The Nation Newspaper

Tag: 2025

  • What could go wrong in 2025?

    What could go wrong in 2025?

    • By Daniel Serwer

    The year promises to be a challenging one, both at home and abroad. I’ll leave the prognosticating inside the US to others. Abroad I expect the new Trump Administration to disappoint in many ways.

    Trumpians have already proposed to Russian President Putin an end to the Ukraine war along current confrontation lines. Ukraine would stay outside NATO for 20 years. The Europeans would monitor the ceasefire. But Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has labeled this generous armistice offer a non-starter. The Russians want all of Ukraine, not a piece of it. They want President Zelensky out and their own puppet in. And they want a permanent bar on NATO membership for Ukraine.

    It was of course a mistake for Trump to float a peace proposal even before taking power. That is by definition a moment of weakness. But Trump has never shown strength in dealing with Putin. His failure to support the Ukrainians will allow Russia to continue to gain territory. Unless Moscow suffers an economic or political collapse, the war will continue with Ukraine disadvantaged. Biden neglected to give Ukraine everything it wanted. Trump will refuse to give it everything it needs.

    Middle East

    That will have repercussions in other areas. Russia will retain its bases in Syria. It will use them to protect the Alawite-plurality west from alleged Damascus abuses. That will de facto partition Syria, just as Russian policy has de facto partitioned Ukraine. Trump will hesitate to lift sanctions on Syria, limiting the peace dividend to Syrians. He will withdraw the American troops, weakening the Kurds. More extreme armed groups in Syria will strengthen. Pro-democracy forces will weaken.

    Trump will support the expanded Israeli role in the region. This will include security control not only over the Gaza and the West Bank, but also Lebanon south of the Litani River, the Golan Heights, Jordan, and Sinai. Israel will involve the US in an attack on Iranian nuclear sites that will succeed in setting back the program. But it will also give Tehran reason to redouble its nuclear efforts.

    The Houthis will continue their attacks on Israel and shipping in the Red Sea. Intensified US and Israeli bombardment will fail to dislodge them from Sanaa.

    Balkans

    Russia’s success in Ukraine and Syria as well as Israel’s in neighboring countries will encourage irredentist ambitions in the Balkans. Serbia will continue to look for a pretext to move into northern Kosovo, claiming Serbs there are mistreated. If Belgrade invades, NATO troops would fail to repel the Serbian army. Albania would then propose a referendum on union with Kosovo. The net result would be ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Kosovo south of the Ibar and Albanians from southern Serbia. Republika Srpska would secede from Bosnia and Herzegovina, precipitating ethnic cleansing and split of the state into three parts.

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    China and Taiwan

    Under the influence of Elon Musk, Trump will allow Bytedance to continue to operate TikTok in the US.

    But he will go through with heightened tariffs on imports from China, which will retaliate with tariffs on US goods. The resulting trade war will send the world economy into a tailspin.

    Unwilling to fulfill American alliance commitments, Trump will encourage South Korea and Taiwan to get their own nuclear weapons. That will cause Beijing and Pyongyang to accelerate their own nuclear buildup, worsening the security situation in the Pacific.

    What I missed

    Trump will ignore the several wars in Africa. He will end US efforts to deal with climate change. He will continue to blabber about taking over Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal but those ambitions are smokescreens. Trump’s real ambition is to make everything about him. He has no fear of failure because he is confident he can spin whatever happens as success. That is what he is really good at. At least half of America believes it.

    • This article was first published in www.dtt-net.com
  • 2025: Year of dreams

    2025: Year of dreams

    • By Ebuka Ukoh

    As the new year begins, it’s natural to ask: What should I do differently? Perhaps you’re wondering how to be healthier, how to “japa” (move abroad), get out of debt, return to school, or finally achieve your dream life. These are legitimate concerns to have—you must raise, maybe address, them!

    But this year, 2025—the year of your dreams—let’s take it further. Imagine yourself in the departure lounge of life, getting ready for your final flight. What would you want people to thank you for? You don’t need an answer immediately. I encourage you to sit with the question.

    Another way to think about it: What feels like a problem you’d feel refreshed tackling head-on? Or ask yourself: What is my impact value? If you could push one button to change ONE thing in the world, what would it be?

    Ask, Answer, and Act

    These questions only matter if you go beyond thinking and start doing. Life doesn’t give you what you deserve; it gives you what you actively negotiate for. But let’s be real—fear will try to stop you. Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, and even the fear of what you’ll need to let go of: some friends, certain habits, gatherings, or even comforts like food and technology.

