Buhari, Jonathan, others pay tributes to TB Joshua – Newstrends
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Buhari, Jonathan, others pay tributes to TB Joshua

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  • His life and times

President Muhammadu Buhari and Fomer President Goodluck Jonathan are among prominent Nigerians that have commiserated with the family and members of the Synagogue, Church of All Nations on the passing of their father and founder, Pastor Temitope Balogun Joshua.

The President in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said the renowned televangelist would be missed by his followers all over the world not only for his spiritual contributions, but for touching many lives through philanthropic gestures.

President Buhari urged Pastor Joshua’s followers to take solace in the knowledge that life is not measured and defined by chronological longevity but by enduring legacies and lives touched positively.

 

He also condoled with the government and people of Ondo State and prayed that God Almighty would accept the soul of the departed pastor.

Former President Jonathan also expressed sadness over the death of the spiritual leader of the Synagogue Church, describing him as a devout man of God.

In a message of condolence to his family and the SCOAN congregation, the former President noted that Joshua who died at the age of 57 served God and humanity with relentless passion.

Dr. Jonathan also prayed God to grant millions of his followers across the world the strength to cope with his exit.

 

 

 

The former President stated, “I am saddened to hear about the death of Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua known as TB Joshua, the Spiritual Leader of Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), at a young age of 57.

“TB Joshua was a devout man of God who served God and humanity with relentless passion. He was a man of sound doctrine, meek and faithful to his call and passion of reconciling men to God and offering hope to humanity.”

Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu said the deceased was a philanthropist whose exit would be missed by many.

Akeredolu, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Olatunde Richard, said the renowned man of God was a blessing to humanity and a great ambassador of the state.

“Undoubtedly, Pastor Joshua’s demise came as a rude shock. The pains are not mere emotional flashes; they are indeed piercing.

“He demonstrated timelessly an alluring service to humanity and compassion by assisting not only his home local government, Akoko North West. Other adjoining local governments in Akoko land benefitted from his large heart of benevolence.”

The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, described Joshua’s death as an eclipse in God’s vineyard.

A statement yesterday by his media aide, Kehinde Aderemi, reads: “It is devastating to hear such sad news breaking like a wildfire. Prophet TB Joshua was an Iroko tree, an abode for many souls.

“The man of God has found favour in spreading the Gospel of God through his ministry. And according to the word of God, ‘The Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets’.

“It is very difficult for me to come to terms with the reality of his death. Prophet T.B Joshua lived and died for God. His life was a complete definition of God’s generosity and philosophy. He was very humble, gentle and generous to a fault. His large-heartedness knows no tribe, colour, ethnicity, language or religion. He was simply a winner of souls, even spreading beyond the shores of Nigeria.

“He opened a new vista in religious tourism, and Nigeria earned a lot of foreign exchange from his accommodating spirit. With his death, there has been an eclipse in God’s vineyard.

“I pray God to grant the family, kinsmen, church and the country the fortitude to bear the loss.”

‘He attracted the highest number of tourists to Nigeria’

 

The Zaki of Arigidi, Oba Yisa Olanipekun, said the community was still in disbelief over the news of Pastor Joshua’s death.

Oba Olanipekun said people had been coming to his palace to confirm the news as well as make arrangements to travel to Lagos where he died.

“We are very sad here in Arigidi and the entire Akokoland. Joshua was a good man to everybody. He has been helping everybody,” he said.

The Chief Imam of Arigidi-Akoko, Alhaji Salisu Musa, an uncle to late T.B Joshua, said the preacher died without any prior sickness.

Many members of the Synagogue Church broke down and cried uncontrollably on Sunday in Lagos when the news came that the pastor is dead.

Some of them, who were barely able to speak, told NAN that his death was unfortunate, especially at a time the nation was in need of strong voices to unite it and entrench love and genuine spirituality.

They said that he committed his time on earth to serve God and humanity.

Others, amidst tears, wondered what their lives would be like, in his absence, as he was their saviour in time of material need and in prayer.

The man and his ways

The late TB Joshua was born on June 12, 1963 in Ondo State. He was said to have stayed 15 months in his mother’s womb before he was given birth to.

According to the SCOAN website, Joshua attended the St. Stephen’s Anglican Primary School (Ikare-Akoko, Nigeria, 1971-1977).

