Made in Benue

🎤 The Euphonic with Lady Pesh
2025-11-25 17:00 - 2026-02-03 13:30 UTC | formal fish world, old GRA, makurdi, Benue, 970101, Nigeria
🎤 The Euphonic with Lady Pesh📅 25th November 2025📍 Precious Event Center
Get ready for an extraordinary night of rhythm, soul, and unforgettable performances as Lady Pesh takes the stage for The Euphonic. 🎶✨Experience pure musical brilliance, electrifying energy, and the magic that happens when passion meets sound.
If you’re a true lover of good music — this is where you need to be.🎟 Don’t miss it!
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Woman Crush Wednesday: Devaan Hanmation-Mom
2025-11-25 08:00 - 17:00
In the busy heart of Abuja, where the capital’s noise often overshadows moments of quiet determination, Devaan Hanmation-Mom moves with the understated grace of a woman who has long understood that true influence blooms not from spotlights, but from the fertile soil of consistent example. Known affectionately as “Mom Devaan” to those whose lives she has touched, this Tiv daughter of Benue State embodies a rare fusion of media savvy, developmental foresight, and moral fortitude. At 48, she stands as a senior producer at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), yet her legacy extends far beyond the studio—into the digital realms where she quietly redirects the trajectories of young women toward paths lined with integrity, resilience, and unyielding self-worth.
Devaan’s story starts in the warm, sunlit classrooms of Makurdi, the quiet riverside city where many young dreams first take shape. Born on April 9 to a public servant father and a mother who served as a chief nursing officer, she grew up in a home where service to others wasn’t preached—it was lived.
She began her schooling at Nativity Private School before moving on to Mount Carmel College in 1989. There, she went through the familiar mix of teenage pressure and academic discipline, eventually earning her SSCE and WAEC certificates. Those years didn’t just shape her intellect; they sparked her interest in how communication can shift mindsets and move communities.
In 1997, she completed her BSc in Mass Communication at Benue State University, Makurdi—a degree that opened her up to the world of stories, people, and the impact that honest communication can make. Years later, determined to keep stretching herself, she earned an MSc in Management from the University of Liverpool. That experience broadened her outlook, blending the grounded confidence of her Nigerian roots with a wider, global understanding of how organisations and people work.
If education forged Devaan’s intellect, her career honed it into a blade of quiet disruption. Entering NTA in 1998 as a fresh-faced newscaster, she navigated the network’s labyrinthine stations—reporting from the frontlines, presenting with poised authority, and producing segments that captured Nigeria’s pulsing narratives—until 2009. Those eleven years were no mere apprenticeship; they were a masterclass in ethical journalism, where she learned to amplify marginalized voices without compromising the truth’s delicate balance. Transitioning seamlessly into development work, she served as an Interactive TV Trainer for the BBC World Service Trust (a DFID-funded initiative) from 2009 to 2011, then as Information, Education, Communication & Training Coordinator at Abt Associates (USAID-backed) in 2012-2013. Her roles expanded: Pioneer Program Manager at the Poverty and Associated Maladies Alleviation Initiative in 2013, and Project Officer for the Federal Capital Territory Community and Social Development Project (World Bank-assisted) until 2018. Today, as Managing Director of Firmus Communication Ventures and a senior NTA producer, Devaan bridges broadcast legacy with entrepreneurial innovation, her desk a nexus of policy, media, and mentorship.
Yet it is in her social tapestry that Devaan’s influence truly unfurls—a woman of Tiv heritage, married to Rommy Mom, Benue’s first lawyer from the Utange community in Ushongo Local Government Area. In a nation where ethnic loyalties can fracture as easily as they bind, she navigates these waters with the poise of a cultural custodian, her home a haven of familial warmth amid Abuja’s frenetic pace. Her social position is not one of ostentatious privilege but of earned reverence: an accredited management trainer whose workshops draw aspiring leaders, a writer whose op-eds dissect societal ills—from misogyny in popular culture to the ethical quagmires of celebrity justice—with surgical empathy. In Benue’s communal ethos, where “Mom” evokes maternal wisdom rather than formality, she is a bridge-builder, her voice a steady current drawing youth toward collective upliftment.