    Ask yourself these questions often. Don’t wait for New Year’s Day. Birthdays, anniversaries, or even a quiet moment on a random Tuesday are perfect times to reflect on what truly matters.

    Not Bothered Enough

    If there’s nothing that bothers you enough to confront head-on, that’s also revealing. It might be worth exploring what that says about you and what it’s trying to teach you. Don’t ignore it. Growth often begins with uncomfortable self-awareness.

    Ultimate Legacy

    At the end of life, it’s never about what we kept to ourselves; it’s about what we gave away—our time, our love, our efforts, and our impact.

    So, as you work on your dreams this year, remember this: we need the best version of you. You need it for yourself, and the world needs it, too. When you thrive, you inspire others to do the same.

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    Let 2025 be the year you ask the right questions, confront your fears, and take bold steps toward a better life—for yourself and for the world around you.

    GOAL-setting and all

    As we stand on the cusp of a new year, many will set lofty goals, draft intricate plans, and resolve to transform their lives. But let me offer a different lens through which to view the year ahead. I am not a goal-oriented person. I don’t set goals—not because there’s anything wrong with them, but because they have never resonated with me. My joy has always come from helping others achieve their dreams. If goals work for you, keep going; I’m cheering you on. But for those who feel burdened by the pressure of goals, let me suggest another path: a purpose-driven life.

    What will you want people to thank you for at the end of your life?

    This question, deceptively simple, is a doorway to profound reflection. At life’s end, the accolades we gather for ourselves pale in comparison to the lives we touch, the burdens we lift, and the love we give away. Purpose—not productivity—is the precursor to happiness. And purpose is always outward-facing; it is never about what we hoard for ourselves, but about what we extend to others.

    Herein lies one of life’s great paradoxes: to give of oneself is to gain everything that matters. To be consumed with oneself is to wither away. Some of history’s greatest truths are rooted in paradox. Sometimes winning is losing. Sometimes surrender is victory.

    This paradox challenges the self-improvement ethos that dominates our culture. While there is value in personal growth, self-denial often emerges as the greater good. Think of the people you admire most. Likely, they are not the ones who climbed highest for themselves but those who lifted others along the way. There’s a reason we venerate selflessness: we see in it a reflection of who we long to be. We want to work with selfless people, marry them, raise them, and trust them with our dreams.

    So, as 2025 begins, I urge you to ask yourself three things:

    1.           What stirs you to joy?

    2.           What breaks your heart?

    3.           What moves you from sad to mad?

    And when you answer, take a moment to reflect. If the things that ignite your emotions are solely centered on your own gain, consider this an invitation to recalibrate. True transformation comes not from acquiring more for ourselves but from giving more of ourselves.

    Purpose, not goals, gives life its meaning. So, as we embark on this new year, let’s make it a year of dreams—not just for ourselves but for everyone we encounter. And may we find that in giving, we receive something far greater than we ever imagined.

    • An alumnus of the American University of Nigeria, Yola, Mr. Ukoh is a PhD student at Columbia University, New York.
  • 2025: Prayers, hopes and dreams

    2025: Prayers, hopes and dreams

    At last, we survived the Year 2024! For that, we give thanks to God! Not unexpectedly, the Year 2024 was marked by complexities and contradictions. On the one hand, social movements and activism gained momentum, shedding light on the shape and size of pressing issues like inequality and climate change. On the other hand, systemic inequalities persisted, and globalization disrupted traditional structures, fuelling the hustle and bustle of uncertainty and insecurity. The COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions, including conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere, further underscored the challenges of our interconnected world. Reflecting on 2024, we’re reminded that social reality is a complex and ever-changing phenomenon, which requires careful thought and attention.

    As the world enters 2025, the initial excitement of new beginnings gives way to a nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities ahead. In Nigeria, a stark paradox exists: despite vast natural resources, the country struggles to provide basic necessities for its citizens. Unless we are also sugarcoating the facts, the gown is threatened and the town is unsmiling! These harsh realities have stifled national potential, with underlying issues, including a flawed political system and unresponsive elite, giving rise to groups focused on basic survival needs. Added to these is the absence of the barometer for a clear public awareness, which enables those in power to exploit the system without accountability.

