Broadcasting
Chomzy Emerges as the First Female HOH in BBNaija Level Up
It’s week five of Big Brother Naija and similar to previous weeks, all housemates except the incumbent Head of House, were eligible to participate. Unlike previous weeks, however, the winner of the games and eventual HoH would have immunity from eviction for only themselves and whoever they nominate as deputy.
The first game was played in two rounds. For the first round, the female and male housemates participated separately. The top two female and male housemates from the first game would qualify for the next challenge which meant game 2 would feature 4 housemates (2 females and 2 males).
Before proceeding to the games, Big Brother had Phyna in the spotlight and asked if she completed her punishment as last week’s Tail of House. Sadly, she didn’t and this automatically disqualified her from participating in the games. Biggie also declared her the Tail of House for the new week.
With Phyna’s punishments meted out, Biggie then asked the eligible female participants to take their stand behind the stools with their name tags. Each stool had a bowl containing 20 donkwa and the challenge was to move one donkwa at a time with their mouth to an empty plate on the other side of the arena within one minute. Damaged, chipped or broken donkwa would not be counted as part of the score.
At no point were they allowed to use their hands to touch the donkwa except to lift the bowl. The top two participants with the highest number of donkwa would move to the next challenge.
The first game among the ladies began at the sound of the buzzer and after a minute they were asked to stop. Eloswag was called to count each female’s donkwa and at the end of the count, Daniella and Chomzy drew with 13 donkwas on their plate.
Next up were the male housemates with the same rules applying. After a minute of moving the donkwa with their mouths, Eloswag once again was asked to count each male participant’s donkwa. Bryann and Giddyfia emerged as the male winners of the first round with 16 and 15 Donkwas respectively.
After some tense moments, Biggie disqualified Daniella and all the male housemates from participating in the next challenge for carrying more than one Donkwa at a time.
Due to these disqualifications, Chomzy and Bella, who came third, were the only qualified housemates to proceed to the next round. For the second challenge, each lady was provided with a test tube containing multi-coloured candy on one end of the table.
Timed at five minutes, the challenge was to recreate the exact arrangement of the coloured candy in an empty test tube using a picker. The first lady to successfully recreate the test tube was to indicate by shouting ‘Head of House’ to emerge the winner. However, shouting HOH with the wrong colour combo would lead to automatic disqualification.
After some minutes of recreating the new test tube, Bella was the first to indicate she had completed the task and once again, Eloswag was asked by Biggie to confirm her arrangement. Unfortunately, she got the arrangement wrong, and Chomzy was declared the winner and first female Head of House for season 7.
As the new Head of House, she is exempted from the next HOH games and immune from eviction. Also, the HOH bedroom is available to her for use. After listing out her rewards, Biggie then asked her to select a companion of the opposite gender to share the room with and she chose Eloswag. As a companion to HOH, Eloswag is also immune from this week’s eviction.
As part of her reward as the week’s Tail of the House, Phyna is required to keep quiet when she hears the TOH sound and was given a writing tab as her tool of communication when she is required to be mute.
In a new twist, Big Brother asked each housemate to nominate two people for eviction. Although fake, the housemates with the most nominations are Chi Chi and Adekunle. They were both nominated four and five times respectively.
BBNaija Season 7 is headline sponsored by Pocket by Piggyvest (formerly Abeg) and associate sponsored by Flutterwave.
Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) has established six committees to help strengthen and modernize the country’s broadcasting industry.
The committees will focus on content creation, skills development, digital transformation, sustainability, policy and commercial opportunities
The initiative aims to support industry growth and improve collaboration between broadcasters, regulators and media experts
The official launch recently, was led by Tony Akiotu, president, BON and attended by media professionals, program directors, former journalists and heads of specialized media organizations.
The event brought together several prominent figures in Nigeria’s media industry, including veteran broadcaster and trainer Bimbo Oloyede, Tony Uyah of M4S TV, Kingsley Uranta of Channels Television, Ismael Sani of Platinum TV and Ibrahim Shehu of Trust TV.
Together, they are expected to help drive innovation and support the growth of Nigeria’s broadcasting sector.
According to Akiotu, the committees are intended both to help shape industry policy and to provide a forum for dialogue between BON and broadcasting experts.
Akiotu said the ad hoc committees were intended to strengthen BON’s work and ensure that the umbrella body for Nigeria’s broadcasters played a more direct and meaningful role in developing the country’s broadcasting sector.
The six committees reflect the sector’s main priorities. The first focuses on collaboration and innovation to promote content creation.
The second is dedicated to training and talent development, while the third focuses on industry sustainability by improving the sector’s long-term financial viability.
