Feature/OPED
Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa, His Starch and Banga Soup Preparation for 2019 Elections and the Need to Stop Him Early

By Fejiro Oliver
Delta State Governor, Mr Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa has not left anyone in doubt that he will not only contest the 2019 February gubernatorial elections, but his body language clearly shows that he is ready to bulldoze his way into our revered Government House the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) style of 2003-2011.
From all I know, the 1999 elections was not free and fair but it was not as brutal as 2003- to 2011, since most of the political gladiators were new to governance and Ghana Must Go had not been introduced then.
The PDP started their madness of thuggery and rigging in 2003. The 2015 that brought Okowa into power can also be said to be free and fair, since he came in as an underdog, fighting against the then State Governor, Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan political son in Anthony Chuks Obuh, thus he earned our sympathy and we threw our support for him.
His recent actions and political observation to keen observers betray a man who is ready to go extra mile to be elected again. Is it because he has underperformed? Is it because he has not lived up to expectation like his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike? We will all get the answers after May 29th 2017.
It is pertinent to know in this write-up from the horse’s mouth that my anti-corruption crusade and ongoing protests against Uduaghan does not have the endorsement of Okowa as many believe.
The former Governor who is a notorious thief and should be stoned to death on the street by Deltans is only looking for whom to blame for his sins and hypertension and thus blaming his successor for nothing he knows nothing of.
Okowa is not only weak to fight corruption but may just be swimming in it as a governor and thus do not have the moral courage to fight Uduaghan.
God forbid that he will even use me against Uduaghan, when he does not know the meaning of loyalty or value friendship. The governor is not only lily livered in fighting corruption but endorsing it, going by the men he has surrounded himself with in office.
In my fight against corruption and politicians, It has always been me against the world; me against them. I have always swam against the marauding tide to get things done right and never sought permission or assistance in whatever guise from politicians to embark on it. My principle is ‘If I perish, I perish’, but because it has always been with good intentions, I have always come out unscathed and even stronger and better when I am blackmailed or maligned by small forces loyal to the gangs of political criminals.
One of the best decisions taken this year by any of his aide is the resignation by Terry Obieh, who was his Special Assistant on Youths and Development.
According to Terry; Okowa is not worth dying for, and I cannot but agree. This is why I find it amazing that people will link my battle to redeem the state from corrupt men, starting from Uduaghan to him, when I know that he does not value people who are loyal to good cause, but instead pull his enemies and antagonists closer; giving them appointments and dishing out our common contracts to them.
He does not only deny you before people but as a governor will also abandon you when you are in problem and yet Deltans believe that he’s one of the best persons to work with or work for. Only those who have been with him as a Senator and those who dealt with him during elections and as a governor he aligns with, while ignoring and even saying bad of those who risked their lives when no one believed in him as a governor and even after swearing in.
To Okowa, James Ibori made him governor from his London prison. To Okowa, our votes are useless like the ‘P’ in Psychology. In his thinking, we are tools to be used to get to the top, and once there; he kicks the ladders through which he climbs, glorifying in his vain power that was made possible by ballot and not bullet. He knows no friend and followers while he feasts. Those who believed he never listened to side talk must begin to have a change of who the man Okowa truly is. He does not only listen to it, but act on them. He now loves sycophancy and encourages; the very Achilles heel of all great men.
Whatever his now powerful contractor who has suddenly become the State Julius Berger, importer and exporter of Government vehicles, Lawrence Oshiegbu tells him is true. It doesn’t matter if they are all lies, he just acts on them. The case of Oshiegbu is not only a pathetic case to our state that has produced great men, but a slap on Deltans that a man who is not in government determines for us what the governor we elected and supported should do. Oshiegbu dirty files need to be visited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and it’s only a matter of time before it will happen. He can place a million dollar bet on this!
The return of Ibori has emboldened Okowa to believe that 2019 will be a walk over for him. How wrong he is! The Delta State that Ibori left behind is no longer the same Delta State that he has come back to meet. The bread and akara politics they played is no longer what we as a people are used to. We are not just refined politically but ready to take our destinies in our hands and kick out any oppressive government that empowers only friends and families above the interest of the state. His only preparation for 2019 is Ibori, Ibori and Ibori and if you know what that means, you will begin to look for your voter’s card to do the needful.
The sudden ego of Okowa that with Ibori’s arrival, Delta Central will be an easy ride to capture is a dream he should begin to wake up from, as Urhobos cannot and never be decided to by a group of cabal who decides who get what. If Okowa is banking on Ibori to deliver Delta Central for him, then it’s a dream in futility as only his works can deliver him. For a state that the wealth should be centralized but he has chosen to Ikanized to his Oshiegbu and Company Ltd, we are also more than ready to pay him back in his own coins.
His only fortune is that the very useless Delta All Progressive Congress (APC), led by Otega Emerhor with all their good fortune has not been able to decimate the Okowa led government with all its obvious and hidden error. With all the money in their disposal, they are yet to have a ferocious media team like its Rivers, Akwa Ibom. Ekiti and Cross River States counterpart. For a party that claims to be opposition but cannot bring a government that has nearly failed the electorates but empowered the Lawrence Oshiegbu gangsters to its knee; it is worrisome. Okowa as a governor has been allowed to still rule the media space, even though it’s glaring to the blind that this is a cosmetic government of the more you look, the less you see.
Make no mistake about it, 2017 to 2019 will not only be a hot year for these unofficial Okowa halleluyah politicians like Ross Oredi and Oshiegbu but a time that they will explain to the EFCC their sudden wealth in less than two years of being close to their Ika Governor.
Okowa aka ‘Ego aria’ governor should brace up for the political battle of his life, as we cannot allow him to play the local game of ten ten and ludo with our lives again, like he did in 2014 to 2015. Aides who are bold enough like Terry should start throwing in the towel by resigning and bidding goodbye to a man that does not value their loyalty but the side talks and petty gossip from his numerous sycophants and political hanger on. To Okowa, loyalty is a word now alien to him. To him, loyalty should probably be shown by drips of blood, and the aides may just be ready to be slaves for years before he can appreciate their works. My one kobo advise to them is Mark Twain’s word that “Loyalty to country always; Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.” This government from every look of thing does not deserve such uncommon loyalty.
For anyone who still have hope that Okowa is the messiah we have waited for, it is time to ask him “are you the one or should we wait for another”. After May 29th 2017, I will make the answer known from my own unbiased perspective of his person since he ascended the throne. There is no law that states that a governor must rule for two terms. When we cross the official two years in office, Deltans and not endorsement by same musketeers will determine the destiny of Deltans and collectively chose their governor. It will be the moment of political revolution in line with Richelle Mead statement that “The greatest and most powerful revolutions often start very quietly, hidden in the shadows. Remember that.”
These little things matter…
Fejiro Oliver, an Investigative Journalist, Media Consultant and Human Rights Activist is also the Co-Convener of Coalition of Human Rights Defender (CHORD) and can be reached on +2348022050733 (SMS ONLY) or secretsreporters@gmail.com. Engage him on twitter on @fejirooliver86.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are solely the writer’s and do not represent Business Post Nigeria
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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