    As the world bids farewell to 2024, Nigerians and global citizens greet 2025 with a mix of optimism and trepidation. The New Year unfolds like a blank canvas, full of possibilities. It’s a chance to learn from past lessons and forge a new path. As we travel through the complexities of our global community, we recognize the profound impact of our collective choices. We confess that ignorance, false confidence, fake narratives and unattainable promises have robbed us of the benefits of our prayers. We also confess that Nigeria’s economy is struggling, with basic needs becoming unaffordable, and tribalism hindering its progress. Besides, the hymns of loot recovery ring hollow without the accompanying stanzas of responsible use.

    To this end, we ask You, God, to give us the power to create a better future for Nigeria, free from negative influences that have held us back. Guide our leaders to rule justly, empower them to positively impact others, and bring Nigeria out of the current siege that strangles its potential. Eternal Rock of Ages, protect our land from the briers and scorpions – corrupt leaders and wicked individuals – who have turned Nigeria into a darkroom where negatives are developed.

    As Nigeria faces banditry, kidnapping and ritual killings, due to inadequate security, teach us to take collective responsibility and work together to find solutions. Help us transcend ethnic and primordial divisions so that Nigerians can work together towards a safer, more secure future. Let those who threaten our country bid farewell to their weapons or get buried with their weapons and let there be no more threats against the land. Since no one pursues the shadow and catches up with it, let those pursuing us fall in their thousands at our right hand and tens of thousands at our left.

    As Your Word reminds us, it’s the Church’s duty to care for the vulnerable, including widows, prisoners and the destitute. Almighty God, You are the Self-Existing, Without Origin! You are also the Omnipotent, the Omniscient and the Omnipresent! Grant our leaders wisdom to champion the rights of the marginalized, ensuring justice is served, particularly for those unjustly imprisoned. Let them expedite trial reviews, uphold timely justice and bring hope to the overlooked. Yahweh Elohim, grant them wisdom to recognize that true revolution comes from ordinary people seeking change, not the struggles of the political elite. Teach them to approach You with humility and make amends for past wrongs.

    The God of all flesh, it won’t be sweet enough if we are listening to others’ stories without others listening to ours. O God, the One who answers prayers, use our lives as proof of Your power this year. You are the God of generational covenant, the One who is also The Beginning and The End! In Your mercy, replace our shame with a double portion of blessings in all we do this year. Help us to overcome the flesh and forgive those who might have wronged us. You, who know our limitations, send our destiny helpers to us, and when they come, do not let them miss us!

    As Nigerians navigate various challenges, it’s crucial to recognize that adversity is a natural part of life. However, our collective future depends on how we respond to these challenges. Dear God, teach us to approach our struggles with resilience and determination and grant us the power to harness our collective potential and work together towards a brighter future. In a world plagued by greed, gluttony and a noxious lack of empathy, inspire our leaders with unwavering dedication to prioritize elevating societal values over accumulating wealth.

    Like Adam and Eve, who used leaves to cover their nakedness, Nigerians have resorted to makeshift solutions to address our nation’s pressing challenges. But, O Merciful Father, wherever we have been naked, we do not ask for leaves but Your supernatural and unmerited favour. Make us move beyond temporary fixes and seek more lasting solutions to our problems. Let Your angels that control human affairs cover our nakedness and let there be a physical manifestation of our victory.

    The Holy One, nobody knows the name of Peninnah’s children but the Bible recorded Samuel, the great prophet, as Hannah’s first child. Jehovah Jireh, the Infinitely and Unchangingly True God, bring hope and transformation amidst challenges. By the reason of Your covenant, help us emulate Joseph’s vision and perseverance, which led to his success in Egypt. Just as the prophets of Baal were brought down, disgrace and shame those who seek to destroy our country for their own gain. Grant us the courage to transcend our own limitations and let Your divine power course through us, revitalize our spirits and empower us to walk in the fullness of our potential.

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    Lord, we reflect on the lives of biblical giants: Methuselah, who lived 969 years; King David, who despite living only 70 years, became a pivotal figure in Jewish history; Moses and Joshua, who lived 120 and 110 years, respectively, leaving lasting impacts; and John the Baptist and Stephen, who, despite living only 30 years each, continue to inspire generations. Dear Heavenly Father, as we reflect on the lives of these biblical giants, grant us wisdom to make the most of the time You’ve given us, and help us to prioritize what truly matters and to fulfill the purpose You’ve ordained for us.

