6 Tips on Creating a Culture of Creativity

Decades ago companies could stay alive based on the strength of their products alone. Today it's different--consumers are constantly plugged in and they're fickle with their affinities, which are largely influenced by the content they consume online. Are your ads entertaining them? Do your videos strike an emotional chord? Are you engaging with them authentically on social media and endearing them to your brand?

What you need is creativity--lots and lots of it coming from your employees who need to get work out the door much faster than they once did. Suzy Deering, CEO at digital agency Moxie USA, which boasts clients such as Quilted Northern, Coca Cola and Chic-Fil-A, has some ideas about how to foster a culture of creativity.

Tout creative thinking throughout your organization.

Companies that are good at cranking out novel ideas understand creativity should not be the domain of only certain departments. It's a way of thinking that should pervade your entire organization, including functions like finance or IT. To keep creativity at the forefront of everyone's minds Moxie USA sends a Friday email to all of its 600 employees shouting out the top handful of the company's creative successes across functions every week. "It's just a philosophical difference of what is creative and what makes creativity," Deering says. "It comes from anywhere."

Encourage in-person relationships.

If your workers are outfitted with modern technology there's a good chance they never have to leave their desks to get their work done. "Relationships are not necessarily done through email," she says. "It's a tool that we can use, but some of the best discussions and best thinking comes from... having a thought and sharing it with somebody live where you can go back and forth and bounce off of each other."

Encourage employees to leverage non-company contacts.

Your employees know lots of talented people, whether it's family members, neighbors or friends. Why not tap them for ideas, advice or connections? For example, another company that does this is Chicago-based GiveForward which sends job descriptions to well-connected investors, posts them on Facebook, and emails them to employees and their personal connections during a hiring campaign. Once a job listing is passed on to people who may not have a relationship with the company (and thereby aren't inclined to help), referral incentives keep them sharing. Meanwhile, all these people are reading GiveForward's company story.

Offer structured freedom.

If you want your employees to come up with good ideas they need to know their voices will be heard, they can make a difference and they won't be shot down. At the same time, boundaries help, too. In the case of Moxie USA, Deering says they include making sure employees:

• Are true to the consumer and deliver on brand
• Drive off a key insight and ensure it ladders back up to an overarching strategy
• Keep timing in mind, since it's usually a factor given the speed of the consumer
• Make sure they know what they are solving for or what they expect the consumer to do
• Are accountable to a reaction and know what they are measuring

"Boundaries... keep them within a space that they feel more comfortable," she says.

Hire people who have a persevering, entrepreneurial spirit.

The most rewarding things in life are not easy. In fact, think of the most rewarding experiences of your life and they're likely the ones that were emotionally or physically challenging. "But the output becomes so incredibly rewarding because of the fact that it was hard," she says. "When you're in the hiring process you've got to look for those people that really have that spirit."

Banish bureaucracy and form small nimble teams.

After seeing too many layers of bureaucracy hinder progress for some of her teams serving a big brand client, Deering decided to structure her teams as smaller units. After the pivot, a squad named Unit 3C proved it was agile enough to provide solid thinking in real time. For example, during a recent "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick-fil-A stores, Unit 3C was able to generate rapid-fire creative for social media by tapping into what was actually going on in stores. Essentially, the team created a pop-up which allowed in-the-moment dialog with restaurant patrons about their love for Chick-Fil-A and cows by re-tweeting their quotes in a creative, illustrate manner.

The problem many companies have, Deering says, is using an old-school process of creative development that just doesn't work anymore in light of consumers who never turn off.

"We expect that we can cram the same approach into an extremely condensed timeframe and many times approach it like it's an assembly line," she says. "It can't be that way anymore. We have too many resources and partners that we can tap into in order to get to the right place and unlock thinking that wouldn't happen on the assembly line."

15 Ways to Find More Time to Think

One of the smartest entrepreneurs I know, a man who is generally positive and upbeat, was complaining.

He had just offered one of his senior people a substantial promotion--and raise--but it would mean the employee would have to move to the other side of the country, uprooting his wife and their three teenagers.

"My employee asked for a week off to think about it," my friend said. "A week. Geesh. What's wrong with doing your thinking right here?"

I think my friend is in the minority. He is wonderful at thinking about the big picture while handling all the day-to-day stuff simultaneously.

Most of us are not that talented. We could use a little "white space" in our lives that we can fill with new ideas.

Let's talk about the 15 ways you could carve out more time to think, ideas suggested to me by some of the most successful entrepreneurs I know.

