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LAGOS (Reuters) - The size of Nigeria's economy will shoot up by some 40 percent in the second quarter this year, placing Africa's second-biggest economy on the list of middle income countries and bringing it closer to rival South Africa, a source close to the matter said.

The makeover may give the country financial bragging rights, but will change little for the millions trapped in poverty.

From around July or August this year, Nigeria will change the base year for its GDP calculation to 2009, from its current 1990, the source told Reuters on Wednesday, applying the new base from Q2 onwards.

Analysts said a recalculation along those lines would bring Nigeria's economy up from a current IMF estimate of $270 billion for 2012 to about $375 billion - just behind South Africa's, expected to be around $390 billion by the end of 2012.

The source said the calculations had "taken into consideration fluctuations, availability and consistency in the data in choosing the new base year, which will be 2009," and that it will be applied from the second quarter of 2012.

Most governments overhaul gross domestic product calculations every few years to reflect changes in output and consumption, such as mobile phones and the Internet. Since Nigeria has not done so since 1990, analysts had expected a large jump. Nobody had put a number on it until now.

Nigeria's markets were largely unmoved on Wednesday, with the stock exchange index trading marginally up 0.34 percent. The move was flagged late last year.

With growth 7 percent a year, compared with 3 percent in South Africa, Nigeria looks set to overtake its rival to seize the top spot, an event that would most likely boost interest in local consumer goods companies seeking to unlock the potential of Africa's most populous country and its 160 million consumers.

"Perhaps the upside for Nigeria is that it will become too important to ignore as a frontier market and investment destination," said Standard Bank's Samir Gadio, but he added that the change was largely "a symbolic turnaround" that will have little impact on Nigeria's actual diplomatic clout.

"UNDERDEVELOPED"

Nigeria's GDP may be roaring ahead, but a glance look at its huge and fast growing population and poor record on governance makes them look less impressive, analysts said.

Poverty in Africa's top oil producer is rising. A decade of breakneck economic growth has failed to lift 100 million people living on less than $1 a day out of dire poverty.

The percentage of Nigerians living in absolute poverty - those who can afford only the bare essentials of food, shelter and clothing - has risen to around 60 percent, thanks largely to kleptocratic governance hampering basic services.

"Nigeria remains significantly underdeveloped in terms of basic infrastructure (electricity, roads, etc) and faces high income inequality. Output per capita in Nigeria will continue to trail that of South Africa over the next decades," said Gadio.

The rebasing will also improve Nigeria's debt to GDP ratio, currently at around 16 percent. But Alan Cameron, an economist at Nigerian stock broker CSL questioned whether that would make a difference to its debt position - especially with its poor record on saving money despite high world oil prices.

"While certain debt ratios will be flattered by the revision, to us the question of debt sustainability has always been about the government's servicing capacity rather than the ratio of debt to GDP," he said.

Nigeria's tax revenues, seen as woeful for a country of this size, will look even smaller. Nigeria does not publish tax revenue figures but they are suspected to be extremely low, with 95 percent of government revenues coming from oil output.

Even as a consumer market, South Africa with its rising middle class and good infrastructure is likely to dwarf Nigeria for some time to come.

"Look at any metric estimating the size of the consumer market in South Africa...and look for the comparable figure in Nigeria...and the difference is far greater than 10 percent," said Razia Khan, head of Africa research at Standard Chartered.

, SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic longtime leader, has died. He was 69.

Kim's death was announced Monday by the state television from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 but he had appeared relatively vigorous in photos and video from recent trips to China and Russia and in numerous trips around the country carefully documented by state media. The communist country's "Dear Leader" — reputed to have had a taste for cigars, cognac and gourmet cuisine — was believed to have had diabetes and heart disease.

The news came as North Korea prepared for a hereditary succession. Kim Jong Il inherited power after his father, revered North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, died in 1994. In September 2010, Kim Jong Il unveiled his third son, the twenty-something Kim Jong Un, as his successor, putting him in high-ranking posts.

Kim Jong Il had been groomed for 20 years to lead the communist nation founded by his guerrilla fighter-turned-politician father and built according to the principle of "juche," or self-reliance.

Even with a successor, there had been some fear among North Korean observers of a behind-the-scenes power struggle or nuclear instability upon the elder Kim's death.

Few firm facts are available when it comes to North Korea, one of the most isolated countries in the world, and not much is clear about the man known as the "Dear Leader."

North Korean legend has it that Kim was born on Mount Paekdu, one of Korea's most cherished sites, in 1942, a birth heralded in the heavens by a pair of rainbows and a brilliant new star.

Soviet records, however, indicate he was born in Siberia, in 1941.

Kim Il Sung, who for years fought for independence from Korea's colonial ruler, Japan, from a base in Russia, emerged as a communist leader after returning to Korea in 1945 after Japan was defeated in World War II.

With the peninsula divided between the Soviet-administered north and the U.S.-administered south, Kim rose to power as North Korea's first leader in 1948 while Syngman Rhee became South Korea's first president.

The North invaded the South in 1950, sparking a war that would last three years, kill millions of civilians and leave the peninsula divided by a Demilitarized Zone that today remains one of the world's most heavily fortified.

In the North, Kim Il Sung meshed Stalinist ideology with a cult of personality that encompassed him and his son. Their portraits hang in every building in North Korea and on the lapels of every dutiful North Korean.

Kim Jong Il, a graduate of Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung University, was 33 when his father anointed him his eventual successor.

Even before he took over as leader, there were signs the younger Kim would maintain — and perhaps exceed — his father's hard-line stance.

South Korea has accused Kim of masterminding a 1983 bombing that killed 17 South Korean officials visiting Burma, now known as Myanmar. In 1987, the bombing of a Korean Air Flight killed all 115 people on board; a North Korean agent who confessed to planting the device said Kim ordered the downing of the plane himself.

Kim Jong Il took over after his father died in 1994, eventually taking the posts of chairman of the National Defense Commission, commander of the Korean People's Army and head of the ruling Worker's Party while his father remained as North Korea's "eternal president."

He faithfully carried out his father's policy of "military first," devoting much of the country's scarce resources to its troops — even as his people suffered from a prolonged famine — and built the world's fifth-largest military.

