Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has raised concerns over the Nigerian government’s plan to expand electricity tariff hikes to more consumers, beyond those already affected.

Falana, speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, criticized the recent tariff increase for Band A consumers, calling it unjustifiable under the Electricity Act, 2023. He vowed to take legal action on behalf of Nigerians if necessary.

According to him, the removal of electricity subsidy in 2022 has left citizens bearing the brunt of inefficiencies in the electricity sector. He accused the government of making Nigerians foot the bill for mismanagement.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) recently announced a tariff increase for customers enjoying 20 hours of power supply daily, falling under Band A classification. This move, raising the tariff from N66 to N225 per kilowatt-hour, has faced criticism due to its suddenness and the country’s ongoing economic challenges.

While the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, suggested that only about 1.5 million consumers would be affected, Falana dismissed the notion of electricity subsidy, alleging that the hike aims to bail out financially strained electricity distribution companies (DisCos).

Falana condemned the government’s insensitivity to the hardships faced by Nigerians, exacerbated by policies like the removal of petrol subsidy and the collapse of foreign exchange windows. He warned of further tariff hikes impacting more consumers, emphasizing the need for legal action to challenge what he perceives as impunity.

In his view, these policies have led to unprecedented increases in the cost of living, highlighting the need for accountability and fairness in government actions.

Accomplished Filmmaker, Writer, and Director of Photography (D.O.P), Mohamed James Sessy Kamara is a Sierra Leonean who is known for his multi-talented contributions to the film industry and his advocacy for human rights, particularly for disadvantaged communities. 

He has written and directed two documentary films; notable among his great works is 

the Emmy Awards nominee film; on the Ebola crises, titled “Survivors,” where he served as the D.O.P. The Project illustrated his versatility and expertise in cinematography.

Kamara’s recent documentary film “Sisterhood” garnered significant attention from international film festivals, including screenings at Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF 2022) and ECRAINS NOIRS in Cameroon in October 2022. 

With its European international premiere at IDFA 2022, four screenings and exhibition at the New York African Film Festival, where it won an award in Maryland, Kamara personally made it a point of duty to attend these festivals, as a demonstration of his commitment to his craft and the causes he advocates for.

His contributions to the movie industry in Sierra Leone extend beyond the art of filmmaking to administration.

Currently, a co-founder and the Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Film Council, the country’s first media-makers’ union, Kamara manages Brighter Days Media Pictures; serving as Creative director and CEO for the Sierra Leone Next Movie Star reality TV Show. 

Additionally, he worked as a Project Officer and D.O.P for WeOwnTV Freetown Media Centre for over seven years, highlighting his dedication to supporting the development of media and film in Sierra Leone.

In the area of television Series production, Kamara has directed notable television series, including a thirteen-episode series for Africa Young Voices (AYV) Television Films and another thirteen-episode series titled “After The Rains,” which is presently airing on AYV DSTV.

Some of the projects that showcase his ability to work effectively within a team and across different platforms, include collaboration with other filmmakers and institutions, such as Caleb Heymann from Portland State University Foundation.

Kamara’s contributions to the film industry and his advocacy work demonstrate his passion for storytelling, social justice, and empowerment of marginalized communities. His dedication to his craft and commitment to creating impactful media content make him a significant figure in the African filmmaking landscape.

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Born in Benoni, in Transvaal Province (Gauteng Province since 1994) of South Africa on August 7, 1975, Charlize Theron is the only child of road constructionists Gerda (née Maritz) and Charles Theron (27 November 1947 – 21 June 1991).  

The second Boer War military leader Danie Theron was her great-grand-uncle.  

Born into an Afrikaner family, with an ancestry which includes Dutch as well as French and German, Theron’s French forebears were early Huguenots in South Africa.

Theron, who sees herself as a dancer, did not actually become an actress immediately, she had won a one-year modelling contract at age 16 at a local competition in Salerno, Italy and moved with her mother to Milan, Italy.

Upon spending a year modelling throughout Europe, she and her mother moved to the United States; residing in New York City and Miami. 

Actualizing her passion for dance she got her training at the Joffrey Ballet School, where she trained as a ballet dancer until a knee injury closed this career path.  

As she recalled, in 2008, Theron went to New York for three days to model, and spending a winter in the State in a friend’s windowless basement apartment. 

Broke and taking class at the Joffrey Ballet, her knees gave out. 

 Recognizing she couldn’t dance anymore, the South African went into a major depression; promoting her mom to come over from South Africa to talk to her; “Either you figure out what to do next or you come home, because you can sulk in South Africa”.

And so, on a one-way ticket her mother bought for her; Theron flew to Los Angeles in 1984; where she intended to work in the film industry.

During her initial months there, she lived in a motel with the $300 budget that her mother had given her; she continued receiving cheques from New York and lived “from paycheck to paycheck”. 

Theron stole bread from a basket in a restaurant to survive. 

Fate came into play one day, when she went to a Hollywood Boulevard bank to cash a few cheques, including one her mother had sent to help with the rent.

Unfortunately, however, the check from her mother was rejected because it was out-of-state and she was not an American citizen.

Her argument and pleas with the bank teller was becoming fruitless until talent agent John Crosby, who was the next customer behind her, cashed it for her and gave her his business card.

Crosby would later introduce Theron to an acting school, from where she played her first non-speaking film role in the horror film Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, in 1995.

