₦airaland Forum

Ogun State House of Assembly has just passed into law a bill banning open grazing in the state, and put offenders at risk of 3 years jail term. This is coming few days after southern governors during their last meeting in Lagos, fixed September as deadline for open grazing practice, a development which has been subject of controversy.

The bill, according to the Assembly, would address incessant clashes between herders and farmers in Ogun State, which often led to loss of lives and property. The title of the bill reads “HB No. 045/OG/2021- A Law to Regulate Animal Grazing, Establishment of Cattle Ranches in Designated Grazing Areas of Ogun State and for other Matters incidental thereto and connected therewith.”

The bill scaled 3rd reading and final passage following presentation of the report of House Committee on Agric by Ganiyu Oyedeji at a plenary presided over by Speaker Olakunle Oluomo. Oyedeji thereafter moved motion for adoption of the report, seconded by Olusola Adams and supported by other lawmakers through voice-vote.

The legal framework was later read and adopted clause-by-clause. Thereafter, Majority Leader Yusuf Sheriff moved motion for the 3rd reading and was seconded by Wahab Haruna. Clerk of the House and Head of Legislative Services, Deji Adeyemo, took the 3rd reading of the bill before the lawmakers.

Responding, the Speaker directed that the Clerk should prepare a clean copy of the bill for Governor Dapo Abiodun’s assent.

SOURCE (abridged): https://t.guardian.ng/news/ogun-assembly-prescribes-three-years-jail-term-for-open-grazing-offenders/

Commuters were left stranded on both sides of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Wednesday 7 July 2021 due to gridlock whose cause commuters weren’t sure of. On the part of the road inward Lagos from Ogun, the traffic was mostly felt from Ibafo to a point close to Warewa Area.

Motorists leaving Lagos to Ogun had to deal with traffic from Lagos State Secretariat Alausa down to Warewa. Commuters who couldn’t afford to waste time on the road resorted to commercial motorcycle riders, popular known as Okada, to beat the traffic; while some motorists drove their vehicles off the expressway and through untarred paths to escape the traffic.

See photos below....

Reno Omokri has posited it is not scriptural to get pastors' consent for marriage.

From Genesis to Revelation, no priest or pastor was ever mentioned to have given opinion on marriage but it is solely the parents' call. He advised single ladies and men as well as the married not to let any pastor put a burden on them that God did not put, as marriage has always been a family affair not a church issue.

He said:
“It is unscriptural to get pastoral consent for marriage before parental consent. God invented marriage in Genesis 2:24. Those He included were the couple and their parents - No mention of pastor or priest.

Don’t let ANY pastor put a burden on you that God DID NOT put. ‬From Genesis to Revelation, Scriptural marriages have ALWAYS been a family affair, not a church issue. Do not be deceived by any pastor, no matter how highly placed. Take your guidance from Scripture, not man. Get parental consent, not pastoral consent

Read the entire Scripture for yourself. It is not hard. You can do it. Nowhere do you see anyone consulting priests, prophets or pastors before choosing a marriage partner. Isaac consulted his parents, Jacob consulted his parents. The 10 commandments command you to honour your parents, not your pastor!

If your parents attend your wedding, they are automatically God’s representatives, even if the wedding takes place in your village.”

SOURCE: https://newzandar.com/nigeria-news/marriage-is-a-family-affair-not-a-church-issue-get-parental-consent-not-pastoral-reno-omokri/

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Fear has gripped residents of Igbokofi in Yewa-North LGA of Ogun State following invasion of their village and arrest of an activist, Kunle Garb. Foreign police reportedly whisked him away on Thursday , following his resistance against alleged encroachment of some parcels of land in Ogun State by authorities of Benin Republic .

Nigeria and Benin Republic share boundary in some parts of Ogun West. The PUNCH had earlier reported the issue of land encroachment by Benin Republic in Ogun State. Our correspondent gathered that Garb, after his arrest, had been taken to court and detained in Benin Republic. Residents said he was not allowed to have legal representation during the proceedings.

