Tag Archives: Hungry

Nigerians Are Hungry, Okogie Writes Buhari

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Nigerians are hungry and they urgently need succour from President Muhammadu Buhari. They want him to fulfill his campaign promises by providing good leadership that will check hunger and poverty in the land. This was the message contained in a letter that Emeritus Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Cardinal Anthony Okogie, wrote to Buhari.

Reminding the president that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) promised to change the country for the better but has not done so, Okogie said: “Nigerians are still waiting for the promises to be fulfilled.” According to the cleric, “change is not real when old things that we ought to discard refuse to pass away.” He urged the president to take a critical look at his cabinet, as well as the policies and programmes of his administration, including those who help him to formulate and execute the policies with a view to making necessary adjustments that will help him deliver on his promises.

Okogie’s letter went viral on the social media last night. The Guardian made efforts to reach him and the Catholic Director of Communications Archdiocese of Lagos, Very Rev. Monsignor Gabriel Osu on telephone to confirm it. A subsequent phone call from Osu later confirmed that the letter actually emanated from Cardinal Okogie.

In the letter to the President, Okogie said: “Last year, when you assumed office, the chant of ‘Change’, your campaign slogan, ushered you into the Presidential Villa. Today, cries of ‘hunger’ could be heard across the length and breadth of our vast country. Nigerians are hungry, not only for food, but for good leadership, for peace, security and justice.
This letter is to appeal to you to do something fast, and, if you are already doing something, to redouble your effort.“May it not be written on the pages of history that Nigerians died of starvation under your watch. As President, you are the chief servant of the nation. I, therefore, urge you to live up to the huge expectation of millions of Nigerians. A stitch in time saves nine.”

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http://guardian.ng/news/okogie-writes-buhari-says-nigerians-are-hungry/

76 Hungry Boko Haram Terrorists Surrender To Nigerian Army

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Seventy-six Boko Haram members, including women and children, surrendered to the military in Gwoza, Borno State.

According to a senior military officer and a member of the Civilian JTF, all of them have been detained at military headquarters in Maiduguri, the state capital. The detainees claimed many more fighters were willing to surrender.

In September, the army announced that 335 insurgents surrendered in Banki and Biu, towns in Borno.
Sani Usman, army spokesman, said those who refused to give up were killed. The military has succeeded in driving insurgents from the towns and villages where they operated in the past, even though the issue of suicide bombing remains a challenge.

Credit: Thisday

Oshiomhole Blames Ministry Of Petroleum And Finance For Owed Salaries

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The Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole has blamed the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and Ministry of Finance for workers salaries owed by different states.

He said both Ministries “refused to transfer into the Federation Account.

Governor Oshiomhole said: “the NNLG had every year made payments of about $1.5 billion to 2 billion Naira which ought to go the Federation Account but was expended by the Federal Government”.

Governor Oshiomhole also stated that the office of the Ministry of Finance was aware of the payment and also some other companies that remit their revenue.

Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, Governor Oshiomhole explained that for the past four months under the past government, the Federal Government has not been able to pay salaries from her legitimate income.

He added that the Federal Government has been borrowing using CBN through various instruments like bonds, securities, thereby drawing down the pension funds.

Governor Oshiomhole said most Governors were bowing down on owed salaries because of structural crisis that the various states were facing.

He also raised concerns about the crude oil funds and also spoke against crude oil theft, insisting that the development had triggered the formation of a committee which he is a member of.

The Governor commended President Buhari’s decision that all revenue generating body  for Federal Government should be remitted to the Federal Account.

#PAUSIBILITY: Change Is The Only Constant Thing by Adebayo Coker

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These past few weeks have seen me skim the local television stations looking for one political campaign or the other, and I must confess it has been an interesting venture for me; I hope am speaking for a greater number of you too. But in all, I want us to hold on to one of the concepts of realism which is “ the determination to face facts and deal with issues practically without being influenced by any sentiments or false ideas; it is the showing of things as they are”.

BTW: I couldn’t submit anything last week as all that came to mind was about that Hotter Big Shop (I hope you can decode), but my preference to yield to the admonition to do no harm to men in cassock made me keep myself away from writing this column altogether.

Without hunger no man will strive for anything; the dearth of qualitative leadership and good governance, for a very long time now in our dear country, has made a good number of the populace clamour for TRUE change in our socio-political life.

There is a school of thought that I strongly believe: the greater the love the greater the hatred that follows any form of betrayal. I remember and I make bold to say anywhere and anytime that GEJ won the 2011 Presidential Election fair and square, as we all thronged our different Polling Stations and thumbed him in because we thought he represented a heave of fresh air, but these past few years have proven all of us wrong. It is never a good thing to make a decision based on sentiments. Never!

Jonathan has proven to us that not everyone who lives with the starving populace really feels their pain. One would have expected a man that fed us with I had no shoes bicky to readily identify the plight of the people and work at fixing the problems, but instead he daily gives credence to a school of thought that says a mind does not work well when the stomach is overfull as a full stomach is conducive only to sleep. This is why a huge number of us are asking this animal Professor to carry all the shoes he has so far bought with our monies and pave way for this change that we so much need in this land. He has proven on many fronts that his person and attitude are Un-Presidential.

I follow how the American billionaire, Donald Trump, daily loads President Obama with criticisms but never for once did POTUS degrade that office by trying to respond to any of those criticisms; rather Obama daily loads the populace with deliveries of his electoral promises and that endears the first black President of the United States the more to his people, regardless of their colour, race or religion. It’s very lazy to set attack dogs to action anytime you are called to give account of your stewardship. These attack dogs have pitched this President and this government against the people they are supposed to preside over with love. They are arrogantly clueless when it comes to managing the affairs of the nation.

On the other hand, GMB has shown to us that he has patterned his life after the giant bamboo whose exterior, though smooth and lovely to touch, is tough and resistant to the swords of the Jonathanians. Buhari has shown that he has space within him for continued growth. His anti-corruption stance is undeniably speaking for him as his report sheet shows neatness, orderliness and is not at all cluttered in anyway, but straight and upward to the sky. Even though he is not the Messiah that will turn our lives around but the people believe he will redeem the nation from the imminent collapse that is seriously hanging over our head if this reckless government is allowed to continue in office.

The people are tired of our seemingly ingrained teachings of corruption and they don’t want to deny themselves the opportunity of saving their dear country, availed by the knowledge of a single person that is appealingly the centerpiece of this social puzzle.

The only thing that is certain is change and to battle change is to waste one’s time, the battle can never be won. To become a willing ally of change is an assurance of life in itself. – Leo Buscaglia

My good people, it is important that we know why we are moving slowly. It’s like village women who are given lectures on birth control. They listen attentively, then go home and imagine that it did not pertain to them, but only concerns their neighbours, and go right on having more and more children. I know this change is not going to be overnight . We have to be patient. We must be willing to offer ourselves for service. We should stop asking why isn’t our society a better place as it will only amount to a total waste of time; rather we should start talking about how we can make our society a better place as I know that question has an answer.

In essence, we all have been accusing the system of being corrupt but habitually fail to realize that we make up the system. The change we need must start with us. Beam the light on yourself. Do not sell your vote!