₦airaland Forum

New TV rights spell financial windfall for Premier League
The Premier League announced last month they have secured a new broadcasting deal with BSkyB and BT, worth £3bn.
Whilst BT will broadcast 38 matches for three seasons from 2013 onwards, BSkyB remain in control of proceedings once more, with the rights to air 116 games per season.
So what does this mean to the clubs involved?
The new deal sees a rise of £1.25bn, an unprecedented 70% increase for the right to air football across the nation, and all 20 Premier League clubs will receive a handsome sum of money because of this.
Game-by-game, this means the Premier League will receive £6.5m for 90 minutes of play.
BT have secured the package previously ownedby ESPN and will be showing the remnants of matches that BSkyB cannot show, having reached the limit of games allowed to be broadcast by one company.
The value of broadcasted football matches has increased ten-fold since the birth of the Premier League.
The first broadcasting deal to be struck was through 1992-1997, where BSkyB’s deal to show 60 televised matches throughout each season was struck in a deal worth £190m (£633,000 per game).
Since then, the amount of games shown and price per game has gone up dramatically. By 1997, BSkyB were paying £2.79m per match for broadcasting rights.
In 2001, the deal struck by BSkyB and the Premier League to show 110 games eclipsed £1bn for the first time. There is no sign this influx will stop any time soon.
Clubs will reap the financial benefits
Whilst a minimal share of the funds will go towards the league’s running costs, as well as professional bodies including the PFA, LMA and Football League, a hefty chunk of the money will still be shared equally among the 20 clubs.
Last year, a sum of £1.055bn was shared between the teams involved, with £87m of this shared between seven clubs as a parachute payment.
Under the new deal, clubs are set to receive at least £14m more than they already get from the Premier League.
In perspective, Manchester City earned £60.6m for being crowned champions last season. The bottom-placed Premier League club look set to receive this figure from TV rights alone, regardless of how they perform.
Next season’s champions will receive a hike of £29.2m, taking £89.9m for finishing top of the pile.
The team finishing bottom will still earn £53.3m, without taking into account the fact that overseas TV rights may fluctuate. If these rights rise an expected 50%, the bottom club would receive £62.7m, with the champions taking just shy of £100m.
This, alongside the parachute package clubs will receive upon relegation to help cope with the transition between Premier League and Championship demands, means they could be poised to bounce straight back into top-flight football the following season.
Currently, this figure stands at £16m for two seasons and £8m for another two seasons following relegation. It is also set to rise.
Ability to flex financial muscles
It’s almost impossible for a club to fail. That said, huge wage bills and record-breaking transfer fees are still burdening a minority of Premier League clubs. This deal goes a little way to helping lessen the load.
The clubs aiming for European football next season will be less affected, with the new broadcasting deal only showing a slight spike in income, but teams facing the drop would benefit greatly from this rise in broadcasting rights.
The promoted clubs, especially, could even buy a new substitute bench of talent with the new money they are set to receive.
Last year, clubs received an equal sum of £13.8m for TV rights, and another £18.8m for overseas TV rights, with the Premier League striking 81 further deals with broadcasters worldwide.
Including fees for facilities (with teams on TV more often earning more) and merit payments (fees paid depending on final league positions),income handed to Premier League clubs ranged from the chart-topping Manchester City at £60.6m to Wolves, sitting bottom of the pile, still earning £39m for TV rights.
Premier League top the league for equal payments
The Premier League prides itself on its fairly equal payments to clubs, with Manchester City earning £1.55 to every £1 Wolves receive.
To put this in perspective, Spanish monopolies Real Madrid and Barcelona earn 14 times more than most other clubs in La Liga. Italy’s ratio in Serie A is still 10 to 1, France’s Ligue 1 at 3.5 to1 and the German Bundesliga at 2 to 1.
It’s fair to say that many Premier League clubs rely on the league’s earnings to stay competitive the following season, and the new TV deals struck with BSkyB and BT will help this. Of Blackburn’s £57.6m income last year for example, 73% came from Premier League income alone.
There are definitely many ways that clubs benefit from being in top-flight football - Nike give the Premier League £6m a year just to have their footballs on the pitch – but TV rights are where clubs benefit the most.
Whatever way you look at it, these figures are high enough to make your head spin. They fuel the Premier League as the world’s richest, mostcompetitive, and most entertaining league in the world.

