General News

Uma Ukpai storms Ndikelionwu

      By OGONNA UMEH

Dr. Uma Ukpai

Ndikelionwu believers, under the auspices of Ndikelionwu Believers Outreach (NBO), are at present intensifying efforts to host the world renowned evangelist, Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai, in what they called Ndikelionwu city-wide crusade.
     In a statement by the leader of the group, Rev. Anozie Uzochineke, he called on all believers in the town to attend a pre-planning round-table conference in respect of the up-coming crusade.
     According to him, the conference will be held at the Assemblies of God Church hall, Eziokwe village, Ndikelionwu, on November 28, 2015, adding that the preparations are on top gear and that the actual date for the crusade will be made known very soon.
    “With utmost respect and honor, we, the above named Christian body of our dear town Ndikelionwu, invites you to this round-table conference to discuss our intended hosting of Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai in Ndikelionwu. Your eminent presence will be highly honored,” he stated.
    Ogene notes that Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai is one of the most anointed and highly outstanding ministers of our generation. He speaks across the world extensively on issues of salvation, faith, healing, breaking of curses and covenants, and spiritual leadership. In town after town, across the length and breadth of Nigeria and beyond, Ukpai has mobilized God’s people into action and his crusades attract crowds that number in hundreds of thousands, and spectacular moves of the Holy Spirit in these meetings, have resulted in amazing miracles of healing and other manifestations of the Holy Spirit.
     We also note that be it in Europe, America, Africa or Asia, the result has been the same during Dr. Umu Ukpai’s crusades – people tumbling over under the anointing of the Holy Ghost, sick bodies healed, barren women becoming mothers, marriages healed. He is therefore, understandably much in demand in crusades, conferences, and seminars around the world.
     He is the chairman, King of Kings Medical Outreach Int’l Inc., with a full-fledged hundred-bed Specialist Hospital in Abia State. He is the initiator of the One Million Man Crusade, commissioned with the vision of breaking the curses under which the black man labors. There have been outstanding results. He is presently building Kings All Nations University in Asaga, Ohafia. When completed, the hospital will train people to assemble, fly, and maintain aircrafts. He is the founder of Greater Ohafia For Christ Crusade. Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai is an international evangelist who has conducted crusades in many parts of the world. He is a co-author with Billy Graham and other great men of God on "The Work of An Evangelist". A speaker in Amsterdam '93, Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai is the first African main speaker at the World Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International (FGBMFI) World Convention '96, in Miami, USA.

Catholic Church sacks gay priest

  By KANAYO UFELE

Pope Francis

Just recently, the Vatican dismissed a Polish priest, Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa, from his job after he came out as gay and called for changes in Catholic teachings against homosexual activity on the eve of a major church meeting on the family.
   According to Reuters report, Charamsa, 43, told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper and Polish media that he is gay and has a partner, adding that the Church teaches that homosexuality is not a sin but homosexual activity is, and priests, whether heterosexual or gay, take vows of celibacy.
     The report said that Charamsa followed up his media interviews with a packed news conference with his partner and gay activists at a Rome restaurant and that they had planned a demonstration in front of the Vatican but changed the venue several hours before it was due to have started.
    It noted that Charamsa, a theologian, had worked at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's doctrinal arm, since 2003, and taught theology at pontifical university in Rome, which has also dismissed him.
    The Vatican said the dismissal had nothing to do with Charama's reflections on his personal life, which it said “merit respect.” “His interviews and the planned demonstration were “grave and irresponsible,” given their timing on the eve of a synod of bishops who will discuss family issues, including the Church's position on gays.”
     The Vatican said the actions of Charamsa were aimed at subjecting the synod, which Pope Francis opened recently, to “undue media pressure,” adding that he presided at prayer vigil for the synod on Saturday night before tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square.
    At the news conference, Charamsa said he wanted to make "an enormous noise for the good of the Church" and apply "good Christian pressure" on the synod not to forget homosexual believers, suggesting that a study be made of how many homosexuals work in the Vatican.
   "This decision of mine to come out was a very personal one taken in a Catholic Church that is homophobic and very difficult and harsh (towards gays). I ask the pope to be strong and to remember us, homosexuals, lesbians, transsexuals and bisexuals as children of the Church and members of humanity," Charamsa said.
    In his reaction, Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which ministers to Catholic gays, said the Vatican's move was "sadly disappointing." "It is unfortunate that Church leaders did not see Charamsa's announcement as an opportunity for further dialogue with someone they have known and trusted."
    It is to be noted that the issue of homosexuality and the Church has dominated the aftermath of the recent visit of the pope to the United States and that the Vatican has been embarrassed by a row over the pope's meeting during his U.S. trip with Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk who went to jail in September for refusing to honor a U.S. Supreme Court ruling and issued same-sex marriage licenses.

