DAUGHTER OF NIGERIAN IS THE FIRST BLACK MARCHIONESS

Emma McQuiston daughter of Nigerian Oxford graduate and Oil mogule, Ladi Jadesimi.

is the first black Marchioness

Beautiful, accomplished and with an impeccable pedigree, she is every inch the aristocratic wife.

And Emma McQuiston made history when she married the Viscount Of Weymouth, she is the Viscountess of Weymouth

THE NIGERIANS HAVE ARRIVED AND LONDON'S PAYING ATTENTION

 

  

                                                              By David Jenkins
 
 

Richard Vedelago is 29 years old and worth more millions than he's prepared to tell. 'Money talks, but wealth whispers,' he says with a smile, sitting back in the bar at Claridge's - his idea - and lazily sipping an elderflower juice. That whispering is not, the oil, gas, property, telecoms and menswear tycoon goes on, typical of a Nigerian mindset: 'Very loud, quite brash, larger than life -even if you're just having a family meal, everything's over the top all the time. So it's quite fun.' Real fun, he should have said. Nigerians all say they work hard and party hard, believe that they're better at anything than anyone else, collect PhDs like confetti and are intensely entrepreneurial. 'When mankind finally gets to Mars,' chortles Ateh Jewel, who has both a film production company and a beauty business, 'they'll finda Nigerian already there, cutting a deal.'

You don't have to go to Mars, or Lagos, to see the fruits of that in action. Misan Harriman - whose father, Chief Hope Harriman, was one of the founding fathers of modern Nigeria - 'practically lives on Mount Street', eating in Scott's, going to George all the time and making his way down to 5 Hertford Street with his business partner, Boris Becker ('I'm like the other woman in his marriage'). You'll find 44-year-old Kola Karim, the boss of Shoreline Energy International, playing polo with the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry at Lord Lloyd-Webber's private estate; see old Wykehamist Anthony Adebo, who sprinted and fenced for England, having breakfast at Colbert and late nights at Boujis; hear Kessiana ('Kessie') Edewor-Thorley roaring with laughter over drinks at Bluebird as she mockingly says that for moneyed young Nigerians in London, it's Cirque du Soir on a Monday, 'that awful place Dukebox' on a Tuesday and Loulou's on a Thursday. Meanwhile, Florence ('Cuppy') Otedola, the 20-year-old ex-King's School Canterbury daughter of Femi Otedola, one of Nigeria's richest men, studies business and French at King's College London, while DJing at Privé, Jalouse, District, Funky Buddha and D'Den, a truly Nigerian club in Finchley Road.

Kerry Washington Married to Nigerian former NFL Star and Actor Nnamdi Asomugha

Famous Scientist Dr. Emeagwali Hails from Igbo Land

In this day and age when Japanese, Chinese or anyone remotely resembling Asian descent is automatically presumed to hold superior mathematical and technological aptitude, Dr. Emeagwali poses a refreshing reminder (1) to the world that intellectual gifts come in all races, creeds and colors; and (2) to Igbos that when we strive for excellence, there is no limit to what we can achieve ... so strive for excellence!

Dr. Philip Emeagwali
World Renowned Computer Scientist. So who is Philip Emeagwali, and what has he done that has made him so famous? Emeagwali first entered the international limelight in 1989 when he received the prestigious Gordon Bell Prize for performing the world's fastest calculation at 3.1 billion calculations per second. This calculation was remarkable not only because it was twice as fast as the previous world record, but also because of the method used to achieve this phenomenal task. Rather than use a multimillion dollar supercomputer, Emeagwali used the Internet to access 65,536 small computers simultaneously (called massively parallel computers).

Connection Machine programmed by Emeagwali to perform 3.1 billion calculations per second.

TOP NIGERIAN ACTORS IN HOLLYWOOD....

THIS WEEK WHO IS WHO NIGERIA WILL BE HIGHLIGHTING NIGERIANS, WORLDWIDE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE.

