PHOTO: I’ll Protect My Marriage With My Last Blood — Jide Kosoko's Daughter, Sola

30 December, 2013

Arts and Entertainment

Actress and daughter of veteran actor Jide Kosoko, Adesola Kosoko-Abino in a recent interview with Tribune, talked about her life, career and marriage.

On how her dad has influenced her career, she said: “He has influenced my career a great deal. When I started, I didn’t have a phone. Producers would always call my daddy whenever there was a job for me. He was like my manager. I wouldn’t have gotten ahead in this industry without him, honestly. He has been very supportive in every aspect of my career”.

On her marital life, the 32-year-old actress said, “Beautiful! I’m enjoying it. I don’t ever… Let me emphasise it: I don’t ever, ever want to leave my marriage for anything. That simply means that if anything wants to come between my marriage and me, I would fight with the last drop of my blood. However, “man proposes God disposes.” Everybody wants the best, but sometimes, life could turn out badly for some. I pray that God preserves my marriage.”

On her take on failed marriages in Nollywood, she said, “Well, like I said earlier, I don’t pray that my marriage should fail; but man proposes, God disposes. It might be my wish to have a car, while God intends for me to have a jet, and vice versa. What I am saying is that God knows best. I don’t want to believe that any married woman wishes that her marriage should fail; neither would any man marry with the intention of dissolving his marriage.

Defending the subtitling error in most Yoruba movies, Sola said: “Some of these mistakes are not from the person who subtitled them. They are, most times, typographical errors. When I did my first movie, I saw the subtitling myself from A to Z. It was fine. But after typing sometimes, we don’t take time to correct them. I just finished working on a film project. It will soon hit the market. I have watched it over and over again, and I am still going to watch it again. As you watch, you will always see something to correct.

 

So, I just want to see the subtitling thing as one of the mistakes we make. You must have gone to school either to study English Language or Yoruba or Linguistics before we hire you to subtitle for us. English is not our language; one must learn it. We may not require a person to have a BSc. in Yoruba to speak Yoruba well enough, but English is very important in subtitling”.

Tomatoes May Reduce Risk of Breast Cancer

By Samantha Bonar Mon., Dec. 30 2013 at 7:30 AM

Flickr/USDAgov

tomato-basil soup

Eating a tomato-rich diet may reduce postmenopausal women's breast cancer risk, according to a new study. Researchers at Rutgers University tested tomato-heavy vs. soy-heavy diets on 70 postmenopausal women. For the first 10 weeks, the women ate a diet full of tomato and tomato-based products. They had to consume a minimum of 25 mg of lycopene a day, an antioxidant found in tomatoes and some other fruits and vegetables. For the next 10 weeks, they had to eat at least 40 grams of soy protein a day. They were asked to refrain from eating any tomato or soy products two weeks prior to the study.

The scientists found that the women showed a 9% increase in adiponectin levels after following the tomato-heavy diet for 10 weeks. Adiponectin is a fat- and blood sugar-regulating hormone. (The risk for breast cancer increases in postmenopausal women along with their body mass index.) The effect was more prominent in women who had a lower BMI to begin with.
The soy-heavy diet actually led to a reduction in adiponectin levels. Low levels are linked to increased risk of obesity and insulin resistance and thus, increased breast cancer risk.
Lead researcher Adana Llanos said that the advantages of eating a tomato-rich diet are clear, even if it is only for a short period.
"Eating fruits and vegetables, which are rich in essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals such as lycopene, conveys significant benefits," she said, according to Medical News Today. "Based on this data, we believe regular consumption of at least the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables would promote breast cancer prevention in an at-risk population."
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Previous studies have linked tomato consumption to reductions in the risk for stroke and prostate cancer.
According to the National Cancer Institute, women in the United States have a 12% risk of developing breast cancer at some point in their lives. This risk increases with age.
Yes, spaghetti sauce counts!

Top Selling Gadgets In Nigeria This Festival Season

VENTURES AFRICA – A little over a decade ago, land phones and mobiles (or nought-nine-nought) were exclusive to the top class of Nigeria’s society. Put simply, the presence of a landline in a household represented affluence and cellphones were the private jets of this age. But with the advent of GSM technology in 2001, mobile telephony gradually became easily accessible, even to people living in the remotest part of Nigeria.

