Lightup Concepts

Blogger  Linda Ikeji  is taking her business to the next level. A couple of days ago news surfaced that she was remodeling her new office space with plans to expand from an online blog to  Linda Ikeji Studios, Linda Ikeji TV  and  Linda Ikeji Radio . The celeb blogger has confirmed the news and also shared a couple of sneak peek photos of what her new office looks like.

Jidenna  has signed a groundbreaking deal with not one, not two, but three giant music houses for the launch and distribution of his debut album “ Long Live The Chief ”. He has signed a deal with Epic Records, Sony Music West Africa and Sony Music South Africa. The three music houses will push his album to ensure a global experience. Jidenna will tour Africa continent for a series of exclusive performances, album release parties and the filming of a BBC documentary, which will chronicle his homecoming journey to Nigeria. Speaking on the album, Jidenna says “The record as a whole represents all my experiences of the many worlds I’ve lived in and traveled through from Lagos to Los Angeles.

Seyi and Layal Tinubu had their white wedding at Lake Como, Italy on August 10th.  More photos from the wedding after the cut.

Rapper  Vector tha viper  and screen sensation  Beverly Naya  team up to grace the cover of the fourth edition of Impelling Africa. As is Impelling Africa’s culture, Impelling Africa brings you compelling interviews about Vector and Beverly’s stories and journey to success.

The  International Youth Day (IYD)  is an awareness day designated by the United Nations to draw attention to a given set of cultural and legal issues surrounding youth. The theme of the 2016 International Youth Day is  “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production” . President Muhammadu Buhari, in his letter to the Nigerian Youth said that the government it committed to improving the quality of life of the youths and create opportunities for them to achieve their goals.

For its new collection, Nigerian design label  Yomi Casual  selected Nigerian entrepreneur and fashion enthusiast  Noble Igwe  as the star of the lookbook. According to a rep for the label, the “prêt-à-porter pieces with uncommon designs for men were created with a little fashion-forward approach making the outfits more interesting with texture and depth.” Yomi Casual is famous for selecting some of your favourite celebs including  Desmond Elliot, Ebube Nwagbo  and  Uti Nwachukwu  to model its collections. On his choice of Noble Igwe for this collection titled “5 shades of Noble”, the label’s creative director,  Yomi Makun , says “Noble is well known for his inimitable smartness. His outfits are always on point and his personal style is so versatile that he can rock just anything. The star modelled the YC outfits like no one can.”

A Kenyan athletics coach has been sent home from the 2016 Olympic Games at Rio in Brazil, after posing as an athlete and giving a urine sample. Kenyan team officials said sprint coach  John Anzrah  “presented himself” as 800 metres medal hopeful  Ferguson Rotich  and “even signed the documents” for the doping test. “We cannot tolerate such behaviour,” said  Kip Keino , chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya.

Music stars  Falz  and  Seyi Shay  are the cover stars of the latest issue of Complete Fashion magazine. The magazine focuses on the evolution of both stars and how far they have come from where they started. The cover is so bright and colorful. Check them out below:

The  National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)  is working toward producing its course materials as tablet computers rather than textbooks, its Vice-Chancellor,  Professor Abdalla Adamu , has said. Adamu disclosed this while receiving  Irina Bokova ,  United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)  Director-General, who paid him a courtesy call on Thursday in Abuja. According to him, the largest area of support that UNESCO gives to NOUN is the Open Education Resource (OER). “The OER is an online repository of a huge number of resources in education and the beauty of it is that they are free and anybody can access them. When NOUN eventually matures to a package called iNOUN, we will produce our materials as tablets rather than as textbooks. Virtually all the OERs will be downloaded on the tablet so that people will take them along wherever they are. They do not need to have internet access in order to have access to ...

In 2015,  President Obama  released his first Summer playlist on Spotify and yesterday he released the Summer 2016 edition. His playlists are a mix of the new, the old and the very old, just what you’d expect from a man who has  ‘lived’ and is arguably the coolest president ever! We say playlists because there’s a daytime and a nighttime playlist, with songs from our Nigerian brothers  Wale  and  Jidenna , other favourites like  Janet Jackson, Janelle Monáe, Mary J. Blige  to oldies like  Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and  Prince . The perfect mix of crazy, sexy, cool – find the lists after the cut.

Donald Trump  on Wednesday , accused President Barack Obama of founding the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, ISIS. The Republican candidate emphasized the president's full legal name: Barack Hussein Obama, in the latest attack on the White House campaign trail. "In many respects, you know, they honour President Obama," Trump said during a raucous campaign rally outside Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "He is the founder of ISIS." He repeated the allegation three times. "He's the founder of ISIS, okay?" he added. "He's the founder. He founded ISIS." Trump has long blamed Obama and his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for pursuing Middle East policies that created a power vacuum in Iraq that was exploited by ISIL. He has sharply criticised Obama for announcing that he would pull US troops out of Iraq, a decision that many Obama critics say created the kind of instability in which groups such as ISIL thriv...