At the core of Devaan’s ethos lies her crowning quiet revolution: Mocha Beauty Monthly Digital Pageant, the world’s first such contest, launched in 2014 to democratize beauty beyond the red-carpet exclusivity of yore. In a landscape where traditional pageants often prioritize glamour over substance, Mocha flips the script— a virtual arena where contestants, aged 18 to 35, vie not through lavish gowns or high-stakes swimsuits, but through narratives of resilience, intellect, and community impact. Each monthly winner receives a N350,000 grant (about $700 USD), not as a prize for poise alone, but as seed capital for dreams deferred: funding small businesses, educational pursuits, or advocacy projects that echo moral imperatives like tenacity and ethical entrepreneurship. Devaan birthed this amid Nigeria’s economic churn, observing how conventional beauty rituals sidelined rural talents or those without means. “We celebrate beauty in a non-traditional format,” she explains, “to discover and empower those who might otherwise remain unseen.” It’s a model of modesty incarnate: no catwalks, no controversies—just raw stories judged on authenticity, fostering a sisterhood where winners mentor the next cohort, passing on lessons in perseverance and purpose.
This is Devaan’s masterstroke: modeling a life where modesty is not diminishment, but amplification. In her NTA segments and training sessions, she charts young minds toward moral north stars—urging journalists to prioritize truth over sensationalism, development workers to measure success in lives transformed rather than metrics alone. Her pageant alumni, from budding entrepreneurs in Benue to activists in Lagos, credit her not for fame, but for the invisible scaffolding of self-belief: “She taught us that true beauty is the quiet choice to uplift others,” one winner shared in a 2020 testimonial. In an age of Instagram-filtered facades, Devaan Hanmation-Mom reminds us that power lies in the unadorned: a Tiv mother’s whisper, carrying the weight of generations, guiding Nigeria’s daughters—and sons—toward horizons where virtue, not vanity, defines victory.
As global eyes turn to Africa’s rising voices, Devaan’s story is a beacon for international audiences: proof that in the Global South’s complex weave, one woman’s modest stride can realign a nation’s moral compass. In her words, from a 2020 reflection that resonates today, “Never allow today’s challenges to overwhelm you”—a mantra she lives, and one the world would do well to heed.

Terver Bossua: The Man Who Refused to Let Benue Stay Broken
2025-11-24 08:00 - 17:00
If you ever find yourself in Makurdi on a hot afternoon, look for the quiet guy in a simple shirt, sleeves rolled up, listening more than he talks. That’s probably Terver Bossua. People here just call him Trevor. To them, he’s not a “visionary leader” or a “transformative CEO.” He’s the boy from town who came back and started fixing things, one stubborn problem at a time.
Terver grew up in a house full of teachers, where dinner conversations were about lesson notes and the price of fertilizer. Benue has always been called Nigeria’s food basket, but by the time he was a teenager, the basket had holes in it—farmer-herder clashes, flooded farms, young men with nothing to do but fight or flee. He studied accounting at Benue State University, not because he loved numbers, but because he hated waste. Waste of land, waste of people, waste of chances.
He started at the Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC) in the accounts department, the kind of place people used to joke had more cobwebs than cash. He moved up slowly, learning every corner of the place. When he finally took the top job, nobody threw a party. They just watched to see if the quiet accountant could do anything with a company everyone had written off.
He could.
In 2018, he talked the American embassy into trusting a bunch of restless Benue kids with small loans and training. Hundreds learned how to turn sesame seeds into oil, how to sell yam flour online, how to run a business instead of picking up a gun. Many of those businesses are still running today.
Then came the harder part. Over two million people displaced inside their own state, living in camps with plastic roofs and no tomorrow. In 2025, Terver and his team put together a plan that sounded crazy at first: use BIPC to build farms, factories, and houses for the people everyone else had forgotten. Solar pumps, processing plants, proper roads into the villages. They’ve already brought thousands of families home and put food back on land that had grown only sorrow.
He still signs every cheque himself, still answers his own phone, still shows up at village meetings in the same dusty Hilux. When “Made in Benue”—the big end-of-year party that celebrates everything the state has produced—needed money and muscle, he gave both. Year after year. No speeches, no photo ops, just quiet support because he believes a people who stop celebrating themselves will soon stop fighting for themselves.
Benue is still a hard place. The fights aren’t over, the roads are still bad, and the rains don’t always come on time. But because one man refused to accept that things had to stay broken, more children go to bed with full stomachs, more young people have a reason to stay, and more old people dare to hope again.
That’s all. No grand titles needed.
Just Trevor, doing what he came home to do.