Between 2009 – 2010, the smartphone trend, which was also exclusive to a certain class of the country’s over 170 million population, surfaced. However, when Chinese phone maker Tecno ventured into the Nigerian market it presented a opportunity for Nigeria’s fast-rising middle class to access services available on smartphones. Other phone makers, i.e. Solo Phone, soon followed suit, providing cheap, yet standard services on affordable smartphones to all who move with the trend of new gadgets in the country’s increasingly demanding and tech-savvy population.

In 2013, the “gadget boom” continued with the launch of a series of eye-catching phones, tablets, and gadgets and stiff competition for market share between major phone makers, i.e. Samsung, Apple, Tecno and Blackberry (Yes, Blackberry still accounts for a significant percentage of the market share in Nigeria), while mobile penetration experienced a surge across the Africa. Thus, consumers have benefited from innovative competition between phone makers, with citizens now afforded the luxury to select from a wider range of products.

During this festive season, our team scanned through the retail markets to spot a few of the top selling devices. In no particular order, here are the top five:

1) Samsung Galaxy S4/S3 – The launch of BBM on Android has afforded potential drifters the opportunity to swap their blackberry devices for other top ranking brands such as Samsung and Apple. The Samsung mobile devices are reportedly leading sales figures this period due to the perceived proper mix of price and quality.

2) BLACKBERRY Q10 – Despite the release of blackberry’s messenger BBM on Android and iOS, sales of blackberry 2013 release Q10 remains relatively balanced. The 16GB installed memory, 4G LTE device still commands a fair amount of patronage and is listed on several mobile retail outlets amongst the top selling phones during this period.

3) Infinix x700 Joypad 7-Inch Tablet – The tag ‘Joypad’ best describes the gadgets; a combination of a Pad, a 3G smartphone, and a game console all in one product that boast a 7″ IPS high resolution LCD touchscreen, makes it the ideal device for a gadget freak. Driven by Qualcomm 3G technology, it allows users unlimited download access to contents and applications anywhere and anytime.

4) Tecno Phantom A+ – The fast emerging phone maker is gradually siphoning the industries consumer base, largely due to an efficient blend of quality and price, coercing cost-oriented customers to turn their attention towards a cheaper and similarly effective device. The newly released Phantom Pad N9 offer almost the same features as the Galaxy S4, yet cost 50 percent less than the Samsung device.

5) BLACKBERRY Z10 – Poor sales figures of the Z10 series was earlier this year, credited for the huge loss posted by the Canadian smartphone maker, but keypad-less phones have seen a change in sales fortune this period. A significant drop in price has led to an increased demand, with Nigerian retailer Slot Limited posting the Z10 as its no1 Top Selling device.

Check out the list of the Top Nigerian Achievers of 2013.

.



1. Coach Stephen Keshi

In February this year, media outlets were awash with the triumph of the Super Eagles at the African Cup of Nations finals in South Africa.

The national team, on February 10, 2013, under Coach Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, became African Champions after
defeating Burkina Faso in the final match of the African Cup of Nations soccer tourney at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, to lift the trophy for the third time: in 1982, 1994, and 2013.
Keshi, born 23 January, 1962, is a former Nigerian defender and now football manager, who has managed the nation’s senior male football team since 2011. He became the first Nigerian and second African to win the cup both as a player and as a coach. He had coached the national teams of neighbouring Togo and Mali before taking up the Super Eagles job.


2. Mosunmola Abudu

Famous talk show host, Mo’ Abudu launched what could be described as Africa’s first global black multi-broadcast network, EbonyLife TV [/b]on Sunday, June 30, 2013. Just few hours after the glamorous Lagos launch, the channel went live on Monday, July 1, 2013.

According to Mosunmola Abudu, ‘EbonyLife TV is aimed at giving Africa a new perspective by projecting its potential and re-writing its story’. The channel, it is hoped would change the old age perception of both Africa and Africans, using entertainment and lifestyle with programming aimed at viewers aged 18 to 34,

Often referred to as the Oprah Winfrey of Africa, Mo’, as the talk show host is fondly called, has used the platform of her syndicated daily talk show, ‘Moments with Mo‘ to build a strong repertoire. With the launch of EbonyLife TV, [b]Mo makes history becoming the first and only woman in Africa to own a cable TV channel.
She has interviewed celebrities from Hillary Rodham Clinton, former African presidents F. W. de Klerk of South Africa and John Kufuor of Ghana, former England soccer skipper Rio Ferdinand, musician R. Kelly and American fashion icon Diane Von Furstenberg.
Located in Tinapa, Cross River State, EbonyLife TV has high ambitions: to revolutionize media and entertainment in Nigeria and across Africa.



