The Nigerian army has released an image of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai alongside some other officers, brandishing a banner in which the faces of the wanted terrorists were displayed.

The photos were released as a means of incorporating public participation which will aid the Army in beating the deadline set by President Muhammadu Buhari.

If seen the army enjoined Nigerians to call the following hotlines: 08181555888, 08160030300, 07053333123
 

The Nigerian army has released an image of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai alongside some other officers, brandishing a banner in which the faces of the wanted terrorists were displayed.

The photos were released as a means of incorporating public participation which will aid the Army in beating the deadline set by President Muhammadu Buhari.

If seen the army enjoined Nigerians to call the following hotlines: 08181555888, 08160030300, 07053333123
 

Combat ready and agile men of the Nigerian Army and Civilian hunters on Tuesday, gunned down scores of Boko Haram insurgents in a surprise assault on the dreaded group.

The Nigerian military troops and self-defense fighters waged a night assault on Tuesday against Boko Haram insurgents killing 150 islamic extremists in Madagali and Gwoza arean of Borno, and rescued 36 children and women from Boko Haram insurgents. They also recovered guns and explosives used in suicide bombings.

 

According to jubilant civilians hunters who participated in the assault, they revealed that their success was as a result of reliable intelligence which they used to take the insurgents unaware.

 

It can be recalled that Boko Haram insurgents have killed over 20,000 people since they started their attacks six years ago. The group has also kidnapped innocent boys and girls, most have not been seen ever. The most notorious which gained international attention was when the Islamic group about 276 teenage girls from their school. 

 

However, the Buhari-led administration has issued an ultimatum warning the insurgents to surrender as the President has given the Nigerian Army till December to wipe the group away.

 

The Nigerian Army says it cannot fail on its resolve to end the insurgent's reign by December. Whether this will be achieved, cannot be said as December draws nearer. 

ZIMBABWEAN security officials have arrested two Nigerian clergymen from the Liberation City World Outreach Ministries (LCWOM) deported five of their members and banned their leader from entering the country after he prophesised that President Robert Mugabe would die soon.

In a sign of growing paranoia by President Mugabe, his security men arrested the two Nigerian pastors along with local cleric Pastor Joseph Magorimbo, who had convened a convention. All three were questioned for hours over a prophesy by LCWOM leader Pastor Chris Okafor in October last year in which he predicted President Mugabe's death.

Pastor Okafor had been planning to attend the convention called in Harare by Pastor Magorimbo but he has been denied entry by the authorities. Pastor Okafor had predicted that Zimbabwe would have a new president by March this year.

In what is becoming a growing trend, Pastor Okafor is not the only man of God who has prophesied President Mugabe's death over the past few years. In January, a controversial but hugely popular Malawian prophet, Austin Liabunya, predicted the supposed impending demise of the Zimbabwean leader.

Malawian publication the Maravi Post, reported that Prophet Liabunya had predicted, during a New Year’s Day service, that President Mugabe would pass away this year. With his prediction following that of Pastor Okafor, Zimbabwean officials are getting more nervous about such prophesies.

On Sunday, seven members of Pastor Okafor’s church had arrived in Zimbabwe to prepare for his grand arrival at the conference. However, five of the Nigerians were deported instantly on arrival and the other two, who arrived on a different flight, were allowed into the country but taken for questioning, along with Pastor Magorimbo.

Sources say that Pastor Magorimbo and the two Nigerians were questioned for five hours, with the local clergyman accused of inviting Pastor Okafor to Zimbabwe. Pastor Magorimbo, was later released while the two Nigerians were bundled into a truck and taken to an unknown destination.

Pastor Okafor was supposed to arrive tomorrow today but he has since cancelled the trip. Pastor Magorimbo's lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, confirmed that state security agents had quizzed his client and the two Nigerians, although it is not yet clear where the two Nigerian clergymen are at the moment.

As the world’s leaders gather at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York City this week, they face a busy agenda. Among their many tasks is the adoption of new global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) guiding actions toward 2030 – a major and much-needed accomplishment.

Setting global goals can be crucial to galvanizing action. But an agenda centered on 17 SDGs runs the danger of being too general. A more targeted approach would provide clearer guidance and make it easier to oversee implementation of the goals and adjust efforts as needs change in the future.

Also, settings high-level goals is only a first step – the hard work around governance starts now as countries move forward with implementing the SDGs. Making progress on these broad goals will require a level of focus and coordination between governments and other actors in society that we have yet to see.

