Atiku sets pace in youth inclusion

The PDP presidential flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar, has sent a strong message regrding his agenda for the youth should he mount the saddle of power come 2019.

This he has demonstrated by appointing 35 year old Abdullahi Hussaini Maibasira as the PDP presidential campaign council Finance Director. This makes him the youngest member of the PDP National Working Committee, although he has served as the penultimate National Youth Leader of the party.

MaiBasira possesses two Masters degrees in Agricultural Economics and the other, in Strategic and Security Studies from the Nigeria Defense Academy, Kaduna. An old boy of Kings College, Lagos, MaiBasira has been tutored in Oxford, Harvard, Westminster as well as the Lagos Business School.

It would be recalled that Atiku had promised an accelerated youth and women inclusion agenda in his government when elected . This latest action is seen as being in consonance with that commitment as evidenced by the appointment of other vibrant young minds like  Hon Ude Okoye; Current National Youth leader of the party to serve as Director of youth mobilization for the campaign and Segun Showunmi who served as Atiku's Spokesman.

 

This is highly commendable and a breath of fresh air for the youth! 

Jim Iyke sends fan 'grand slam'

Self -acclaimed style piper and Nollywood aactor, Jim Iyke, has no business with playing when it comes to responding to trolls online. He recently landed a verbal backhand to a fan who reminded him that his youthful days were coming to a close.

But as for me, he may be on the way to ageing only in number, he is still looking as fly as ever!
Photo credit: YomzzyBlog

WHEN NA CHURCH DEM GO GET MOUTH: THE DIRGE OF NIGERIAN CHRISTENDOM

On Saturday 24^th November 2018, the epoch-making dedication of the Glory Dome belonging to Dunamis International Church, took place at their newly constructed headquarters along Umaru Musa Yar’Adua expressway, Abuja. The event attracted whoever was somebody in Nigeria’s religious, political and highbrow circles.

Expectedly, no sooner had the dedication ended than the cyberspace and opinion circles began to be harangued with views and takes on the matter. ‘Oh! This is not what we need at this time. Oh! The church has become a money making industry! Oh! We need more industries! Oh! These pastors are feeding off the people’s brainwashed ignorance! And a host of other things too numerous to enumerate individually.

Now, I wish to wave this disclaimer. I am not a member of Dunamis church, neither am I a fan of any of these megastar preachers for reasons I know only too well. But, as a stakeholder in the body of Christ which is universal, I feel obligated to lend my voice to this discourse and put certain things right.

It is so interesting and actually entertaining to realize that the people who arrowhead this smear campaign of churches and pastors are not Moslems or Buddhists. They are not these ‘atheists’ who have suddenly grown in umber in recent times. They are not even proponents of the traditional religion. They are the same Bible-wielding, church-going, professing Christians. When it comes to insulting the church and casting aspersions, they turn wordsmiths  and sentence stringers of the best definition. The very same people. It is for this same reason that I have decided to put certain things right, and to turn this growing angst the right direction. If na church, dem go get mouth.

Yes. The church is now an industry that pays in mega bucks. I have not denied that. A child of God sows a seed in faith. He pays his tithes as a Biblical obligation. He gives gifts to a servant of God in tandem with Bible dictates, and thus, he has ignorantly and in a hypnotized manner, enriched a pastor’s empire. I have heard. If na church, dem go get mouth.

But you can consume a carton of beer in one sitting alone, and more if there are three or four guys around. When you do that, consider how much you have contributed to Nigerian Breweries and other allied industries, with your eyes open and your sensibilities in tact, and if that happens four times every month, then calculate the result every year. You can buy a house for a woman that is not your wife, take her on shopping spree, and even overseas trips, for a seven-minute roll in the hay. A nigga  said it was better to get a car for his side piece, because it was economically cheaper than patronizing the girls of easy virtue regularly, on the basis of cost benefit analysis. His senses are still intact when all of this is happening, and there was no gun to his head. When you stake your hard earned money on the outcome of a match or game happening miles and miles away(which, by the way, is bare-faced idol worship by the Bible) from you, remember how much you are enriching the betting industry, without any form of duress. I know a boy who staked his school fees for five years in this venture, and is beginning from the scratch once again. Your mobile devices and gadgets have a separate drive which you have passworded because they contain clippings upon clippings of all manner of sexual debauchery which you downloaded from  Pornhub. The data is yours, you paid for it, and spent your money your way, and they keep declaring billions and billions of dollars as turnover each year. You are not brainwashed.

