HOW BAYO LIGALI, CEO ZAIN NIGERIA WAS BOOTED OUT OF OFFICE
The Board of Directors of Zain Nigeria penultimate week showed its Chief Executive Office, Mr. Bayo Ligali the door after he was alleged to have committedmany atrocities that could not be condoled any longer by the management of the telecommunication company.
Mr. Bayo Ligali, who assumed the post of the C.E.O of the company about 3 years ago, was alleged to have been involved in many unwholesome practices that included misappropriation of funds, poor management among others.
Impeccable sources divulged that when Zain Nigeria was offered for sale due to inadequacy of Bayo Ligali led management team, he teamed up with top executives, who were his loyalist to ask for 15% of the shares of the company.
Those who should know added that this action did not go down well with Vivendi, who have moved in new equipments to standardize the operation of the telecommunications provider.
Our source alleged that Bayo Ligali has been running the telecommunication company as a family affair, as he used to pick anybody from nowhere to serve in the top echelon of the organization.
The source gave the examples as Tobi Biobaku, who was made Head of Media Relations in change of corporate communications. He used to be a supervisor in Zain outlet at Sanusi Fafunwa in Victoria Island, Lagos. Those who should know revealed that the latest of Bayo Ligali’s misdemeanour is the ongoing ‘don’t forget the lyrics’ show which he claimed to have spent many millions of naira on, but when the auditors visited the company, they discovered Bayo used fake documents to cover his misappropriation of funds.
For his shame to be covered, the management decided to retire him compulsorily and covered it up that he resigned to pursue personal businesses.
Sainte-Marie, who was the Managing Director of Zain Garbon has been appointed as Zain Nigeria Chief Executive Officer to oversee the company’s continuing market expansion and quest for industry leadership.
Our source confirmed that none of the top management staff could replace Bayo Ligali because most of them were his loyalists, who have taken after him in deeds.
So, to save the company from untimely death, Zain International quickly appointed Sainte-Marie, who has over 24 years working experience in Information Technology business.

‘WE HAVE ALL WHAT IT TAKES TO BE THE BEST IN AFRICA’
-TOLA BADEMOSI, MD/CEO BD CONSULT LIMITED

BD Consult is a professional marketing communication consultancy firm founded in 2006 by a team of young, innovative and dynamic individuals to provide strategic public relations and events management solution to a spectrum of organizations. In an interview with A&B, the MD/CEO of the company, Tola Bademosi revealed the secret behind the success of the organization and why the organization wont pick the public relations account of competing brands on its shelves.

What is the strategy put in place to make BD Consult one of the leading PR outfits
First and foremost, we’ve remained focus and we have come up with sometime different from what is obtainable in the industry. Our strategy has really made our clients not to even consider other agency as an outfit to work with. We shot our clients to the top in their respective industries. We always considered two things to ensure successful operations and these things are our clients and the consumers. The satisfactions of our clients will also be the consumer satisfaction in most cases, so we put things out straight to achieve these, which means we create platform, where the clients meet the consumers. Most times, we exploit the connection with the client and consumer and these have been working for us overtime and are still working for us.

What are the brands on your PR shelves
We have quite a number of them. We have Indomie from Dufil, UAC Foods, PZ, Lucky Fibres, Panabiz and quite a few I can’t remember now.

All these brands, most especially Indomie has become a genre name, what is the secret
It’s the first noodle manufacturer in Nigeria and the good quality speaks for the product. The unique services Indomie offers to consumers through BD consult cannot be found anywhere. Despite the fact that many other noodles now flood the market, people only try them for once and go back to what they are used to because the unique taste of Indomie cannot be replicated.

If a competing noodle brand now wants the service of BD Consult, what would you do
We’ve had that offer several times, but we turned it down. The truth is that the ethic of BD Consult does not allow us to work on two competing brands. No matter how good one wants to manage it, there will be compromise at a particular point.

Let’s meet you
My name is Tola Bademosi, ‘am a graduate of Management and Economics from the University of Ibadan and I hold an MBA in Marketing from Lagos State University. I am also am an alumnus of Lagos Business School and University of Cape Town in South Africa. After a wide range of experience in sales, marketing, advertising, event management and public relations, working with Equity Life Insurance, The Quadrant Company, Insight Grey and LTC/JWT Advertising, I established BD Consult.

