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Tag: New Year

  • Sylva’s New Year message: A deconstruction – By Dan Amor

    Sylva’s New Year message: A deconstruction – By Dan Amor

    By Dan Amor

    “Great men, great nations, have not been boasters and buffoons, but perceivers of the terror of life and have manned themselves to face it.” – EMERSON

    He is practically the only cabinet minister currently who released a New Year message to Nigerians for 2022. This symbolizes the fact that he has been anointed or programmed for a very plum job with a national emblem come 2023. Not a handful of Nigerians, except the discerning minds who could read between the lines, would appreciate the philosophy behind this ennobling move. H. E. Timipreye Marlin Sylva, former Governor of Bayelsa State and current Minister of State for Petroleum Resources is an impatient and combative man, who feels simply and cares deeply. He is a romantic and a realist, and he is also prudent, expedient, demanding and ambitious. Consequently, he decided to address Nigerians because, as a humanist, he feels their pains as a people.

    A textual analysis of his brief message to Nigerians attests to this. Yet, despite the incipient degeneracy of politics in Nigeria, despite the fact that political debate or argumentation has been reduced to intrigues, backstabbing and subterfuge, and development is often seen in the dividing line between savagery and barbarism, Sylva’s New Year release to Nigerians was a soothing balm. With a combination of logic, philosophical and religious underpinnings, Sylva appealed to the spirit and inner promptings of Nigerians to love their country and hope for a better tomorrow. From his days as a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly (1992-1993), to the time he was a Special Assistant to Chief Edmund Daukoru , the then Minister of State for Petroleum under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and when he became Governor of Bayelsa State (2008-2012), Sylva has brought uncommon insights into governance.

    Yet the insights he brought to politics – insights earned in a labour of experience and self education, has led him to see power not as an end in itself but as the means of redeeming the powerless. Timi Sylva’s New Year message of hope to the common Nigerians, the desolate and the disinherited may appear common. It is more! In the message, Sylva acknowledges that his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari has tried and is still trying to extricate Nigerians from this maze of social conflicts. But the problems of the poor and downtrodden about which he cares so much remain. The passage of time, the knowledge of consequences, the illumination of hindsight, his forecast that the economy would boom, the rise of new preoccupations – all give problems of the past new form and perplexity. Nigerians have agreed to flow with this man who has seen sorrow, bewilderment, fury and fright in their faces, and has promised them hope.

    Yet Sylva’s conventional religious faith, as gleaned from his release pales next to our serene inexhaustible piety. In his New Year message to Nigerians, Sylva said the citizens needed to continue to think positively of a better Nigeria, adding that the present Buhari administration would do its best to ensure that things continued to get better for the citizenry. “2022 is going to be a good year for Nigeria. Things have started shaping up and with our collective support and prayers, we will achieve the Nigeria of our dream. This is not the time to despair but to rekindle our hope of a great and prosperous Nigeria. Just like the Israelites, with God on our side, we will certainly rise from the ashes to zenith of prosperity”, Sylva said. He notes:”when the Israelites were exiled in Babylon, they kept hope alive and turned to God and God answered their prayers and they were liberated. As a people, we need to sincerely turn to God to answer our prayers and heal our land.” He is a Christian who is also invariably using his message to remind Nigerians that 2023 is the time for the country to vote a Christian to be the next president of this secular state. Anyone who says the contrary is working against natural justice and popular aspiration.

    While wishing every Nigerian a prosperous 2022, the minister says: “This is going to be a great year for Nigeria in the oil and gas sector of the economy. With the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), Nigeria has set the stage for increase investments in the sector. We now have a law that governs the sector and create confidence in the minds of potential investors and I’m confident that we will make unprecedented progress in the coming years.” Yet much of the significant critical issues in the choice of materials for the presidency as far as the All Progressives Congress (APC) is concerned would most likely be centred on the pedigrees of the aspirants. When they become candidates, the issue of which party each candidate represents does not really count much. In fact, Timi Sylva indubitably represents a bold testimony to the emerging trend of enthroning young and brilliant people at the apogee of political leadership across the world. Talking about young, good-looking, brilliant and adequately educated people in leadership positions?

    There is no doubt that brains and looks appear to be the unassailable clinchers these days as far as elections are concerned. In fact, the advanced democracies of the world discovered this mystery at the dusk of the twentieth century. In the United States of America (USA), for instance, brains and looks did earn the Democratic Party a rare two-term spell under the youthful personage, then, of the ever voluble, hand-pumping and telegenic Oxford-trained lawyer, Bill Clinton. Even in Great Britain, the electorate, in May 1997, demonstrated a certain unabashed bias for yapper, dapper looks, with all the histrionic gestures and dramatic turns of phrases, when they elected Tony Blair of the New Labour, another Oxford-trained lawyer, then 43, as Prime Minister.

    He was the youngest in 187 years. Consequently, the dourness of the British political landscape was dramatically but pleasurably transformed. To be candid, Blair did not only puncture, he also destroyed the veneer of cerebral vacuity and humourlessness his predecessor, John Major, had unrepentantly imposed on the British public all through his dull and trepidated reign. The all-rounded cerebral assiduity and political dazzles of Bill Clinton on the American political scene during his two-term Presidency is well known to all and sundry. And when Tony Blair was asked his priorities as leader of the New Labour, he said, number one, Education; number two, Education and number three, Education. This was when Great Britain was 500 years old as the bastion of democracy which had colonized many countries of the world.

