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Runsewe Enjoins Nigerians to Unite Against Religious, Ethnic Biases 

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Chief Olusegun Runsewe, Director General (DG) National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC)
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By Tony Obiechina, Abuja 

The Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe has enjoined Nigerians to unite against forces of ethnic and religious biases that are bent on dividing the country.

He made the plea in Abuja on Saturday, at the launch of a book titled “Random Nigerianna” authored by Halima Dalhatu, Special Adviser to the immediate past Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed.

 

Runsewe who was the chairman of the occasion, noted that “Nigeria has suffered and lost so much due to ethnic and religious sentiments, hence the need for a gradual re-orientation on the need to gradually put sentiments aside and work together for national growth and development,”

On the book, Random Nigerianna, he said it served as a wake up call on the unity and diversity of the country and why the youths, who he said are pillars of development can adopt strategic approach to leadership.

“Random Nigerianna preaches our unity in diversity and serves as a motivation to spur our youths to greatness. As part of our mandate in the agency, we will ensure that the book is taken to all cultural establishments across the 36 states of the country as a way of preaching our unity,”

In her remarks, the former Finance Minister commended the author for her resilience in combining her tight work schedule to write the book and wondered, “how did you do it?”

The author, Halima Dalhatu said the 114 page – book, which is the first of her publication “was conceived out of the desire to change the narrative about Nigeria and it’s huge diversity and preaching the gospel of unity amongst diverse ethnic groups and religion”.

She further pointed out that writing the book enabled her to discover herself as well as “develop the habit of reading to open up the mind”.

About N30m was realised at the book launch, with the highest donation coming from the chief launcher, Alhaji A.A. Abdulkadir, who was the Chairman of the occasion.

Otunba Runsewe purchased 200 copies for his organisation besides his personal donations.

 Special guests of honour, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, her husband, Architect Shamsuna Ahmed as well Abdulkarim Baba of Spine and Label Books Ltd also supported the book launch. 

The book was reviewed by Mr Reginald Ihebuzor, Prof Amirikpa Oyigbenu and Hajiya Lantana Ahmed.

Entertainment/Arts/Culture

2025 Grammy: Nigeria Tops Nomination for Best African Music Performance Category

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Nigerian music artistes have dominated nomination for the Best African Music Performance category of the 67th Grammy Awards.

The Recording Academy announced the nominations on Friday.

This year, Nigeria dominates the category , including returning contenders Burna Boy and Asake, the former earning a nod for his hit song,‘Higher’.

while the latter is for his collaboration with Wizkid,”MMS”.

Davido also earn his second nod in the category for his contribution to Chris Brown’s “Sensational,” with Lojay picking up his first Grammy nomination for the same song.

Yemi Alade earns her first solo nod for her hit “Tomorrow”,while Tems’“Love Me Jeje” also receives a nod for for Best African Music Performance.

Notably, Tems is the only African artiste with three nominations across the global music categories; as her debut album, “Born in the Wild” is up for Best Global Music Album and Best R&B song for “Burning”.

Young music sensation Rema.is nominated in the Best Global Music Album category for his sophomore album, “HEIS”.

Other Nigerian stars nominated for the Grammys include Jordan Adetunji known for his viral “Kelani,” and his ‘Bloody Civilian’ also earns nomination for the ‘Best Reggae Album’ category on the Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’ soundtrack.

This year’s nomination marks Burna Boy’s sixth consecutive Grammy nomination, making him a Nigerian artiste with highest nomination so far.

Since Burna Boy’s first nomination for Best Global Music Album at the 2020 Grammys, and his win in 2021 for “Twice as Tall”, there has been an increased representation of African music on the global stage.

On the global scene, Beyoncé leads the Grammy pack with 11 nominations for her genre-crossing album Cowboy Carter, competing across categories including record, song, and album of the year, along with entries in pop, rap, country, and Americana.

Other leading nominees include Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, and Post Malone, each with seven nominations, while Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, and Sabrina Carpenter follow with six nominations each.

The 67th Grammy awards ceremony is scheduled to hold on February 2, 2025 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles United States. (NAN)

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Burna Boy Announces Release of New Album

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Grammy-winning Nigerian Singer Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy, has hinted the release of a new album.The “Twice As Tall” crooner disclosed this in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Monday.He wrote: “Album dropping 12AM.”According to the Afrobeat superstar, the new album will be dropping on July 30.

