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Federal Government says the National Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos State, which is under renovation, will be known as Lagos Creative and Entertainment Center, upon completion, according to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this on Tuesday in Madrid, Spain while signing an agreement on Nigeria’s hosting of first Global Conference on Cultural Tourism and Creative Industry.
The bilateral agreement was signed between Nigeria and United Nations World Tourism Organisation at the organisation’s headquarters.
Mohammed disclosed that the global conference, which would hold from November 14 to 17, would be the first event to be staged at the newly refursbished edifice.
“Nigeria will be hosting the event at the National Theatre in Lagos, which is currently being renovated at a cost of 100 million dollars under a partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Bankers’ Committee/Central Bank of Nigeria.
“It is the first of such renovation of the iconic edifice in over four decades.
“In addition to the renovation, new hubs are being constructed, within the premises of the National theatre, for fashion, Information, technology, film and music.
“With that, the National Theatre is now known as the Lagos Creative and Entertainment Centre.
“In addition, the Lagos surface rail system to serve the National Theatre will be commissioned ahead of the Global Conference,” he said
Mohammed said the signing of the bilateral agreement signified Nigeria’s commitment to host the event.
He, therefore, directed that the contractors handling the reconstruction project must ensure its prompt delivery for the global event.
The minister added that in an effort to ensure that the complex is ready for the hosting in November, he recently undertook an inspection tour of ongoing work there with stakeholders.
The stakeholders on the inspection tour, according to the minister, were Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu; Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele and Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare.
According to the minister, there was every indication that the venue will be ready early enough to host the global conference.
Nigeria Ambassador to Spain, Ademola Seriki, who said he is a member of Board of Directors of the company handling the reconstruction project, said the edifice would be completed before the global event.
Seriki, who accompanied the minister to the bilateral agreement signing ceremony, thanked the UNWTO for giving Nigeria the right to host the maiden global conference.
He said the conference would bring a huge reputation to the country and assert Nigeria’s lead in music, theatre and other areas of entertainment in Africa.
The National Theatre, an iconic centre for performing arts, was established to preserve, present and promote arts and culture in Nigeria.
Construction of the monument was completed in 1976 in preparation for the Festival of Arts and Culture hosted in 1977.
There was panic at Ungwan Bulus in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State as bandits killed three of the 26 villagers abducted on March 21, 2022, the Daily Trust reports.
After abducting them, the bandits had demanded N20 million ransom for each of the captives.
The bandits executed three of the victims on Monday night, threatening to kill more by 12 noon on Tuesday if their demands were not met.
The Chief of Ungwan Bulus, Gideon Haruna Goni who confirmed the killing of the three victims said the bandits called the community to inform that they should pick the corpses around Dutse Community along the Kaduna-Abuja highway.
The Chief said the corpses had been retrieved, adding that the bandits said if the family failed to pay N20 million each for other captives before 12pm on Tuesday (April 19, 2022), the remaining victims would be killed.
“We came together as a community, raised some amount and they called us and told us to pick corpses of victims from Dutse. They threatened to kill more, especially women, if their demands are not met. 26 were abducted, one was released, three were killed,” he said.
He explained that the person, who was released was considered on health grounds.
The chief, who appealed to the abductors not to kill any of the victims, pleaded with the state and federal government to come to their aid.
State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Jalige Mohammed, didn’t pick his calls as at the time of filing this report.
Three persons have been killed, while several others sustained injuries in an explosion that occurred in Iware community of Taraba state, the Cable reports.
The incident occurred on Tuesday at a drinking spot within the Iware cattle market axis.
Usman Abdullahi, Taraba police spokesperson, who confirmed the incident, said the explosion is suspected to have been caused by an improvised explosive device (IED).
“Three people were killed in the explosion, while 19 people were injured,” he said.
“The explosion is suspected to have been caused by an improvised explosive device which detonated at the market area.
“You know the history. Iware is a prominent market that has about three markets. We have the cattle market, where cattle and other animals are sold, and we have another market where people sell and buy grains and other stuff.
“We also have an attached market at the outskirts of the town which is where the locals drink. The unfortunate accident happened at the joint market where people were busy drinking.”
He added that an investigation into the incident has begun, while security operatives have been deployed to the area.
Meanwhile, the development comes days after gunmen attacked a mosque in Maisamari community in Sardauna LGA of Taraba and killed Abdulkadir Sufiyanu, the district head.
Days before the attack on the mosque in Maisamari, several residents were kidnapped when gunmen invaded a mosque in Bali Jali village of Taraba state as worshippers were breaking their fast.
The Lagos State Police Command has invited all parties involved in the alleged sexual abuse of a 10-year-old primary six pupil of Chrisland Schools located in the Victoria Garden City area of the state, the Vanguard has reported.
The Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, on Tuesday said that all parties involved in the matter have been directed to report to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, today.
Giving an update on the matter, Hundeyin said, “All the parties involved have been invited to the State Criminal Investigation Department Panti today to give a written statement and further questioning will be done.”
The parties involved include the school’s head teacher, G.I. Azike; and the parents of the female pupil who alleged that their daughter was sexually abused during the school’s participation in the World School Games at Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Though the school management said the female pupil was among 76 pupils that represented the school at the Dubai event, which was held between March 8 and 14, 2022, it said the allegation of rape was false.
Rather, the school said two pupils of the school engaged in what the school described as “sexual misconduct” in a game called ‘Truth or Dare,’ when the act occurred after lights out.
The school authorities subsequently suspended the female student (name withheld) indefinitely, stating that she was “a major actor” in the “immoral act”.
However, the mother of the pupil, in a viral video, claimed that her daughter was drugged and raped by some male students of the school.
The Lagos State Government on Monday had closed all Chrisland Schools in the state, indefinitely, pending the outcome of investigation by security agents.
The Chrisland Schools’ incident was one of the disheartening cases resulting from bullying and molestations in secondary schools of late.
Last November, a 12-year-old boarding student of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos, Sylvester Oromoni, reportedly died from injuries sustained after he was allegedly bullied and sexually molested by some senior students of the school.
Karen-Happuch Akpagher of Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja, had died of sexual molestation in June 2021 while Don Davies of Deeper Life High School, Uyo, had also narrowly escaped death in December 2020, when his mother raised the alarm of alleged sodomy of her emaciated son.
The Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State, Arc. Olusegun Aluko, Ph.D has sought the collaborative efforts of community leaders and security agencies in the state to put an end to the recent uprise in armed robbery cases that has enveloped the entire Ilaro township.
Aluko made the declaration on Monday during a stakeholder's meeting with heads of security agencies and community leaders held at the ASUP Hall of the Polytechnic.
Armed robbers in separate operations have reportedly invaded apartments of students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State.
It was gathered that the recent was when the robbers, numbering about eight, attacked off-campus students in areas such as School 2, Temitope and Deuteronomy.
The Rector noted that the rampant robbery incident was a result of poor security arrangements by landlords of the densely populated students areas despite the exorbitant fees charged by the landlords and caretakers.
He said when the first incident broke out, the Polytechnic management visited the affected areas and recruited 15 local vigilantes to support Police in the areas.
He, however, refuted the rape allegation of female students as speculated on social media, saying no student was raped.
The Rector emphasized that investigation by the Polytechnic's fact-finding team revealed that, Point of Sale (POS) operations in the affected areas attracted the robbery attacks, calling for drastic action against their operation in residential areas.
"What is happening in Ilaro recently is a strange thing to us and as a Polytechnic we are highly concerned. We commend the effort of the security agencies at ensuring that our students are safe. We have not been sitting idle on our side.
"When the first incident happened, we employed 15 vigilantes to complement the effort of the security on the ground.
"We were there on Saturday and observed what happened, as part of the steps taken, we have some hotlines for our students to call when there are issues like this that allow them to give information. But to our surprise, we discovered that 90% of the students don't have the numbers.
"When the issue started gathering momentum, the NANS came to find out what went wrong, every student has the right to protest, but that does not solve the problem. I thank the NANS Chairman in the state for his dogmatic approach to dousing the tension.
"I want to debunk the issue of rape. There were no rape cases. The issue of POS is important we take drastic action in residential areas because they are prone to attack and attract robbers. I want to assure the students, we are on top of the situation."
Some of the CDA Chairmen who spoke at the meeting blamed the robbery incident on the students' night crawling, display of affluence, the use of expensive phones and gadgets, engaging in free fraud practices, otherwise known as yahoo- yahoo, and use of generators for almost 24 hours daily.
According to the Otun Akeweje of Ilaro Yewa, Chief Akeem Okebunmi the students disrespected rules, regulations, and customs of the Polytechnic as well as that of the host community among others.
The outgoing Students Union President of the Polytechnic, Azeez Uthman called on the traditional rulers to tackle the robbery incident in a traditional way.
He advised the management to revert to online classes and send the students home until the situation receive positive intervention.
Meanwhile, the community leaders, in a communique issued at the end of the meeting enjoined all students living in Ilaro to desist from night crawling, warning that any student caught within the hours of 11pm and 4am shall be arrested and handed over to the school management for immediate dismal.
They called on parents to warn their children from flouting their community's laid down rules and regulations.
The state governments have asked the federal government to refrain from deducting from funds accruing to them and all local government councils as liquidation for the alleged $418 million London/Paris Club loan refund-related judgment debts.