    Also, Barack Obama’s audacious political savvy as the first Black American president of the United States, is a pointer to what age and brain can do in modern political leadership. It is against this sparkling backdrop that many Nigerians got electrified or even seduced when they read Timi Sylva’s 2022 New Year message to Nigerians. Given his age (he was born in 1964) and brilliant pedigree, it is not a surprise that the rare gallantry displayed by the ebullient and hardworking minister has marked him out as one who would painstakingly work for the country and its peoples. Coming from the effeteness of a polity cast rather in a fossilized mould, the wily and deftly calculating man in his prime has assiduously and tenaciously worked his way around his mission by ensuring that he finishes clean in his area of assignment. The number of revolutionary achievements recorded in the oil and gas sector under his supervision, is second to none. The passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill into an Act of Parliament, after more than two decades in the National Assembly, is worthy of commendation.

    Debonair, urbane, calm, calculative and compositely brilliant, Sylva is one of the tribunes of his generation whose political philosophy is people-centred. Like Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist and poet, who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century, has said in the opening quote, great men and nations have not been boasters or buffoons, but people who appreciate the enormity of the problems of their age and position themselves strategically to proffer solutions to them. Sylva does not make a noise. But he has been studying the problems and challenges of his country and how to solve them.

    Yet, when the time comes, Nigerians would ask and would be told in detail: who is Timipreye Sylva? Where is he coming from? What does he want? How do we deconstruct an alloy out of common properties? What makes Sylva so people-friendly that only a few antagonise him? The alloying of two distinct entities into a new compound requires an account of the materials used, but merely to enable the location of common properties that facilitate the making of the alloy. To attempt a critical articulation of answers to the above posers, we must eschew bitterness and primordial sentiments and probe into the personality under review. Time will tell!

  • Unhappy New Year – By Chidi Amuta

    Unhappy New Year – By Chidi Amuta

    By Chidi Amuta

    ‘Happy New Year!’ is a reflexive outburst of thoughtless and unconditional optimism. At the back of it all lies humanity’s compulsive superstitious wish that the things that determine good tidings will obey our good wishes. Just wish it and it could happen. The expectation is that the unseen hands of divine providence will make our wishes come true. We have a way of assuring ourselves that in the torrent of exchanges of good wishes among us as friends and neighbours a flood of good fortune will sweep through the world and make everything new and happy in the New Year. In the euphoria of heralding the New Year, there is an implicit condemnation of the Old Year. The ingratitude is palpable especially for miscreants and outright criminals whose life defining heist was executed in the Old Year.

    The superstition can be even worse. There is a preposterous assumption that things will turn out well simply because everybody wishes everybody well. But it never does. It is more a social convention, a manner of speaking and a ritual of daily living. Behind it all is a naïve belief and an infantile expectation that a flip of the calendar from one day to the next will suddenly chase away the bandits of Zamfara and Kaduna or make politicians in Abuja slightly more honest and sensible. Not quite likely and not so quickly.

    In all religions and cultures, a certain superstitious wish for good things in the New Year unites humanity. Old things have passed away! Everything is made new! The mascot of the New Year is the energetic young warrior prince on a white horse. Some throw away old utensils, thrash old apparels or dump their refuse at the road junction at midnight on the last day of the old year. Leftover food is not left out. Some pour ashes on their own heads in an act of expiation for sins committed in the old year. But alas, that wish for a better New Year does not stop your dog from dying tomorrow or your enemy from hitting it rich in spite of his treachery and wickedness. But it is in our nature that we speak good tidings to each other at the turn of the New Year, expecting the best and fearing the worst. At the back of our minds, we know and live with the frightful foreboding that ugly things will happen to good people in the New Year in spite of our best wishes.

    But more often than not, the things that determine what we wish for are far beyond our individual control. We wish each other happiness. But our happiness is often more a function of whether the bank balance is showing black or red. The decisions that determine those bank balances are made not by the gods or the God we pray to on Fridays or Sundays but by a special breed of creatures called politicians. They decide who will become poor or rich, who will become broke in the year or take a vacation to the Virgin Islands. Politicians decide whose wife will run away because of a sudden onset of an infection of adversity. In a way, the politicians in Abuja hold the power to decide whether you as the head of your household will retain your position in dignity or wear your title and badge of honour in blind obedience to tradition and a manner of speaking.

    In the New Year, Nigerians may be shocked how early in the new year their superstitious wishes for prosperity and happiness will turn into ashes or simply evaporate into thin air. In this place, even the best intentions of divine beneficence are soon thwarted by the machinations of bad or incompetent people. Early in the New Year, president Buhari is likely to sign into law a senseless volume of silly figures and statistics called a budget. The volume, compiled by lazy bureaucrats, padded up by greedy legislators and delivered to a bemused nation by semi literate politicians is all the empowerment the executive branch needs to proceed on a spending binge. That is the national budget which sensible citizens hardly spare a moment to read. The other 36 state governors and the Minister of the FCT follow suit in this futile annual ritual of public fraud. The public does not bother to take a look at the figures since they know the politicians will follow neither their own words or implement the content of the silly documents. The budget process in Nigeria is part of an elaborate ritual of collective deceit and mass hypnosis that goes in the name of governance in these parts.