Learning from Millennial Development Goals

At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) in 2012, member countries launched the SDG process. The SDGs expand on the eight Millennial Development Goals (MDGs) that were adopted at the Millennium Summit in 2000. The SDGs were formulated to help advance the post-2015 global development agenda and accelerate progress on achieving the MDGs by 2015.

In an early sign that this would not be a simple political process, the General Assembly was not able to limit participation to an original target of 30 countries. To meet demands for a large number of member states joining the deliberations, 24 of the 30 seats were shared by at least two countries, so that a total of 70 countries were official participants. Also many nonstate actors closely followed the deliberations.

In the end, members of the process proposed 17 new SDGs with a total of 169 targets. Unlike the more narrow MDGs that focused mainly on conditions in developing countries, the broader SDGs are meant to be relevant to all states.

Better accounting

With the SDGs, countries are seeking to build on positive experiences with the MDGs, which introduced a new method of UN goal formulation. This change came in response to member states’ long history of formulating international development goals that were never met. There was also no robust system for following up and adjusting priorities once the initial goals had been set.

With the MDGs, countries agreed on a more refined method. The eight goals came with a clear system for monitoring progress by having 18 goal-specific targets (later expanded to 21 targets further broken down into 60 indicators). Regular progress reports and charts showed progress in different geographical regions on specific goals and targets on a yearly basis.

The annual data made it possible for a wide range of stakeholders – governments, international organizations, advocacy groups and individuals – to review both achievements and shortcomings. This, in turn, made it possible to shift priorities over time to where action was needed based on lagging progress.

But did the MDGs work?

Reviewing progress in achieving the MDGs and their targets ending this year, it is clear that the record is mixed across goals, regions and countries.

There has been substantial advancement on reducing the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger, expanding the number of children (including women) who receive at least primary schooling, decreasing child and maternal mortality rates and increasing access to safe drinking water. Some targets were even met early.

However, there is a long way to go before safe living conditions and gender equality are enjoyed universally. Approximately 800 million people continue to live in extreme poverty, suffering from hunger. There is also much more to do to combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases and reverse negative ecological trends, such as growing greenhouse gas emissions and steady biodiversity loss.

 

All positive trends over the past 15 years also cannot be attributed simply to the MDGs. Many international policy initiatives would have happened anyway. Also, national programs launched by China and other rapidly growing economies to reduce poverty and improve living conditions improved MDG statistics but were largely driven by their own domestic priorities.

Still, the MDGs did help focus the attention of the international community and move the development agenda forward. When UN agencies, the World Bank, the Global Fund or nongovernmental organizations have acted in a multitude of ways, they have often done so guided by one or more MDGs. Financial resources, even if they still fall well short of what is needed, were also channeled toward meeting the MDGs.

Formulating and expanding the SDGs

One of the strengths of the SDG process was that the goals were developed in a transparent manner with ample opportunities for input from countries, international organizations and civil society. This was in sharp contrast to the formulation of the MDGs, which happened largely without deliberation within the frequently opaque UN system.

Another important development with the SDGs is that they pay greater attention to ecological and environmental issues than did the MDGs. This helps to solidify the fact that all human development and prosperity ultimately rests on healthy ecosystems and a healthy planet.

But the SDG process is also an excellent illustration of what can happen when there is decision-making by committee. To a much too high degree, countries and advocacy groups primarily fought to get their pet issues included among the ballooning number of wide-ranging goals and targets.

This largely prevented a meaningful debate about the need for setting priorities and what constitutes an appropriate number of goals with a manageable system for their monitoring, review and adjustment. The lack of attention to these kinds of practical issues raises serious concerns for the future.

Are good intentions enough?

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin put it succinctly in 2014:

The new development goals must be tweetable. They must be understood by ministers, mothers, capitals, youth, local governments, and citizens around the world. School age children should be able to recite them. At the same time, the SDGs could be a tool for launching a truly major transformation – globally.

The UN member states come together and adopt the SDGs for all the right reasons; establishing new goals, practices and norms can guide a necessary transition toward global sustainability.

At the same time, the highly complex sustainable development agenda benefits from being broken down into manageable parts, even as we must not lose sight of the big picture. It is unclear if moving forward with 17 goals and 169 indicators, many of which are long and cumbersome, is consistent with this need to focus attention.

In addition, further refinement of determining a large number of suitable indicators for all 169 targets will not take place until next year. This will add yet another administrative and extensive data-gathering layer to the already cumbersome SDGs.

Taking the promise of the SDGs seriously requires a stronger and more consistent political commitment to tackling human needs and inequalities. It also demands a recognition of the need to more efficiently consume natural resource, for enhanced environmental stewardship, and to provide necessary financial resources toward better stewardship of planet Earth.

