Entertainment

Nigeria's first United Nations Youth Ambassador for Peace: D'banj

Dapo Daniel Oyebanjo (popularly known as D'banj, born June 9, 1980) is a Nigerian singer-songwriter, harmonica player, and businessman. He has won several music awards including the awards for Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2007, Artist of the Year at the MTV Africa Music Awards 2009 and BET Awards of 2011 for Best International Act: Africa. He adopted the stage name D'banj, a combination of his first name Dapo and his surname Oyebanjo.

D'banj was born in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria to a military officer who commanded an artillery regiment and a church dignitary mother who hailed from Shagamu in Ogun State. Due to his father's profession he moved several times within Nigeria and later moved to England. D'banj was expected to follow his father's military career and was enrolled to the Nigerian Military School at age eleven. However, D'banj resisted the system and dis-enrolled from the school after three years. While at the Military school he was a member of the elite drum corp of the Nigerian Army. From the Nigerian Military School he proceeded to another military owned institution Nigerian Navy Secondary School, Ibara, Abeokuta where he completed his secondary school education.

D'banj's debut album, No Long Thing, was released in 2005.

In April, 2011, D'banj was interviewed by BET's April Woodard. The interview titled 'Welcome to America' was a platform for D'banj to introduce himself to the American Music Industry and audience.

D'banj is the founder of Koko Foundation for Youth and Peace Development, which works on non-profit projects and charitable initiatives.

First Nigerian musician to win the MTV Best African Act Award and later the Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Award: Tuface Idibia

Innocent Ujah Idibia (born in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria), better known by his stage name 2face Idibia, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. He is also variously called 2face, Tuface, 2Baba or Tubaba. He is the most decorated and successful hip pop artists in Africa. He is consistently ranked as one the best African musicians of all-time. He was a member of the defunct Plantashun Boyz and after it disbanded, continued his solo musical career.

2Face has received one MTV Europe Music Award, one World Music Award, five Headies Awards (Hip-hop award), four Channel O Music Video Awards and one BET award for his musical work, four MTV Africa Music Awards, one MOBO award, one KORA award, and numerous additional nominations.

Innocent Idibia is from the Idoma ethnic group in the southern part of Benue State, in central Nigeria. He attended Saint Gabriel's Secondary School in Makurdi, Benue State. He enrolled at Institute of Management & Technology, Enugu (IMT), where he did his preliminary National Diploma course in business administration and management. While attending IMT, he performed at school organized shows and parties, as well as other regional schools such as the University of Nigeria and Enugu State University of Science & Technology. He eventually dropped out to pursue his music career. While attending IMT, 2face Idibia started composing and singing jingles at the GB Fan Club at Enugu State Broadcasting Services (ESBS) in 1996.

Also in 1996, he adopted the stage name "2Face" (Tuface). He cited the reasoning as "trying to demarcate my personal life with my business life.

He moved to Lagos and started performing with rapper BlackFace Naija. He had met BlackFace while attending IMT. With Blackface (Ahmedu Augustine Obiabo) and with musician Faze (Chibuzor Oji), he went on to form the trio band Plantashun Boyz. After the disbandment of Plantashun Boyz in 2004, all band members sought separate musical careers. 2face Idibia released his debut solo album Face 2 Face (2004), which established him as a viable solo artist.

Following the release of his debut album, he released his sophomore album Grass 2 Grace in 2006, which contained hits "One Love", "True Love, "4 Instance". He is the founder of Hypertek Entertainment. In 2006, his song "African Queen" was used in the soundtrack for the film Phat Girlz, which was released internationally.

He released a promotion album in 2008 called The Unstoppable releasing the single "Enter the Place". Problems with album distribution in 2007 caused as shift of the release date of the album from 2008 to early 2009. In 2010, 2face released an "international edition" of the same under the title The Unstoppable International Edition making him the first Nigerian artist to have an appropriately priced international album. 2face released two more singles from the international version of his Unstoppable album. The international edition of the album won two awards at the 2010 SoundCity Music Video Awards. He also won the Channel O Music Video Awards Best African Western award and the MTV Africa Music Awards for Best Male and Artist of the year.

Upon leaving the music label Kennis Music, he set up his own record label known as Hypertek Entertainment. He is part of the Sony All African One8 Project alongside seven other musicians across Africa recording a single with R. Kelly and Prince Lee titled "Hands Across the World". He is the first non-Liberian to become an honorary member of the Liberian music society in recognition for his outstanding contribution to the growth of music in Africa.

First African celebrity ever to amass over one million Facebook likes: Omotola Jalade Ekeinde (born February 7, 1978)

Omotola is a leading actress, singer, and philanthropist from Lagos, Nigeria.

Omotola grew up with a family of five, her parents and two younger brothers, Tayo and Bolaji Jalade. Her mother, Oluwatoyin Jalade née Amori Oguntade worked at J.T Chanrai Nig and her father, Oluwashola Jalade worked with Y.M.C.A and the Lagos Country Club. Omotola’s original career ambition was to work in Business Management and while awaiting her results from University, she began modeling to earn a living. Omotola attended Chrisland School Opebi (1981-1987), Oxford Children School (1987), Santos Layout, Command Secondary School Kaduna,(1988-1993), she had a brief stint at Obafemi Awolowo University and finally completed her studies at Yaba College of Technology Yaba (1996-2004), where she studied Estate Management.

Omotola married Captain Matthew Ekeinde, a pilot in 1996. The couple later held a white ceremony on board a Dash 7 aircraft while flying from Lagos to Benin in 2001, with close family and friends present. Omotola gave birth to her first daughter on the 30th of March 1997. Together, they have four children, Princess, M.J, Meriaih and Michael. Omotola lost her father in 1991.

Her first acting role was in the 1995 movie called Venom of Justice directed by Reginald Ebere while her first big role was with the movie Mortal Inheritance (1995) where she played a sickle-cell patient who fights for her life even when she knows she might not be able to live.

In 2012, Omotola launched her own reality show Omotola: The Real Me on Africa Magic Entertainment, an M-Net subsidiary broadcast on DStv. Omotola: The Real Me made Omotola the first Nigerian celebrity to star in their own reality show.

In 2013 she was honored in Time’s prestigious list of the 100 Most Influential People In The World, alongside Kate Middleton, Michelle Obama and Beyoncé.

In early 2013, Omotola made her U.S. television debut in VH1's scripted series, Hit the Floor.

First Nigerian to win the first-ever continent -wide model competition: Oluchi Onweagba (born August 1, 1982).

Oluchi won the inaugural edition of the Face of Africa in 1998 (now called the Nokia Face of Africa). This was the first-ever continent-wide model competition, organized by the South African channel M-Net in collaboration with Elite Model Management. She was seventeen years old and was awarded a three-year modeling contract by Elite Model Management .

After her three-year contract with Elite expired, she signed with DNA Model Management. In 2008, she launched a modeling agency in South Africa, OModel Africa, with offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The 2008 winner of M-Net Face of Africa, Kate Tachie-Menson, was awarded a US $50,000 modeling contract by Oluchi's modeling agency, OModel Africa.

Oluchi is married to famous Italian fashion designer Luca Orlandi and they have a 3-year-old son born April 25, 2007.

First Nigerian, first female and first African Artist on Xist Music Artist DA TRUTH’s Record Label: B.O.U.Q.U.I (March 2013)

Xist Music is an entertainment company based in the USA, founded by Terverius Black and Sean Simmonds. It engages in the business of acquiring, producing, marketing, and distributing inspirational urban, hip hop and pop artists.

The deal will also see BOUQUI as the President of the new invention “Xist Africa”, with BOUQUI’S PLACE ENTERTAINMENT leading the quest of Xist Worldwide in Nigeria and Africa.

The breakthrough deal includes international recordings with all Xist Music artistes and other relevant artistes in the world and not forgetting an intensive distribution of B.O.U.Q.U.I’s album and materials in the United States of America and the UK.