Chorkwagh Invasion Campus Tour
2025-11-21 10:00 - 18:00

Men's Fashion Week
2025-11-19 16:00 - 2025-11-20 16:00 | formal fish world, old GRA, makurdi, Benue, 970101, Nigeria
Join us for the official opening of eco-TRAFFIC
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Woman Crush Wednesday: Meet Pauline Atser, the Nurse Who Sings Hope
2025-11-15 08:00 - 17:00
Deep in Benue State, Nigeria’s “Food Basket,” where green fields stretch wide and the Benue River flows gently, lives a woman who heals with both medicine and music. Her name is Pauline Atser. By day, she is a senior lecturer in nursing at Benue State University. By night and on weekends, she is a gospel singer, a child evangelist, and a youth counselor. To many in her community, she is simply “Aunty Pauline”—a kind voice that teaches, sings, and prays.
Pauline is from the Tiv people, one of the largest groups in Benue. The Tiv are known for their love of storytelling, dance, and strong family ties. Growing up in this rich culture, Pauline learned early that music is more than entertainment. It is a way to share faith, lift spirits, and bring people together.
From Classroom to Choir
Pauline worked hard to become Dr. Pauline Ngufan Atser. She earned a PhD and now teaches nursing students how to care for the sick with skill and love. But her heart has always been in two places: the hospital ward and the church stage.
As a nurse, she knows pain is not just in the body. Sometimes it’s in the heart. That’s why her songs feel like a warm hug. She sings about God’s love, healing, and hope—things she sees every day in her work and her faith.
Her Music Journey
Pauline has been singing since time antiquity; however, she started sharing her songs online around 2015. That year, she released four albums that touched many hearts:

Zege-Tor – Sung mostly in Tiv, full of local beats and praise.
You Are Worthy – Simple English songs that lift up God’s name.
In Your Presence – Soft, peaceful music to help people feel close to God.
My Nigeria – A short album with powerful messages like “God Heal Our Land,” “Love One Another,” and “Fight Corruption.”

These songs came out at a time when Nigeria needed hope. After the 2015 elections, many felt worried about the future. Pauline’s voice became a calm call for unity and change.
In 2021, during the tough days of COVID-19, she released I Hail You. The launch event was held at NKST High Level Church in Makurdi. People danced, clapped, and cried. It wasn’t just an album—it was a celebration of survival and faith.
More Than a Singer
Pauline doesn’t just sing. She mentors young musicians like Benedict Bako, who now makes gospel music in local languages. She talks to children and teens about staying strong, avoiding trouble, and trusting God. In a state where fights between farmers and herders have hurt many families, her song “Love One Another” feels like a prayer for peace.
She also speaks up about real problems—corruption, joblessness, and mental health. As a nurse, she knows stress can make people sick. As a Christian, she believes prayer and love can help heal.
Why Her Story Matters
In big cities like Lagos, gospel stars get bright lights and big stages. But in places like Benue, singers like Pauline touch lives in quieter ways—at village churches, school events, and family gatherings. Her music may not trend worldwide, but it changes lives where it’s needed most.
Over 60% of music listened to in Nigeria is gospel. That’s a big number! And women like Pauline are a huge part of it. They sing in their own languages, tell their own stories, and keep culture alive.
Pauline Atser is proof that you don’t need fame to make a difference. With a stethoscope in one hand and a microphone in the other, she shows that care and faith go together.
One line from her song My Nigeria says it all: “God heal our land.”
She doesn’t just sing it. She lives it—every day, in every song, in every life she touches.

