Buhari mourns Christopher Abebe, ex-MD of UAC

On March 23, 20185:12 pm

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

President Muhammadu Buhari has extended heartfelt condolences to the Abebe family as well as the government and people of Edo State on the death of Dr Christopher Abebe, aged 99.

President Buhari in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina, on Friday, also commiserated with the in-laws, friends, the organised private sector and the Iruekpen community in Edo State over the passage of the astute and dedicated community leader and business mogul.

According to the statement, “The President believes that as the Odionwere (community leader) of Iruekpen, the first indigenous Chairman and Managing Director of United Africa Company (UAC), Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of three Nigerian Universities (Benin, Nsukka and Calabar), Dr Abebe was a shining light and worthy example of hardwork, positive influence and patriotism to his local community, the private sector and the nation.

“The President urges family members, business associates and the Catholic Church in Nigeria where he served committedly as Papal Knight of St Gregory and Supreme Knight of St. Mulumba to honour Dr Abebe’s memory by upholding his lifelong dedication and passion to human development.

“The President prays that Almighty God will grant the soul of the departed eternal rest and comfort all who mourn him.

The late Abebe was the father of a former First Lady of the country, late Stella Obasanjo, the deceased wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/03/buhari-mourns-abebe-ex-md-uac/

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You mean Obj's in-law?

The previous thread

Sir Christopher Abebe (Stella Obasanjo's Father) Is Dead
https://www.nairaland.com/4413629/christopher-abebe-stella-obasanjos-father

Useless president

Never knew they mourn in sheeethole countries

- Donald Trump

RIP baba...what a great reunion it will be with his precious daughter Stella..

..

He does not care about the women and children of Benue but is quick to comiserate the death of an old man that went home to sleep at a ripe old age.

Continue Mr president, we are learning.

yeeeeh, ehya
was he sick?
(in yoruba pipu's voice)

Really??

Has he finished mourning Benue Fulani Herdsmen Victims??

...Or the Dapchi girls that lost their lives?

...or the Nigerian economy?? Because that one is dead too.

Mourn Ke! Tomorrow you will hear he has attended Yaradua's great grand daughter's Wedding... baba Go-slow

I hope he won't add the mans name for future appointment

You celebrate such people not mourn. If I live to be anything above 90 I'll declare a month's partying in my will before final burial.

Eeyah! He is mourning his age-mate knowing that he would soon join him.

Na

Where is the video of him mourning

This man da year.

With all the money wey e get, e kno fit help.

At 99
It's a celebration of life
And I pray a life well spent
My condolence greetings to the Abebe family
The family has been through a lot sha

That's the two things he does best. To mourn and travel

Hmmmm life. he had his first daughter Wen he was 27. she later died 12yrs before him. he lived long o. rest in peace Nna stella

Dear Naptu2

I will be needing your permission to post this on my Facebook page although I feel you need to create it as a topic for discussion

Bill Gates, El-Rufai and the ghen ghen of Nigerians

Too many Nigerians love ghen ghen (drama/sensationalism) too much and that's probably why the media feeds them sensationalism. The press hardly writes that the Super Eagles have arrived a place, e.g. “The Super Eagles have arrived Abuja”, rather they almost always write that “The Super Eagles have stormed Abuja”. People can no longer have simple differences of opinion; rather they must be fighting (if you believe the Nigerian media). I think that’s why people are often surprised to see people from different political parties socialising (e.g. people are surprised to see Aregbesola and Fayose or Fayose and Tinubu socialising). There’s nothing strange about it. They are not enemies.

And this has been the issue in the past week. There was a fascinating debate last week, but I felt sure that many people would lose the import of the debate and would rather focus on the erroneous belief that the people that were engaged in the debate were “fighting”. Therefore, I’m going to reproduce the main points of the debate in a very simple form, so that everybody can understand them.

1) Many Nigerian budgets in the past have been heavily tilted in favour of recurrent expenditure (particularly the payment of salaries). In fact, there was a report that the Federal Government had spent 78% of its budget on salaries between 2012 and 2017 (http://www.businessdayonline.com/nigeria-spends-78-budget-salaries-five-years/ ). Some states spend 80 to 90% of their budget on payment of salaries.

2) The Buhari Government decided to increase the percentage of the budget that is spent on capital projects (roads, bridges, railways, electricity projects, etc.) because it realised that Nigeria can never develop if all the government does is pay salaries. The government realised that it had to spend money on transportation projects in order to make it easier to move goods and people around the country, which would boost trade. It had to spend on electricity projects thereby reducing the amount of money small businesses spend on fuelling and servicing generators, etc. And all of these would boost business and trade and provide more income for the country. This policy is contained in the government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

3) Bill Gates was in the country last week and he was invited to address the National Economic Council (which is chaired by the Vice President). He said that he had read the Federal Government’s Economic Growth Recovery Plan and he didn’t think that it would lead to sustainable growth because it focused mainly on physical infrastructure (roads, bridges, power lines, railway, etc.) rather than the people. He stated that the government needs to spend more on education and healthcare and that this is the best way to bring development to the people, rather than spending on physical infrastructure. He reeled out statistics to buttress his point and reminded the council that it was a Nigerian, Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, who had shown the world the importance of primary healthcare centres and the fact that you can reduce maternal mortality through adequate funding of these centres. (Professor Ransome-Kuti did this when he was minister of health in the 1980s).

(I agree with Bill Gates to an extent. I have always said that a country’s greatest resource is its human resources, rather than crude oil and gold and that a well-educated workforce can earn you much more income than oil and gold).

4) Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who is a member of the council, was interviewed outside the venue of the meeting (when it was over). He said that Bill Gates was right in saying that there needs to be more spending on healthcare and education, but he said that that’s not the duty or responsibility of the Federal Government. He reminded the journalists that under Nigeria’s federal structure, most of the primary and secondary schools, primary healthcare centres and general hospitals were owned by the state and local governments and therefore it is the state and local governments that need to increase spending on healthcare and education.

This is what was presented by the media as a quarrel, clash or war between the personalities involved in the debate. Some people that I spoke to last week had no idea what the debate was actually about. All they knew was that Bill Gates criticised the government and El-Rufai criticised Bill Gates and they immediately started taking sides.

Meanwhile, they are all correct. The government is right in stating that Nigeria cannot develop if all we do is pay salaries. It is right in thinking that there needs to be more investment in infrastructure. Bill Gates is right in saying that there also needs to be more investment in healthcare and education and Nasir El-Rufai is right in stating that that investment needs to come primarily from the state and local governments.

Proudlyngwa:
Dear Naptu2

I will be needing your permission to post this on my Facebook page although I feel you need to create it as a topic for discussion.

Ok. You can.

naptu2:


Ok. You can.

Thanks

Hope you will be able to do a topic about it.

naptu2:
The previous thread

Sir Christopher Abebe (Stella Obasanjo's Father) Is Dead
https://www.nairaland.com/4413629/christopher-abebe-stella-obasanjos-father

It shouldn't be a cause for mourning because it is a celebration of life.