₦airaland Forum

The debate as to whether the ₦50,000 empowerment made by Remi Tinubu, Nigeria's First Lady, is simply based on a realistic economic calculation and the acknowledgement of the existence of lower class will not end if a breakdown is not given.

So, what can such an amount afford for someone who wants to really go into akara business?

Here is a breakdown:

1. Gas cylinder (3kg): ₦25,000
2. Cooking gas (3kg): ₦1900 × 3 = ₦5700
3. 1 painter of white beans (depending on the location): approximately ₦5000
4. Groundnut oil (2 litres): approximately ₦4500
5. Medium-size frying pan: ₦11,000
6. Utensils and containers: ₦10,000
7. Ingredients (pepper, salt, Maggi etc): ₦2000
8. Beans grinding cost: say ₦500 per round.

TOTAL: ₦63,700

VERDICT: Even for low income earners, ₦50,000 is insufficient to start akara business.

So your Renewed Hope only works for a particular region against the others?

There's no president, dead or alive, who does it as he says it like Trump. In fact, most people think he's dictatorial simply because he doesn't regard bureaucracy or time-wasting paperwork.

He said he was going to bomb the shit out of Iran, and he did it. He can fly freely around the world even while at war, while his enemies hide in bunkers. Balls.

Xi must've wanted his vice to be his psychological veil against Trump before meeting with him, because he knows that what Trump is coming to demand, he can't afford to resist to give it.

APC fanboys are scouring the internet looking for unknown and inconsequential people who claim they're leaving the movement.

I'll vote Obi no matter which party he goes.

We're watching, not like we're fools.

Friends appointing friends to protect them from the people. The people you promised and ought to serve.

Only God can deliver Nigeria from this evil conglomerate, by spurring our hearts in unison to throw the evil regime out.

Bunch of lying opportunists.

When Trump began seeking alliance to reopen the Strait, Iranians (including the Nigerian Chapter) mocked him for it, suggesting that America was less too powerful to see it reopened.

But what many failed to undertake is that the US will not do for others what others ought to do, or at least help do. America will not have these countries sit back and watch as if they too are unaffected by the closure while the US alone fights for something that affects global economy. Never.

America is a leader, it leads the way for others to follow, or act, or strike. Which is why if Iranians fail to take back their country, the US will leave them to it.

When Igbos celebrate international recognition by foreign entities, it's inferiority complex, but when it's the Yorubas, it's a feat.

Double standards.

Reports about the capturing of Nicolás Maduro have raised the dust of opinions regarding whether the US was right to have captured Venezuela's president or whether it was a justified move.

In Nigeria, citizens are evenly torn between the both divides. Some argue in favour of the US, others side Maduro.

The funny is, it's very curious to see the same crop of persons who cheered the Buhari-led government when Nnamdi Kanu was captured in Kenya. Their grand argument is that the government was right to kidnap him and bring him to justice in Nigeria. I'd initially thought to say that capturing Maduro was the same as capturing Kanu, but I gave it a different thought by considering that there's no way Kanu will conscionably be ranked with the likes of Maduro, because, obviously, Kanu's offence was simply offending the government of the day in Nigeria, while Maduro's is against humanity. But in any case, they both compare as people who committed an offence in the books of the offended.

So if you never had any issue with the arrest and extradition of Kanu, please don't have any issue with this too. Cheer Trump too.

Okay...

There is not a single class of people anywhere in the world who project more than Baterians. They find fault in Obi, not because he is guilty of any, but because they can't believe someone can be so clean, unlike their paymaster, so they project the faults of their paymaster on Obi.

This action Obi has taken to clear the air is borne out of the respect he has for sane Nigerians, not some rudderless persons tapping away on their phone screen day and night.

Mynd44, OAM4J, Mods, FP.

Okay...


I've always had my reservations about the Catholic church due certain practices and views held by the church which I find hard to reconcile with the Bible. In my view, if there was any church that'd endorse LGBT ideas, it was, sooner or later, going to be the Catholic church, and boy was I surprised when Pope Francis took the bait.

