₦airaland Forum

and who says jonathan cannot re-ban it, when we get the power situation right, and factories with no excuses about power shortages?

a politically-motivated strategy to suit the igbos it may seem, a revenue boost opportunity for government it is, a reduction of the smuggling across our borders it would imply.

A GOOD SHORT TERM STRATEGY OVERALL? - YES!

A GOOD LONG TERM STRATEGY OVERALL? - HELL NO!

It pays to increase more from our export angle than import. but then what are our strengths as a nation? what's our competitive advantage over other exporting countries?

Mai Suya:
Is really possible that Sanusi could deliberately be inciting public opinion, as claimed by the law makers, against the latter?

why would someone in his position deliberately distort figures, esp one that is easily verifiable?

He may have been too excited and called 25%, 2.5%. He may have based his calculations on something else. He may have compared the figure to some other figure in the budget to arrive at his conclusion. But he wasnt far from the implied truth, dem NASS peeps are milking us dry. they do little to address issues that affect the common man. i wish we could squeeze their necks and get them to reduce these figure allocated to them by at least 75%. N39.5 billion should be more like it, rather than N158 bil.

These lawmakers should be ashamed of themselves. They have done very little, in terms of contribution to making Nigeria better. How many bills have they passed? how many are still pending? They only have mouth to address small issues such as this. When Yar'adua was hospitalized in Saudi, it took them almost forever to do what they should and put an acting -president in place. So many things have not been addressed. What they earn yearly is JUST TOOOO MUCH. N158BILLION per year, They are there to serve not to milk our federation account.

Just imagine if all political office holders were earning the same as our doctors or university professors , how many of them would run for political office?

But truth be told, SLS was making real sense in his speech. Whilst we are always talking about North-South divide or tribal frictions, the crux of the matter is actually corruption. and this corruption is not tribal nor religion-based, but its a nigerian thing. This is what we need to tackle rather than castigate the man.

Whether bashed or exposed, that's what we'll continue to get until we either change, or really develop to the points that our own TV shows and cable networks become popular worldwide and we let the world see the good side of us.

Nobody will tell our stories for us, its our responsibility to impose our relevance on the world stage, or we do jeje-ly and behave well and not spoil our name as we no get power to fight back, while those we look up to for consumption of their works (media or goods and services), continue to supply us entertainment and the likes, so why the complain?

A wise man once said, "Lucky is the man who is the first love of a woman, but luckier is the woman who is the last love of a man". So if this applies to your relationship, how cool would this be?

There's nothing wrong sharing passwords with your partner, but a lot can go wrong if you don't trust the other too well, and you never know what may happen in future. However, i share mine with my fiancee. Infact we share the passwords of our various mails, and facebook too. You'll definitely be uncomfortable if there's something to hide. And the other person not having it can always create room for something to happen if at all it wants to. Not that there's anything, but it goes a lot to say there's no biggie about it and we should be transparent to each other. either of us tells the other to help check our mails, if there's some important mail we're looking forward to, and we happen to be doing something else. that said we dont go around snooping on what the other is doing.

OLAADEGBU:
If the source cannot get his age right how do you expect us to swallow the rest of the information?

so may we know his real age, if you have that information?

All the same, i'm happy for him.

And if your face matches your voice, in terms of cute looks, then you could get to be a TV presenter, an actor etc, you could do them part-time, that's if your major career is different. or even as a student, to get the extra bucks.

@ OP

You may want to consider doing voice overs for radio and TV, if you know what i mean, jingles, documentaries etc. You make a whole lot of money for just reading some lines of written words. So, you see, its an asset. And besides,the ladies love it.

for the Erastus Akingbola issue, it is not enough to pay tithes.You can't rob Peter to pay Paul, it is a taboo in God's eyes. So its not the question of tithes in this case, but of financial integrity, was he or was he not guilty of financial crimes?

Pastor AIO:
nobody forced anybody to read anything they don't like about tithes. They are free to browse other subjects. If they have strong points to contribute to the discussion such as making testimony of the benefits that they have received then by all means let them do so. However what we find is that all they are capable of doing is hurling insults and not point to any specific instances of tithing being beneficial.

At one point it got to the extent that people presented tables of the worlds 50 richest men and none of them could be said to be tithers. While all this is going on we find solid tithers like Eratic Akingblola being not only visited by the devourer, but it seems as if the devourer has moved into his home permanently.

Well, men like John D. Rockefeller, and J.C. Penney were tithers in their time. Rockefeller was a tither, and was the richest man in the world in his time. Even when his Standard Oil was faced with anti-trust laws and had to be dissolved into about 3 dozen oil companies, these companies have withstood the times and over 100 years later are still one of the largest companies in the world. Exxonmobil and Chevron are amongs these companies.

@Kunle Oshob,

Thanks, much love bro. Keep the fire burning.