Man Crush Monday: Arc. Otsenye Egyekwenye
2025-11-14 08:00 - 17:00
Some men don’t announce their arrival; they rearrange the skyline.
On the 12th of June, 1980, in the Etulo cradle of Buruku, a boy named Otsenye slipped into the world like a blueprint tucked into the earth’s pocket. His father, Builder James Shadzi Otsenye, laid bricks with the same certainty he used to name his son. His mother, Madam Rose, poured quiet steel into his marrow. From them, he inherited not just blood, but gravity—the kind that pulls possibility downward until it hardens into form.
He learned early that education is a kind of scaffolding. At College Practicing School, Katsina-Ala, he mastered the alphabet of curiosity. WM Bristow and Government College sharpened his edges. By 1998, he walked out of secondary school carrying a mind already drafting futures. The University of Jos became his cathedral: B.Sc. in 2006, M.Sc. in 2009. Architecture wasn’t a degree; it was permission.
Now watch him move.
He doesn’t collect titles—he weaponizes them. Associate of the Nigerian Institute of Architecture. Fellow of the Institute of Professional Managers. Africa Institute of Strategic Managers. Chartered Institutes of Project, Environment, Contract, Facility. Each fellowship is a blade in a quiet arsenal. He honed them at Zihabit and Binga Synergy, learning how concrete behaves when ambition is poured into it.
Then he built his own altar: O&A Hitech Limited. Not a company—a movement in hard hats. From Abuja’s gleaming arteries to the red-dust pulse of Benue, Taraba, Plateau, his firm rises like a rumor made solid. NEXIM Plaza: a glass hymn to trade. TETFUND Headquarters: a fortress for knowledge. Comfort Suswam Hostel: dormitories where dreams learn to stand upright. Taraba Presidential Lodge: power given geometry.
But here’s where the story bends.
Egyekwenye doesn’t just build for people—he builds through them. A crusader in steel-toe boots, he funnels profit into the veins of the forgotten: scholarships for girls who’ve never seen a university gate, boreholes in villages that pray for rain, clinics where elders reclaim their breath. He calls it “the Benue and Nigeria Project,” but it’s simpler than that: repairing the world, one rebar at a time.
Faith is his silent co-pilot. N.K.S.T. pews hold the echo of his prayers. At home, Dorcas Petpe—his wife of fourteen years—keeps the hearth where three children learn that love, like load-bearing walls, must be tested.
He is not loud. He doesn’t need to be. When he speaks, blueprints listen. When he walks, foundations shift. In a nation of noise, he is the rare architect who understands: the most revolutionary structures are the ones that hold.
Arc. Otsenye Egyekwenye is not rising.
He is arrival.

WomanCrushWednesday:Tarkaa Shidoo – The Quiet Frequency That Rewires Futures
2025-11-12 08:00 - 17:00
On this Woman Crush Wednesday, we turn the spotlight on a woman whose presence defines poise and purpose — Shidoo Tarkaa, the undisputed Queen of the Benue Airwaves.
At a time when noise often drowns out substance, she remains the calm in the storm — steady, principled, and unshaken. Shidoo doesn’t just hold a mic; she commands respect, setting a rare standard of consistency, grace, and quiet power in a world too quick to trade them for trends.
When we think of the kind of storytelling that transcends local airtime and taps into the global pulse of change-making, Shidoo Tarkaa stands out. In the vibrant but often under-reported media landscape of Nigeria’s Middle Belt, she has quietly carved out a role that merits international attention.
At the heart of Tarkaa’s craft is a deeply rooted sense of place. Working at Agate Radio & Television in Makurdi, Benue State, she speaks from within a community—rather than parachuting in. As the station’s site explains, Agate is “people-driven … committed to upholding the finest traditions of professionalism defined by fairness, accuracy, equity and balance.”
Tarkaa’s significance is not simply that she is a broadcaster, but that she is a broadcaster embedded in the soil of her listeners’ lives. That alignment gives her voice the legitimacy to issue prompts like: “Today, somewhere in Guma, a girl is choosing between fear and a future.” Such a sentence does more than fill airtime—it invites collective responsibility.

More than headline-chasing, Tarkaa models media as a mechanism for social investment. Consider how, beyond her on-air presence, she engages with the structural side of change: in one reported instance, she was connected with community developmental programming via a business-grant initiative where she served as “Coordinator, Ezzycare Community Initiative.”
This dual role—on-air and community interface—means her output isn’t just read or heard, but felt and responded to. For instance: the moment a teacher pledges transport fare, or a tailor offers uniforms—those are the ripples of broadcast meeting action.

