the Emir of Kano, Muhammed Sanusi 11 worships.
The explosions occurred as worshippers gathered worshippers gathered for weekly prayers, witnesses said.
“Two bombs exploded, one after the other, in the premises of the Grand Mosque seconds after the prayers had started,” Aminu Abdullahi said, adding that a third went off nearby.
The Emir, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was said to be inside the mosque at the time, with the explosions happening in an outdoor courtyard, and there was no immediate word on casualties.
Abdullahi and another witness, Hajara Tukur, who said she lives nearby, said the police began firing weapons in the chaos that followed the blasts, as worshippers began scrambling for safety.
Preaching at Kano’s Grand Mosque last week, the emir urged northerners to take up arms against Islamist group Boko Haram and cast doubt on the military’s ability to protect civilians and end the insurgency.
The Emir of Kano is a hugely influential figure in Nigeria, which is home to more than 80 million Muslims, most of whom live in the north.
after hurting his thigh while playing for Stoke City in the Premier League.
Moses, who is on loan at the Britannia Stadium from Chelsea, is facing “at least six weeks on the sidelines” after picking up the injury in the 2-1 loss to Burnley on Saturday, according to the club’s official website.
“He has a significant thigh injury which is likely to keep him out for several weeks,” assistant manager Mark Bowen added.
Nigeria missed out on qualifying for the African Nations Cup that will be held in Equatorial Guinea in January and February.
THE United States (US) Embassy in Nigeria, on Tuesday, announced opening of its new DHL Document Collection Centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, saying applicants who are interviewed in Lagos or Abuja can now choose to pick up their passports in Port Harcourt, in addition to existing facilities in Abuja and Lagos.
Similarly, applicants can submit their passports to the Port Harcourt collection centre as part of the U.S. Mission to Nigeria’s drop box renewal programme.
The embassy informed that passport collection via the centre in Port Harcourt will take one additional day, disclosing that individuals whose visa applications are approved can expect their passports within four days while drop box applicants can expect their passports within 7-10 days.
Also, effective December 1, 2014, the U.S. Mission to Nigeria said it would require that the DS-160 non-immigrant visa application confirmation number used to schedule visa interviews match the application confirmation page that is brought to the interview.
It warned that applicants who do not meet the criterion will not be interviewed and will have to purchase a new fee receipt to book another appointment.
Members of a Chicago church who were given $500 each made possible from a real estate deal the church received are using their share to help various programs and initiatives around the city.
LaSalle Church, handed out $500 to each of its congregants back in September and urged them to use the money to bless someone else. According to their pastor, Laura Truax, that's exactly what they have done.
Truax says she learned the concept in the part of the Gospel where Jesus teaches that wherever people's hearts are, that's where they will spend their money.
"Those things are so connected," said Truax to The Christian Post. "Heart and money are completely connected. And I feel like I get a front row seat on that."
She shared various testimonies, revealing what some of the people have done with the money.
Married couple Janet and Jim Milkovich donated their portion to a health food program called Breakthrough Urban Food Ministries that helps to provide healthy meals to many people throughout the city including older people with its Fresh Market Pantry initiative.
"It was wonderful," Janet Milkovich told CP. "The manager of the Fresh Market Pantry said that there are a lot of senior citizens on the west side of Chicago that depend on the fresh market and are so appreciative of produce and they were going to make sure that they were able to get healthy food."
One of the church's members Betty Mickel and her husband used the money to fund a Chicago after-school program named By The Hand. The couple combined their two $500 checks to make it a $1000 dollar donation, added $1000 of their own money and gave it to By The Hand which is currently having a donor match so their contribution ended up being around $4000 altogether.
"Their $500 investment now doubled because they doubled it, and joined forces together," said Truax. [They have] now given $4000 to By The Hand."
Truax also discussed a single mom in her church that's currently modeling for her 9-year-old what it's like to be generous. Part of this demonstration included the two going to Goodwill stores and purchasing used kid books which they cleaned up and donated to various libraries and pre-schools in low income areas. They are also hosting an ice cream Sunday night this Wednesday for all of the homeless people in the area.