@Pastor AIO,

Well, there are some people who would rather not listen to you or hear you condemn tithes, much less read anything that is against it. Reasons include, apart from being taught to tithe by their pastors, parents etc for a long time, they have also at some point or even always seen the benefits of tithing (its associated blessings) and of course there are scriptures in support of it (old and new, though mainly old testament), even though the context in which they appear may leave for some further explanations/arguments. Those opposing tithing usually try to discredit the pastor of such tithers, and in a way, feels more like insulting the follower/church member as being stupid for allowing himself/herself to be so gullible to his pastor's antics. The thing there is that giving is good, whether it is in form of tithes or in any other form, monetary or otherwise. and is the main reason why blessings keep coming back to you. Some even stop giving their tithes,and soon, they start to experience the lack factor and suddenly remember that it could be the result of defaulting on that. There are psychological issues, i guess, amongst many others.

@Kunle Oshob,

You know, i used to be so angry at you for how you vehemently stood against tithes. I did my research, at some point i was at a crossroad, not knowing whether i should continue with it or not, Well, for many months now, i reached my conclusion, and i should thank you partly for it. Modern tithing as we experience it today is not scriptural. So, i've stopped tithing as it were for almost a year now. So many christians are really ignorant about it, and the natural reaction would be to oppose your way of thinking, However, supporting God's work is something that's good, and if i can do that with 10%, less or more of my income, then its fine by me. (My idea of supporting God's work is giving a certain % to my church or other church that is laid in my heart, give a % to help the needy around me, and a % to support the work that i will personally be doing to reach people for salvation e.g. through publishing tracts. Its just that i dont call it tithes anymore. (Infact my fiancee and i have quarelled over it a number of times, and she once said if we can't agree on something as basic as tithes, the relationship might not go on. Her issue was, what will we teach our kids - to tithe or not to tithe? She doesnt even want to hear my own side of the issue. We overcame that, sha, and i can say i'm not against anyone who decides to continue to tithe, seeing they are giving willingly to support or promote the kingdom of God. Its just that i wish people had better understanding.

@poster

Salary U.S. President: $250,000/yr.
GDP U.S. Economy: $13Trillion/ yr.

Allowance Nig. Senator: $1,500,000/yr
GDP Nig. Economy: $45 Billion/yr.

Point of correction, the salary of the US President is $400,000/yr, it became effective in January 2001.

However, how sure are we as regards the true figures you gave for the avaerage Nigerian Politician, we know it can be as high as that though.

It's really baffling how insensitive these people can be. If they were earning these money and there was no other form of corruption (contracts being awarded, bribery etc), we could argue its fair enough, but no, they still plunder, pilfer, manipulate and so on, whilst providing bad leadership and leaving the masses the worse for it.

You are welcome Nuclearboy, One just has to be alert, cos its very easy to buy wrong information without doing more personal research/study. We keep learning everyday.

from this Google earth picture (its the aerial photo of covenant university), one can see two stars of David (not pentagrams), note like nuclearboy said, the star of david is symbolic with Israel and not pentagrams which is associated with freemasons.

Joagbaje:
All the buildings at CU were symbols . Some hostels had the design of pentagram when you look at it from space or google earth . But from the ground level you will not notice this. But this does not by any means relate to cultism. They were Jewish symbols embedded in the architectural masterpiece. The symbol of the pentagram is also the Jewish symbol of the star of David. Other design were 7 lampstands 3 lampstands etc .

Were or are? are u saying they r no longer there? while i disagree with you on the pentagram issue, (btw did u fly a helicopter to see the buildings from aerial view?), the architectural masterpiece definitely has some complex designs, but assuming they are/were pentagrams would not be correct. Google even has some pictures of CU and faith tabernacle, here are some pictures below. can u conclude they are pentagrams because of the multi-dimensions?

nice one nuclearboy. if there's any, let's know.

@ ogajim,

I'm not the least bit scared, y should i? i have toured the whole campus many times over and i don't know of any design/sign, maybe you could help by stating what you noticed, and we can start from there.

Howbeit, i am not ignorant of the fact that the world is saturated with agents of the devil disguised most times as harmless, or raves of the moment stuff. But i'd like to know the specifics you have against the man, rather than unfounded allegations supported by a bias against him.

ogajim:
WOW,

You guys need to lay off biomes2001, things are not always the way we think they are, there are mysteries that only those in the know can figure out. While these two photos might not portray him as one of "those guys", the design of his Church clearly points the other way:

But to use these pictures as proof against him is a deliberate act of manipulating readers not observant enough,

how does the design of his church indicate his being a freemason, ?any symbols there that correlate? It's usually wiser to stick to issues being discussed and not throw unfounded allegations, or false evidence.