 

                                                               

Sophie Okonedo - born in 1968 to a Nigerian father and a Jewish mother, Okonedo is an award-winning  actress known for her roles in successful British and American productions.
In 1991, she made her acting debut in the British critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama, Young Soul Rebels.
She has received an Academy Award nomination for her critically acclaimed role in Hotel Rwanda, a Golden Globe nomination for Tsunami: The Aftermath, and BAFTA nominations for Criminal Justice and Mrs. Mandela.
Her other film roles included Aeon Flux, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Dirty Pretty Things, Skin and The Secret Life of Bees.
Okonedo was born in London, the daughter of Joan (née Allman), a pilates teacher, and Henry Okonedo (1939-2009), who worked for the government. Her father was Nigerian, and her mother, an Ashkenazi Jew, was born in the East End, to Yiddish-speaking immigrants from Poland and Russia.
Okonedo trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She has worked in a variety of media including film, television, theatre and audio drama.

Donald Adeosun Faison - born in 1974, this American actor is probably best known by fans of the popular television Comedy-drama Scrubs (2001-2010).
Bet you didn't know this American actor's middle name is Yoruba, Adeosun.
Faison has also co-starred in the films Remember the Titans (2000), Uptown Girls (2003), Something New (2006), Next Day Air (2009) and Kick-Ass 2 (2013).
Faison was born in Harlem, New York, the son of Shirley, a talent agent, and Donald Faison, a building manager. His parents were active with the National Black Theatre in Harlem.
Faison got his first role in a commercil at the age of 17. He became famous for his role as Murray Lawrence Duvall in the film Clueless (1995) movie, and its subsequent television series, which ran from 1996 to 1999. In 1995, he also appeared in Waiting to Exhale as Tarik. He also starred in Big Fat Liar alongside Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, and Amanda Bynes. He had a recurring role as Tracy on Felicity, appeared in Remember the Titans, as the running-back turned corner-back Petey Jones, and provided voice work for various characters in the MTV animated series Clone High. He had minor roles in the sitcoms Sister Sister and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and in the film Josie and the Pussycats. In 2005, Faison produced one episode of MTV's Punk'd involving his Scrubs co-star Zach Braff. He has also appeared in the music videos for Brandy's "Sittin' Up in My Room", Fall Out Boy's cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It," and Gavin Degraw's "Chariot."
He is currently the host for the TBS comedy sketch show Who Gets the Last Laugh.




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Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje -- This well known figure in Hollywood was born in Islington, London. His parents are Nigerians, of Yoruba origin. He has a law degree from King's College London and a Masters in Law from the University of London.
His best known acting roles have been as the imposing convict Simon Adebisi in the 1990s HBO prison series Oz, and as Mr Eko on ABC's survivor drama Lost. He has numerous film credits since he began acting in 1994 and has appeared in many top films, including The Bourne Identity, in which he played a deposed African dictator, Hitu the police officer in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Lock-Nah in The Mummy Returns, and Heavy Duty in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
In 2009, Akinnuoye-Agbaje told MTV that he was in talks with Marvel Studios to play Black Panther in the film of the same name. "We're talking to Marvel about 'Black Panther'... But it's about time we have a black superhero, isn't it? He's from a fictional village in Africa, and the timing is so right for that kind of character to come through... And while I'm in my prime, this is the time. We've got [U.S. President Barack] Obama, now we need something onscreen to represent, so..." the actor mused. However, Marvel Studios have not yet confirmed that he will get the role.