Accomplishing all this under the guidance of the SDGs necessitates greater cooperation between governments, the private sector and many facets of civil society, as broad local level change is central to global goal fulfillment. It also requires having a clear and persistent focus because achieving sustainability is a collective challenge that we cannot afford to neglect.

Author:  Henrik Selin:  Associate Professor in the Frederick S Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University

credit link:  https://theconversation.com/the-risk-of-uns-sustainable-development-goals-too-many-goals-too-little-focus-48083<img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/48083/count.gif" width="1" />

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday lashed at at Senate President, Bukola Saraki, saying he engineered his own predicament.

In an article sent to DAILY POST, Igbokwe wondered why Saraki disregarded the wish of his party, by leading “a gang of forty thieves” to disrupt the plan of the ruling APC.

He said Nigerians should not pity the former Kwara governor, because he tried to be bigger than the party.

The statement reads: “One of the biggest problems facing Nigeria today is impunity. It has led to corruption, arrogance, brigandage, deep political crisis and outright murder. This pandemic disease has led to near collapse of our economy, collapse of values, collapse of institutions and collapse of governance. This high table mentality in Nigeria has led gullible people to take laws into their hands and damn the consequences to the detriment of 160 million Nigerians.

“This is the reason why Senator Saraki ignored his Party (APC) directives and connived with a useless party (PDP) we just defeated to steal the Senate Presidency. He did not stop there, the criminal arrangement led to the emergence of Senator Ekweremmadu of PDP as the Deputy Senate President. The moment this brigandage took place we saw wild jubilation in the camp of PDP. Ekweremmadu went to Enugu State and told his people that PDP is back. A lady who is a PDP member mockingly said to me: “yes APC won the election but we have taken over the National Assembly” it was then that it became clear to me the extent of damage Senator Saraki inflicted on the leadership of APC.

“What Senator Saraki did is unheard of in the history of Party politics. Saraki made the world to believe that APC leaders are unprepared for the task of governing this country. Saraki’s inordinate ambition at once put a question mark on the capacity of leaders of APC to drive leadership in Nigeria. Saraki tried to prove to the whole world that he is smarter than all the leaders of APC put together.

“Saraki ignored 51 APC Senators who were in a meeting and went to do business with 49 PDP Senators, a party APC just defeated after sixteen years bloody struggle. Senator Saraki bribed his way to the clerk of the Senate and cajoled him to proclaim a Senate that is incomplete. Saraki and Ekweremmadu criminally changed the Senate rules in order to carry out the open robbery we saw in the hallowed Chamber of the Senate of Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Because of the inordinate ambition of one man and lust to be the Senate President by all means Saraki ignored the President, the Vice President, APC governors, Senators, House of Reps members etc to sacrifice the unity of his party. Senator Saraki compounded the problems of APC, and mounted a major road block for its smooth take off considering that it is just coming to power after sixteen years in opposition. This man put spanners in the works and initiated a serious internal crisis within the ruling party that nearly made Nigerians who massively voted for APC to begin to lose hope.

“Saraki and his gang of forty thieves devastated the master plan of our great party to choose the right people to serve as the Principal Officers in the National Assembly. Since July 9 2015 when this shenanigan took place in the Senate and the huge dust it raised, Senator Saraki has remained adamant to disobey the Party’s directives and step aside rather he has continued to run from pillar to post to sustain a stolen seat. The lust for power, rapacious greed, avaricious tendency, and slave to public office have pushed Bukola Saraki to continue to work with PDP in order to weaken APC.

“But will Bukola Saraki succeed? Impossible. APC does not want Bukola Saraki as the Senate President and neither does APC want Ekweremmadu as the Deputy Senate President. Saraki has caused enough implosions within the party. He has brought public opprobrium to the party, he has slowed down the Party’s machinery from taking off smoothly, he has portrayed us as a weak party.

“Now is the time for him to go. Saraki has no choice than to go otherwise he will have himself to blame. Again if Bukola Saraki feels his hands are tightly glued to the exalted seat of the Senate Presidency and therefore cannot be removed, APC may be compelled to tear or cut his hands off, so that the National Assembly can move forward. No man is an island, and none can claim that he is the final word in APC.”

Ikaro is a community in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State where the deity of the town detests lies. BABATOPE OKEOWO, who was in the town, writes that Orisa deity also helps settle rifts among indigenes and wards off evil from the community.

Oath taking is not limited to the court of law or inauguration of political office holders but also when there is argument over ownership of property and dispute over sundry issues among friends or colleagues. Oath taking is so common that people do it and still go ahead to lie.