1. Simply deciding to do it puts you ahead of the game.

Most of us never take the time to realize we could use some time to think.

2. Breakfast could be the most important meal of the day. 

One entrepreneur I talked to has taken to getting up earlier and is in his local coffee shop by 5 a.m. He says he always buys a newspaper, "so I won't look even weirder than I am," but he spends virtually all of his time just staring into space. "The key, I find, is not to distract myself with things like checking email or voice mail, or making 'to do' lists," he says. "I just sit and think."

3. First things first.

Intriguingly, others I talked to also tried to carve out thinking time early in the day. But they do it before breakfast. Typically, they said, the first thing they used to do was check email and skim the headlines.  Now, they are putting that off, until they have spent some time thinking about their most important objectives.

4. Simplifying. 

Stress and needless distractions ("Where the heck did I put that file?") detract from your ability to think.  Each of the people I talked to said they were taking steps to become even more organized. One of the ideas I particularly liked: creating an agenda for the following day--with all the necessary supporting materials at hand--before they turned off their computer at night.

5. Talking out loud.

This one particularly resonated with me, because I do it all the time, to the puzzlement of my wife and kids. I talk to myself and others do, too, when they are trying to reason things out.

6. Reinstating the lunch break.

Because we are busy, there is a natural tendency to work through lunch, or to grab a quick sandwich or salad at your desk, if you are not meeting with a client. Successful entrepreneurs said that even 30 minutes away from the office in the middle of the day often spurred new ideas. Intriguingly, many said eating alone triggered new ideas.

7. Relaxing before taking a break.

Coming up with ideas in the shower, or while taking a nap, really does seem to work, according to the people I talked to--although they were quick to add a twist. They said the best ideas came to them when they weren't stressed. "If I am worried about something, that's all I concentrate on in the shower," said one woman. "Now, I try to be stress-free before I step into the tub. It doesn't guarantee I will get a new idea, but it seems to increase my chances."

8. Shake up your routine. 

I found this one interesting. One of the reasons people say you are able to generate more ideas in the shower is because the task of showering is so routine. Since you do it by rote, your mind is free to wander. No one I talked to disagreed with that theory, but they said they noticed that they got more and different ideas when they were doing something out of the ordinary, such as seeing a movie in the middle of day or taking a break at an unexpected time.

9. Exercise.

Many people said they did their best thinking while exercising. The kind of exercise itself didn't matter, but running and biking were the two things mentioned most often.

10. Building in a break.

Within a five-minute drive of her house, one of the entrepreneurs told me, is an upscale gym and a place where "I can grab something healthy to eat. I have made it a point to budget an hour a day to take advantage of both places, and I refuse to check email or voice mail during that time."

11. Fly first class. 

People used to say they used their travel time up in the air to think. But with packed planes and smaller seats, that option has become more difficult. One option: Fly first class whenever you can, said one of the men I talked to. "It's about equivalent to what coach used to be about 30 years ago," he said. "I find it helps."

12. Schedule it.

I have my doubts about this one, but several people I talked to swear by it. They block off 15 minutes every day--in the middle of the day--that is labeled "Thinking" on their calendar.

13. In praise of dead cell phones.

"I would have never believed this one if it hadn't happened to me," one of the people told me. "I was driving to a client meeting four hours away and my cell-phone battery died and I didn't have a car charger. After about 20 minutes--20 long minutes of panic and withdrawal pain--I came to appreciate the fact that I was not about to be interrupted. I am still not great about turning off my phone for long stretches, but I try."

14. Silence in any form is seen as good. 

Lots of entrepreneurs prize the moments--whenever they occur in the day--when they can simply block out noise.

15. The old ways still work. 

I was curious, so I asked about the idea of taking some time off--a long weekend, perhaps--where you tried to do nothing but contemplate what's important. Everybody I talked to endorsed the idea and then promptly said they can't remember the last time they did no work over three consecutive days.

These days there are more options than ever to avoid ever feeling truly bored. Got five minutes to spare? Whip out your phone for some gaming or trawl through Twitter. Have a bit more time? Thanks to the wonders of tech you can download your favorite music or TV show in minutes and fill the gap.

At first blush that sounds like a great thing. Who likes being bored, after all? But according to psychologists, if you're keeping yourself perpetually engaged, you may be missing out on the benefits of boredom--yup, you heard that right, boredom, it turns out, is actually good for us.