Kim also sought to build up the country's nuclear arms arsenal, which culminated in North Korea's first nuclear test explosion, an underground blast conducted in October 2006. Another test came in 2009.

Alarmed, regional leaders negotiated a disarmament-for-aid pact that the North signed in 2007 and began implementing later that year.

However, the process continues to be stalled, even as diplomats work to restart negotiations.

North Korea, long hampered by sanctions and unable to feed its own people, is desperate for aid. Flooding in the 1990s that destroyed the largely mountainous country's arable land left millions hungry.

Following the famine, the number of North Koreans fleeing the country through China rose dramatically, with many telling tales of hunger, political persecution and rights abuses that officials in Pyongyang emphatically denied.

Kim often blamed the U.S. for his country's troubles and his regime routinely derides Washington-allied South Korea as a "puppet" of the Western superpower.

U.S. President George W. Bush, taking office in 2002, denounced North Korea as a member of an "axis of evil" that also included Iran and Iraq. He later described Kim as a "tyrant" who starved his people so he could build nuclear weapons.

"Look, Kim Jong Il is a dangerous person. He's a man who starves his people. He's got huge concentration camps. And , there is concern about his capacity to deliver a nuclear weapon," Bush said in 2005.

Kim was an enigmatic leader. But defectors from North Korea describe him as an eloquent and tireless orator, primarily to the military units that form the base of his support.

The world's best glimpse of the man was in 2000, when the liberal South Korean government's conciliatory "sunshine" policy toward the North culminated in the first-ever summit between the two Koreas and followed with unprecedented inter-Korean cooperation.

A second summit was held in 2007 with South Korea's Roh Moo-hyun.

But the thaw in relations drew to a halt in early 2008 when conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in Seoul pledging to come down hard on communist North Korea.

Disputing accounts that Kim was "peculiar," former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright characterized Kim as intelligent and well-informed, saying the two had wide-ranging discussions during her visits to Pyongyang when Bill Clinton was U.S. president.

"I found him very much on top of his brief," she said.

Kim cut a distinctive, if oft ridiculed, figure. Short and pudgy at 5-foot-3, he wore platform shoes and sported a permed bouffant. His trademark attire of jumpsuits and sunglasses was mocked in such films as "Team America: World Police," a movie populated by puppets that was released in 2004.

Kim was said to have cultivated wide interests, including professional basketball, cars and foreign films. He reportedly produced several North Korean films as well, mostly historical epics with an ideological tinge.

A South Korean film director claimed Kim even kidnapped him and his movie star wife in the late 1970s, spiriting them back to North Korea to make movies for him for a decade before they managed to escape from their North Korean agents during a trip to Austria.

Kim rarely traveled abroad and then only by train because of an alleged fear of flying, once heading all the way by luxury rail car to Moscow, indulging in his taste for fine food along the way.

One account of Kim's lavish lifestyle came from Konstantin Pulikovsky, a former Russian presidential envoy who wrote the book "The Orient Express" about Kim's train trip through Russia in July and August 2001.

Pulikovsky, who accompanied the North Korean leader, said Kim's 16-car private train was stocked with crates of French wine. Live lobsters were delivered in advance to stations.

A Japanese cook later claimed he was Kim's personal sushi chef for a decade, writing that Kim had a wine cellar stocked with 10,000 bottles, and that, in addition to sushi, Kim ate shark's fin soup — a rare delicacy — weekly.

"His banquets often started at midnight and lasted until morning. The longest lasted for four days," the chef, who goes by the pseudonym Kenji Fujimoto, was quoted as saying.

Kim is believed to have curbed his indulgent ways in recent years and looked slimmer in more recent video footage aired by North Korea's state-run broadcaster.

Kim's marital status wasn't clear but he is believed to have married once and had at least three other companions. He had at least three sons with two women, as well as a daughter by a third.

His eldest son, Kim Jong Nam, 38, is believed to have fallen out of favor with his father after he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport in 2001 saying he wanted to visit Disney's Tokyo resort.

His two other sons by another woman, Kim Jong Chul and Kim Jong Un, are in their 20s. Their mother reportedly died several years ago.

http://news.yahoo.com/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-il-69-died-030848603.html

Book: Late Nigeria President Wilted Away In Office

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's late President Umaru Yar'Adua grew so weak while in office he needed once to be carried by a soldier off a runway during a state visit to Togo, ultimately becoming unable to speak in the last weeks of his life, according to a new book by his former spokesman.

The book by Olusegun Adeniyi tells of how the ill leader became a political pawn in a charade that saw soldiers deployed without authorization and rumors of a possible coup float among the elite in the oil-rich nation. It also describes the rise of militancy in the oil-rich country's crude-producing southern delta, including how a militant leader stole thousands of machine guns from Nigerian army depots.

Though portraying his former boss in a largely flattering light, Adeniyi's book shows how tenuous democracy is in a nation plagued by vote-rigging and that cast off military rule only 13 years ago.

"If we will be honest with ourselves, we all know how we rig elections in this country," Adeniyi quotes Yar'Adua as saying during a closed-door January 2008 meeting about the corrupt election that saw him become the nation's leader. "We compromise the security agencies, we pay the electoral officials and party agents while on the eve of the election we merely distribute logistics all designed to buy the vote."

The Associated Press obtained an advance copy of "Power, Politics and Death: A Front-Row Account of Nigeria Under the Late President Yar'Adua" from the author, who now writes a column for ThisDay newspaper. Reuben Abati, a spokesman for current President Goodluck Jonathan, declined to comment on the book. A spokesman for the ruling People's Democratic Party did not respond to a request for comment.

In the book, Adeniyi acknowledges Yar'Adua's ascension to power through a rigged 2007 presidential election. Yar'Adua, already sickly from a chronic kidney condition, weakened quickly under the strain of the presidency.

Those around him tried to protect his image. Adeniyi recounts instructing a cameraman from the state-run television network to film the president from the side only in one instance in 2008 to hide Yar'Adua's swollen face after an allergic reaction.

Yar'Adua then had "minor surgery" in Germany, but could only work a few hours a day, if at all, after the procedure, Adeniyi writes. As he grew sicker, Yar'Adua began receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia with government officials suspecting that "American security agents had penetrated the (German) hospital and had gained access to the president's health profile," according to the book.