    Lastly, Lord, Nigeria’s 2024 Tax Reform Bills have ignited a heated debate, with supporters promising economic growth and reduced taxes for low-income earners, but critics warning of increased poverty. As we enter 2025, we recognize that You, our God, are a Specialist in possibilities. Give our leaders wisdom to work towards a brighter future for Nigeria. Guide them to make decisions that promote economic prosperity, equality, and justice for all Nigerians. Bless the antagonists of the Bills! Soften their hearts and grant them wisdom to see the benefits, that they may work towards the betterment of Nigeria and its people.

    May this year bring breakthroughs, even for those who feel barren and hopeless, just as Hannah received her miracle, Samuel!

    May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

  • Let’s tell better stories in 2025

    Let’s tell better stories in 2025

    2025 is here. Believe it or not. Its predecessor hasn’t been very good to us as a nation and it hasn’t allowed millions of Nigerians to tell the kind of stories they would have loved to. President Bola Tinubu in his New Year message acknowledged the fact that we had little or no choice but to tell stories of lamentations. What else can one do when the centre refuses to hold? Tinubu promised that things would be different and that things were tight in 2024 because we couldn’t have a different result if we continued doing things the same way.

    It was the president’s way of saying our brains aren’t for decoration; they’re put there for us to use to change our circumstances, to change this world, and to resolve challenges.

    In Elif Shafak’s ‘The Forty Rules of Love’, a character, Shamz of Tabriz, tells another character, Aladdin, that God is the best storyteller. It is a loaded statement. Looking at our world, it is not difficult to see the stories God is telling using you and me as the characters. God is not dictatorial in the stories He tells with us. He allows our leaders to play critical roles in our unfolding stories and we can see the results of that.

    Some people, some nations, some companies and some continents have beautiful stories to share with the world. Other people, other nations, other companies and other continents have tales of shame to entertain the world with: tragedies and tragi-comedies are all they have got to offer.

    Our dear Nigeria does not lack gold, it does not lack oil and gas, it has tantalite in abundance, and some of the best waterfalls in the world are within its confines. Scenic beauties, such as the Mambilla Plateau and Farin Ruwa Falls, friendly soils and a people ready to give their best are other resources Nigeria is blessed with.

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    Do we need to talk about brilliant souls scattered all over the world and doing wonders in their adopted nations? Is there really any need to talk about a young population that understands the ins and outs of technology and can manipulate it to our advantage? Is there any need to point attention to the fact that when our average brains go abroad for education, they turn out in flying colours?

    But as blessed as we are with these brains, these beauties and these resources, we are also blessed with leaders who, at the sign of a headache, have taken the next available flight to London or New York for medical examination. We are also blessed with a political class that steals with their future generation in mind; we are fortunate enough to have men and women in positions of authority all because they want to decorate their garages and wardrobes with the best in automobiles and jewelleries; and we are blessed with leaders who will tell us to pray over a problem or challenge we elect them to resolve.

    Imagine if prayers can end a situation where one of three Nigerians live in poverty, which represents thirty-two per cent of the population. Imagine if prayers can stop thirty-seven per cent of children from suffering malnutrition. Imagine if prayer can make a thing of the past, half of the Nigerian population who use unsafe or unimproved sanitation. What if prayers can take Nigeria away from being 43rd on the sustainable development goal index? What about praying away the fact that poverty is concentrating in fast-growing countries like Nigeria and, by 2050, more than 40 per cent of Nigerians will still be under poverty’s jackboot? If only we can use prayers to get over our slot as the country with the second-highest number of deaths of children under the age of five? Alas, prayers cannot do all these!

    At a point, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says no fewer than 250,000 children in Nigeria die on their first day of life. The figure is the second highest in the world, according to the 2017 multi-indicator cluster survey. A child born in Nigeria today, no thanks to this situation, is likely to live till the year 2074, while a child born in Denmark is likely to live until the 22nd Century! The quality of life is a different kettle of fish. Most of these children regrettably die from preventable causes such as premature births, complications during delivery, infections like sepsis, malaria and pneumonia. Prayers cannot stop this, only policies and programmes can.

    Nigeria needs more investment to grow its economy at a higher rate to be able to lift 100 million people out of poverty. Prayer cannot do it. Nigeria is only growing at about two per cent and, if our country continues this way, there will be more people in poverty.

    The investment we need is almost double what we have now. Nigeria must connect with people who want to invest in it. Agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure are areas where we need investment. We should remain open for business until we have reduced poverty to the barest minimum.

    We must have at the back of our mind that the global market for foreign direct investment is highly competitive and, to tap into it, we must position ourselves strategically. We must change the perceptions that we are all about oil. We must tell people that Nigeria is also about tech, agriculture, services and manufacturing.