The Benefits of Boredom

How? Idle brains, scientists have found, aren't just a source of pointless pain. Being bored actually signals to the mind that you're in need of fresh ideas and spurs creative thinking.

Researchers recently confirmed the counter-intuitive creativity-boosting effects of boredom by subjecting one group of study participants to the mind-numbing task of copying out the telephone book for 15 minutes. After attaining a state of utter boredom in this manner, the study subjects were then given a standard test of creativity in which they needed to come up with as many uses as possible for a common household item (in this case a plastic cup). Their results were compared to those of a control group that hadn't been pre-tormented with boredom. The telephone book copiers, it turns out, were more creative.

A follow-up study compared those who given passive but boring tasks (just reading the phone book, i.e. the rough equivalent of hearing someone drone on stultifyingly at a meeting) to those completing the original active but boring task of writing out telephone numbers. Boredom plus daydreaming while passively bored, the psychologists discovered, was an even greater productivity boost (may that be some comfort to you during your next interminable meeting).

PsyBlog points out that writers have long known about and exploited this reality, offering a quote from comedy writer Graham Linehan as an illustration: "I have to use all these programs that cut off the internet, force me to be bored, because being bored is an essential part of writing, and the internet has made it very hard to be bored. The creative process requires a period of boredom, of being stuck."

The Takeaway for Bosses

The author of the telephone book study, Dr Sandi Mann, commented that "boredom at work has always been seen as something to be eliminated, but perhaps we should be embracing it in order to enhance our creativity."

Bosses, she notes, who demand constant busyness may actually be inadvertently denting their team's creativity. "Employers, who are under the misguided notion that boredom is a problem to be eliminated in the workplace through increased activities and tasks, should look to embrace it in order to enhance employee creativity," she advises.

Ten Ways to Spot an Opportunity

Once you come up with a promising insight, there is no guarantee that success will follow, of course.

You need to turn a great insight into a thriving business, which is incredibly difficult.

But with that throat-clearing out of the way, you can apply 10 simple tests to discover an idea worth pursuing.

The best place to apply these tests is in areas that you understand. It takes a lot longer to come up with the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe if you have never been in a kitchen.

All of the tests we are about to discuss involve spotting a niche, which is nothing more than figuring a way to compete differently.

If an entrepreneur looks at the marketplace and sees a small void he can fill, he has spotted a niche. But what he really has done is looked at the way others are competing and concluded he can be successful if he does things differently.

Here are 10 ways you can compete differently to find a hole in the marketplace:

1. Upgrade. Take a basic product and make it special, either by adding value to it or marketing it as a status product. Luxury automobiles and designer blue jeans are examples of what were once pedestrian products that have been given cachet. I would argue the whole artisanal movement--pickles, cookies, you name it, would fit here as well.

2. Downgrade. Take a product that has always been associated with status and reduce it to its underlying concept.

Examples: People Express Airlines eliminated all the frills that came with an airplane ticket (meals, magazines, etc.) and was one of the first companies, back in the 1980s, to reduce flight to simple transportation. The Wright brothers didn't show movies aboard when they took off from Kitty Hawk, and neither did People Express. (Some 30 years later all the major airlines, unfortunately, are copying the People Express model, but still charging full fare.) If you look on the supermarket shelves, you now see everything from generic beer to no-name cooking oil competing against Budweiser and Crisco. Offering a stripped-down version of a popular product or service could be one way for you to go.

3. Bundle. There are certain products or services that almost always go together. Instead of requiring people to pay for them separately, combine them. Cell phones now come with cameras. Printers today usually bundle in a fax machine and scanner. People have combined peanut butter and jelly in a jar. What could you put together?

4. Unbundle. Just the flip side of what we discussed above. Ask, what products have been so gussied up that you can sell the individual components? Life insurance is a good example. It became common practice in the industry to combine the protection component with a savings element. That became the basic insurance policy. Term insurance, which eliminates the savings component and just provides protection, has become very popular.

There would seem to be a market for the world's best cell phone that handled calls flawlessly and did nothing else. And could you make a machine that handled nothing but word processing?

5. Transport. If a product sells in one area, take it to another. If you stop and think about it, that is what importing and exporting are all about. But you can go beyond just selling white wine from France in New Jersey or opening a Chinese restaurant in Kansas City.

For example, Europe and California for whatever reasons tend to create new products and ideas ahead of the rest of the world. How about someone from Massachusetts taking a drive up and down the coast of California looking for new ideas in fast food, entertainment, whatever? Once you find what is working in Modesto, why not try it back home in Marblehead?