Portraying hit woman Helga Svelgen in 2 Days in the Valley (1996), in her first speaking role Theron drew attention due to her beauty and to a scene in which she fought Teri Hatcher’s character despite the film’s mixed reviews that attended the movie release. 

Her role as the leading lady in the Hollywood films The Devil’s Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and The Cider House Rules (1999), brought her international prominence in the 1990s.

Her success as a great actress continued to generate applaud for her as she received critical acclaim for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003), for which she won the Silver Bear and Academy Award for Best Actress; becoming the first South African to win an acting Oscar. 

She received another Academy Award nomination for playing a sexually abused woman seeking justice in the drama North Country (2005).

Theron has starred in several commercially successful action films, including The Italian Job (2003), Hancock (2008), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), Prometheus (2012), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), Atomic Blonde (2017), The Old Guard (2020), F9 (2021) and Fast X (2023). 

She received praise for playing troubled women in Jason Reitman’s comedy-dramas Young Adult (2011) and Tully (2018), and for portraying Megyn Kelly in the biographical drama Bombshell (2019), for which she received her third Academy Award nomination.

Venturing into film production with her company Denver and Delilah Productions; since the early 2000s, Theron has produced numerous films, in many of which she had a starring role, including The Burning Plain (2008), Dark Places (2015), and Long Shot (2019). 

While retaining her South African citizenship, Theron became an American citizen in 2007 and has been honoured with a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Source: Wikipedia 

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The Gambia is making some big moves in its communication and digital sector! Minister Ousman O. Bah announced that the government has given the green light to privatize Gamtel and sell Gamcel outright.

During a session with lawmakers, Minister Bah explained that the decision came after realizing the financial strain these two national assets were facing. With debts piling up, it’s become clear that the government alone can’t keep them afloat.

Gamcel, for instance, is drowning in over D14 million in debt and isn’t contributing much to the state. Minister Bah pointed out various reasons for the revenue decline, like outdated technology and bloated staff.

To turn things around, the government plans to transfer Gamtel’s fiber assets to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). This move is backed by studies showing Gamtel’s financial woes and the need for restructuring to boost revenue.

While the government has supported Gamtel in the past with infrastructure projects, it’s time to bring in private partners to inject fresh investment and expertise. With these changes, Minister Bah is optimistic that both Gamtel and Gamcel can thrive in the digital age.

The only boy in a family of eight children, James Ikechukwu Esomugha, popularly known as Jim Iyke was born September 25, 1976, in Libreville, Gabon. 

His parents who hail from from Ogwugwu Village in Enugwu-Agidi town of Anambra State, changed their name from Okolue to Esomugha. 

From 1985 to 1991, Iyke attended secondary school in F. G. C. Kwali, Abuja and then earned a diploma in Banking and Finance and a BSc in philosophy from the University of Jos, Plateau State.

Nigerian actor and one of the stars of the movie Last Flight to Abuja, Jim Iyke began acting in 1998 and became one of the highest paid actors in Nollywood, as of October 2013; with appearances in over 150 films.

In 2007, Iyke started a movie production company, Untamed Productions and also has his own music record label, Untamed Records; which produced his first album, titled Who Am I?, featuring some of Nigeria’s top musicians, such as TuFace Idibia and Sound Sultan.

Winner of the 2021 Net Honours for Most Searched Actor, some of the movies Jim Iyke has featured include: Between Kings and Queens, Last Flight to Abuja, And Then There Was You, When Love Comes Around, Stalker, Star in Heaven, American Driver, Dead rite, Merry Men 1& 2: Another Mission. 

Source: Wikipedia

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One of Malawi’s leading actress , and the actress at the First Dawn Arts, Flora Suya is the Director, Producer and writer of Spouses and Workmates.

Nominated as best actress at the 6th and 9th Africa Movie Academy Awards ceremonies, she won Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her role in the film.

Alongside Tapiwa Gwaza, Suya played the lead role in Seasons of a Life (2010), which narrates the ordeal of an African maid who was sexually violated by her boss, who then denied her custody of her child.

In 2013, she starred in Shemu Joyah’s Last Fishing Boat, where she was the love interest of a tourist and wife of a polygamous man, the role got her AMAA awards best actress nomination.

One year later, in 2014, it she featured in Chenda, a Zambian film, which was launched at a cinema in December 2014, and released in 2015.

The movie narrates the ordeal barren women go through and the negative reaction of African men towards the condition.

Starring as Tadala, a single mother in a gender and culturally sensitive African setting, My Mothers Story was one of the opening films at the Silicon Valley African Film Festival in United States, in 2016. The movie revolves around the sufferings women go through to secure their home without help from a husband.

Source: Wikipedia 

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Known for Las cartas de Alou (1990), Palm Trees in the Snow (2015) and Ya vienen los reyes (1996), Mulie Jarju is an actor born in 1957 in The Gambia.

Fluent in Catalan, English, French and Spanish, all of which are his mother tongue, Jarju has featured in lots of movies which include:

Hermanas, Periodistas, Policías, en el corazón de la calle, Raquel busca su sitio, El comisario, Cinema mil, Hospital Central, Genesis, en la mente del asesino, Los Serrano, Ángel o demonioOchéntame… otra vez, Los nuestros, Historias de nuestro cine, La peste, Gigantes, Desaparecidos to mention a few.

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