A fourth committee will focus on digital transformation and work with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on regulatory issues.
The remaining two committees will oversee public policy advocacy and the development of sports and commercial rights to help broadcasters increase revenue and attract more investment. Together, the committees are expected to guide BON’s efforts to modernize and strengthen Nigeria’s broadcasting industry.
The committees, chaired by members of BON’s General Assembly and supported by the organization’s Secretariat, have an initial 12-month mandate that may be renewed if necessary.
They are required to submit a progress report within three months and implement approved recommendations within the following six months.
The arrangement is intended to ensure close oversight and the timely implementation of their work.
Akiotu also reminded committee members that Nigeria pioneered television broadcasting in Africa and urged them to carry out their work with greater effectiveness and efficiency.
Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) says it is investigating about 34 tertiary institutions over allegations that they failed to refund students whose tuition fees were paid twice under the Federal Government’s student loan scheme.
The Managing Director of NELFUND, Mr Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed this during an interview on Arise Television.
Sawyerr said the agency had deployed a five-member investigative team, including operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and internal auditors, to examine the allegations.
According to him, the investigation was prompted by numerous complaints received from affected students.
“As of right now, there are 34 institutions that we are looking at closely with respect to this issue,” he said.
Sawyerr explained that the double payment issue arose because President Bola Tinubu directed that the student loan scheme commence in the middle of an academic session instead of at the beginning.
He said the decision compelled many students to pay their tuition fees to meet registration deadlines while awaiting approval of their loan applications.
“What happened is that a lot of schools got double payment; some from the students and some from us,” he said.
“The refund process is entirely out of our hands. It is the recipient of the double payments that is obliged to make refunds to the students.”
The NELFUND boss noted that many students had borrowed money from family members, friends and other sources to pay their tuition with the expectation of receiving refunds once the loans were disbursed.
He said while some institutions had promptly refunded affected students, others had failed to do so.
“Some have been very good at this. Others haven’t been so good at it,” Sawyerr said.
“I reserve judgement on the intentionality around it because, for some of them, they just didn’t have the process to make refunds.”
Sawyerr disclosed that NELFUND was exploring a tokenised payment system that would enable students to authorise tuition payments directly to their institutions, thereby reducing the likelihood of duplicate payments.
He said the agency deliberately chose not to disburse tuition loans directly to students to minimise the risk of fund diversion.
“Paying the funds to the students could really lead to the temptation for them to divert and do other things,” he said.
The managing director, however, acknowledged that NELFUND lacked the statutory powers to compel institutions to refund students or prosecute officials found culpable.
He added that many frustrated students had submitted complaints not only to NELFUND but also to anti-corruption agencies, including the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Sawyerr also expressed concern over increases in tuition fees by some institutions following the introduction of the student loan scheme.
He said NELFUND had declined to pay institutions that increased their tuition fees beyond acceptable levels.
“Some schools, because they get paid easily, started to put up their fees. We refused, point blank, to pay institutions who had hiked their fees beyond a certain level,” he said.
He reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to investigating every reported irregularity and strengthening the implementation of the student loan programme through continuous monitoring and internal reviews.
Broadcasting
Obi, NDC Presidential Candidate Faces N50Bn Defamation Claim over Alleged Podcast Remark
Abayomi Arabambi, national vice chairman (South-West) of the Labour Party, has demanded a public apology, a retraction, and N50 billion in damages from Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), over an alleged defamatory statement made during a podcast interview.
The demand was contained in a letter issued by the law firm Neplus Ultra Attorneys and signed by Anderson U. Asemota, Peter O. Asimegbe, and Stanley C. Eziefulle on behalf of Arabambi.
According to the letter, the legal dispute arose from comments allegedly made by Obi during the interview, where he reportedly stated that Arabambi “does not have an address.”
Arabambi’s legal team described the statement as false, malicious, and defamatory, arguing that it portrayed their client as a faceless individual without legitimacy, credibility, or standing in public life.
The lawyers further claimed that the interview was widely circulated on television stations and digital platforms, exposing Arabambi to public ridicule and damaging his reputation.
“Our client has had a known residential and business address, maintains professional and political affiliations within Nigeria, and has never been a person whose whereabouts or identity were unknown,” the letter stated.
The legal team maintained that the alleged publication caused embarrassment and harmed Arabambi’s public image and political standing.
As part of their demands, the lawyers called for an unreserved public apology to be aired on national television, published on Obi’s verified social media platforms, and carried as full-page apologies in national newspapers.
They also demanded the payment of N50 billion as compensation for the alleged injury to Arabambi’s reputation, dignity, political standing, and public image.
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