Check Out What Rochas Okorocha Did With The Photos He Took With Obama [PHOTOS]

Majek Fashek Admitted To Abuja Rehab

Nigerian-born reggae singer and guitarist, Majekodunmi Fasheke, popularly known as Majek Fashek, is currently on admission at a rehabilitation centre in Abuja following suspected case of drug abuse.

Caregivers at the rehab centre, who preferred anonymity, said Majek was placed at the intensive care unit of the centre and is responding to treatment.

PREMIUM TIMES had earlier revealed that following the music legend’s sudden disappearance, a group of people volunteered to form a search party to establish his whereabouts for proper medical attention.

Majek, who was previously seen roaming the streets of Lagos aimlessly, had lived in the United States some years ago before being deported to Nigeria.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that his deportation from America worsened his condition as he allegedly separated with his wife and resorted to begging.
Meanwhile a fundraising campaign to save the reggae icon’s life has been launched by a US-based musician and one-time Majek’s band-mate, Monica Omorodion Swaida, seeking fans around the world to donate to the cause.

Ms Swaida, who coordinates the fundraiser through American crowd funding platform, GoFundMe, appealed to people to “come together and help him”.

Writing on the campaign website, Ms. Swaida said, “I had the opportunity to go on tour with Majek Fashek in Africa and Abroad. I played on stage with Majek last in NYC. Majek was compared to the late icon Bob Marley.

“He was one of the greatest singer and guitarist in Nigeria. He came to America and even went as far as singing in David Letterman’s show. Majek put Nigeria on the map when it comes to music.

Majek Fashek recently
“Today, Majek is seen in the streets of Lagos looking for petty change to buy food and drinks. Majek looks sickly and fray. He is looking haggard! How can a national hero be left on the street like that? We must do something to take care of this man. No matter the problems majek has, whether drug related, spiritual or mental related problems, it doesn’t matter. Everyone can be saved! Let’s come together and help him.

“The family of Majek just recently got their legal papers in America and can now travel. But they need your support. They can’t do this alone. They have not been in Nigeria for over 20 years. But they want to help their dad now.

“I will personally go with the wife, Rita Majek, and the first son, Randy Majek, to Nigeria to join others fighting for this cause to help Majek. Please fans all over the world, let us help save this legend while he is still alive. God bless those reading this. Amen!”
The fund raising campaign to save the life of the ailing reggae star has so far raised $2,793.

Why Buhari Didn’t Appoint Igbos As Service Chiefs — Oyegun

Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been on the hot seat since his party emerged as the ruling party in Nigeria. Seeing the former Permanent Secretary, last week, at his residence in GRA, Benin-City, you will behold a troubled man. He bared his mind on the leadership crisis in the National Assembly.
According to him, those accusing the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration of being slow are unfair. Oyegun also spoke on other national issues. Excerpts:

People are complaining that this APC government is slow. What is happening?

No, I don’t think the government is slow. Like I always say, we are not talking of 16 years, we are talking of over 50 years. Since independence, this country has been ruled by the same tendencies. So, it is good to go with deliberate speed, deliberate steps, make as few mistakes as you can  in the appointment that will come. So, I think that process is nearing the end now. As you can see, appointments are being rolled out, the activities people thought were slow are taking place, even the implementation of some aspects of the program of the party that we promised are already underway.

I think all that is left now is the list of the ministerial appointees and it will come out anytime from now and we will be up and running. So, there is the need for us to be cautious, given the fact that this is our first experience in governance. There is the need to be careful given a totally different nature of our manifesto and the social welfare promises that were made to the people to be sure that those the president wants to bring in to execute these policies, which are dramatically different from anything we have experienced before, are also dramatically different, they understand what is required to be done, are passionate about what is required to be done and have ideas about what is required to be done. Once  prime appointments are settled, things will move. The issue of insecurity is being addressed, the war on corruption has started in various parastatals; the government is already very well on steam.