The governors stated this in a letter dated April 4 as its response to a November 11, 2021 letter from the minister of finance, budget, and national planning, advertising the commencement of the deduction for the liquidation of the alleged judgment debts.
In March, attorneys-general of the 36 states appealed a judgment that dismissed a suit seeking to restrain the federal government from effecting the planned deduction of $418 million from states’ funds.
The plaintiffs in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1313/202 sought to restrain the president and others.
Speaking through the body of attorneys-generals of the federation, the state governments said they were not parties to any suit on the London/Paris Club refund, hence, were not liable to any person or entity in any judgment debt being relied on by the federal government.
According to Channels Television, the document was signed by leaders of the body of attorneys-general of the federation, including Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) of Lagos state, interim chairman; and Abdulkarim Abubakar Kana of Nasarawa state, interim secretary, as well as the attorneys-generals of Rivers, Abia, Taraba, Benue, and Zamfara states, for and on behalf of all the state attorneys-generals.
“Their Excellencies have drawn our attention to your letter referenced above, which the various states of the federation received at about the end of March 2022. The letter notifies the states of your intention to commence deduction from allocations due to the states from the Federation Account for the liquidation of the London/Paris Club Loan refund-related judgment debts on behalf of the 36 States of the federation and the 774 local government councils,” the letter reads in part.
“Please note that the states of the federation were not parties to any contract or suits concerning the London/Paris Club refund, from which the said judgment debts arose.
“Consequently, the 36 States of the federation are not liable to any person or entity in any judgment debt.”
It further noted that the deduction of the allocations due to the 36 states of the federation from the Federation Account to liquidate the London/Paris Club Loan refund-related judgment debts is the subject of an appeal filed by the 36 states at the Court of Appeal, Abuja.
“The appeal challenges the Federal High Court’s (per Honourable Justice Inyang Ekwo) judgment delivered on 25th March 2022 between A.G Abia State v. President, Federal Republic of Nigeria & 42 Ors. and, therefore, the issue is sub judice,” the states explain in the letter.
They noted that they have also filed a motion on notice for an order of injunction pending the appeal.
The controversial payment of $418 million to consultants over the Paris Club refund had become a contentious issue between the three tiers of government.
Consultants had claimed the amount as a percentage of the payment of services rendered to the states and local government councils.
The federal government had said its decision to deduct the fund was based on a previous verdict of the court.
The Presidency on Monday took a swipe at the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, for his continuous criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari and his regime, asking him (Kukah) to consider joining partisan politics and see how far he can go.
The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, made the Presidency’s position known in a statement titled ‘Kukah’s virus of hate.’
Shehu was reacting to Kukah’s Easter sermon on Sunday in which he knocked Buhari’s regime over security challenges, corruption and disunity being witnessed in the country.
Quoting different biblical passages, the presidential spokesman faulted the bishop, saying “from his pulpit, he devoted his Easter message not to Christ’s death and rebirth so Man might be saved – but to damning the government in the most un-Christian terms.”
While accusing Kukah of neglecting Bible’s teachings, Shehu said Easter should be a time for renewal, and for hope and “not a time for religious leaders to play politics, or politicians to play religion.”
He added, “Nigeria knows too well Kukah’s views of the government. He has made quite clear how much he dislikes them from the day they were elected.
“Whether expressing his political views is a good use or an abuse of religious office is for others to decide. But the people of Nigeria have spoken – twice: they support this government at the ballot box. They have not been swayed by hateful talk from any bully-pulpit.
“We respectfully ask Kukah to leave government to the voters and the politicians they elect, while he concentrates on his job, as it is expressed in James 1:27: ‘Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.’
“Or else, he should put away his clerical garb, join partisan politics and see how far he can go.”
PRESS RELEASE
Our attention has been drawn to a story making the rounds that the Caliphate-controlled Disguised Military Dictatorship, otherwise known as DMD, in Abuja is planning a population Census in April 2023. The story, which should simply die as an April fool joke, is said to be approved by the Council of State.
The Yoruba Global Alliance, a foremost Self-Determination Organization spread across the Globe condemns unequivocally this invidious and obviously self-serving political miscalculation and mis-adventure.
It is inconceivable that any serious-minded government should ever consider human population enumeration amidst an atmosphere of unprecedented insecurity, mistrust, unbridled corruption, and pervasive economic woes. It would be like a similar exercise conducted in 1974 which the subsequent Murtala Muhammed Military junta immediately jettisoned on assumption of office in 1975.
What on earth could be the rationale for seeking to do a national headcount at this point in time, especially amidst rumours and permutations that the Unitary government in Abuja may have other tricks up its sleeves regarding holding national elections slated for April next year?