Lawmaker representing Yewa-North state constituency II, Wahab Haruna, said, “Dr Kunle Garb was arrested on Thursday by Benin Republic police who came into the state. “His arrest has to do with his role in the case of encroachment of Nigerian land in igbokofi, Ogun State, by Benin Republic. I consulted community leaders and we visited the police station in Ipobe, Republic of Benin, to secure his release, but I was prevented from seeing him.”

He however said prominent persons in the country, including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, deputy governor of the state, Noimot Salako-Oyedele and other top government officials had been informed about the development.”

A resident, who was at Benin Republic during the trial of Garb, Afolabi Amosu, said Benin Republic police whisked him away from Igbokofi Market. He said “We were not allowed to enter the court room; it was only Dr Kunle Garb and Benin Republic police that were allowed in the court room. The Benin Republic police said he (Garb) was causing commotion in the town. They didn’t allow us to get a lawyer. We asked if they could get us a lawyer, they said it hasn’t got to that level. He was returned to cell again on Monday and he has been there.”

Attempts to get Ogun State Government’s reaction failed as the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, had yet to reply to a text message sent to him. Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Waheed Odusile, neither answered calls made to his mobile phone nor reply to a text message sent to the phone.

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/benin-republic-detains-prosecute-ogun-activist-for-challenging-land-encroachment/?utm_source=auto-read-also&utm_medium=web

Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has cautioned Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr over his attitude towards home-based players, telling him to “shut up” and do his job.

The PUNCH earlier reported that Rohr delegated handling of the Super Eagles, made up of home-based players, to Austin Eguavoen, Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, for this weekend’s friendly against Mexico, insisting he was hired to coach the ‘A Team’ only.

Dare, while on a visit to the players on Tuesday, ahead of their departure to the US on Wednesday, called on Rohr to take his job more seriously. “His attitude towards home-based players is unacceptable, it is negative to our football development in this country. I call on the NFF to call him to order. I call on the NFF to hold him by the content of the letter of his contract, but beyond that, he needs to shut up and do the work for which he was hired to do. He talks too much,” Dare said.

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/shut-up-and-work-dare-tells-rohr/

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” the sequel to the Oscar-winning “Black Panther” film has started production on Tuesday at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta. Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige confirmed the news to Variety ahead of the Black Widow Global Fan Event in Los Angeles.

Details about the sequel’s plot remains a close guarded secret but Feige says everyone from the original cast is coming back — without, of course, star Chadwick Boseman. “It’s clearly very emotional without Chad,” Feige said before the “Black Widow” Global Fan Event in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. “But everyone is also very excited to bring the world of Wakanda back to the public and back to the fans. We’re going to do it in a way that would make Chad proud.”

“Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler is also returning to direct from his screenplay. Back in May, Angela Bassett insisted that the film will be a fitting tribute to Boseman. Boseman died on August 28, 2020, as a result of complications related to colon cancer. ‘It’s going to be phenomenal and it’s going to pay tribute and it’s going to carry on that legacy,’ Bassett, 62, told USWeekly.

Another star of the film Lupita N’yongo is also confident the sequel will satisfy fans. ‘It’s going to be different, of course, without our king, to go back into that world, but I know that all of us are dedicated to reimagining or carrying on his legacy in this new Black Panther,’ she said in an interview on Good Morning America in March.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is set to debut on July 8, 2022. Black Panther debuted February 2018 and was an immediate box office smash hit. The superhero adventure opened with $202 million, going on to bank a massive $700 million domestic take and $1.347 billion worldwide. The film was the highest-grossing film at the domestic box office in 2018, and second worldwide, just behind Avengers: Infinity War ($2.048 billion).

SOURCE: https://t.guardian.ng/life/film/black-panther-2-begins-filming-in-atlanta/

Nigeria's mushroom subsector can contribute N1.8tn to the country’s revenue base if properly developed by the FG. Chairman of the Mushroom Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Michael Awunor, disclosed this at the inaugural summit of the association held Tuesday in Abuja.