MINISTER OF TRANSPORTATION, CHIBUIKE AMAECHI (L) EXCHANGING A SIGNED AGREEMENT FOR THE COMPLETION OF WARRI-ALADJA- ITAPKE-AJAOKUTA-BARO-ABUJA (CENTRAL) RAILWAY LINE WITH THE VICE PRESIDENT, CHINESE RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION COMPANY (CRCC), CHEN XIAO XING (2ND-L)  5658/12/8/2016/BJO/NAN The Federal Government on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with  China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC)  on the completion of Warri-Ajaokuta-Itakpe-Baro-Abuja railway line. The Minister of Transportation,  Rotimi Amaechi , signed the agreement on behalf of the Federal Government while  Chen Xiao Xing , Vice President of CRCC, signed for the company in Abuja.

President Muhammadu Buhari  on Friday, met with a delegation of Ogoniland traditional rulers. The delegation was led led by  HRM King G.N.K. Gininwa (JP) OFR , Gbenemene Tai Kingdom. Among the delegation were former Super Eagles’ captain,  Joseph Yobo  who was recently conferred with a chieftaincy title – the Mene Aborlo 1 of Ogoniland- and HRM  King (Dr) W.S. Joshua Igbugburu X, CON (JP) , Ibenanawei of Bodo Kingdom Yobo noted that the visit was connected to the ongoing efforts by the President to clean up the environmentally devastated region. Buhari also affirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to fulfilling the promise of cleaning, securing, and empowering the Niger Delta. He posted on his Twitter handle:  Follow Muhammadu Buhari   ✔ @MBuhari Our commitment to cleaning, securing and empowering the Niger Delta is genuine. We made a promise, we will fulfill it. 1:05 PM - 1...

Barely two weeks after the group Managing Director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, disclosed that President Buhari had ordered the corporation to intensify its search for oil in the North East region, oil explorers and their machines have landed the region and are currently searching for oil.

Barely two weeks after Nigeria celebrated two years free of Polio disease, two new cases of the viral disease have reportedly been recorded in Gwarzo and Jere Local Government Areas of Borno State. According to the Guardian, the new cases were recorded on August 10th. Officials of the Federal Ministry of Health Abuja have however refused to comment on the incident which will ultimately dash Nigeria's hope of being certified Polio-free by the World Health Organisation next year.

Back in the day, graffiti was seen as a something miscreants who had nothing else to do engaged in. They were seen as nuisances who defaced prized properties. But one man is changing that narrative. His name?  Osa ‘Osa Seven’ Okunkpolor . The Urban GFX and Graffiti Artist was recently featured in an interview with  CNN African Voices  where he discussed amongst other things his passion for telling stories using contemporary art. Watch his CNN African Voices interview  HERE Osa who has created art for Multinationals like  Guinness Nigeria, Kia, Globacom, MTVBase, Diageo, Chicken Republic, Live Mechanic,  and  Empire Mates Entertainment  could also be called a philanthropist. He is a Co-founder of the ‘ 7th Element Project ’ which aims to help artists in Nigeria publicize, commercialize and monetize their work but he doesn’t stop there.

Lagos state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, commissioned the first ever medical helicopter emergency service in Nigeria yesterday. The commissioning of the helicopter pad took place at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital LASUTH.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed The Federal Government said on Thursday that every state in the country is safe, contrary to a recent negative report by the U.S. The Minister of Information and Culture,  Lai Mohammed , stated this in Abuja when he received in audience a delegation from the  Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (ATPN) . Mohammed said that the advisory published by the U.S., which was awash in national dailies declaring 20 Nigerian states “unsafe and completely no go area”, was not correct.

A Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan on Wednesday dissolved an 83-day-old marriage between one  Pa Alowonle , 70 and his wife,  Idia , for deception. Alowonle, a surveyor was a widower before he married Idia, who was a widow. The President of the court,  Hentic Agbaje , held that both Alowonle and Idia based their rush into marriage on infatuation and the urge to satisfy their selfish ambitions.

Model Kendall Jenner is the cover star for the September 2016 issue of Vogue Magazine. She shared a photo of her cover for the prestigious fashion magazine via Instagram and wrote,  "In a room with a bunch of people I love, looking at this cover made me cry. I f**king did it. September Vogue. this is the coolest thing ever! can't thank you enough Anna, for giving me the honor."  Read her interview  here ,...See photos from the inside spread after the cut.

Have you ever wondered why we carry so many bank cards around? Orange cards, yellow cards, blue cards, red cards. It’s becoming overwhelming! And let’s not get started on the number of banking apps most people have on their phones alone. Thankfully, all this is about to change with the new  Paywithcapture 5.0 app , launched by  Access Bank  this Tuesday. Described as “ the app that will replace your bank ”, the 5.0 version provides a wide range of banking options and payment channels for you to choose from. First, users can now link a limitless number of bank cards both local and international and operate from each card at any given time.  This means flatter wallets and more phone storage space for the average Nigerian, with a more seamless banking experience to look forward to. Paywithcapture 5.0 also enables users to make instant money transfers to any bank account or just with your phone number, quick bill payments (minus the N100 fee banks charge) and tr...