"We have a food program every Wednesday night, so we already have a lot of people coming through the door," she said. "But as her 9-year-old said, when do these people ever get to eat ice cream. They'll be serving to about 150 homeless guys."
One of the church's members took to overseas to extend the blessing to someone. LaSalle attendee Eric Larson contributed his money to a missionary friend in the Ivory Coast to use it for a woman who had been cast out by her family. Her leg needed to be amputated due to an infection. Eric found out that she needed a prosthetic leg and he was shocked at how much it would cost them.
"What he was struck by was the amount that was needed which was exactly $500," she said. "So Eric's money went to this woman in the Ivory Coast who needed a prosthetic leg. This is just the way God does it though, right?"
LaSalle was able to give the $500 gifts to its congregation members when it received $1.6 million from a real estate deal. After receiving the money, they decided to distribute 10 percent of it to the congregation for them to use it to bless someone.
Truax says the decision to distribute the money was inspired by Jesus' parable of the talents.
"I was so struck by this being a gift to the church and the church needing to do something that was about God's business with it. So the 10 percent, it wasn't my idea. I was praying about it and I was reading that parable and I just felt like a place of faith would be for all the congregation to have skin in the game with this."
LaSalle still has not decided what it will do with the other $1.4 million, however, Truax says keeping it is not an attractive option.
"That's the economy of God, we weren't created to be tight fisted people, we were created to be open handed people," she said. "To move past our fear. That's what's going on."
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 217-200 this week to cut billion from the food stamps program over the next 10 years.
A September Lifeway Research survey reveals that nearly a quarter of Americans have received food from a church-run food pantry. Minorities and churchgoers commonly benefit from church pantries, according to the survey.
The Nashville-based Christian research firm polled 1,158 respondents about church food pantries and found that 22 percent said they have relied on a church program to feed their families. Of those who have received food from a church pantry, 26 percent were churchgoers. Over a third identified as evangelical.
More than one in three church pantry users (37 percent) were African Americans, 25 percent were Hispanic while 19 percent of the pantry users were Caucasian.
Scott McConnell, vice president of LifeWay Research, said of the survey's results, "There is an abundance of food in the U.S., but plenty of people still go hungry."
Some 50 million Americans struggle to put food on the table, according to national food bank network Feeding America.
By comparison, 43 percent of the people they feed are white, 26 percent are African American and 20 percent are Hispanic.
Over 60 percent of Feeding America's 200-member food banks are faith-based organizations. Together, Feed America banks provide food assistance to 46.5 million Americans annually.
distribution of 750, 000 Clean Cook Stoves and 18,000 Wonder bags to Nigerians, in a bid to stop the depletion of forest resources caused by indiscriminate felling of trees.
The approval followed a memo presented by the Minister of Environment, Laurentia Mallam, at the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting the Federal Government.
Wonderbag is a non-electric slow cooker invented by Sarah Collins, a South African eco-entrepreneur. She came up with the idea six years ago during a power cut, when she decided to keep her dinner cooking by surrounding the pan with cushions.
According to scientists, each Wonderbag can prevent the emission of half a ton of carbon dioxide a year, and could save a poor family a tenth of their income by cutting fuel costs.
The principle is simple: heat your food to boiling point.
In five years, the NCCS aims to distribute at least four million clean cook stoves in each of the six geo-political zone and provide 20 million clean cook stoves through-out the country.
The scheme also seeks to reduce the persistent felling of trees which exposes the country to ecological problems including desertification.
For a few minutes on the stove in a normal saucepan, pop on its lid, then transfer to the bag.
A United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, research shows that Nigeria tops the list of countries where women suffer various ailments resulting from the use of firewood.
The minister added that all women groups in the country will be involved in the distribution to ensure that there is equitable distribution.
After deliberations, members of FEC approved that the stoves be locally assembled so as to provide jobs for Nigerians amongst other benefits.
The council also unanimously ratified the President’s anticipatory approval for the contract in favours of Messrs Integra Renewable Energy Services Limited in the sum of nine billion, eighty seven million, two hundred and fifty thousand naira only (N9, 287,250,000.00) inclusive of VAT, with a delivery period of 12 weeks.
Council also approved N60 billion for the award of the contract to provide engineering infrastructure to Kyami District, Zone C, Abuja.
