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AIX Founder, Linda Anukwuem Addresses Texas Southern Students on Career Prospects

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“Graduating students must be prepared to reconcile or strike a balance between their values and the culture of the organizations they aspire to. Some corporate cultures require a certain look or presentation to suit specific expectations.”

These are one of the few takeaways when the founder and the Chief Executive Officer of the Houston-based  AIX Firm, LLC., Linda Anukwuem visited the  School of Communication (SOC) of Texas Southern University (TSU) on October 31, 2022.

Ms.  Anukwuem addressed the Media Marketing and Management class of Radio, Television, and Films (RTF) students on career choices and prospects, sharing relevant workforce preparation tips. “It has always been my intention to share this information with students to enable them to get prepared for the ever-challenging corporate arena,” said Ms.  Anukwuem, who is also an Executive Consultant with Quanten Consortium Angola, LLC.,  a global oil and gas exploration firm.

Before joining Quanten Consortium Angola, LLC., Ms. Anukwuem served as the Chair for the City of Houston’s Mayor’s International Trade & Development Council for Africa (MITDC-Africa) under Mayor Annise Parker as well as chaired the Arts, Culture and Community Relations Committee.

In the lecture-themed “Processional Prospects”, Ms. Anukwuem addressed the Importance of networking and how good interaction could invoke viable spaces that can create a successful path to success.  Ms. Anukwuem also discussed the distractive challenges of the career journey. “Every failure became a lesson learned to prepare for the next opportunity,” she advised.

Special guest, Linda Anukwuem (left) and class professor, Dr. Anthony Ogbo

The class professor, Dr. Anthony Ogbo described the lecture as “a perfect fit” for students who are eager to learn about better career prospects. “Sharing real-world workforce realities is a major part of our course objectives and teaching standards, and this event dovetails that purpose,”   Dr. Ogbo said.

Linda attended the University of Houston, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology. In her professional career, she worked as an accountant with Bracewell & Guiliani, LLP, and United Airlines. Because of her hard work and professional acumen, she was featured in the eighth edition of Who’s Who in Black Houston.

TSU’s  School of Communication, originally established in 1975 and consisting of Journalism, Telecommunications, Speech, Theatre, and Communicative Disorders, was reduced to a single department in 1979 in response to university-wide management efficiency and cost containment concerns.

TSU’s Radio, Television, and Film program prepare students for the production and critical studies of radio, television, film, and new media, offering them a balanced curriculum that provides integrated study and training in the art and business of electronic media.

For a tour of the School of Communication facilities, contact Kevin Adams (kevin.adams@tsu.edu), Assistant Dean for Student Services 713-313-7408

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The World Association for Academic Doctors issues 2023 Conference Communique

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The 6th Global Academic Doctors Congress was held on October 26 – 28, 2023, at Dillard University in the Center for Racial Justice in New Orleans, LA.

The World Association for Academic Doctors has concluded its 6th Global Conference, which started October 26 through 28, 2023, at Dillard University in the Center for Racial Justice in New Orleans, LA.

Founded by Dr. Henrietta Okoro, WAAD is a worldwide association of academic doctors driving excellent initiatives to reality for a better World through cooperation, collaboration, and communication of diverse intellectuals and professionals across the globe.

 

 

The conference themed ” Globalization of Social Justice: Perspective on Economic, environmental, Health and Technology,” attracted researchers, partners, and presenters from various countries. The below summaries were drawn from the two-day event:

DAY ONE

Day 1 started with a welcome address by Dr. Ashraf Esmail, the conference chair.

Opening remarks by Dr. Henrietta Okoro, President and Founder of the World for Association of Academic Doctors (WAAD). In attendance were participants from around the world representing several universities in the United States of America and Africa. The Vice Chancellor of Bayelsa Medical University, Professor Ebutimitula Etebu, was also featured at the event.

Keynote speaker Dr. Sherice Nelson discussed how the system is changing in the United States of America. She also stated that education is a public good, and because of the shifting change, we are in CRISIS!!!