At one point during a trip to Togo, the military officer assigned to Yar'Adua had to drape traditional robes over his arm to hide the fact he needed to nearly carry the president off a landing strip, the book claims.

Yar'Adua departure in late November 2009 for a several-month stay at a hospital in Saudi Arabia set up a constitutional crisis that saw government grind to a halt in the OPEC member nation. The National Assembly ultimately voted to empower then-Vice President Jonathan to serve as acting president. Yar'Adua was whisked back into Nigeria's capital Abuja under the cover of darkness days later, apparently unable to talk. He apparently was brought back so those close to Yar'Adua could exert control over Jonathan.

Soldiers deployed to the Abuja airport to escort Yar'Adua home in an ambulance without Jonathan's knowledge, the book claims. The next day, rumors of a possible coup flourished.

"There were fears among (Jonathan's) closest aides he could be shot by the soldiers," the book claims.

It later adds: "Signals from the military were also hazy, with fears that some soldiers could take out both Yar'Adua and Jonathan."

Yar'Adua died on May 5, 2010. Jonathan was sworn in as president the next day.

The book also describes the Yar'Adua-led amnesty program offered to militants in the country's Niger Delta, where foreign oil firms have pumped crude oil for more than 50 years. Despite the billions of dollars earned yearly from oil sales, the region remains desperately poor and polluted.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta was the region's premier militant group, its rise aided by a series of weapons thefts engineered by the group's alleged leader Henry Okah from Nigerian military depots, Adeniyi writes. The theft of thousands of weapons, including pistols, machine guns and rocket launchers, "was so staggering and the crime so well organized that the investigating team could hardly determine the exact amount of arms removed," Adeniyi writes.

Okah, who denies leading the militant group, now faces terrorism charges in South Africa over a dual car bombing Oct. 1, 2010, in Abuja that killed at least 12 people. Six soldiers were sentenced to life in prison over the arms thefts.

http://news.yahoo.com/book-nigeria-president-wilted-away-office-091313621.html

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala File Share


Plans to revalue Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product will strategically position the country when compared with other leading economies on the continent, writes Okechukwu Nnodim



The revaluing of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product will have a positive impact on the economy if implemented in January 2012, as proposed by the National Bureau of Statistics, financial analysts have said.

GDP refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period.

The nation’s Chief Statistician, Mr. Yemi Kale,was quoted by Reuters as saying that in January 2012, the country would change the base year for its GDP to 2008 from 1990.

According to him, the move can lead to a “huge jump” in the estimated size of the economy.

Reutersreports that most governments overhaul GDP calculations periodically to reflect changes in output and consumption, such as mobile phones and Internet usage, but adds that Nigeria has not done so since 1990.

According to the news agency, when Ghana rebased its vital statistics last November, output shot up by 60 per cent.

A similar increase for Nigeria’s $247bn economy would bring it to $395bn, much closer to the continent’s top economy, South Africa, which was currently at $422bn,the report said.

Describing the development as one that was capable of placing the country’s economy among the leading global economies, analysts told our correspondent on Saturday that the closer a nation’s base year was to reality, the better it would be as a parameter to check its economic progress.

The Chief Consultant, B. Adedipe Associates Limited, Dr. Biodun Adedipe, said the planned GDP rebase was necessary for consumer and producer price indices, stock index and all forms of indices.

Adedipe said, “Usually every index has a base year and the far away you are from the base year, the more distant from reality your current numbers.

“It is a statistical practice, and at some point it is necessary to change the base year and bring it closer so that the figures will be more realistic and therefore very reasonable when you compare them with others and this will adequately position the economy for the future.”

Adedipe stated that the change of the base year would not particularly be aimed at competing with other world economies, but to show the true position of Nigeria’s growth.

He said, “It is to reflect the actual value of what we produce, especially of our GDP. It is more of that and I don’t see it as targeted at any particular country whatever, and there is also the likelihood that some people will misinterpret it and say it is targeted at our vision 2020.

“The rebase of GDP is a statistical matter, and as I said, it is what you do with all kinds of indices. So, when you rebase, you can now take your readings from there.”

“It is certainly a positive initiative because for anybody familiar with statistical analysis, you will agree that 1990 is far when compared to where we are based on statistics that we have today. So, clearly, it is something that we need to address,” Adedipe added.

Another economist, Dr. Ayo Teriba, said that revaluing GDP was an academic exercise used to evaluate a nation’s economy across different periods.

He said,“It is simple and necessary, because the value of N1 this year is not the same as the value of N1 next year; so, GDP rebase or recalculation is analytical, for when you want to track things that are happening here, you use it to track them.

“The important thing is that since the economy itself changes with time, some people manage and fashion out policies that will accelerate growth, because the closer your base year is to reality, the better it is to check on your progress.”

“So, for the purpose of understanding what is happening, we are therefore adopting policies that will better prepare the economy for the future, but it does not affect what has happened in the past.”

Another analyst with Chatham House, Alex Vines, told Reuters that the GDP rebase would “help focus policy makers on Nigeria as an emerging economy that needs to be taken seriously.”

“Forecasters are talking about Nigeria by 2050 being a G20 economy. The commercial sector already understands that Nigeria could eclipse South Africa fairly quickly,” he added.

President Goodluck Jonathan, while speaking in Abuja last Thursday at an economic forum, had called on foreign investors to take advantage of investment opportunities in Nigeria. He described the country as fertile for businesses.