3. Aliko Dangote

Aliko Dangote, founder of Dangote Group was ranked richest man in Africa and richest black man in the world [/b]by Forbes Magazine. Forbes also said Dangote is now the first African entrepreneur to lay claim to a $20 billion fortune as the stock value of his largest holding, Dangote Cement, leaped just three months after it released its annual ranking of the world’s richest people.The report noted that Aliko Dangote’s 93 percent stake in the cement company is now worth $19.5 billion.This was in addition to his controlling stakes in other publicly-listed companies like Dangote Sugar and National Salt Company of Nigeria and his significant shareholdings in other blue-chips like Zenith Bank, UBA Group and Dangote Flour.


4. Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde
Nollywood actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde in April was enlisted on Forbes [b]magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, a feat which earned the 34-year-old actress the title ‘Africa’s most renowned leading lady.’
Jalade-Ekeinde was named in the 2013 icons category of the list alongside young Pakistani activist; Malala Yousafzai, US first lady Michelle Obama, Burmese pro-democracy activist; Aung San Sun Kyi, RnB diva; Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and controversial Italian footballer; Mario Balloteli.

Writing a profile on the actress who this year launched a reality show about her life on M-NET, she was described as the “Queen of Nollywood.”



5. Zuriel Oduwole

Zuriel Elise Oduwole, 10 -year-old Nigerian girl,who enjoys interviewing presidents and world business leaders, was recently celebrated as the youngest person to be interviewed by Forbes Magazine.

IN today’s world, when many youths and adults roam about the streets looking for jobs, here is a 10-year-old Zuriel Elise Oduwole, who seems to have discovered her purpose for living at the age of 10.

At a very tender age, she has met with African presidents and top African leaders because of her passion to relate with great men and women.

Currently, she is being globally celebrated as the youngest person ever to be interviewed by Forbes Magazine.

Oduwole has already made a name for herself right from her childhood, and another which stands as a plus for her is that she is already a hot cake in the business world.

Zuriel, who is often referred to as the next Oprah Winfrey, said she is committed and determined to rebrand Africa by bringing out positive things in the continent and most importantly, convince Africans on the importance of educating the female gender.

She became the youngest global international media representative ever [/b]on record last November, 2012, competing with seasoned correspondents from Cable Network News (CNN), Reuters, Super Sports, Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) and The Guardian, likewise in South Africa and Nigeria.


6. Olumide Aliu

Olumide Aliu, was elected as president of the International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO) Council; thus becoming the first African to head the global body for aviation safety.
Mr. Aliu was elected ICAO Council president on Monday at the 38th Assembly of the organisation in Montreal, Canada. The assembly consists of 172 countries.
Nigeria joined ICAO in 1960 and was elected into the Council of ICAO in 1962 as a Part II member State. The country has since remained on the Council and has continued to promote the interest of Nigeria and Africa on the Council as well as contribute to the development and growth of civil aviation in the region.

7. Akinwumi Adesina

Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Akinwumi Adesina, was been named the 2013 Forbes Africa Person of the Year which celebrates the individual who has had the most influence on events of the year gone by.

The Forbes Africa Person of the Year has, since its inception two years ago, reportedly attracted the highest calibre of nominees from across the continent.

Akinwumi Adesina was considered a worthy winner by the judges as [b]he is a man on a mission to help Africa feed itself.

8. Blessing Okagbare
Blessing Okagbare showed her class as she won a silver medal in the women long jump and a bronze medal in the 200m at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Moscow, Russia. She also holds the African record in 100m sprint.
Blessing Okagbare won Nigeria’s first medal at the IAAF World Championship in Moscow as she leaped 6.99 metres to clinch the silver medal in the long jump event final.
Nigeria last won a medal at the Athletic World Championship in 1999, a drought Blessing Okagbare has ended with her victory.