What motivated you into starting BD Consult
There are a few numbers of things you can’t achieve while working under people, but with you and people who understand the ethics of the industry, you will achieve success in a twinkle of an eye.
Here I have young, innovative set of staff, who believe in my dream. My staffers are ready to make BD Consult one of the leading PR companies in Africa in few years to come.

HOW SIMON AKINTEYE RUINED INTEGRATED MICROFINANCE BANK
The emergence of microfinance banks in Nigeria should have been a solution to the problem of small scale businesses looking at the laws that established it, but unfortunately MFB is now a torn in the flesh to their staffers and customers.
Investigations revealed that the Simon Akinteye-led IMFB is currently enmeshed in a financial crisis alleged to have been caused by misappropriation of customers’ money. Simon, who is a founding director and has been the Chief Executive Officer of Integrated Microfinance Bank since inception, our source revealed, lives a flamboyant life, which includes incessant traveling abroad, visits night club frequently, where he always indulge in alcoholic drinks and serve whoever is around and sometimes buys off all the drinks available in club.
Impeccable source alleged that the crisis started with non payment of staff salaries, and 30% splash in salaries which made some of the staffers resolved to divert money collected from the customers who make daily contribution with the aim of obtaining loans to add to their businesses after a period of time.
The staffers, we learnt, allegedly collected money from customers and converted it to their salaries that were not paid. Sources close to the bank added that the directors who are not in support of Akinteye’s manner resigned en-mass, leaving some vital positions vacant.
Instead of having a change of heart, our source disclosed that immediately those directors left, Akinteye acquired new sets of Toyota Prado Jeeps, which he gave to other directors who are his loyalists and girlfriends. The issues were later exposed to the customers when their request for loans promised by the bank could not be granted, and they found it difficult to withdraw their savings.
Those who should know disclosed that when the rumpus became unbearable, customers invaded some branches of the bank and attacked the staffers, some of whom were wounded in the process.
In Ogba, Lagos branch of the bank, the manager was picked alongside other staffers by policemen, while the directors were reported to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Our source revealed that Akinteye told the commission that the bank could not meet the demands of its customers due to non-repayment of loans by some artisans and traders in Oshodi Market, who were displaced by the Lagos State Government and whose whereabouts is still unknown.
Most branches of the bank in Lagos are now closed and few staffers who still report to the head office are always in mufti instead of the usual white and blue uniform, which had become the bank’s logo.
It was gathered that Akinteye held meetings with some top managers of the bank, where he was alleged to have threatened that any director who revealed the crisis in the bank to the press would be dealt with both physically and spiritually by him.
A source close to the bank disclosed that Akinteye is notorious for mismanagement. The source said Akinteye had worked with the defunct National Bank Limited but was relieved of his duty over his outrageous lifestyle. He was also said to have worked with First City Monument Bank Plc as an assistant Vice President, but he was accused of fund misappropriation, which caused him to leave in annoyance.
Integrated Micro Finance Bank was incorporated as a wholly indigenous limited liability company on June 16, 2006 following the grant of an approval-in-principle by the Central Bank of Nigeria

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, WHO LEADS?
The contest or rivalry among brands has become glaring from the various designs of the products to the products’ functions and durability. Gone are the days, when he who pays the pipers dictates the tune among brands. The fact that some brands name have become synonymous with its products type does not interpret the success of the brand in terms of shelves presence to consumer patronage. The 21st century technology has made new brands compete with existing ones or pushed the existing ones into the background. Even among consumable products, consumers choices now differ from the regular and what is responsible for such include failure of the manufacturer to rebrand to consumer taste, the brand failure to develop identity with which to connect to customers in terms of quality service amongst others. The following are brands that were once products type names, but the story now is survival of the fittest among other players in the industry.

GALA VS RITE SAUSAGE ROLL
At a point, every sausage rolls in the market was referred to as Gala. But the emergence of other sausage roll brands reduced the sales of Gala drastically. Rite Sausage rolls now climbs the ladder of success easily, giving UAC, the manufacturers of Gala a sleepless nights.

MAGI AND KNORR CUBES
All foods seasoning in the industry are referred to as Magi, the level of intellect of the consumer notwithstanding. The failure of Magi brand to go into variants gave loopholes to Knorr food seasoning that came with varieties like chicken cubes, beef cubes among others to occupy the upper and visible part of the market shelves. While trying to struggle out of the kick, many other food seasoning jumped into the market to send Magi to a state of unconsciousness in the minds of the consumers. The manufacturers have now resorted to direct sales as the only option to sell the dying brand.