He had only one year of secondary education before he left to work on a poultry farm.

While in school, he was known as a ‘small pastor’ because of his love for the scriptures and gift to predict things that would happen in his community; he was also said to have been the leader of ‘Scripture Union’ while in school.

He had taught children at evening classes and done some menial jobs before he had a revelation to set up a ministry while on a 40-day fast.

In 1987, TB Joshua founded the Synagogue, Church of All Nations under the bridge that links Ejigbo and Egbe in Lagos State with just a few members.

The church later grew to have a large number of members within and outside Nigeria, Africa and Latin America.

He later established the Emmanuel TV television station from Lagos which has wide viewership especially as it is on cable TV.

TB Joshua was a known philanthropist and noted for helping the needy and sponsoring persons.

‘My People FC’, a football club he started in 2009, was part of his efforts to help the youth and two members of the team, Sani Emmanuel and Ogenyi Onazi, played for Nigeria Golden Eaglets in the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Also, three players of the club were sponsored abroad to play professional football for Sweden.

The WBO International Light Middleweight boxing champion King, Davidson Emenogu, had said Joshua financially supported him throughout his career.

A man of many clouts, Forbes in 2011 wrote that Joshua was the third-richest pastor in Nigeria with an estimated net worth of between $10 million and $15 million.

He was so popular that Wikipedia documented his social media presence to be massive with no fewer than 3.5 million fans on Facebook.

“His YouTube channel, Emmanuel TV, has over one million YouTube subscribers. He was the world’s most viewed Christian ministry on the platform before it was suspended. He was described as the “Oprah of Evangelism” and “YouTube’s most popular Pastor”.

Like many influential men, TB Joshua was not without controversies.

On Sept 12, 2014, a guesthouse collapsed in the SCOAN’s premises in Lagos, killing no fewer than 115 people.

Speculations continued to trail the circumstances that led to the collapse, with the former Nigerian Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, alleging that “Nigeria’s intelligence agencies ‘blew up the building’’.

Also, his relationship with other clerics was not smooth and it was publicly criticised. The public also questioned the miracles that occurred in his church.

Yet, TB Joshua was unperturbed and in a 2006 book, “The Mirror”, he said: “Whatever I am today is a product of the conviction that victory through Christ Jesus is victory indeed”; “The rest is history.”

Nevertheless, Joshua made an impact in education, healthcare, peace and reconciliation, among others.

A Forbes blogger said that it was estimated that Joshua spent $20 million on “education, healthcare and rehabilitation programmes for former Niger Delta militants”.

He was receptive to repentant persons who cut across all walks of life including rehabilitation of repentant militants, armed robbers and sex workers who came to the church for ‘deliverance’.

The SCOAN has a scholarship programme that sponsors many students in the primary, secondary and even tertiary institutions.

In 2012, it was widely reported that Joshua sponsored a Nigerian student doing a PhD in the UK.

His humanitarian relief involvement was outstanding as Joshua supported efforts in the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and April 2016 in Ecuador, where he gave humanitarian aid worth over $500,000.

In Ecuador, he funded the rebuilding of a rural school destroyed during the earthquake.

Joshua had sent a team of medical personnel and humanitarian workers to the affected area in Haiti and also instituted a field hospital called ‘Clinique Emmanuel’.

He also supported several groups of Nigerian returnees to settle back into the country, following their attempt to travel illegally to Europe.

One of his most significant reconciliatory efforts was his involvement in the meeting of the family of the late President of Liberia, Samuel Doe, with the former warlord Yormie Johnson, who was responsible for Doe’s death.

The Nigerian government in recognition of his humanitarian activities, gave him a National Honour, Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in 2008.

The United Nations also gave him a letter of appreciation.

The Arewa Youth Forum, the predominantly Muslim organisation, recognised him as Ambassador of Peace and ZAKA, Israel’s primary rescue and recovery voluntary service, gave him an ‘award of excellence.

Until his death on Saturday after one of his evening services, Joshua was married to Evelyn Joshua and had three children.

Prophet TB Joshua’s last words in public were “Watch and pray.” “One life for Christ is all we have; one life for Christ is so dear”.

Mr Kunle Olowoopejo, the Executive Chairman, Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Lagos, described TB Joshua as a complete definition of what humanity should be.

