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No Option For Next Generations On Africa’s Debts, Obasanjo Laments

Published

2 years ago

January 3, 2024

Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has disclosed that there is no option for the next generation of Africans to relieve the continent of its huge debts.

It would be recalled that Obasanjo, as the country’s president in 2003, secured debt relief for Nigeria, as did his counterpart from Algeria during the same period.

In a release by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, on Wednesday, Obasanjo made this disclosure during an engagement with 2023 awardees of the Future Africa Leaders Foundation, an initiative of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome.

He noted that with the level of mismanagement of the previous debts written off for the country, it will be almost impossible for any administration to make similar gestures on the continent.

Obasanjo declared that the debts were a trap that no individual or nation should fall into, as they constitute an albatross for any economy.

The former president, who asserted that leadership was the number one problem facing the continent, said, “The coming generations will have no choice but to pay the current debt being incurred by different countries in the continent.”

He commended Pastor Oyakhilome for the efforts he put into building leaders, adding that the nation needs more people like him to address the leadership crisis facing the continent.

Highlighting the qualities of a leader during the questions and answers session, Obasanjo said, “A leader should be able to set good examples, being bold and courageous when making decisions, accepting mistakes and learning from them as well as having a realistic dream.”

In a related development, the former Obasanjo has assured that the country’s socio-economic situation could be better in another four years or thereabout, with prayers and thanksgiving.

He made this disclosure at the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Ogun State 5th Thanksgiving service of his conferment as the Asiwaju Onigbagbo, Ogun State, held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta on Tuesday.

The former president said that it was a clear indication that the socio-economic situation of the country is not in good stead, “but mercy has been with us and if that is so, why should we not thank God?

“Think about it. If you have breathe the free air of God, you should have cause to thank God. So, things are bad; they may be good in a space of what…Four years? and who knows for Nigeria, things that are bad today may be good tomorrow.

“That is our prayer and that is why we must never stop thanking God. In all situations, give thanks to God”, Obasanjo told the congregation even as he bursted into a joyful song.

The former President thanked brothers and sisters in the vineyard of God for their continuous and persistent prayers for the country, restating that at times like this, “it is such a difficult time. And when they are talking of being in fellow of mercy, “mine is more than a Fellow of Mercy, mine is Fellow of Grace and Mercy of God, any one that is not enjoying this should put up his hand. If that is so, why should we not thank God? He queried.”

The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, represented by the Deputy, Engr, Noimot Salako, former Governor, Sen. Gbenga Daniel, the Oluwu of Owu Abeokuta, Prof. Saka Matemilola and the Odole Oduaa, business Mogul who is also the Otun of Asiwaju Onigbagbo Ogun State, Chief Adebutu Kessington and Rev. Mother Ester Ajayi eulogized Obasanjo, noting that he is not only a leader in Nigeria, but, also a global phenomenal.

Headline

Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy

Published

14 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Serbian prosecutors filed an updated indictment on Tuesday against 13 people, including a former minister, over a fatal railway station roof collapse that has triggered a wave of anti-government protests.

The prosecution said all those indicted, among them former construction minister Goran Vesic, face charges of “serious crimes against public safety” over the tragedy that killed 16 people last November.

“The indictment proposes that the Higher Court in Novi Sad order custody for all the defendants,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The roof collapse at the newly renovated station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, became a symbol of entrenched corruption and sparked almost daily protests.

Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad initially filed an indictment at the end of December, but judges returned it in April, requesting more information.

The accused were released or placed under house arrest following the decision.

The prosecutor’s office said it had complied with the judge’s request and had now completed the supplementary investigation.

The prosecutor specialising in organised crime and corruption in Belgrade is leading a separate, independent investigation into the tragedy.

That investigation is focused on 13 people, including Vesic and another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, who headed the Construction Ministry before him.

In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched a third, separate investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds for the station’s reconstruction.

AFP

Headline

Kazakhstan Bans Forced Marriage, Bride Kidnapping

Published

14 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Kazakhstan has banned forced marriages and bride kidnappings through a law that came into effect Tuesday in the Central Asian country, where the practice persists despite new attention being paid to women’s rights.

Forcing someone to marry is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Kazakh police said in a statement.

“These changes are aimed at preventing forced marriages and protecting vulnerable categories of citizens, especially women and adolescents,” it added.

Bride kidnappings have also been outlawed.

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“Previously, a person who voluntarily released a kidnapped person could expect to be released from criminal liability. Now this possibility has been eliminated,” the police said.

There are no reliable statistics of forced marriage cases across the country, with no separate article in the criminal code prohibiting it until now.

A Kazakh lawmaker said earlier this year that the police had received 214 such complaints over the past three years.

The custom is also present in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where it mostly goes unpunished due to indifferent law enforcement and stigma surrounding whistleblowers.

The issue of women’s rights in Kazakhstan gained media attention in 2023 following the murder of a woman by her husband, a former minister, a case that shocked Kazakh society and prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to react.

“Some people hide behind so-called traditions and try to impose the practice of wife stealing. This blatant obscurantism cannot be justified,” Tokayev said last year.

AFP

Headline

Russia Arrests Woman For Detonating Bomb On Railway

Published

14 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it had arrested a woman in her fifties accused of detonating explosives in a bid to sabotage the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The suspect was allegedly working on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence, the FSB said, in the latest incident of alleged covert activity during the countries’ conflict.

“In August 2025, following the instructions provided by the adversary, the suspect manufactured a homemade explosive device from publicly available components, placed it on the railway tracks and triggered it,” the Russian agency said.

“She recorded the moment of the explosion on her mobile phone camera and sent the footage as a report to the handler to receive a reward.”

The statement did not name the suspect but said she was born in 1974 and carried out the alleged attack in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region.

The FSB warned Russians that it was monitoring social networks and online messenger services such as Telegram and WhatsApp for evidence of Ukrainian services recruiting Russians to carry out sabotage.

Separately, the agency told state news agency TASS that a man had been sentenced to 18 years and six months for transporting explosives on behalf of a “pro-Ukrainian” group.

A resident of the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, had, the FSB said, established contact through the Telegram app with a banned “terrorist organisation”.

He allegedly retrieved explosives from a cache on the orders of this group before waiting for “further instructions”, according to the same source cited by TASS.

He was jailed by a military tribunal.

AFP