9. Chinedu Echeruo
. Chinedu Echeruo’s HopStop.com was acquired by Apple this year.
Founded in 2005, HopStop.com makes mobile applications for both iOS and Android that covers over 300 cities and that helps people get directions or find nearby subway stations and bus stops.

HopStop has oft been compared to Israel’s Waze which was recently acquired by Google for $1 billion. The move is seen as Apple’s plan to bolster its map offering especially given Google’s recent acquisition of Waze.

A serial entrepreneur, Chinedu Echeruo grew up in Eastern Nigeria and attended Kings College, Lagos. He attended Syracuse University and the Harvard Business School in the United States and founded HopStop.com after working for several years in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Leveraged Finance groups of J.P Morgan Chase where he was involved in a broad range of M&A, Financing and Private Equity transactions. He also worked at AM Investment Partners, a $500 million volatility-driven convertible bond arbitrage hedge fund.

He founded and raised nearly $8 million for his two U.S based internet companies; Hopstop.com and Tripology.com. Tripology.com was acquired in 2010 by American travel and navigation information company, Rand McNally. He was named Black Enterprise Magazine’s Small Business Innovator of the year and listed in the magazine’s Top 40 under 40 [/b]and is currently a partner and head of the Principal Investing group at Constant Capital, a West Africa based investment bank.

10. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Award winning Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s third novel – Americanah was listed in [b]The New York Times recently as one of The 10 Best Books of 2013, selected by the editors of the publication.

If you have a dream, go for it - Nkem Thompson •Award-winning UK-based Nigerian doctor •Treats cancer, diabetes, hypertension with practical tips

• Written by  Seyi Gesinde

ADVERTISEMENT

Dr Nkem Thompson is an award-winning Nigerian medical practitioner based in the United Kingdom (UK). In 2011, she successfully fought breast cancer, and as a result, introduced different practical means of battling the disease to patients, a novel idea which has fetched her awards. SEYI GESINDE reports.
Dr Nkem Thompson is a medical practitioner with many colours. Apart from being a general practitioner, she has risen to prominence in the United Kingdom (UK), where she is currently based as medical expert with unusual aptitude in helping people overcome non-communicable diseases such diabetes, arthritis, cancer, hypertension and obesity, using healthy lifestyle principles.
The Trumpet Media Group, a multi-product platform using the media to reach Africans and friends of Africa around the world, recently described Dr Thompson as someone who leaves her audience with “practical, usable information on the healthy lifestyle principles they can implement to begin to reverse disease and come off their medication.
“She inspires her audience and patients to think differently about their health and as a result, to act differently about their health. Her message that ‘Health is the First Wealth’ is growing in popularity in leadership, professional and entrepreneurial circles, particularly as she gives practical instructions on how to implement her advice.”
As a way of recogning her work, she was featured in the inaugural edition of the Nigerian House of Parliament publication, ‘Diasporan Wazobia’ in June 2013, which positioned her as one of the top 10 Nigerians in Diaspora to look out for in their respective fields.
Also recently, she won the Women4Africa Motivational Speaker of the Year Award in the UK, and was nominated for the Life Changers Foundation Awards Female Personality of the Year 2013. This, the organisers said, was in recognition of her efforts in changing lives of people with her healthy lifestyle principles, coupled with her day-to-day work as a medical practitioner.
The Women4Africa, a UK-registered organisation focusing on celebrating  and empowering  Africa and its women, while presenting the award to Dr Thompson, said “her audiences appreciate her approach to the topics she covers,” a passion developed after triumphing over breast cancer battle in 2011. She now teaches others to also use the practical principles that worked for her battle breast cancer and other related diseases.
“Dr Thompson’s audience love her fresh, no-nonsense yet non-judgmental approach to the topics she covers, and they leave empowered with practical tools they can use to improve their health. She is becoming widely known as the doctor to talk to in respect of coming off medication for such chronic illnesses such as diabetes (type 2) and hypertension, and also for people cultivating healthy lifestyle habits and managing weight safely.
“Her no-bull, down-to-earth approach gets her invited back for more presentations. Dr Thompson’s passion is obvious when she speaks, and this is what keeps her audiences riveted,” Women4Africa awards committee said.
Responding, Dr Nkem encouraged people to follow their dreams. “I wish to give all thanks and praise to God for giving me the gifts I possess. I thank everyone whose input has contributed to my winning this award. Special mention to Dayo Olomu for his unique role in the process. I’d like everyone to know this: if you have a desire or dream in your heart, know that it’s been put in there by your Maker, and with it, He will give you the ability to make it come true.
 “So feed your dream, nurture it, go for it with all you’ve got; and at the right time, you will see the fruits of your efforts manifesting. You’ve got what it takes to make it and you will succeed if you don’t give up.I am thrilled to have won this award. I hope it opens doors for me to reach a wider audience with my message of Positive Personal Proactive HealthCare, because from my day job, I see that it’s a message that is vitally needed today,”
Dr Nkem said.