Awunor stated that as a non-oil resource, the mushroom sector could boost the country’s GDP and create an estimated 16m jobs for Nigerian youths and women. He explained that mushroom as an agricultural commodity stood out among its peers due to its nutritional and medicinal benefits.

He said, “Nigeria, undoubtedly has abundant non-oil resources waiting to be tapped. It is in fact safe to declare we can earn as much, if not more, from non-oil resources as much as oil. This is where Mushroom offers so much hope to contribute significantly to the country’s GDP.

“The world mushroom market as at the end 2020 stood at about $45.3bn and we are determined to earn 10% of it. The 10% when analysed on the global mushroom market is estimated at about $4.53bn. If calculated on about N400 to a dollar official rate of the CBN, the $4.53bn translates into about N1.8tn.”

He therefore called on the FG and principal stakeholders in the agricultural sector to take more interest in the well-being of the non-oil sector to ensure that the goal of economic diversification is achieved.

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/mushroom-can-generate-16-million-jobs-n1-8tn-revenue-growers/

20. Nigeria is the number one Scrabble playing country in the world, and she has won 3 of the last 5 World English Scrabble Players Association Championships.

19. By 2047 Nigeria will have overtaken the USA to become the world's 3rd most populous country with 387 million, according to UN projections.

18. The first Nobel Prize for Literature ever won by an African was in 1986 and it was won by a Nigerian, Prof Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka aka Wole Soyinka.

17. Until 1974, Nigerians could freely travel to the UK without a travel visa.

16. The Dufuna boat, the oldest in Africa and 2nd oldest in the world, was discovered in 1987 in Nigeria. It is believed to be between 8,000 and 8,500 years old.

Thanks for pointing out the error. I intended to type "Nigeria", and I have now corrected it.

alfasexy:
Another lie.

15. The town of Igbo Ora in Oyo State, Nigeria, is known as the "Twin Capital of the World” with the highest rate of twin births in the world. About 1 in every 20 births in the town are twins.

14. Nigeria is the 3rd most linguistically diverse country in the world, with over 500 languages. There are more languages spoken in Nigeria than in the entire continent of Europe.

13. Nigeria has the largest diversity of butterflies in the world.

12. The Niger Delta in Nigeria is the 3rd largest delta in the world.

11. Nigeria’s population is more than all of the east coast of the USA combined.

10. The Jos Plateau Indigobird is a species that can be found only in Nigeria.

9. Evidence of human life in Nigeria dates as far back as 9000 BC.

8. In Africa it is considered poor taste to use the left hand to eat, shake hands or to pass or receive items.

7. The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backward.

6. Lizards communicate by doing push-ups.

5. You don’t sneeze in your sleep because your brain shuts down the reflex.

4. You share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.

3. It took the creator of the Rubik’s Cube one month to solve the cube after he created it.

2. The Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters.

1. The human nose can remember 50,000 different scents.

Rozcol:
I think its unGodly,there's a reason why God didn't choose any woman as a prophet

Read the Bible for yourself. There are no less than 7 women specifically described as being a "Prophetess" in the Bible:
1. Sarah
2. Miriam
3. Deborah
4. Hannah
5. Huldah
6. Abigail
7. Esther.

However, headship of a Church is another matter entirely, but the answer is also in the Bible.

Uyo High School shut down as students give principal 24 hours ultimatum to release detained cultists

Akwa Ibom State Government on Thursday 24 June 2021 ordered closure of Uyo High School, a public secondary school in the state over cult activities. The school has been notorious for cult war on weekly basis, but the one that occurred 2 weeks ago had a Mobil filling station located opposite the school attacked.

