the Cambridge education award on investigative journalism in 2008, Bature has worked at different capacities in various national, International and Bilateral organizations such as the British Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), the United State Agency for Internal Development (USAID), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Save the Children International, Discovery Learning Alliance and the Rockefeller Foundation.
He held several positions which include General Manager Corporate Services at Dantata Foods and Allied Products Limited (DFAP), Director Stakeholder Engagement at YieldWise Project, Country Program Manager at Girl Rising (ENGAGE) Project funded by the US Government, State Project Coordinator for MNCH Campaign Project of the BMGF, Deputy Director Operations at Discovery Learning Alliance, State Program Officer, Policy Advocacy and Media Development, Communication and Knowledge Management Specialist among other positions.
Graduated with a Bachelor’s degree (B.A. Hons.) in Mass Communication from University of Maiduguri, Sanusi holds a National Diploma in Mass communication from Kaduna Polytechnic, a Higher National Diploma (HND) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health Education and Promotion.He also bagged MSc. in Social Work with specialization in Community Development from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, (LAUTECH) Ogbomosho, Oyo State and another master’s degree in Public Relations (MPR) from the prestigious Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. He participated in the MSc program on Project Management at Robert Kennedy College, Zurich, Switzerland.Until his appointment, Sunusi Bature served as the Vice President, Nigeria operations for a UK based firm, Kingston Organic PLC.
Hon Dawakin Tofa has opened yet another vista of debate among electorates on the value of quality representation with vigour,expertise and experience of having a wider constituency responsibility and coverage .He has vindicated his mettle among his constituents that even as an appointee of the Governor his eloquent consistent and fearless voice always seeking the improvement of lives of his constituents accountability among representatives of the people.
He is truly a representative of the people though unelected going by the amount of work he was able to do for the overall benefit of his people. In fact, it is worth elucidating that this PR guru was able to touch the lives of the people in his stewardship in the private and public sectors. So far he has proved to be one of the few politicians that attracts government presence to his community. No matter what anyone would say, the amount of dividends of democracy that this community leader was able to bring to the door step of the people is unmatched.
Sunusi Bature’s development credentials and landmarks speaks volumes. The highlights of which were stellar achievements of re-positioning the educational sector in the more definitive ,radically ,progressive and futuristic manner , not to mention the capacity building, empowerment and educational scholarship for his people ,all shone brightly for both his admirers and detractors to access.
The Director General of Media and Publicity to the Governor of Kano State, Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, has been honoured with the prestigious Most Outstanding Spokesperson Award by the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Information. Dawakin Tofa was selected for this esteemed award in recognition of his instrumental role in promoting not only the positive image of the Kano State Governor and his giant strides also for effectively showcasing the only NNPP ruling state in Nigeria.
In the award citation, Mallam Sunusi was hailed as an unwavering proponent of non-violent communication, renowned for his extensive network and adept delivery of practices with clarity in objectives, and strategic framing of engagements with his audience.His profound impact and effectiveness in perception and reputation management are highly commendable.
In whatever one indulges in there are always people to observe and give their verdict .It is a well- known fact that there is nothing stronger than the people’s verdict.it shows a collective desire which inevitably is the voice of reason. The momentum of Hon Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa legislative bid is gathering amongst all strata of the constituency is enough testimony that experienced count in the race for the parliamentary seat.
Dambazau wrote in from Kano
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