•Government’s claim of scarce funds to meet ASUU’s demands is not tenable
It is often said that true intentions can only be revealed in times of crisis. Faced with the five week-old strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Federal Government at last revealed itself after weeks of temporising.
Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister for Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, last week came up with the argument that government simply could not afford the estimated N92 billion that would be required to meet the union’s demands. The minister claimed that the amount was not compatible with the Jonathan administration’s desire to reduce the overwhelming proportion of recurrent expenditure in the national budget.
While the virtues of budget-adjustment are indubitable, it is disheartening that a person of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s calibre could resort to such disingenuous reasoning. A recurrent budget expenditure of N2.386 trillion in the N4.987 trillion 2013 national budget has not stopped the Federal Government from meeting all the expenses of the Executive and the Legislature. The Presidential Fleet is the largest in Africa, and has continued to acquire top-of-the line aircraft. Each member of the Nigerian Senate is better-paid than America’s President Barack Obama. In his extensive trips abroad, PresidentGoodluck Jonathan has travelled with a full complement of aides and politicians, all of whom receive dollar-denominated per diem expenses.
The Jonathan administration did not plead poverty when it set up nine new federal universities. It did not claim penury when it entered into a host of dubious financial arrangements with well-connected individuals, such as the so-called pipeline security contracts which made several ex-militants enormously wealthy. Indeed, the Federal Government appears to have so much money that it did not even mind paying trillions of naira to fuel-importers without ascertaining whether they had actually imported petroleum products.
Given government’s unstinting generosity when it is spending money on itself and its cronies, it is surprising that the finance minister can now plead poverty when it comes to meeting its legitimate financial obligations to others. It must be remembered that ASUU’s demands are not arbitrary: they are the outcome of exhaustive negotiations with the Federal Government, concluded in 2009, and assented to by all parties. It is not a cash-and-carry arrangement, either: the agreement outlines a comprehensive spending plan aimedat the full rehabilitation of the nation’s dilapidated federal universities to enable them contribute effectively to the production of the skilled manpower the nation so badly needs.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala appears to be utilising the tried-and-tested strategy of pleading fiscal constraints as an excuse for inaction. This was what she did during the oil subsidy “debate” when she quoted all sorts of statistics to buttress her belief that the subsidy should be ended. As it turned out, nobody in government could definitively state how much Nigeria paid in subsidies, or even how many tonnes of petroleum products the country imports annually. How can she expect anyone to take her seriously now?
A speedy resolution of the lingering ASUU strike is in the national interest. Federal and state universities account for the largest proportion of university students, and their closure amounts to a colossal waste of time, energy and resources. Thousands of students are loitering in the streets and at home when they should be in school; their idle hands and fertile minds have palpable implications for the already-precarious security situation in the country. In any case, the resuscitation of Nigeria’s decrepit tertiary education sector is long overdue.
As the strike continues and the suffering deepens, government will find itself in a very difficult position, particularly given the fact that many of the offspring of government officials are known to attend universities abroad. Instead of proffering untenable excuses, the Jonathan administration should work to implement the agreement reached with ASUU. Or at least get the union to buy into whatever alternative it may want to proffer.

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has challenged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Presidency image-makers to tell Nigerians why the ruling party has failed to lift the country in the 14 years that it has been in the saddle, instead of peddling concocted tales about the opposition.
APC also asked the Presidency to tell Nigerians why it has defied the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rules by continuing to campaign for the 2015 elections.
In a statement issued in Lagos Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, APC said: ‘’Issues, issues and issues. These are what Nigerians are interested in, not continuous muck-raking about opposition leaders like Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu. For example, Nigerians want to know why the country can still not feed itself after 14 years of endless promises by the PDP; Nigerians want to know why they cannot be protected by their government when the security of lives and property is the rason d’etre of any government.
‘’Nigerians want to know why over 40 million youths cannot get jobs under a government that gleefully touts a six per cent GDP growth; Nigerians want to know how 400,000 barrels of oil are being stolen daily and who the thieves are; Nigerians want to know why the country is more divided than ever under the watch of President Goodluck Jonathan, and why corruption has become a bigger monster in the years under the PDP.”
According to the opposition party, ‘’the 2015 elections will be fought on the platform of issues, not meaningless attacks on personalities and attention-diverting tales like how Gen. Buhari wants to stage a come-back or how Tinubu wants to expand his imaginary empire.’’
APC said the reason its leaders have put national interests above personal considerations is to “rescue Nigeria from the clutches of the PDP and a mediocre presidency, both of which have failed the citizenry and dimmed their hopes, not becauseof power-for-power sake, which is the mantra of the do-nothing PDP.”
The party noted that ‘’our eight cardinal programmes, which we shall be articulating in the days ahead, represent a summary of how we intend to rescue the long-suffering citizens and rescue our nation. These are War Against Corruption, Food security, Accelerated Power Supply, Integrated Transport Network, Free Education, Devolution of Power, Accelerated Economic Growth and Affordable Health Care.
‘’These are the issues we will be enunciating in the days ahead as we steer the politics of our nation away from jejune matters that are at the core of the PDP misrule to serious issues of relevance that will benefit our people under an APC Federal Government.”
APC said a party that defies rules and lies through its teeth cannot be trusted to rule overa people who are eager for their country to join the comity of developed nations.
‘’While one of the PDP gong-bearers, Okupe, was telling Nigerians that President Jonathan has not informed anyone that he will contest in 2015, his wife was coercing hundreds of hapless women, including those in uniform, into a ‘Peace Rally’, but in essence a campaign for President Jonathan ahead of 2015.
‘’Defying INEC, this brazen campaign featured women clad in specially-made ‘ankara’ that bore the picture of President Jonathan and reminds one of the disgraceful days of the latedespot Mobutu Sese Seko of former Zaire, and the late clownish leader of Uganda, Idi Amin.”
The party called on INEC to mete out appropriate sanctions to anyone who has violated its ban on early campaigns for the 2015 elections, in view of the First Lady-drivenphantom peace rally that is actually a facade for electioneering campaign, if the electoral umpire’s ban on such campaigns is to be taken seriously.