The “girl-child” focus in Benue and similar rural wards is often under-resourced and overshadowed by more visible urban narratives. In regions where educational continuation for girls is still a challenge, Tarkaa’s broadcast space becomes a subtle but essential platform. By inviting listeners to act (instead of simply reporting), she reshapes the relationship between media and gender outcomes.

Shidoo Tarkaa, for all you do within your capacity to amplify the voice of the girl child. For the embodying what many young girls out there see, respect and admire; we say thank you and we celebrate you most sincerely.

madeinbenue
2025-11-10 08:00 - 17:00
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Woman Crush Wednesday
2025-11-05 08:00 - 17:00
Meet Dr. Aisha Sulaiman Achimugu
At 51, Dr. Aisha Sulaiman Achimugu, OFR, stands as a shining emblem of purpose-driven leadership — a woman whose rise from modest beginnings in Nigeria’s Idoma heartland of Benue State to the helm of a multimillion-dollar enterprise defines resilience, intellect, and vision in motion.
Born on January 22, 1974, to retired Captain J.E. Adole and his wife, Dr. Achimugu’s formative years were grounded in discipline, education, and the belief that success must serve humanity. She attended Federal Government Girls Science College, Kuje, before earning a Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy from the University of Jos (1998), a Master’s from the University of Belize, and an Honorary Doctorate from Commonwealth University — achievements that broke barriers in male-dominated spaces and paved the way for other women in business.
A Trailblazer in Industry
Dr. Achimugu began her professional journey in the oil and gas accounting sector, where her sharp financial acumen and commitment to excellence distinguished her early on. Today, she is the Chief Executive Officer of Felak Concept Group, a thriving conglomerate with eight subsidiaries spanning engineering, maritime, oil and gas, ICT, and skills development — all contributing to national growth and generating thousands of jobs across Nigeria.
Among her major milestones is the 2025 Deep-Sea Port Project in Nigeria’s South-South region, a multi-million-dollar development positioned to revolutionize trade and logistics in West Africa. She also leads operations at Bluewave Exploration, where her commitment to sustainable oil practices underscores her forward-thinking approach to industrial leadership.
Championing Innovation and Empowerment
Beyond boardrooms and contracts, Dr. Achimugu is deeply invested in human capacity development. Through the Felak ICT Initiative, over 5,000 Nigerian youths have received technology training and career support, preparing them for roles in an increasingly digital economy. Her visionary leadership and commitment to youth advancement earned her the 2025 African Female Business Leader Award — one of many accolades recognizing her blend of enterprise and empathy.
A Heart for Humanity
In 2013, she founded the SAM Empowerment Foundation in memory of her late husband, creating a platform that continues to touch countless lives. The foundation supports widows, orphans, and patients, with notable 2025 achievements including the payment of hospital bills for 51 patients, financial empowerment for 51 widows, and scholarships for 416 students.
Her unwavering compassion has earned her numerous honors, including Philanthropist of the Year (2024) and a U.S. Lifetime Volunteer Award, solidifying her reputation as a global humanitarian with local roots.
Legacy of Inclusive Leadership
In Benue State, Dr. Achimugu’s investments continue to boost education, skills acquisition, and export development, reinforcing her lifelong dedication to community growth. Nationally, she advocates for women’s inclusion in STEM and champions a model of inclusive capitalism — one that balances profit with people, and success with service.
The Benue Echo
Ultimately, the story of Dr. Aisha Sulaiman Achimugu is one that echoes through the valleys of Benue — a story of grit refined by grace, of a woman who rose from the quiet strength of her roots to illuminate pathways for others. Her journey is not merely one of achievement, but of impact, reminding the world that greatness is not where one begins, but what one builds for others along the way.