It was gathered that during the rival cult war, students threw stones at the glass house of the filling station and destroyed it. Amidst the pandemonium, it was further gathered that the principal, Mr Michael Etuk arrested and detained some students at the police headquaters, Ikot Akpanabia Uyo who were allegedly involved in cultism and have been unleashing mayhem in the school.

A source who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent that those students, about 6, are still remanded by the police. Other members of the cult group, angered by the principal’s action, stormed his office and dropped some fetish objects at the entrance which included fresh palm fronds, red piece of cloth, whitish objects and a bottle containing black liquid hung on the wall.

They also pasted notes at both sides of the wall which read thus: “we give you 24-hours to release our boys or we fall you. Remember we know your house, children and wife, Iwok close. Mr. Principal we always defend you, but you are fighting us. We wash our hands off your case, we fight for you no more.”

When our correspondent visited the school premises, the principal was not present but the warning notes were still conspicuously pasted on the walls while the fetish objects were still there.

However, Commissioner for Education, Mrs Idongesit Etiebet directed the chairman, State secondary school board, Dr.Ekaette Ebong to shut down the school indefinitely to allow normalcy return to the school. When the Commissioner Mrs Etiebet was contacted, she simply responded with a text message, "I’m in a meeting, I have directed the chairman secondary education board to temporarily close down the school”.

An SS1 student Miss Keziah Joseph, who spoke with our correspondent at the gate, said students were shocked to see fetish objects displaced in the principal’s office, adding they were asked to vacate the school around 12noon to avoid crisis.

Manager of the filling station, Mrs Mbereobong Elijah, told our correspondent that an incident happened 2 weeks ago in the school and students were running into the premises of the filling station for escape. She said they all came out to see what was happening and to plead with them to stop fighting each other, adding that as they were pleading they got annoyed and started throwing stone at the glass windows.

According to her, they shattered the glasses and destroyed one of the dispensers of the filling station. She said "Two weeks ago, cult members were fighting in the school. Some of them ran to take cover in our premises. We pleaded with the group already in our premises to stop but as we were pleading we heared stones on our glass door so we had to run inside for our safety.”

SOURCE: https://dailypost.ng/2021/06/24/uyo-high-school-shut-down-as-students-give-principal-24-hours-ultimatum-to-release-detained-cultists/

Judging by what the eyes see, it seems that after the construction industry, the funeral industry is the largest these days in the South-East, especially in Anambra State. The amount of money sunk into funerals these days is mind-boggling.

Parents are living longer (into their 80s and 90s) because of better access to healthcare. Unlike the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s when people could not check their blood pressure or blood sugar at home, such is available to many families these days, saving many from sudden death caused by high/low BP or diabetes. When people’s parents live into their 80s and 90s or even late 70s, there is tendency to turn their funeral into a “celebration of life”.

NON-TRADITIONAL

People of the South-East don’t have the tradition of celebrating birthdays in a big way, except those who live in Lagos and Abuja. It is not common to see someone in the South-East celebrate their 40th or 50th or 60th or 70th birthday with fanfare. If done at all, it is usually low-key with a couple of family members coming to the house for a get-together. Therefore, the burial of a parent has become an opportunity for big celebrations. It is not officially called a party but usually has all the trappings of a party or even a carnival.

There are suppliers of virtually everything: brochures, invitation cards, water, drinks, food items, gifts, and canopies. Then, there are undertakers, decorators, security people, servers, MCs, DJs, ushers, camera people for video recording and still photographs. There are also suppliers of aso ebi, which is a cloth worn by friends and associates for uniformity. In the past, only direct bereaved family would dress alike. But today, aso ebi, borrowed from the South-West, has become part and parcel of funerals in the South-East. Some would buy packs of such cloth and give to family and friends for free to sew and wear at their funeral ceremony as a way of making it colourful.

Because of the amount of money spent at burials these days, so many people have built their businesses round them. Week after week, they are supplying things to those organising burials. And they make a lot of money from such, thereby changing their financial status. The weekly traffic to the South-East for funerals and other events also ensures hotels are usually fully booked from Wednesdays to weekends. Airlines and buses travelling to the South-East from Tuesdays are also usually fully booked. Some people travel from Lagos or Abuja to the South-East for funerals 2 or 3 times a month.