• Chistopher Kolade opposes life pensions for lawmakers
AS genuine concerns continue to mount over government’s spending, there is now even a more startling revelation that the National Assembly spent N1 trillion in the last eight years, even as N9.08 billion is spent on maintaining the Presidential Fleet yearly.
Ezekwesili disclosed this unsettling find in her address Monday in Abuja at an event organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) with support from the Federal Public Administration Reform (FEPAR), where she said that from 2005 to 2013, the National Assembly has received the sum of N1 trillion from the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, a former Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK), Dr.Christopher Kolade, yesterday condemned reported plan to ‘smuggle’ pensions for life for principal officers of the National Assembly into the Constitution, describing it as “ridiculous distortion… if it is true.”
Noting that the proposal contradicts the tenets of the country’s pension system, he wondered the rationale behind paying pension to somebody who spends less than a year as a principal officer of the National Assembly.
Kolade stated this yesterday in Lagos at a series of Guest Speaker’s Forum of the Nigerian Leadership Initiative (NLI) where Katsina State Governor, Ibrahim Shema, was hosted.
Ezekwesili noted that the Federal Government has continued to vacillate with recommendations made by various groups, committees and commissions it set up to streamline governance. Therefore, she stated that a thorough debate on national public policy is desirable, just as national development could only be achieved if the education sector is restructured.
According to her, the Federal Government has continued to make mistakes in its efforts at attaining the desired development because of the nation’s inability to take a more critical look at public policy, warning: “We must debate public policy as a nation, if not, we would make silly mistakes.”
The former minister of solid minerals further noted that the country’s over-dependence on oil revenue has crippled initiatives and creativity and furthered inequality of opportunity through a faulty education sector, but “structural transformation is the antidote to our oil entrapment.”
Speaking on “Cost Efficiency, Funding Governance and Delivering Development: The Oronsaye Report in Perspective,” the former minister of education said that the problem of Nigeria is not the system of government beingpractised but the kind of people to deliver on the system, as the best system would have been the one that gives results.
She added: “Today’s average GDP growth rate of seven per cent, which we have recorded over a decade, compared to about 40 per cent unemployment rate among the youthful segment of the population, is the caustic gloryof the economic growth joblessness dichotomy. And that dichotomy is all about inequality of opportunities, a creation of the failing education system.”
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of CISLAC, Ibrahim Musa, frowned at the cost of governance in Nigeria, particularly the maintenance of the 10-aircraft presidential fleet, which allegedly gulps N9.08 billion yearly.
According to him, the country’s economic reforms, though commendable, would make no desired impact with the scandalous wage bills of the National Assembly members; the bloated size of government cabinet, including the retinue of superfluous aides and special assistants, and the usually ridiculous sizes of government contingents on foreign trips, among others.
Kolade commended the exemplary administration the governor has set while calling on other political leaders to emulate him. He revealed that only Katsina had sent a delegation to the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) committee to learn how it could better utilise the fund to benefit the people.
The former envoy frowned at the growing profligacy among the leadership class, noting that it behooves the entire country if people, considering how traumatic it is to live in the country already, give thought to what will happen in the future. “We are beginning to feel that Nigeria is on irredeemable course because those in leadership show that they don’t have sense of responsibility,” he observed.
Still, he said the widespread condemnation of his acceptance to serve the country once again as head of SURE-P has given better opportunity to confront the challenges that come with the responsibility.
Unfortunately, he said many leaders accept both authority and responsibility while rejecting accountability, which is a very important leg of the tripod.
Shema, whose presentation was made by the state’s Head of Civil Service, Muhammad Lawal Aliyu, called for the institutionalisation of responsible succession programme to ensure continuity of public policies and projects. He, however, acknowledged that establishing ideal succession circle in a political setting was not as simple as in the case of corporate world, as the former follows a democratic process where factors beyond the control of those in government determine who gets power.
The governor commended his fellow northern governors for implementing policies that are redefining the Almajiri education system in their respective states.
According to Shema, the Almajiri remodelling exercise, which was by his administration, is now being adopted by other states.
Chief Executive Officer, NLI, Yinka Oyinlola, said correcting the very flaws in the country’s leadership circle by showcasing excellence performance is the essence of the guest speaker’s forum.