6. Mass-market. Take an idea that has been in one narrow area and see if it will scale. This is what every company does when it takes a product "national." Once upon a time, the people who made extra-virgin olive oil only sold through "gourmet" shops. Today, you can find endless varieties in Walmart and Sam's Clubs.

7. Narrowcast. We borrow the term from television. When cable television was in its infancy, its broadcasters realized they all shouldn't try to reach mass audiences. For all their faults, the three major networks back then did a fairly good job of serving the widest audience possible.

The solution for cable operators was to narrowcast, or gear shows on a given channel to a particular audience. Thus so, you have channels that show nothing but sports or movies or even the weather or content related to specific religions.

If you are up against a wide number of competitors in your field, and the potential audience is huge, you might be better off aiming for one specific segment instead of trying to reach everyone. We now have stores that sell just light bulbs or batteries. It seems there's no segment too small to support a company or even an industry.

8. Think big. Instead of carrying just one product, carry everything related to it. Think of the home improvement stores like Lowe's or Home Depot.

9. Think Small. While huge stores, such as Lowe's, can offer more merchandise, they can't offer the depth of selection in each line that a true connoisseur demands. And they usually don't have a trained staff to offer advice. You can succeed by offering more in a small field like tile, rugs, or cabinets. (This could be considered a form of narrowcasting.)

10. Price. At first blush, you may not think of competing on price as niche finding, but it is. Remember we are talking about competing differently, and price is clearly one way to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Yes, it is a dangerous approach--you are willlingly given up margins--but it is an option.

How Successful Leaders Capitalize on Good Times

Every leader knows to be proactive when times are challenging. They don't always know exactly what to do but they know they need to do something. My most recent column helps with those choices.

But I am surprised at how few leaders work to capitalize when things are going well. When market conditions are favorable and business is booming, this is not the time to just sit back and enjoy the spoils. Great leaders know that they need to be even more strategic and proactive during boom times as responses to "sunny day" temptations can make the difference between being good, great, or even awesome.

Given the seven temptations below, a great leader making the right choices can move mountains and create wealth for all, leaving behind those who have to start the hard work again when the bust inevitably appears.

1. Temptation: Save praise for later.

When things are busy and bonuses are high the positive morale makes praise and compliments seem superfluous. Plus people are busy, and asthe saying goes, "good news waits 'till noon." But noon often becomes never.

What great leaders do instead: Now is the time to make sure that people feel appreciatedfor the growth and hard work. Make a point to offer small bits of specific, positive feedback on a regular basis. Put systems in place, which help the team celebrate their accomplishments beyond the extra cash in their check.

2. Temptation: Give in to "good enough."

When things are going well, it's hard to see the little errors and systemic breakdowns that occur. Often the lost deals and customer dissatisfaction arehidden by increasing top line revenue and margins. Robust times are when it's easiest to coast and let your people do the same.

What great leaders do instead: Heavy volume means you can put the systems to the test with minimal risk. Dedicate time and resources to stretching and testing limits so you can increase capacity and efficiency. There is no better time to look for new opportunities and ways to improve. Use this boom to encourage everyone to think of the future and big possibilities. Then empower them with committed resources to go as far as you can safely go.

3. Temptation: Become invisible.

Good times are often busy times, and you may be wrapped up with travel, meetings, and communication. You may disappear for weeks at a time. You know what you're up to, but your staff will not.

What great leaders do instead: It's good to delegate and focus on growth, but the team still needs direction and confidence in the leadership. The more quickly they surpass goals, the more they need guidance toward the next summit. Make a point of being visible and active in goal discussions. Come out of your office and talk to your people. Schedule lunches or happy hours so they can get creative talk time outside of day to day issues.

4. Temptation: Over-rely on star players.

Big producers add a lot to the company, but it is a mistake to underplay the rest of the team. Diversification is key to longevity in down markets.

What great leaders do instead: Make a conscious effort to monitor, motivate, and cultivate each team member. Repetition of consistent business is a great way to help that "B" player get closer to becoming an "A" sales star. Use the abundant market to build skills and deepen your bench. That way you will have redundancies in place and people ready to step up if your starting players become unavailable.

5. Temptation: Decide you areindispensable.

There is nothing wrong with knowing the value you bring to a company. If things are going well, it is natural to feel a sense of pride and ownership. Just be very careful to avoid thinking or behaving as if the place couldn't carry on without you. Remember what they say about cemeteries being full of indispensable people.