    Nonetheless, the politicians in Abuja are waiting to herald the New Year by resuming their patriotic services to the nation. They are waiting to endorse a long conceived presidential decision to remove the ‘subsidy’ on petrol. The myth is that the pump prices of petroleum products are subsidized by government because the cost at which these products are imported are too high for the ordinary consumer to pay at the pump. Government subsidizes the landed cost instead of fixing the refineries that would have made the products cheaper and more affordable in the first place. But every year for over thirty years now, government pays to fix or turn around the refineries which never refine even a gallon of petrol year on year. The ways of government are mysterious!

    The importers of petroleum products are licensed agents of the same politicians and bureaucrats. So, the subsidy payments calculated by government, the profit on the importation of refined products and the cost of the dubious refinery maintenance rituals all go to the same commission agents of government. Now government wants the people to pay directly for the fraud because the cost has become scandalous. Government itself is getting broke under the weight of its own profligacy and relentless borrowing binge.

    The first reversal of our New Year wishes is that the gas station will soon cease to be a centre of economic and political power in Nigeria. Once the new petrol prices come into effect, only very few will find the courage to go near there. In return, urban Nigerians will rediscover the power and limitations of their legs since bus fares will no longer be for the poor! Others who still dare to take public transport will have to decide whether the cost of going to work is worth the starvation wage they earn. Some may no longer find a place of work to go to as every other honest Nigerian will probably be out of work when petrol prices hit the sky soon.

    Those who dare question this ‘patriotic’ and ‘courageous’ decision through protests are enemies of the nation. They may have to return home in police Black Maria or worse with broken heads and fractured ribs. Labour leaders, youth enthusiasts and student activists who dare speak out or lead protests against the new prices of gasoline may be prosecuted for unlawful assembly and criminal incitement of mobs. Social media platforms that disseminate messages about fuel price protests may get the Twitter treatment!

    While the impending petrol price clampdown lasts, the long awaited upward adjustment in electricity tariffs will roll into place. After all, the luxury of electricity on demand is not for all Tom, Dick and Harry. International energy prices demand that Nigerians pay the equivalent of what other civilized countries are paying for a unit of electricity. A delegation of electricity distributors and power company executives will likely visit the state house to press home the need for appropriate pricing of power and its products. No nation develops by handing out free electricity 24/7 to citizens who in any case will use the power to commit internet fraud or watch pornography!

    Happy New Year and welcome to the year of many new taxes. This is the year of the tax man as king. There is already a foretaste. The cooking gas tax is already here! Common folk are paying through their noses for cooking gas. The international prices of energy and gas have gone up and Nigerian importers of cooking gas (LPG) are importing at the same international prices in addition to paying duties to government. Government needs the money badly to pay $200 million for the importation of mosquito nets so that more people do not die of malaria. Since people can no longer afford cooking gas, they are reverting to fire wood. Soon, a new rural-urban trade in firewood is likely to blossom. Forget all the international protocols on climate change and environmental protection.

    Ordinarily, happy New Year should have meant some relief from the existing gamut of explicit taxes on Nigerians. The implicit taxes are assumed. We provide our own security at home, in offices and even when we venture out of town to visit the places of our ancestry. Private fees for private security guards, rented police escorts, rented military escorts and private military companies are things that Nigerians pay for even though they have already been taxed by government for the same services. Add all that to your private water supply, generators and first aid and primary healthcare.

    At New Year, we wish each other safety and protection. In a place where every urchin positioned at every hundred meters on the highway is wielding an AK 47 ready to do you harm or worse, the wish that our protection and security are in the hands of the divine is a bit unfair to God. God oversees the safety of all in a rather invisible unscientific way but government makes us pay it to keep us safe. It arms and clothes the police, those rich and fat army generals and all the other officially armed guards to keep us safe. No one knows who arms the bandits, ‘unknown gunmen’, the rogue policemen, insurgents, terrorists and separatist thugs to vitiate the work of God and render divine protection of the people a bit more problematic.

    There is an even more curious and unkind aspect to our ritual of New Year greetings and wishes. We the elite mock the less privileged by wishing each other ‘prosperity’ in the New Year. I am part of this conspiracy of the privileged. To wish a man who is already a multi billionaire in every currency ‘prosperity’ is an atrocious infamy and the height of capitalist insensitivity. It is the height of bourgeois class arrogance and a travesty of natural justice to insist that the affluent and super rich deserve even more ‘prosperity’ in a place like this. Not even the slightest modicum of natural justice or decent sense of proportion can justify this infamy and yet we keep flaunting it year after year. So far, I have never seen any of my rich friends throw back the wish at me by insisting that I should wish myself what I keep wishing them rather unfairly year after year. I am srill waiting for any of my rich friends to send me a wish that they pray for me to join their ranks in this New Year!