One of the mourners kept screaming that God should have taken her, instead of Joshua.

Mrs Melinda Soares, a member of SCOAN, who came in from Seme, said “Baba”, as Joshua was fondly called by his followers, died for Nigeria.

“Baba has finally died for Nigeria! This has always been his wish. I have never seen a man of God like him. He does what he says and says what he does.

“He still said the same thing yesterday on the mountain where we went. His death is a pointer to the fact that God’s will for Nigeria is finally coming to pass,” Soares said.

Mr Perter Lucas, another member, said God took Joshua at a very early age so that, through him, there would be peace in Nigeria.

Members who came to worship but couldn’t gain access to the Church auditorium continued to praise and worship at the Church entrance.

They prayed for the repose of Joshua’s soul and prayed that God would bring him back to life.

 

-Additional reports from The Nation

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FG refutes US Congress claim of terrorists targeting Nigeria’s Christians

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Kimiebi Ebienfa, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

FG refutes US Congress claim of terrorists targeting Nigeria’s Christians

The federal government has dismissed claims that Christians are being deliberately targeted for killings in parts of Nigeria, describing such assertions as misinformation designed to pressure the international community into designating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).

This stance was outlined in a statement issued by Kimiebi Ebienfa, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who attributed the narrative to “fifth columnists” seeking to misrepresent the country’s security situation.

Former Interior Minister and retired military general, Abdulrahman Dambazau, also strongly refuted the claims made by the US Congress regarding religious persecution, arguing that Muslims—particularly in the northern regions—are disproportionately affected by the ongoing security crisis.

The statements come in response to US Congressional hearings and potential sanctions initiated under former President Donald Trump, following reports of increasing attacks on Christians in Nigeria.

In its statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed deep concern over what it described as misleading reports, stating:
“While the federal government acknowledges the security challenges confronting the nation, it is imperative to clarify that these negative activities are not driven by religious bias, nor targeted against any particular religious group.”

The ministry stressed that insurgency and banditry in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria do not single out any faith for attack. It added that portraying the situation as Christian persecution is “erroneous and misleading.”

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The government reiterated its commitment to safeguarding all Nigerians regardless of religion, ethnicity, or gender, and emphasized that the country’s security issues are complex, involving criminal activities, terrorism, and communal clashes—including farmer-herder conflicts—which are not rooted in religious discrimination.

The statement further highlighted efforts by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to tackle insecurity, including the deployment of security forces, intelligence operations, and community engagement strategies. It noted progress made in curbing banditry and insurgency and the establishment of a Ministry of Livestock Development to address tensions between farmers and pastoralists.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the international community to verify information before drawing conclusions that could inflame tensions within Nigeria.

“We call on all stakeholders, including the media, civil society organizations, and foreign partners, to refrain from spreading unverified claims that could undermine national unity and stability.

In a related development, Dambazau criticized the US Congress for mischaracterizing Nigeria’s security challenges, insisting that Muslims in the North have borne the brunt of violence.

“The US Congress got it wrong,” he asserted. “While it’s true that churches and Christian pastors have been attacked, mosques and Islamic clerics have not been spared. The vast majority of victims, especially in the Northeast, are Muslims.”

He pointed to Zamfara State, where he said 99% of the population is Muslim, yet violent attacks occur almost weekly.

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Dambazau also criticized figures such as Bishop Matthew Kukah, accusing them of presenting an inaccurate and divisive picture of the conflict.

“It is not about religion,” he said. “It is about the fact that these victims are Nigerians, and they require protection against these horrible people. They make it look as if it is a systemic issue, that maybe the government is coming out, as a matter of policy, to persecute these people. That is wrong.”

He further argued that data indicates that the most affected regions, such as the Northeast and Northwest, have predominantly Muslim populations.

“Reports of mass killings and kidnappings in these regions often involve Muslim victims. While precise statistics are difficult to obtain due to the fluid nature of the conflict, reports consistently highlight that Muslim communities are heavily impacted.”