This is one of the residential districts located in Phase V of the city with a land area or 942.56 hectares.
He said the FCT was looking for opportunities to float bonds that will help open up more districts.
Council approved the award of the contract to Messrs. Mangrovetech Construction and Engineering Nigeria Limited (KaKatar CE Limited) in the sum of sixty billion, eight hundred and eighty seven million, four hundred and ninety two thousand, six hundred and fifty six thousand naira, sixty five kobo. (N60, 887,492,656.65) with the completion period of 60 months.
While the president and the governors have retained their long motorcades, the senate president, David Mark, and House of Representatives speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, are doing just the same.
Official convoys of the president averages 40 cars, those of the governors exceed 20. Mr. Mark’s convoy as of this week remained at least 12.
Governors travelling around the country mainly for their political needs continue to use private jets, maintained and fuelled at huge cost to public purse.
Only a few governors use public airplanes when travelling. An example is the Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke. Former Anambra governor, Peter Obi, also did.
Rolling back official conveniences, no matter how little, are usually some of the first steps for nations battling economic downturns. Reduction in official vehicles could help save fuel and maintenance cost.
Nigeria is one of the countries worst hit by the dwindling oil price which currently hovers around $78 per barrel.
With no reprieve, President Goodluck Jonathan last week asked the National Assembly to lower Nigeria’s oil price benchmark from $78 per barrel to $73, to cushion further shocks at the international market, and to grow the Excess Crude savings which the government has turned to in recent months, to help pay workers’ salaries.
Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said the government is planning higher taxes on high taste products such as champagne, and top range automobiles, to compel the rich to pay more to help the government deal with the situation.
She said the government will significantly minimize foreign travels, and purchase of new equipment in the 2015 budget.
The proposals remain to be seen.
On Tuesday, the Central Bank Nigeria, CBN, announced Nigeria’s toughest response yet, devaluing the nation’s currency against the dollar by 13 naira.
CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said the oil shift appears permanent, and warned that the proposed $73 benchmark may be too optimistic. He called for cuts on government habits.
The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, civil society and economists, say the government is not showing sufficient seriousness in responding to the crisis.
For a start, they argued, the government must confront corruption headlong, reduce administrative costs, and harness internally generated revenues from government agencies.
“Raising taxes on luxury items is long overdue,” the general secretary of the NLC, Peter Ozo-Ezon, told PREMIUM TIMES. “There has always been the need to tax the very rich in the country. The exclusive items they consume must be targeted.
“Private jets acquired by some individuals should attract huge taxes,” he said.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, said instead of imposing unnecessary austerity measures on Nigerians, the government at all levels should prune the numbers of their political aides.
“The governors, ministers and federal and state legislators should also be made to reduce their aides to a sizeable number that our economy can bear and whatever is gotten from this exercise should be used in supporting and bolstering the economy,” the union’s chairman, Francis Johnson, said in a release last week.
Corruption and leaks
Many Nigerian said corruption must be the first casualty if the government intends to be seen as serious in managing the economic hardship facing the nation, and they challenged Mr. Jonathan to start right at the top.
“The President (Goodluck Jonathan) has said time and gain that there is no corruption in the country,” said Auwal Rafsanjani, of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC. “This is very discouraging to discerning Nigerians, because these problems could easily be traced to the corruption and impunity in the country.
“Whenever the President and his wife travel, the huge crowd that accompany them as their entourage are completely irrelevant and wasteful. If the waste is not tackled from the level of the President, how would the problem be solved?”
Mr. Rafsanjani denounced the government for continuing to sponsor pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Yearly, government offices spend billions on foreign trips.
In 2014, State house administration (not the president or vice) earmarked N240 million for local and foreign travels.
The president earmarked N2.4 billion for travels while the vice president proposed a relatively smaller N68.7 million.
The Ministry of Finance headquarters proposed N465.8 million, as hundreds of other offices did, for travels.
On Transparency International Corruption Index, Nigeria ranked the 134th most corrupt among 175 nations for 2013. In 2012, the score was relatively better: 139 out of 174 countries.
President Jonathan, accused of tolerating corruption and allowing indicted officials be part of his government, famously said stealing is not corruption and vowed not to declare his asset publicly.