    A bleak economic outlook should not ordinarily be the entitlement of a willing and hard working citizenry. It can be relieved by the promise of democratic renewal as elections approach. A free people can endure adversity in the hope that the acts of a few good men and women to be placed in political power can reverse adversity through better governance and wiser leadership. An obedient and law abiding people deserve an expectation of good things each New Year. A wish for a happy New Year is therefore not too much to expect in a democracy. The essence of democratic accountability is the expectation that elected leaders will be more sensitive to the yearnings of the people and bring them some smiles each New Year. In fairness, Nigerians have placed their confidence in democracy to bring about the good things that they wish each other every New Year.

    These days, the popularity of democracy can be measured by the percentage of Nigerians who are waiting for the next election to bring about some positive changes in their lives. Yet somehow and repeatedly, our lives never get batter. More and more of our children cannot find work for their able hands. Our urban alleys get more dangerous while our highways have become the abode of robbers, kidnappers and an assortment of casual criminals. Those who dream are afraid to wake up because the reality of waking experience is more nightmarish than our worst nightmares. Those who have been around for long enough testify that our lives have descended into greater bitterness and brutishness as the New Years have rolled in. The older generation find happiness only in nostalgic reminiscences of times past while the present frightens even the most courageous with its bloody fearsomeness.

    Democracy does have inbuilt reassurances of some sweetness. A free society, free and fair elections, transparent political processes and systems and accountable leaders can hold a hope that the New Year will be a better place for all. But as 2022 gathered steam to roll in, Nigeria’s democracy had one hopeful expectation. A bill to amend our electoral system and allow for open direct primaries was gathering dust on the president’s desk. The consensus was that the president would break the backbone of a fledgling political oligarchy and autocracy by signing the bill into law. Open direct primaries would level the playing field by giving party members universal equal say in who gets put forward for elective office. This would end the cultic control of leadership selection by party oligarchs who thwart the will of the people by unilaterally handpicking party candidates. But just on the eve of New Year, the president, consistent with his conservative creed and instinctive anti democratic inclinations, withheld accent to the law. The only door open for a happy New Year seems to have been shut by a man who is easily the greatest beneficiary of Nigerian democracy, magnanimity and optimism.

    In the young New Year, there is abundant ground for more pessimism in Nigeria than ever before. A clear and present economic doom looms in the horizon. And now, a virtual political autocracy presided over by party oligarchs has been slammed into place by presidential fiat. Those who wished each other Happy New Year a few days ago may be at a loss. As sual, all that may be left of our New Year wishes is the hope that God and Allah will intervene to bring us some sweetness after all.

  • Okowa’s wife showers gifts on Delta State’s first baby of 2022

    Okowa’s wife showers gifts on Delta State’s first baby of 2022

    …pays hospital bills of indigent patients

    Wife of the Delta state governor and founder, 05 initiative, Dame Edith Okowa, on Saturday January I, 2022 presented gifts and offered prayers for the first baby of year 2022.

    The star baby of the year, Miss Edith Marvin Enyosa who weighed 3.7kg at birth, was born at 12:01am on January 1, 2022 at the Central hospital, Agbor to the family of Mr and Mrs Marvin Enyosa.

    Dame Okowa, who was overwhelmed with joy on seeing the first baby of the year, welcomed her with songs of praises to God.

    She said year 2021 was a unique year and that in all, God proved Himself mighty and appreciated God for keeping everyone alive to see the New Year.

    She commended the doctors and nurses who conducted her round the maternity ward to see other children who were born on January 1.

    The father of the baby, an editor with the Ika Mirror, Comrade Marvin Enyosa expressed appreciation to God for the safe delivery of his third child and the special visit of the governor’s wife, describing it as a life time honour.

    Comrade Enyosa, a native of Agbor-Obi in Ika South appreciated the governor’s wife kind gesture and specifically requested her to name his baby after her.

    The mother of the baby, Mrs. Theresa Enyosa, a graduate of Library Science and a fashion designer, also from Ika South, explained that labour started at about 7:30pm the previous day and lasted till January 1, adding that she never knew God had a pleasant surprise for her even as she lauded the governor’s wife gesture and prayed God to reward her.

    Dame Okowa and members of her entourage later presented gifts including cash to the first baby of the year as well as other children delivered on January 1 in the hospital.

    In a related development, Dame Okowa was also at the Federal Medical Centre, (FMC), Asaba to offset the bills of nine stranded patients worth N1.36million.

    She also presented gifts and cash to all babies and mothers in the post surgical, postnatal and the labour ward.

    While commending the FMC management for attending to stranded patients before requesting for payment, the governor’s wife urged them to work towards setting up a trust fund scheme where individuals and groups could contribute to save emergency situations.

    In response to the gesture of the governor’s wife, the Chief Medical Director of FMC, Dr. Victor Osiatuma said he received the news of Dame Okowa’s visit to pay the bills with joy having welcomed the first baby of year in Agbor, and applauded her philanthropic gesture towards the needy.

    One of the beneficiaries, twenty-seven year old Chinelo Emeka, an indigene of Ebonyi state could not control her emotion on seeing the governor’s wife.

    She said her husband abandoned her after she had her baby boy through caesarean session over a week ago and prayed God to reward Dame Okowa and her family.