Born Bukola Folayan to a Professor of Biochemistry father and a professional teacher mother, she alongside her other five siblings grew up in an academic atmosphere of the Obafemi Awolowo University (Ile-Ife) and this has served as a big influence for her deep lyrical style and cosmopolitan outlook.

Her Christian faith and strong belief in the words of God as laid out in the Holy Bible is however the factor to the formation of the Bouqui brand. An alumnus of Obafemi Awolowo University and an accomplished broadcaster at EkoFM, Lagos, Bouqui started her professional career with an all girl group called G-Vibes several years ago before going solo and changing her focus and style to suit urban contemporary Nigeria and still deliver in terms of message and emotion.

First African Country to host the MTV African Music Awards show: Nigeria (Abuja, 2008)

Originally African artists were awarded an MTV Europe Music Award voted by MTV base Africa viewers for Best African artist in the 2006 and 2007 MTV Europe Music Awards. The first awards show was held at the Velodrome, Abuja in Nigeria on 22 November 2008 and was broadcast around the world on November 29 in conjunction with Airtel and local television channels in Africa. The show was hosted by Trevor Nelson. The awards were preceded by four concerts celebrating the musicians nominated for the awards. There were concerts featuring international and local nominees, which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa on November 5, Nairobi, Kenya on November 9, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on November 13 and Lagos, Nigeria on November 15, 2008.

The Award categories included Artist of the Year, Best Alternative, Best Female, Best Group, Best Hip-Hop, Best Live Performance, Best Male, Best New Act, Best R&B, Video of the Year and the MY Video Award which allows viewers to make their own version of a music video. The MTV Africa Music Awards with Airtel was conceived and created by the SVP and MD of the Network in Africa, Alex Okosi (the man behind the launch of MTV into Africa in 2005). The 2009 event was hosted by Nairobi, Kenya at the Moi International Sports Centre on the 10th of October 2009 and was vroadcasted on the 17th of October 2009 on MTV base Africa.

The 2010 MTV Africa Music Awards with Airtel saw MTV change some award categories to better reflect the music of the entire continent, hence creating awards for Best Anglophone, Best Lusophone and Best Francophone artists. The 2010 Awards took place at the Eko Expo Hall, Lagos on 11 December 2010 and was broadcasted around the world on MTV media platforms including MTV base (DStv Channel 322) and partner stations in Africa.

Nigerian's First 130 Million Naira CGI Movie: Kajola (2010)-Director Niyi Akinmolayan.

First ever Nigerian Idol winner (27/03/2011): The Abia state born singer-Onyekachi Gilbert Elizabeth, popularly known as Yeka.

Fist Nigerian Nollywood actress to be featured in international afro american magazine, black beauty and hair (Feb/march 2011 issue): Susan Peters

First Western-trained portrait artist in Nigeria: Aina Onabolu (1882-1963): In 1920 he set sail for England and France, where he studied art at St. Johns Wood School, Académie Julian in Paris, and the Royal Academy of Art in London

The first Nigerian to cross one million followers on Twitter: Pastor Chris Oyakhilome (@PastorChrisLive): 2010

First unsigned recording artist to receive a nomination at the Meteor Music Award: Laura Izibor (2006)

Laura Elizabeth Arabosa Izibor is an Irish recording artist, musician and producer. She was born in 13 May 1987 in Dublin, Ireland. She is the fourth of five children born to Irish mother Trish and Nigerian father Saul. Izibor's parents separated when she was seven and she was raised by her mother. As a child, she faced racial discrimination. She recalled being "paranoid about one teacher in particular, who I think was a racist" as well as "a few kids who made stupid little comments here and there". After singing "When You Believe", a duet by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, in her drama class, she discovered her interest for music; she began writing songs at age 13 and taught herself how to play the piano at 14. At age 15, public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) held a song competition by radio station RTÉ 2fm, which Izibor won. Her winning song, "Compatible", received constant airplay after she won the competition; Laura met her manager Edison Waters of Vibe Music Management. RTÉ also filmed a documentary of Izibor after winning the competition.

Izabor won the RTÉ 2fm song contest while still in secondary school. She also won an award at the 2006 Meteor Music Award and became the first unsigned recording artist to receive a nomination.

Izibor's music has been compared to recording artists Aretha Franklin, Corinne Bailey Rae and Alicia Keys; her writing is compared to that of Carole King and Joan Armatrading. Nicole Frehsée of Rolling Stone magazine described her debut album, Let the Truth Be Told, as "a sunny, chick-flick-worthy take on vintage soul". Noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of 'Blues & Soul' described the album as "Anchored firmly in classic R&B and effectively combining a reverence for the traditions of vintage, warm piano-driven soul with a fresh twist of modern sensibility". While Pete Daniel Smith of Sunday Mercury described the album as a "dazzling R&B debut", noting a "a remarkable soul vocal that'll send shivers down your spine".

According to the filmmakers, Inalé is the first-ever Nigerian movie musical shot in celluloid. The movie was set to premiere on the 22 October 2010 at GDCinemas in Lagos and on the 28 October 2010 at Silverbird Cinemas in Abuja.

The movie is directed by Jeta Amata and features Nigerian/British actress Caroline Chikezie in the lead role. Caroline plays Princess Inalé, the beautiful daughter of the great King Oche of the Idoma people in Idomaland, Nigeria. Her beloved Odeh, played by Hakeem Kae-Kazim, must win their customary wrestling tournament to take Inalé’s hand in marriage.

The first ultra modern multi-screen cinema complex of its kind in Nigeria: Silverbird Cinemas (the Silverbird Galleria, 2004 at Victoria Island, Lagos).

The first multiplex cinema to be built on the mainland of Lagos: Ozone Cinemas Ltd, with 619 luxury seats, commenced its exhibition business on Thursday 13 November, 2008. Located at the Domino Mall known as the e-Centre on Commercial Avenue, Yaba, Lagos.

The first Nigerian to record an album: Josiah Jesse Ransome Kuti. His compilation of Yoruba popular and folk songs was released by Zonophone in 1928. Census records showed he lived in the Liverpool docklands at least up till 1930.

He was the first Christian in the Ransome-Kuti family. His parents were traditional religion worshippers but they apprenticed him to the missioners who came to Abeokuta from Badagry where they had earlier settled having arrived from the West Coast from England.

The history of the Ransome-Kuti family started from him. It is not certain how he got the name Ransome, but it could be suggested that he adopted the name of the white missioners he stayed with. While Kuti is a Yoruba word, Ransome is certainly not a Nigerian name.

Staying with the white men, he was also one of the early people in Abeokuta to convert to Christianity. He probably saw it all when the first Church in Nigeria, St Peter Anglican Church was built in Ake, Abeokuta and he was the Church organist.

He distinguished himself from the early pack of Christians with his gift of music. As an organist, he was said to be a great composer. Great was his musical dexterity that so many local traditional religious worshippers turned to Christ. For that, he was a marked man in the society. But unknown to him, he was creating a record, both in heaven and on earth.

On this terrestrial divide, and in what became Nigeria in 1914, he became her first gospel musician and the first Nigerian to write Church hymns. Many of these hymns are being used in so many Yoruba speaking Anglican Churches today. Not only this, his children, like Israel Ransome-Kuti (the first president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers), Fela's Father was also a great song writer. The popular Egba anthem, Abeokuta Ilu Egba, was composed by him. Another folk song, Ise Agbe, Ise Ile wa, was also composed by Israel. The muse also bit Israel's Children.

Josiah Jesse Ransome-Kuti was popularly known as the 'Singing Minister'.

When he visited England In 1921, he chose the organ, still in use in the Church, and caused its purchase by Mrs Emily L. Wood. The pipe organ (the first in a Nigerian Church) bought by Mrs E. L. Wood for St Peter's Church, Ake in 1921 was received on behalf of the Church by Rev. Canon J. J. Ransome-Kuti. It is worthy of note to state that Mr. Arthur Popoola, a driver to Chief James Bernard Majekodunmi the Otun of Egbas was the first organist to play on the pipe organ.

