Two young Nigerian writers, Akin Fadeyi and Omo Bazuaye have accused the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed of plagiarism and outright theft. They accused the minister of stealing the recently launched CHANGE BEGINS WITH ME concept from their work. According to them, the concept was submitted to the Federal Government through the minister who later changed the name and proceeded to launch the programme without recourse to them. The programme was launched at an elaborate ceremony during week presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari Read the full statement by Omo Bazuaye below: How FG Plagiarized Akin Fadeye’s Not In My Country Launched it as Change Begins With Me We received with utter shock and disbelief attempt by the Federal Government through its Ministry of Information and National Orientation to clone and plagiarize our work, “NOT IN MY COUNTRY”, in what it now calls “Change Begins With Me”. Only a few days ago Nigeria celebrated the arrival of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook into the country. Zuckerberg developed something extraordinary and revolutionized the IT world. He came to Nigeria looking for and to give courage to emerging stars. I had written then that Nigeria has a “jungle fever” that allows it to always celebrate what is foreign as against the ingenuity of its own people. While we rolled out the drums and even engaged in what Zuckerberg wore or ate in his brief stay in Nigeria; my attention shifted to Nigerians doing remarkable things yet ignored or abandoned. There is the case of John Obaro who created the software for Treasury Single Account {TSA}. What did he get? He received the biggest scorn of his life. What I didn’t realize was that I could become the next victim until Thursday, the 8th of September, 2016 when I saw that the idea we dropped in the office of the honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation, Lai Mohammed; what seems a perfect replica of it was being launched by the Minister without the consent of the real originators. We have evidence of our communications with the Minister prior to this day. We even have pictures of our meeting with him. He can’t deny it. We implore him to just do the needful. I know many would almost certainly defend anything under this government; the owner of this project is a lover of APC and an ardent admirer of President Buhari too. It’s a shame this is happening and coming under a government one would have thought would do things differently. As far back as 2006, Akin Fadeyi who was then the Head, Corporate Communications of MTS First Wireless where I worked stumbled on an idea. Oneday Akin called me and said he wanted to “pick” my brain on something. He was my immediate boss and we had come to be very fond of each other. I was learning fast under him and I guess he saw something in me I probably never knew was there. But trust Akin to always have brilliant ideas. When he started talking I immediately knew it was something big. It was a concept to re-engineer the minds of citizens away from the filth of moral decadence the country had fallen. First, I consider it noble that such a young man could come up with such a selfless idea and be prepared to put his hard earned salary to drive it. I was “wowed” and immediately wanted to be a part of what I instantly knew was big, something that could leave our both names on the sands of time. But we needed a name for it so Akin invited me and another friend Ganiyu Olowu to the lagoon side of University of Lagos for some brainstorming sessions. Between us, we came up with the name: NOT IN MY COUNTRY and decided to use the instruments of theatre or if you like drama to pass the message. For 10 years, Akin held on to his idea, shopping for credible corporate organizations or development agencies who can partner with him. Together with him, we spent those years in and out of locations shooting flicks; hiring professional actors like Tina Mba, the popular actor “Saka” and others. It cost us money with Akin paying and footing most if not all of the bills. I have deliberately called names in my narration, names of people from whom anyone can easily verify. Sometime in 2014, we had the honour of making presentation on it to Hussaini Abdu, the Country Director of Action Aid. I’m sure he can remember because it made a good impression on him. We have also enjoyed tremendous support from Mr. Emeka Opara of Airtel Nigeria on this as well. How could I have forgotten Simon Kolawole who lavishly gave NOT IN MY COUNTRY, a back page story in THISDAY NEWSPAPER and of course ace broadcaster, Gbenga Aruleba who graciously entertained Akin Fadeyi on his programme, Focus Nigeria for free and the entire management and staff of TVC who have given tremendous media coverage for this project. Unfortunately, the period between 2006 and 2015 didn’t provide the right kind of atmosphere about a country and a society that was keen about fighting corruption. So when in 2015 a no nonesense crusader of anti-corruption who was riding high on the change mantra; President Muhammadu Buhari came to power, I pulled a call to Akin telling him perhaps this was the hour we’ve been waiting for. I had no iota of doubt in my mind that APC led by Buhari would instantly jump at it. So we set to work, I took Akin to the Senior Special Adviser to the President(Media ), Garba Shehu…..he is a big mentor to me in the profession we practice. He asked us to forward it in form of proposal to him which we did. Later Akin met with Mr. Femi Adesina on the same issue. His advice took Akin to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Lai Mohammed. It was a fruitful meeting with the Minister requesting we changed the name to “Change Begins With Me”. Akin went back to work re-shooting over 30 short films copies of what was sent to the Minister electronically. E-mails come with time and dates and NEVER lie even when not acknowledged as being received. That was sometime in December 2015 and we sent a reminder to him in June after NOT IN MY COUNTRY was officially launched in Lagos on the 3rd of May this year. The only reason we named our concept NOT IN MY COUNTRY was because we didn’t want it associated with any particular government and their mantra. We wanted a catchy phrase something neutral that Nigerians can own for themselves. But as soon as the Minister had received the materials, we never ‘ heard anything again from him {Minister}. It was a rude shock to us when on Thursday September 8 we saw the launch of what was an exact replica of what we had developed. The least we expected was for the Minister to partner or collaborate with us on this instead of leaving us in the cold. We await his call as we call on all well meaning Nigerians to come to our rescue and # saveakinfadeyiproject . __________ thesignalng

