₦airaland Forum

EmperorCaesar:
The Olayemi Cardoso you referred to, is it our current CBN Gov?

BreconHills:
As a Gregorian whose time overlapped with Senior Bruce I can say as always your research is bang on accurate.

He was a brilliant debater and won the Lagos state debating competition.

He was also a brilliant negotiator- persuading first ,"Paulo" the principal and then Mr Shosan ( with less success to allow QC girls attend our school parties with dimmed lights.

He stood up for school history including the "right" of Gregorians to have "Polite conversations'" with Holy Child girls pre and after Sunday chapel He ensured that the Holy Child boycott of Chapel did not spill over into a break down of relationships.

Although he played no sport unlike his predecessors, ( simply because he wasn't good at any) he left his mark on every aspect of Gregorian life. He had the trust of the principal, the house masters and the general population.

He represented the ethos of the Gregorian which was play - represent and study. This ethos is sadly shifting
to read first, second and third. The change in ethos only makes his time period at Gregs snd the huge success of the school in opera, music, sports and academic achievement all the more stellar. For those of us who left the school for English public schools after O levels - we had little problem slotting into English public school life.

Well written Naptu, you are a genius. Many of us only remain on Nairaland because of your writings.

I can spot L-R in the second picture - Paulo (Principal) seniors Bruce, Karunwi and Benson.

Pro Fide et Scienta and a "Grand Old School to play
for".

Correction. *Mrs not Mr Shosan was Principal at Queens College. The only principal that could call our Paulo by his first name of Paul!

Youngsage:
Interesting thread


Does this Domino supermarkets have any relationship with Domino pizza chain though? Curious

naptu2:
It was around 7pm on a Friday in 1988 and I was in a hurry to get home. I caught a cab.

Strangely, there was a bit of traffic on Awolowo Road. There was never traffic on Awolowo Road in the evening (except when the road is closed for the CinC's movement). The traffic jam seemed to have been caused by something near Bachus Restaurant. There was a crowd there and they were all staring at something. Then I saw it. It was the Silverbird limousine (a 6 door Cadillac). Some of the contestants in the Miss Intercontinental pageant were standing up through the sunroof and waving at the crowd. I think I saw Miss India and Miss Curacao.

That was obviously the first time that the cab driver had seen a limo. He couldn't stop talking about it. "Which kind car be that?" I told him.
"How person go drive that kind car? What if them jam the car? Na plenty money them go take fix am o!"

That became the routine. The contestants would parade down Awolowo Road on Friday night, be interviewed on Morning Ride (Danladi Bako) on Saturday morning, the show would hold on Saturday night, we would read about the show in Concord or Punch on Sunday morning and finally, we would watch the show the next weekend.

The show had its hilarious/embarrassing moment, ala the "We used to fly helephant, but now we fly heagle" from the Most Beautiful Girl pageant. In this case, a girl requested for an interpreter because her English wasn't so good. The interpreter came and was interpreting what she said when she suddenly stopped him and said, "No, I no say that. That's not what I said".

They always invited Old Man, but he said that he couldn't imagine himself going to watch something like that. Bro begged him, "Please give us the I.V. if you don't want to go", but he (of course) refused. There was a year when Ben Bruce called the house to try and persuade Old Man to attend. Sis received the call and told him that Old Man wasn't at home. He called a few minutes later and started talking to his girlfriend, or rather, he thought he was talking to his girlfriend (he had obviously mixed up the phone numbers). Sis replied, "Excuse me. This is the number you just called." and he replied, "O! Sorry" and hung up.

My favourite Miss Intercontinental was definitely Sandra Foster (Miss Jamaica). I had predicted on Saturday morning, during the Morning Ride interview, that she would win. Old Man and sis thought Miss Curacao would win, while bro thought that the winner would be either Sandra Foster or Bianca Onoh (Miss Nigeria). Sandra Foster won of course. Bianca came second. Sandra Foster was probably the most beautiful beauty queen I had ever seen and she answered her questions very well. She would star in the Rank Xerox advert for many years after the pageant.

naptu2:
UAC was the largest non-oil company in Nigeria in the 1970s, ‘80s and early 1990s. The two most important business executives in Nigeria at that time were the M.D. of Shell (the largest oil company) and the Chairman of UAC (the largest non-oil company). They were almost like presidents. One of them, Chief Ernest Shonekan (Chairman of UAC in the 1980s and early 1990s) even became Head of State of Nigeria. The company was huge and (at various times) included the following subsidiaries:

1) A.J. Seward ( "for skin, hair and body care" ) : They made hair creams, body creams and lotions, face powders, soaps and other beauty products.