It was the practice in the Church Missionary Society (CMS) that any school teacher who put a school girl in the family way should be dismissed but Rev. Canon J. J. Ransome-Kuti advised that a better and reformative disciplinary action could be tried. He suggested that such teacher should be compelled to marry the expecting mother and retain his job so that he would be able to take care of both the woman and the child. And that marked the end of dismissing such erring teachers but helped many of them to live a better and more responsible life.

Rev. Canon J. J. Ransome-Kuti was a powerful preacher who lived the very thing he preached. He died in 1930. The surplice with which he was laid in state was laundered by Mrs. Eliza Solabomi Otolorin, niece of the Rev. D. Williams.

The first Nigerian to create an international musical Genre: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti

Fela created Afro Beat Music, making him the first African to create a musical genre. Fela also publicly rubbish, denounce and dropped the colonial end of his surname, Ransome which he got from his ancestry, and took a more curious and indigenous one, Anikulapo (One who has death in his pocket). It is noteworthy that Fela's musical talent was also inherited by two of his children, Femi and Seun. Today, they are continuing the Afro-beat tradition.

Fela created Afro Beat Music, making him the first African to create a musical genre. Fela also publicly rubbish, denounce and dropped the colonial end of his surname, Ransome which he got from his ancestry, and took a more curious and indigenous one, Anikulapo (One who has death in his pocket). It is noteworthy that Fela's musical talent was also inherited by two of his children, Femi and Seun. Today, they are continuing the Afro-beat tradition.

Fela was born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti on 15 October 1938 in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria into an upper-middle-class family. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a feminist activist in the anti-colonial movement; his father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, a Protestant minister and school principal, was the first president of the Nigeria Union of Teachers. His brothers, Beko Ransome-Kuti and Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, both medical doctors, are well known in Nigeria. Fela was a first cousin to the Nigerian writer and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, the first African to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.

Fela was sent to London in 1958 to study medicine but decided to study music instead at the Trinity College of Music; while there, he formed the band Koola Lobitos, playing a fusion of jazz and highlife. In 1960, Fela married his first wife, Remilekun (Remi) Taylor, with whom he would have three children (Femi, Yeni, and Sola). In 1963, Fela moved back to Nigeria, re-formed Koola Lobitos and trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. He played for some time with Victor Olaiya and his All Stars.

In 1967, he went to Ghana to think up a new musical direction. That was when Kuti first called his music Afrobeat. In 1969, Fela took the band to the United States where they spent 10 months in Los Angeles; while there, Fela discovered the Black Power movement through Sandra Smith (now Sandra Izsadore), a partisan of the Black Panther Party. The experience would heavily influence his music and political views. He renamed the band Nigeria '70. Soon, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was tipped off by a promoter that Fela and his band were in the U.S. without work permits. The band immediately performed a quick recording session in Los Angeles that would later be released as The '69 Los Angeles Sessions.

After Fela and his band returned to Nigeria, the band was renamed The Afrika '70, as lyrical themes changed from love to social issues. He then formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune, a recording studio, and a home for the many people connected to the band that he later declared independent from the Nigerian state. Fela set up a nightclub in the Empire Hotel, first named the Afro-Spot and then the Afrika Shrine, where he both performed regularly and officiated at personalized Yoruba traditional ceremonies in honor of his nation's ancestral faith. He also changed his middle name to Anikulapo (meaning "He who carries death in his pouch"), stating that his original middle name of Ransome was a slave name.

On 3 August 1997, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, already a prominent AIDS activist and former Minister of Health, stunned the nation by announcing his younger brother's death a day earlier from Kaposi's sarcoma which was brought on by AIDS. More than a million people attended Fela's funeral at the site of the old Shrine compound. A new Africa Shrine has opened since Fela's death in a different section of Lagos under the supervision of his son Femi Kuti.

Joint first Nigerian to record a popular music album: Justus Domingo alongside Ladipo Solanke. Domingo is said to be of Afro-Brazilian origin. Who lived in Lagos in the late 19th/early 20th century, before moving to the UK in the early 1920’s. He is said to have been recording music in London, on the Zonophone label since 1925, singing in Yoruba language.

Ladipo Solanke (c. 1886 – 2 September 1958) was a political activist who campaigned on West African issues.

Born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, as Oladipo Felix Solanke, he studied at the Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone before moving to study law at University College, London in 1922.

In Britain, Solanke joined the Union of Students of African Descent. In 1924, he wrote to West Africa to complain about an article in the Evening News which had claimed that cannibalism and black magic had been common in Nigeria until recent years. His protest received the support of Amy Ashwood Garvey, who became a close friend, while Solanke began studying British papers for other derogatory reports.

Finding himself living in poverty, Solanke began teaching Yoruba and annoyed at the lack of interest in traditional Nigerian culture among other Nigerian students in London. In June 1924, he became the first person to broadcast on the radio in Yoruba. The following month, with Garvey's encouragement, Solanke and twelve other students founded the Nigeria Progress Union to promote the welfare of Nigerian students.

In 1925, Solanke and Herbert Bankole-Bright founded the West African Students' Union (WASU) as a social, cultural and political focus for West African students in Britain. He became the organisation's Secretary-General and the main contributor to its journal, Wasu. In 1926, he recorded music in Yoruba for Zonophone, and in 1927, he published United West Africa at the Bar of the Family of Nations, calling for Africans to enjoy universal suffrage.

Solanke also led WASU's drive for a hostel for West Africans in London. In 1929, he left for a fundraising tour of West Africa. He spent three years travelling, his mission being supported by the West African and followed by most of the local press. While there, branches of WASU were founded in each country he visited. He also met Opeolu Obisanya, and the couple later married. He became the first warden for the first hostel (Africa House) organised for West African students in London.

His efforts to organise a slate of anti-communist candidates to contest the elections to the WASU executive in 1951 proved unsuccessful, and in January 1953 he finally split with the union after it decided to close Africa House, due to financial pressures. Solanke maintained the hostel with his own dwindling funds, until his death from lung cancer in September 1958.

Herbert Bankole-Bright was born in Okrika, Nigeria on August 23, 1883. Bright was the son of Jacob 'Galba' and Letitia Bright, descendants of Sierra Leone Liberated Africans. Bright's paternal grandfather, John Bright, was an ex-slave who had been liberated off a slave ship with his mother in 1823.

Bankole-Bright studied medicine at Edinburgh University before setting up a practice in Freetown. At Edinburgh, Bright become 'politically awake' and became involved in a number of student activist debates and policies.

The first movie heralded as the start of Nollywood: The origin is unclear; however one theory is that it started accidentally in 1992 when a Nigerian Trader, Keneth Nebue, based in Onitcha was trying to sell a large stock of blank videocassettes he had bought from Taiwan. He decided that they would sell more if something was recorded on them, so he shot a short film called “Living in Bondage”, which sold over 750,000 copies. Nebue co-produced the movie along with Polycarp Okechuckwu Ogunjiofor.

Haynes highlights that the name Nollywood apparently appeared for the first time in print in an article by Matt Steinglass in New York Times in 2002 (Haynes, 2005).

The first Nigerian Movie Censorship Board: Film Censors Board (FCB) - 1933

The FCB soon became the Federal Board of Movie Censors (FBFC) deriving its powers from the 1948 Cinematograph Laws of Nigeria, the Cinematograph Laws of 1963, towards 1963/64 Cinematograph regulation and Regulations.

The existing National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) came into existence by virtue of decree, now Act 85 of 1993 with Ademola James as its pioneer director general.

The first Nigerian film: Wole Soyinka’s “Kongi’s Harvest” (1971), directed by the black American film director, Ossie Davies and produced by Ola Bolagun, the only Nigerian film maker with international reputation at the time (1970).