Sights and Sounds
2025-10-27 08:00 - 17:00

Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Margaret Icheen’s Rise to Greatness
2025-10-27 08:00 - 17:00
In the sweltering heat of June 26, 1957, amid the verdant hills of Ute in Vandeikya Local Government Area, Benue State, a girl named Margaret Mwuese Icheen entered the world—a quiet arrival that would one day echo like thunder across Nigeria and West Africa. Little did her parents know that this child, raised in the fertile cradle of the Benue Valley where the river’s lifeblood nourishes yam fields and yam tubers swell like promises of abundance, would grow into a force capable of reshaping the contours of power itself. Margaret’s early years were woven from the simple threads of rural resilience: the rhythm of school bells in far-flung classrooms, the chatter of Tiv dialects under trees, and the unyielding belief that education was the great equalizer in a land where opportunities often favored the bold over the born.
As a young girl, Margaret navigated the dusty paths between villages, her curiosity as boundless as the Benue River. Born into a Tiv family where tradition whispered of communal harmony and quiet fortitude, she was no stranger to the subtle hierarchies that sidelined girls. Yet, from her first steps into formal learning at Our Lady of Apostles Primary School in Kaduna (1963–1965), followed by St. Williams Primary School in Keffi (1966–1969), she exhibited a knack for excellence that seemed almost predestined. By her teens at Gye Commercial College in Jos (1970–1974), Margaret was honing not just skills in commerce but a steely resolve, absorbing lessons in perseverance amid Nigeria’s turbulent post-colonial flux. Her higher education—a B.Ed. from the College of Education in Katsina-Ala (affiliated with the University of Jos, 1982–1985) and further studies at the University of Calabar’s Institute of Christian Studies in Mkar (1988–1990)—cemented her as an educationist extraordinaire. Teaching wasn’t merely a profession for her; it was a philosophy, a sacred duty to ignite minds in the shadows of inequality. “Education is the seed of revolution,” she would later reflect in quiet moments, her words carrying the weight of someone who had tilled those very soils.
But Margaret’s personal life bloomed in the tender interplay of love and legacy. Married to Ute John Akegh Icheen, a man whose roots in Kwande Local Government Area intertwined with her own Vandeikya heritage—making her, by marital bond, an indigene of Kwande—she built a home that mirrored her values: steadfast, nurturing, and expansive. Together, they raised two sons and two daughters, a quartet of young souls who witnessed their mother’s alchemy of domestic grace and public audacity. In the evenings, as the sun dipped below the Sahel’s horizon, Margaret balanced lesson plans with lullabies, her laughter a bridge between the hearth and the horizon. Yet, beneath this idyll simmered an restlessness—a divine discontent with the status quo. “I don’t know if it’s luck,” she once quipped with a wry smile, “but I’m always first among men.” It was this unassuming fire that propelled her from the blackboard to the ballot box
Margaret’s foray into politics was no calculated gambit but a clarion call born of conviction. By 1977, she was already shaping futures as a teacher and pay mistress at the Local Government Education Authority Primary School in Adikpo, later ascending to principal of the Women Education Centre (1991–1993). These roles honed her administrative prowess, teaching her the art of consensus in fractious councils and the power of advocacy for the marginalized. In 1994, as a ward delegate to the National Constitutional Conference under the Social Democratic Party, she tasted the thrill of national discourse—a prelude to greater stages. But it was the dawn of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic in 1999 that catapulted her into immortality.
Elected to the Benue State House of Assembly on the People’s Democratic Party ticket, Margaret didn’t just claim a seat; she seized the gavel. In a chamber thick with masculine energy and skepticism, where men in agbadas dismissed her as a novelty, she was elected Speaker—the first woman to helm a state House of Assembly not only in Nigeria but across the breadth of West Africa. The moment was electric: lawmakers, many twice her age, rising in a mix of awe and reluctance as she took the chair. She served from 1999 to 2003, navigating impeachment whispers and gender-fueled barbs with the poise of a river stone—smooth, unyielding. “Once a woman goes into politics,” she advised in a voice like polished mahogany, “there is no insult that would not come her way. But that shouldn’t deter them… Forge ahead; whatever name they tag on you, ignore them and go ahead, because once what you are doing is right, at the end of the tunnel, you will succeed.”
Her philosophy? A blend of faith, feminism, and fearlessness. Grounded in a solid “fear of God” that she credits for her moral compass—”We as women are not comfortable when associated with failure or ill-dealings, and that is why we are the best leaders, best administrators”—Margaret viewed politics not as a zero-sum game but as a symphony of shared destiny. She railed against the “male muscle” that choked women’s ascent, urging her sisters to shun financial fatalism and electoral thugs: “Most women think they can’t play politics because they don’t have the financial muscle… but when you get into a system, then you will know how to play it well.” Her tenure wasn’t flawless—resignation loomed amid political tempests in 2002—but it was transformative, chairing the North Central Speakers Forum and coordinating women’s political participation across the North Central zone and FCT. Awards cascaded like monsoon rains: the International Woman of the Year 2000 from the UK Human Rights Organization, a John F. Kennedy Fellow Doctorate from the US, and the Ambassador for Peace from the Inter-religious Federation for World Peace, among a pantheon of honors that affirmed her global stature.
Yet Margaret’s story doesn’t end in legislative halls; it pulses on the pitch. A lifelong football aficionado—her evenings often spent glued to matches, dreaming of unified cheers—she channeled that passion into action. As the pioneering female Chairman of the Benue State Football Association (the lone woman among Nigeria’s 37 chairmen), she birthed clubs in every local government, scouting talents for Lobi Stars and sponsoring trailblazers like Naija Ratels Abuja. Elected in 2022 as the first northern Nigerian woman on the Nigeria Football Federation’s Executive Committee, her mission burns bright: a female football club in every northern state, grassroots glory that outshines the men’s game. “Women’s football has the potential to surpass men’s,” she declares, her eyes alight with the same fire that once lit Benue’s assembly chambers. It’s her philosophy incarnate: excellence isn’t gendered; it’s earned through sweat and strategy.
Today, at 68, Margaret Icheen resides in Makurdi, reads voraciously, and watches football with the fervor of a convert. Her life, a mosaic of firsts—from Federal Character Commissioner to PDP leadership envoy—embodies a creed: “Women should rise to be part of the development of this country. Let us get up and be recognized as being part and parcel of the nation.”
And oh, how the Benue Valley swells with pride for its daughter. In a region where the river carves canyons of history and the people till earth with hands calloused by hope, Margaret stands as more than a pioneer—she is the valley’s beating heart. From Vandeikya’s hills to Kwande’s fields, her name is invoked in folktales and election anthems, an inspiration for every girlchild eyeing the gavel or the goalpost. The Benue Valley, with its yam-scented winds and unbowed spirit, doesn’t just claim her; it celebrates her as its eternal triumph.