lalasticlala mynd44 smellymouth fynestboi

Pathetic. Of Lai Mohammed fails to reach out to them then they should make pictures and other documents public.

I am sure there must have been a miscommunication somewhere along the line.
Could they have been sent an acknowledgement letter via mail which latter ended up in the Spam ?

Until they check and revert with findings I won't blame anyone

Heshei:
I am sure there must have been a miscommunication somewhere along the line.
Could they have been sent an acknowledgement letter via mail which latter ended up in the Spam ?

Until they check and revert with findings I won't blame anyone

Dats all you could think of??

Check spam folder?? Somebody dats bin using d internet since 2006??

I no wan jus yab u.. Buh u sound so dumb!

Ewizard:


Dats all you could think of??

Check spam folder?? Somebody dats bin using d internet since 2006??

I no wan jus yab u.. Buh u sound so dumb!

no kind am

olamilekan360:
Two young Nigerian writers, Akin Fadeyi and
Omo Bazuaye have accused the Minister of
Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed of plagiarism
and outright theft. They accused the minister of
stealing the recently launched CHANGE BEGINS
WITH ME concept from their work.
According to them, the concept was submitted
to the Federal Government through the minister
who later changed the name and proceeded to
launch the programme without recourse to them.
The programme was launched at an elaborate
ceremony during week presided over by
President Muhammadu Buhari
Read the full statement by Omo Bazuaye below:
How FG Plagiarized Akin Fadeye’s Not In My
Country
Launched it as Change Begins With Me
We received with utter shock and disbelief
attempt by the Federal Government through its
Ministry of Information and National Orientation
to clone and plagiarize our work, “NOT IN MY
COUNTRY”, in what it now calls “Change Begins
With Me”.
Only a few days ago Nigeria celebrated the
arrival of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of
Facebook into the country.
Zuckerberg developed something extraordinary
and revolutionized the IT world.
He came to Nigeria looking for and to give
courage to emerging stars.
I had written then that Nigeria has a “jungle
fever” that allows it to always celebrate what is
foreign as against the ingenuity of its own
people.
While we rolled out the drums and even engaged
in what Zuckerberg wore or ate in his brief stay
in Nigeria; my attention shifted to Nigerians
doing remarkable things yet ignored or
abandoned.
There is the case of John Obaro who created
the software for Treasury Single Account {TSA}.
What did he get?
He received the biggest scorn of his life.
What I didn’t realize was that I could become the
next victim until Thursday, the 8th of September,
2016 when I saw that the idea we dropped in the
office of the honourable Minister of Information
and National Orientation, Lai Mohammed; what
seems a perfect replica of it was being launched
by the Minister without the consent of the real
originators.
We have evidence of our communications with
the Minister prior to this day. We even have
pictures of our meeting with him. He can’t deny
it.
We implore him to just do the needful.
I know many would almost certainly defend
anything under this government; the owner of
this project is a lover of APC and an ardent
admirer of President Buhari too.
It’s a shame this is happening and coming under
a government one would have thought would do
things differently.
As far back as 2006, Akin Fadeyi who was then
the Head, Corporate Communications of MTS
First Wireless where I worked stumbled on an
idea.
Oneday Akin called me and said he wanted to
“pick” my brain on something.
He was my immediate boss and we had come to
be very fond of each other. I was learning fast
under him and I guess he saw something in me I
probably never knew was there.
But trust Akin to always have brilliant ideas.
When he started talking I immediately knew it
was something big.
It was a concept to re-engineer the minds of
citizens away from the filth of moral decadence
the country had fallen.
First, I consider it noble that such a young man