“Nigeria is like a green field in terms of investment , a global investment destination,” Jonathan said.

http://www.punchng.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=4577:gdp-revaluation’ll-make-economy-competitive-–-analysts&Itemid=543

The elections of the Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosu and his Plateau State counterpart, Jonah Jang were on Monday upheld by the Election Petitions Tribunals sitting in Abeokuta and Jos respectively.
The Abeokuta tribunal dismissed the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] for lack of “merit” and ordered it to pay the respondents – Amosun and two others, the sum of N10,000:00 each.
In Jos the petition of of Dame Pauline Tallen, governorship candidate of the Labor Party (LP) was also dismissed.
The PDP had dragged Amosun, the Action Congress of Nigeria and the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC], to the tribunal where it prayed the court to declare that its candidate, Gen. Adetunji Olurin [Rtd], scored the highest number of valid votes cast and be returned as winner.
PDP had also prayed the tribunal to order INEC to immediately issue Olurin, a certificate of return as the lawful winner and in the event that the above prayers were not granted, the Court should in the alternative declare as a “nullity,” the election that brought Amosun into office as governor.
The Jos judgment which lasted for over three hours was delivered under tight security with the Police and Special Task Force ( STF) deploying over 5, 000 men for the event.
Roads were barricaded with armored vehicles manned with armed security men of the police, STF and civil defence.
In the April 26, 2011 governorship election in Plateau State, the INEC scored Jang, the PDP flag bearer with 823, 536 votes, while Tallen scored 494, 975 votes.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news-update/24690-tribunals-uphold-amosun-jang-elections.html

I bought GBP/USD at 1.6020 and I TP at 1.6150,I also sold USD/CAD at 0.9984 and TO at 0.9948 I entered Euro/USD buy at 1.3910 hoping to TP around 1.4000 but I will be moving SL up gradually.It had been great for me since yesterday when the Japanese intervene .

I decide to TP now.USD/JPY 350 pips,EUR/JPY 135 pips Euro/Usd just 50 pips total 535 pips .What a nice way to start my week I wish everyday will be like this .Happy trading to everyone

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Who among you guys capture the USD/JPY movement?I set a buy pending order for 75.70 last week I already have the feelings that the Japanese will intervene and they finally did I keep moving the TP now set at 79.80 and I'm more than 300pips up now . .What a great way to start the week.

No link here.

Osun Acquires Four Locomotives •pays Railway For Rehabilitation Of Sub-station

As part of its plan to assist farmers and boost the economy of Osun State by transporting agricultural produce to Lagos through rail line free-of-charge, the state government has acquired four locomotives of 40 coaches and 40 wagons.

The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Sunday Akere, who disclosed this while briefing journalists after the state 8th Executive Council meeting in Osogbo on Wednesday, said that the locomotives were currently being constructed in China and when the works are completed on them, they would be brought to the state.

Explaining the rationale behind the project, the commissioner said that the objective was to increase income and revenue, as well as using it to create employment for the youths in the state, adding that the state has also paid the Nigeria Railway Cooperation to repair Dagbolu railways sub-station.

According to him, the state Executive Council has also approved the construction of a mid-regional market at Dagbolu area, saying, “we are starting an Osun mid-regional market at Dagbolu and this has to come into place because of the intention of the governor to make Osun the nerve commercial centre of the South-West”.

On the payment of salaries of workers in the state civil service, Akere said the salaries of the workers for the month of August had been paid on Tuesday, while that of September would be paid by next week.

Explaining the basis for the delay in the payment of the workers’ salaries, the commissioner said “We have to emphasize again that the delay of payment of salaries was not the fault of the government at all.

“We all know that there was a strike which lasted for a month in August and the workers returned on the 5th of September.

At the Executive Council meeting we had on the 7th of September, we were told by those preparing the salaries that because of the new salary table, the working out of the salaries will take long.

We decided to pay the August salaries with old salary table and we will then use the new table for September as well as paying the arrears, but the leadership of the labour union said that they would wait until the salaries’ preparation is completed with the new table.

“Earlier before now, there had been standing order from the governor that salaries of workers in every month must not exceed 26th day of the month, but unfortunately because of the disruption on the payment of salaries in the last two months, the salaries of October will be paid by latest the first week of November and the subsequent ones would be regular”, he noted.

On the rehabilitation of township roads that had been approved by the government, Akere said that the council was briefed at its meeting by the Ministry of Works that the contractor handling the job had requested for a two-week extension for the rain to subside, with a view to ensuring that sordid jobs are not done on the roads and the request was granted.

He further noted that the council had approved the revival and establishment of Ayegbaju market, Osogbo, saying that the idea was prompted with a view to decongesting the roadsides of market women, who have been trading by the roadsides and give them a more comfortable place.

The commissioner further revealed that the council had approved the establishment of a revival centre tagged Open Heaven Arena, that would accommodate 200,000 worshippers at a time, saying that the idea was also muted to promote sales and improve the economy of the state.

http://www.osundefender.org/?p=20783

, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the most likely winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, Norwegian commercial broadcaster TV2 reported Thursday, a day ahead of the widely anticipated announcement.

While Nobel watchers for weeks have been betting the prestigious award would go to a cyber activist who helped bring about the Arab Spring uprising, TV2 reported it had reason to believe that Africa's first democratically elected woman president would be getting the call Friday.

"She is the symbol of the new Africa," said the broadcaster, which in 2009 correctly guessed the surprise win by Barack Obama and last year bet heavily on jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who to Beijing's outrage won the prize.

Sirleaf, whose name had not previously figured high on the list of suspected winners, is running for a second term and will face elections on Monday.

The head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that attributes the prize, Thorbjoern Jagland, meanwhile would only tell public broadcaster NRK earlier Thursday evening that he believed this year's pick would be "well-received all over the world".

He said the award would be "very powerful , but at the same time very unifying".

While refusing to provide details, he did however play down observers' favourite this year: actors within the Arab Spring uprising.

"There are many other positive developments in the world that we have looked at," he said.

"I think it is a little strange that researchers and others have not seen them," he added.

The Nobel Committee has had more than enough names to choose from this year, with a record 241 individuals and organisations on the top secret list.

Among other names that have been circulating are Sima Samar, an Afghan doctor and women's rights activist, and Russian activist Svetlana Gannushkina and her human rights group Memorial.

The European Union, which has held the peace among old foes on the continent for more than 50 years, has also figured among the most discussed possible winners.

The Nobel Committee will make its announcement at 11:00 am (0900 GMT) Friday.

, http://news.yahoo.com/world-rally-around-2011-peace-prize-pick-nobel-184736990.html

, MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A witness says suspected members of a radical Muslim sect threw a bomb at soldiers in Nigeria's restive northeast, killing two bystanders at a nearby wedding.

The attack happened Saturday in Maiduguri, the home of the sect known locally as Boko Haram. A witness who asked for anonymity out of fear of the sect said the two bombers targeted soldiers in the neighborhood, but missed.

A military spokesman confirmed the attack Saturday night, but declined to offer any details.