The first professional theater company in Nigeria (1945): Ogunde Concert Party. It was founded by Hubert Ogunde

Oloye Hubert Adedeji Ogunde (31 May 1916 in Ososa, near Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria – 4 April 1990 in London, England) was a Nigerian actor, playwright, theatre manager, and musician who founded the Ogunde Concert Party in (1945), the first professional theatrical company in Nigeria. He has been described as "the father of Nigerian theatre, or the father of contemporary Yoruba theatre".

Ogunde starred in Mister Johnson, the 1990 motion picture that also featured Pierce Brosnan. The movie was shot on location in Jos.

Ogunde worked as a teacher before joining the Nigerian police force. Like many of his theatre contemporaries, such as A. B. David, P. A. Dawodu, Layeni and G. T. Onimole, his theatre career began under the patronage of the Church. In 1944, he produced his first folk opera, The Garden of Eden and The Throne of God, commissioned by the Lagos-based Church of the Lord, a sect of the Cherubim and Seraphim Society. The performance was in aid of the Church building fund. The huge success of the production spurred Ogunde on to writing more operas until he decided to leave his amateur status as an artist and turn professional. He founded Ogunde Theatre — the first contemporary professional company in Nigeria. By this act Ogunde began the rise of modern professional theatre in Nigeria, a movement in which he remains the supreme artist and father figure.

He is regarded as the first Doyen of traditional Nigerian drama.

Clementina Oguntimirin later married Chief Ogunde and became Adesewa Ogunde or Mama Eko (Lagos Mama) as she was popularly known by her fans in the 1960s, after taking the leading part in the popular play of that name. She had five children for him. The two senior girls Tokunbo and Tope are now leading members of the company. Ogunde became the leading producer of Yoruba celluloid movies with J'ayesinmi (Let the world rest) and Aiye (Life!) blazing the trail.

Oguntimirin died in a road accident on September 1970 en route to a scheduled performance in Ilesha. The following year, Ogunde wrote a play in her memory entitled Ayanmo. Her death was mourned throughout the country and press and mass-media coverage of her death and funeral was extensive. Ogunde died on 4 April 1990 at London's Cromwell Hospital following a brief illness. A portrait of Ogunde hangs in the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos.

The first play featured at Ogunde Theatre was entitled Tiger’s Empire. Premiered on 4 March 1946, Tiger's Empire was produced by The African Music Research Party and featured Ogunde, Beatrice Oyede and Abike Taiwo. The advertisement for the play was the result of Ogunde’s call for "paid actresses". It marked the first time in Yoruba theatre that women were billed to appear in a play as professional artists in Light in their own right. Tiger’s Empire was an attack on colonial rule. It was followed by Darkness and Light, although Ogunde does not remember writing it. This is the only play that has escaped his memory.

The first indigenous language film: Amadi. It was produced in 1975 by Afrocult Foundation Limited. So successful was it that Ajani Ogun (1976) in Yoruba language and Sheu Umar (1977) in Hausa, followed.

The first chairman of The Coalition of Nollywood Guilds and Associations (CONGA): Bond Emeruwa

BOND EMERUWA (Bsc Economics) started his career in television and film after a 3 months intensive writers workshop organized by the Nigeria Television Authority and with facilitators fromthe BBC in 1985.

A veteran of Nollywood, He went on to write and co-direct many award winning movies amongst which are, “MORTAL INHERITANCE”- A movie on the incidence of sickle cell anemia, which won 10 awards at the Nigeria Movies Awards (THEMA’97). “HEART OF GOLD”, Another multiple award winning film (THEMA’98), “ANGELS”- A movie that dealt with child labour, etc.

As an award winning director, he has worked on various developmental movies, for instance, “AMINA”- A cross-cultural film shot partly in Jos and Ogwashukwu, Delta State which, though in English language is listed by the BBC as an Hausa film. Others include “21 DAYS WITH CHRIST”, “GLORIFIED”, “WITH GOD” , “GIRLS HOSTEL”, “CHECKPOINT”- Another award winning movie for which he was voted best Nollywood Director at the 2007 Afro Nollywood awards in London. He was also one of the 6 nominees for best director at the 2008 African movie academy awards (AMAA) for the same movie. Others include “SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY” and “MOUNTAIN BLUES” which won the top prize for a feature film at the Abuja International Film Festival(2007). Another of his films, “ FREEDOM IN CHAINS”(2008) is an expose on Gender based violence and was shot in conjunction with the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA). This movie, which was screened at FESPACO 2009, is now the arrowhead for an Africa wide campaign on (Gender Based Violence) GBV. It most recently got three nominations at the 2010 edition of AMAA. The Nominations include HEART OF AFRICA BEST AFRICAN MOVIE.

His Latest film, “HIDDEN HUNGER” is in final post-production. It is a highly entertaining story that subtly exposes the dangers of Under-Nutrition and its direct relationship to poverty and Micro-Finance. It is due to be released later in the year. He was President of the Directors Guild of Nigeria DGN (2007-2011) as well as the Chairman of the Coalition of Nollywood Guilds and Associations Associations CONGA(2010 - 2013) He is married with children.

The first Nollywood-Ukrainian co-production: Feathered Dreams is Set in Ukraine, the film stars Nigerian actress Omoni Oboli and Ukrainian actor Andrey Rozhen who also directed it.

The first printing of Olaudah Equiano’s narrative: 1789

Olaudah Equiano, the first political leader of Britain's black community was born in Essaka, an Igbo village in the kingdom of Benin, in 1745. His father was one of the province's elders who decided disputes. When he was about eleven, Equiano was kidnapped along with his sister, and after six months of captivity he was brought to the coast where he encountered white men for the first time.

Sold to slave-traders, Equiano was transported to Barbados. After a two-week stay in the West Indies Equiano was sent to the English colony of Virginia. He was later purchased by Captain Henry Pascal, a British naval officer. He was renamed Gustavas Vassa, and was beaten until he answered to his new name. He stayed in London with two relatives of his master, two women who taught him to read and sent him to school. He was sold without warning to a Captain James Doran, who took him to Montserrat, and sold him to a merchant called Robert King. Equiano saved whatever money he could, and in 1766 purchased his freedom. In 1767 he went back to London, and worked closely with Granville Sharpe and Thomas Clarkson in the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Equiano spoke at a large number of public meetings where he described the cruelty of the slave trade.

Equiano was also a close friend of Thomas Hardy, secretary of the London Corresponding Society. Equiano became an active member of this political society that campaigned in favour of universal suffrage.

In 1787 Equiano helped his friend, Ottobah Cugoano, to publish an account of his experiences, Narrative of the Enslavement of a Native of America. Copies of his book were sent to George III and leading politicians. He failed to persuade the king to change his opinions and like other members of the royal family remained against abolition of the slave trade.

Equiano published his own autobiography, The Life of Olaudah Equiano the African in 1789, 'a detailed account of an African's movement out of slavery', and the most important single literary contribution to the campaign for abolition. It was highly effective in arousing public opinion. He travelled throughout England promoting the book. It became a bestseller and was also published in Germany (1790), America (1791) and Holland (1791). He also spent over eight months in Ireland where he made several speeches on the evils of the slave trade. While he was there he sold over 1,900 copies of his book. In Equiano's lifetime, his narrative went through eight British editions; six more followed in the 22 years following his death. He had won widespread recognition as principal spokesman of Britain's black community.

On 7th April 1792 Equiano married Susannah Cullen from Fordham, Cambridgeshire at St Andrew's Church, Soham in Cambridgeshire. The couple had two children, Anna Maria and Johanna. However, Anna Maria died when she was only four years old.

View marriage certificate

Olaudah Equiano was appointed to the expedition to settle former black slaves in Sierra Leone, on the west coast of Africa. However, he died on 31st March, 1797 before he could complete the task. Equiano, for his time, was exceptionally widely travelled. He had a shrewd grasp of the political realities of his day. He had a fluent pen, a persuasive tongue and absolute integrity. He was committed to the abolition of the slave trade, which he felt would move his community out of degradation to dignity. He put all his gifts and energy to the service of his community in their struggle against slavery. He made and outstanding contribution to that struggle.