could come up with such a selfless idea and be
prepared to put his hard earned salary to drive it.
I was “wowed” and immediately wanted to be a
part of what I instantly knew was big, something
that could leave our both names on the sands of
time.
But we needed a name for it so Akin invited me
and another friend Ganiyu Olowu to the lagoon
side of University of Lagos for some
brainstorming sessions.
Between us, we came up with the name: NOT IN
MY COUNTRY and decided to use the
instruments of theatre or if you like drama to
pass the message.
For 10 years, Akin held on to his idea, shopping
for credible corporate organizations or
development agencies who can partner with him.
Together with him, we spent those years in and
out of locations shooting flicks; hiring
professional actors like Tina Mba, the popular
actor “Saka” and others.
It cost us money with Akin paying and footing
most if not all of the bills. I have deliberately
called names in my narration, names of people
from whom anyone can easily verify.
Sometime in 2014, we had the honour of making
presentation on it to Hussaini Abdu, the Country
Director of Action Aid. I’m sure he can remember
because it made a good impression on him.
We have also enjoyed tremendous support from
Mr. Emeka Opara of Airtel Nigeria on this as
well.
How could I have forgotten Simon Kolawole who
lavishly gave NOT IN MY COUNTRY, a back page
story in THISDAY NEWSPAPER and of course
ace broadcaster, Gbenga Aruleba who graciously
entertained Akin Fadeyi on his programme,
Focus Nigeria for free and the entire
management and staff of TVC who have given
tremendous media coverage for this project.
Unfortunately, the period between 2006 and 2015
didn’t provide the right kind of atmosphere about
a country and a society that was keen about
fighting corruption.
So when in 2015 a no nonesense crusader of
anti-corruption who was riding high on the
change mantra; President Muhammadu Buhari
came to power, I pulled a call to Akin telling him
perhaps this was the hour we’ve been waiting
for.
I had no iota of doubt in my mind that APC led
by Buhari would instantly jump at it.
So we set to work, I took Akin to the Senior
Special Adviser to the President(Media ), Garba
Shehu…..he is a big mentor to me in the
profession we practice.
He asked us to forward it in form of proposal to
him which we did. Later Akin met with Mr. Femi
Adesina on the same issue.
His advice took Akin to the Minister of
Information and National Orientation, Lai
Mohammed.
It was a fruitful meeting with the Minister
requesting we changed the name to “Change
Begins With Me”.
Akin went back to work re-shooting over 30 short
films copies of what was sent to the Minister
electronically.
E-mails come with time and dates and NEVER lie
even when not acknowledged as being received.
That was sometime in December 2015 and we
sent a reminder to him in June after NOT IN MY
COUNTRY was officially launched in Lagos on
the 3rd of May this year.
The only reason we named our concept NOT IN
MY COUNTRY was because we didn’t want it
associated with any particular government and
their mantra.
We wanted a catchy phrase something neutral
that Nigerians can own for themselves.
But as soon as the Minister had received the
materials, we never ‘ heard anything again from
him {Minister}.
It was a rude shock to us when on Thursday
September 8 we saw the launch of what was an
exact replica of what we had developed. The
least we expected was for the Minister to
partner or collaborate with us on this instead of
leaving us in the cold.
We await his call as we call on all well meaning
Nigerians to come to our rescue and
# saveakinfadeyiproject .
__________
thesignalng

The Minister proposed the theme, you rejected, he went on to develop a content after the theme he deemed appropriate for the time and mission of the government. You are here accusing him of stealing your content - post evidence that the Minister stole your concept

Ewizard:

Dats all you could think of??
Check spam folder?? Somebody dats bin using d internet since 2006??
I no wan jus yab u.. Buh u sound so dumb!

Thank you for the feedback. Mr panasharp