Boko Haram wants the strict implementation of Shariah law in Nigeria. It claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 suicide car bombing at the U.N. headquarters in Nigeria that killed 23 people and wounded 116 others.

http://news.yahoo.com/witness-nigeria-sect-kills-2-wedding-bomb-210619322.html

, PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A South African arms company has unveiled what it calls the first all-African military plane.

Johannesburg-based Paramount Group boss Ivor Ichikowitz, showing reporters the AHRLAC on Tuesday, says the lightweight aircraft can be used for peacekeeping missions and reconnaissance and is armed to defend itself. Ichikowitz says it's the first such aircraft to be designed and built entirely by African companies.

He says he's received an order from a country he would not name for 50 of the planes, each costing about $10 million.

Paramount Group is one of Africa's largest military hardware producers and has markets in West Africa and the Middle East.

http://news.yahoo.com/safrican-unveils-first-african-military-plane-135346987.html

I was banned yesterday YYYYYYYYYYY?because in my opinion I did nothing wrong I only post a news headline I think will be interesting to alot of people on this forum.

ABUJA— Federal Government said,yesterday, that the country now generates 4,242.7Mw of electricity which is the highest quantum of power ever generated in its history.

This is just as the Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a consortium of Swiss and European investors for the investment of N240bn ($1.6bn) in the power, petroleum and housing sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, confirmed the development during the signing of the first phase of the MoU with representatives of the consortium in Abuja.

The group, comprising Seagas Services Limited and Oceanmar Services Limited, was led by the First Deputy Prime Minister and Head of International Affairs and Investments, Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Behgjet Pacolli.

Aganga said his ministry would work with Ministries of Power and Petroleum to facilitate the investments, adding that the Federal Government was committed to supporting genuine investors to invest in critical sectors of the economy.

Pacolli, who spoke on behalf of the consortium during the signing ceremony, noted that the decision to investment in Nigeria was based on the huge and largely untapped investment potential in the economy.

He added that the consortium would work assiduously towards the completion of its proposed investment projects in Nigeria, noting that plans were ongoing to increase its investment portfolio in the country within the next six years.

About 3,982.7 megawatts which is now produced in the country go into the national grid, with 260Mw maintained as spinning reserve, which is used for system stability.

Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, who said this during the workshop with the theme, “Towards Power Stability in Nigeria”, noted that the administration has achieved measurable improvement in all facets of the power industry and is committed to getting better.

He said: “There are credible reports of a noticeable improvement in power supply in many parts of the country. We are expecting an additional 10Mw from the Delta Power Station in Ughelli, Delta State, this month.”







, plus 120Mw later in the year thus bringing the quantum of power from this plant to 470Mw.



“From its sister power station in Sapele, we are expecting an additional 100Mw this year raising supply from this station to 252Mw.”

Nnaji added that the administration has a programme to recover as soon as possible lost capacities at Egbin, Kainji and other hydro and thermal stations across the country.

He pointed out that, “The 760Mw Kainji hydro station, built in 1968, has never been overhauled. But some of its units which are out of use are now undergoing rehabilitation.”

Coupled with the scheduled commissioning of some plants being built under the National Integrated Power Project,NIPP, we are optimistic of achieving the target of 5,000Mw this year and hit 6,000MW in 2012.”

He added that, “Nigeria used to experience an average of four system collapses every month, that is, almost 50 system collapses annually. Much as we have reduced the failures in the last one year, our goal is to reduce them to zero.”

The Minister stated that government was not pre-occupied with just power generation, but also committed to the development of the entire value-chain in the power sector, adding that government was carrying out repairs in the transmission and distribution networks, and in some cases upgrading and modernizing them.

He further disclosed that President Jonathan has approved the implementation of the Super Grid transmission infrastructure, which has the capacity to wheel the nation’s power when the 765KV Super Grid is installed.

“This will make Nigeria have a cutting edge technology which even many advanced countries have not yet acquired. As a government, we are determined to be proactive. Yet, we have resisted the temptation to roll out the drums because Nigeria is still far from where the Jonathan administration would like it to be, in terms of electricity,” Nnaji added.

Nnaji, meanwhile, has justified the recent redeployment of some Chief Executive Officers of PHCN Distribution Companies, noting that power supply had improved in the regions merely 72 hours after the action to redeploy the CEO of Olorunsogo Power Plant 1 to the PHCN headquarters.

According to the Minister, “The power sector reform represents a paradigm shift. It has set Nigeria in a fresh and welcome direction. We have no other country. Therefore, it is incumbent on us to build a prosperous nation, a nation which our children will be proud to call theirs. The journey for a better country has begun in earnest.”

Meanwhile the Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a consortium of Swiss and European investors for the investment of N240bn ($1.6bn) in the power, petroleum and housing sectors of the Nigerian economy.

He said, “We have held discussions with the representatives of Seagas Services Limited and Oceanmar Services Limited, about the investment opportunities in Nigeria. We have agreed on investments in a few areas such as housing, building a factory for gas infrastructure for the manufacturing of gas pipelines. We also discussed the possibility of investing in the area of power, building of refineries and housing construction.

“After a number of discussions, we are signing a Memorandum of Understanding for the estimated sum of $1.6bn to be invested in some of these areas. Specifically, the money will be invested in refinery, power and housing. It is the desire of the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Trade and Investment, to attract Foreign Direct Investments into Nigeria, create jobs, generate wealth and enhance the economic growth of the country.”

He added, “This is just the first phase of the signing of the MOU. On our part as the Ministry of Trade and Investment, we will work closely with the Minister of Power and Petroleum to facilitate these investments.

“We want to thank the leader of the consortium, Mr Behgjet Pacolli, for the trust and confidence he has reposed in the Nigerian economy and promise to collaborate with him to ensure the successful execution of these projects. We are also committed towards ensuring that these investments generate wealth and create jobs for Nigerians.”

He said, “We were encouraged to invest in Nigeria because of the huge market and vast investment opportunities that currently exist in the country. Also, we are impressed by the opportunities that exist for foreign investors in the country. We strongly believe that the investments we are bringing into the country will be of immense benefit to the people of Nigeria and also to our investors.

“We are committed towards ensuring the successful completion of these projects within the next six years with the prospects of expanding our investment portfolio in the country.”