New research discovers why girls mature faster

ADVERTISEMENT

NEWCASTLE University, United Kingdom scientists have discovered that as the brain reorganises connections throughout our life, the process begins earlier in girls, which may explain why they mature faster during the teenage years. It was reported in the Science Daily.
As we grow older, our brains undergo a major reorganisation reducing the connections in the brain. Studying people up to the age of 40, scientists led by Dr Marcus Kaiser and Ms Sol Lim at Newcastle University found that while overall connections in the brain get streamlined, long-distance connections that are crucial for integrating information are preserved.
The researchers suspect this newly-discovered selective process might explain why brain function does not deteriorate -- and indeed improves -during this pruning of the network. Interestingly, they also found that these changes occurred earlier in females than in males.
Explaining the work, which is being published in Cerebral Cortex, Dr Kaiser, Reader in Neuroinformatics at Newcastle University, says: “Long-distance connections are difficult to establish and maintain but are crucial for fast and efficient processing. If you think about a social network, nearby friends might give you very similar information -- you might hear the same news from different people. People from different cities or countries are more likely to give you novel information. In the same way, some information flow within a brain module might be redundant, whereas information from other modules, say integrating the optical information about a face with the acoustic information of a voice, is vital in making sense of the outside world.”
The researchers at Newcastle, Glasgow and Seoul universities evaluated the scans of 121 healthy participants between the ages of four and 40 years as this is where the major connectivity changes can be seen during this period of maturation and improvement in the brain. The work is part of the EPSRC-funded Human Green Brain project, which examines human brain development.
Using a non-invasive technique called diffusion tensor imaging – a special measurement protocol for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners – they demonstrated that fibres are overall getting pruned that period.
However, they found that not all projections (long-range connections) between brain regions are affected to the same extent; changes were influenced differently depending on the types of connections. Projections that are preserved were short-cuts that quickly link different processing modules, e.g. for vision and sound, and allow fast information transfer and synchronous processing. Changes in these connections have been found in many developmental brain disorders including autism, epilepsy and schizophrenia.
The researchers have demonstrated for the first time that the loss of white matter fibres between brain regions is a highly selective process – a phenomenon they call preferential detachment. They show that connections between distant brain regions, between brain hemispheres, and between processing modules lose fewer nerve fibres during brain maturation than expected. The researchers say this may explain how we retain a stable brain network during brain maturation.
Commenting on the fact that these changes occurred earlier in females than males, Ms Sol Lim explains: “The loss of connectivity during brain development can actually help to improve brain function by reorganising the network more efficiently. Say instead of talking to many people at random, asking a couple of people who have lived in the area for a long time is the most efficient way to know your way. In a similar way, reducing some projections in the brain helps to focus on essential information.”

Meet The Top 10 Richest Pastors In The World

This is a list of the richest pastors worldwide.

1. Bishop T. D Jakes: Bishop Jakes lives in a $1,700,000 mansion, he has been called America's best preacher and has been featured on the cover of TIME magazine. He is a writer, preacher and movie producer. Thomas Dexter "T. D." Jakes, Sr. is the bishop/chief pastor of The Potter's House, a non-denominational American mega church, with 30,000 members, located in Dallas, Texas. T.D Jakes wears custom made suits and sports a diamond ring the size of a coin. This man of God has been endowed with a $150 million net worth.

2. Bishop David Oyedepo: Bishop David Oyedepo is a Nigerian Preacher, Christian Author, Founder and Presiding Bishop of Winners Chapel known as Living Faith Church World Wide. Has been hailed as the wealthiest preacher in Nigeria with a total net worth of $150 million and properties like 4 private jets and homes in the United States and England. After the foundation of the Living Faith Outreach Ministry in 1981, it has evolved to be one of the largest congregations in Africa and has a flourishing mission in Nairobi.