    We must take advantage of the fact that we are critically important as Africa’s largest economy. We must use our longstanding relationships with countries, such as the UK, the U.S. and others, to pull in the needed help. We must correct the notion that our economy is difficult to operate in. To make investors have confidence in us, we must respect agreements. Contracts must be sacrosanct, a situation where change of governments lead to policy somersault must be ended.

    My final take: If we fail to do the necessary things in 2025 and continue to look up to God for miracles, we will wait till eternity. He has given us the brains to play a part in telling our stories despite being the best storyteller. Prayers can only help to make our work better. Praying without doing the required work is a bloody waste of time. By doing the required work, we are playing our best in the shape our story will take.

    May the little things we do bring us bountiful harvest in the new year.

  • 2025: Stakeholders speak on huge expectations for sports  

    2025: Stakeholders speak on huge expectations for sports  

    At the start, Year 2004  offered huge expectations with the delayed  2023 African Cup of  Nations  holding in Cote d’Ivoire  as well as the  Summer Olympics  Games  in Paris  but in the end there were only pockets  of successes  here and there . That notwithstanding, stakeholders  believe  2025  would be  more glorious  if those administering the sports can  overcome last year’s pitfalls, writes TUNDE LIADI…

    Long before now,  athletics  aside football , used to be the main  focus   to bring home  medals  and glories  to Nigeria but that was not the case  in 2024  since there  was no  earth-shaking performances in track and field. .

     Recall   that  in 2022,  Tobi Amusan  achieved immortality  by becoming the first ever Nigerian world champion and world record holder in an athletics event when she won the 2022 World Championships 100 m hurdles gold medal, setting the current world record of 12.12 seconds in the semi-final, followed up by a 12.06 seconds in the final though not ratified because it wind aided. She was also the Diamond league champion in the 100 metres hurdles for three years consecutively having achieved the winning streak in 2021, 2022 and 2023 before she was dethroned by Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn in the Diamond League final in September last year in Brussels, Belgium. 

     That seems  a distant past now but an athletics aficionado and coach , Alex Soetan,  believes  that Nigerian  athletes  can aspire to bigger things in  2025  if the  Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN)  get their priorities right.

    He has therefore urged the AFN to set their targets right and ensure that the athletes are well utilised in their area of specialisation. He argued  that  the best of Nigerian athletes are ready to perform at the highest level but that the AFN must provide the enabling environment and set their priority right for 2025 to be a fruitful year for Nigeria in the sport.

    “The federation struggled with setting the right goals. The AFN started by going to the African Games when the majority of the elite athletes in Africa were preparing for the Olympics,” Soetan said.” Last year, the AFN engaged their best athletes at the African Games hoping to score cheap points. It was the focus of the sports ministry which is now headed by the National Sports Commission. When there is focus on developmental championship, the AFN will score high because  big  athletics won’t be available as at the time the African Games was on for instance.

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     “When you prioritise continental championship or games over the main competition  like the Olympics that happen once in four years, then there is a big problem.”

    Yes, for many sports  followers  especially football which is regarded as the king of sports  in many lands  including  Nigeria,  there is a  huge expectations  on the Super Eagles  as they strive to pick a ticket to the FIFA 2026 World Cup to be hosted in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

    The biggest problem befuddling the  Super Eagles  now is  the appointment of a substantive  coach  for the  senior men’s  national  team  after  coach Austin Eguavoen   served on interim basis  for most part of 2024.

    But former Nigeria international , Peter Nieketen,  has urged  the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF)  to stick with the current technical crew led by Eguavoen in order to put the FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign back on track ahead of the qualifiers which resumes in March.

    “I don’t think there is any reason for us to go for a foreign coach if Nigerian players  will give the present Technical crew the respect they deserve,” he said  on a national sports radio  programme. “Most foreign coaches do not respect the way Africans play their game. We cannot afford to bring in someone that doesn’t understand the terrain. 

    “Since Eguavoen is in charge of the Super Eagles, the NFF should get him a psychologist that will help prepare the mind-set of our players anytime we have a game. The Psychologist will help to remind them the importance of the game ahead and why they need to take it seriously.”

    Similarly,  Abiodun Obafemi ,  a soccer gold medallist  from the 1996 Olympic Games,  wants Nigeria to be a dominant force in football again.

    He acknowledged that 2024 wasn’t so bad for Nigerian football with the Super Eagles placing second at the 2023 AFCON delayed till last year and other developmental strides including the Super Eagles B team picking the CHAN ticket off the jaw of Ghana.