Dambazau urged the US Congress to adopt a more nuanced view of Nigeria’s security crisis, warning that imposing sanctions based on an incomplete understanding of the conflict could have serious consequences.
Quoting a post from his X handle @mypd2020, he wrote:
“To impede the progress of a country like Nigeria has been made easy mainly by using the religious and ethnic fault lines.The idea that insurgency and banditry are targeting only Christians is unfortunate. The same US Congress recently said that USAID is the main sponsor of Boko Haram and other terrorist organizations.The question is, who is killing the Muslims and displacing them in their thousands and millions? Is it a USAID project, or those making the false accusations, or both? Nigerians should learn to approach and solve their problems while the US solves theirs, otherwise, we remain in perpetual stagnation.”

 

FG refutes US Congress claim of terrorists targeting Nigeria’s Christians

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Plot to impeach Fubara thickens

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Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara

Plot to impeach Fubara thickens

The political camp of the Rivers state Governor, Siminalayi Fubara was again pushed into a deeper trench by the decision of the state House of Assembly to probe the alleged age falsification of the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Simeon Amadi.

At its 135th legislative sitting, the House resolved to write to the Department of the State Service, DSS, to investigate the CJ following allegations against him by the Leader of the House, Hon Major Jack.

The House agreed that falsification of age was a “serious offence” but the allegation must be confirmed and doing so, the CJ has to be thoroughly investigated to establish the authenticity of the allegation.

Responding to this development, the Speaker, Rt. Hon Martins Amaewhule said by section 128 of the constitution, the House is empowered to investigate the allegation but quickly accused Governor Fubara of barring heads of ministries, departments and agencies from appearing before the House.

Remember that Justice Amadi was screened to become the Chief Judge of the state about three years when Wike was a governor. Unconfirmed report has it that Amadi, who hails from the same Ikwerre ethnic nationality with Wike, turned down alleged N5 billion gratification and tastefully furnished houses in London and America to ditch the governor and clear the grounds for his eventual impeachment.

Commenting on the CJ’s ordeal, Hon Ogbonna Nwuke, former House of Representatives member in the 7th National Assembly said the action of the Assembly members was just to intimidate the Chief Judge in order to get at the governor.

“The process of impeaching the governor is not easy. That is why they are intimidating the loyalists of the governor just to create a state of emergency, at most”.

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Giving the quick succession at which events happened in the state in the course of the week barely few hours after the Minister of the federal capital territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike on Wednesday publicly declared that the state Governor, Siminalayi Fubara could be impeached by the House of Assembly and “heaven will not fall”, it shows that there is more in the offing.

The minister’s audacity came just a day after a crucial meeting between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the delegation of the pan Niger Delta Elders Forum, PANDEF, in Abuja wherein the latter was asked to go back home and prevail on the embattled Governor to “obey the rule of law”, in other words, the Supreme Court judgment.

Meanwhile, Wike’s impeachment threat to Fubara and his vituperations on the Ijaw ethnic nationality has since attracted the ire of the Supreme Egbesu Assembly, SEA, a religious deity of the Ijaws and other revered topnotch organizations such as the Ijaw national Congress, INC and its youth wing, Ijaw Youth Council, IYC.

Recall that in the early years of militancy in the Niger Delta with Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states being the hotbed of the crisis, the Egbesu god was said to have been invoked to wade off the incursion of the federal troops into the flashpoints of the crisis.

Leader of the Supreme Egbesu Assembly, SEA, an ancestral religious institution of the Ijaw people, Sergeant Werinipre Digifa, told Saturday Vanguard on phone that the Ijaw people would “shock” President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the appropriate time in the event that the Governor of Rivers state, Siminalayi Fubara is impeached.

Digifa hit back at the President who he said lacks the capacity to tame Wike. “Tinubu should be held responsible for the recklessness and arrogance Wike is exhibiting against the Ijaw nation.

“This is why I say that Nigeria is a banana republic. Somebody has turned the judiciary to his personal estate. He manipulates the judiciary the way he wants it just to suit his desire. If they impeach Fubara, we will not go into violence because Ijaw people don’t believe in violence. We will take everything in good faith. But we will shock them”.

The head of the Egbesu Assembly added that ”we are keenly watching the ongoing political trend which is pure harassment and the intimidation of the Governor of Rivers state. We are listening to the insults, the unguarded utterances and the abuse that is being heaped on the Ijaw ethnic nationality by Hon Wike.