3. E A Adeboye: This messenger of God was listed in an African magazine, NEWSWEEK, as the most powerful man in Africa and one of the top 50 global power elites in 2008/2009, among others such as President Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy. Pastor Adeboye heads the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), something he has done for the last 28years.Amongst his posessions are private jets.



4. Benny Hinn: Israeli televangelist,Toufik Benedictus “Benny” Hinn has an estimated net worth of $42 million. He is best known for his regular “Miracle Crusades” – revival meeting/faith healing summits that are usually held in large stadiums in major cities, which are later broadcast worldwide on his television program, “This Is Your Day”. Hinn was born on December 3, 1952.


5. Chris Oyakhilome: This is the man behind Believers’ Loveworld Ministries, a.k.a Christ Embassy.His church has an estimated net worth of $30 million – $50 million last year, the charismatic preacher was at the center of a $35 million money laundering case in which he was accused of siphoning funds from his church to foreign banks.


6. Creflo Dollar: American Bible teacher, pastor, and the founder of World Changers Church International, Creflo Dollar, has an estimated net worth of $27 million. As his name suggests, this preacher’s “manna” comes in form of the green buck.

7. Kenneth Copeland: He runs Kenneth Copeland Ministries, was one of several televangelists whose finances were investigated from 2007 to 2011 by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa.

According to an article by the Associated Press that ran in 2008, "His ministry's 1,500-acre campus, behind an iron gate a half-hour drive from Fort Worth includes a church, a private airstrip, a hangar for the ministry's $17.5 million jet and other aircraft, and a $6 million church owned lakefront mansion.

The article later added that while Copeland has not released up-to-date salary statements, "the church disclosed in a property-tax exemption application that his wages were $364,577 in 1995; Copeland's wife, Gloria, earned $292,593. It's not clear whether those figures include other earnings, such as special offerings for guest preaching or book royalties.”


8. Billy Graham: American evangelical Christian evangelist, William Franklin “Billy” Graham, Jr., has a net worth of $25 million. The Southern Baptist evangelist rose to celebrity status as his sermons started getting broadcast on radio and television. Graham was born on a dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina in 1918, he has conducted many evangelistic crusades since 1948 . He is now a world renowned televangelist raking in millions of dollars.

9. Matthew Ashimolowo: Ashimolowo, the owner of Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) gets an annual income of $200,000. Having his humble beginnings as a priest in Foursquare Gospel Church, a Nigerian church that sent Ashimolowo to open a satellite branch in London. Pastor Matthew had other ideas and decided to set up his own church instead. Today, his Kingsway International Christian Center is reportedly the largest Pentecostal church in the whole of the United Kingdom.


10. Temitope Joshua: Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) has an estimated net worth: $10 million – $15 million Nigeria’s most controversial clergyman is also one of its richest and most philanthropic. T.B Joshua heads the Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN), a congregation he founded in 1987, which accommodates over 15,000 worshippers on Sundays.

I never knew I would become a musician – Omawumi

ADVERTISEMENT

Omawumi Megbele launched into the industry  after being pronounced first runner up in the 2007 edition of  the West African Idols. In this interview with JOAN OMIONAWELE, she talks about her private life and musical career.
Where would you say you got your voice from?
I really don’t know. I have always been singing. I got a lot of influence from growing up in a large house, so I found myself always singing and entertaining them.

While growing up, did you have an inkling that you would get to this stage?
I did not even know I was going to be a musician.

What were you then thinking of becoming?
I wanted to be a teacher, but I never knew music was going to be a major career for me. I thought it was going to be a pastime. I did not think for one second that it would be my means of livelihood.

You released your album Lasso of truth at the middle of the year. What was the reception like?
Well, I am awed at the response I have gotten. I did not expect the kind of overwhelming response I got from my fans. Every music lover has a song in that album that they can identify with. Just yesterday, I heard someone singing a song that I felt was not popular and I felt really good. It just gives me the desire to do more.