The United Kingdom has launched a service in Nigeria that will enable Nigerians process their UK visas within 24 hours. ‎This was disclosed in a statement posted on the British High Commission's website on August 10th.‎ The British High Commissioner, Paul Arkwright says though the service will cost more, it will help improve the visa service the UK provides in Nigeria “I am pleased to see the super priority visa service being launched in Nigeria. This comes with an additional cost but is designed to give greater flexibility to our customers and underlines our strong commitment to improving the visa services we offer.  We expect this new service to be particularly useful for business. We understand that business opportunities and urgent requirements can arise at very short notice. We recognise this and want to facilitate such travel to the UK with this new super-fast service.”‎he said

Sanusi Mohammed , Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Zamafara, on Wednesday said more than 801 persons were displaced by flood in Maru town, Zamfara. In a telephone interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Muhammad said the affected persons included 180 women and 621 children. He said 52 houses and farmlands were also destroyed during the disaster which occurred on July 29. The executive secretary also said that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and its counterpart in the state had visited the town. “NEMA and SEMA have visited the affected town and conducted a joint assessment of the disaster. We will forward such assessment to our respective agencies for immediate assistance,” he said.

A Nigerian woman who paid a man £1,000 to pose as her newborn baby’s father in a order to dodge deportation was caught out by online pictures of the real dad cradling his son at a naming ceremony, a court heard on August 10th...   29-year-old Faust Abolore allegedly hired Anthony Ezekpo, 44, (left) in a plot to gain British citizenship, using his name on the baby’s birth certificate and a subsequent passport application. She claimed they lived together at a bogus address in Chandlers Drive in Erith in an attempt to fool Greenwich council officials. But Inner London crown court heard the baby’s real father, Nigerian national Peter Gentry, was photographed at the naming ceremony, on September 15, 2014, in the role of the doting dad. Ezekpo actually lives on the outskirts of Newcastle, and Abolore wired £1,000 to his bank account the day the birth certificate was signed, jurors heard. "He was enlisted as part of a fraudulent scheme to get British citizenship fo...

Monica Mares and Caleb Peterson A New Mexico mother and child have been arrested by police in the state and will stand trial on incest charges later this year. According to  DailyMail , if found guilty, they could be sentenced to 18 months in prison. Monica Mares , 36, and her 19-year-old son  Caleb Peterson  have decided to go public with their affair in order to raise awareness of Genetic Sexual Attraction (GSA) and make it legal for them to have a sexual relationship. Mares who gave Peterson up for adoption after she gave birth to him at 16, said they started having feelings each other after they met last christmas. Mares picked him up at his adoptive father’s house in Texas and brought him to her home after the pair got in touch over Facebook. ‘The first time I met my son in person I was so happy and excited I gave him a big hug. I went to go pick him up at his dad’s house in Texas,” Mares told DailyMail.

Following the consistent crash of the Naira against the dollar, Nigeria's economy has lost its place as the largest economy in Africa to South Africa. This is according to a new report by Bloomberg and the IMF. According to the new reports, South Africa's rand had gained more than 16 percent against the dollar from the beginning of 2016 and Nigeria’s naira lost more than a third of its value when the Central Bank introduced its new policy on Foreign Exchange in June. The reports states that South Africa’s economy is currently at $301 billion at the rand’s current exchange rate with the dollar while Nigeria’s GDP is at $296 billion, based on gross domestic product of 2015 published by the International Monetary Fund.

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) will on October 1st commence the enforcement of use of speed limiters on all commercial vehicles nationwide. Corps Marshal of FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi announced this during a meeting held at the FRSC National Headquarters Abuja yesterday August 10th with stakeholders from relevant government agencies and road transport unions in attendance. According to Oyeyemi, the enforcement will be total and non-compromising. He recalled that the initial date set for the commencement of enforcement of the law was 1st of June 2015 but that the date had to be extended to allow for further consultation and more public enlightenment programmes, especially since the period fell within the same week that the present administration was inaugurated.

She posted these beautiful pictures on social media to celebrate her birthday. 

The 2016 Rio Olympic Games Opening Ceremony took place at the 80,000-seater Marcana Stadium in Brazil.  More photos after the cut...

Monbebe Lagos  caters to little bitty flower girls ranging from 6 months old to size 14. The lead designer  Seyi  specializes in making and designing little bridesmaid dresses as well as special occasion dresses. I believe our flower girls are equally as important as bridesmaids and groomsmen when it comes to weddings and I also want to show that the wedding industry in Nigeria is able to match and exceed others around the world.