The announcement came after his recent celebration of the fifth anniversary of his Grammy nominated 2019 album “African Giant”,which he marked with a concert at the kolo Camden, United Kingdom.
The multiple award-winning artiste has continued to make headlines for being atthe forefront of exporting Nigerian music with his award-winning albums and historic sold-out concertsIn 2019, he won the Best International Act at the BET Awards, and was named an Apple Music Up Next artist.
He also released his fourth studio album, African Giant, which went on to win Album of the Year at the All Africa Music Awards.The album was nominated for Best World Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards and he clinched the African Artistof the Year at the 2020 Ghana Music Awards.Burna Boy released his fifth studio album, ‘Twice as Tall’, in August 2020, which fetched him the Best World Music Album atthe 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.His sixth studio album Love Damini was released in 2022 and became the highest debut of a Nigerian album on the Billboard200 chart.Love Damini also became the highest-charting African album in France, the Netherlands and the UK.In October of same year, Burna Boy was awarded the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic plaque for his achievementsin music.In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked him number 197 on its list of the 200 greatest singers of all time and he won his fourthBest International Act at the BET Awards in 2023, among others.He made history again when his his 7th album, ‘I Told Them’ released in October 2023, earned him nominationsfor the 2024 Grammys, which became his fourth consecutive album to be nominated for the Grammys.(NAN)

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N4.5bn for one Song, Social Media Reacts to Rema’s Unprecedented Deal

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The news of Rema’s record-breaking performance fee at Anant Ambani’s wedding has sent shockwaves across social media, with many users hailing music as a lucrative career path.

The Nigerian Afrobeats sensation reportedly pocketed a whopping N4.5 billion (three million dollars) for performing just one of hit songs, ‘Calm Down’, at the high-profile event, leaving many in awe.

Rema performed at the wedding of Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani’s son, Anant Ambani, and daughter of pharma tycoons, Viren and Shaila Merchant, Radhika Merchant.

The event held on Friday at the Jio World Centre in Bandra Kurla Centre (BKC) in Mumbai.

Canadian singer, Justin Bieber, was also paid 10 million dollars for his performance at the event, according to reports.

Pop star, Rihanna, also performed at the event for an undisclosed fee.

Social media platforms are buzzing with excitement as aspiring musicians and music enthusiasts alike are drawing inspiration from Rema’s achievement.

The news has also sparked a renewed interest in the music industry, with many youths seeing Rema’s success as a motivation to pursue their own careers.

@Solomon_King says on X, “Hold up, let us get this straight, Rema just bagged a whopping N4.5 billion ($3 million) for singing one song at some rich kid’s wedding?!

“One song? We’re talking about a sum that could solve Nigeria’s economic problems, okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you get the point.

“Rema just made more money than I’ll see in a lifetime and I’m still struggling to pay my rent.

“I need to start singing.”

@OlamideAngel said, “I’m quitting my job to become a musician, or maybe just a wedding singer.

“We’re dying over here! Meanwhile, Rema’s just over here living his best life and we’re not hating. In fact, we’re low-key inspired to step up our music game.

“On a more serious note, this achievement is a testament to Rema’s hard work and talent. We’re proud to see African artistes making waves and getting the recognition they deserve.”

@Perryblack, an X user, said, “Back then y’all mocked Rema for sounding “Indian” when he broke out. Now he was paid $3m to perform a song at Anant-Radhika’s wedding in India.

“Trust your music, Trust the process. Maybe I will go with Portable that said music money is bigger and better than football money.

“We thought Rema was goofing when he said he’s the future. He said he’s the next wizkid but we are not taking him seriously. Big ups boy.”

According to @blacktribemusic, “ Only this Rema’s song alone has made him one of the biggest artistes in Africa. Bigger than the top guys una dey reason self.

“Rema is too big to be underrated by Nigerians, he’s just 22 but making more money.

“Another day to remind y’all that music money is longer than football own.”

On the contrary, @cassandra mentioned that the billionaire should have  used the money to feed all the poor Indian citizens.

“That country dey suffer, why can’t he donate this money to the poor. Isn’t India one of the poorest countries in the world?

“I swear the billionaires don’t think of the poor chaii!

“Just $1k is enough for like 1 million people and
they will appreciate it and pray for you, it is more than all this show off,” she said.

Also, @UcheMark said,  “They all belong to the same cult. Even from the beginning of Rema’s career, we can already recognise his affiliation with India (voodoo).

“Also, his recent use of devilish symbols and colours is enough evidence. Birds of a feather.”

@chocolatechic said, “I will never be poor.” (NAN)

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