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Nigerians Queuing For Palliative Is Height Of Indignity — Bishop Kukah

Published

2 years ago

April 1, 2024

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, has criticised the mode of distribution of palliatives to Nigerians amid the severe hardships facing the country.

Following the removal of fuel subsidy, among other economic policies, governments at all levels have implemented palliative measures.

Such measures include distributing food items to the vulnerable, in an effort to alleviate the hardship.

Reacting, Bishop Kukah faulted the distribution of palliatives, adding that the people most often don’t get them. He noted that a good part of the money meant for such is always stolen.

Kukah made this known in an interview on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics.

His words: “We need to see a much more robust programme designed by the government to help us go away from just lining up and collecting palliatives when we are not at war.

“I think it is the height of indignity to see Nigerians lining up every day under the sun and waiting to collect bags of rice, which probably never come, not because money has not been given but because everybody who gives out money in Nigeria from the Federal Government knows that a good part of this money is always stolen.”

‘Nigeria needs healing’
Besides the issue of palliative, Kukah spoke on the country’s need of healing. He urged the government to fix insecurity issues in the country.

He said, “This is a severely broken and fractured nation; the evidence is before all of us. What we have been doing in the name of politics is picking up the pieces.

“The entire country is littered with broken dreams, hopes, and promises made and never fulfilled.

“There are more than half a million abandoned projects in the country. It’s a testament to the brokenness of our country. The country in the last 10 years or more has become almost a graveyard; we’re burying people in the hundreds, and we are not at war.

“We don’t need to explain further how broken our country has been.

“Nigerians are not looking for handouts. Ordinary farmers just want to go back to their farms. People just want to be able to get back to their lives.

“Ending insecurity is the beginning of this healing, and a decisive programme and plan to end it is the beginning of the healing.”

The cleric added that rather than blame the government or an individual, we should return to the scene of the crime to see the range of opportunities missed.

News

IYC Expresses Displeasure Over Okpebholo’s Neglect Of Edo Ijaw

Published

48 minutes ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Leadership of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Western Zone, have expressed displeasure over what they described as the “persistent marginalisation of the Ijaw political class, traditional institutions and the ongoing abandonment of Ijaw communities,” by the Governor Monday Okpebholo-led Edo State government.

The IYC, in a statement jointly signed by Comrade Nicholas Igrama, Barr. Ebi Olowolayemo and Comrade Tare Magbei, Western Zone Chairman, Secretary and Information Officer respectively, lamented that despite the “massive support Ijaw people gave to Okpebholo across the five Ijaw clans in the state,” not a single appointment has been given to the Ijaw speaking people in the state.

The statement which was made available to newsmen in Benin on Tuesday, said that the “conspicuously absent of Ijaw man or woman in the State Executive Council,” gives credence to their claim.

The IYC, while stating that “we state this not out of bitterness or entitlement, but as a call for fairness, equity, and justice,” emphasized that “despite our enormous contributions to the state’s treasury through natural and human resources, Edo Ijaws remain conspicuously absent in the State Executive Council.”

The statement reads: “It is important to remind the Governor that the Ijaw nation mobilised massive support across the five Ijaw clans in Edo State to ensure his victory at the polls.

“Our voice was loud, our mobilisation was firm, and our votes counted significantly toward the success of this administration.

“Regrettably, one year after, this government has not deemed it necessary to appoint a single individual from the Ijaw extraction, nor has it addressed the glaring infrastructure deficit in our communities and also left our traditional issues unattented to.”

The statement noted that “the Ijaw areas are the bedrock of the state’s oil wealth, the same wealth that qualifies Edo State as an oil-producing state and entitles it to the 13% derivation fund. Yet, there is no visible reflection of this revenue in our communities.”

“We state this not out of bitterness or entitlement, but as a call for fairness, equity, and justice.”

The IYC, therefore, urged the governor to “have a rethink so it doesn’t take to another form of agitation in the state where we contribute.”

News

EPL: Arteta Gives Update On Havertz, Saliba, Gabriel, Others

Published

3 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta has provided the latest update on four of his players ahead of his side’s Premier League clash with Brentford on Wednesday.

The four players are Kai Havertz, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães and Leandro Trossard.

Arteta’s side will host Brentford in a Premier League tie at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.

Arsenal head to the game following a 1-1 draw with Chelsea in their last game over the weekend.

“Kai Havertz is still weeks away,” Arteta said at his pre-match press conference as quoted by Fabrizio Romano on Tuesday.

“We are all desperate to have him. I mean, it is a player that, personally, I love so much for what he brings to the team – his character, his personality. I see him suffer, being outside.

“Gabriel Magalhães is doing very well, but it will take weeks to see him back.

“For William Saliba and Leandro Trossard, hopefully it’s a matter of days.

“For Saliba, this one is very bizarre injury… but hopefully it will be a short time out.”

News

BREAKING: Tinubu Nominates New Defence Minister

Published

5 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

President Bola Tinubu has nominated former Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, Gen. Christopher Gwabin Musa, rtd, as the new Minister of Defence.

In a letter to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Tinubu disclosed Musa’s nomination as the successor to Alhaji Mohammed Badaru, who resigned on Monday.

Musa served as Chief of Defence Staff from 2023 until October 2025. He won the Colin Powell Award for Soldiering in 2012.

Born in Sokoto in 1967, Musa received his primary and secondary education there before attending the College of Advanced Studies in Zaria.

He graduated in 1986 and enrolled at the Nigerian Defence Academy the same year, earning a Bachelor of Science degree upon graduation in 1991.