Buhari again condemns Boko Haram attacks

*Over 800 killed since his assumption of office

* Two million people displaced

       By OGONNA UMEH

President Buhari

President Mohammadu Buhari has again vehemently condemned the series of attacks by the home-grown Islamic sect, the Boko Haram, saying that the battle is not ideological, but rather between the forces of peace and order and the evil forces of murder and destruction.
     The President stated this after the recent attack by the group on the residents of Yola and Kuje and the Nyanya motor park, a suburb of Abuja, where several lives and property were lost.
        He asked: "What quarrel do they have with the good people of Nyanya motor park?" "What issue do they have with innocent people in market places in Maiduguri, Yola and Kuje?"
      The recent attacks came at a time the government is basking in the euphoria of curtailing the menace of the group whose main attacks have been in the North East region of the country. During the attack, in Borno State, no fewer than 80 people lost their lives and about 150 injured in the multiple bomb blasts.
      The group has in the past, targeted the Internally Displaced Person’s  (IDP) camp where about three people were said to have been killed, leaving several others wounded. At least, 39 others were wounded in the attack in the Sareji neighborhood of Maiduguri, military spokesman, Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman said.
     It is estimated that over 10 thousand people had died as a result of the violent Boko Haram insurgents, while over 2.1 million people have been displaced. Borno state is the birthplace of the insurgency and has been the focus of attacks by suspected members of the militant Islamist group that have killed more than 800 people since President Buhari took office on May 29.
       President Buhari's March election victory owed much to his vow to defeat the insurgents, but there was a spike in attacks across northern Nigeria in the two months following his inauguration, and Maiduguri was hit on a near weekly basis. A new offensive launched by the Nigerian army to clear Boko Haram out of more towns over the last month has led to a sharp drop in the frequency of attacks in Borno, the worst affected by the insurrection, and neighboring states.
      It is observed that Maiduguri has been free of attacks for about a month as it was last hit by a bomb at the end of July and there was a skirmish with suspected Boko Haram militants on the outskirts of the city in mid-August. 