But to be fair, these Pope Leo XIV's old comments have immensely impinged on my perception of the church. I hope he doesn't allow himself to be bullied into retracting these comments or reiterating them when necessary.

God bless His church.

Unearthed comments from new pope alarm LGBTQ+ Catholics

Previous negative remarks by Pope Leo XIV about ‘homosexual lifestyle’ at odds with papacy of Pope Francis

By Robert Mackey | Fri 9 May 2025 08.00 BST

After years of sympathetic and inclusive comments from Pope Francis, LGBTQ+ Catholics expressed concern on Thursday about hostile remarks made more than a decade ago by Father Robert Prevost, the new Pope Leo XIV, in which he condemned what he called the “homosexual lifestyle” and “the redefinition of marriage” as “at odds with the Gospel”.

In a 2012 address to the world synod of bishops, the man who now leads the church said that “Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel – for example abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia”.

In the remarks, which he also read in a video produced by the Catholic News Service, a news agency owned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the cleric blamed mass media for fostering so much “sympathy for anti-Christian lifestyle choices” that “when people hear the Christian message it often inevitably seems ideological and emotionally cruel”.

“Catholic pastors who preach against the legalization of abortion or the redefinition of marriage are portrayed as being ideologically driven, severe and uncaring,” Prevost added. He went on to complain that “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children are so benignly and sympathetically portrayed in television programs and cinema today”. The video illustrated his criticism with clips from two US sitcoms featuring same-sex couples: The New Normal and Modern Family.

The cleric also called for a “new evangelization to counter these mass media-produced distortions of religious and ethical reality”.

After some of the comments were reported by the New York Times, American LGBTQ+ Catholic groups expressed alarm but also cautious optimism.

“We pray that in the 13 years that have passed, 12 of which were under the papacy of Pope Francis, that his heart and mind have developed more progressively on LGBTQ+ issues, and we will take a wait-and-see attitude to see if that has happened,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ+ Catholic group. “We pray that as our church transitions from 12 years of an historic papacy, Pope Leo XIV will continue the welcome and outreach to LGBTQ+ people which Pope Francis inaugurated.”

DignityUSA, a group that represents LGBTQ+ Catholics, also expressed “concern” with the pope’s previous comments but noted: “This statement was made during the papacy of Benedict XVI, when doctrinal adherence appeared to be expected. In addition, the voices of LGBTQ+ people were rarely heard at that level of church leadership. We pray that Pope Leo XIV will demonstrate a willingness to listen and grow as he begins his new role.”

Perhaps the best-known of the sympathetic statements made by Pope Francis about LGBTQ+ Catholics was in 2013, when he was asked about a “gay lobby” inside the Vatican.

“I have yet to find someone who introduces himself at the Vatican with an identity card marked ‘gay’,” the pope joked. “But we must distinguish the fact that a person is gay from the fact of lobbying, because no lobbies are good. If a person is gay and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?”

DeBernardo referenced those remarks on Thursday: “The healing that began with ‘Who am I to judge?’ needs to continue and grow to ‘Who am I, if not a friend to LGBTQ+ people?’ Pope Francis opened the door to a new approach to LGBTQ+ people; Pope Leo must now guide the church through that door.”

“Many Catholics, including bishops and other leaders, remain ignorant about the reality of LGBTQ+ lives, including the marginalization, discrimination and violence that many still face, even in Catholic institutions. We hope that he will further educate himself by meeting with and listening to LGBTQ+ Catholics and their supporters.”

Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, told the Washington Blade in a text message from St Peter’s Square shortly after Leo XIV’s election that the new pope “hasn’t said a lot since early 2010s” on the subject, adding, “hope he has evolved”.

Father James Martin, an American Jesuit and founder of Outreach, an LGBTQ+ Catholic resource, sounded a note of optimism in a video message from Rome, calling the new pope a “down-to-earth, kind, modest” man and “a great choice”.

In 2023, Martin was able to bless a same-sex couple for the first time, after Pope Francis said he would allow such blessings.