The first time Nigeria will host an international arts event: The World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC January-February 1977)

The winner of the first Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant: Lynda Chuba (1986).

Lynda Chuba-Ikpeazu, also known as Lynda Chuba (born 22 June 1966), is a Nigerian politician.

The daughter of a judge and former Nigeria Football Association chairman Chuba-Ikpeazu, Lynda Chuba-Ikpeazu was educated in Nigeria, England, and in America, where she worked as a model. In 1986, Chuba-Ikpeazu was the winner of the first Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant, and thus started the trend for the domination of Igbo women in the pageant. In 1987 she was the first Nigerian in Miss Universe since Edna Park in 1964, and her biggest pageant achievement was when she was crowned Miss Africa in the same year.

After her reign, Chuba-Ikpeazu became a business woman in Lagos, specialising in oil servicing. A holder of a Bachelor's degree in communication, a Master's degree in Business Adiminstration, and another Bachelor's degree in Law, Chuba-Ikpeazu was a member of the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2003.

In 2004, Chuba-Ikpeazu became the winner of the Nigerian National Assembly election, representing Onitsha North-South federal constituency as a candidate of the People's Democratic Party.

Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria – often abbreviated as MBGN – is a pageant organised by Silverbird Group with the main purpose of sending representatives to international competitions. Originally known as Miss Universe Nigeria, it was renamed Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria after news publishers Daily Times lost its license to send delegates from rival contest Miss Nigeria to Miss World and Miss Universe.

Former publisher Ben Murray-Bruce ventured into show business after his magazine Silverbird flopped. He took a loan of N200,000 from his father which he used to organise a number of successful concerts which saw artists like Shalamar and Kool and the Gang perform in Nigeria, after which he promoted a new pageant known as Miss Universe Nigeria in 1983, but it only gained public attention in 1986 after it changed its name to Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria in 1986.

The first MBGN winner at Miss World was English language student Omasan Buwa in 1987.

Omasan Tokurbo Buwa (born c. 1965) is a Nigerian lawyer, political appointee, and free-lance magazine columnist, currently working as the Executive Assistant to the governor and technocrat of social welfare in Delta State. She has also worked as a model, television presenter, restauranteur and actress.

Buwa was born in Paddington, London, but moved to Nigeria with her mother, a civil servant and chef with the Nigerian Airways at the age of seven. She attended Government College, Ikorodu, where she was head of the Literary and Debating society and an athlete, representing her college in track and field events. She later gained admission into the University of Maiduguri to study English, and was on the books of Pandora model agency where she was hired by several designers including Dakova and Labanella.

In 1986, Buwa competed in Miss Nigeria and lost to Stella Okoye, but achieved greater success when she represented Warri in the second Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant in 1987. As the contest had taken place late in the year, Buwa ruled for most of 1988, but quickly gained a reputation as MBGN's most unconventional winner and was described as a tomboy by the Nigerian press. After representing Nigeria in Miss Universe, Miss Intercontinental, and Miss World in 1988, she returned to the University of Maiduguri but was suspended by the institution's predominantly Muslim authority who were enraged at her decision to compete in a pageant, forcing her to withdraw from her course.

Buwa is a single mother of two boys and a girl. Not surprising is the humanitarian gene her boys, the Odumosu twins, have inherited: they organized and held charity/dance events to raise money for the less privileged. Tagged RISE (1and 2), it is the Lagos State equivalent of their mother's pet project, which she has run in DELTA state in view of incorporating a social welfare system as well as inclusion into society for persons with disabilities.

The first mixed-race winner of Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria: Emma Komlosy (who reigned for the longest period in MBGN history from 1996–1998,and to date remains MBGN's only mixed-race winner)

Aret Kapetanovic (born Emma Komlosy) is a British singer/songwriter, actress, model, and producer.

The daughter of entertainer Patti Boulaye and entertainment manager Stephen Komlosy, Kapetanovic was raised in the United Kingdom, but briefly lived in Nigeria with her grandparents. As a child, she was a British Junior Backstroke Champion. In 1996, while on holiday in Nigeria, Kapetanovic - then known as Emma Komlosy - became the first mixed-race winner of Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (her father Stephen is of Hungarian descent) and represented Nigeria at Miss World in India. As no MBGN contest was held in 1997, Kapetanovic held the title for nearly two years.

After obtaining a Law degree from the University of Westminster in 2003, Kapetanovic ventured into show-business. She briefly worked for her mother as a back-up singer before co-producing the musical Sundance. In 2005, she was signed to Sony BMG as a singer/songwriter, and wrote and performed several songs, including "Into the Blue", which was used in the film Silence Becomes You, in which she had a cameo, and "Disconnected", which was recorded by Will Young. Prior to this, she had a modelling deal with Premier Model Management, and worked in fashion shows, music videos, and commercials. She has since featured in some low budget movies including The Sea Change and Solomon with Ben Cross, and sung with dance act Glide and Swerve.

In 2013, Kapetanovic was a contestant on The Voice UK, but was not picked by the judges.

The first Nigerian to win the Muslim Miss World pageant: Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola of Nigeria crowned in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Muslim Miss World: Nigerian contestant crowned in beauty pageant held to oppose mainstream Miss World contest in Bali. The Miss Muslimah World organised by World Muslimah Foundation.

The Muslim women's group said it was an 'Islamic response' to Miss World. The contest featured 20 modestly dressed women from Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Brunei, Nigeria and Bangladesh. The final of traditional Miss World contest takes place in Bali on 28 September.

British Embassy has advised caution amid possibility of terror attack and warned that extremist groups may be planning to attack the event.

The first time Highlife music was identified as a Music Genre in Nigeria: 1920s. It developed out of the Palm Wine Music style.

The first bottle of STAR lager sold in Nigeria: Lagos in July 1949 by Nigerian Breweries, which was established in 1946.

The first Nigerian to really commercialise home movies: Kenneth Okonkwo in Living in Bondage.

The first Nigerian to direct a movie in Hollywood: Thomas Ikimi

Thomas Ikimi was born in 1979 in Westminster, London. He attended primary school in Nigeria, prep and public school in England, and university in America. He holds a literature and writing degree from Columbia University, New York.

In 2002, in his sophomore year, Thomas wrote, produced, and directed the existential thriller 'Limbo'. It was a student feature film made for $9,000 on his credit card, that went on to become an Official Selection of the 2005 Taormina Film Festival in Sicily, Italy after playing at the Cannes Film Market. It was not part of his degree and this did not count towards his university credits.

After graduation, Thomas moved back to London and worked on screenplays for producers. In 2007, while working shifts at his local electronics store, Thomas began work on writing 'Legacy' a film he would go on to co-edit, produce, and direct. It starred Golden Globe-winner Idris Elba, and Thomas raised the $500,000 budget himself.

Legacy premiered at the 2010 Tribeca FIlm Festival, and on the festival circuit that followed, garnered the Best Film Award at the American Black Film Festival, was nominated for Best UK Feature at the Raindance Film Festival in London, was nominated for a British Independent Film Award, won Best Director at the London Screen Nation Awards 2011, and was picked up for distribution in both the US and UK with limited theatrical releases in both countries.

Thomas now lives in Los Angeles, working on his projects.

The first black person to buy the 2014 model of Bentley: The Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom in Ondo state and chairman of Obat Oil, Oba Fredrick Obateru Akinruntan

Oba Akinruntan also has a custom built 2012 Rolls Royce similar to that of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Germans appear to have been the first to record on-site in West Africa. They were in Nigeria ca. 1930-1931, and issued discs on the Parlophon label, which are now very scarce (although some excellent examples were reissued on the American Decca label 12+ years later).

Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu (born Bianca Odinaka Olivia Onoh, August 5 1967) is a Nigerian businesswoman and lawyer, best known as the first African to win Miss Intercontinental. Formerly Nigeria's Senior Special Assistant on Diaspora Affairs and the country's ambassador to Ghana, she is now Nigeria's ambassador to Spain.

The sixth child of former Anambra governor Christian Onoh, Odumegwu-Ojukwu was educated in Enugu and Yorkshire, but spent most of her childhood in rural Udi. She obtained her A-Levels from Cambridge Tutorial College, and soon began a combined honours degree in Politics, Economics and Law at the University of Buckingham, but transferred to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka as her father, who was from a family of lawyers, wanted his children to join his firm in Nigeria and insisted she concentrated solely on Law. Following her graduation she attended the Nigerian Law School which eventually led to her call to the bar.

In December 1988, Odumegwu-Ojukwu was crowned Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, but reigned for most of 1989, during which she represented her country in Miss World and Miss Universe, but achieved greater success at Miss Intercontinental 1989 and was named Miss Congeniality at the now defunct Miss Charm International in Russia where she was also a semi-finalist.

After graduating from Law School, Odumegwu-Ojukwu briefly practised the profession before quitting, and divided her time between her home, her cosmetics business Bianca Blend and her interior decorating outfit Mirabella. Although she had stated in interviews her disdain for modelling in the past, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu has fronted an advertising campaign for Bianca Blend. She also established the non-government organisation Hope House Trust, centered towards rehabilitating juvenile offenders in Enugu. In 2011, she was appointed Senior Special Assistant on Diaspora Affairs by president Goodluck Jonathan, and in 2012 she was named Nigeria's ambassador to Spain.

Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu was married to the Ojukwu until his death in 2011; the couple had children together.

Regina Askia-Williams (born Imaobong Regina Askia Usoro, Lagos, Nigeria, 1967) is a Nigerian-born, American-based registered nurse (RN), healthcare and educational activist, television producer, writer, and public speaker, who found fame as an actress and model.

In 1988, Askia-Williams - a former Medical student who had transferred from the University of Calabar to the University of Lagos - was crowned Miss Unilag. That same year, she competed in the MBGN 1988 contest. Though she was highly tipped to win the contest by the audience and the outgoing Miss Intercontinental, Joan Maynard, she placed second. However, she became titleholder the following year when winner Bianca Onoh resigned. In 1990, Askia-Williams represented Nigeria at Miss Charm International held in Leningrad, Russia, and came second. She also made history by becoming the first Nigerian at Miss International in Japan, where she made an impact with the most outstanding traditional costume.

After gaining public recognition in Nigeria as a beauty pageant winner, Askia-Williams began a modelling career. As a model, Askia-Williams appeared in several Nigerian print and television commercials including Kessingsheen Hair Care, boutique chain Collectibles, and most famously, Visine. She also worked on several runway shows. In 2007, she modelled for the 2000-N-Six face cleansing range alongside her daughter, model Stephanie Hornecker. In 2005 she hosted a fashion show at the Nigerian Embassy in New York City to raise awareness for the plight of children's social amenities in Nigeria, and in 2006, she hosted a charity fashion show at Lehman College in the Bronx, New York, which displayed the creations of top African designers and her own label Regine Fashions.

Askia-Williams's acting break came in 1993, when she played gold-digger Tokunbo Johnson in Nigerian soap Fortunes (later Mega Fortunes) on NTA Network, a role which earned her critical acclaim and roles in Nollywood movies. She has received several awards for her performances - including one for "Best Actress in Nigeria" by Afro Hollywood London in 2000 - and has produced several television shows and films.

Askia-Williams starred in several "Nollywood" films during the 1990s and early 2000s, most of which were filmed to be released directly to video, reaching a wide audience in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa such as Tanzania and Ghana. She became one of Nigeria's biggest acting celebrities. Askia-Williams' films, and other Nollywood films are regularly broadcast by Nigerian television networks, including ITV, StarTV, and the state broadcaster TVT. Askia-Williams was compared to Elizabeth Taylor for her fame, and was paid around N300,000.00 for a starring role, on par with other top Nigerian actresses.

A graduate of the University of Lagos with a degree in Biology, she recently became a registered nurse, pursuing not in citation given studies in the United States at the PhD level. Askia-Williams still works on promoting greater collaboration between Africa and its diaspora with her fashion shows as well as medical missions to Africa. She co-hosts an Internet broadcast discussion program, African Health Dialogues. The program covers such topics as the effectiveness of mobile medical clinics in Africa. Her written articles have also appeared online, and in the "Saturday Clinic" series in the Nigerian newspaper This Day.

Askia-Williams is married to American Rudolph 'Rudy' Williams, nephew of Ron Everette and grandson of Fess Williams; together the couple have two children - daughter Teesa Olympia and son Rudolph Junior. Askia-Williams's other daughter, model Stephanie Hornecker, is from a previous relationship. She currently lives in America with her family, and is now a registered nurse (RN) practicing in New York City.

Nike Oshinowo (born Adenike Asabi Oshinowo, c. 1968) — also credited as Nike Oshinowo-Soleye — is a Nigerian entrepreneur, former pageant director, style icon, and socialite.

Oshinowo was raised in Ibadan and England, where she attended boarding school. Although she had intended to become an air hostess or a doctor, she studied Politics at the University of Essex. Shortly after obtaining her degree, Oshinowo, who was mentored by former Miss Nigeria Helen Prest-Davies, represented Rivers at the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant and became its first Yoruba winner (she was crowned in December 1990, but reigned in 1991).

On January 17, 2010, she released the workout video Nike Oshinowo: Fit, Forty and Fabulous - the first celebrity fitness DVD produced in the country - and is currently working on the beauty products which will include fragrance, skincare, and haircare.

Oshinowo, who is fluent in five languages including Japanese and French, married medical doctor Tunde Soleye in 2006, but the couple have now separated. In 2009, the couple were in the news following a lawsuit instituted by Soleye's ex-wife Funmilayo, who claimed that he had been unfaithful with Oshinowo during their marriage. In 2013, she spoke of her struggle with endometriosis which has plagued her since boarding school, and at the age of 47 she became the mother of twins via surrogacy in America.

Sylvia Ekwenibe is the first ever Miss Institute. She was crowned in a tension – soaked event at Club Vegas, Opebi Link Road, Lagos, on Sunday, September 16, 2012.

The University of Nigeria, Nsukka undergraduate studied Estate Management is from Umuabani village in Neni community, Anambra State. She is from a family of eight, including her parents.

The Miss Institution Beauty Pageant (MIBP) is for female students of all Nigerian tertiary institutions.

The winner of the crown is to become the National Tertiary Institutions Queen “Miss Institutes Nigeria”; an ambassador for beauties with brain and shall represent Nigerian tertiary institutions and the country on the global stage.

The first Nigerian to be nominated for the Grammy Awards: King Sunny Ade (1983)

"King" Sunny Adé (born Sunday Adeniyi, September 22, 1946) is a popular performer of Yoruba Nigerian jùjú music and a pioneer of modern world music. He has been classed as one of the most influential musicians of all time.

Sunny Ade: His next album, Syncro System (1983), was equally successful and earned him his first Grammy Award nomination in the folk/ethnic music category.

Sunny Adé was the first to introduce the pedal steel guitar to Nigerian pop music. He was the first to introduce the use of synthesizers, clavinet, vibraphone, tenor guitar into the jùjú music repertoire such as dub and wah-wah guitar licks. His 1998 music, Odu, a collection of traditional Yoruba songs, for which he was nominated for the second Grammy Award and thus making him the first African to be nominated twice for a Grammy.

Adé was born to a Nigerian royal family in Ondo, thus making him an Omoba of the Yoruba people. His father was a church organist, while his mother was a trader. Adé left grammar school in Ondo under the pretense of going to the University of Lagos. There, in Lagos, his mercurial musical career started.