    “My prayer is for us to get it right. I want us to take our place in world football. We need to be at the forefront in Africa. I am happy with the qualification of the CHAN Eagles for the 2024 CHAN,” Obafemi equally told  Brila fm. “I am also praying for the main Super Eagles to qualify for the senior World Cup because we have already qualified for the AFCON and it is my personal wish that we win it this term after coming second in the last edition.

    “Our women’s national teams remain our beacon of hope and I wish them well in 2025 also at the WAFCON, I pray the Super Falcons win it for the 10th   time.

    “We have been struggling recently at Under aged competitions in the Under 17, U20 and the Under 23 in Africa and I just hope we get it right so that we will earn the respect we are accompanied with again.”

    Meanwhile, Interim Super Falcons head coach, Justin Madugu has confirmed that  plans are afoot  to ensure that the team gets the best of preparations for the WAFCON slated for Morocco later in the year.

    “There are things we are already working on and by the time we are through with that, the details will be made known. But for sure the NFF has promised that every FIFA window for friendly games would be utilised,” Madugu stressed. “We are already in discussions but we do not have the confirmation yet.”

    Former Super Eagles’ Assistant coach  under  late Stephen Keshi, Sylvanus Okpala noted  the NFF got it right with the appointment of coaches for the Super Eagles B team heading to the delayed 2024  CHAN  tournament to  be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in  February.

    “The only thing that is going for the team is that the technical crew in charge of the CHAN Eagles have been in the league for the past five years or thereafter and they know the players in and out,” Okpala,  also known as Quicksilver, said. “I am a supporter of indigenous coaches and Nigerian coaches can do it. It is not our first CHAN qualification but in the past three editions we have not been able to participate.”

    Also speaking on Nigeria’s  qualification  for the  2024  CHAN Tournament, goalkeeper  Theophilus Afelokhai who incidentally featured in the 2018 edition with the Super Eagles, gave kudos to the current team  for securing the ticket at the expense  of Ghana.

    Going forward, Afelokhai  has urged the technical crew of the Super Eagles  not to relent in order  to make a positive mark like the class of 2014 and 2018 that won bronze and silver medals respectively in those two competitions held in South Africa and Morocco.

    “It was a wonderful news hearing about our qualification to CHAN. It is what we have been expecting because in the past in the qualifiers I took part in, Ghana eliminated us and we were not happy about it,” Afelokhai said. “But the team should not relax because they have just secured the ticket the competition is around the corner and they must leave a positive mark in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda CHAN. We are eager for them to come back with a medal at least.”

    Nevertheless,  former  Gombe State FA chairman, Ahmed Shuaibu Gara-Gombe, has voiced out his dissatisfaction  over the performances  of the  Super Eagles in 2024, adding the NFF must buckle up to achieve  meaningful stuffs in 2025.

    He said nothing has changed from the way football has been administered from the former regime till now , adding  that the incumbent NFF President, Ibrahim Gusau’s inability to let Nigerians know about his programmes right from the outset  of his  administration is a major drawback.

    “As far as I am concerned, we are still dancing in a circus. It is a case of motion without movement in Nigerian football. My impression is that we are still in the hangover of the same people,” the often controversial Gara Gombe stated. “It is just like a case of old wine in a new bottle. Gusau did not tell what his programmes were. He came and became the President of the NFF. I expected him to tell us what he met on ground when he came in and tell us what he would do differently to move Nigerian football forward, there was nothing like that. 

    Yet  Gusau recently assured ball fans, administrators and Nigerians in general that the football-governing body will adequately prepare the various National Teams to bring joy and glory to the While reflecting on the outgoing year 2024 and projecting for the coming year 2025, Gusau, disclosed that the focus of the NFF is on ensuring the adequate preparation of all National Teams to credibly compete for honours at major tournaments, and not simply turn up to make up the number.

    He said: “The era of Nigerian teams arriving at major championships just to participate is gone. Our objective now is to ensure that our teams can strongly contend for honours anywhere, and that can only be done by preparing the teams well ahead of qualifiers and competitions. I personally insisted that the Super Eagles B start their camping early enough and the result is what we can see in their display against Ghana.

     “The team has just one month to go before the CHAN tournament. That means they must go into camp immediately, and we will ensure that.”

    Gusau remarked that the outgoing year saw some impressive outings by the National Teams, though he is of the view that the Super Eagles’ under-par run in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers has been a source of worry to administrators, enthusiasts and fans alike.