If na church, dem go get mouth.

You say, oh, we need more industries instead of churches. Yes, we need industries. Economic activity needs to happen. But the fact that there are many churches has nothing to do with economic activity. You see, we are not turning the arsenal of weapons in the right direction. The government you pay taxes to, that promised you jobs, amenities and security do not get the amount of tonguelashing the church gets, when they fail abysmally to deliver on their promises.  They don’t. Again, no one can say for sure that the church at its level now is not impacting the society the best way it can. The church is a voluntary organisation. Are there charlatans among them? Certainly.  But the truth is that in reality, the church is not the government.   The problem is not with the church. It is with the people operating it.  Things do not work in Africa because we have been doomed to be insincere and evil and backward. It began from our ancestor, Ham ,and the curse he received for mocking his father’s nakedness. That’s why capital flight and brain drain are our key characteristics. As a matter of fact, the spirit of the right God, engenders prosperity and advancement. The Bible says righteousness exalts a nation , but sin is a reproach to any people. In the West, much of what they are enjoying today in terms of advancement has a lot of connection to the spiritual labour of men like Charles Spurgeon, Winston Churchill, John Knox and his likes, great men of God who stood in the gap for their nation, laboring in the gospel of Christ. In Africa, there are many churches but with less development because of the brand of Christianity we practice, which has no bearing with the Bible, not because there are churches. When na church, dem go get mouth.

You say, religion is the opium of the masses. I say, no, fake religion is the opium of the masses. Karl Max was just talking based on how much he was exposed to at the time. Christianity is not the religion where someone will was put under the influence of a type of grass and the hallucinatory images of naked big breasted virgins numbering over three scores would cater to his sexual fetishes, and thus spur him on  to taking risks when the drug has worn off. Mohammed said he does not know the judgment that awaits him, but Jesus said in my Father’s house there are many mansions. IF IT WERE NOT SO I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU. It is so painful that it is people who were given this kind of promises that are the first to fire such salvos. Na church, so dem go get mouth.

Tithing is Biblical. Sowing seeds is Biblical. Giving gifts to servants of God is Biblical. Has it been bastardized? Maybe, but that does not make it wrong. If something is fake, it means it was copied from somewhere. In the Bible days, the book of Malachi says to pay tithes  ‘so there might be meat in my house’. The church is not supposed to be a pauper’s paradise; read your Bible. The phrase ‘as poor as a church rat’ was only applicable when the church did not know its pride of place. It is the house of a King; the King of Kings to be specific. When na church, dem go get mouth.

Let us be guided, and agree that we are all brainwashed together. That is my simple take.

CEDI marks World Toilet Day

Abuja was a beehive of activity for the Community Excellence and Development Initiative (CEDI) on Monday, the 19^th of November 2018  as they joined the United Nations to mark the iconic World Toilet Day, a day set aside to commemorate the struggles and potential of having safe sanitation target throughout the world. The theme of the commemoration was ‘When Nature Calls’.

As part of the organization’s Water, Sanitation and Health advocacy programme WASH advocacy, they celebrated the World Toilet Day by holding a rally using placards and disseminating Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials in 3 different locations (Area 1 Shopping Centre, El-Rufai Motor Park and Kuchingoro Community in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Abuja).

The event featured sampling of opinions among the residents of the suburbs that were visited, regarding the state of their toilet facilities.

Nigerian leaders have no value for education- Durotoye

Presidential aspirant Fela Durotoye has said recently that Nigerian leaders do not have value for education.

He stated this at an entrepreneurs conference organised by the department of Economics at the Obafemi Awolowo University.