Yet, the Cameroonians are not alone.
The academia is debating the magnitude of a moral decadence that the lingering exodus of youngsters from orthodox to pentecostal churches across Africa bequeaths on future generations, of which the sustained proliferation of churches is a palpable axiom.
Writing as a grandson of an Anglican reverend, and a 4th generation Christian with unwavering belief in Trinity, this news should ordinarily strike me as just another episode of a power-drunk African leader infringing on the fundamental rights of his citizens.
Although it did, but merely: My view of who truly is a good Christian has changed overtime. And I'll attempt to offer few examples to buttress this.
However, in looking into what constitutes a good Christian life, one must be very painstaking in order not to contravene the Bible which warned in Matthew 7:1-3 that ‘‘judge not,that ye not be judged.’’ Therefore, this columnist will refrain from passing judgement on anyone but will, instead, juxtapose the characteristics of men (and women) of God from history to the contemporary ones.
I grew up knowing a good Christian as someone who has utmost devotion to God with minimal interest in the (material) things of the world.
Indeed, I knew a good Christian as Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, who managed to translate the Bible for millions of Yoruba speakers without having to establish his own church under the guise of having been ‘‘called by God.’’
I knew a good Christian to be someone like Reverend I.O. Ransome-Kuti, whose spiritual and financial assistance, especially to poor students of Ijebu-Ode Grammar School, helped groom several Nigerian leaders pre-independence.
I knew a good Christian as some like Bishop Oluwole, whose altruistic tendencies made King's College a foremost high school in Africa.
And finally, I knew a good Christian as someone like Mother Theresa whose charitable endeavour is unrivalled in modern history.
All these esteemed individuals served God withtheir lives, their fortunes and their sacred honours.
Alas, the rarity of their Godliness (which was virtually universal amongst the clergymen of their times) is becoming so pronounced nowadays that it could become a legend in not so distant future.
Indeed, today's men of God now focus more on acquiring obscene monies to buy the latest SUVs, fly private jets and erect mega churches.These traits are especially emblematic of mostly Nigerian pentecostal preachers. Mostly Nigerian because Reinhard Bonnke, T.D. Jakes,Joyce Meyers, to name but a few Western evangelists, are not known for their aggrandisements.
But why are Nigerian (and African) pastors different? Well, they're different for the mere fact that they can't be what they're not; Their behaviour is in tandem with the corrupt mind that is becoming increasingly attributed to the Negroid.
Last week, Nigerian blogosphere erupted in bewilderment following a statement credited toPastor E.A. Adeboye of the delightfully named Redeemed Christian Church of God. This is howblogger Larrie Peniel captured it:
‘‘Then before sermon, General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Adeboye made a special announcement. The church is to build a new auditorium, stretching 3km in length and width,and four times the size of the present auditorium, to accommodate many more parishioners, before next year’s convention. Everyone was naturally excited, particularly those who get to camp ground late and cannot be seated in the present auditorium.’’
‘‘Then Pastor Adeboye shocked me with the following pronouncement: “We need ₦1B from ten (10) people, If you are one of them, please see my personal Secretary after we finish today. We also need ₦10M from those who can afford it, if you are in that category, please see my personal Secretary as
well. Nonetheless, we need everyone’s involvement. If you can afford ₦50M, ₦20M, ₦5M,₦1M to as low as ₦100, kindly make sure you participate. How many of you will build for the Lord?” All hands naturally went up in delirium.’’
Reactions to the statement were mixed, with his supporters fallen over each other to defend him. That is understandable.
If it were that convenient, I would have just dismissed Pastor Adeboye's remark as another innocuous faux pas (like claiming he drove 461 KM with less than 10 litres of petrol. Or that he ordered a private jet because he couldn't ride on donkeys) expected of a loquacious fellow of his ilk, especially since he only had a masters degree in mathematics but not semantics.
Similarly, the demand would have made a fascinating tale by moonlight but for the fact that it came from a man that millions of Nigerians look up to as their spiritual leader. Which is why it must not be allowed to go unscrutinised.
First, there's nothing wrong with Pastor Adeboye building new auditoriums to accommodate his ever-expanding followers, but there are better ways he could solicit money for such projects.
For one, he could have placed calls through, or mail letters, to targeted individuals.
Similarly, he could have conveyed his messagethrough his provincial or area pastors, they know the rich amongst their members.
Alternatively, he could have embark on a state-by-state tour of his churches all over the country for fundraising activities. This may take a while, but 2014 is not too late to build more space, neither is 2016.
But by failing to do any of these, Pastor Adeboye is punishing Nigerians, twice. He sends a message to the world that we're subservient to his pronouncements. He also portrays us as a bunch of wealthy people in theface of the world (even though we're not), which is guaranteed to infuriate some Western philanthropists so much so that they could jettison Africa for South America or Southeast Asia. And that would be a tragedy.
Considering the huge deficit of ICT resource centres all over the country, and the number of those who die yearly for lack of access to cleanwater, it would be interesting to know who the donors of the initial ₦10B would be, but don't hold your breath because our pentecostal churches keep more secrets than the CIA.
But that may soon be a thing of the past: Staff at the Central Bank of Nigeria are having sleepless night working out the details of how churches will be subjected to taxation -- as anymoney making venture should be. But the policy may not be rolled out until after the 2015elections, since its not politically expedient for President Jonathan.
Suffice it to note that African pastors will continue making insensitive utterances for as long as the substantial majority of the populace continue to blind themselves to their grandiose posturing.
Makes you marvel at the pleasures that come with being a modern day ‘‘man of God,’’ or does it?
@SamuelOgundipe on Twitter.

Lagos govt’ll continue to send destitutes packing -Ikuforiji
Written by Bola Badmus-LagosMonday, 12 August 2013
Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Honourable Adeyemi Ikuforiji, declared at the weekend that the exercise to rid the state of elements that constitute “security threats” will continue unabated, even as he blamed the government of Anambra State for politicising the recent deportation of destitutes who are indigenes of the state.
The speaker, who spoke with newsmen, stated that destitutes from other states, including Kano, Oyo and Ogun had in the past been takenback to their states without the affected governments raising an eyebrow.
“Nobody talked about deportation when Kano, Ogun and other states’ indigenes were removed and taken back to their states,” he said.
According to him, the Rivers State government recently sent some Lagosians back home whilethe state accepted the decision without complaining to the Federal Government or twisting the issue to attract public sympathy asbeing done by the Anambra State government.
Speaking further, the speaker argued that those taken back to their states were destitutes, declaring that the exercise would “continue until our roads are safe.”
“They have no genuine means of livelihood and no known address. So, they are considered illegitimate burden as well a serious security challenge to the state.
“It is not the responsibility of Lagos State to cater for indigenes of other states who are engaged in illegal livelihood. I don’t think it is right to allow destitutes to constitute themselves as a menace to our society,” he argued.
He, however, debunked claim that the destitutes were ill-fed and tortured before they were sent to their state.
It will be recalled that the Lagos State government recently deported 73 destitutes mainly from Anambra State who, it claimed, constituted security threat.