There was commotion along Melford Okilo Expressway, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State following a violent clash that occurred among mentally ill persons in the state.



At the end of the fight, two of the mentally ill persons including a female were critically injured.



Our correspondent learnt that one of the insane men had his jaw slashed with a cutlass, while the woman had a cut in the neck.



It was learnt that the clash which occurred at the Women Affairs Bus Terminal, few metres to the Government House created panic among passersby and heightened fear in the minds of residents.



Though the cause of the fight was not known, sources at the scene told SUNDAY PUNCH that the two men were engaged in a supremacy battle to win the heart of another mentally ill woman who was injured in the process.



It was learnt that the two men engaged each other in a struggle to determine who would have sexual intercourse with their female counterpart.



The incident created a traffic gridlock as the lunatics armed with cutlasses inflicted deep cuts on each other.



It was gathered that but for the timely intervention of the operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the fight would have led to more casualties.



Confirming the incident, the Public Relations Officer of the NSCDC, Mr. Denny Emmanuel, said, “We received information that mad men were fighting with machetes at Melford Okilo road, very close to Cultural Centre.



“When we got there, we discovered that two people were down already. We saw one man lying down on the median on the expressway and the other female lying unconscious at the valley, which is opposite the area. On close examination, we thought the man was dead, but later we found out that it was temporary loss of consciousness and the same thing happened to the insane lady.



“We started looking for the attacker and we have arrested one of them.”



He said the injured victims were taken to the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa and that they were responding to treatment.



The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Eguaveon Emokpkai, also confirmed the report but said the police had no business arresting insane persons.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201108218511789

rip

Eket (Akwa Ibom) – Mr Henshaw Asuquo, a Clergyman in Eket, in Akwa Ibom on Wednesday committed suicide by hanging.

Family sources said on Thursday that Asuquo, who is in his late twenties told his wife, who resides with him in Eket, that he wanted to visit his home in Esit Eket Local Government where he committed suicide.

The deceased reportedly concealed the rope with which he hung himself when he got to the village.

The pastor’s younger brother, Mr Godwin Asuquo confirmed the incident.

He said “there was actually no reason for anyone to have suspected anything because when he came he discussed with relatives normally and entered his room.

“It was when his meal was served that the lady who cooked the food discovered his body dangling from the ceiling.’’

The deceased, who hails from Afaha Ekpenedi community in Esit Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom is an upcoming minister in the Church of Christ in Eket.

At the compound of the deceased on Thursday morning arrangements were already underway to bury his remains, while sympathisers thronged the community as the news spread.

Police sources in Esit Eket said that they were ignorant of the incident and so could not comment on it.

It was gathered that the family resolved to bury the late clergy man after performing the traditional rites to avoid unnecessary delays often associated with police case. (NAN)

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/07/pastor-commits-suicide-in-akwa-ibom/

, Fresh clashes between Muslim and Christian youths left five people dead and 12 seriously injured in the flashpoint central Nigerian city of Jos, an army spokesman said Wednesday.

The clashes erupted late Tuesday in Angwan Rukuba district when Muslims youths began protesting the murder of a carpenter who had been allegedly lured to his death by a gang of Christian youths, Captain Charles Ekeocha told AFP.

The carpenter, who was named as Dahira Musa, had been killed on Monday before being buried behind a poultry farm in Christian-dominated Anwar Rukuba district, residents said.

Angered Muslim youths from the nearby Nassarawa Gwon district mobilised and confronted the Christians and the clashes claimed five lives while 12 others were injured, said Ekeocha, spokesman for the Joint Task Force din the city.

Jos, capital of Plateau state, has been hit by waves of sectarian violence in recent years that have claimed hundreds of lives.

The state is located in the so-called middle belt between the mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south of Africa's most populous country.

A series of Christmas Eve bomb blasts in Jos killed dozens and set off a new round of violence.
.http://news.yahoo.com/five-dead-nigeria-sectarian-clashes-army-185112763.html

, MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian military official says the emergence of a breakaway group within a feared Muslim sect is a sign that the radical sect is weakening.

Joint Security Task Force spokesman Lt. Col. Hassan Mohammed said Wednesday that his officers had seen statements announcing that a faction had split from a sect locally known in Nigeria's restive northeast as Boko Haram.

A group which calls itself the Yusuffiya Islamic Movement says in unverified statements that "people with evil motives have infiltrated our genuine struggle."

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for a rash of killings targeting security officers, local leaders and clerics in the area over the last year.
http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-faction-emerges-radical-muslim-sect-155642967.html;_ylt=AmgQHaHJ_.ft7DyMF8bbpAK96Q8F;_ylu=X3oDMTNwNjRzbmw0BGNjb2RlA3dlaWdodGVkY3QEcGtnAzM3MmJkZjI5LTE4NWUtMzU4MS1iNDE5LWE3YmY0ODA4ODAxZgRwb3MDNgRzZWMDbW9zdF9wb3B1bGFyBHZlcgNlOGVhOTc4MC1iMmU4LTExZTAtYmM3My1jYjBjNzM5NDU3Mzk-;_ylg=X3oDMTFxaTJhMjZtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAN3b3JsZHxhZnJpY2EEcHQDc2VjdGlvbnM-;_ylv=3

Nigeria has a long road to travel to get out of her infrastructural rot. At least, the Federal Government, according to the Urban Development Bank of Nigeria, needs to invest a whopping $200bn (N30tn), to raise the infrastructural provisions in the country to acceptable standards.



By the figure, it will take Nigeria about 37 years to address the country’s infrastructural deficit accumulated over 50 years of independence given the average N830bn annually budgeted for capital expenditure by the Federal Government.



The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of UDBN, Mr. Abdulrazaq Oyinloye, who gave the figure on Monday, at a workshop organised by the National Pension Commission, in Abuja, said the level of financing required to bridge the country’s infrastructure deficit surpassed the supply of capital available from the government.



A report by the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission, a copy of which was made available to THE PUNCH in Abuja, says the Federal Government requires to pump N2.25tn ($15bn) annually to improve the state of infrastructure in the country to an acceptable level.