Sunny Adé's musical sound has evolved from the early days. His career began with Moses Olaiya's Federal Rhythm Dandies, a highlife band. He left to form a new band, The Green Spots, in 1967. Over the years, for various reasons ranging from changes in his music to business concerns, Sunny Adé's band changed its name several times, first to African Beats and then to Golden Mercury.

The first Nigerian to be nominated 4-times for the Grammy Awards: Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti (born 16 June 1962), popularly known as Femi Kuti, is a Nigerian musician and the eldest son of afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti.

Femi Kuti: In 2003, Kuti picked up his first Grammy Award nomination but lost out to Panamanian salsa singer Rubén Blades. He similarly lost in 2010 when he was nominated in the same category. US banjo player Bela Fleck walked away with the award. Femi picked up his third ever nomination in the World Music Category for his ‘Africa for Africa‘ album last night Wednesday, November 30, 2011

For the fourth time, he was nominated in the ‘World Music’ category for his album ‘No Place For My Dream’ but lost out to French group Gipsy Kings and South African choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo in a tie.

Femi was born in London to Fela and Remi Kuti and grew up in the former Nigerian capital, Lagos. His mother soon left his father, taking Femi to live with her. In 1977, however, Femi chose to move in with his father. Femi eventually became a member of his father's band.

Like his father, Femi has shown a strong commitment to social and political causes throughout his career.

He created his own band Positive Force in the late 1980s with Dele Sosimi (Gbedu Resurrection), former key-board player of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. His international career began in 1988 when he was invited by the French Cultural Centre in Lagos and Christian Mousset to perform at the Festival d'Angoulême (France), the New Morning Club in Paris and the Moers Festival in Germany.

In 2001, Femi collaborated on his album Fight to Win with a number of U.S. musicians, including Common, Mos Def, and Jaguar Wright.

In 2002, Femi's mother, who had played an influential role in Femi's life, died at the age of 60. Femi's son currently appears as part of his act, playing alto saxophone.

The first African female artist to be associated with the Pepsi: Tiwatope Savage Balogun (born February 5, 1980), known by her stage name Tiwa Savage, is a Nigerian singer-songwriter, recording artist, performer, and brand ambassador for MTN Nigeria and Pepsi. She is currently signed to Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Mavin Records. She co-wrote the track "Collard Greens & Cornbread" on Fantasia Barrino’s Grammy-nominated album Back to Me. Savage is also signed to Sony Music Entertainment. She released her debut studio album, Once Upon a Time, on July 3, 2013. Savage sings in English and Yoruba.

Tiwa became the first African female artist to be associated with the Pepsi brand after signing an endorsement deal with them.

On November 23, 2013, Tiwa and Tunji "Tee Billz" Balogun held their traditional marriage at the Ark in Lekki. Nigerian businessmen and celebrities who attended the wedding include Femi Otedola, Aliko Dangote, Don Jazzy, Banky W., Rita Dominic, Davido, Lola Okoye (wife of Peter Okoye), Toolz, Eniola Badmus, Omawumi, Iyanya, King Sunny Ade, Agbani Darego, Dr SID, Toke Makinwa, and Karen Igho among others.

The first Miss Nigeria '57, when it was a photo-contest: GraceTinuke Oyelude (1957)

Grace Atinuke (born November 16, 1931) is known to be the first Miss Nigeria from the year 1957.

Oyelude was born in Kano to James Adeleye Olude and Marthan Dantu of Isanlu from Kogi State, and was raised in Northern Nigeria. She had her primary and secondary education between 1940 and 1952 in Kano.

Miss Nigeria commenced in 1957 as a photo contest. Contestants posted photographs of themselves to the Daily Times headquarters in Lagos where finalists were shortlisted. Successful finalists were afterwards invited to compete in the live final at the Lagos Island Club. At that time, the Miss Nigeria contest did not include a swimsuit competition. Oyelude was working at United African Company (UAC) when she represented the then Northern region. After winning the contest, she travelled to England where she studied Nursing. Within months of gaining admission to the School of Nursing, Ashford Kent England, she was crowned Miss Nigeria.

Nigeria's first and only Miss Independence (1960): Rosemary Anieze (1960). The Miss Nigeria contest was temporarily renamed Miss Independence to commemorate Nigeria's independence from British Rule in 1960.

Nigeria’s first semi-finalist at an international beauty contest and Miss United Nations 1963: Yemi Idowu (1962), who had won the contest in 1962 was a semi-finalist at Miss United Nations 1963.

The first Nigerian at Miss Universe in 1964: Edna Park (1964), Yemi Idowu’s successor, a salesgirl is best remembered for disrupting the show by collapsing after failing to reach the top fifteen. Park was carried away by policemen and contest officials [9] before spending the night in a Miami hospital under sedation, where she was consoled by Nneka Onyegbula, wife of the Nigerian ambassador, who reportedly stated: "All the judges are White and they aren’t really competent to judge (a) dark girl's beauty". She is also the last official Miss Nigeria at the Miss Universe contest.

The first official Miss Nigeria at Miss World in 1967: Rosaline Balogun (1967) (pictured third from left)

The first time the Miss Nigeria contest was made open to women in the diaspora: 2010

In 2010, after a six-year attempt, AOE Events and Entertainment, headed by former MBGN Nike Oshinowo bought the Miss Nigeria franchise from Daily Times. For the first time in its history, entry was open to women in the Diaspora, and inspired by Miss America, Oshinowo relaunched Miss Nigeria as a scholarship programme which offered free tuition to the winner and second and third-place winners, with the Miss Nigeria titleholder receiving a scholarship to study at any University of her choice worldwide. The new Miss Nigeria now included a reality show The Making of a Queen which saw contestants compete in various tasks synonymous with Nigerian women including cooking on outdoor firewood stoves, hostessing, and haggling with market traders, with a number of contestants facing eviction each week. Evening gowns were made from traditional African fabrics, and most notably the swimsuit competition was discontinued. Under Oshinowo's leadership, the pageant ran for two years before the franchise was given to Beth Model Management CEO and former Miss Nigeria UK Elizabeth Aisien in 2012.

The first Miss Nigeria winner with Northern Heritage: Binta Sukai (1990)

In 1990, Binta Sukai's eligibility to compete was questioned as she was rumoured to be non-Nigerian, until it was confirmed that the aspiring fashion designer was only one-quarters Scottish. Although she has been referred to as the first Northerner to win Miss Nigeria (her father was Fulani).

The first Miss Nigeria winner from the South-Eastern Region of Nigeria: Amina Ekpo (2001). She replaced Valerie Peterside dethroned for forging her age and qualifications.

The first (official) Miss Nigeria winner from the South-Eastern Region of Nigeria: Sylvia Edem (2002)

The first Nigerian Miss World contest to sponsor herself to the contest: In 1963, Gina Onyejiaka sponsored herself at Miss World after Nigeria failed to send Miss Nigeria winner Alice Aleebe; the High Commission in the United Kingdom refused to acknowledge Onyejiaka as the country's representative.

The first contestant to represent Nigeria at the Miss World contest without winning her national pageant: Morenkike Faribidio was sent to represent Nigeria at Miss World in 1969, despite not having won her national pageant.

Pictured - Top: Norway, Philippines, Seychelles, South Africa, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, U.S.A., Venezuela & Yugoslavia

Middle: Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guyana, Holland, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Liberia, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua & Nigeria

Bottom: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, France & Gambia

The first Nigerian to win the KORA awards: Adewale Ayuba

The first Nigerian Movie Star: Orlando Martins - 1935 on movie “Sanders of the River”.

The first ever Winner of “Mr Nigeria’’ 1987: Vincent Wokoma

The first winner of Mr. Nigeria organized by Silverbird Group: Bryan Okpara (1997). He won the maiden edition of Mr. Nigeria competition organized by the Ben Bruce led Silverbird Group. He reached the semi-finals in the Mister World 2007 competition for Nigeria.