Student poster presentations

  1. Khaliyah Pearson- Black Education: A Tool for Resistance.
  2. Malena Mitchell- African Americans: The Legacy of Slavery in the US
  3. Asia Collins-Debt Bondage: Slavery to Present Day
  4. Keymoni Coleman-The Resilience of African American Music: Slaves Songs to Hip Hop
  5. Jordan Winder- Soul Food: Food Policy and Law.
  6. Leah Moore-Webber- Slavery and the Real Truth
  7. Veijah Johnson- African American Spirituals: Songs of Resistance and Survival
  8. Jada Edward- Tales of the Bayou and many more. There were 26 presented.

 

 

In the afternoon, a panel was formed, and the presenter was Rev. Brisbon with a 5-member panel that presented on Unity in community and The Role of HBCUs and Spiritual Heritage in Promoting Racial Justice.

  • Presenter- Dr. Okoro presented Information Governance Best Practices—a perspective of Economics, Health, and Technology.
  • Presenter- Mr. Geeta Sandeep Nadella presented:  Validating the IS impact on Education in U.S. High Schools Using the IS-Impact Measurement Model—A Quantitative Study.
  • Presenter- Dr. Pope presented Business Intelligence and Call to Action:  Understanding Barriers to Application Means Studying Behavior.
  • International presenters, including Professor Chioma Nwakanma, presented: Coping with Climate Variability and Emerging Environmental Crisis in Coastal Areas of Southern Nigeria: A Study. Presenter- Dr. Ojel Clara Anidi, presented:  Linguistic Analysis and Graph Illustrations of Selected Igbo African Folktales as Education Resources in Nigeria.

Day 1 presentation was ended by Dr. Angela Esedebe, who presented The Importance of Understanding Current Global Migration Trends, and Dr. Ghosh Thinnakkakath, who introduced An Analysis of Strategic Leadership Skills in Implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI).

DAY TWO

Day 2 of the WAAD conference began with the Social Injustices Around the World Project. The project was conducted by over 300 students from Middle schools and High schools in New Orleans. Three WAAD members served as judges for this project. The three members were Dr. Henrietta Okoro, Dr. Angela Esedebe, and Dr. Njideka Kelley. Students had 15 minutes to educate the audience on the causes, consequences, and solutions to the injustices in their chosen country. It was interesting to see students end their presentations with a brief discussion of how social injustice worldwide was like what was taking place in their communities in New Orleans. The judges were impressed that students these young understood the importance of everyone working towards a more just and equitable society. Together, we must work to create a world where everyone has equal opportunities to thrive.

 

 

Presentations focused on the following countries: Brazil, Kenya, Thailand, India, South Sudan, Vietnam, South Africa, Russia, Argentina, Honduras, Haiti, Jamaica, Greenland, Iran, Afghanistan, Canada, Uruguay, China, and the United States. WAAD Judges presented awards to students who made the best projects on the social injustices in Honduras, South Africa, Argentina, and Thailand.

Following the middle and high school students’ presentations on their choice of country and social justice, a panel discussion was held with middle and high school students from Ben Franklin, Chalmette High, and St. Augustine students to discuss areas of concern for youth in relation to racial and social justice issues. This was moderated by Hangout Nola Ray Bender.

A tour of the Dillard University campus took place after the student presentations.

The conference continued with WAAD members giving oral presentations on their area of research and their research findings. Dr. Teibowei Marie Therese presented Medical Translation Processes and Meta-Analysis of Translational Methodologies via Zoom Meeting. The rest of the presentations were in person. Dr. Yaguo Eremasi Benjamin Ikele, as a co-author with Dr. Egbo Mansi, presented on the Occurrence of Cadmium in Boreholes Water in Yenagoa Metropolis of Bayelsa State and the Toxicological Risk Implication. Dr. Chinyere Ukomadu and Dr. Henrietta Okoro explained the Educational Module and Managing Patient Non-Compliance in the Health System. Dr. James Lester presented Decision Making and Leadership. Dr. Alexander Onukwugha demonstrated: Causes of Resistance to Learn and Change:  Remedies to Overcome Practice.

Another international presenter, Dr. Cecily Nwokocha, presented on the Viability and Sustainability of Renewable Energy in Nigeria by the End of the 21st Century. After the research presentation by WAAD members, the Communique team gave summaries of the two-day conference at Dillard University. WAAD’s Founder and CEO, Dr. Henrietta Okoro, gave a closing speech highlighting the closing ceremony activities after she awarded all presenters/attendees certificates of participation.