Oyinloye said there was the need for increased public-private sector collaboration to improve the nation’s decaying infrastructure. He also canvassed the need to access the country’s pension fund asset of over N2tn to ease the existing constraints hindering infrastructure financing in the country.



He said, “This training programme couldn’t have come at a better time than now. Nigeria’s current infrastructure deficit is estimated to be well in excess of $200bn.



“The extent of financing required to bridge the country’s infrastructure deficit surpasses the supply of capital available from the government.



“There is thus a need for increased private sector participation alongside the public sector. In particular, accessing the capital of Nigeria’s N2tn pension fund pot is essential, provided it does a win-win solution for both pension fund managers looking for long term steady investment returns and growth potential.”



The Pension Reform Act 2004 established the Contributory Pension Scheme. The scheme is under the supervision of the National Pension Commission which was established to regulate and supervise all pension matters in the country. Workers in both the private and public sectors and their employers are required to contribute a certain percentage of the employees’ monthly wage into the fund.



The Director-General of PENCOM, Mr. Muhammad Ahmad, noted that the country’s infrastructure had remained a major challenge in its march towards joining the league of 20 top economies of the world by 2020.



He said, “The nation’s infrastructure deficit presents enormous opportunities for the private sector, especially since the funding requirements in bridging the infrastructure gap far outweighs the available investment from the government.



“The rationale for encouraging pension fund investment in infrastructure was predicated on further enhancing the safety of pension fund assets through diversification of the pension portfolios and income streams as well as contributing to the provision of critical infrastructure that would enhance economic development and generate employment opportunities.”



Indeed, analysts believe that a curious combination of official corruption and neglect have left the state of infrastructure in the country prostrate. Fifty years after independence, the country’s parlous state of roads, electricity supply, water and housing belies the resources available to it.



The nation’s landscape is littered with abandoned projects initiated by successive governments at all levels. The few completed ones are either badly executed or suffer from poor maintenance culture.



A recent report by the Presidential Projects Assessment Committee on Federal Government projects said 11,886 infrastructural projects embarked upon by the government had yet to be completed due to subversion of due process by ministries, departments and agencies of government, resulting in avoidable loss of billions of naira.



Specifically, the report stated, “There are 11, 886 ongoing capital projects being executed by the Federal Government. The estimated cost of these projects is N7.78tn. Out of this amount, N2.69tn had been paid to contractors. However, there is evidence of large scale and widespread institutional mediocrity, deficiency of vision and lack of direction in the project management. This has resulted in avoidable losses of billions of naira.



“In addition, corruption in the handling of projects by many self-seeking and inept public officers and contractors has led to massive inflation of costs and undermined the legitimacy of their monitoring and supervision responsibilities.”

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201107192594087

LAGOS — A one-day meeting of the six governors of the South West region will hold in Lagos today.

Usually reliable sources said the close-door meeting to be hosted by Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State will be attended by his Action Congress of Nigeria’s counterparts from Osun (Engr. Rauf Aregbesola), Ogun (Senator Ibikunle Amosu), Oyo (Senator Abiola Ajimobi) and Ekiti (Dr Kayode Fayemi). Also expected is their Labour Party equivalent from Ondo State, Dr Segun Mimiko.

According to sources, “the meeting is imperative since all the states in the South-West are under the ACN, with the exception of Ondo State which is under a Labour Party government that may also be considered “progressive” (and which actually took power from the Peoples Democratic Party with some support from the ACN leadership).

“There is also a widespread expectation within the region that the party and its governors will cooperate to spread the type of development witnessed in Lagos State across the entire South-West.”

Also, the region’s chief executives will look at the possibility of establishing an investment outfit to be fashioned after the Oodua group.

Vanguard also reliably gathered that there will be a common action pattern to be agreed upon at the meeting on how states like Oyo and Ogun will handle ‘the rot’ left by previous administrations.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/07/s-west-govs-converge-on-lagos-today

ABUJA— PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, announced far-reaching measures towards accelerating the nation’s economic growth through boosting agricultural output and provision of infrastructure in which a Lagos-Ibadan speed train line contract would soon be awarded.

President Jonathan who was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo said at the opening of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, NIRSAL, conference that contract will soon be awarded for a standard fast train link between Lagos and Ibadan.

The president who noted that the present infrastructure situation in the country was unacceptable, said his administration was tackling infrastructure deficit across the nation head-on.



He said electricity power supply and transportation were being given priority attention in recognition of their multiplier effects on other sectors of the economy.

The president lamented that the huge annual food import bill of N630 billion was crashing the nation’s foreign reserves said the Federal Government would establish six fertilizer plants, one in each geo-political zone, to make the product readily available to farmers for increased yield.

He added that River Benue would also be dredged up to Yola, Adamawa State.

President Jonathan said: “Robust economic growth can only be achieved if all the economic agents are judiciously committed working assiduously towards committing their resources to this noble course.”

He noted that the on_going programme for agriculture and food security would serve as a platform for preparing the road_map for the implementation of all government_assisted agricultural programme.

He admitted that although in the last five years, the agricultural sector has contributed about 40 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, and 60 per cent of employment, the encouraging growth has not sufficiently impacted on the socio_economic lives of the nation as Nigeria continued to depend on other nations for her food requirements.
Governor of Central Bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had said that all well_informed Nigerians agreed that the nation had the potentials to be great and that agriculture presents the best path to that dream land.

He said: “This idea of common vision, therefore, is not new. What I think is new is the perspective of what has to be done, when, how and by whom.”

Sanusi called for the re_designing and embracing of a holistic approach in addressing the various challenges confronting the nation’s agricultural sector.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/07/fg-to-award-lagos-ibadan-rail-contract-soon-%e2%80%94jonathan/

Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Sunday made public the assets declaration form which he deposed to shortly before his inauguration as governor on May 29.

Making the content of the form public on behalf of his boss, the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications, Dr. Festus Adedayo, said the step was in line with Ajimobi’s promise to commence a government that lays store by transparency and accountability in the administration of the state.

Adedayo said the governor deposed to the Assets Declaration Form for Public Officers at the Registry of the State High Court, Ibadan, before Justice Ladiran Akintola, on May 27, 2011, two days before assuming office.

The assets declared, according to him, include cash in local banks, buildings, vehicles, business enterprises and household items.