biomes2001:
o boy stop bein naive,go and take a better look at those pix again,u'll see better. Know that the kind of friends u keep ,always reveals the kind of person u are,remember "bad company corrupts good character", so says the bible,not me!

bio-mess or whatever ur name is, what's being naive about my observation? can u explain how the two pictures of oyedepo clearly shows the masonic symbols like you've shown of the others? except my eyes are deceiving me, they don't look near any of those signs except you are just being mischevious and want to derail people's judgments. infact babaearly noticed it and commented on it but u ignored dat post (page 4)

@ babaearly

@biomes2001

That last one didnt just not look like it.

below are the two pictures you put in page 4 of this thread,

Infact, to use your analogy, the fact that your father was a cultist for 35years meant over time he must have indoctrinated you and initiated you and your siblings into cultism, when you are not sure of something its wisest to keep your mouth shut.

maybe biomes2001 can explain better, ?

Whilst pictures of other people posted so far, might have some form of masonic symbol as claimed by some of you, the pic(s) of Bishop Oyedepo does not in anyway resemble any of the other signs. So why rub his name with the others, and using baseless arguments such as "he's a friend of copeland, so he must be one of them", abi am i missing something in that symbol of his? to me, it doesn't look like that of the others, and the confession of untrustworthy people should not hold water, for those quoting confessions of erelu agbaye et al.

May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace, at least he can rest after a long bout with his illness. He will be missed.

KunleOshob:
Brilliant example nuclearboy i doubt if any of the hypocrites you claim tithes is sacrosant would think twice about it if they came up with a choice of saving thei child's life and paying tithes.

You can definitely assist a friend before paying your tithes depending on the circumstances involved. Bottomline is in your heart of hearts you don't despise tithe-paying like KunleOshob and others do. Even God would understand why you defaulted on it. Besides if you don't pay your tithe it doesn't mean you will go to hell, it's a covenant, and in my opinion, if you default at some point, and then decide to start paying again, you dont have to start paying all the arrears of tithes you owe. Rather, start at where you are, Our God looks at your heart, not at the money you bring to promote his kingdom on earth per se.

If he's alive, then thank God. I personally pray he survives it, that will be good news.

RIP DaGrin, your talent was unquestionable. Am not really a fan of rap music but i always gave thumbs up to your rhymes even though i've never been too comfortable with the lyrical content (too hardcore 4 me). All the same i appreciate you and the impact you made. You were unique and original. Sad you had to go this way, may your soul rest in perfect peace. My advice to fellow nairalanders, please always drive safely, and avoid overspeeding. I lost my younger brother on xmas day 2009 to a car crash in Abuja, he just went out that morning to get fuel at the petrol station, the honda he was driving was completely destroyed, few hours later he gave up after being rushed to a general hospital. OJ, we still miss you.

JeSoul:
Sleekymag, you obviously didn't read the first page. House fellowships have been discussed throughout the thread in fact

JeSoul, i actually went through the whole thread though i must have skipped KunleOshob's analysis which u just posted. However, his conclusion (first highlighted bold below) appear to answer the question while his own personal thoughts (second highlighted bold below) is contradictory. It appears he just wants to justify his normal bias against large churches,

The large size of churches we have today actually don't have any scriptural basis, however i would not condem it as wrong but true fellowship is lacking in churches of such large size. In the early churches they used to share meals, there was always feasting which formed an essential part of the fellowship but today it is completely missing except for the occassional holy communion were tiny rations of bread and "wine"[as opposed to full meals] are given out in observation of Jesus commandment. The mordern church as tried to re-enact the close knit fellowship which the early church had through house fellowships and house cells but the sharing of meals is mostly missing in these fellowships and some of them still collect "offerings" which they re-mit to the church for what ever purpose. But large congregations [not churches] are not entirely unscriptural as Jesus used to have several open air sermons in which thousands were recorded to attend. A very obvious example was when Jesus fed 5,000 men after one of his sermons. In summary i won't condenm large church congregations as long as they provide a platform for true fellowship, but then again large congregations are unnecessary as i don't see any benefit in it for the congregation themselves apart from the intituitional church that stands to make more money from a larger congregation.

ogajim:
Most of those businesses Churches are run like Corporations and they are all about the NUMBERS so when  they see a youth corp thingy about to pour "sand sand" in their garri, they have to move to neutralize it and nip it in the bud. They are all about the BRAND my friends.

Some of these churches we see as big churches today also have these cell fellowship structures in place. In fact, the leadership of one that i attend always emphasizes on the importance of being a member of the house fellowship as its virtually impossible for him to know the state of the flock (members), but the house fellowship structure provides that platform, and you can exhort, ask questions etc. In the old testament, when Moses was leading the entire people of Israel, his father in-law told him to appoint leaders over the people (leaders of ten, leaders of hundreds, of thousands and so on), it all makes the job easier and allows for easy leadership-followership experience.

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