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Chiwetelu Umeadi "Chiwetel" Ejiofor, has received numerous acting awards and nominations, including the 2006 BAFTA Awards Rising Star, three Golden Globe Awards' nominations, and the 2008 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in Othello.
Born July 10, 1977 in London's Forest Gate to Nigerian parents who belonged to the Igbo ethnic group. His father, Arinze, was a doctor, and his mother, Obiajulu, was a pharmacist.
In 1988, when Ejiofor was 11, during a family trip to Nigeria for a wedding, he and his father were driving to Lagos after the celebrations when their car was involved in a head-on crash with a lorry. His father was killed, but Ejiofor survived. He was badly injured, and received the scars on his forehead.
Ejiofor began acting in school plays at the age of thirteen, and soon joined the National Youth Theatre. He then got into the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art but had to leave after his first year, after getting a role in Steven Spielberg's film Amistad. He played the title role in Othello at the Bloomsbury Theatre in September 1995, and again at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow in 1996 when he starred opposite Rachael Stirling, who played Desdemona.
Ejiofor made his film debut in the television film Deadly Voyage in 1996. Ejiofor had his first leading film role in 2002's Dirty Pretty Things, for which he won a British Independent Film Award for best actor. In the following year, he was part of the ensemble cast of Love Actually, starred in a BBC adaptation of Chaucer's The Knight's Tale and also starred in the BBC series Trust. Ejiofor's performance in Tsunami: The Aftermath received a 2007 Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a mini-series or film made for TV.
In 2007, Ejiofor starred opposite Don Cheadle in Talk to Me, a film based on the true story of Ralph "Petey" Greene (played by Cheadle), an African-American radio personality in the 1960s and '70s. He performed on stage in The Seagull at the Royal Court Theatre from January 18 to March 17, 2007.
Ejiofor is considered one of the leading candidates to play T'Challa/Black Panther in the proposed Black Panther film based on the Marvel comic books character.
Ejiofor was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours. In the same year, he made his directorial debut in the short film Slapper, which he also wrote, based on an idea by editor/director Yusuf Pirhasan. Ejiofor appeared alongside John Cusack in the 2009 film 2012. The film went on to gross over $700 million, and is among the list of highest-grossing films of all time and placing 5th of top films of 2009.
In 2013, Ejiofor appeared in the leading role in the BBC Two drama series Dancing on the Edge, playing the part of band creator Louis Lester.
He is currently working on more award-winning movies.




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Caroline Chikezie -- born February 19, 1974 in England to Nigerian parents, this actress is best known for playing Sasha Williams in As If, and Elaine Hardy in Footballers' Wives.
At fourteen, Chikezie was sent to boarding school in Nigeria in an attempt to make her abandon her dreams to become an actress.
Prior to this, she had attended weekend classes at Italia Conti.
On her return to the United Kingdom, she enrolled into Brunel University where she studied Medicinal Chemistry (she was expected to take over her father's hospital in Nigeria), but left after lecturers decided that she was unsuited to academic life. She later won a scholarship to the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts.
As a film actress, Chikezie has starred in lots of films.




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Hakeem Kae-Kazim - Born October 1, 1962, this British-Nigerian actor is best known for his portrayal of Georges Rutaganda in the 2004 motion picture Hotel Rwanda.
He also featured as Colonel Iké Dubaku in season 7 of the Fox television series 24 and the TV film tie-in 24: Redemption.
Other movies are Last Flight to Abuja (2012), Girl Soldier (2011), Darfur (film) (2009), The Fourth Kind (2009), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Big Fellas (2007), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), Half of a Yellow Sun (2013)... and others.
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David Oyelowo is best known for playing MI5 officer Danny Hunter in the British TV drama series Spooks (known in North America as MI-5) from 2002 to 2004.
Born to Nigerian parents, Oyelowo first attended a youth theatre after being invited by a girl to whom he was attracted. He then studied theatre studies for A level at City and Islington College, and his teacher suggested he should become an actor. After A levels, Oyelowo enrolled for a one year art foundation course, before winning a place and scholarship at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), finishing his three-year training in 1998.
He had before that appeared in Tomorrow La Scala (2002), Maisie Raine (1998) and Brothers and Sisters (1998). Soon after the end of his time on Spooks, Oyelowo made a cameo appearance in the 2005 Christmas special of As Time Goes By. In 2006, he appeared in the TV film Born Equal alongside Nikki Amuka-Bird as a couple fleeing persecution in Nigeria - they also both appeared in Shoot the Messenger (2006), and in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (2008) as a husband and wife.
Oyelowo was signed up for the voice cast of the Star Wars Episode 7 animated series being made by Lucasfilm Animation.
The news didn't come as a suprise to those who knew Oyelowo who has starred in a previous Lucasfilm production Red Tails and had a role in Lincoln, which was produced by Star Wars Episode 7's Kathleen Kennedy.
He stars as Forest Whitaker's son in Lee Daniel's The Butler and is currently shooting Interstellar for Christopher Nolan.
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Nonso Anozie - born in 1979, Anozie is a Nigerian actor known for his appearances on stage, and his film and television roles.
In 2002, he played the title role in William Shakespeare's King Lear, and won the Ian Charleson Award in 2004 for his performance in Othello.
Anozie played small roles, such as as Think Tank in Guy Ritchie's film RocknRolla, and Frank Mace in Joe Wright's Atonement. He played the lead in Cass, a 2008 British crime drama film recreating the life of Cass Pennant. In 2009, he appeared in the supporting cast of the BBC TV three-part 2003 Iraq War drama, Occupation, where he played a US Marine-turned-private-military-contractor. In 2011, he played Artus, a Zamoran pirate and close friend of Conan, in Conan the Barbarian. That year, he was also cast to play the role of Xaro Xhoan Daxos in the HBO series Game of Thrones, and was cast as Jackson Burke in The Grey. He also plays the role of Samson in the History Channel's television miniseries The Bible.