According to the form filled by the governor, the total amount of cash he has in banks in the country is N292, 432, 107.00 while he has none in any foreign account.

The governor also declared that he had a mansion in Ibadan worth N250m, a building in the same city worth N150m, another one with the value of N300m in Lagos, as well as a detached house worth N300m in Abuja.

He added that he had a flat purchased through mortgage financing worth £450,000 in the United Kingdom, another worth £1.95m, purchased through mortgage in the UK and another house worth $1.5m in the United States of America.

Ajimobi also declared that he owned 131 acres of farm land in a village at the Ido Local Government area of Ibadan worth N150m, two Lagos-based companies, Viz Grandex Nigeria Limited, worth N200m and Network Petroleum Nigeria Limited, worth N260m.

The governor put the worth of all his vehicles at N94.25m and household furniture, which include generating sets and electronics at N25m.

The governor also declared that his wife, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, possesses a house in Ibadan that is worth N15m and another in Lagos that is worth N250m.

Adedayo said the new government of Oyo State laid great store by probity and accountability, and was of the belief that the patrimony of the people must be guarded jealously as the governor would give account of all that was entrusted in his care, not only to the people of the state who voted for him in the April elections, but to God “the ultimate judge” who would request for an account whenever the governor finishes his assignment on earth.

Ajimobi is the first governor of the state to publicly declare his assets

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201107042401971

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in Abuja is the next target of the Boko Haram fundamentalists, intelligence reports gathered by security agencies indicated.



Already, security operatives in large numbers have been deployed to guard the national oil corporation head office, NNPC Towers, located in the Central Business District, Garki, Abuja.



A lone bomber suspected to be a member of the Boko Haram on June 16 attacked the Nigeria Police Headquarters, Louis Edet House, in the Federal Capital City. One policeman and the lone bomber died in the attack in which 33 vehicles were burnt and 20 others destroyed.



Our correspondent who visited the NNPC Towers, located on Phase 2, Herbert Macaulay Way in the CBD, observed a police armoured tank deployed at the front of the building while armed riot policemen and soldiers were seen surrounding the building.



A top security source confided in our correspondent that the police authorities got a hint of a plan by the group to bomb the building as part of its violent campaign against the Federal Government.



The group followed the attack on the police headquarters with another on a drinking joint in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, two weks ago. Twenty-five people were killed in the attack.



A riot policeman on duty at the NNPC Towers (name withheld) told our correspondent that the security personnel at the building were hurriedly deployed.



“We (policemen) were asked to report to the NNPC Towers by our DPO because Boko Haram people are planning to bomb the building.



“The intelligence just came in, so we had to hurriedly come down here,” the policeman said.



He bemoaned the incessant threat posed by the Boko Haram members and the seeming ease with which they had been carrying out their attacks.



President Goodluck Jonathan, during a recent visit to the bombed police building in Abuja, said if the Boko Harams had had their way they would bomb even him.



The planned bombing of the NNPC building came as the re-appointed Minister of Petroleum, Alison-Madueke, returned to her seat today, having been sworn in last Saturday along with 13 others by the President.



Alison-Madueke and 11 other ministers who were sworn in were asked by Jonathan to go back to their former offices.



The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, had vowed that the Army would crush Boko Haram in line with a directive from the president.



The lone bomber launched the attack on the Louis Edet House barely three days after the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Afiz Ringim, had threatened to crush the sect.



Ihejirika described the attackers as cowards, stressing that the fact that they succeeded in igniting some explosives in some parts of the country did not make them invincible.



The COAS therefore called on Nigerians to be security conscious and to give security agencies information that would assist them combat the group.



He spoke at the Second Quarter Chief of Army Staff Conference in Abuja last Monday.



“Nigerian Army having studied the method of operation (in collaboration with other security agencies), very soon the country will notice improvement and new security agreements,” the Army chief had said.



Not less that 3000 soldiers had been dispatched in the last two weeks to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to fortify military formations in the state. The deployment of the soldiers for internal security, our correspondent gathered, had led to the depletion in the rank of soldiers needed for peace-keeping operations abroad.



Also, the FCT pedestrians and motorists had also been subjected to serious security checks at security stop-and-search operations jointly set up by policemen and soldiers.



The Islamic sect had earlier threatened further attacks in the northern part of the country as well as the Federal Capital Territory.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201107043111457

frosbel:
For all the pastors who have invented this 10% lie tithe on Gross Incomes while ignoring the plight of the poor and living in opulence, I warn you to FEAR God and repent.

If you had asked for tithe on 10% of their disposable income , it will still be wrong, but at least we might be tempted to believe that you still have a little compassion in you. But you demand 10% Gross, who are you to demand their money ? Are you not a Robber ? Stealing money that does not belong to you all in the name of GOD ? I fear for you.

The devils believe in GOD and tremble, yet you mere mortals, plagued with lusts and adultery with the world, have no fear of GOD in you. Your conscience is seared with a hot iron and hence you can carry out your diabolical deeds with impunity.

Just because God does not judge a matter speedily ( because of his mercy ) , does not in anyway indicate that he has overlooked your blatant heartless fraud.

Think about it, a thief might get away with stealing for a while but more often than not he will get caught and face the music.

When you steal 10% Gross from hard working beloved children of God to build your empires ( churches ) and satisfy your lusts , do you suppose that God cannot see your crimes ?

His eyes run to and fro across the earth and he looks for justice but instead sees wolves in sheep's clothing , empire ( church ) builders, flock scatterers and men schooled in the art of deception.

Repent NOW otherwise your judgement will be as follows :

"They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. " Jude 1 : 12

Guy you are very right .

mama-gee:
[color=deeppink]Nah!

It's the same Cristiano ronaldo that beat messi to it and won the 2011 European golden shoe. . .

This has nothing to do with skills, it's just a case of statistical accumulation and logical reasoning, ronaldo is a better player in every area of the game.

The same guy that broke Sanchez's goal scoring record, it's the same phenomenal player.[/color]

I don't really understand your problem with Barcelona , but as you can you already know we are the champions of Europe again.You can still switch from Arsenal to Barcelona and become a champion next season I'm still celebrating now why you are so mad that Barcelona won I  was right when I told you that  Barcelona will win.UP BARCA,UP MESSI