My Companion magazine highlights opportunities for investment and trade in West Africa especially Nigeria and countries in the Co-Prosperity Alliance Zone (COPAZ) namely Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana. Other ECOWAS countries are equally looked at for economic and investment opportunities.

1. ‘MY COMPANION’-A REVIEW
(A Publication on Business and Leisure)
By Adebayo Olowo-Ake
Usually, one is admonished never to mix business with pleasure. There is
however no warning not to engage in business and leisure. In fact medical
practitioners expressly encourage business persons to ensure they rest and
play as hard as they work. It would appear as if the publishers of My
Companion totally accept this dictum and have proceeded to producing what
should perhaps rank as the first business and leisure magazine in Nigeria.
My Companion is an all-gloss, 56 –page publication designed to serve as a
companion for business and leisure, offering you opportunities to expose as
well as advance the marketing of your products and services to domestic and
foreign markets. It also provides an avenue through which you can create
awareness of your specific areas of business endeavour to the expatriate
community as well as the very influential diplomatic community accredited to
Nigeria. If we recognize that ECOWAS is headquartered in Abuja, the
peculiar and unquantifiable advantage which My Companion gives today’s
business person can be considered to be unique indeed.
The magazine has come at an auspicious time in the economic and political
life of Nigeria, as several governments take a cue from the Federal
administration to woo foreign investors with a view to creating employment
in their territories as well as growing foreign direct investment in the
country. Several Governors have made monumental achievements in this
regard, and those who readily come to mind are Governors Gbenga Daniel of
Ogun State, Donald Duke of Cross River, Saminu Turaki of Jigawa, Adamu
Mu’azu of Bauchi, Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom and Adamu Aliero of Kebbi.
These Governors have combined economic development projects with tourism
development, seemingly supporting the theme of My Companion which, as I
highlighted at the top of this commentary, is providing information on
business and leisure to a discerning critical mass. In effect, the names of
these Governors are synonymous with such projects as the new Olumo Rock
and the Bilikusu Sugbo Shrine also known as the tomb of the Queen of
Sheba; Tinapa and the Obudu Cattle Ranch and Resort; the ‘wired desert’
otherwise known as the Jigawa ICT initiative; Yankari Games Reserve; the
Ibom Golf Resort and of course, the Argungu Motor Rally as well as the
accompanying Fishing Festival.
It is no surprise therefore that My Companion has indeed found
companionship in these articulate projects designed to signpost Nigeria as an
emerging tourism powerhouse. When this is added to the rapidly growing
telecoms sector, the on-going revival of the power sector, the massively
growing oil and gas sector, where new fields are being uncovered by the day,
1

2. as well as the phenomenal growth of the Nigeria Stock Exchange, one can
better appreciate the salient importance of this magazine for the economy
and development aspiration of Nigeria at this point in time.
The location of a new United Nations city in Abuja, the massive ECOWAS
administrative and judicial infrastructure also domiciled in Abuja as well as
the large delegation of the European Union in Nigeria provide the magazine
a unique opportunity not just to expose the economic potential of Nigeria and
the growing success of Nigerian entrepreneurs, but also to provide a meeting
point between business and domestic as well as international policy makers
and institutions.
My Companion has several features, including those on what it calls
information rapid access (IRA), information and communication technology,
Nigerian news in brief, world business news, leisure, destination, investing in
a brand and a well structured set of pages on diplomacy and diplomatic fact
sheet. In this day and age when the Federal Government is working hard to
correct the often erroneous impression created about Nigeria by those few
unscrupulous citizens who engage in ungentlemanly and unladylike activities
abroad, My Companion provides comprehensive information on what it takes
to do business in Nigeria and with Nigerians, detailing key market indicators
across the oil and gas sector, ICT and telecommunications, aviation and
avionics, constructions, power and energy and of course agriculture. This
could help direct foreigners in particular towards the right channels within
the Nigerian economy. It also provides a very useful business calendar of
various business projects and activities throughout the twelve months of the
year.
In the particular edition of the magazine being presented today, the growing
importance and strategic role of Asia in global business and finance is
recognized through a featured article on Singapore. It is presented in a very
pictorial format, using a style woven around bullet points, which makes it
easy to read and to digest. The Jigawa ICT initiative also features
prominently, presenting the basic fact to those who may have heard of what
Governor Turaki has done in that flat, arid, geographical space without an
opportunity of visiting the area. For example, the Informatics Institute of the
ICT-based Kazaure University is connected to the Jigawa backbone and is
running internationally accredited programmes in partnership with
institutions in the UK and Australia, while the entire State, which until
recently had one of the most primitive telecoms infrastructure in Nigeria,
now has on ground a system that streams voice, data and video to young
people, schools, university students, as well as a confident and focused young
business elite who are growing the economy of the State.
In tourism and leisure, My Companion has a bold mission to provide
comprehensive information on what is available in the country as well as
2

3. encourage their patronage. It is incredible indeed that Nigeria, which has
more vegetation zones than Kenya and therefore more animal and plant
species has largely abandoned tourism development until the arrival of the
Obasanjo administration in 1999. Many of the national parks in the country,
such as the Borgu Game Reserve which is the traditional niche for lions, the
Kainji National Park, the Oyo National Park, the Yankari Game Reserve, to
mention just a few, were left to rot as it were until the challenge thrown by
President Obasanjo to States to seek additional sources of domestic capital
generation, what is popularly called IGR here (internally generated revenue).
My Companion is therefore rendering national service of sorts with its
dedicated features on leisure in Nigeria.
The Dead Sea is the destination of choice in the current edition of the
magazine as it splashes pictures of the exotic locations within and around the
sea. The city of Eilat is Israel’s top international resort and is also featured
prominently in this edition, with panoramic and breathtaking pictures. To
back up these features, a very revealing interview is given by His Excellency,
Mr. Yair Frommer, Deputy Ambassador of the State of Israel to Nigeria. You
need to read this interview as it provides crucial information on Israel, as
well as on Israeli-Nigerian relations.
In all, My Companion is a well-produced magazine, written in simple, easy-
to-understand language, interspersed with a lot of colourful pictures to
illustrate those stories. Its cover page is attractive and its cover price of five
hundred naira is affordable. The challenge before the publishers would be to
ensure that they remain in the market and grow their readership in such a
way as to sustain their dominance of this field of journalism. It is also
important for the magazine to have a sister-publication on the internet in
order to take full advantage of what technology has to offer publishing. One
would also like a lot more in-depth information and features on the Asian
countries particularly China, which is fast growing into a mega power. All
said and done, My Companion is indeed a worthy publication to have in your
company in these times when information is knowledge and when knowledge
can easily be translated into power. That power is what you need to take you
places in today’s global village.
I thank you for your kind attention.
Adebayo Olowo-Ake, who works for an international humanitarian
organization has written several articles and published widely.
Lagos, Thursday April 5th, 2007.
3