Rv. Fr. Mfa Ukeyima Solomon: A Rare Kind of Priest.
2025-10-27 08:00 - 17:00
Rev. Fr. Mfa Ukeyima Solomon, born in 1976 in Benue State, Nigeria, was ordained a Catholic priest on August 14, 2004. His home parish is St. Ann’s Adikpo, and over the years, his priestly duties have taken him across various locations within Benue State, including St. Augustine’s Parish in Demekpe and currently St. Mark’s Parish at Apir, where he sits as the Zaki, Tor KSS and Chief Judge of Apir Court.
At Demekpe, Fr. Solomon distinguished himself as a dedicated parish priest, fostering community growth and stability. His work there strengthened the parish community, even as the parish evolved without outstations. He is widely respected for his hands-on pastoral care and commitment to uplifting the local faithful.
Currently serving at Apir, he continues to exude his impactful work by promoting social cohesion, peaceful coexistence, and community building. His leadership transcends spiritual duties, encompassing social and cultural advocacy. He has been actively involved in cautioning youth against societal vices and urging them towards responsible citizenship, reflecting his deep commitment to guiding Benue’s younger generation towards a positive future.
Fr. Solomon is also the convener and voice behind the cultural initiative “Kyegh Sha Shwa” (KSS), a festival that celebrates Benue’s heritage and promotes social unity. Through Kyegh Sha Shwa, he champions the rich Benue identity and advocates for the empowerment and voice of the voiceless in society. His social vision is lofty, centered on peace, unity, and moral uprightness, which he tirelessly advances through his ministry and community outreach programs.
He could be rightly described as ‘padre extraordinaire’ a priest whose intellect, love, and social uprightness embody the very ideals upheld by the Made In Benue brand. Fr. Solomon’s steadfast dedication to these causes not only promotes Benue State’s cultural identity but also fosters a strong sense of social cohesion essential for the region’s development and harmony
Today’s edition of MIB Men Crush Monday celebrates Rev. Fr. Mfa Ukeyima Solomon for his outstanding role in nurturing the soul and social fabric of Benue State, making him a reliable beacon of unity and social resilience.

Three main techniques of a joke
2022-01-15 20:00 - 2022-03-16 20:00 | Aper Aku Stadium, Aper Aku Studium, makurdi, Benue, 10118, Nigeria
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