He insinuated that Nigerian leaders have no value for education because  they do not have it, hence the comatose state of our education sector.
“Since most of them have no idea of what education actually means, they are always finding it very difficult to actually define the space of education in a nation’s development. If you do not have something it is possible for you not to value it” he said.

Also, he faulted the curricular of the country’s tertiary institutions, saying “there’s need to have practicing individuals in the disciplines design it.”

“We can specialise our institutions, and once we specialise our institutions, we specialise the people. Our generation must build a nation where everybody gets equal values without necessarily have to know anybody, where you want and receive equally those opportunities the rich get easily.”

 

 This is all shades of right. there has been a recent clamour over the certificate saga in which the president of the country has been imbroiled, forcing him to generate a certificate which has a lot to be desired. Add that to the current strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over underfunding of Nigerian universities, and see how relatable this statement is. We need leaders that value education.

We cannot pay 30,000 minimmum wage-Umahi

The governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, has come out point blank to say that not only can his state not pay the proposed N30,000minimmum wage, but so does up to 95 percent of state in Nigeria.

He said this while commissioning a fact-finding committee to ascertain the mode of payment of promotion arrears in the states in the states in the South East, in his capacity as the Chairman of the South East Governor's forum.
Hear him:
“The federal government collects 52 per cent of the revenue from the federation account and when I tried to put the N30,000 figure to Local Government Areas (LGA) it means they will borrow N1billion to add to their allocation, in paying salaries.

“I will definitely not be a governor to govern such a state and will never preside over a state that will allocate 100 per cent of its earnings to pay salaries,” he said.

 He maintained that the minimum wage issue was not sustainable, likening it to "putting water in a basket and praying to God to hold the water'.


There are a lot of angles to this. Yes, it may be true that at the going rate it may not be sustainable going by the allocations accruing to the states from the federation account. but at he same time, there is a lot you can do as the governor. There is something you can do about cutting down the retinue of aides and assistants that are more or less redundant. the state could save a lot of money from that alone.

Again, Ebonyi state is blessed with limestone and lead, among other resources. It can be harnessed to increase the internal revenue for the state to solve most of the problems you cry to the centre for. Never mind the derivation clause which vests authority of mining to the government; it has been so because the voices which clamour to change that status are few and far flung.
Something can be done, sir. If you and other governors get down to this religiously, a lot would change.

Uzodinma calls Okorocha's bluff

The Governorship aspirant of the All Peoples Congress in Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, has taken Governor Rochas Okorocha to the cleaners in his latest submission.

He claimed that he has been greatly underestimated in the politics of the state.

He went down memory lane to imply that all the victories that the sitting governor had recorded at the polls were just figments of manipulation and not he will of the people, as against his stance bearing the love and the wishes of the Imo people at his fingertips.
According to him:
“Okorocha has run for many elections including the governorship of Imo State, before 2011, and even the presidency, and lost all.
But, in 2011, in particular, Imo people voted more against former governor Ikedi Ohakim than for Okorocha, so, he merely benefited from the anger of the people against Ohakim.

“Even at that, the election went into a bi-election, where Ohakim was finally manipulated out of the race and Okorocha became governor.

Also, in 2015, Okorocha, as incumbent governor, could not win outright on first ballot.

“The election was concluded on a second ballot, where some aggrieved PDP members helped, again, to manipulate him into the governorship.”

Mr Uzodima further said he defeat£d Okorocha’s political party in Imo West Senatorial District in 2011 and 2015, even as governorship candidate and incumbent governor, respectively.

“I think this is more than enough evidence that in terms of popularity, Senator Uzodinma is far more popular than Okorocha in Imo West (the biggest senatorial district in Nigeria) where both come from.

“The truth of the matter is that all strata of Imo society are celebrating Uzodinma victory as the APC governorship candidate and this has brought them back on track to vote massively for APC in 2019.

“Uzodinma’s popularity in Imo State is infectious and it will not only guarantee victory for APC, but will rake in far more than five million votes for the APC from the South East in 2019.



