Nigerian singer and songwriter, Seyi Shay has opened up about the impact of her mentor, Sound Sultan’s death on her career.

She revealed that after Sound Sultan passed away in 2021, she lost the zeal to continue music.

Shay further explained that she became pregnant with her daughter around the same period, which also encouraged her to embark on a break due to the “toxic” nature of the music industry.

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“During the filming of Nigerian Idol, my mentor, also my best friend, who is like a father figure to me, and also the person who brought me to the Nigerian music industry, died. He passed away; Sound Sultan,” Seyi Shay recalls in an interview with TVC.

“When I first came to Nigeria, I was living with him and his wife in FESTAC for a year. He was the one who co-signed me and introduced me to everybody in the industry to make sure that those who were his people look out for me.

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“So, when he passed away, it was really hard for me to complete the filming but I made it to the end. What hurt the most is that I didn’t get to see him before he passed away. I was supposed to fly to see him in New York that weekend when we had a break. He asked me to bring him something specifically. It just torn me apart. I felt like I didn’t have the will to continue to do music without Sound Sultan, my peace of mind, and my mental health. So, I decided to go on a little break.

“Also, during that period, I got pregnant and I told myself there’s no way I’m going to have my child in the toxic music industry that I’m in and under the scrutiny that I was constantly under. So, I just thought I should take a break.”

Ondo State Government has suspended three senior officials for their alleged involvement in a recruitment scam tied to the recent employment of teachers in the state.

The affected officials, two directors and a deputy director, were suspended on the directive of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, pending the conclusion of an ongoing investigation into the job racketeering scandal.

Reports indicated that the officials allegedly collected between N500,000 and N700,000 from unsuspecting applicants, depending on their academic qualifications, in exchange for fraudulent appointment letters.

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The matter came to public attention after several individuals staged a protest over their exclusion from the ongoing biometric verification exercise for newly recruited teachers. Investigations later revealed that many of the protesters had presented forged appointment documents.

In a statement issued by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Prince Ebenezer Adeniyan, the government clarified that the aggrieved protesters were not among the over 2,000 teachers legitimately recruited and already deployed across the state.

Adeniyan disclosed that internal investigations confirmed that the three officials at the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, had colluded with external collaborators to issue counterfeit appointment and posting letters to unsuspecting applicants in exchange for money.

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“The attention of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been drawn to reports of a protest by individuals claiming they were unjustly excluded from the SUBEB recruitment process.

“To be clear, those protesters were not genuine employees but victims of fraud who were issued fake letters after paying money to scammers. They were exposed during biometric verification and informed that their documents were invalid.

“Disciplinary action has already been taken against the three SUBEB insiders found to have conspired with outsiders in defrauding applicants,” Adeniyan stated.

The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has sought the partnership of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on engagement opportunities for some ex-agitators and beneficiaries of the programme.

This was contained in a statement issued by Mr Igoniko Oduma,
Special Assistant on Media to the Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme, and made available to newsmen.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NCC in Abuja, Dr Aminu Maida, the PAP Administrator, Dr Dennis Otuaro, said that the commission’s support would bolster the PAP’s post-training empowerment scheme.

Otuaro said there are ex-agitators and beneficiaries of the programme with the requisite qualifications and skills that the commission can employ, adding that this would enable them to contribute to national growth and development.

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According to him, there are many of them who have successfully completed their formal educational and vocational training in relevant fields as part of the PAP’s effort at human capacity development.

He described them as potential human resources that can be harnessed for the socio-economic advancement of the Niger Delta and indeed the country.

The PAP helmsman said, “We are on a mission to seek support and collaboration with government agencies like the NCC to see how some of them can be engaged so that they can contribute their quota to national development.

“The whole scope of the programme centres on national and human security where the beneficiaries are trained in formal education and vocational skills, including information technology. Many persons have been trained in various professional fields.

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“So far, we have over 18000 persons that have been trained. These are potential human resources that should be harnessed for national development. By the design of the programme, we have the post-training, employment and empowerment component.

“So we have an army of human resources that will contribute to national growth when engaged. We also have persons with doctors of philosophy (PhDs) that can be easily engaged, and that is the essence of the human capacity development that we carry out.”

In his remarks, the NCC boss expressed the commission’s commitment to providing support and equal opportunities to people without bias, stressing that there should also be evidence of value from interventions.

Maida said the commission was poised to carry out its mandate as a regulatory agency while ensuring access to digital connectivity by all citizens.

He, however, called for infrastructure security against vandalism to protect digital assets and sustain digital connectivity across the country.