 

 

DAY 3

Day 3 started with a tour of the New Orleans French Quarter and museums, followed by the Closing Ceremony, new members Induction, and Dinner Cruise. The new members, gold and silver level members, were recognized, including the Founder/CEO, Dr. Henrietta Okoro, who received a visionary and exemplary leadership award.

WAAD uses academic research and professionalism to drive excellent initiatives, changing lives and bringing global peace and development. To harmonize this vision, the WAAD global conference coordinates the vast potential of professionals throughout the globe to promote excellence through quality education, advanced research, good leadership, and business ethics aimed at sustainable political, socio-economic, and scientific growth of the world.

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FITCC Partners with Texas Southern University

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Partnership with the Texas Southern adds a new dimension to this event. For example, besides the SOC, the partnership will also include the Mickey Leland Center, Jesse Jones Business School, and the Barbara Jordan School of Public Affairs.

Fidelity International Trade & Creative Connect (FITCC) is collaborating with Texas Southern University (TSU) to engage student professionals in communication and to facilitate pre-event and on-site media coverage for the two-day trade fair. Paid student volunteers will write articles, shoot videos, and conduct on-the-scene interviews during the event. TSU’s Interim Dean of the School of Communications (SOC), Dr. Chris Ulasi confirmed this development, adding that “the SOC students have always excelled in collaborative coverage of major national and global events.”

Ulasi was right. In 2022, for instance, TSU joined Morgan State University in an all-expenses paid trip to the Monterey Jazz Festival (MJF) in Monterey, California, where the TSU’s Jazz Ensemble, University Choir, and Journalism department joined 20 other jazz and choir students from Morgan State University, to perform. In the same period, a team of TSU journalists traveled to Washington, D.C., for the Democracy Summit at Howard University. The Democracy Summit brought in students from TSU and six other HBCUs, including Morehouse, Morgan State, Savannah State, Florida A&M, North Carolina A&T, and North Carolina Central University.

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Texas Southern University (TSU) student professionals in communication will facilitate pre-event and on-site media coverage for the two-day event. Photo by Arthur Murray (SOC-TSU)

The FITCC is one-of-its-kind. On October 24-25, at the George R. Brown (GRB) Convention Center in Houston, the Fidelity Bank Plc. Nigeria will premier this international trade and creative fair called Fidelity International Trade & Creative Connect (FITCC). The event is expected to attract thousands of participants from all over the world. These attendees would interact with the brightest minds and industry leaders who would exchange ideas, create trade/business partnerships, and navigate the ever-evolving landscape of international trade, exports, and creative connections.

As fundamental objectives, the FITCC conference will address the limitless market opportunities between Nigeria and the U.S. marketplace. The sole facilitator, Fidelity Bank Plc. Nigeria is a popular international commercial banking entity with over 7.2 million customers serviced across 250 business offices and other digital banking networks. The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe said that the Bank has very much invested in supporting export trade.

Partnership with the Texas Southern adds a new dimension to this event. For example, besides the SOC, the partnership will also include the Mickey Leland Center, Jesse Jones Business School, and the Barbara Jordan School of Public Affairs. Deans and faculty members are invited for research-based presentations and speaking engagements. In addition, Exhibitor Booths will be provided for TSU, and space will be provided for the KTSU2 radio station.

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SOC Students in action: Partnership with the Texas Southern adds a new dimension to this event. Photo by Arthur Murray (SOC-TSU)

According to The President of AIX LLC, the Houston-based facilitator of the conference, Linda Anukwuem, “Our partnership with TSU will allow a working collaboration with the students depending on their choice of study. We are excited about their participation and cannot wait to release more details soon.”

These students will also have the opportunity to meet or interview various dignitaries, including Mayor Sylvester Turner, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe (CEO & Managing Director) of Fidelity Bank Nigeria, and Her Excellency Engr. Tamunominini Olufunke Makinde (First Lady of Oyo State, Nigeria), Benedict Oramah (President – Afrieximbank), Engr. Henry Obih (Independent Director-Fidelity Bank Nigeria), Ufo Eric-Atuanya (Senior Vice President, Global Business Development – Export-Import Bank of the US), 97.9 The Box – G.T. Mayne.