  • Pope Francis urges peace at New Year, says violence against women an affront to God

    Pope Francis urges peace at New Year, says violence against women an affront to God

    Pope Francis urged the world to “roll up our sleeves” for peace in a New Year’s message Saturday, while calling violence against women an affront to God.

    Marking the 55th World Day of Peace, the head of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics devoted his Angelus address to encouraging a stop to violence around the world, telling the assembled crowd at Saint Peter’s Square to keep peace at the forefront of their thoughts.

    “Let’s go home thinking peace, peace, peace. We need peace,” said the pope, speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace under sunny skies.

    “I was looking at the images in the television programme ‘In His Image’ today, about war, displaced people, the miseries. This is happening today in the world. We want peace,” he added, referring to a religious broadcast on Italian state television.

    The pope — who turned 85 on December 17 — reminded the faithful that peace required “concrete actions,” such as attention to the most fragile, forgiving others and promoting justice.

    “And it needs a positive outlook as well, one that always sees, in the Church as well as in society, not the evil that divides us, but the good that unites us!” he added.

    “Getting depressed or complaining is useless. We need to roll up our sleeves to build peace.”

    Francis, who in March begins the ninth year of his papacy, called violence against women an insult to God during a mass in honour of the Virgin Mary earlier Saturday in Saint Peter’s Basilica.

    “The Church is mother, the Church is woman. And since mothers bestow life and women ‘keep’ the world, let us all make greater efforts to promote mothers and to protect women,” he said.

    “How much violence is directed against women! Enough! To hurt a woman is to insult God, who from a woman took on our humanity.”

    To mark the World Day of Peace, Francis recommended education, labour and intergenerational dialogue as building blocks for peace.

    “Teaching and education are the foundations of a cohesive civil society capable of generating hope, prosperity and progress,” the pope wrote in a message published by the Vatican on December 21, noting that military spending had increased beyond Cold War levels.

    “It is high time, then, that governments develop economic policies aimed at inverting the proportion of public funds spent on education and on weaponry,” wrote the pontiff.

    The pope, who has spent much of his papacy highlighting economic inequality, the plight of migrants and the environment, returned to those themes following his Angelus prayer Saturday.

    “We are still living in uncertain and difficult times due to the pandemic. Many are frightened about the future and burdened by social problems, personal problems, dangers stemming from the ecological crisis, injustices and by global economic imbalances,” said the pope.

    “Looking at Mary with her Son in her arms, I think of young mothers and their children fleeing wars and famine or waiting in refugee camps.”

    On New Year’s Eve, Pope Francis did not preside over vespers at St Peter’s Basilica as planned, instead turning the service over to the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals.

    The pointiff read the homily but spent most of the service seated on the sidelines.

    The previous year, Francis was unable to celebrate New Year’s masses because of a painful sciatica.

    On Friday, the Vatican cancelled the pope’s traditional visit to the Nativity Scene in Saint Peter’s Square over coronavirus concerns.

    As elsewhere in Europe, Italy — and by extension the tiny Vatican City State — is facing a surge in coronavirus cases fuelled by the new Omicron variant.

  • Do not despair, Macaulay enjoins Deltans in New Year message

    Do not despair, Macaulay enjoins Deltans in New Year message

    A former Secretary to the Delta State Government (SSG) Comrade Ovuozourie Macaulay has charged Deltans to be hopeful in the new year as we look forward to a better year.

    However, he noted that the people have to be united, vigilant, prayerful and supportive of the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for the year to be fruitful and joyous for all.

    In a goodwill message issued in Asaba to mark the new year activities, he urged that Deltans must be peaceful, exhibit oneness and unity of purpose especially as the present administration enters a critical phase.

    Besides, Macaulay argued that the period was key and critical; and thus was an opportunity for the people to be expressive and participatory in the State’s governance for the government to finish well and strong.

    “We must as a deliberate act come together and rally behind the present administration with our prayers and collaboration to ensure that the government berths successfully at the end of the day.

    Also, ahead of the 2023 governorship elections, Macaulay charged politicians in the State to conduct themselves in a manner devoid of acrimony and bitterness.

    He enjoined governorship aspirants particularly within the fold of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to show decorum in their campaigns stressing: “the time has come for issues to be addressed squarely; no more lies and campaign of calumny.

    “Attention must be on factors that will promote peace, unity and development of the State. Those not prepared to abandon the path of lies, must be discouraged, checked and shown the way out.

    “There is need for us to act as one family because upon the emergence of a candidate, we will need each other to achieve victory at the general elections.”

    He prayed that as Deltans rejoice over the new year, the mercy and grace of God Almighty would be sufficient to see the people throughout the year even as he wished the people a healthy, peaceful and prosperous new year.

    Comrade (Chief) Ovuozourie Macaulay
    Former SSG and Okiroro of Isoko Land. AFHSN

  • Buhari tells Nigerians what to expect from his administration in New Year message

    Buhari tells Nigerians what to expect from his administration in New Year message

    President Muhammadu Buhari has asked Nigerians to envision a year of continued progress against the nation’s combined challenges arising from security and socio-economic issues.

    He gave the charge on Friday in his New Year message to Nigerians to usher in the year 2022.

    The President also urged the people, irrespective of their religious and political affiliation, to come together in the fight to keep the country united against all odds.