What great leaders do instead: Stay mindful of the ways you personally can continue to improve, which will keep you learning and keep you humble. Empower your team to grow andaspire to bigger positions that will expand the company exponentially. If they are aspiring to take on your position, you are doing something right.

6. Temptation: Stop asking "What If?" just because you can.

Daydreaming, asking questions, cultivating curiosity--these are the activities that fuelcreativity and innovation. When you're riding high on what's already working, sometimes you forget to explore new territory just because it is there.

What great leaders do instead: Make opportunities for creative thinking at work and in the personal lives of your team. Create challenging exercises to keep team members on their toes. Schedule regular retreat time away from the craziness of daily operations to address new opportunities and resources only available when abundance is high.

7. Temptation: Give up experimenting.

It seems counterintuitive to think that success can cause paralysis. But when things are great, you want them to STAY great, and if you are not careful that can lead to a paralyzing fear that they may not. It is easy to become too afraid to try anything new. Unfortunately what works during the boom may kill you when the bust comes.

What great leaders do instead: Apportion time, resources, and funds to create a laboratory where safe failure can occur regularly. Challenge the team to take calculated risks on a regular basis, so you can learn, grow, and capitalize.

Are you known by the promises you don't keep?

Broken promises cause the world's greatest accidents. You can't make wrong work.Thomas jefferson said,"Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom." Never chase lie:if you leave it alone,it will run itself to death.Everything you add to the truth,you inevitably subtract from it.It's discouraging to think how people nowadays are more shocked by honesty than by deceit.

  "Those that think it is permissible to tell 'white lies' soon grow colour-blind".We punish ourselves with every lie and we reward ourselves with every right action. A lie will add to your troubles,subtract from your energy, multiply your difficulties and divide your effectiveness.

 "Truth is always strong, no matter how weak it looks,and falsehood is always weak no matter how strong it looks".Never view anything positively that makes you break your word..Make your word your bond.The book of proverbs says it best:"Dishonest gain will never last ,so why take the risk?"Truth exists.Only lies are created ."If  you continue to do what's right,what's wrong and who's wrong will eventually leave your life".    

Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde Shares Her Success Story And Why She Is Scandal-Free