In 2020, Pope Francis said he supported civil-union laws for same-sex couples. “Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it,” he said.

“Pope Francis did more for LGBTQ people than all his predecessors combined,” Martin wrote last month. “He wrote letters of welcome to Outreach conferences for LGBTQ Catholics. He approved the publication of Fiducia Supplicans, a Vatican document that permitted priests to bless same-sex marriages under certain circumstances – and weathered intense blowback from some parts of the church. And, perhaps most surprisingly and least well known, he met regularly with transgender Catholics and spoke to them with warmth and welcome.”

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/09/pope-leo-xiv-lgbtq

Okay...


Tems winning the Grammy over Rema is an aberration. She might deserve it, but not more than Rema.

DevilsEqual:
How come its still Igbos that have been creating threads about the protests since a week now. From Vanbottel, to Bigkokorep, AcuraMDX and more

You speak from all sides of the mouth

Also, if u arent joining, why worry about it?
Why not treat it as being inconsequential? just like no one ever created a thread to ask why the igbos arent willing to join and thats cause we all care less too

Okay...

Do we still need to join in the protest when his government is favouring me and my people?

When he returned from his normal ablution, he said, “How far, will you be joining in this protest? You're always talking about how Nigeria should be saved, so this is an opportunity.”

He continued, “Northerners are joining, we (his tribesmen) are joining, Won't you and your people also join?”

I smiled and told him, “Me and my people won't join in the Hunger Protest because we're not hungry. Tinubu's government is favouring me and my people.”


I wish all protesters fruitful result.

Okay...


Isn't that the same woman who has never lived in Nigeria, but gave a non-existent account of how her life and stay in Nigeria was tough and all?

So, even in Britain where she lives and was born, she's still a second fiddle in the scheme of things?

Perhaps, the British have taken a cue from the “Yoruba Ronu” chanting kinsmen of hers and may have decided to start “Ronuing” by putting her in her place.

Okay...


When Apapa was being given money, the fatness of the envelopes would have made him promise quick delivery thoughtlessly to Tinubu, with a confident smirk as a topping.

Now, I'm sure he must be dodging calls from the camp of the President-Select as he has met unforseen difficulty in outsmarting Obi and the LP.

And he has spent all the money.

Okay...

Dozy Mmobuosi should keep his Omo Hibo IPOB money to himself. We progressive omoluabis refuse to partake in his competition.

Desmond Elliott would do better for us.

Okay...


APC should rather be worried by the level of confidence and audacity Obi has been oozing these past few days. Obi is a very frugal Igbo man that presses his calculator before spending money, but if he is ready to spend it all in a legal battle, then know that he has got his act right. He knows what his backbone is; where he draws his confidence.

Obi will shock the world. He would have done it already, only that the electoral umpire was obviously compromised.

lhordspy:
The rigging allegations are already coming through. Lol.

Remember we promised you guys you will cry 'rigging' last last. Just like a prophet, our revelation is happening.

Because you knew beforehand that you were going to rig.

Okay...


I hope your conclusion about the Igbos leading the 'nuisance' wasn't drawn from social media posts made by unidentified people?

Because you're a low-key tribalist trying to make a point where there's none.

Okay...

Truth that we all know already.

Yoruba will always stand beside their own.

But you expect the North to leave their own and vote yours, right?

Okay...


Only one candidate has been telling Nigerians practical ways to solve Nigeria's many problems.

The others want you to vote them because they are the same ethnicity as you.

One even made several promises on behalf of Buhari in 2015. He has started making phony promises again, and we all know that integrity and commitment to service are alien to his life's dictionary.

Okay...

You're a great man. You're more patriotic than all APC governors who suddenly became the people's advocates combined.

Without financial inducement, you deemed it right to empower your fellow Nigerians with skills that would make them valuable in the labor market as we step into a new Nigeria.

Not those that would rather support a frail and tribalistic candidate because of #30k monthly crumbs.

I plead with you to expand your acceptance criteria to include Batists and Bulabans. Who knows, learning this could make them become useful for once in their lives.