    He admitted that the persistent insecurity in parts of the country may have threatened the overall objective of his administration to position the nation on the irreversible trajectory of sustainable growth and progress.

    President Buhari, however, assured that the government would remain resolute in its commitments and would continue to press ahead with its programmes and plans.

    To achieve this, he stressed that standing together against all odds, was by far greater and would ultimately be more prosperous and viable than the sum of its distinguishable parts.

    The President also used the occasion to highlight some of the efforts made so far by his administration, and what Nigerians should expect in the areas of security, economy, and anti-corruption fight, among others.

    Read the full text of President Buhari’s New Year message below:

    We remain grateful to the Almighty God for yet another Year attained as a country, united by a common destiny and resolute in our determination to overcome the several challenges along the path to build the great and prosperous nation of our dream.

    2. I salute the courage and resilience of all Nigerians, which was evident in 2021 as this nation, like other countries of the world, faced significant challenges that occurred as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efforts to restore the global economy and social order.

    3. The persistent insecurity in certain parts of the country may have threatened to unravel the incremental gains achieved in the real sectors of the economy and in the administration’s overall objective to position the nation on the irreversible trajectory of sustainable growth and progress, but I assure you that we will remain resolute in our commitments and shall continue to press ahead with our programmes and plans.

    4. The path to nationhood is often fraught with unpredictable difficulties and challenges, and most tried and tested nations have often prevailed through dogged determination, resilience, concerted commitment to unity, and the conviction that the whole of the nation, standing together against all odds, is by far greater and would ultimately be more prosperous and viable than the sum of its distinguishable parts.

    5. There is no doubt that the issue of Security remains at the front burner of priority areas that this Administration has given utmost attention to. As a follow up to our promise to re-energize and reorganize the security apparatus and personnel of the armed forces and the police, it is on record that this Administration has invested heavily in re-equipping our military in line with upgrading the platforms and firepower required to tackle the current challenges being faced in the country.

    6. The net results of these efforts have been the number of insurgents and bandits who have willingly surrendered to our Security Forces and continue to do so through various channels and the Safe Corridor created for that purpose.

    7. Government, however, realizes that victory on the battlefield is just one aspect of sustainable victory. We know that to fully win this war, we must also win the peace and real security lies in winning the hearts and minds of the affected citizens. To this end, working with our international partners and neighbouring countries, we would be deploying multi-faceted solutions that will be targeted at addressing human security at the grassroots, before it leads to insecurity.

    8. Once again I would like to take a moment to remember and honour the gallant Military, Police Officers, and other security agents who have lost their lives in the cause of protecting the territorial integrity of this Nation against both internal and external aggressors, assuring their families that their sacrifices would not be in vain.

    9. We equally remember and commiserate with Nigerians who have lost loved ones as a result of insecurity in different parts of the country. Every life matters and every single death caused by any form of insecurity is a matter of personal concern to me both as a citizen and as the President of this great country.

    10. We remain fully committed to upholding the constitutional provisions that protect all Nigerians from any form of internal and external aggression.

    11. On the economy, we have shown a high level of resilience to record some significant achievements despite the turbulence that has characterized our economy and indeed the global economy. The lessons we have learned and keep learning from COVID-19 have encouraged us to intensify efforts to mitigate its socio-economic effects on our Nation.

    12. The major wins we have recorded can be clearly seen in Nigeria’s most recent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The 4.03% growth recorded in the third quarter of 2021 is indicative of the recovery being recorded in our economy and the confidence that is being shown through the policies that our Administration has put in place after the outbreak of the pandemic.

    13. We may also recall that this recent growth is closely followed by the 5.1% (year on year) growth in real terms recorded by Nigeria in Quarter 2 of 2021. This growth was one of the best recorded by any nation across Sub-Saharan Africa. The 5.1% growth at that time was and remains the highest growth recorded by the Nigerian economy since 2014.

    14. Despite the challenges we have faced as a Nation, the good news is that we have so far recorded four consecutive quarters of growth after the negative growth rates recorded in Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 of 2020 due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    15. On August 16, 2021, I signed the landmark Petroleum Industry Act into law. The signing of this legacy legislation is a watershed moment in the history of our Nation, considering the massive positive impact the new Act would have on the economy. I would like to sincerely commend the 9th Assembly for the grit they demonstrated, succeeding where others have failed, and the cooperation that led to the completion of this process after almost two decades.

    16. Just like I stated during the investment trips and fora that I have attended recently, the legislation is expected to serve as a liberalizing force in the energy industry, and we are optimistic that this law will provide the much-needed legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the development of the energy sector, the host communities, and Nigeria as a Nation. Our objective to increase Liquefied Natural Gas exports and expand our domestic market is still very much at the forefront of some of the policies we would be pushing in the new year.

    17. In year 2022 and going forward, our Administration would intentionally leverage ICT platforms to create jobs, while ensuring that the diversification of our economy creates more support to other emerging sectors. I am proud to announce that several foreign investors are taking advantage of our ranking as one of the leading start-up ecosystems in Africa to invest in our digital economy.