It happens in the day to day life of average Nigerian. In fact, oath taking is so common in the society that newly elected political office holders or litigants in the court of law vow to conduct themselves honestly while in the office, and be guided by the truth on the matter brought before the court of law, using the Bible or Quran depending on their faith.

As common as oath taking is in other parts of the country, Ikaro, a community in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State, has a different perspective on oath taking. This is because the Orisa deity in the community detests falsehood and deals a heavy blow on whoever takes an oath without examining himself properly before the deity.

Orisa deity is what the people of the community depend on in discovering truth in any dispute, either on land matter, chieftaincy dispute or material infidelity. A community leader, Mr. Adeleke Taye, who spoke for the Regent of the land, Princess Ade Olarewaju said nobody dares tells lies before Orisa deity because its judgment is an instant one. It is their belief that Orisa knows all things. Speaking on how Orisa deity reveals the truth, he said whenever there is a knotty issue in the community on which a fact is to be established, those who are involved would appear in the traditional court of the land after all efforts to establish the fact have failed. Adeleke also said the Orisa priests, who represent the deity, would appear in white robe and everything on him would be white. According to him, white represents purity and the people of the land believe that truth itself is white.

According to him, immediately the people, who are involved, appear before the Priests, the persons who committed the offence would not be able to hold anything back until he or she confesses all that he knows concerning the issue in question. Apart from establishing the truth of any dispute, Adeleke said, Orisa deity prevents evil from happening in the land His words: “evil may be happening in the neighbouring communities, but it can never get to us, because Orisa god stands at the entrance of the town to ward-off any evil that wants to come into the land.

“In the olden days, when invaders often invaded towns and villages, they (invaders) could not gain entrance to the town because the god was standing at the entrance of the town, it would blindfold them by turning the entrance into a thick forest. “We have never been invaded by the enemies, since the community was established many centuries ago.”

He added that the Orisa festival comes up once in a year when all sons and daughters of the land, home and abroad, would come home for the festival. He said it is a period of great re-union. This festival, according to Adeleke, is a carnival like festival as everybody would appear in their best attires and traditional music for the occasion would fill the air at the village square.

He said men of the marriageable age will come to the centre of the village square dancing to the traditional music with canes in their hands flogging themselves with the canes in their hands to the admiration of the onlookers. Adeleke said anybody that sustains injuries as a result of the flogging a chalk- like substance will be applied to the wound and the wound will heal instantly and the scar will disappear. He said it is an avenue for those who are ripe for marriage ‘ to choose their husband or wife.

He suggested that Orisa deity should be integrated in the State Judicial system, adding that people who are involved in financial improprieties should be compelled to appear before the Orisa court, they would confess and the money will be recovered because such a person will disclose where he has kept such money. He argued that if this is done, the work of Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would be reduced.

Adeleke posited that, since the conventional method of combating corruption is not yielding the expected results, this method should be adopted, so as to recover our money stashed away in various banks at home and abroad. He added that this will help to redeem the country’s image that is already battered before the international communities. His words “Orisa deity, if adopted into our judicial system would be a perfect way of nipping corruption in the bud in Nigeria.

It is a taboo in Ikaro land to get involved in shady deals; we are transparent and honest people.” He therefore called on the government of Ondo State to promote Orisa culture to international standard, such as Mare of ldanre land and Osun Osogbo of Osun state.

The people of Ikaro are fishermen and they do a little bit of subsistence farming. Adeleke said fishing is one area that needs to be developed because if government, invests in it, it will yield huge revenue. He said modern fishing method should be given to the farmers. According to him, we still depend on the crude method of using hooks and nets for fishing. He is of the opinion that instead of using billions of naira to import fishes which are not even enough for the country, he said that amount should be used to develop the sector which will increase the country’s foreign earning. It will also create employment for the teeming unemployed youths in the country.

He also advocated for the training of people in the act of modern fishing, especially those in the riverrine areas of the state. He said, “This will go a long way in curbing social vices such as armed robbery and the likes.” He thanked the Governor Olusegun Mimiko led administration for what they are doing in all the rural areas in the state saying, “this is the first time in the history of Ikaro that we will feel the presence of the government, we asked town hall and they did not waste time in giving us a befitting town hall.”

“We will always support this administration in any future election, because they are indeed the government of the people.” He however pleaded with the government to save them from erosion that is causing havoc in the area. He lamented that if something is not done fast, serious havoc will occur in the area. Adeleke also appealed for the channelization of their road, so that erosion will be channeled to Ose river.

103-year-old Woman Banned from Her Church.

An aged woman from banned from a church she has been attending all her life in the United States of America as a result of a minor dispute with the pastor.