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Gbenga Akinnagbe  best known for his role as Chris Partlow on the HBO original series The Wire. Born in Washington, D.C. in December 12, 1978 to Nigerian parents, he grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Akinnagbe was in and out of trouble as a youth. He is the second oldest of six children, with one older sister and four younger brothers. Akinnagbe attended Bucknell University on a wrestling scholarship, majoring in Political Science and English.
In 2003, Akinnagbe auditioned for the role of Chris Partlow on the HBO series The Wire, and, starting in 2004, began a frequent recurring role. In 2008, during the show's fifth and final season, he was promoted to a series regular. In 2007, Akinnagbe appeared in the film The Savages with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney, and Philip Bosco. He appeared in the remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, which was released by Sony in June 2009.
In 2010 in Seattle, Washington Akinnagbe starred in world premiere play The Thin Place at The Intiman Theatre. He was also in this fall's movie Lottery Ticket and is currently in The Good Wife as Pastor Isiah Easton. He is currently starring as Kelly Slater, a new nurse, in the 3rd season of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie. He will be seen in the lead role of Jack in the upcoming Independent film Home, directed by Jono Oliver. He is currently playing a drug lord in the USA series Graceland.
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Courtessy Naij.com

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SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN MARRIED TO NIGERIANS, CHALLENGES THEY FACE....

"One look at the name of the applicant, the official angrily said: ‘We don’t deal with foreigners!’ But when my friend stood her ground and pointed out that even though she was married to a Nigerian, she was South African, the official said: ‘If you want a house, you will have to divorce that man.’. Wow! Read the full story below...



The Nigerian man said the sheet’s colour was red; his South African wife said it was rust. That discrepancy almost got the Nigerian man deported.

Thelma Okoro (née Dee) and Kenneth Sunday Okoro had gone to a home affairs office for a routine interview to have their new marriage officially recognised.

Because he was a foreigner, authorities had to satisfy themselves that this was indeed a legitimate couple and not a case of a South African woman accepting cash to help the Nigerian to get South African citizenship by virtue of being married to a local.
The interview went swimmingly, until the matter of the sheet cropped up.

"My husband said the sheet was red; and I said it was rust," said Okoro. "But this is to be expected. Men are generally colour-blind, or imprecise when it comes to colours. But the officials latched on to that. They said the discrepancy in our answers showed that we were not living together, that I had been paid and was being used to facilitate and justify his stay in our country. I was ridiculed and insulted as a gold digger. They said I was helping a foreigner to abuse our system."

One of the officials proceeded to say – in the presence of the Okoros child – that he would deport "the dog" and detain the South African woman.

Another day, another government office: Okoro was accompanying her friend, Lindelwa Uche, to a human settlements office, where the latter wanted to apply for an RDP house.

"One look at the name of the applicant, the official angrily said: ‘We don’t deal with foreigners!’ But when my friend stood her ground and pointed out that even though she was married to a Nigerian, she was South African, the official said: ‘If you want a house, you will have to divorce that man.’

"It was crazy. We stormed out of the office stunned, embarrassed, angry. But we were powerless; we had no recourse in any organisation, or any institution," said Okoro.

It was an accumulation of scenes like these that inspired Okoro, Uche, and a few other women to do something.