The first ever winner of Mr Universe Nigeria Pageant: Allen Ukwuru. The event was held at Club Scintilla, Lagos, on Saturday, June 16, 2012.

The First Nigerian Celebrity To Have 1million followers On Twitter: Wizkid

Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, known by his stage name Wizkid, is a Nigerian recording artist, songwriter, performer, and brand ambassador for Pepsi and MTN Nigeria.

The first wedding to be conducted live on a Nigerian radio station: Mr. Olatunde Adeyinka Adehintan & Zainab Ibrahim, 96.9 CoolFm wedded a couple live in the studio and it happened live on the Midday Oasis with Dotun & Taymi (Oladotun Ojuolape Kayode & Temilola Balogun) on Valentine’s Day (14 February 2014). The wedding was streamed live on CoolFm’s website. The special Valentine radio wedding started a few minutes past 1pm.

The first ever flash mob in any airport in Nigeria (December 2013): Performed by the staff of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Terminal 2 in celebration of the season.

The first winner of the Nigerian Idol competition: Yeka Onka

On March 27, 2011, 26 year old Oneyka "Yeka Onka" Gilbert Elizabeth Onwuka from Ohafia was announced the first Nigerian Idol ever over fellow competitor and favorite-to-win Naomi Ebiama. She was awarded the sum of 7.5 Million Naira, a recording contract with Sony, a car and an all expense paid trip to South Africa. Prior of receiving a Golden Ticket in Lagos Onwuka unsuccessfully auditioned on two other occasions for the show. For the creation of the winning song the two finalists collaborated with award winning producer Jesse Jagz.

Nigerian Idol is the local version of the Idol series franchise. It is the second Idol franchise for the country as it was already part of Idols West Africa which was also shot and produced in Nigeria.

The show started with its first season in 2010, the 50th anniversary of the country with the tagline Live Your Dream. Accept No Limitation.

Auditions were open for every Nigerian between 18 and 28. The first season went on air in October 2010 and is shown on 15 different channels all across Africa.

The first Nigerian film to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF): Abeni in 2006 by Tunde Kelani's. It was followed by Faruk Lasaki's film "Changing Faces" that also premiered at the TIFF the following year. Abeni had its first public screening on September 14, 2006, at the Royal Ontario Museum. It was the first time a Nigerian movie premiered at TIFF in its thirty-one years history.

The first Nigerian artist to become a Lagos State-Nigeria ambassador for Energy: M.I. Abaga, born Jude Abaga

The first ever Google+ Hangout, connecting citizens from Lagos and fans around the world to discuss energy conservation in Nigeria was moderated by M.I. Abaga, born Jude Abaga and features the Lagos State Governor Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola

The first Eyo Masquerade Festival held in Lagos: 1854, in memory of Oba Akintoye. The participants pay homage to the Oba of Lagos and it takes place whenever occasion and tradition demand, but is usually held as the final burial rites at the death of a Lagos Oba. The festival is unique to Lagos, but is widely believed to be the forerunner of the modern day Rio Carnival, thanks to slaves from Nigeria ending up in Brazil.

The first Nigerian musician to perform at the White House: King Rokan. On getting to America, King Rokan joined ‘Bolu and the Roots of African Percussions’ based in Providence Rhode Island. This band will later perform at the White House for former President Bill Clinton in 1993. In 1994, he relocated to Atlanta to have another feel of America. It is on record that he was the first Nigerian to start a live band in Atlanta – Georgia in 1997 and the first Nigerian artiste to release an album and a promotional video the same day in America in 2001 titled ‘Rock On’.

The first European concert held in Lagos: 1861 by ‘The Academy’, a cultural and philanthropic society which included J.L. Davies and his wife (a singer and pianist) as members.

The first president of ‘The Academy’ which held the first European concert held in Lagos: Robert Campbell, a Jamaican, who later became the riches publisher in Lagos.

The first Nigerian to study music to a professional level: Robert Coker. He was trained initially at the CMS institute at Abeokuta before proceeding to England in 1880.

The first major Nigerian Highlife star: Bobby Benson. He formed his first band in Lagos in 1947. Benson was elected the first president of the Nigerian Music Union in 1960, He died in 1983. Highlife is considered the first of Nigeria’s contemporary music styles, with its origins in the 1930s in Ghana, and in Nigeria in the 1950s. E.T. Mensah, a Ghanian was the first to play Highlife music as it is known today.

The availability of Mensah’s records in Nigeria and, most significantly, his Nigerian tour of the late 1950s had a considerable influence on Nigerian musicians such as Adeolu Akinsanya, Rex Lawson and Victor Olaiya, who in the late sixties, became the pioneers of Nigerian Highlife.

first Nigerian to be appointed a Professor at Harvard Law School: Dehlia Umunna:She started working at Harvard Law School in 2007 and she is also Deputy Director and Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Institute (CJI).

Dehlia Umunna is a Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School (HLS), and the Faculty Deputy Director of the law school’s Criminal Justice Institute (CJI), where she supervises third-year law students in their representation of adult and juvenile clients in criminal and juvenile proceedings in Massachusetts Courts, including the Supreme Judicial Court. Her teaching interest and research focus on Criminal Law, Criminal Defense and Theory, Mass Incarceration, and Race Issues. She serves as a Faculty Adviser to some student organizations. Professor Umunna coaches the HLS National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy and the HLS Black Law Student Association Trial Teams, and has led them to numerous regional and national awards. In addition to her work at HLS, Professor Umunna serves as a faculty member for Gideon’s Promise (formerly the Southern Public Defender's Training Center), and is a frequent presenter at Public Defender Training Conferences and Social Justice Reform Panels around the country. She was recently appointed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to the newly-established Bar Admissions Curriculum Committee to assist in crafting the Uniform Bar Exam.

Prior to coming to Harvard, Professor Umunna spent several years at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS) as a trial attorney. At PDS, she was a felony one trial attorney, representing indigent clients in hundreds of cases from misdemeanor charges of theft, assault, and drug possession, to kidnapping, child sexual abuse, rape, and homicide. Some of her cases received nationwide media attention. She also served as faculty training attorneys under the District of Columbia Criminal Justice Act.

According to her profile on the Harvard website, from 2002 to 2007, Professor Umunna was an Adjunct Professor of Law and Practitioner in Residence at American University, Washington College of Law. She was a board member of the District of Columbia Law Students in Court Clinic, and a guest lecturer for several years at the George Washington University Law School.

Among her recognitions, Professor Umunna has received Harvard Law School’s Dean’s Award for Excellence, in acknowledgment of her outstanding service to the HLS community where she has excelled as a student supervisor, staff manager, lecturer, coach, and mentor, and the Southern Public Defender Training Center Outstanding Faculty Mentor of the Year Award.

Professor Umunna is a member of the Massachusetts, Maryland, and District of Columbia Bar Associations. She holds a B.A. in Communications from California State University, a Masters in Public Administration (MC) from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a JD from George Washington University Law School, where she was awarded the J.B. Shapiro Prize for Public Interest ($10,000). Her article “Rethinking the Neighborhood Watch: How Lessons from Nigerian Villages Can Creatively Empower Communities to Assist Low-Income, Single Mothers In America,” was recently published in AM. U. J. GENDER, SOC. POL'Y & L. (Volume 20, Number 4). She is the very proud mother of daughter, Ifeanyi, and son, Edozie.

First Nigerian to play a regular crew member of a star Trek Series:Oyin Oladejoi

born 23 September is an actress who plays the role of Operations officer Joann Owosekun (as well as her mirror universe counterpart) on Star Trek: Discovery. She is from Nigeria, born in Ibadan then raised in Lagos, and is currently based in Toronto. who appeared as Lieutenant Junior Grade Joann Owosekun in the Star Trek: Discovery episode "Context Is for Kings," is a Toronto-based actress who hails from Nigeria. After graduating from Humber College`s Theatre Performance Program, Oladejo has amassed such in plays, films and shows as In This World, A Doll's House, Tomorrow, Love and Pond.