    18. We have given the utmost priority to fighting corruption and other related offenses which have been a bane to the growth and prosperity of our dear Nation. We have made major strides and breakthroughs through the innovative use of technology and forensics in the investigative and prosecutorial procedures with commendable results to show that the anti-corruption drive of our Administration is succeeding.

    19. In the meantime, the accomplishments that have been recorded so far can be traced to the dedication of the Nation’s anti-corruption Agencies who have received the necessary support needed to effectively prosecute their duties.

    20. Despite our challenges in 2021, it was also a year in which the Administration executed successfully, key projects, programmes, and initiatives to fulfil the promises made under the Security, Economy Anti-corruption (SEA) agenda.

    21. As we welcome 2022, let us, with hope, envision a year of continued progress against our combined challenges arising from security and socio-economic issues.

    22. As it is said, the past is but a story told, the future will still be written in gold. Let us be united in our fight to keep our Nation united against all odds and with gratitude, celebrate life in this new epoch.

    23. I wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year.

    Muhammadu Buhari

  • 2022 offers us new hope, fresh opportunities – Presidential hopeful, Anyim

    2022 offers us new hope, fresh opportunities – Presidential hopeful, Anyim

    Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, who has also served as President of the Nigerian Senate has said he sees new and fresh opportunities for Nigerians in the new Year 2022.

    The presidential hopeful made this known in his New Year message to Nigerians titled: New Year message to Nigerians: 2022 offers us new hope and fresh opportunities.

    He stated that a combination of natural disasters and man-made crisis made 2021 a challenging year for Nigerians.

    Anyim, however, noted that with courage and determination, Nigerians can triumph in the New Year and pull the country back from the precipice.

    Anyim’s New Year message reads: “I felicitate with fellow Nigerians for making it to 2022. Let us all give God all the glory for His mercies and loving kindness.

    “2021 was a challenging year. A combination of natural disasters and man-made crisis put Nigeria and Nigerians through very challenging life-tests that stretched our capacities for endurance to the limits.

    “Economic crisis manifested in inflation, unemployment, under-employment, job losses, weak Naira and general low earning capacities that brought Nigerians face to face with threat to their very survival.

    “Insecurity which many citizens had wished would abate got a resurgence in 2021, compounding the already difficult life for most Nigerians.

    “Again, there was the COVID-19 pandemic which made a devastating come- back in other variants that shrank social and economic interactions further, and retarded the initial modest economic recoveries made after the first pandemic in 2019.

    “Indeed, we all still mourn many Nigerians that died and lament for those that got dislocated, some permanently, from these sad developments of 2021.

    “From the ashes of 2021, I see hope for Nigerians in the new Year 2022. God promises us Hope in times of despair, strength in times of weakness, recovery after tragedies. Our Maker also promised that He will never forsake us in times of trouble.

    “I therefore charge Nigerians to key into the promises of God in this New Year and stand strong as the overcomers we are as children of God.

    “In 2022, let us demonstrate courage and determination to pull our country back from the precipice.

    “One way of achieving this triumph is by taking even more seriously, our duties as citizens and obligations to be our brothers keepers.

    “We must dedicate ourselves to building a more peaceful and cohesive society with justice and equity for all our people and neighbours.

    “I wish fellow Nigerians a happier, safer, more peaceful and prosperous 2022”.

  • New Year prophecies: Ghana police send strong warning to religious leaders

    New Year prophecies: Ghana police send strong warning to religious leaders

    The Ghana Police Service has warned religious leaders in the country against releasing New Year prophecies that are likely to cause fear and alarm the public or disturb the public peace as 2021 draws to a close.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the police service in Ghana gave the warning in a statement titled: Ghana Police Service statement on communication of prophecies and their legal implications.

    The police service in the statement signed by Supt. Alexander Kwaku Obeng, Director of Ghana police public affairs, however, noted that it was not against prophecies.

    The police stressed that it was a crime for a person, by means of electronic communications service, to knowingly send a communication that is false or misleading and likely to prejudice the efficiency of life saving service or to endanger the safety of any person.

    It stated that a person found guilty under these laws could be liable to a term of imprisonment of up to five years.

    The statement reads: “As the year 2021 draws to a close, the Ghana Police Service wishes to draw the attention of Ghanaians, especially religious groups, to the fact that whereas we have the right to religion, freedom of worship and free speech, all of these rights are subject to the respect for the rights and freedoms of others according to our laws.

    “Over the years, communication of prophesies of harm, danger and death, by some religious leaders, have created tension and panic in the Ghanaian society and put the lives of many people in fear and danger.

    “We want to caution that under Ghanaian law, it is a crime for a person to publish or reproduce a statement, rumour or report which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or to disturb the public peace, where that person has no evidence to prove that the statement, rumour or report is true.

    “It is also a crime for a person, by means of electronic communications service, to knowingly send a communication that is false or misleading and likely to prejudice the efficiency of life saving service or to endanger the safety of any person.

    “A person found guilty under these laws could be liable to a term of imprisonment of up to five years.

    “We therefore wish to caution all Ghanaians, especially religious groups and leaders to be measured in their utterances, especially how they communicate prophecies, which may injure the right of others and the public interest.

    “The Ghana Police Service wishes to place on record that the Police are not against prophecies; we acknowledge that we Ghanalans are a religious people who know, and believe in, the centrality of God in our lives.