Are we going to see technocrats or politicians in the cabinet?

It will be a mixture of technocrats and politicians. There are politicians who are technocrats, we seem to forget that, but it will be a fair mix.
The leadership of the party is yet to the come to the reality of the emergence of  Senator Saraki and Hon. Dogara. How long will it take to come to the reality and stay with the fact?

I think the reality is there. I don’t think there is any leader who doesn’t realize that Hon. Dogara and Senate President Saraki are a  reality and facts of life, but there is also no leader in the party that doesn’t recognize that this went against the basic position of the party and that has created problems.

The issues border on discipline, supremacy of the party and the rest of it. We are hammering on indiscipline and, at the same time, creating an environment that everybody within the party will find comfortable to work with. I hope, by the end of this last week, we would have arrived at some workable arrangements to put these issues behind us, but it has attracted this attention because, so to speak, it was the only subject in town. Now there are other issues that are beginning to engage the media and we will get a little bit less attention to what is going on in the National Assembly.

Lack of appointments for the South-East and South-South

Why does the public think that if you appoint three people it must be balanced when, in fact you are just at the elementary stage of appointments? They should hold their breath for a little time to come. The ministerial list has not come, the chairmanship of boards has not come, there are so many first rate appointments that are still coming down the line, the ones that has happened are more or less specialized, they are more or less appointments that have some degree of severity governance around them. If you talk about the security agencies, you must pay due attention to the requirement of this time, the reality of the security situation in the country.
So it is unfair to make three appointments, everybody expects to see one from A, one from B, one from C; no, it is the total package. It is when the total package is presented that you will now start looking at who is in what ministry, the status of the ministry and the caliber of the ministry. It is then you can really now make a fair assessment. It is still too early and the appointments we have made now are too specialized for us to jump to that kind of conclusion.

Talk about Nigeria going into dictatorship/strangulating PDP

Well, I will need to see one example. We don’t have time for them (PDP) yet, all that we are doing today is to put ourselves on the ground, put the government in place so that we can start responding to the yearnings of the Nigerian people. PDP hasn’t put itself together yet, so they are no source of concern to anybody. I don’t know what they have to cite to substantiate that issue and I can’t think of any

The bureaucrats running Buhari’s govt

July 5, 2015 :

 

The bureaucrats

While Nigeria currently does not have substantive ministers assisting President Muhammadu Buhari to run the government, state affairs must continue. Our correspondents examine the people who perform these tasks pending the appointment of substantive ministers

For no fewer than 38 days, the country’s Federal Executive Council which was dissolved by former President Goodluck Jonathan on the eve of his departure has yet to reconvene.

This is due to the delay of President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power on May 29 having defeated Jonathan in the March 28 presidential election, in appointing a new cabinet.

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The council which consists of the President (as chairman), Vice President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, ministers, special advisers to the President, Head of Civil Service of the Federation and the National Security Adviser is the highest decision-making body in the country.

With the expiration of the tenure of the Jonathan-led FEC and the current interregnum especially as regards the appointment of new ministers, the ship of state cannot tolerate a vacuum.

Hence, as directed by Jonathan at the very twilight of his administration when the FEC was formally dissolved, permanent secretaries in each of the federal ministry have since taken over the day-to-day running of the affairs of their individual departments which by extension means helping President Buhari to run the country.

Buhari and his vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, are the only members of the FEC that are currently in office. Nigeria’s federal ministries include agriculture and natural resources, aviation, information and communications, defence and environment.

Others are education and youth development, environment, federal capital territory, finance and economic development, foreign affairs, health and social services, industries, culture, tourism and national orientation, internal affairs, justice, labour and productivity, petroleum resources, power and steel, science and technology, solid minerals development, special duties, transport, water resources and rural development, women affairs and social development works and housing and youth and sport.

Holding the fort until the appointment of substantive ministers are these permanent secretaries.

Ministry of Defence

Mr. Aliyu Ismaila is the permanent secretary for the Ministry of Defence. The ministry is reputed to be one of the most if not the most powerful in the land. Ismaila is a 1980 graduate of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He joined the Federal Civil Service in 2006 as an Assistant Director in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

He rose to become a director in charge of the Department of Home Finance in the Federal Ministry of Finance in 2012. He was the Permanent Secretary, Office of the Government of the Federation in 2012 and later Permanent Secretary Ministry of Police Affairs the same year.

In 2013, Ismaila was moved to the Ministry of Defence as the Permanent Secretary, a position he has held to date.

Ismaila is from Numan, in Numan Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

Ministry of Health

Mr. Linus Awute, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, hails from Agba-Ndele of Emuoha Local Government Area of Rivers State. Since the end of the last administration of President Jonathan, he has been at the helm of affairs steering the ship of governance in the health ministry.

Among other functions, Awute was the one who doused panic and urged the public to remain calm following another outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease in Liberia. He specifically urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and adhere to hygienic and other preventive measures to guard against the deadly disease.

Also during an event to mark the 2015 World Sickle Cell Day, Awute, on behalf of the health ministry, said the government would not ban marriage between carriers of the sickle cell disease in the country.

Ministry of Petroleum Resources

Another government department watchers tag as sensitive and “powerful” is the Ministry of Petroleum Resources where Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke held sway until the end of the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

The Permanent Secretary calling the shots in the ministry now is Mr. Taiye Haruna.

Early last month, Haruna invited all stakeholders in the petroleum sector to the ministry to discuss ways of resolving the prolonged fuel scarcity across the country, particularly in Abuja.

After the meeting, the Federal Government and petrol marketers agreed to put an end to Nigeria’s fuel scarcity problems within one week.

The meeting, which was at the instance of Haruna, was well attended by stakeholders as it had top officials from the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Others were heads from the Department of Petroleum Resources, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, Petroleum Equalisation Fund and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

Ministry of Environment

At the Federal Ministry of Environment, the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Nana Mede, is in charge.

To exercise her authority, Mede, in June this year, stated that the Federal Government might terminate the N9.2bn clean cooking stove contract as a result of the failure of the contractor to deliver the product as stipulated in the terms of agreement.

The government, in the contract, was expected to procure 750,000 units of clean cooking stoves and 18,000 wonder bags following the approval of the National Clean Cooking Scheme by the Federal Executive Council led by former President Goodluck Jonathan in November 2014.

A sum of N9.2bn was approved for the items meant to be distributed to rural women.

However, the procurement and distribution of the stoves had not been successful as a result of the contractor’s inability to meet the agreed delivery deadlines reached with the Federal Ministry of Environment.

Explaining why the distribution had not commenced despite the fact that the stoves were launched by the immediate past Vice-President, Namadi Sambo, the permanent secretary stated that N1.3bn out of the N5bn released to the ministry was given to the contractor to deliver the first set of stoves and wonder bags.

Ministry of Power

bureaucrats

Godknows Igali is the Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Power. Over time, he had received investors in the sector on behalf of the ministry.

Igali also oversees the activities at the ministry, directing staff on various issues that must be done to ensure smooth operations at the ministry.

Indeed, details on the fluctuations in power generation across the country are made available to him as he often says authoritatively the actual amount of electricity generated in Nigeria.

Ministry of Tourism

Mrs. Nkechi Ejele, was a permanent secretary in the Bureau of Public Service Reforms before her redeployment to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation in 2013. Not much has been done in the tourism sector since this year. Ejele is said to be a strong factor in the tourism ministry and is popularly known as “Iron Lady.”

Ministry of Finance

The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance is Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwoabia. She is not one of the top government officials that was visible under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Born on January 25, 1960, Daniel-Nwoabia hails from the Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State. Daniel-Nwaobia is a graduate of Mass Communication/Political Science from Bayero University Kano and a master’s degree holder of International Relations and Strategic Studies from University of Jos in 1985. Her working career spanned both the public and private sectors.

Her sojourn into the mainstream, Federal Civil Service started in 2000 when she was absorbed and regularised as an Assistant Director, and posted to the former Federal Ministry of Commerce.

Daniel-Nwoabia was appointed a Permanent Secretary representing the North Central Zone with effect from November 14, 2011.

Until July 23, 2013 when she was deployed to the Federal Ministry of Finance, she had served as Permanent Secretary, Economic Affairs Office, Office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation and Ministry of Interior.

Within the last one month, she has been managing the ministry in the absence of a substantive minister.

Last week, Daniel-Nwoabia presided over the monthly Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting is usually presided over by the Minister of State.

This is the first time the meeting is being chaired by a permanent secretary within the last five years.

Ministry of Interior

Mr. Abubakar Magaji is the Permanent Secretary in charge of the Ministry of Interior. He was appointed permanent secretary by former President Goodluck Jonathan in November 2013 following the retirement of his predecessor from Zamfara State.

Magaji, an engineer, was Permanent Secretary, Economic Matters, at the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation before he was redeployed to the Ministry of Interior.

Little is known about Magaji’s academic qualification and bio-data. When contacted, the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, Mr. Ade Yusuf, declined to provide information on the permanent secretary’s educational background.

Ministry of Justice

Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice is Mr Abdullahi Yola, and he was born on April 18, 1957.

He had held his current office in acting capacity before his substantive appointment on August 18, 2008.

Yola, trained as a lawyer at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, obtained his Law degree in 1982. He attended the Nigerian Law School and was called to the Bar in 1983.

He also obtained his Masters in Law (LLM) at the Edinburgh University, United Kingdom in 1988

Between 1978 and 1999, Yola served in the Kano State civil service. He later joined the Federal Ministry of Justice where he served in various capacities, including Director, Special Duties; Director, Solicitors; and Director, Legal, Drafting.

Yola, a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, and a recipient of a national honour – Officer of the Order of the Niger – served as the Acting Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary until he was substantively appointed to the office on August 18, 2008.

He is currently the administrative head of the ministry in the absence of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Amb. Bulus Lolo is the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was among the six permanent secretaries appointed by former President Jonathan in October, 2014.

He was appointed to represent the North-West zone in the civil service and was posted to the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, (Career Management Office) in November, 2014.

He was redeployed to the MFA in May, 2015 following the suspension of the erstwhile permanent secretary, Danjuma Sheni, for allegedly recalling Nigeria’s envoy to South Africa over the wave of xenophobic attacks in the country.

Before his appointment Lolo was former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, Permanent Representative to the African Union and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Ministry of Information

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information is Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan.

She was born on August 13, 1964 in Kaduna State although her state of origin is, Kogi State in the North-Central geopolitical zone.

She attended the University of Ibadan where she graduated in 1987. She also attended the University of Ilorin 1997 and the University of Lagos, 2009. Degrees obtained by Yemi-Esan include Bachelor of Dental Surgery and Masters in Public and International Administration.

A product of the Federal Government College, Ilorin, (1979), Yemi-Esan attended Bishop Smith Primary School Ilorin for her basic education.

Ministry of Communications Technology

Dr. Tunji Olaopa is the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communications Technology. He is respected in the service and industry not only for his expertise but also for his height and size.

At the recent Commonwealth Broadband Forum 2015 that held at the Nicon Luxury Hotel Abuja from 16-17 June 2015, it was the lot of Olaopa as the highest ranking government official to announce to the audience the appointment of a Nigerian, Mr. Shola Taylor, as the next Secretary General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation.

Olaopa is one of the few public servants that have presence in the cyberspace through a personal website – www.tunjiolaopa.com .

He is also the author of several books some of which are Managing Complex Reforms, Public Service Reforms in Africa, Innovation and Best Practised Public Sector, The Joy of Learning, and Public Administration and Service Reforms.

Olaopa was born on December 20, 1959 at Awe, Afijio Local Government Area of Oyo State. He attended Demonstration School, Sango-Ota (1972); Awe High School, Awe, (1977). He had his Higher School Certificate at Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, (1980); Bachelors of Science degree in 1984 and Masters of Science (1987) degree at the University of Ibadan (Political Science). His Doctor of Philosophy degree in Public Administration came from the Commonwealth Open University in the United Kingdom in 2006.

Ministry of Science and Technology

Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita took over as the Permanent Secretary in the Science and Technology on April 16, 2014.

Before she was re-deployed, she held sway at the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs. In the absence of a minister, Oyo-Ita runs one of the largest ministries in the federal public service. As the permanent secretary in the ministry, she also chairs the board of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion.

Oyo-Ita was born in Adiabo in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State on April 20, 1964. She attended Queen’s College Yaba, Lagos from 1974 to 1979.

She holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Nasarawa State University, Keffi. She also attended the University of Lagos where she got a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting in 1984.

Before her appointment as Permanent Secretary, she had served as Director of Finance and Accounts at the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Oyo-Ita is married. She has three sons.

In some departments, however, there are officials who to an extent called the shots in their agencies while they had ministers running the respective ministries that they are in.

For instance, at Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, the Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi is still in charge as he has been churning out regulations and guidelines that had seen to the seeming stability in electricity tariffs for some months now.

At the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Group Managing Director, Joseph Dawha, has been struggling to ensure stability in the supply of petroleum products across the country, particularly fuel.

But some Nigerians have expressed displeasure over the situation where ministries are overseen by other people rather than the substantive ministers meant to supervise them while others see it as a necessity.

Notable among the set of Nigerians who see the development as a necessity is Second Republic governor of old Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa.

The former governor and leader of the Northern Elements Progressive Union in a telephone interview with SUNDAY PUNCH, expressed disapproval of any insinuation that permanent secretaries could not handle the demands of managing the ministries.

Citing his experience as head of a state government, Musa noted that he had also worked directly with permanent secretaries because, according to him, the state House of Assembly refused to approve his commissioners.

He further explained that the constitution regarded everyone else as an assistant to the president or governor.

“Why can’t the permanent secretaries run the ministries? The president and the governor are the chief executives of the Federal Government and the state, respectively. Every other party is an assistant to the president or the governor. In essence, the president and governors can work without ministers or commissioners. But that is not what is desirable. There should be ministers and commissioners, so governance can be easy. But if it becomes impossible, the permanent secretaries are up to the task.

“In my case, for instance, I did not have commissioners but I had the responsibility to run the affairs of the state with or without the commissioners and that is what I did. It is not what I wanted; it is not what the constitution intended, but the power struggle made it so. Therefore, if the President today can’t have ministers for whatever reason, he can work directly with the permanent secretaries and other public institutions,” Musa said

But the Executive Director of SERAP, Mr. Adetokunbo Mumuni, in a separate interview with one of our correspondents, argued that it was important to appoint ministers as quickly as possible because it could affect the country economically and in other fundamental ways.

He said, “Most people who want to take vital, long-term economic decisions may not be able to take them now because they don’t yet know the direction of the government in terms of key ministries. In terms of economic planning, aviation, budget, stakeholders would have to commit themselves to exercising patience in spending huge sums of money in the interest of the economy.”

Buhari cabinet delay linked to search for untainted officials

July 5, 2015

 

Muhamadu Buhari, having clinched power in March on an anti-graft ticket, is now coming under fire as to why ministers have yet to be named one month after he came into power.
Nigeria’s President may still not name a cabinet until September as he takes time to find credible ministers and build a government untainted by the corruption of the past, say senior officials and party sources, as reported by Reuters.
His defeat of incumbent Goodluck Jonathan was seen as a positive step for Africa’s top oil producer, given the corruption scandals that have blighted previous administrations.
But Nigeria’s financial markets are starting to suffer as the post-election euphoria fades and the lack of a cabinet leaves investors waiting in vain for policy direction on issues as important as the currency and petroleum investment.
“It will take the next two months before ministers can come on board. Bringing them in now may disrupt the clean-up going on. So Nigerians just have to be patient,” presidential media adviser Garba Shehu told Reuters. “We need to clean up the mess everywhere before the ministers can come.”
Buhari’s anti-corruption drive has been at the heart of his moves so far, alongside efforts to establish a military force with Cameroon, Chad and Niger to fight the six-year Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in the northeast.
While Buhari has not named any ministers, he dissolved the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) last week and the state oil firm’s management may be next to go.
The National Economic Council, a presidential advisory group that met this week for the first time since Buhari was inaugurated, said the NNPC had kept nearly half Nigeria’s oil revenues from 2012 to May 2015 and promised an investigation.
Parliament also agreed last week to investigate contracts between the NNPC and oil trading houses, in which crude was swapped for refined fuel products, on the grounds that there was a gap between the value of the oil delivered and fuel received.
“President Buhari’s cabinet won’t be ready until early September because he is not in a hurry,” a senior member of his All Progressives Congress (APC) party said. “He is just being meticulous so that he can bring in credible and competent hands.”
However, some APC insiders say a power struggle between Buhari and party leader Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos state governor and one of Nigeria’s most formidable political godfathers, lies behind the delays.
The opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said it was concerned Buhari had not made key appointments and the first month of his tenure had been “all motion, no movement”.
Yvonne Mhango, sub-Saharan Africa economist at Renaissance Capital, said the uncertainty was exacerbating jitters about the outlook for an economy battered by depressed oil prices.
“We hope we’ll get clarity on what sort of policies we should expect and investors can make decisions on the back of that,” Mhango said.

Pope begins S’America visit with focus on poverty

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July 5, 2015

Pope Francis makes his first South American trip in two years Sunday, for an eight-day tour of Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay — but not his native Argentina.
The 78-year-old Jesuit pontiff, the first pope from his “beloved South America,” has said he wants to highlight the plight of the poor on his home continent.
He is due to land in Ecuador’s capital Quito at 3:00 pm (2000 GMT) and will give a Holy Mass in eight languages early Monday.
Francis’s last visit to South America was a triumphant trip to Brazil that culminated with some three million people gathering in Rio de Janeiro along Copacabana beach for a mass at the end of a Catholic youth festival.
The Catholic Church has about 1.2 billion followers globally, and Latin America represents the biggest portion of that population.

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But the region has seen declining numbers as more people turn to Protestant churches.
“I want to bear witness to the joy of the Gospel and bring God’s tenderness and care,” the pope said before leaving for South America.
“Especially children in need, the elderly, the sick, the imprisoned, the poor, those who are victims of this throwaway culture.”
The papal visit coincides with a time of political tension in Ecuador.
Embattled President Rafael Correa, an avowed admirer of Francis who describes himself as a “humanist Catholic of the left,” has faced weeks of protests demanding his ouster over his policies, including an initiative to increase inheritance taxes.
“We are filled with joy at the coming of Pope Francis, the first Latin American pope,” Correa said in his weekly address.
“How the Church is changing! What a strong message you are bringing.”
Correa will meet with the pope late Monday.

T.B Joshua returns elderly woman’s half-a-million Naira tithe

February 4, 2015

Pastor T.B. Joshua

Picture shows Joshua embracing Caroline Orugade (SOURCE is also TB Joshua Ministries on Facebook)

T.B. Joshua, perhaps Nigeria’s most unconventional cleric, posted a heart-warming story on his official Facebook Page about an elderly lady who came to his church with an unusual gift. A retired teacher named Caroline Orugude had come to The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) in Lagos, Nigeria to share a curious testimony.
After retiring from her job in June, 2012, Caroline was forced to wait almost two years for the gratuity that she was supposed to receive. “There was nothing much we could do except pray because the pension system is so unreliable,” she narrated to the congregation.
After visiting various churches for prayer without any visible change, she was introduced to Emmanuel TV, the popular Christian television station broadcasting the activities at The SCOAN, and began praying along with T.B. Joshua.
Within two weeks, she received a call from the treasury, asking her to go to Abuja to collect her pension money. “I decided that when I got the money, I would come to The SCOAN to appreciate the Lord,” she joyfully said. “I am here with the small sum of 500,000 naira, to give to the man of God and The SCOAN, as my tithe.”
It was an unexpected declaration but the response of Joshua was equally surprising as he insisted he could not collect the gift.
“Yes, it is written in the Bible that we should pay tithe but how can we collect tithe from widows and the aged who are supposed to be under our care,” he questioned the congregation.
“Remember, she has stopped working. She needs our care for the rest of her life. These are the women we should be feeding and taking care of. She is our mother; she is my mother too.”
The cleric, who is well known for his philanthropic gestures, then announced that instead of taking Mrs. Orugude’s tithe, he would support her with an additional 500,000 naira.
“When God calls a man or woman, what they will eat, what they will use and everything they need for their journey will be provided abundantly by God,” T.B. Joshua then explained, noting the attributes of genuine ministers of God.
“When a minister begins to depend on tithes, you know he is not a minister of God,” he added. “This is a message to ministers of God all over the world. When we collect tithes, we should know those whom we collect them from. Don’t force anybody – it is between them and God. Let us worship the Giver of money, not money,” he concluded.
The post on Joshua’s Facebook page, followed by 1.5 million people, ended with a poignant question. “Where are your elderly? Care for them and you shall reach old age.”
A video recently surfaced of Joshua refusing a $1,000 offering from a Swiss lady who received healing during his crusade in Colombia. Several weeks ago, he spoke scathingly of ‘money-hungry’ pastors, insisting that ministers of God should not force members to give offerings or tithes as it was a thing of the heart.

Sanusi,The Emir Of Kano Urges Muslims To Embrace Modernity

The Emir of Kano, Malam Muhammadu Sanusi II, on Saturday urged Muslims in the North to adopt new approaches to address the social, economic and political challenges facing them.
Sanusi gave the advice in Kaduna at the 10th Annual Ramadan Lecture organised by VON, FRCN and NTA, with the theme: The Challenges of Muslim Ummah in the 21st Century.
He said that the region’s failure to invest in quality education and scholarship was partly responsible for its backwardness and rise of divisive groups like the Boko Haram.
The Emir observed that due to dwindling socio-economic situation in the region, majority of the people, particularly the youths have been left “without any hope in life”, and therefore, easy recruits into insurgency.
“If there is no future in a society, then Boko Haram ideas will thrive,” he said.
The Emir advised political and religious leaders in the region to take a cue from other regions in the country and thrive to effect necessary changes.
“If Borno and Yobe were a country, they would be poorer than Niger, Chad and Cameroun. No wonder the Boko Haram crisis started there.”
Sanusi stressed the need for Muslims in the North to regulate religious preaching and stop exposing their children to “quack Malams”.
He also advised parents to take very serious interest in the activities of their children, saying the new media has radicalised a lot of youths across the world and turned them into extremists.
“We need to watch what our children watch. If we do not give them the correct Islamic education, they will get the wrong one from somewhere else.”
He also challenged the Muslims to undertake a holistic change in their approach to socio-economic issues.
“We must not continue to allow culture to be dominant in our lives. We need to look at ourselves, reappraise our socio-economic approach to life.”
The Emir said Muslim clerics must take common stand on contemporary issues such as age of marriage in Islam, women education, rights and forced marriage, as well as modernisation and education generally.