The programmed Census is a mischief towards a predetermined end of imposing false demographics on Nigeria to the advantage of the Fulani hegemony. Nigerians cannot be deceived any longer.
Human population Census requires meticulous planning, including but not limited to cartographic capturing, enumeration of houses and other dwelling places, comprehensive physical counting of human heads all over the country and, of course, a huge man-power outlay.
In a situation where guardians and parents have stopped allowing their children and wards to proceed to mandatory Youths Service Corps outside their immediate environment, and hundreds of thousands have fled their homesteads because of pampered marauding human butchers euphemistically tagged bandits, where will the government import enumerators from?
We should admit the obvious fact that Nigeria is at war with itself. Census exercises are never conducted in a war situation.
More than 4 million Nigerians are scattered in Internally Displaced Persons camps all over the country most especially in the far Northern states of the country and Niger state. Who is going to count people who have been sentenced to humongous suffering by their own people in a country where suspicious terrorism holds sway?
There can only be one reason for this unreasonable scheming: come up with terribly skewed census figures and plunge the uneasy country to further confusion, infighting, insurrection and catastrophic implosion and ultimately full-blown Civil War.
We call on well-meaning Nigerians most especially respectable elders who knew Nigeria when it enjoyed a good measure of civilization and civility, to urge President Muhammadu Buhari to halt this unwarranted assault. We equally urge the National Assembly, the rubber stamp entity and submissive ‘wife’ of the Executive Council to deploy whatever balls they have to stop this open invitation to anarchy. They should remember that posterity will reward them for their complicity should they fail to do the proper thing which is to stop this charade.
Student Organizations, Nigeria Bar Association, the entire Media Outlets, Labour and Trade Organizations and the entire Civil Society Platforms must rise up in unison to out-rightly condemn and reject this odious and obnoxious fraudulent scheming.
Finally, we warn those who are the puppeteers, the faceless advisers and mis-advisers to keep off and stop leading the government to a certain ruinous end.
Before the final breakup of the Lugard Contraption, which is certain to happen, and Indigenous nationalities go their separate ways as Sovereign nations, we urge this deadly Government to let our dehumanized suffering women, hapless children and millions of unemployed youths breathe!
Signed
Amos Akingba [President]
Tola Adeniyi [Chairman of Council]
There was a mild drama on Monday at Idi-Ori area of Abeokuta, in Abeokuta North local government of Ogun State when a suspected kidnapper was identified by a victim that paid him a ransom after his abduction.
Vanguard reports, the kidnapper luckily escaped being killed after he was apprehended by an angry mob .
The suspect was reportedly walking around the area when he was recognised by one of his victims.
It was gathered that the victim, who raised the alarm , insisted that the suspect had received ransom from him and others in the area.
An eyewitness, who simply identified herself as Olubukola, said, that irate youths at Idi-Ori, descended on the young man and beat him blue and black.
She said “They tied his hands and legs.
They beat him and gave him a ‘bloody nose’. He might have been lynched if not for the quick arrival of policemen from Lafenwa division in Abeokuta.
“At first, the irate youths did not want to release him to the police. They said they didn’t trust the police. Their fear was that he might be released on bail. They insisted that they’re very sure he was a kidnapper.”
When contacted, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident.
He said, the man remains a suspect as investigation is still ongoing about the allegations levelled against him.
He condemned the attempt to lynch the suspect, saying the law does not permit anybody to take part in jungle justice.
According to Oyeyemi, if the man is a kidnapper as being said, police investigation would unravel his accomplices, saying he could not have been the only one in act.
“I am aware of the incident. The man is still a suspect until investigation is concluded. That is why it is not good for people to be taking laws into their hands. You cannot just carry somebody and make attempts to kill the person. They should let us investigate his culpability.
“And even if we are able to find out that he is a kidnapper, he cannot be alone. Our investigation will lead us to the arrest of others. So that in that axis, the syndicate will be dismantled once and for all. People should stop taking laws into their hands,” Oyeyemi said.
The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria on Monday described as offensive and provocative, an Easter advert by Sterling Bank Plc comparing the resurrection of Christ with the rising of Agege Bread in a Vanguard report.
APCON also said the advert copy was not submitted for approval before it was made public.
In a statement on Monday signed by its Registrar and Chief Executive, Olalekan Fadolapo, APCON said the advert was distasteful, noting that Sterling Bank Plc would be punished for the action.
The bank, in the now-deleted social media post over the weekend, had attracted criticisms as the same copy was sent to the email of the bank’s customers.
The copy showed a puffed, golden brown, halved Agege Bread with the caption, ‘Like Agege Bread, He Rose… Happy Easter’.