    “The Police wish to assure all religious organizations that we are committed to ensuring maximum security during the 31st December night, end of year services and beyond. There should be no apprehensions therefore about undertaking the various activities. We ask only that everyone keeps within the law and is mindful of the welfare of each other.

    “We also urge all Ghanaians to observe the COVID-19 protocols religiously so as to protect ourselves, families and friends from this ravaging pandemic.

    “We also take this opportunity to wish all Ghanaians a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year”.

  • Arsenal midfielder Xhaka out until New Year

    Arsenal midfielder Xhaka out until New Year

    Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka is set to be missing into the New Year.

    Xhaka suffered ligament damage to his right knee in the 3-1 north London derby victory over Tottenham in September.

    He had just returned from a three-match ban before being hit by the injury, although he escaped the need for surgery and a longer period on the sidelines.

    But an injury update offered by Arsenal on Friday morning confirmed he would not be returning to training before the end of 2021.

    It read: “Granit is making good progress in the initial stages of his recovery from a medial knee ligament injury sustained on September 26.

    “The current aim is for Granit to be back in full training early in the New Year.”

  • The Spirit of a New Year – Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

    Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

    There is a sense in which a new year comes with its own spirit, a new spirit, different from the spirit of the outgoing year. That is, a new year is seen as a break with the past, especially if the previous year was bad. Filled with incidents that we would rather forget. Filled with incidents that terrified a family, the community, or the entire land. A year in which things seemed to have spiralled out of control and everyone in the world sat on the ‘edge of the bitter precipice’ if I may borrow an expression from Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horsemen! 2020 was a year that started with optimism but ended with terrible memories for families, for us, and indeed for humanity. When Raina Rilke writes that ‘and now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been’, it is the feeling that the new year comes with new things.

    On the last day of the year, people dance out to dance off the burdens of the dying year. In some communities, it is an elaborate ritual of cleansing and purification. Some religious groups and communities do ‘crossover’ services as if movement from one year to another is a physical experience. So, on the last day of the year, people celebrate the very fact that they have entered the new year, leaving all the troubles of the old year behind. The perception or understanding is that the evils of the old year would go away with the year. The underlying belief is that the year itself carries evil inside its belly. It is a year that is designed by some forces to punish a family, a community, a country, or humanity for some reason. Such thoughts govern the thoughts and understanding of some people about a leap year.

    But there is a sense in which time is continuous. No break. Time, especially as we move from one year to another, is essentially, a thing of the mind. The calendar is a physical indication for the purpose of specifics. What is the difference between December 31 and 1st of January in real terms? It is a question of the mind, of perception. Remember that we all do not ‘enter the new year’ at the same time. Australia is ahead of us just as we are ahead of some parts of the Americas. The new year is a thing of the mind.

    If we were to record 2020 in the affairs of humanity, we would say it was the year of Coronavirus! The devastating consequences of coronavirus are still being felt word wide. Scary deaths in the United Kingdom, Italy, and America. These are countries which have developed excellent health services and infrastructure. Yet, human beings have died like flies. Africa has been spared the tragedy of deaths. And the question is that how and why has Africa stayed above the fray?

    So, for those who thought that 2020 was the year of Coro, 2021 has shown that COVID-19 is not timebound. The truth therefore is that the year is not the carrier of evil. The year is not a vehicle. It is simply a definition of time, of sequence. As a people, we should think about what to do about the events and experiences of 2020 and make sure that they do not return with anger in 2021. Our preparation for the pandemic is still troubling. We are not doing enough testing. The treatment centres are not enough. This has nothing to do with the spirit of 2020, the old and outgone year. It has to do with what we have done in the new year.

    If a new year has a spirit, it is in the sense of providing an opportunity for a fresh start, a renewal of efforts to combat the challenges of the new year. That is, that should be the spirit of the new year. And it is this spirit that we should embrace, cultivate, and deploy to national development. Perhaps, this is really the underlying spirit in communities which celebrate the death of the old year and the birth of a new one. A new year carries the spirit of hope. But it must be planned. It must be worked on. It must be part of a strategic view of life.

    The spirit of a new year! The spirit of an old year! There is continuity. There is an opportunity for a fresh start. The fresh start is more important than the superstitious belief that the year has a spirit that governs the events of the year. Let me quickly add that I had once argued in a new year essay that in ritual terms a new year has a spirit because through the necessary invocations, things will be different. That must be placed in context- the context of a traditional society.

    2021 must be different. Both the governors and the governed need to be different. In spirit and in the letter. We cannot retain the current security architecture and hope that the security situation will improve. Kidnapping and banditry make Nigeria a nightmare. No matter the number of New Years that we have, without a practical policy of change, the spirit of the old year will remain with us. We cannot run an oil-dependent economy and expect our fortunes to change for the better. We cannot mouth anti-corruption rhetoric and indulge the fat cats of the state. Clannish appointments at any level are antithetical to a new spirit, the spirit of starting afresh which the first day of the new year could represent.

    Let us hope and pray that the spirit of the new year will make our leaders do things differently. We can only keep our fingers crossed. Hope is the flame that keeps humans going. May it keep us going till we ride the storm of 2021!