DIFFERENT CATEGORIES

Funerals gulp millions of naira, depending on the financial muscle of those organising it. There are about 3 categories. 1st is the basic category which costs less than N1.5m. It can cost less than N1m. Only basic rites are performed, taking care of the requirements of the church, kinsmen, village, women’s groups and guests e.g. where stipulated that maternal kinsmen of the deceased man or kinsmen of the deceased woman be given a goat, this is given instead of a cow. Except perhaps palm wine, no bottled wines or spirits are shared at such events. Basic meals of rice and akpu or flour meal are prepared for guests.

2nd is the medium category which costs N1.5m - N5m. The funeral is made as dignified as possible, but attempts are made to keep cost under control. First, the amount of wine and spirits at the event is controlled. Second, a decent but not-too-expensive casket is used. Third, there may not be funeral undertakers to bear the casket – kinsmen are used.

Finally, there is the 3rd category, which is the premium. This starts from about N5m. First, the invitation card is a booklet – which costs aabout N1m. Second, the burial brochure costs over N1m to produce. Casket costs about a million naira or more, while undertakers charge about N0.5m or over a N1m, depending on their class. Food vendors charge up to N2m for a thousand guests, while drinks, wines and spirits cost up to N5m. Choice wines are drunk like regular beer. One person may drink up to 2 bottles of a champagne brand which costs over N150,000 per bottle. At the end of such a burial event, aabout N30m or more is spent.

Surprisingly, in spite the amount of money spent at such funerals, most families who organise them do not incur losses, except those who don’t attend other people’s events and who don’t support others. The communal spirit makes people to support the bereaved at their time of loss. It goes round from family to family, and anybody who is known to attend events and support others never runs into a loss after a burial. The Igbo people say, when a big man travels to a distant land and comes back with much meat, it is those whom he has been giving that have reciprocated.

ALL YEAR ROUND PARTYING

Interestingly, except for about one month of Lent, burials take place every week in different villages of every town between Wednesday and Friday all through the year. If the deceased or bereaved are people of note, friends and well-wishers come from outside the town. For example, when the funeral of a prominent Anambra person is taking place or one of the children of the deceased is a prominent person, one sees the Who’s Who in Anambra from virtually all towns in the state.

To be a good MC in Anambra these days, you have to know the names and titles of the Who’s Who in Anambra, for every week or two, they gather at one funeral or the other. For an MC to be rated highly, he should not wait for someone to give him a piece of paper before announcing the names and designations of such prominent people as they come in.

People take funerals seriously in Igboland. They can forgive you if don’t attend their wedding or naming ceremony or birthday. But if you fail to attend the funeral of their parents and you also fail to send your support and apologies to them, it is like a mortal sin. People keep records of what others brought to their funeral events. When it is the turn of such people, the records are checked before the funeral attendance is reciprocated. There are people who will never attend the funeral of the parent or spouse of someone who did not attend theirs or send in their support. Funeral is seen as a debt each person owes the other, because death is certain.

Even if you are not in town or in the country during some funerals, but return months or years after, you need to visit the homes of all those who were bereaved, especially within your community, and present your condolence support in cash. You can also go along with drinks. A condolence visit is never too late. But if you don’t visit those families, they will note it in their Book of Life and wait for your turn to repay you.

WHERE IS THE POVERTY?

Surprisingly, it is in this same country where people say things are hard that one sees different families spend millions on burials. Same people are also building houses all over the place, even as prices of building materials double and triple within few months under the regime of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd). You then ask yourself, where is this poverty that is said to affect over 70% of the Nigerian population?

Nigeria is a paradox!

-- Article by Azuka Onwuka.

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/funerals-have-taken-a-new-dimension-in-the-east/