Many social media users had lambasted Sterling Bank Plc over the denigratory comparison and the bank had deleted the posts on its social media handles amid the swelling outrage, mostly by Christians.
The bank subsequently uploaded another copy of an opened tomb significant of Christ’s departure from the grave and added the caption, ‘…let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone.’
Reacting, however, in its statement, APCON condemned the action of the bank which it said was blasphemous.
The statement was titled, ‘Sterling Bank Agege Bread Easter Advertisement’
It read, “The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria has observed with displeasure the insensitive and provocative Easter celebration advertisement by Sterling Bank Plc which compared the resurrection of Christ with Agege Bread.
“The distasteful advertisement was neither submitted nor approved for exposure by the Advertising Standards Panel, the statutory Panel charged with the responsibility of ensuring that advertisements conform with the prevailing laws of the federation as well as the code of ethics of Advertising in Nigeria.
“APCON will take necessary actions to ensure that Sterling Bank is sanctioned for the exposure of such offensive advertisement according to law and that no religious belief or faith is ridiculed or any blasphemous advertisement exposed in any guise.”
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As the story of a ten year old girl, allegedly raped by her fellow students circulates, Lagos state government, Monday warned Nigerians to desist from redistributing and reproducing pornographic materials of children, noting that anyone caught would be liable to fourteen years imprisonment.
“We also use this medium to remind the general public that any person who engages in any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child, commits an offence and is liable to custodial sentence of fourteen (14) years. This includes “producing, distributing, receiving, or possessing an image of child pornography”, said Commissioner for Education, Folashade Adefisayo.
Recall that a ten year-old student of Chrisland school was allegedly raped by his fellow students when they travelled to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Miffed with the incident, the mother of the victim appealed to Nigerians to assists her get justice for her daughter.
She accused the school of negligence and poor communication. In a video clip shared by Ubi Frankin, Nigeria Music Executive, the mother of the girl accused Mrs Azike, the head teacher, of threatening her daughter, saying that her daughter (name witheld) told her that Mrs Azike warned her never to speak to anyone about the incident.
Reacting to the story, Lagos State Government has ordered the immediate closure of all Chrisland Schools within the state pending further investigations into alleged sexual assault.
Below is the statement:
“The attention of the Lagos State Government has been drawn to the alleged sexual violence case involving students of Chrisland Schools which occurred in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
“It is pertinent to note that all allegations are being investigated by the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies, including Ministry of Education, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Ministry of Justice and the Lagos State
“Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, whilst the criminal allegations have been escalated to the Commissioner of Police.
“In view of the allegations, we are committed to ensuring that adequate medical and pscyho social support is provided.
“This is to reassure members of the public of the State Government’s commitment to safety and child protection, especially in ensuring that all child-centered institutions within the state, formulate and implement policies and systems that are compliant with the Executive Order (NO.EO/AA08 of 2016), Lagos State Safeguarding and Child Protection Program.
“We also use this medium to remind the general public that any person who engages in any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child, commits an offence and is liable to custodial sentence of fourteen (14) years. This includes “producing, distributing, receiving, or possessing an image of child pornography”.
“Meantime, all Chrisland Schools within Lagos State are hereby closed, pending further investigations.”
Students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State, have appealed to the state command of the Nigeria Police Force, as well as the Ogun State government to rescue them from what they described as 'incessant attack' by gunmen suspected to be armed robbers.
The students, most of whom live off the campus said they are no longer safe due to the rate at which the robbers attack them at night according to Vanguard and Punch reports.
For them, going to bed at night has become very dangerous, over fear that the armed robbers may pay them an unscheduled visit.
It was reliably gathered that some female students have been raped by the armed robbers, who also went away with their phones, laptops, money, other valuables, including foodstuffs.
One of the students, under the condition of anonymity said, “on Saturday night, these gunmen struck again, they broke into buildings to rob. They fired shots, broke the burglar proof to gain entrance into buildings".
"One of the students was hit by a bullet in the eye. They raped female students and made away with their valuables. We are crying out for help. We have been on this for over a week now".
"Nobody is doing anything about it. Some of our girls were raped, houses were destroyed. We don't know what is happening. Nigerians should come to our aid".
A number of the students have fled the school environment for their various homes as there seems to be no help in sight.
It was learnt that landlords in students-dominated areas in Ilaro met on April 12 to take some decisions on the security exigencies in the city.
"At the end of the meeting, it was resolved that all Community Development Associations (CDAs) in Ilaro must hire night guards and students must obtain tenancy forms".
While begging the polytechnic to assist the police with siren, movement is restricted from 11pm to 4am.
But, the students said nothing has changed since the meeting of the landlords.
A planned protest by the students was reportedly stopped by the management of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro (FPI).