     “Our commitment is to see how we can cobble back that Super Eagles squad that did the nation proud at the AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire, coming within 23 minutes of lifting the trophy. If we can find a way to do that, we can be sure that the target of winning the six remaining matches in the qualifiers to gain automatic qualification to the World Cup is achievable.

     “Getting that FIFA World Cup ticket will set the momentum for a sterling outing at the AFCON in Morocco later in the year.”

    The NFF boss  also assured that the Super Falcons, who finished the year 2024 as Africa’s best-ranked team, will be afforded adequate preparation to reclaim the Women Africa Cup of Nations title in Morocco next summer.

     “We are in the process of organizing more friendly games for the team, in order to properly blend the old and new players to a formidable squad that will conquer Africa in style.”

    Elsewhere in Table Tennis, the President of the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Wahid Enitan Oshodi, has disclosed that the body is looking at ways to help young table tennis players on the continent to achieve their potentials and improve in their craft. 

    Oshodi who confirmed that the African Youth Table Tennis Championships would hold in Nigeria in July this year said it is delight of the ATTF to see  young table tennis players taking part in all the major competitions across Africa for them to see improvement.

    “The players need to do what they need to do to improve on their games,” Oshodi said. “They cannot continue to play against each other and believe they can improve. We have world tour events all over Africa. African Table Tennis Federation will see how we can assist best young  players from the continent. There would be African Youth Championships for the first time in Nigeria in July.”

    In Volleyball,  the President of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Engineer Musa Nimrod, has revealed that 2025 will be a big year for the sport in the country with Nigeria set to host the 2025 edition of the African Women’s Clubs Championship in Abuja from the 1st to the 14th April, 2025. 

    “It is easy for me being the President of the Beach  Volleyball Commission and I know that I am up to the task but I won’t let the cat out of the bag yet. But the indoor and the beach you are going to see the rest of Africans in Nigeria. When we came on board, I told you we are going to rival football as it used to be in the 1970s and early 1980s it was football and volleyball then. 

    Also aligning his thoughts on the prospects for 2025, the former Technical Director of the Nigeria Boxing Federation, David Amadi is forecasting a bright future for Nigerian Boxing due to a change in the structure of Nigerian sports administration. 

    He opined that the movement to the National Sports Commission from the Sports Ministry is a step in the right direction and that boxing will thrive in 2025.

    “The prospect is very bright since we have returned to the status quo which is NSC. I am hopeful and positive that boxing will grow in Nigeria. Since the foundation has been laid in 2024 and we shall build on it in 2025. With the encouragement from the NSC I can say that boxing will go higher,” Amadi disclosed.

    In a related development, former D’Tigers skipper, Olumide Oyedeji, believes women’s basketball in Nigeria thrived more in 2024 and that more efforts need to be put in place for basketball to do well in 2025.

    Nigeria placed third at the 2024 Basketball African League (BAL) through Rivers Hoopers last year while D’Tigress showed some flashes at the Olympics in Paris but Oyedeji disclosed  there are other frontiers  to conquer.

    According to the former NBA star, the D’Tigers must stage a comeback if they are to qualify for the FIBA Afrobasket Championship even as he canvassed  for  improvement in  the fortunes of the men’s senior national team.

    “The young girls that played in the Under 17 tournament in South Africa did very well. Kudos to the MFM they came second and represented West African Zone 3 in WABL. It is what it is, the women’s team are doing well now and we must praise them for that,” Oyedeji enthused. “We must continue to grow the game and put our house in order and do what is needed to be done. Hopefully we can do a lot better at club level when we play on the continent.”

    On his part, President of Nigeria Rugby Federation, Ademola Are, has scored  the sport  average for 2024 but has promised to drawn up  programme to lift the sport in  2025.

    Are rated the federation high in the area of training programmes but pointed out that a lot must still be done in the area of developmental and Grassroots activities.

    “So far so good if we look at the scale of 10 I will probably say six because we still have a lot of things to do,” Are said. “We have a lot of developmental programmes. In terms of training programmes, we have done our best and I can score us 9 out of 10. Because we have had about four world recognised training programmes so far. 

    “We can beat our chest that we can provide world rated technical officials, coaches and medical trainers both males and females. On the issue of grassroots sports we are doing our utmost although it is not in every state yet but in those states especially in the South West we are really doing very well.”