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”The Niger Delta is a community and when controversies arise in a community, reasonable people don’t jump in to talk. There is an African adage which says ‘two mad people never behave madly at the same time.’
“We are not sleeping, neither are we cowards. But note that we have always won our just battles and this will be no exception. This crass arrogance being displayed by Wike was avoidable”.

Digifa expressed disappointment that President Tinubu has allowed the crisis to fester, saying ”I had earlier thought that he had the capacity to rule Nigeria as a president, but from the showings on ground, it is evident that we had a misplaced value on President Tinubu’s leadership capacity.”

He warned President Tinubu that “by the time Wike finishes with you, the Yoruba nation would have incurred the anger of the Ijaw man. The spirits that have protected the Ijaw Nation over the years will bring the wrath on the Yoruba to teach them a lesson that could be worse than what has happened to those who attempted to humiliate us”.

INC’s position on Wike’s bluster to oust Fubara from power is that people should look at issues from the broader perspective and not through the prism of sectarian sentiment.

Professor Benjamin Okaba, President of INC, said Wike’s so called insult on Ijaws smacks off the smart game of giving it an ethnic coloration to get the sympathy of other ethnic groups and distract their attention from the sympathy they have for governor Fubara.

“When the Ijaws led the struggle for the creation of Rivers state, where were Wike’s ancestors? He quipped. “You don’t flirt after a hyena. Wike will regret, mark my words, and become a political orphan. When an empire rises to its peak, another empire will rise. We are heading towards the Marxian synthesis as the political denouement is already unfolding ahead of 2027.

“Wike’s bravado is clearly stimulated by nothing else but the tacit support and encouragement from the Presidency. Remove Wike from Power, he will automatically transform into an empty and most vulnerable entity in Nigerian political history”, he said.

In its declaration after a zonal emergency meeting, the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Eastern Zone put the federal government on notice that it will stoutly resist every attempt by the planners to impeach Governor Fubara, “until he has served out his two tenures of eight years as his predecessors did, by any means necessary”.

The Ijaw youths announced that the planners of the Governor’s impeachment, “if they do not desist from their evil plot, should be ready to bear the consequences of their actions in the event of the breakdown of law and order in the State”.

Also, a statement from the Ijaw Matters viewpoint said the Ijaw Nation has been patient for too long, saying “our patience is not weakness. Nyesom Wike, in his ……arrogance, has crossed every line of decency and respect. His continued insults against the Ijaw people will not go unanswered”.

It said it was a disgrace that a man who once begged for the support of Ijaw leaders and communities now dares to spit on the same people who made him. “We will not forget. We will not forgive. And when the time comes, Wike will beg, he will crawl before the Ijaw Nation seeking mercy, but he will find none”.

The group vowed that “Wike will pay for every insult, every slight, and every word of disrespect. The day of reckoning is closer than he thinks”.

 

Plot to impeach Fubara thickens

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Jobs: FG begins six-month free IT training for two million youths

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Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa

Jobs: FG begins six-month free IT training for two million youths

The Federal Government is set to offer six months of free training to youths to fill two million job vacancies.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has also approved N120 billion to revive technical education.

Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, spoke during the third Ministerial Press Briefing, organised by Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris in Abuja.

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, also gave an account of his stewardship.

Alausa said: “We have almost N120 billion and the President has approved it for us to move this agenda forward.

“This programme will be launched probably in the month of May.

“Today, based on UNESCO data, there are 650,000 vacancies in software development methodologies, about 280,000 vacancies in cyber security, and about 160,000 vacancies in IT automation.

“Another 150,000 vacancies in AI and machine learning, about 120,000 vacancies in cloud computing, and about 60,000 vacancies worldwide in national language processing.

“Add that together, we have almost two million job vacancies out there.

“So, what we’re doing with Digital Training Academy is working with trainers that will offer six- months of training to young engineers.

“We, as a government, will pay for their internet services, pay for their certification- Cisco certification, End of Career certification, and Google certification.”

Alausa said the strategy would give Nigerians new digital skills needed to stand out in the world.

He added that the training would be launched on or before June.

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The minister said the Federal Ministry of Education was putting measures to encourage Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to meet the areas of needs.

He said this would be done through the Digital Training Academy (DTA) to give students skills in service industries.

Alausa reiterated the commitment of the government to return 10 million out-of-school children to the classrooms.