The orthodox bishops won approval of every one of their proposals regarding the Creed. After being in session for an entire month, the council promulgated on June 19 the original Nicene Creed. This profession of faith was adopted by all the bishops "but two from Libya who had been closely associated with Arius from the beginning". [ 19 ]No historical record of their dissent actually exists; the signatures of these bishops are simply absent from the Creed. ↑Jump back a section
Arian controversy
Main articles: Arius, Arianism, and Arian controversy
The synod of Nicaea, Constantine and the condemnation and burning of Arian books, illustration from a northern Italian compendium of canon law, ca. 825
The Arian controversy began in Alexandriabetween the followers of Arius(theArians) and the followers of St. Alexander of Alexandria (now known as Homoousians). The issue of dispute focused on the precise relationship of the Father and the Son in the Trinity. Though frequently represented today as an issue of Christology, the debate centered more upon the pre-incarnate Son's relationship to the Father, and only secondarily upon the incarnateSon's status. Alexander and his followers believed that the Son was co-eternal with the Father, and divine in just the same sense that the Father is. The Arians believed that the Father's divinity was greater than the Son's, that the Son had a beginning, that he shared neither the eternity nor the true divinity of the Father, but was rather the very first and the most perfect of God's creatures. [ 14 ]
For about two months, the two sides argued and debated, [ 40 ]with each appealing to Scripture to justify their respective positions. According to many accounts, debate became so heated that at one point, Arius was struck in the face by Nicholas of Myra, who would later be canonized. [ 41 ] [ 42 ]
Much of the debate hinged on the difference between being "born" or "created" and being"begotten". Arians saw these as essentially the same; followers of Alexander did not. The exact meaning of many of the words used in the debates at Nicaea were still unclear to speakers of other languages. Greekwords like"essence" ( ousia), "substance" ( hypostasis),"nature" (physis), "person" (prosopon) bore a variety of meanings drawn from pre-Christian philosophers, which could not but entail misunderstandings until they were cleared up. The word homoousia, in particular, was initiallydisliked by many bishops because of its associations with Gnosticheretics (who used it in their theology), and because it had been condemned at the 264–268 Synods of Antioch.
Position of Arius (Arianism)
According to surviving accounts, the nontrinitarian Ariusmaintained that the Son of God was a Creature made from nothing; begotten directly of the Eternal God, and that he was God's First Production, before all ages. And he argued that everything else was created through the Son. Thus, said the Arians, only the Son was directly created and begotten of God; and therefore there was a time that He had no existence. Arius believed that Christ theLogos was capable of His own free will of right and wrong, and that "were He in the truest sense a son, He must have come after the Father, therefore the time obviously was when He was not, and hence He was a finite being", [ 43 ]and was under God the Father. Therefore Arius insisted that the Father's divinity was greater than the Son's. The Arians appealed to Scripture, quoting verses such as John 14:28:"the Father is greater than I", and also Colossians 1:15: "Firstborn of all creation".

The orthodox bishops won approval of every one of their proposals regarding the Creed. After being in session for an entire month, the council promulgated on June 19 the original Nicene Creed. This profession of faith was adopted by all the bishops "but two from Libya who had been closely associated with Arius from the beginning". [ 19 ]No historical record of their dissent actually exists; the signatures of these bishops are simply absent from the Creed. ↑Jump back a section
Arian controversy
Main articles: Arius, Arianism, and Arian controversy
The synod of Nicaea, Constantine and the condemnation and burning of Arian books, illustration from a northern Italian compendium of canon law, ca. 825
The Arian controversy began in Alexandriabetween the followers of Arius(theArians) and the followers of St. Alexander of Alexandria (now known as Homoousians). The issue of dispute focused on the precise relationship of the Father and the Son in the Trinity. Though frequently represented today as an issue of Christology, the debate centered more upon the pre-incarnate Son's relationship to the Father, and only secondarily upon the incarnateSon's status. Alexander and his followers believed that the Son was co-eternal with the Father, and divine in just the same sense that the Father is. The Arians believed that the Father's divinity was greater than the Son's, that the Son had a beginning, that he shared neither the eternity nor the true divinity of the Father, but was rather the very first and the most perfect of God's creatures. [ 14 ]
For about two months, the two sides argued and debated, [ 40 ]with each appealing to Scripture to justify their respective positions. According to many accounts, debate became so heated that at one point, Arius was struck in the face by Nicholas of Myra, who would later be canonized. [ 41 ] [ 42 ]
Much of the debate hinged on the difference between being "born" or "created" and being"begotten". Arians saw these as essentially the same; followers of Alexander did not. The exact meaning of many of the words used in the debates at Nicaea were still unclear to speakers of other languages. Greekwords like"essence" ( ousia), "substance" ( hypostasis),"nature" (physis), "person" (prosopon) bore a variety of meanings drawn from pre-Christian philosophers, which could not but entail misunderstandings until they were cleared up. The word homoousia, in particular, was initiallydisliked by many bishops because of its associations with Gnosticheretics (who used it in their theology), and because it had been condemned at the 264–268 Synods of Antioch.
Position of Arius (Arianism)
According to surviving accounts, the nontrinitarian Ariusmaintained that the Son of God was a Creature made from nothing; begotten directly of the Eternal God, and that he was God's First Production, before all ages. And he argued that everything else was created through the Son. Thus, said the Arians, only the Son was directly created and begotten of God; and therefore there was a time that He had no existence. Arius believed that Christ theLogos was capable of His own free will of right and wrong, and that "were He in the truest sense a son, He must have come after the Father, therefore the time obviously was when He was not, and hence He was a finite being", [ 43 ]and was under God the Father. Therefore Arius insisted that the Father's divinity was greater than the Son's. The Arians appealed to Scripture, quoting verses such as John 14:28:"the Father is greater than I", and also Colossians 1:15: "Firstborn of all creation".

First Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
Date325 AD
Accepted by
*. Assyrian Church of the East
*. Eastern Orthodox
*. Oriental Orthodox
*. Roman Catholics
*.Most Protestant Denominations
Next council First Council of Constantinople
Convoked by Emperor Constantine I
Presided bySt. Alexander of Alexandria(and also Emperor Constantine) [ 1 ]
Attendance318 (traditional number) 250–318 (estimates) — only five from Western Church
Topics of discussion Arianism, the nature of Christ, celebration of Passover ( Easter), ordinationof eunuchs, prohibition of kneeling on Sundays and from Easter to Pentecost, validity of baptismby heretics, lapsed Christians, sundry other matters. [ 2 ]
Documents and statements Original Nicene Creed, [ 3 ]20 canons, [ 4 ]andan epistle [ 2 ]
Chronological list of Ecumenical councils
TheFirst Council of Nicaea(/naɪ'si:ə/; Greek:Νίκαια/'ni:kaɪja/) was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaeain Bithynia(present-day İznikin Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine Iin AD325. This first ecumenical councilwas the first effort to attain consensusin the church through an assemblyrepresenting all of Christendom. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]
Its main accomplishments were settlement of the Christological issue of the nature of the Son of Godand his relationship to God the Father, [ 3 ]the construction of the first part of the Creed of Nicaea, establishing uniform observance of the date of Easter, [ 7 ]and promulgation of early canon law. [ 4 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ]
Overview
Eastern Orthodox icon depicting the First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical councilof the Church. Most significantly, it resulted in the first, uniform Christian doctrine, called the Creed of Nicaea. With the creation of the creed, a precedent was established for subsequent local and regional councils of Bishops ( Synods) to create statements of belief and canonsof doctrinal orthodoxy—the intent being to define unity of beliefs for the whole of Christendom.
The council settled, to some degree, the debatewithin the Early Christian communities regarding the divinity of Christ. This idea of thedivinity of Christ, along with the idea of Christ as a messenger from God ( The Father), had long existed in various parts of the Roman empire. The divinity of Christ had also been widely endorsed by the Christian community in the otherwise pagan city of Rome. [ 10 ]The council affirmed and definedwhat it believed to be the teachings of the Apostles regarding who Christ is: that Christ is the one true God in deity with the Father.
Derived from Greek oikoumenikos( Greek:οἰκουμένη), "ecumenical" means "worldwide" but generally is assumed to be limited to the Roman Empire in this context as in Augustus' claim to be ruler of the oikoumene/world; the earliest extant uses of the term for a council are Eusebius'Life of Constantine3.6 [ 11 ]around 338, which states "σύνοδον οἰκουμενικὴν συνεκρότει" (he convoked an Ecumenical Council); Athanasius'Ad Afros Epistola Synodicain 369; [ 12 ]and the Letter in 382 to Pope Damasus Iand the Latin bishops from the First Council of Constantinople. [ 13 ]

One purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements arising from within the Church of Alexandriaover the nature of the Son in his relationship to the Father; in particular, whetherthe Son had been 'begotten' by the Father fromhis own being, or created as the other creaturesout of nothing. [ 14 ] St. Alexander of Alexandriaand Athanasiusclaimed to take the first position; the popular presbyter Arius, from whom the term Arianismcomes, is said to havetaken the second. The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly (of the estimated 250–318 attendees, all but two agreed to sign the creed and these two, along with Arius, werebanished to Illyria). [ 15 ]The emperor's threat of banishment is claimed to have influenced many to sign, but this is highly debated by bothsides.

Another result of the council was an agreementon when to celebrate Easter, the most important feast of the ecclesiastical calendar, decreed in an epistle to the Church of Alexandriain which is simply stated

We also send you the good news of the settlement concerning the holy pasch, namely that in answer to your prayers this question also has been resolved. All the brethren in the East who have hitherto followed the Jewish practice will henceforth observe the custom of the Romans and of yourselves and of all of us who from ancient times have kept Easter together with you. [ 16 ]

Historically significant as the first effort to attain consensusin the church through an assemblyrepresenting all of Christendom, [ 5 ]the Council was the first occasion where the technical aspects of Christologywere discussed. [ 5 ]Through it a precedent was set for subsequent general councils to adopt creedsand canons. This council is generally considered the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councilsin the History of Christianity. ↑Jump back a section

Character and purpose
Constantine the Greatsummoned the bishops of the Christian Church to Nicaea to address divisions in the Church (mosaic in Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul), ca. 1000).

The First Council of Nicaea was convened by Emperor Constantine the Greatupon the recommendations of a synod led by Hosius of Córdobain the Eastertideof 325. This synod had been charged with investigation of the trouble brought about by the Arian controversyin the Greek-speaking east. [ 17 ]To most bishops, the teachings of Ariuswere hereticaland dangerous to the salvation of souls. In the summer of 325, the bishops of all provinces were summoned to Nicaea(now known as İznik, in modern-day Turkey), a place easily accessible to the majority of delegates, particularly those of Asia Minor, Georgia, Armenia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, and Thrace.

This was the first general council in the history of the Church since the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem, the Apostolic council having established the conditions upon which Gentilescould join the Church. [ 18 ]In the Council of Nicaea, "The Church had taken her first great step to define doctrine more precisely in response to a challenge from a heretical theology." [ 19 ] ↑Jump back a section

Attendees
Constantine had invited all 1800 bishopsof the Christian church (about 1000 in the east and 800 in the west), but a smaller and unknown number attended. Eusebius of Caesareacounted 250, [ 20 ] Athanasius of Alexandriacounted 318, [ 21 ]and Eustathius of Antiochestimated "about 270" [ 22 ](all three were present at the council). Later, Socrates Scholasticusrecorded more than 300, [ 23 ]and Evagrius, [ 24 ] Hilary of Poitiers, [ 25 ] Jerome [ 26 ] Dionysius Exiguus, [ 27 ]and Rufinusrecorded 318.

*.The Eastern Orthodox Churchhas a feast day"of the three hundred and eighteen God-bearing fathers who were in Nicaea" whereon at vespers is read ( Genesis 14:14-20), the story of Abraham pursuing Lot with his 318 servants. [ 28 ] [ 29 ]
*.The Copticliturgy refers to "the three hundredand eighteen Holy Fathers at Nicaea".

Nice 1,we will only die once,stop all this false story

This actually happen to a friend of mine,he is about to get married to his long term girlfriend in two weeks time .So on saturday He was just browsing with his phone and he saw his wife to be naked picture in the internet. My question to you his if u were in his position what will u do if your in his position .I need a good opinion please remember he is about to get married in two weeks.