In this exclusive interview with Sunday Sun, award winning actress, singer & Amnesty International activist Omotola Jalade Ekeinde talks about her fears, being scandal-free and also shares her success story. Find excerpts from the interview below… Can you give us tips on how to be a success­ful woman? It actually starts with character, personality and what beliefs. Everything wrong today actually started from the content of a character. Are you immoral or are you straight forward enough to actually say something and carry through with it. Is the content of your character strong enough? I believe that for you to be great in anything, you have to be someone anyone can trust.you believe in. It stems from your moral. Continue… Can you define what success means to you? I think success is when God is happy with you. When the closest people around you are happy with you and when your soul is at peace with you. Looking back, what has been your greatest achievement?  I have so many great achieve­ments and I am very grate­ful to God. I can talk about great achieve­ments today because God has empowered me to build my character. At no point did I see all these coming. I never said, ‘let me start being a good girl so that in the future, they will call me to speak, not only on Nollywood but also in mentorship capacity outside Nollywood’. I never said ‘okay, let me be a good girl so that Time magazine will make me a Time 100 woman’; I never thought about all these things. But by God`s grace, I am here today. He taught me to follow a particular life pattern when I was young. And I am grateful that pattern has brought me this far. My greatest achievement is that I got to know God on time; it was a great privilege. Do you ever cry? Yes, I am an actress and I cry all the time. Could you share with us your fears and something that has made you cry lately? Don’t believe me when I cry because I might actually be trying to get something out of you (Laughter). My hus­band says he doesn’t know when to take me serious, whether it’s when I am cry­ing or sober. But I am naturally a very emotional person, quite frankly. I hate injustice; I can’t stand it. When I see somebody who is helpless, I feel like that person’s humanity has been taken away from him and that makes me cry. Can you tell us about the mov­ies you have featured lately? It’s Blood in The Lagoon, a movie about social inequality. On the one side you have Makoko, a cesspool of poverty, deprivation and crime, and on the other side, just across the lagoon you have Ikoyi and Victoria Island’s dwellers living in splendor and enjoying exotic lifestyles. Where did you belong grow­ing up, Makoko or Victoria Island?  Not practically but theoretically. Yeah, we have all gone through that sort of situation at one point or the other in our lives. Somebody has looked down on you some­where along the way no matter who you are, and that’s why I can relate with my character. Tell us your own story? At a stage, people looked down on me. They tried to deny me my credit and make me feel insecure. But you know you deserve what you get as long as you have worked hard enough. So, no matter what you are going through, you’re not the only person facing tragedy in life; it happens to everyone. When you look back, is there any role you played that you feel uncomfortable watching today? There is always the need to improve. I mean… I hardly watch my own movies. I really can’t; it will kill me. I can’t watch my movies with people, especially my husband because I get on his nerves all the time. We’d be watching this movie and before you know it, I’d be chattering and he would be like ‘hey, can you just shut up and let us watch the movie!’ You know, I would keep saying to myself, ‘oh my God! I would have turned that way; I shouldn’t have said it that way. Oh my God why should I keep repeating that? Why should I keep blinking my eyes?’ What is the craziest thing a fan has done to you? There are so many, as many as you can imag­ine. But my fans are very respectful and lovely and they could be very crazy too. But they have not done anything to harm me. Would you allow your daugh­ters to follow in your footsteps? Why not, if they want to? I actually encourage them to be whatever they desire to be in life as long as it is not something wrong and negative. Currently, none of them is interested in acting, but if they do, I will support and equip them with whatever tools they need to excel. Unfortunately, none has for now. What advice do you have for young people looking up to you? Put in everything you have and believe in something. My point is that you should be pas­sionate about something. Don’t sit on the fence; we have so many people sitting on the fence. Most importantly, set high standards and connect to high self-esteem. We all need each other. We all need someone to help us up when we are down. How do you stay scandal free? People will always speculate about you and it could be very disheartening, especially when you have chosen to live right. I don’t want to sound like some holier-than-though whatever, but I work very hard to keep my brand away from scan­dals. I have fought. I have had to and I will not accept for you to humiliate me before everybody’. Often they try to be mischievous but I stick to my guns. Oftenstand and say, ‘hey! This is what I stand for times they have also turned around to say sorry. For heaven’s sake, I am responsible for the actions and decisions that I take.­ If not acting, what would you be doing? Since I am not God, I don’t know. But a lot of people say I should have been a lawyer.  And maybe I could have been one because I love to advocate. Or maybe, I could have gone into real estate business because I studied estate management; estate management would have come naturally. What has fame denied you? Fame has denied me a lot. I can’t stop on the way and buy anything I want. I’m like, ‘hey, give it to me’ and they will rush over, give it to me and I will zoom off. Every celebrity has this challenge. It depends on who you are and how you want to handle it. I would like to go to the market and buy whatever I want but I can’t. And I can’t go around with bodyguards. What is your favourite food? No, I don’t have favourite food. I eat anything I want to eat. What determines your fashion style? Comfort and how I feel. What project are you working on cur­rently? Right now, I am work­ing on building my film village. It’s an awesome project.

I will join PDP when Satan converts to Islam— Says El Rufai

Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and chieftain of the All Progressive Congress, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has said that he will consider the option of defection to the People Democratic Party, PDP when satan repents and converts to Islam. He made the assertion in reply to a question by one of his followers on twitter, stressing that he will hardly take the option. This is coming in the wake of the defection of his friend and former Presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. El-Rufai is a former stalwart of the PDP and served the government during the Olusegun Obasanjo tenure.

Another Liberian With Ebola Virus Found In Lagos

Dr Akindele Akintayo, a Senior Registrar with Igbobi Orthopaedic hospital, Lagos reportedly told Channels TV Sunrise Daily hosts this morning that another Liberian with the Ebola Virus Disease has been found in Lagos.

Fed Govt gives deadline on skills centres

The Federal Government has given a two-month deadline for the completion of the skills acquisition centres at Oteuke in Bayelsa State and six months for the one at Ibeno in Akwa Ibom State.

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr. Steve Oru, gave the deadline yesterday in Abuja at a meeting with the contractors and consultants handling the projects.

A statement by the Media Officer to the minister, Stephen Kilebi, said the contractors and the consultants were summoned to Abuja because of the “poor quality of work” at the projects' sites.

The minister, during his tour of the sites, expressed dissatisfaction with the level of work.

He threatened to terminate the contract, if the contractors and the consultants did not improve on the projects.

Oru said the skills acquisition centres were meant to create jobs for the beneficiaries in the Oil and Gas industry.

The minister said the Federal Government would not toy with the deadline to complete the projects.

The statement reads: “The minister noted that if the skills acquisition centres were completed on time and inaugurated, more people would be trained there than the present situation where few persons are trained abroad on skills acquisition by the Federal Government.