However, in spite of the outcry and social media posts, the Public Relations Officer of the polytechnic, Sola Abiola, said he was not aware of the incidents.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, also said he was not aware of the incident.
He promised to get back after he must have been briefed by the Divisional Police Officer in Ilaro.
When contacted, the Special Assistant to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Students' Matters, Azeez Adeyemi, confirmed the incident; saying, however, that he could not substantiate the claims of rape.
According to Adeyemi, the state government is making all efforts to nip the crisis in the bud, adding that the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) is working to stop the attack on students of Ilaro polytechnic.
He disclosed that there would be a meeting with the Ogun Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, to find a lasting solution to the problem.
“We are not leaving any stone unturned to put an end to the matter. We are on it already. NANS is also on it. We are equally meeting with the CP. So, we are on top of the matter.”
PRESS RELEASE
1: Hello brothers and sisters in Christ, men and women of goodwill everywhere, I send you hearty greetings and felicitations as we celebrate the risen Christ. Easter is here again. For all Christians, Easter is a metaphor for our lives as individuals, families, communities or nations. Easter is a metaphor for how shame, scandal, powerlessness, weakness, and opprobrium suddenly transform into glory, honour, pre-eminence, laudation and applause. It is a fulfilment of what the Master himself had foretold when He said, ‘Unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain, but if it dies, it bears much fruit’ (Jn. 12: 24). And the Psalmist had said, ‘Those who sow in tears will sing when they reap.’ (Ps. 126:5).
2: The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are central to the Christian faith and yet, as St Paul said, ‘We preach Christ crucified, a scandal to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles’ (1 Cor. 1: 23). St Paul continues: ‘What seems to be God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength’ (1 Cor. 1:25). Without the claims of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, millions of people wouldn’t be Christian today. As with the times of Jesus, the very idea is preposterous and incomprehensible yet St. Paul still insists that ‘If Christ has not been raised, then our faith is a delusion and we are still in our sins’ (1 Cor. 15:17). It is faith in the resurrection of Christ that inspires us Christians to hold firmly to the fact that, like the people of Israel, our dry bones shall rise again (Ez. 37: 11).
3: Our dear country, Nigeria, still totters and wobbles as we screech towards a dangerous and avoidable canyon of dry bones. Nonetheless, we still cling to hope, a hope in the resurrected Christ, knowing as St. Paul; said, ‘this hope does not disappoint us’ (Rm.5:5). Nigerians can no longer recognise their country which has been battered and buffeted by men and women from the dark womb of time. It is no longer necessary to ask how we got here. The real challenge is how to find the slippery rungs on the ladder of ascent so we can climb out. Yet, we ask, ascend to where? For us as Christians, ascent is to the loving embrace of the resurrected Christ who is Lord of history.
4: One would be tempted to ask, what is there to say about our tragic situation today that has not been said? Who is there to speak that has not spoken? Like the friends of Job, we stare at an imponderable tragedy as the nation unravels from all sides. The government has slid into hibernation mode. It is hard to know whether the problem is that those in power do not hear, see, feel, know, or just don’t care. Either way, from this crossroad, we must make a choice, to go forward, turn left or right or return home. None of these choices are easy, yet, guided by the light of the risen Christ, we can reclaim our country from its impending slide to anarchy.
5: The greatest challenge now is how to begin a process of reconstructing our nation hoping that we can hang on and survive the 2023 elections. The real challenge before us now is to look beyond politics and face the challenge of forming character and faith in our country. Here, leaders of religion, Christianity and Islam, need to truthfully face the role of religion in the survival of our country. The Nigerian Constitution has very clearly delineated the fine boundaries between religion and politics. Yet many politicians continue to behave as if they are presiding over both the political and the spiritual realms in their states rather than governing in a Democracy.
6: This conflict between Caesar and God is inbuilt in faith and is part of world history. Many religious leaders often measure their power by how close they are to Caesar, yet Caesar’s embrace is often full of thorns. The challenge is for the religious leader to know that both Caesar and those he represents are answerable to God who created them. The welfare of citizens constitutes the cornerstone for measuring the legitimacy of any political leader. As such, religious leaders must focus more on the issues of welfare, safety and security of ordinary citizens. They must raise their voice when these rights are being trampled upon. A leader must know when to call Caesar a fox and not a horse (Lk. 13:32).
7: The greatest challenge for Nigeria is not even the 2023 elections. It is the prospects for the reconciliation of our people. Here, the Buhari administration sadly has divided our people on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and region, in a way that we have never witnessed in our history. This carefully choreographed agenda has made Nigerians vulnerable and ignited the most divisive form of identity consciousness among our people. Years of friendships, cultural exchange, and collaboration built over time have now come under serious pressure from stereotyping. Notwithstanding these challenges, religious leaders must recover and deploy their moral authority and avoid falling victim to the schemes of politicians and their material enticements.