2) Kingsway Department Stores: They had the largest supermarket and mall chain in Nigeria.

3) Kingsway Chemists: A chain of pharmacies that was spread right across Nigeria.

4) UAC Foods: This included Kingsway Rendezvous (now known as Mr Biggs), Gala Sausage Rolls, Wall's Ice Cream, Spring Waters Nigeria Ltd (makers of SWAN Water, Gossy Water and SWAN soft drinks), etc.

5) UAC Motors: GM Nigeria (Bedford, Chevrolet and Isuzu), Federated Motors Industries Ltd (locally made Bedford trucks) and Niger Motors.

6) Bordpak Ltd (packaging).

7) Premier Packaging Ltd.

8 ) UAC Technical Ltd: Industrial machines and huge electricity generators.

9) G.B. Olivant: Trading company.

10) UAC Property Development Company: They own 1004 Estate, Golden Tulip Hotel (formerly Dubar Hotel), Abebe Court Ikoyi, etc.


11) Grand Cereals: Grand Pure Soya Oil, etc.

12) MDS Logistics: Wharehouses, haulage, distribution, etc.

13) Chemical and Allied Products Limited (CAPL) : Dulux and Caplux paints, etc.

14) African Timber and Plywood Ltd.

15) West African Cold Storage.


This company has directly or indirectly produced several very wealthy families including the Abebes, the Dantatas, the Dangotes, the Murray-Bruces and the Shonekans.



UAC has helped to nurture the fortunes of some of Nigeria's wealthiest families.

1) Dantata/Dangote: Alhassan Dantata's business got a big boost when he got contracts to supply UAC (Royal Niger Company) groundnuts, kola nuts, etc.

2) Murray-Bruce: Mulligan Murray-Bruce (Ben Bruce's father) was a UAC executive who did so well that upon retiring he was given Domino Stores to run.

3) Abebe: Sir Christopher Abebe (Stella Obasanjo's father) was Chairman of UAC (also Chairman of Nigerian Breweries) in the 1970s. He did so well, that several UAC and Nigerian Breweries facilities are named after him (Abebe Village, Igamu).


In the picture below are the logo of the Royal Niger Company, UAC's first logo and UAC's current logo (which was adopted in the 2000s). The logo in the middle is my favourite.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/6870095_1169259416510334384872907671844771556875958n_jpgf20940feb4ac0dd73a8fe48ef7f592f2

naptu2:
The Silverbird Group hosted the Miss Intercontinental Pageant in Lagos from 1987 till 1991 and beauty queens came from all over the world to compete at the event.

This is Bianca Onoh's swimsuit shoot at the 1989 Miss Intercontinental (she won the pageant).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXhLbJheiCo?si=H-x16Vycg3VDnBwY

naptu2:
The Miss Intercontinental Pageant was started in Panama, but Silverbird bought the rights and it was staged in Nigeria from 1986 till 1991. Then a German company bought the rights and it was moved to Germany.

Every year beauty queens from all over the world came to Nigeria to take part in the pageant (which was usually held at the National Theater in Lagos).

A usual question in my house during the ceremony was, "Naptu2, what country is that"? There were so many contestants from well known and not so well known countries (Miss Curacao won it once and came second quite a few times). My favourite winner was Sandra Foster of Jamaica. I predicted (when the girls appeared on Morning Ride) that she would win it.

These are the winners of the pageant from 1986 till 1991.

1986: Elizabeth Robinson Latalladi of Puerto Rico (there were 13 contestants).

1987: Patricia Anni Marie Kuypers Mirror of Peru (there were 24 contestants).

1988: Joan Marie Maynard from Curacao

1989: Bianca Onoh from Nigeria

Brenda Marte Lajara from the Dominican Republic took over the crown when Bianca Onoh dropped it.

1990: Sandra Foster of Jamaica

1991: Carmen Lynda Diaz of Puerto Rico


Here is an interview with Sandra Foster when she was Miss Jamaica World in 1991.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsYtygkxWq4?si=GpkKFimQRNkax2Gm

One time I was dancing and my father saw me dancing. He said, “If I ever catch you dancing, you’ll never use those legs again.”