Pygru:

hmm mm

The road to baga is littered with burned out cars,winding through terrain that has proved fertile ground for radical ideologies to take root.On cusp of sahara,it traces a route through the former ancient islamic kingdom of Bornu,a thriving sultanate that grew rich on trans-desert trade.Now known as Borno state,today it is home to some Africa's most impoverished communities. Bokoharam,Islamist insurgents whose bomb are responsible for the carcasses of cars on the roadside,have thrived by tapping into yearning for ancient glory amid cripple poverty. Now the residents of Baga,a remote fishing settlement on the shores of lake chad,have a new reason to be angry.Last month,the village was the scene of one of Nigeria's most deadly incident since the islamist insurgency began in 2009,with locals saying 185 of their kins died,most of them civilian and most of them burned to death.That figure has been disputed by the military,who told the guardian that only 37 were killed,most of whom are bokoharam fighters. The afternoon before it happened,Ali,a white haired village chief,overheard a conversation that his stomach.Just outside his mud walled home,two men in military uniforms were talking heatedly:one wanted to set fire to Ali's neighbour's house;the other was trying to stop him.That morning a Nigerian corporal known as Kia,had been killed after been ambushed by bokoharam fighters. "One of the men said, we must avenge his dea th,we must set a house on fire;"the other one said no,he wanted no part of this,"Ali said sitting on his orange raffia straw mat at the meeting convened by the village elders. "After that,"he continued I don't know what happened."Ali looked nervously at the dozen of men in flowing robes packed under the thatched roof for the meeting,many of them young and unemployed,a key source of support for bokoharam. When the morning of 17 april dawned,much of this fishing village was a smouldering wreck. Black carcasses houses and skeletal trees stood starkly against the expanse of fine pale sand.The devastation wrought here highlights how bokoharam is turning cross-border raids with deadly consequences. Members of the violent jihadist have infiltrated this town along the dozens of sandy foothpath leading to their hideouts in the sahara desert.The last bokoharam member arrested was about two weeks ago.He had boarded a bus going to mali,he was carrying a lot of cash and a lot of weapons a malian security official in Goa said.In Baga every public school has been shut since august 2012,when leaflet appeared on school walls threatened to kill anyone attending,a resident says. Kashim Shettima,the governor of borno state,said poverty was at the root of the problem ."Unless ,and until,we address some of these fundamental issues ,believe me,the future is very bleak for all of us,"he said. Civilians caught in crossfire can only hope for a better days"imagine it is night,we are inside our homes ,then suddenly our homes were on fire ,"said a village in Baga,standing in front of his mud home.Looking over to the green grasses on the shores of lake chad in the distance,he added:'we are simply fishermen here.We just want peace.

Chelsea na d baba of england Up chelseaChelsea na d baba of england Up chelseaChelsea na d baba of england Up chelsea

Its arsenal vs manutd derby tomorrow at 4pm.Anybody that predict the score line correctly will win 500 mtn recharge card

Good morning,my fellow human beings.My story goes like these,i have a friend who is about to get married this month.And he went to his pastor for prayers after the prayer the pastor told him that God told him that the couple are not compatible so therefore they should cancel their wedding.My main point is that why is it only nigeria pastors that can see visions why cant the white pastors also see visions.Or are nigeria pastors spiritually better than the white pastors.Because I have never heard that a whiteman seeing vision before.I am just a confused guy thats all.

chucky234: You cant point something good to OBJ? Did I hear that well,you must be a chronic goon to have said that.
OBJ may not be a perfect leader but he was exceptional for the 8 years he was in goverment,yes he looted public funds but not as much what Tinubu looted in Lagos and he is still looting out Lagos dry. BRT ko BRT ni,beetle-heeded goon.
.
OBJ was able to polish the country image and re-establish the country to international scene after being battered and stained by the regime of Gen. Abacha.
He succeeded in winning at least some
Western support for strengthening
Nigeria's nascent democracy. Britain
and the United States, in particular,
were glad to have an African ally who
was openly critical of abuses committed
in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe at a time when many other African nations
(including South Africa) were taking a
softer stance. Obasanjo also won
international praise for Nigeria's role in
crucial regional peacekeeping missions
in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The
international community was guided in
its approach to Obasanjo in part by
Nigeria's status as one of the world's 10 biggest oil exporters as well as by fears that, as the continent's most populous nation, Nigerian internal divisions risked negatively affecting the entire continent.
Before Obasanjo's administration
Nigeria's GDP growth had been
painfully slow since 1987, and only
managed 3% between 1999/2000.
However, under Obasanjo the growth
rate doubled to 6% until he left office,
helped in part by higher oil prices.
Nigeria's foreign reserves rose from $2
billion in 1999 to $43 billion on leaving
office in 2007. He was able to secure
debt pardons from the Paris and London club amounting to some $18 billion and paid another $18 Billion to be debt free.
Most of these loans were secured and
spent by past corrupt officials.
In 2005 the international community
gave Nigeria's government its first pass
mark for its anti-corruption efforts.
However, a growing number of critics
within Nigeria have accused Obasanjo's
government of selectively targeting his
anti-corruption drive against political
opponents and ethnic militants, ignoring growing concerns about wide-scale corruption within his own inner political circle.
Obasanjo is a member of the Africa
Progress Panel (APP), a group of ten
distinguished individuals who advocate
at the highest levels for equitable and
sustainable development in Africa.
Every year, the Panel releases a report,
the Africa Progress Report, that outlines an issue of immediate importance to the continent and suggests a set of associated policies. In 2012, the Africa Progress Report highlighted issues of Jobs, Justice, and Equity.
The 2013 report will outline issues relating to oil, gas, and mining in Africa.
Obasanjo was recently appointed
Special Envoy by UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-Moon to the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo. He has held separate meetings with DRC President Joseph Kabila and rebel leader Laurent Nkunda.
In the first place,
Obasanjo harps on his economic
programmes that he never forgets to
proclaim are the only hope for Nigeria’s future. These programmes in one instance have led to the transformation of the banking sector and the consolidation of Nigerian banks. Now there are twenty five banks all with at least a N25 billion liquid asset base.
It was also under his regime that
Nigeria became a beneficiary of the debt relief packages from the Paris and
London clubs. These packages ensure
that the heavy financial burden that the
Nigerian state bears at its yearly
budgets to service debts from past
governments is relieved. For the
payment of $12 billion of the principal,
Nigeria is forgiven its debts totaling $32 billion. This actually translates into a cancellation of the money owed to
governments and agencies in the West.
A plausible stimulant for this
arrangement is the recognition by the
West that if Africa continues to fall
behind in the human development
indices, new ideologies hostile to the
west and even civilization as we know it
could increasingly find breeding ground.
The situation across much of Africa
requires the intervention on multiple
formats by the West if portions of the
globe are not to be left open for
ideologies whose only modern
instruments are modern weapons.
Besides, the impact of the growth in
Asia and Latin America provides
convincing evidence that investment
capital is the seed for economic growth
which in turn goes a long way in
producing stable societies. With debt
relief and economic aid, key ingredients
are released to aid Nigeria as she
strives for economic growth.