CLOSE UP AND MACLEAN TOOTHPASTE
Young and old people refer to almost all toothpastes as Maclean few years back. At a point, the product died due to unknown reasons, even when it was the only major player in the industry. A wide gate was thrown open to Close Up Toothpaste, which, since inception, has not relented in its effort to be conspicuous in the media and in the hearts of consumers. Close-Up is not relying on the media alone as it came up with different forms like herbal and multiple colour paste. Though Maclean was rebranded few years ago into the memory of its popular signature tone, the brand keeps trying to win its once loyal consumer back, but this seems to be a difficult task.

STAR AND HARP LAGER BEER
The once accepted ‘shine-shine bobo’ lager beer that once littered the table of consumers at bars has now become a second choice and is only demanded whenever Harp Larger Beer is not available. The promise of the brand to deliver a distinct service got sunk in the dungeon with the rebranding of Harp Larger Beer. The 60th anniversary and introduction of old television commercials to ginger consumers’ interest has really done nothing positive to get the beer on the right track again, but it has left Harp in a vantage position to take the lead.

MOTOROLA AND NOKIA MOBILE PHONES
Back to the days before the introduction of GSM in Nigeria, there existed mobile phones from Motorola, which could only be found among the extremely rich. Even telephone box in most homes were products of Motorola. As GSM flooded the country, many mobile phones manufacturers gate-crashed into the country, and took over from Motorola. The failure of Motorola phones can be traced to its bad battery life, unattractive shape among others. Nokia has now become the favourite of most people, as the phone comes with different models that has good shape, long battery life, easy-to-use package and many more.

SHARP AND L.G ELECTRONICS
Sharp is among the first set of electronic manufacturers in the country. The brand has in its collections TV sets, radio set and many more, but all these electronics need high voltage of electricity to power on, which means any house without a high voltage might not be able to use the product. L G Electronics, Asian products, was introduced into Nigeria considering our constant low voltage electricity and this among others made it a sought after. L G, which is into all sorts of electronics, even introduced what is common in the Western world to the African customers which is years of warranty, on product once its purchased from an accredited dealer and the gesture made Africans to patronize the Asian product leaving Sharp behind despite its recent rebranding.

BRANDS IN EXTINCTION
The changing faces of Nigerian products and market has left some notable brands behind and sent them to extinction. Though these and many other products were patronized by the people many years back, they are no longer seen on the shelve, not to talk of finding their ways into the homes of consumers due to reasons that cut across poor media publicity, failed re-branding, consumer rejection amongst others.

BONGO TEA: This cocoa tea was the best in its days with an inviting aroma and superb taste. This tea was popular in Nigeria and even beyond. But it could not stand the test of time as many cocoa and herbal tea flooded the market. Probably re-branding could have revived it, but the importation of the tea was stopped due to what the importers refered to as excessive import duties by the Nigerian government.

PLANTA: It was the best among margarine and the choice of both kids and adults. The creamy butter was from the stable of Lever Brothers Nigeria Plc, but was swept off its feet with the acceptance of Blue Band Margarine by consumers. The high level of its acceptance was visible among kids as any child without Planta Margarine on his/her bread would not find the school interesting.

TREEBOR: From the stable of Cadbury, Treebor was a brand of mentor sweet/candy rolled in packs. Before the existence of sugar coated sweet/candy in market today, Treebor was the choice of consumers and it was even used as cough expellant, either to be consumed directly or dissolved in water. This product went away many years back and was re-branded few years ago, but could not get to the heart of consumers again.

SHELTOX: An imported insecticide, Sheltox was the talk of the town in its days. Very active insecticide, Sheltox had a repulsive smell that kills mosquitoes and other insects within a blink of an eye, but with a friendly after smell. No other insecticides was able to rival Sheltox then, but its extinction could not be traced to any particular reason since consumers still clamour for its return to the market.

GULDERMAX: From the stable of Nigeria Breweries Plc, one of the leading breweries in Nigeria with many brands to its credit, Guldermax was a product that never had an impact in the market. The product was not just acceptable to the consumers. With massive media publicity and many promotions to ginger the interest of consumers, Guldermax was unaccepted due to poor taste, uninviting packaging and bad customer relations from its brand managers. Though consumers alleged that it was brought into the market when Harp was almost dying, the re-branding of Harp into the market became a torn in the flesh even to the major larger beer from the stable of Nigeria Breweries.