Mr. Jonathan is also notorious for travelling abroad for official engagement with oversized team, at one time, over 600 to New York, on public funds.
Such wastes, anti-corruption activists say, reflect on the budget annually with the government allotting money for purchases that were taken care of the previous year.
The commonest commodities that repeat in the budgets of almost all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, MDAs are computers, scanners, printers, ACs, buses and Hilux pick-ups, checks by PREMIUM TIMES have shown.
Govt. agencies squander N12 trillion own funds
By far, the most scandalous non-oil wastage of public funds are perpetrated still within government offices, where a 2012 report by the National Assembly Budget and Research Office said between 2009 and 2012, N12 trillion was generated by government agencies and ministries, and much of that was squandered.
Simply put, if well harnessed, IGRs from the MDAs could fund much of Nigeria’s budget which averages at N4.5 trillion annually.
The National Assembly report indicted several offices for concealing their sources of revenue, claiming losses where non-exists, and refusing to make remittances to the Federation Account as demanded by the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
The report said the major reason the fraud thrived for years, even till date, was the government’s near-absolute focus on oil revenues.
“Many reasons are responsible for this fundamental lapse,” the report said. “But the major reason is the government’s over-reliance on proceeds from hydrocarbons with scant or no serious thoughts on the imperative for these agencies to generate and remit any surplus revenues.”
The report said while the agencies were expected to pay to government a fraction of their surpluses, amounting to N512.11 billion, they only transferred N264.74 billion.
Majority of the agencies either failed to pay the appropriate sum, or refused to pay anything at all, the report said. Some hid their sources of revenue while others while others simply squandered whatever amount accrue to them.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, for instance, claimed in its filing those three years that it made money only from news subscription, when indeed, it generated extra N41.84 million in 2011, the report found.
Some offices claimed they incurred losses and could pay nothing.
In one puzzling case, the Lagos International Trade Fair, which claimed losses between 2009 and 2011, reversed itself after meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Finance.
The report said the office promptly cleared a N3.75 million fixed deposit with a bank and made payment into government coffers in December 2012.
Jumbo pay
Governance Programmes Manager, Action Aid Nigeria, Obo Effanga, said he was not impressed with measures put in place by government to deal with the oil price crisis.
Mr. Effanga said the bogus number of ministers, presidential aides and advisers as well as the continued maintenance of the office of the First Lady, which is not recognized under the Constitution, do not show seriousness.
Besides, he said nothing seems to have been done by government to tax certain goods and services, particularly the provision for withholding tax in the country.
“Nobody seems to be aware how much withholding tax government collects from contractors and other services,” Mr. Effanga said. “How much tax did the politicians pay for the N27million or N22million they paid to collect Presidential nomination forms in the various political parties?”
Another notorious waste, the commentators said, remains the huge earnings of members of the National Assembly.
In 2012, the UK-based magazine, Economist, concluded that Nigerian lawmakers were the highest paid in the world. Even so, the report considered only salaries of the lawmakers, not their hefty unclear allowances.
“If government is serious, it must look at the huge earnings by the legislature. The President must do something about the number of jets in the Presidential fleet. The President does not need the number of exotic cars in his official convoy,” said Tope Fasua, Chief Executive Officer, Lagos-based Financial Derivatives Limited.
“Now that government is talking about austerity, who got the benefits of the boom when it lasted? Why are we talking about austerity measures, belt-tightening and more taxes now when businesses are folding up? Mr. Fasua asked.
The Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere, said for the government to be taken seriously with the proposed measures, President Jonathan must first show that seriousness by dispensing with at least eight of the 10 Sport Utility Vehicles in his convoy immediately, while the National Assembly should drastically cut their N150 billion annual budgetary allocation.
“The frivolous expenditures on meals and refreshments to public officials should be stopped immediately. All subsidy thieves should be prosecuted. So far there is no demonstrable commitment to fight corruption, because none of the subsidy thieves have been sent to jail,” Mr. Onyekpere said. “The NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) that has become sludge fund for government should be reorganized, and the PIB (Petroleum Industry Bill) must be passed to make the industry function effectively.”
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