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New Book: “Buhari:Tinubu – How they snatched, shared power”

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  • Nigerian Political Buccaneers.
  • Book Title: Buhari:Tinubu – How they snatched, shared power
  • Author: Maazi Ochereome Nnanna
  • Publishers: Inteksbooks Publishers
  • Reviewer: Emeaba O. Emeaba
  • Pages: 270

If you think the eagle is not a wizard, try grabbing a piece of wood with both your feet. Analogously, this rusty old saw reminds me how it is not easy being Maazi Ochereome Nnanna. Other than the lack of a bone stuck in his nose and his eyes not ringed in chalk, the man is a shaman. Nnanna, who has been chronicling history in a hurry for onwards of forty years, drew blood when he outs and asks in his book, Buhari-Tinubu: How they snatched, shared power: “Exactly what manner of president-elect did INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, present to Nigerians after the 2023 presidential election? An identity impostor? Certificate forger? Drug lord? Lagos State treasury looter? The deadly mafia political leader? The ethnic profiler and commander-in-chief of the Jagaban Army? Or, was it Tinubu, the fiscal gamechanger in Lagos State, the assembler of high-capacity men and women, the overcomer of rough weathers, the man who knows what he wants and how to get it? Or both at the same time?”

You better believe you are in for a heart-stopping surprise. Nnanna, an award-winning newspaper columnist who has anchored the People and Politics column in Vanguard Newspapers since 1994 where he delights in making waves—okay, maybe tsunamis—as he chronicles Nigeria’s political history, writes with that belligerent but perceptive viewpoint of a University of Nigeria Nsukka journalism product. Demonstrating his shamanistic wizardry, he has given us a many-sided portrayal of Buhari and Tinubu’s quest for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and how the sleight of hand—the book’s subtitle is “How they snatched, shared power”—was perpetrated. It is a prodigiously researched account of the spread of whodunit. Dubbing the duo of Buhari and Tinubu as nothing but buccaneers, Nnanna takes us on a narrative guide to the planning and execution of the feat. Displaying his vast knowledge of current affairs, politics, and history, he uses Tinubu and Buhari as his leitmotif as he follows the duo; and through their stories, we see specific instances of the culture of Nigerian politics throughout the book.

Using a journalese that is extraordinarily smooth, and effortless, the book—an eleven-chapter tome of elaborate, but tightly packed prose—provides the reader with a uniform, and entertaining rendering of the rise of Tinubu from his Lagos fiefdom to his more potent incarnation—first as a money bag, then as a king maker, and finally as the kingmaker-turned-King. Steeped in research and analysis, the story is of Buhari and Tinubu as they slalom their ways to the front of Nigeria’s political history through 1990 to 2023. Nnanna holds you by the hand and gives you a Kafkaesque tour of this Made-in-Nigeria type politics and democracy. He delineates, in vivid figures, how only the muck of our society, adept in the use of meanness that is their stock in trade: institutional inducement of extreme poverty, and the use of instruments of state security for intimidation—are able to gain power.

Nnanna is very much able to do this arduous job that he sets for himself—the four-in-one job of the accuser, the mediator, the executioner, and the undertaker. The good thing is, he is a perceptive and subtle critic who has hobnobbed with the very perps at the end of his rapier, in every corner of the Nigerian political business.

Nnanna’s interpretation of the progression of the Buhari-Tinubu odyssey is deucedly clever, intriguing, exceptionally revelatory and overwhelmingly lethal. In this enthralling, readable work, the author examines with unloving care, the crudely successive vocations of the two, each of whom attained imperial heights without the necessary certifications (and where there is one, definitely an Oluwole-type!) Meticulously researched and clearly spelled out, the narrative is eloquent of Nnanna’s writing capabilities. He writes in such a lucid, astute text that unpacks the myths of Nigerian politics to help explain present-day motivations and actions. It is tense, twisty and so incantatory and primeval that I don’t think I’ll ever forget it any time soon.

As a precursor to his rapid-fire presentation of the Buhari-Tinubu bubuyaya, he first describes them in their excellencies, warts and all. Tinubu is the political evil genius who, racked by a debilitatingly irksome malaise that sometimes transmogrifies some of his speeches into gobbledygook, is still able to concoct the potent brew that results in his being in Aso Rock. Buhari is the very metonymy for geriatric languor who basks in issuing commands, reading prepared speeches and doing nothing else. Where Tinubu lives ahead of his time, painstakingly plotting, skillfully engaging the right stakeholders, parrying blows along the way, and plain displaying political sorcery, Buhari is an archetypal zany who wears nepotism as a badge of honour and ends up picking up the first prize for the most clueless leader, ever.