SONA BREWERY REBRANDS
-LAUNCHES GOLDBERG AND MALTA GOLD
Sona Breweries Plc, a brewery owned by Indians, has just re-branded. This re-branding involves the collapse of some major brands like; Maltonic, Kronebourg, Tusk amongst others to concentrate on the new brands; Goldberg Lager Beer, and Malta Gold.
According to an insider in the brewery, Sona Group will soon launch an-in-bar promotions on Goldberg, where consumers will stand the chance of winning fabulous prizes and even some notable restaurants will be used as Goldberg-view-centre for the forthcoming U-17 World Cup. Consumers of Malta Gold will also be treated to a consumer-based promotions soon. These plans were revealed during the official launching of the two products form the company, which are set to give contemporaries tough times

SOSACO FLOODS MARKET WITH EXPIRED “JAGO FRESH MILK”
Sosaco Nigeria Limited, the manufacturer of Gino, Jago and Pomo range of products stoop so low as one of the leading beverage manufacturers, when the organization, penultimate week, engaged in the sales of its new product that has enjoyed low patronage from consumers.
Jago Fresh Milk, a product that was imported and launched into Nigeria early this year, could not win the hearts of Nigerians and was kept in the warehouse by Sosaco. In a bid to clear its warehouse of the product, Sosaco employed the services of below the line agencies, which engaged in direct sales and flooded the major markets and streets with the expired ‘fresh’ milk. Jago Fresh Milk, which has a life span of about 8-months, has been stored in the warehouse for close to the expire date which, was 25th of May 2009. In a bid to clear the product from the warehouse, the expiry date was smartly cleared off and the product was sold at ridiculous prices with an incentive of buy-two-get-one-free to the consumers, not minding the health implications of such products.
Though most products have about 6 months on shelve life span, its obvious that products with preservatives do not enjoy such life span, most especially when they are not refrigerated.
This medium is warning consumers to stay clear of products, which have no visible expiry date and products that come with unbelievable offers.

WHY REDBULL GOT NAFDAC APPROVAL DESPITE HEALTH HAZARDS
- Dora Akunyili Fingered In Conspiracy

That the chemical content of one of the known energy drinks, Redbull could cause heart attack, hypertension and sudden death is no longer news, but what was recently uncovered is the conspiracy over the registration of the product in Nigeria during the reign of Professor Dora Akunyili as the Director General of National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Impeccable sources revealed that Redbull contains certain percentage deadly chemicals that could lead to sudden death or heart attack. The source listed the chemicals as taurine (0.4%), Glucuronolactine (0.24%) and Caffine (0.3%), and 0.4% microgrammes of cocaine per litre each.
Our source divulged that one of the consultants of NAFDAC had queried the composition of the product when the importer, Arizone Trading Limited applied for registration with the agency.
It was alleged that the panel, which examined the product never submitted their reports to NAFDAC director before a registration certificate, which lasts from March 31, 2006 to March 30, 2011 was issued to the importers.
Those who should know added that the panel acted on the directives of the then NAFDAC Director, Dr. Dora Akunyili who was alleged to have gotten a monetary reward from the Director of Arizone, who happens to have come from the same state and local government with her.
Another source, who is a nutritionist, said that the chemicals involved are part of those NAFDAC does not approve for food products.
The nutritionist added that taurine is a derivative of Bull’s testicles or semen, which is well known injurious to humans.
The source revealed that the product has been banned in countries like Germany, France, and Denmark because of its health hazard, but it was approved in Nigeria.
An insider in NAFDAC added that there are many conspiracy about the registration of product, adding that it is only those that did not dance to the tune of the directors that get exposed to the public.
The source revealed that the new Director of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii uncovered so many secrets, but decided to keep quiet looking at the former director position in government.
He added that NAFDAC sat on the fence over the issue by releasing a public alert notice that the findings on the product indicated that women, children, diabetes patients and those with high blood pressure should not take Redbull, but cannot outrightly tell the public that it’s not good for consumption due to the relationship between the importer and the former NAFDAC director.
The insider alleged that Arizone Trading Limited does not have a traceable office address, but a post address which is against the criteria for registration of any product with NAFDAC.
“There are so many powers from above on the registration of that product. Consumers should just be careful of what they eat or drink even when it has NAFDAC approved number,” the source quizzed.
Redbull Energy Drink is manufactured in Australia by Redbull GMBTT and has high presence only in Britain, but with a warning that pregnant women should not take it because of its high concentration of caffeine, which can cause miscarriage.