mumu

Is nigeria post office still functioning.When did u use last...I need a candid answer

Ola0711: Yoruba people keep romancing the north! Hahahahahahaha...ACP..na small b dis one....yoruba muslims are trying to do wat their northern muslims are doing...ACN+CPC=BOKOHARAM

stupid idiot.Must u write

Psquare

Drop ur bb pin and meet new friend.Mine is 30E4BF3C

solbil: i just dont know why! Anytime you tell muslims that jesus is the son of God, they tell you something like; how can god have a son when he doesnt have a wife? To them, you can only have a son through biological means. But is it true that it is only through biology that one can become a son to another person?

Jesus made us to understand in the early part of the gospel of john that a man becomes son of his father through biology. But he becomes a child of God through the spirit. (john 3:6) good news bible.

The quran agrees that Adam is the son of God. And the same quran knows that "God does not have a wife". Yet it knows that Adam is the son of God. Which means that the idea of having a son without biological means isnt elusive to the glorious quran. Despite this, muslims just cant understand it when you tell them jesus and by extension, christians are sons of God!

find urself a work to do

olede: It is too bad that at this stage christain are still worshiping islam as their gods in disguise. Have anyone see muslem mallams critising themselves on pages of newspaper as christain do. When shall all christain stop exposing themselves on pages of newspaper?

idiot

wslm,thanks bro.

According to nostradamus prediction a muslim country will destroy the like of usa and the rest.Thank Allah i am a muslim,if u think its a lie google write world war 3.check prophet666.com

memud6: Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or
involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim
was superhuman: to subvert superstitions which
had been interposed between man and his
creator, to render God unto man and man unto
God; to restore the rational and sacred idea of
divinity amidst the chaos of the material and
disfigured gods of idolatry, then existing. Never
has a man undertaken a work so far beyond
human power with so feeble means, for he
(Muhammad) had in the conception as well as in
the execution of such a great design no other
instrument than himself, and no other aid, except
a handful of men living in a corner of the desert.
Finally, never has a man accomplished such a
huge and lasting revolution in the world, because
in less than two centuries after its appearance,
Islam, in faith and in arms, reigned over the
whole of Arabia, and conquered, in God's name,
Persia, Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India,
Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, all the known continent of
Northern Africa, numerous islands of the
Mediterranean, Spain, and a part of Gaul.
If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and
astounding results are the true criteria of human
genius, who could dare to compare any great
man in modern history with Muhammad? The
most famous men created arms, laws and
empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no
more than material powers which often crumbled
away before their eyes. This man moved not only
armies, legislations, empires, peoples and
dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the
inhabited world; and more than that, he moved
the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the
beliefs and the souls.
On the basis of a Book, every letter of which has
become law, he created a spiritual nationality
which blended together peoples of every tongue
and of every race. He has left us as the indelible
characteristic of this Muslim nationality the
hatred of false gods and the passion for the One
and Immaterial God. This avenging patriotism
against the profanation of Heaven formed the
virtue of the followers of Muhammad; the
conquest of one-third of the earth to his dogma
was his miracle; or rather it was not the miracle
of a man but that of reason.
The idea of the Unity of God, proclaimed amidst
the exhaustion of fabulous theogonies, was in
itself such a miracle that upon its utterance from
his lips it destroyed all the ancient temples of
idols and set on fire one-third of the world. His
life, his meditations, his heroic revilings against
the superstitions of his country, and his
boldness in defying the furies of idolatry, his
firmness in enduring them for fifteen years at
Mecca, his acceptance of the role of public scorn
and almost of being a victim of his fellow
countrymen: all these and, finally, his flight, his
incessant preaching, his wars against odds, his
faith in his success and his superhuman security
in misfortune, his forbearance in victory, his
ambition, which was entirely devoted to one idea
and in no manner striving for an empire; his
endless prayers, his mystic conversations with
God, his death and his triumph after death: all
these attest not to an imposture but to affirm
conviction which gave him the power to restore a
dogma. This dogma was twofold, the unity of God
and the immateriality of God: the former telling
what God is, the latter telling what God is not; the
one overthrowing false gods with the sword, the
other starting an idea with the words.
Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior,
conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas,
of a cult without images; the founder of twenty
terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire,
that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by
which human greatness may be measured, we
may well ask, is there any man greater than he?

people will die of hatred

According to some xtain the father of xtain is apostle paul nt jesus.My question is is the information true or false

the bible should be caged

Christianity is a religion built on lies