UNN, UNIJOS impacted my life as creative
 
 writer – Eze (Prof) Ike



     By RAY KANU



Eze (Prof.) Ike, his wife Adebimpe Ike 

Eze (Prof) Chukwuemeka Ike said that the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) and the University of Jos played major roles in his life as a Creative Writer, adding that it was while he was serving as Registrar at UNN that his first and second novels “Toad for Supper “ (1965) and “The Naked Gods” (1970) were written.
         He stated this at the grand finale of his golden jubilee as a trail-blazing novelist, held at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka, the capital of Anambra State on October, 2015, adding that his UNN experience helped to water the ground for his scholarly book, University Development in Africa: the Nigerian Experience (1976).
       “The story of my UNN connection must include my surprise installation in 2011 by the  UNN Alumni Association (The Lions) as the Grand Commander of the Den (GCOD): I hereby express my appreciation to UNN Vice Chancellor, Prof. B. C. Ozumba, and the Head, Department of English, Prof. Oputa for the celebration,” he stated.
      According to Ike, the Golden Jubilee moved to the 2015 Nigeria International Trade Book Fair held at the University of Lagos, where the event was hosted by the Learn Africa Plc, formerly Longman Nigeria Plc, publishers of his youngest two novels, Conspiracy of Silence (2001) and Toads for Ever (2007).
        He stated: “University Press Plc, Ibadan turned their 2015 Author’s Day into my Golden Jubilee celebration. When Fontana Books, London folded up in the early 1980s, my first six novels became orphaned, and at my request, University Press Plc, formerly Oxford University Press Nigeria, became their Nigerian foster parents. Subsequently, UP Plc published The Bottled Leopard (1985) and my only novel so far in Igbo, Anu Ebu Nwa.”
         It is to be noted that a similar event was hosted by the University of Jos,  which was held at the multi – purpose stadium with the theme:  “50 years of Eating Toads for Supper.”
Speaking at the event, Prof. Ike noted that during the two-hour lecture, he was able to x – rayed Nigeria’s first 30 years as a sovereign nation by taking the reader through the lives and experiences of five male and female characters chosen from different ethnic nationalities, adding that it was at the Open Postgraduate Lecture he delivered at UNIJOS that inspired his 1991 novel, The Search.
     Eze Ike stated: “Because my appointment was on contract for two years only, and because there were hardly any suitable creative writing books in the market to recommend to creative writing students/enthusiasts, I was propelled into writing the non – fiction book, “How To Become a Published Writer,” published by HEBN Publishers Ltd in 1991.”
     He noted that his contact with UNIJOS did not terminate with his teaching contract, adding that the department of English of the University organized and hosted a symposium on April 29, 1991 to celebrate his 60th birthday and that a festschrift entitled, “Chukwuemeka Ike: a critical reader” emerged from the symposium, edited by Dr. Kanchana Ugbabe.
     “The name, Dr. Kanchana Ugbabe, calls to mind someone who has contributed to the sustenance of my relationships with UNIJOS. She was a senior lecturer in the Department of English while I was in the department, becoming a professor after I had left. She is one of the authorities on Chukwuemeka Ike’s literary works, probably the leading authority after the death of Professor Ezenwa – Ohaeto,” he also stated.
      Eze Ike, who is the traditional king of Ndikelionwu kingdom, Orumba North, Anambra State noted that when the idea of a book to commemorate his golden jubilee as a novelist was muted, Dr. Ugbabe was the obvious choice to organize the call for papers and to edit the Jubilee book.
      He said that the vision of his role as a novelist or storyteller evolved over the years, and that in 1965 when “Toads for Supper” appeared, he saw it as his role to use his story to present to the society a mirror of itself as it actually was, including pimples and all.
      According to Eze Ike, by the time he wrote “Toads for Ever” in 2007, his role as storyteller had expanded beyond merely showing the “mirror” in assisting to transform society to achieve desired goals, adding that the characters who in previous times appeared helpless to overcome their societal problems were shown ways to triumph over those problems.
     He observed that in “Toads for Supper,” for instance, the two principal characters, Amadi and Aduke, his Yoruba classmate and girl friend, were portrayed as helpless victims of tradition and that in “Toads for Ever,” however, the author explores avenues for overcoming the problems which earlier seemed intractable, adding that the result was the transformation of the toad from a despicable supper to a sought-after delicacy.
     Eze Ike said that “The Search” proposes the new principle of rotation of political power which later gained popularity as well as revolutionary ideas for state creation and that  over the years, he also used the novel as an instrument for recording major national historical events like his war novel, “Sunset at Dawn,” and as an instrument for investigating major social problems like examination malpractice  -  Expo 77, the generation gap - “Our Children Are Coming,” the incidence of ‘fatherlessness” – “Conspiracy of Silence,”  and the leopard phenomenon - “The Bottled Leopard.”

SMEDAN empowers Polytechnics students

   By IKENNA NWOSU

Rev. Anyikwa of SMEDAN

Over 3000 final year students of the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, Imo State, have been trained on how to start and run their own small businesses. The 3-day training which was organized by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) in collaboration with Technological Entrepreneurship Development Centre (TEDC) of the Polytechnics was to prepare students for economic self-reliance and to become employers of labor upon graduation. 
    Speaking on the importance of the event, the South-east zonal coordinator of SMEDAN, Rev. Levi Anyikwa, said the training came at a time when the volatility and slump of the prices of crude oil, Nigeria’s cash cow, was giving the government and people of Nigeria serious cause for concern.
        He called on all able-bodied Nigerians to join the campaign for diversification of the nation’s economy, stressing that Nigeria is yet to fully exploit her huge resource endowments for economic transformation.
        He urged the students to put into practice what they had learnt in the course of the training and expressed optimism that among them would emerge Nigeria’s richest men and women in future.
       “Through this program, SMEDAN is targeting about one million students in the institutions of higher learning in the South-East. We have commenced work with the Federal Polytechnic Oko and other institutions in the zone,” he stated.
        He also stated: “We are convinced that this program will add impetus to the efforts of SMEDAN to spread the culture of entrepreneurship to the tertiary institutions and beyond.”
        Anyikwa pointed out that the contributions of micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) to economic development cannot be over-emphasized, adding that the 2013 survey conducted by SMEDAN in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the MSMEs’ contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in nominal terms stood at 48.47%, contributing 7.27% to export.
      “Services accounted for 45.72% of the total, while agriculture followed with 42.02% and industry recorded 12.26%. The result of that survey also indicates that MSMEs employ 59,741,211 people, representing 84.02% of the total labor force,” Anyikwa stated.
       He observed that SMEDAN believes that the future of Nigeria’s economy does not depend on crude oil trading, but on entrepreneurship development, by leveraging massive rural resource endowments across the length and breadth of the country.
          Also speaking during the training, the Rector of the Polytechnics, Dr. Mrs. Celestina Njoku, commended SMEDAN for initiating and also successfully executing the program and urging the Agency to ensure adequate follow-up of the students especially as they graduate and go for national service and subsequent commencement of career in entrepreneurship.