Well.. we shall see...2019 isn't that far anymore!

Job seeker denied job for possessing 200k worth of smartphone

A job seeker was recently denied a ob he applied for because he was having two phones wortk over 200k on his person.

According to a Twitter user who reported the incident, the interviewer was quoted as sayng that if he couldn't add value to himself with what he was carrying, there could have been no way he would add value to the company.

 

Well, there are a number of ways of looking at this. Phones are in grades and have different functionalities. As such, it would not be fair to judge him based on the worth of his phone, because there may some specialized function or something that necessitated buying the phone. It could also be a gift. on the other hand, there could be the thing of misplaced priority on the part of the job seeker; it happens. Either way, assessment should have been based on his qualification and not what he possesses. 

My take.

Whats yours? 

Naeto C is a father again

Owerri-born rapper, Naetochukwu Chikwe aka Naeto C, is a father again.

The 'Ten Over Ten' wordsmith recently welcomed his third child, a baby girl, with his wife, Nicole some days back.

They shared lovely picture on their respective social media pages to celebrate the arrival of the bundle of joy.

It may interest you to know that the rapper is the son of former Minister of Aviation, Mrs Kema Chikwe.

Congratulations to the couple!

Those artifacts are not yours- Oba of Benin

Following the recent visit of the Welsh monarch, Prince Charles to Nigeria, the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, has implored the Prince to add his voice towards returning the artifacts that were stolen from his empire.

He made statement when Prince Charles paid him a courtesy visit in his Benin palace. According to him:

“Suffice to say that Nigerians in general and Benin people in particular will be most delighted to have your royal highness throw his royal weight behind our efforts to have some of our ancient artifacts that were taken in 1897 from the Royal Court of Benin returned to Benin to establish Oba Palace Museum for the promotion of tourism in Benin City, Edo State.”

Well said, Your Highness!

Uber Driver floors Duncan Mighty

An Uber driver in Lagos  has called out singer Duncan Mighty.

He alleges that the 'Port Harcourt First son' used his services along Admiralty Way, Lekki to the airport and refused to pay him, claiming he was in a hurry.

He asked for the account details of the driver, but till date has neither credited the account of the driver nor responded to his calls and texts.

This calls to question the entitlement mentality of most of our celebrities who feel that their name automatically pay bills for them, a very unfortunate one at that.

Aleyita Hosts CEDI

In furtherance of its drive to re-echo the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene  (WASH) thrust of the World Health Organization, the Community Excellence Development Initiative (CEDI) made another sensitization outing at Junior Secondary School, Aleyita, a suburb of the Abuja Metropolis, on the 26^th of October 2018.

CEDI choose to sensitize the school as children spend long hours in school, and the physical environment and cleanliness of educational facilities significantly determine their health and well-being. Too often, schools are places where children get infected. More than 40 per cent of diarrhea cases in school children result from transmission in schools rather than homes. Diseases spread faster where many children gather for many hours a day in cramped spaces with limited ventilation, unsanitary conditions, no hand washing facilities or soap, and toilets in poor condition. The impact of poor sanitation, poor water quality and supply, and inappropriate hygienic behaviour is known to be disastrous for infants and young children and has a terrible impact on the health of school-aged children. This should not be normal as good water, sanitation and hygiene can reduce sickness by as much as 45%.

It featured targeted talks and lecturing from a resource person, Mrs Salako, a nurse of many years standing, who educated the children of the need for cleanliness and a culture of hand washing as an integral part of their daily routine, and also  the consequences of not inculcating it, as in diseases and infections.

Canada's deportation of illegal immigrants not a joke

Canadian authorities ahave finalized plans to deport ilegal immigrants who have been on asylum claims sice last year.
A lot of them walked into Canada from the United States, claiming that they feared that the American policy on immigration will clamp down hard on them.

Date a guy for more than five years at your own risk-Toke Makinwa

 
Media personality and socialite, Toke Makinwa, has warned ladies against dating guys for upwards of five years, calling it 'a waste of time'.

She took to her vlog to hand the free advice recently.