Airline crew won't travel to Nigeria, others

Some Air France flight officials are refusing to board planes bound for Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Nigeria over fears of the Ebola outbreak.

Cabin crew scheduled to work on some flights “have not wanted to carry out their assignment”, a spokesman for the company told AFP.

Air France serves more West Africa destinations than any other major carrier. It has given its staff freedom to choose whether or not they want to fly to Conakry, Freetown and Lagos after British Airways and Emirates suspended flights to the region.

Air France operates daily flights to Guinea and Nigeria and a service three times a week to Sierra Leone.

Ebola has killed 1,229 people so far this year in west Africa, the worst outbreak ever of the virus.

On Monday, one Air France union, SNGAF, launched a petition calling for the “immediate end to flights to countries hit by the Ebola virus.”

“We know that our jobs put us at risk, but they are measured risks. This is completely out of control and the information is not the same from one day to the next,” said Sophie Gorins, the secretary-general of the SNPNC, which represents cabin crew.

She said that hygiene measures implemented so far were “stop-gap” and that crew had “no idea if we are carrying a victim or if we ourselves are carriers of the virus.”

Flight crews for Air France can request to be withdrawn from a scheduled flight if they believe their health or life is in “grave and imminent danger,” with the team then usually replaced by a reserve team.

Ebola In Nigeria: What Atiku, Saraki,Others Have To Say About The Late Ebola Heroine,Dr Adadevoh