8: Today, the values of Interfaith dialogue have come under severe strain and pressure with extremists from both sides of our faiths denigrating the idea of dialogue with their counterparts of other faiths. Ignorance and miseducation have combined with prejudice to create the falsehood that somehow, one religion is superior to the others. With so many ill equipped fraudsters posing as religious leaders, there is an obsession with defaming the others and widening our differences.
9: Religious leaders must face the reality that here in Nigeria and elsewhere around the world, millions of people are leaving Christianity and Islam. While we are busy building walls of division with the blocks of prejudice, our members are becoming atheists but we prefer to pretend that we do not see this. We cannot pretend not to hear the footsteps of our faithful who are marching away into atheism and secularism. No threats can stop this, but dialogue can open our hearts.
10: Thank God, in the last few years, we have had some good news from outside the shores of Nigeria. The most noteworthy is the initiative undertaken by both Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque, Egypt, Shaikh Mohammed Al-Tayeb in 2019, when both of them met and signed the Document on Human Fraternity. Pope Francis followed up with the publication of an Encyclical titled, Fratelli Tutti, We are all Brothers, in 2020. The following year, the United Nation’s General Assembly declared February 4, World Day of Fraternity. Both leaders agreed that: ‘We need to develop the awareness that nowadays, we are either all saved together or no one is saved. Poverty, decadence, and suffering in one part of the earth are a silent breeding ground for problems that will end up affecting our entire planet.’
11: We need to start thinking of a Nigeria beyond banditry and kidnapping and the endless circles of violence that have engulfed our communities and nation. We cannot continue to pretend that there are no religious undertones to the violence in the name of God that has given our religions a bad name. The way out is for the state to enforce the secular status of the Nigerian state so as to give citizens the necessary freedoms from the shackles of semi-feudal confusion over the status of religion and the state in a plural Democracy. We must be ready to embrace modernity and work out how to preserve our religions and cultures without turning religion into a tool for tyranny, exclusion, and oppression.
12: In finding our way forward, the President must concede that it is within his powers to decide how we are going to end the war that has engulfed and is tearing down our nation. It seems that the federal government has shown far greater commitment to integrating so called repentant terrorists than getting our children back from kidnappers or keeping our universities open. Earlier last month, Operation Safe Corridor announced that it had graduated 599 members of various terrorist groups who have acquired new skills and are now ready to be integrated into society. The total comes to over a thousand now. It is plausible to note that the programme involves pyscho-social support, rehabilitation, vocational training, skill acquisition and start-ups.
Despite all this, the larger issue is that their various communities have expressed their reluctance to receive their erring sons back. Nigerians have no access to the transcripts of the texts of the confessions of these terrorists not to talk of evidence of their commitment to not sin again. We have only the words of the terrorists and the same military that they have been fighting a war with. It speaks volumes when the President and his military hierarchy choose to believe these young men who took up arms and for years waged war against their country, killed, maimed and wasted thousands of lives, destroyed entire communities and now, they are being housed, fed, clothed with public funds. All this while their victims have been forced to make the various IDP camps their new homes! Where is the justice for the victims and the rest of the country they have destroyed?
13: As a priest, I cannot be against a repentant sinner or criminals changing their ways. After all, the doors of forgiveness must always remain open. However, in this case, Nigerians have very little information as to the entire rehabilitation processes. Have these terrorists felt the heat or have they seen the light or, is their repentance a mere strategic and tactical repositioning? So far, we have no evidence that these terrorists have been able to confront their victims not to talk of seeking forgiveness from them. Something is wrong. We see these terrorists adorned in our national colours in their green and white kaftans, trousers, and looking like heroes of the state! Are we to assume that they have become acknowledged models for Nigerian youth? Perhaps the next graduating set might be treated to Presidential handshakes, receptions at the villa with full national colours!
14: Only last week, as if in delayed solidarity, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam, JNI, in a Statement stated that: ‘It appears that the continuous callous acts of mayhem, killings and arson happening almost on daily or weekly bases around us; either within communities or on the roads we ply, has automatically reset our human psyche that we now have accepted such dastardly acts as part of our lives, to the extent that we no longer feel it….Any government that is incapable of protecting the lives of its citizens has lost the moral justification of being there in the first place….our humanity is being eroded and that erosion is become a new normal.’ Similarly, the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, and the House of Representatives have finally called on the President to resign since, in their view it is now clear that he cannot protect his citizens. This has come three years after the Catholic Bishops’ Statement issued on April 26th, 2018 made the same call that was greeted with cynicism.