He said the ministry was working on a new strategy to increase access, improve quality and enhance education systems for foundational learning.

Alausa said between now and 2027, the government will reconstruct 195,000 classrooms across the nation.

“With regards to infrastructure, between now and 2027, we will need to raise 195,000 classrooms across the nation.

“We will install 28,000 toilets, and 22,900 boreholes across other schools in the country.

“We will construct about 7,000 new classrooms and provide learning and teaching materials by organising 103 million textbooks,” he said.

Alausa hinged the current proliferation of universities on the increasing pressure being mounted by lawmakers.

He said almost 200 bills were pending in the National Assembly for the creation of universities.

Alausa explained that renewing the capacities of existing institutions was more important than establishing new ones.

According to him, there is no need to put pressure on the president to establish new universities.

“We must focus on our capacities. We need to stop this from happening. There’s so much pressure on the president.

“We have to at least be sensitive to it as well. They (lawmakers) are passing a lot of bills.

“Today, there are almost 200 bills in the National Assembly. We can’t continue this.

“Even though we have a lot of them, the capacity for a university to admit is not there.

“What we need to do now is to rebuild the capacities so that we can offer more viable courses to our citizens,” he said.

The minister added that the enrollment rate was not commensurate with the recent number of universities.

“If you look at the entire enrollment together, the one per cent of private universities account for just 7.5 per cent of total undergraduate enrollment.

“The total number of undergraduate enrollment today is just about 875,000, which is at least fairly low.

“We have universities with less than 1,000 undergraduate students, and there’s this intense demand for more universities to be opened.

“We have to stop that,” he said.

He added that several key proposals had been put forward to address education sector challenges.

He added that the Tinubu Administration has committed N40 billion to the abandoned National Library of Nigeria project.

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The minister said work on the library project would soon commence, adding that this would support academic and research needs.

Others who attended the briefing include Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Mr. Bayo Onanuga; Special Adviser on Public Communication and Orientation, Mr. Sunday Dare, and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Publicity and Special Duties, Mr. Tunde Rahaman.

Heads of agencies in the Ministry of Information and National Orientation – News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Voice of Nigeria (VON), National Orientation Agency (NOA) and Federal Radio Cooperation of Nigeria (FRCN) – were also there.

Also at the briefing yesterday, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), said a drop in airfares was likely soon.

He also said the Federal Government would roll out measures to curb illegal charter operations.

According to Keyamo, the government lost billions of naira to the illegal charter operations which date back 40 years.

Part of the reforms is to mandate regulators to publish the names of airlines that are approved to fly, and proper documentation of those on board the chartered flights.

He also said the control tower would not clear any flight for takeoff without proper identification of the crew members and passengers.

On the high cost of tickets, Keyamo said:  “We have domestic tickets and we have international tickets.

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“I talked about domestic tickets and the fact that we don’t have access to lease aircraft at very cheap costs.

“We only can go for the very expensive option of leasing aircraft or buying aircraft.

“We are addressing that and we are going to see results very soon with the Cape Town Convention and the Dublin Conference we went to.

“The deals are coming in, so we’ll see results there.

“But the international flights, one of the major reasons they used to give is that their monies were trapped in Nigeria.

“When we came to office, there were airlines that had a three-year backlog of funds trapped in Nigeria.

“When their agents sell tickets in naira, it is evacuated and dropped in the CBN, which will get the dollar equivalent and repatriate.

“That is how it is done so that the tickets will be sold in naira.

“So all of these tickets were sold in naira for three years plus, but the CBN had no liquidity, no dollar equivalent to send to these foreign airlines. So the funds were trapped.

“Because of the deft policies of this government on the withdrawal of subsidy and floating of naira, liquidity began to rise and that’s why I was thanking the President for the unusual attention he paid to aviation.”

As part of measures to boost the economy of the country and encourage local operators, the minister said plans are ongoing to introduce the FlyNigeria Act initiative.

“The Fly Nigeria Act will mandate the prioritisation of Nigerian flag carriers for government-funded travel, a bold move to support local airlines and stimulate economic growth.

“We have 13 active private airlines in Nigeria and there is a need to support local airlines by making policies to support their growth,” he said.

 

Jobs: FG begins six-month free IT training for two million youths

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