According to her:
“I do not understand why you should date someone for more than two and a half years. That is my take. I feel like if you meet someone, two years is decent, two and half years is decent, By three years, its like ‘what again are your trying to find out’.

What didn’t you find out in the first and second year. I feel like 5 years is taking the piece and for seven years, you are absolutely having a laugh. By 10 years, it’s like ”are you the lord of the rings? I can say this because I have been in a long term relationship so I can tell you how I feel about it. My answer is no because I feel like often times, long courtships do not translate to a happy marriage.


She went further to air her views on the recent split between Bad Boy CEO Sean 'Diddy' Combs and songbird Cassie, who allegedly dated for  years. she said Cassie shoudlt have waited that long before taking a walk from the relationship.

See the states that have agreed and disagreed over the new minimmum wage scheme

It has been a running battle with the Federal Government and the Nigerian Labour Congress over the new minimmum wage argument, with a strike action in between, and another one brewing very soon.
as a result, some states have agreed to implement the #30,000 figure whle some others have been adamant, citing different reasons for their inability to come to a compromise on the issue.


According to a source, it received memoranda from  Delta, Abia, Adamawa, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Ekiti (which said it was consulting), Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba, FCT, and Borno States. Aside from memoranda, oral submissions were taken, on which robust debates were held and analysed. To complement these, hearings were held in the six geo-political zones of the country.

In order to arrive at a realistic and doable figure, studies /research were done on the cost of living index, etc. Unwilling govs From the submissions of the governors to the committee,  the states that are opposed to the N30,000 minimum wage are not hidden. In fact, what the governors have done is to adpot the submission of Ondo State which is the second lowest figure besides Taraba State. From checks, it was found out that Kano with the biggest work force and a monthly wage bill of N9, 200,000.000, offered to pay N30,600.


Other states similarly, agreed to pay as follows: Adamawa, N23,000; Taraba, N20,000; Imo, not specific; Plateau, N25,000, N30,0000, & N57,0000; AkwaIbom, not specific,  Bauchi, N25 200; Abia, N42,000; Ekiti, still consulting; Gombe, N28,000; Jigawa, N32,000; Kogi, not specific; Katsina, not specific; Ondo, N22,000; Lagos, will be bound by Southern State Governors Forum; Oyo, not specific; Nasarawa, N24,750, N31, 348.30; Enugu, will implement anything agreed; Delta, cannot accommodate an increase for now on present Federal Government allocation; Borno, N27,000. Investigation revealed that at the October 4th and 5th, after a two day warning strike between September 27 and 28; “and in the spirit of give and take, the members mutually agreed at the figure of N30,000 which was not favourable to any party. It was concluded with a promise that the members would come together on an appointed date to sign and submit the report to President Buhari



“It is important to explain that preceding the arrival at the N30,000 figure, the Committee relying on evidence-based approach, debated the four scenarios submitted by the Figures Sub-Committee chaired by Dr. Ngige as follows: Scenario One yielded an average of N38,508.18, median of N42,032, and mode of N36,000; Scenario Two yielded an average of N36,522.18, median of N45,000 and mode of N50,000; Scenario Three yielded an average of N37,000; Scenario Four yielded an average of N35,000.


If by November 6, a definite holistic statement isn received, the Nigeria Labour Congress is set to shut the nation down totally in a robust industrial action.

CEDI begins sensitization on hygiene

The Community Excellence Development Initiative (CEDI) has launched its sensitization campaign on the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene mantra of the World Health Organization (WHO).

It is an effort towards amplifying and bringing closer to the grassroots the resolve of the World Health Organization to make quality health and hygiene accessible to Africa and the Third World.

The sensitization, the first of many to come, took place at Kuchingoro, a suburb of the Abuja metropolis, recently.

His name is not Jesus-Daddy Freeze

Controversial online religious sensation, Daddy Freeze, is out and about again.
He claims the name Jesus is false, as taught by the Christian community.
See his post on his Snapchat page:

 

Does he seem to know that names can b translated into different languages for convenience? hmmmmm