News

Kukah, Global Peace Task Religious Leaders On Nation Building

Published

11 months ago

June 24, 2023

Editor

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and a group, Global Peace Foundation have decried the situation where Nigerians lived with mental challenges and called on government to provide support systems that would bring succour in such cases.

Speaking at the Catholic Resource Centre, Durumi Abuja, during a one-day conference on ‘Trauma Care, Social Cohesion and the Role of Religious Leaders as Agents of Nation Building,’ Kukah who was the Special Guest of Honour at the event noted that virtually all Nigerians are traumatized considering that they live in a traumatized environment.

He said that Nigerians were challenged with mental health at various stages and emphasized the need for support systems from both the government, CSOs, and anyone who can provide it.

According to him, “the sense of community has been suspended; fundamental issues like trust have become scarce commodities largely because of what the society has become.”

He called for the aggregate of interest of values for the state to resolve all contradictions, stressing that banditry is one of the most terrible things that has happened to the nation with priests and cleric across religions being targeted by kidnappers in the country as the church is now in solidarity with the nation in its battle with insurgency.

He called on all victims to retain their state of sanity and put bitterness behind them.

The Country Director, of Global Peace Foundation Nigeria (GPFN), Rev. John Joseph Hayab, called for the collaboration of religious leaders with CSOs and other stakeholders towards enhancing the sustenance of peace in Nigeria.

He noted that the religious leaders have a role to play in nation-building, urging them to rise to the occasion and use their God-given platforms to provide care, preach social cohesion, and contribute to peaceful coexistence in the country.

The Country Director also spoke at the Catholic Resource Centre, Durumi Abuja, during a one-day conference on “Trauma Care, Social Cohesion and the Role of Religious Leaders as Agents of Nation Building”.

The program was organized by Nigerian KAICIID Fellows in collaboration with Global Peace Foundation Nigeria, Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace, the Interfaith Mediation Centre, and O-Trauma Victims Initiative.

Hayab felicitated and identified with all victims of the numerous traumatic experiences in the country particularly at the hands of bandits, kidnappers, and terrorists.

He lamented that people have lost touch with their common humanity and that it is only by embracing their common humanity that true and lasting peace could be found, stressing that it was the reason why Global Peace Foundation Nigeria started preaching that human beings are members of one family under God, irrespective of any difference.

Rev. Hayab stressed the need for interfaith collaboration in the quest for social cohesion and nation-building, calling on religious leaders to collectively confront and address the challenges being faced by society by providing shelter for the traumatized people to lean on.

“Trauma and other security challenges faced by people in our societies are human experiences that require religious collaborations to tackle them. Unfortunately, religion, ethnicity, and other lines of the divide have encroached into our humanity with detrimental effects, faithful of all religions should collaborate to ensure sanity in society,” he said.

He called on religious leaders and CSOs to continue in their efforts of collaboration and building a network of peacebuilders to salvage the nation and urged that peacebuilding engagements should go beyond town hall meetings to the grassroots and local communities to promote love, peace and tolerance, respect and civic responsibilities among rural dwellers.

News

Economic Hardship: Pastor Suspends Collection Of Offerings Church[VIDEO]

Published

22 mins ago

May 19, 2024

Editor

A pastor in Lagos state has caught the eyes of Nigerians after announcing the suspension of offering collection in his church.

In a trending video, the pastor could be seen telling his church members that henceforth, offerings will no longer be collected because of the situation of the country.

He stated that in these times that people spend more money to buy petrol and pay more for transportation, it would be unfair to collect offerings from them.

He said until the petrol price is reduced, his church will not collect money from its congregation. He called on all pastors to stop collecting offerings from their congregation.

Watch the video below:

News

Shettima Launches NEDC’s School Enrollment Drive Programme

Published

14 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

Vice President Kashim Shettima has launched the Accelerated Senior Secondary School Education Programme (ASSEP) initiated by the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) in collaboration with the office of the VP to enhance child enrollment drive in schools within the North-East sub-region.

Speaking during the launching of the programme in Bauchi on Saturday, the VP said that consequences of the nation’s action and inaction were evident in all indices used to assess development.

He said while primary education provides a foundation, secondary education is a bridge, adding that the Northeast sub-region has been the victim of inability to enforce a uniform policy to drive school and the persistent cultural perversion to formal education in the country.

“We in the Northeast occupy a quantum of position in ranking of essential services. Education being a key sector of this country, this is especially pronounced in the post primary education, while the Northeast secondary school enrollment drive stands at 19 percent, far below the nation’s 39 percent,” he said.

Earlier, the Managing Director of NEDC, Mohammed Alkali, said that the primary education completion level of 85 per cent in the Northeast is among the best in Nigeria, but secondary school enrolment is a mere 15 per cent, the second worst nationally.

According to him, due to the challenges in the post-primary education segment, JAMB UTME applications and admissions into tertiary institutions in 2019 were the lowest for the Northeast compared to other regions.

He added that, nationally, the Northeast has the lowest number of teachers and the highest percentage 55 per cent of those available are without literacy skills.

The MD also revealed that the challenges in the post-primary education segment include weak quality indices and a wide demand-supply gap driven by economic and cultural factors.

“The Accelerated Senior Secondary Education Programme seeks to boost the post primary education rating across the North East region through improved enrolment into tertiary institutions.

“It’s also to improve skills development as well as the elevation of teacher quality. It would pay special focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and communication.

“These would foster creativity and critical thinking; motivates and inspires young people to generate new technologies and ideas to learn from inquiry-based tasks,” he said.

Alkali also explained that the programme would also raise awareness about after-school possibilities and the potential for diligent students to become successful and prominent contributors to the North East region and Nigeria at large.

He expressed gratitude to the Federal Government especially, the Vice President for the deep interest and commitment to human development in the North-East.

News

Edo Police Break Silence On Operatives Fighting Dirty In Viral Video

Published

14 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

By Joseph Ebi Kanjo

The Edo State Police Command says a trending video showing two operatives of the command engaging in a fight is a handiwork of mischief makers.

In the video which has gone viral on the internet, two policemen are seen fighting themselves, while a voice commentary in the background claims they are from the Igueben Decisional Police Station headquarters in the state.

A writeup also attached to a version of the video sighted by Info Daily also claims that the policemen were fighting because of sharing formula of money collected from motorists on the highway. The writeup also claims that the incident happened yesterday, May 17th, 2024.

But reacting to the viral video in a statement issued by SP Chidi Nwabuzor, Police Public Relations Officer, the command said contrary to the claim, the incident happened in 2020, adding that disciplinary measures were taken against the erring policemen.

The statement which issued electronically to newsmen in Benin on Saturday evening partly reads: “Edo State Police Command wishes to inform the general public that it’s aware of a video trending on the internet showing two policemen that engaged themselves in a fight in public spaces and wishes to state as follows that;

“The now trending video happened in April 2020 in a community called Ebelle in the Igueben local government area of Edo State.

“The two erring policemen, namely; (i) F/NO.491112 CPL Ozimeade Aidonojie and (ii) F/NO. 516384 PC Salubi Stephen were attached to Ebelle Police Divisional Headquarters.

“They defaulted, tried in an orderly and upon conviction dismissed from the Force for the offence of discreditable conduct contrary to Paragraph ‘E’ Sub Section 111 of the Police Act and Regulations 370 Cap. P19 of Federation of Nigeria 2004.”

Nwabuzor in the statement reiterated the state Commissioner of Police, Funsho Adegboye, commitment to “making Edo State a desired secured state where the law abiding citizens and the general public go about their lawful businesses in making Edo State economic hubs of Nigeria without fear or intimidation.”