Each chapter explores a specific aspect of the quest for finding a successor for President Muhammadu Buhari. The author reminds us that the APC was not alone in the project; emphasizing that three other characters form the dramatis personae of the comedy of errors.  Nnanna tells us about Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi (LP) and Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso (NNPP), and then provides historical context and many examples of their entries and exeunt, including when democratic principles are undermined or ignored.

For such a sweeping, often chaotic, and prickly subject, the author maintains a succinct, unswervingly revealing narrative that explicates key terms and hypothetical contexts in a way that should engross an eclectic audience.

This ambitious book tackles major Nigerian questions, and answers them in a unique, enthralling and reportorial method. “This is the first ever book about the political history and power play in Nigeria in the past 33 years with particular reference to Muhammadu Buhari and Ahmed Bola Tinubu as the leading characters who dragged Nigeria down to the status of state failure;” Nnanna gushes as he analyzes the underhanded schemes, the well-calculated machinations, the broad-daylight duplicities, the sadism, the state-sanctioned killings, the skullduggery of state institutions, the dissembling, the wickedly rancorous propaganda, the extreme favoritism, nonstop invasions of the country’s collective purse and the bungling maladministration visited on Nigeria and its unfortunate citizens by these power hucksters, and their partners. Nnanna is a skillful guide, taking you through the daunting convolutions that is the Nigerian politics that produced these conflicts.

Poisonously decent, and with surprises right up until the final parts, Nnanna is unrelenting, pointing out that the duo was the first major political partnership to form a party—the All-Progressives Congress (APC)—plotted, and successfully defeated an incumbent political party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with Dr Goodluck Jonathan as the president in 2015.

As you read this gripping book, you get the sense that with Nnanna’s considerable literary firepower, he could very well have written about any subject if he had wanted to. A quintessential newsman, Nnanna is blessed with razor-sharp journalistic instincts, hereditary cynicism, and a truck-load propensity for ferreting out information and presenting same in its gore and glory. For example, he accedes that the feat of unseating an incumbent government had never happened before in the history of Nigerian politics. This, he said, is because, when a political party has produced leaders for more than two consecutive maximum terms of office, corruption would have taken over where one “godfather” or a gang of them would have hijacked power, such that no one else could come near.

Here, Buhari had taken the first shot as president for eight years, and then handed it to Tinubu on the 29th May 2023 through a contentious election blatantly compromised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) led by Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.  Nnanna argues, “a system that was bold enough to rape the electoral process in broad daylight and announce an abortion of a result in the dead of the night while people slept, showed how determined the state was to give power to a preconceived winner.”

Nnanna laments “After winning three presidential elections (2015, 2019 and 2023) it is up to the readers and, in fact, all Nigerians to decide for themselves whether the Buhari/Tinubu phenomenon in Nigerian politics was nice to their body, their pocket, or their life.” Rhetoric, in his sarcasm, he asks, “If you knew what you now know, would you have done the same thing you did back in 2015?” That sounds like a jeremiad—a listing of woes which seems to me a wistful shifting of responsibilities. He offers no solution to what ails the political system. Then again, Nnanna is a journalist—journalists have never been in the fixing business. However, the joy of his book is in both the knowing adumbration of who and what brought Nigeria to this sorry pass, and the strong emotion that endows his accusation with its charge and edge. The book concludes that Bola Tinubu has successfully knocked everyone aside (including former President Buhari) to get what he wanted; and now, fully in charge of all the instruments of state, including the Judiciary; it is a given his inauguration on May 29, 2023 has essentially trivialized the Tribunal’s business to a mere academic exercise (…knock on wood!)

While the rest of us uncommitted may stand askance and wonder what is Nnanna’s problem, those other angst-imbued victims of the concert, will splurge on the never-ending plethora of piquant disclosures, new perceptions, and impudent sentiments he serves up. Students of political history and the rest of us would have a problem putting the book down.

A copy of this book is available on Amazon.com, or directly from the author himself: ocheromen@gmail.com.

Dr. Emeaba, the author of A Dictionary of Literature, writes Dime novels.

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