In October, they launched the United Nigerian Wives in South Africa (Unwisa), a support group for local women married to Nigerians.

Okoro tells me women are coming out of the woodwork now. Many had been embarrassed to mention that they were married to Nigerians. They had no one to share their pain with.

"It’s difficult to fight some of these battles as an individual but when you do so as a group, it helps. It also shows the South African community that you are not just a ‘prostitute’, as some of them think of South African women married to Nigerians," says Okoro.

"It shows that we are responsible women, we are wives, we are mothers. We are committed to our husbands, and doing so as a group adds weight to our efforts."
Unwisa has branches in Johannesburg and Cape Town. But the aim is to have a presence all over the country because Nigerians, the entrepreneurs and risk takers that they are, have spread their wings all over South Africa, in search of their pot of gold in the Rainbow Nation.

The organisation attracts women from all walks of life – nurses, teachers, traffic officers, police officers, street hawkers. Membership is about 60 in Johannesburg alone, according to a magazine they have just published.

The organisation wants to act as a lobby group to challenge those sectors of South African society that seem determined to punish these women for the decisions they have made.
The ostracisation, said Okoro, sometimes starts with the woman’s own family who question her wisdom for marrying a Nigerian.

Okoro, a native of Randfontein on the West Rand, did not have such a hard time. Her father used to work and travel in many parts of Africa. As a result, he was open-minded, and for him to have a foreign son-in-law was not an issue.

The Okoros have been married since 2008. They have two children – seven-year-old daughter Ngozichukwu (God’s blessing), and four-year-old son Ogechukwu (God’s time is the best).
The Okoros do not fit the South-African-gold-digger-woman-and-rich-Nigerian-drug-lord stereotype: they live in a modest flat in downtown Johannesburg.

She works just down the street as a beautician, and he sells clothes from a street corner.
Their children go to one of the independent schools in the city centre.

They have come to accept the reality that they occupy the twilight world of being half South African and half kwerekwere: one day the local kids are enthralled with the tales the Okoro children are telling about their father’s country, the next they are reminded that their father is really not a real person "like us", as Okoro recounts.

Sibongile Nwazulu, who is a nurse and a member of Unwisa, says stigmatisation has become commonplace at her place of work.
"The minute a Nigerian walks in seeking help, they call me to attend to him or her because they claim they do not understand their brand of English," she says.

Unwisa not only wants to offer a shoulder to cry on for these marginalised South African women, but also to start a series of workshops through which ordinary South Africans can learn not only about Nigerians, but also about other foreigners. Wary of being seen as forming an elitist club removed from the South African reality, members of Unwisa try to get their husbands integrated and involved in local community efforts. For example, they recently raised funds for a local old age home and hosted a lunch for the inhabitants.

At a vigil outside Mandela’s house at the end of last year, I saw a huge Nigerian delegation that featured members of Unwisa, Okoro among them.

In August 2013, in the face of perceived hostility towards Nigerians in South Africa, the feisty Vanguard newspaper of Nigeria editorialised: "It is high time that the federal government took firm measures to force a change of attitude towards Nigerians, their families and sundry interests who have legitimate presence in South Africa.

The country stands to lose more than Nigeria if matters should come to a head.

"South African businesses are thriving in Nigeria, and not a single case of molestation of South Africans living in Nigeria has been reported. Nigeria is a very friendly country which welcomes foreigners with warmth that is uniquely Nigerian."

Trade between the two countries is worth R36-billion and the 2011 census figures show there are 24 000 Nigerian nationals who live in South Africa.

What is happening at the grassroots between South Africans and Nigerians has not been helped by recent tensions between the two countries at a diplomatic level.
In 2012, for example, 125 Nigerian travellers to South Africa were expelled for not having valid yellow fever certificates.

In retaliation, Nigeria expelled 56 South African businesspeople.

This prompted the two countries to enter into discussions around easing travel and visa restrictions between the two countries as a way of enhancing bilateral relations and trade.

The discussions paved the way for South Africa to waive visas for diplomatic and official passport holders – but the rest of the citizens will have to wait.

Article written by Fred Khumalo for mg.co.za: