Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, on Friday, said he has earmarked nothing less than N1bn Naira monthly to feed vulnerable Christians in the state in the next three months.

This is as he said a similar programme has been mapped out for people in the Muslim faith in the state.

Obaseki disclosed this during the official flag-off of phase one of Edo State Food Support Programme also known as Christian Feeding Programme in Benin City.

The Governor, who said he was worried by the rising number of people who cannot afford a square meal in a day in the state, said he had to call Christian leaders in the state on how best to address the alarming situation.

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Obaseki said in order not to make it look political, he decided not to involve political office holders, but Christian leaders in reaching out to vulnerable Christians in the state.

The Governor who added that the state government already had data of the vulnerable in the state database, said the means of reaching out to them maximally was the issue, hence using churches to reach out to them.

He said: “I was worried by the rising number of people who cannot afford a square meal in a day. So, I thought to myself how do we solve this problem. This is not politics I told myself.

“I then called the chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and some of the blockheads to a meeting and explained to them what I intended to do. So, that’s how we put our heads together to come up with this programme.”

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Obaseki added: “I told them this is the amount of money I will be giving you every month. I’ll give you a billionaire monthly for three months first. At least, Let us try this for the first three months.”

The governor said the programme was not just to feed the vulnerable, but also together more data about people in the state on how the government can create employment for them and how the government can render help where necessary.

Earlier, in his remarks, Chairman of the Organising Committee who also doubles as the Chairman, CAN,
Apostle Irekpono Omoike, while thanking the governor for the initiative, said 10kg of 60,000 bags of rice have been purchased for onward distribution to the three senatorial districts in the state.

According to him, 27,000 bags of the 10kg would be distributed to the seven local government areas in Edo South, 15 bags to Edo Central and 18 bags to Edo North.

Further giving the breakdown, Omoike said 3, 000 bags would be distributed to each local government across the 18 local government areas, summing upto 54,000 bags, while the remaining 6,000 bags would be distributed to churches not captured under CAN.

Shell Nigeria Gas and the Oyo State Government have signed an agreement to develop a gas supply and distribution infrastructure that will deliver gas to industrial and commercial users in the state.

A statement released on Friday by Shell Nigeria’s Media Relations Manager, Abimbola Essien-Nelson, disclosed that SNG will build and operate the gas distribution network which will serve customers across Oyo State for 20 years.

According to the statement, the project will start with the construction of gas distribution infrastructure along a 15km pipeline route, adding that it will grow to deliver up to 60 million standard cubic feet of gas per day across the state.

It was learnt that the first gas is expected in the fourth quarter of 2025.

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Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, described the project as a catalyst for development in the state.

Makinde said, “This project fits into our plan to drive innovation and industrialisation in Oyo State and we’re ready to partner with more companies and other organisations to enhance the delivery of relevant projects”.

Speaking, the Managing Director of SNG, Ralph Gbobo, noted that the agreement was “a significant milestone for SNG and Oyo State to boost economic activities in Nigeria by supplying industries and manufacturers with natural gas, a more reliable, cost-efficient and environmentally friendly source of energy”.

He explained, “The gas distribution project will be a game-changer in the industrialisation drive of the Oyo State Government and help boost internally generated revenue and result in more job opportunities.

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“For SNG, the project is a milestone in our effort to continue growing the energy supply to businesses in Nigeria in line with Nigeria’s ambition to drive progress on the back of natural gas availability across Nigeria under the Decade of Gas initiative”.

The Managing Director of The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited and Chairman, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor remarked that the event pointed to the value of partnership as “Shell continues to power progress” in Nigeria through more and cleaner energy solutions for commercial and industrial customers.

“Building on our presence in the country since the 1960s and the wide marketing and trading reach of Shell Energy, we are excited about developing gas distribution solutions and delivering competitive and reliable energy for power generation and industrial use across Nigeria,” Okunbor added.

SNG was incorporated in 1998 as a fully Shell-owned company. Over the years, the company has become a supplier of gas and now serves over 150 clients in Abia, Bayelsa, Ogun and Rivers states.

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The PUNCH reports that the Federal Government said it would stop granting licences to gas companies with no capacity to build pipelines for gas distribution.

This, the government said became necessary to discourage the transportation of compressed natural gas through the roads.

The Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, made this disclosure when he was in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on Wednesday.

While saying the country must transit from fossil fuel to CNG, Ekpo revealed that he had directed the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, not to issue licenses to anyone who could not pipe CNG to the end users.

A student of a public secondary school, Government Secondary School, Omu Aran, Kwara State, Olukayode Victor Olusola, scored 362 marks in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, to be among the contenders for the highest scorers in the examination.

Though the Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof. Isaq Oloyede, organisers of the exam, had said the Board would not announce the highest scorer to avoid last year’s experience of confusing claims, Olukayode’s score is celebratory, as it is among the highest in recent years.

He scored 95 marks each in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry and 77 in English Language.

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His exploit is coming against the backdrop of the poor performance of candidates in the exam in which 1.4 million scored less than 200 marks out of 400. The exam was taken by over 1.8 million candidates

Also, Olukayode’s excellent performance is coming at a time when confidence is greatly eroding in what public schools have to offer and some private schools are boasting of being the most expensive in the country.

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Olukayode was born in 2009 and hopes to study Electrical Electronic at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State.

His mother, Beatrice Tosin, while giving all the honour to God, also praised the studious and hard working nature of her child.