Following the death of the Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist, Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh, her family members have said that they have been left devastated. Adadevoh was the lead doctor who attended to the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, that brought the Ebola Virus Disease to Nigeria. She died on Tuesday night, making her the fifth recorded fatality of the highly contagious disease in Nigeria. One of the deceased’s cousin, Biase, who had led an online campaign urging the United States government and the Western world to release the experimental Zmapp drug to save Adadevoh’s life took to Twitter to mourn her death. In a petition launched on change.org, which gathered over 3,000 signatures, Biase had begged the American government “to help save her life” But she said on Wednesday that she was heartbroken, adding that she “doesn’t know how to feel now.”Writing on her Twitter page, she added, “This is sad. I can’t believe she died. Thank you to everyone that signed and shared the petition. You guys were awesome. She’s at peace now. Not waiting for America to send her drugs.” Kwami, another relative of the late consultant physician with the First Consultants Medical Centre, Lagos, stated that Adadevoh was her “darling cousin.” Noting that the deceased taught him and his younger ones that hard work pays, Kwami explained that her passing was not only sad but was also a great loss to the entire Adadevoh family. He stated that their family had received condolence messages from the Nigerian authorities, through the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babtunde Fashola. He tweeted, “I would like to thank you all for your prayers. Sadly, my darling cousin has been called home. She has finished her course and now rests with God. She was my eldest cousin. “The one who showed us all that it is possible to be chic and hardworking. She was the best student everywhere. We have received condolence messages from Lagos State Governor Babtunde Fashola and the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris.” Another relative of the deceased, Wale Kwame, stated that “only God knows” why Ameyo was not part of the survivors of the EVD. “Just lost an aunt to Ebola: Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh. Only God knows best! It really was a funny topic until the whole thing got real,” Kwame wrote on Twitter. Meanwhile, tributes have continued to pour in for Adadevoh from prominent Nigerians and her medical doctor colleagues. In the several tributes and eulogies posted online, many Nigerians hailed her as a “heroine” and asked the Federal Government to immortalise her. Atiku, Saraki, Ore Falomo mourn Many described her as a “godly doctor” who stood firm to contain the Ebola virus, putting herself in harm’s way to save millions of Nigerians from the disease. Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar said he was “deeply saddened” by her death. “Her dedication ensured the Ebola virus didn’t become an epidemic,” Atiku wrote in a Twitter post. Lawmaker representing the Kwara Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Dr. Bukola Saraki, stated that he was “grateful” to the late physician for detecting the virus from outset. “The Death of Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh of First Consultants that diagnosed Patrick Sawyer of Ebola and stopped him from leaving is a sad and painful one. As a Nigerian, medical doctor and Senator of Federal Republic of Nigeria, I am grateful to the late Dr. Adadevoh for holding fort against the spread of Ebola in our country,” Saraki tweeted. A former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye, while commiserating with the deceased’s family, asked them to take solace in her demonstration of patriotism. “What a patriot, committed medical practitioner and doctor of humanity. You gave your life to save the lives of millions. Good night, our doctor. Good night, the true heroine,” Melaye said on Twitter. A medical practitioner, Dr. Chijioke Kaduru, argued that Dr. Adadevoh died because she served humanity. Urging God to remember her invaluable passion for humanity, Kadru stated that Nigerians must not forget her selflessness in a hurry. “She was indeed one of the humanitarian heroes lost to Ebola. We must not forget that. We will never stop being grateful to you and all the other health workers who die, serving. She was welcomed into the bosom of the Lord on World Humanitarian Day. Rest well and may God comfort your clan,” Kaduru added. Meanwhile, another physician, Dr. Ore Falomo has described Adadevoh’s death as painful. In a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, Falomo declined speaking at length about the departed doctor. “I knew her. Colleagues abroad have been calling but this is too painful for words,’’ he said. ‘Give her post-humous award’ Meanwhile, a fresh petition has been hosted on change.org, asking the Federal Government to give a post-humous award in memory of the late doctor. The petition entitled, “Honour the memory of Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh with a National Posthumous Award,” was addressed to the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, and the World Health Organisation Country Representative, Dr Rui Vaz. The petitioners wrote, “If we don’t celebrate people like this who sacrifice their lives to save others, then please tell me why any of us should do the same. Give honour to whom honour is due.” Government should have given her Nano silver —Cousin Another relative of the late senior doctor, who spoke to our correspondent in Lagos on Wednesday at the First Consultants Hospital in Obalende, however, blamed the Federal Government for her death. The cousin who spoke on condition of anonymity alleged that the Federal Government had mismanaged her case by not giving her any of the experimental drugs that were available for the management the disease. He expressed anger that Adadevoh would have survived the disease if the experimental drugs available, including Nano silver, were administered on her. According to him, he is one of the secondary contacts that are being monitored as he had had contact with the deceased the week Sawyer was admitted at the private facility. He said, “We had been shouting that she was in a critical condition since. The Federal Government did not listen to us. We were expecting them to have used the Nano silver or any of the other drugs they had to manage her, yet they did not use them. “If the World Health Organisation could have approved that other experimental drugs be used due to the magnitude of the problem, why should the Federal Government hold back? If they had used all they had at their disposal to treat her, she would have survived.” Another colleague of hers, who is also a consultant at the hospital, described the deceased as a diligent and thorough professional. The doctor, who also craved anonymity, said, “She was very particular about the standard of medical services in the country. She was never ready to compromise the management of a patient. I’m not surprised that she did not discharge Sawyer, and that she alerted the state health authorities. Not many doctors would have done that.” Former student salutes her A former student of the late Adadevoh, Dr. Dan Onwujekwe, has also expressed sadness at the passing of his former teacher. Onwujekwe, a research fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, described Adadevoh as an amiable and hardworking Nigerian who would be sorely missed. “She was my teacher at the College of Medicine, Idi-Araba, Lagos. I had also collaborated with her at the NIMR. She has paid a major sacrifice and she would be missed by all who ever came in contact with her. Without her surveillance, maybe Ebola would have decimated Lagos. To even identify a case is kudos to her. She was vigilant enough but, unfortunately, she paid the supreme price. We owe our safety in Nigeria to her,’’ he said. Meanwhile, the Chairman, Hospital Board of First Consultant Hospital, Obalende, Dr. Wale Balogun, described her death as unfortunate. “It is unfortunate that we lost her. As an individual, I feel very unhappy about it. I have never met her but from what I have heard and read in the newspapers it is very unfortunate that we should lose such a senior consultant with such an experience,” he stated.

Lebanese kidnapped by gunmen in Ibadan

THE General Manager of Black Horse Industries Limited, Mr. S. Sakalawi, has been kidnapped by unknown gunmen in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The Lebanese was seized and whisked away by three gunmen, who stormed the factory premises located along Old Lagos Road, Podo area of Ibadan at about 9:30p.m last Tuesday, according to reliable sources.

The gunmen, who stormed the factory in a silver coloured Honda Accord car, were said to have escaped security check by driving closely behind the car of a female member of staff as she drove into the compound.

Sakalawi, it was learnt, was also accidentally driving behind the abductors.

As the three cars entered the compound, the female staff was said to have started shouting at the security men for allowing the gunmen into the compound without insisting on knowing their identity and mission.

As soon as they sighted Sakalawi alighting from his car, the sources said that the gunmen pounced on him and bundled him into their car and drove off.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mrs. Olabisi Clet-Ilobanafor, later confirmed the incident.