15: The challenge of fixing this broken nation is enormous and, as I have said, requires joint efforts. With everything literally broken down, our country has become one big emergency national hospital with full occupancy. Our individual hearts are broken. Our family dreams are broken. Homes are broken. Churches, Mosques, infrastructure are broken. Our educational system is broken. Our children’s lives and future are broken. Our politics is broken. Our economy is broken. Our energy system is broken. Our security system is broken. Our Roads and Rails are broken. Only corruption is alive and well. So, we ask with the Psalmist, We look up to the hills, from where shall come our help? Our help shall come from the name of the Lord (Ps. 121:2).
16: 2023 beckons and the stage is set. The challenge is whether we have learnt any lessons from the tragedy that has afflicted us in the last few years. The Presidency of Nigeria is not a human right based on ethnic, religious or regional sentiments. The next President of Nigeria must be a man or woman with a heart, a sense of empathy and a soul on fire that can set limits to what human indignities visited on citizens that he or she can tolerate. We have no need for any further empty messianic rhetoric laced with deceitful and grandiose religiosity. We need someone who can fix our broken nation, rid our people of the looming dangers of hunger and destitution. Our Presidential aspirants must show evidence from their legacies and antecedents that they know the country well enough and its severe wounds. Whoever wants to govern us must illustrate that he or she understands what has turned our nation into a national hospital and show us plans for our discharge from this horror. Support for INEC and its infrastructure is fundamental to a free and fair election and we condemn in very strong terms all those criminals who continue to threaten the society with violence. They should meet the full force of the law.
17: I thank the President for accepting the report of the Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy and granting pardon to over 150 Nigerians serving various terms of imprisonment. The more serious challenge is to immediately free all innocent Nigerians who are held captive and whose only crime is that they are living in Nigerians. With the news of the purchase of new sophisticated weapons, we hope that the President and the military will quickly roll out a strategy for routing this cancer that has afflicted our country. The general feeling is that the military has the capacity to end this tragedy. In reality, the military cannot fire beyond the radar set by their commander-in-chief. If the President can end this tragedy, he will immediately get the support of all citizens and hopefully leave office witih his head held high.
18: We cannot end this Message without sparing a thought for the untold sufferings being experienced by the people of Ukraine as a result of the invasion of their country by Russia. We turn in prayer to the Lord to touch the hearts and minds of those in power and in position to reverse this avoidable loss of human lives. May the spirit of the resurrected Christ and the appeals of all men and women of good will help to bring an end to this human tragedy.
19: Finally, in the last few years, my Messages have been borne out of a sense of moral revulsion over how life has been destroyed in my country. No country anywhere in the world is undergoing these self-inflicted wounds, citizens randomly murdering innocent citizens and getting away with it. For me as a Christian, there is a minimum threshold of human indignity that I can live with because the reason why Jesus came is so that all of us will have life and have it to the full (Jn. 10:10). We must shout at what diminishes any and every life in our society. Once human dignity is respected and restored, we will change our tone, but for now, our voice must have a sense of urgency. We Christians believe that to redeem the world, Christ allowed His body to be broken. We know He can heal out broken nation. May the light of His resurrection scatter the clouds and rout the men of evil, inspire a new birth in our dear nation and restore us to wholeness. A happy Easter to you all.
(Easter Message by Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Diocese of Sokoto, April 17th, 2022)
Nigerian banks have been hit by an exodus of tech talent, chief executives of the nation’s lenders say.
“So many of our very experienced talents especially in the area of software engineering are either leaving the industry or leaving the country,” Abubakar Suleiman, chief executive officer of Sterling Bank Plc, told reporters at the end of a meeting of bank CEOs on Thursday, according to a voice recording shared by the central bank. He referred to it as a “great resignation.”
The meeting came as traditional lenders in Africa’s largest economy face stiff competition for talent from technology startups attracting increased funding from international investors and offering better working conditions, in and outside the country. Africa-focused startups raised a record $5 billion last year, with those specializing in digital and mobile payments and lending soaking up most of the funding.
Two economic contractions in the last five years have also forced some Nigerians with globally marketable skills to leave the country, with the U.S., Canada and U.K. being preferred destinations.
The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, the umbrella professional body for lenders in the country, will “drive the process of training more skills in the area where we see deficits,” Suleiman said. The executives discussed plans to fund training for new tech-focused staffers to replace those who have left in what he called “the great resignation.”
The CEOs also agreed to help the central bank increase the adoption of the digital currency, the eNaira, Miriam Olusanya, managing director at Guaranty Trust Bank, said at the same briefing. The digital currency app has more than 756,000 downloads since its launch in October, she said, adding that the consumer wallet has 165,000 downloads and the merchant wallet 2,800.