You also had four major deals this year....
This year has definitely been a good year. I believe that God has a hand in everything. Even the Bible says that faith without works is dead.
We put in a lot of work in 2012 and it even shocked me, I did not expect it. The first one that came was Mortein. I felt so good about that; it wasn’t just an endorsement. I had something to do, and that was to give back as a mother, which was really reassuring as it exposed me to a lot of opportunities of reaching out to people. It made me to really understand what was happening as I had to really study hard and read about malaria and moreso, because it is a family brand.
Glo is also the only indigenous telecommunications company that shows it is proudly Nigerian,  and also Konga.com which is also an indigenous company that is trying to do something new and different. It’s not just about the money coming in. No be say money dey like that o; no go talk say money dey o, you know say I no be like all those people wey dey shout money money. I just know say I dey endorse brand. It’s about being associated with brands that had made impacts on the lives of people. It shows the way I have been perceived or identified and I really feel honoured about it.

Coming up as a female in the music industry back then, what were your challenges?
I really don’t dwell on challenges. What you identify as challenges, I identify as a means to an end. I am an optimistic person; I believe in seeing the good out of every situation. If you put iron for fire and burn am, na there e go take shape. I don’t believe in zodiac signs but if you want to identify that I am an Aries, the symbol is a bull. I have my two horns, which get me going, not because of the accolades and the satisfaction that would come out of it, but at the end of the day, I have no expectations; I just do what I have to do and thank everyone for giving me the opportunity to do what I want to do.

In showbiz, one always has to look attractive and fit. What do you do to stay in shape?
I’m very lazy o (laughs). I have to tell you the truth. When people complain  that I have added too much weight, I would now run and hit the gym.

But you aren’t that big, though the screen makes you look so...
I am not above my weight limit. I can carry myself. I don’t believe I should be skinny, but exercising is hard work and hard work is not something you can force someone to get used to. The thing is when I think I should lose weight, I just go on a crash course of working out and eating right, even though it is very hard for me that grew up eating ‘swallow’. I am always very careful because it is not about living life but enjoying life.

There is so much competition among female celebrities in the industry at the moment. What is your relationship with them?
I have a very healthy relationship with everyone of them. I love them and get loved in return.  My colleagues would say I am a crazy,mad girl and a sweetheart. It would shock you, but I am an introvert,and I enjoy my quiet time. This doesn’t mean that I don’t rock, but my friends understand me. We might not talk for months, but when we do, the love is real.

Do your male fans let you rest at all?
Why na; wetin dey happen? They respect me a lot, and when some of them want something more, I always look for how to ‘friend zone’ them, or am I going to share my organ with the whole world? Whenever one says ‘I want this girl, I would want to have her’, I always tell them that it is better to have me as a friend.
Funny enough, even my male counterparts in the industry have viewed me as a younger sister. So, if as a guy you had already planned to corner me, the moment you meet me and we have a conversation, you would have a change of heart immediately.
If you were given a magic wand, what would you wish to change about yourself?
Nothing.

But everyone has a weakness...
Well, when I was growing up, there were a lot of things I wish I could change, but I have trained myself. The Bible says the joy of the Lord is my strength, which means that in all things, we should give thanks to God. You need to have a steady mind of celebration. Of course, there are one or two things that would make me sad; but there is nothing really to it other than being happy.
If I dey soak garri today, e no go pain me because I dey see food dey chop. The day I see fried rice, I go also thank God, rather than regretting the days of soaking garri, because my mentality is that the rich person who eats fried rice somewhere in the beach and the person soaking garri under the bridge have the  same blood flowing through their veins. We were all born the same way; why don’t I try to make the best of every situation I find myself?

What is your idea of style?
Style, to me, is comfort. I have tried my best to follow various trends, but I have realised that I am not a fashion icon, I am a musician. The day you see me put on something and you say you like Omawumi’s style, I would say ‘thank you’, but don’t be angry the day I come out looking like a masquerade. Be happy for me at least; I schooled in Warri. I had my primary and secondary education in Warri and went to Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, and you can say make I dey overdo, wetin I do you, I resemble oyinbo? God, I beg o.
I am happy with myself and I am happy that I am trying. I am a musician. Of course I need to look attractive for people to buy my music and enjoy it, but the thing about it is that I cannot give that full concentration because I believe that what you enjoy about me is my music.

When you have to go for shows and rehearsals at night, how do you keep up being a mum?
My daughter is in my hotel room as we speak; I just know how to manage it. I do the regular school runs in the morning. I have a loving family around me. Her father is around and we do the work together. I spend quality time with my daughter, because nothing in the world is more important than that, apart from God.