    Yet  newly appointed National Sports Commission (NSC)  chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko,  is  of the opinion that  sports in Nigeria  would enjoy bigger boost henceforth.

    Unveiling the  President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s new mandate aimed at transforming Nigerian sports into a sustainable sports economy during a strategic meeting with Presidents and Secretaries of various Sports Federation  in Abuja, Dikko emphasized the shared vision between the NSC and Sports Federations, stressing the importance of partnership in driving growth and sustainability in Nigerian sports.  

    “We believe we are all partners with the various Sports Federations, working together for the same goal — to reposition Nigerian sports,” Dikko stated.  “We came here with a clear mandate from Mr. President to get sports working again by building a sustainable sports economy. We can’t just measure our sports by participation in tournaments but by its contributions to the entire economy, and that is the new mandate and direction,” he added.  

    To achieve this vision, Dikko outlined a three-pillar strategy for Nigerian sports: Reset, Refocus, and Relaunch.

    “Our thinking is that competitions are basically consumption, while development is production. At the end of the day, we want the success of all of us to be measured by the development we put on the ground to get the sports growing and create value. Then we can move to the next level of competitions,” he explained.  

    It remains  to be seen if all these lofty talks  would be  matched with sustainable  action  as we set sail into 2025.

  • 2025 will be positive, good, says cleric

    2025 will be positive, good, says cleric

    Sceptics will cover their faces in shame as 2025 will come with positives and goodies for the people, especially those that turned their attention to God and take serious His directives and warnings.

    This was the focus of the New Year message and predictions by Supreme Head of Cherubim & Seraphim Unification Church of Nigeria, Prophet Solomon Adegboyega Alao, yesterday.

    Prophet Alao, spiritual head of Sacred C&S Church of Nigeria, in the statement, described 2025 as a year of ‘divine elevation’ for the children of God.

    He urged anyone seeking to benefit from the abundance God promises to re-dedicate themselves to His service and exhude good neighbourliness.

    He called on Nigerians to remain prayerful for their leaders to paddle the canoe of the nation ashore.

    Read Also: With my ‘red biro’, I will deal with my political opponents, says Fubara

    It reads: ”The thought of God towards Nigerians in 2025 is a thought of good. God has promised a new thing in the life, expectations, businesses of every Nigerian who believes and takes to His directives.

    God has directed that every Nigerian must live peacefully and in harmony with his neighbour, while he warned that we should refrained from sin.”

    Prophet Alao also said the new thing God promised to repentant souls would defy known theories and economic policies, but that the new thing would disturb the normal norms and upset human permutations. While he was emphatic about the coming ‘turnaround of fortunes’, he urged  leaders to be more sincere with in the discharge of their duties.

    “God has promised us that He will do new things in 2025. I say no power, no conspiracy, no blackmail, no vampires against this country will prevail this year, he said.

  • 2025: Beyond ruin and rebirth

    2025: Beyond ruin and rebirth

    As we set out in 2025, shall we aspire to the possibility of rebirth? This minute, our collective persona as a nation manifests in the governor who stole $4.2 million from his state’s coffers and stashed it to fund his vanities abroad, not minding what good such loot could do in resolving the educational, healthcare, and infrastructure woes of his state.

    It is reflected in the shenanigans of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor who is seeking a plea bargain to escape punishment for his alleged conspiracy to perpetrate procurement fraud running into billions of naira, among others.

    It is reflected in the former female Minister of Petroleum, who raped Nigeria silly until we suffered the industrial strokes of scarcity and recession. Yet she frantically fights to walk free and her cronies are eager to let her off with a pat on the back. Thus the protracted drama of her prosecution at home and abroad.

    Lest we forget the governors looting billions of naira via “security votes” and hyperbolic capital projects, outrageous life pensions, among other frills,  even as poverty, policy failure, and insecurity devastate the citizenry and crucial social institutions on their watch.

    Our collective personae flourish in the antics of youths feverishly flying ethnic flags in support of their ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ lawmaker, governor, minister, and ex-CBN governor irrespective of the atrocities committed by them and the criminal charges levelled against them.

    Public officers in the executive, legislature, and judiciary embody our frantic culture of dubious citizenship. They legitimise our culture of being, which enables and justifies a public officer’s immediate descent into a basement of opportunism right after emerging as an elected representative.

    The latter locks himself or herself in that amoral cellar, against the ethical rungs and wise counsel of sterling statesmanship. As the citizenry sinks in wretchedness, he embarks on a quest of inordinate acquisition and counts his spoils in material possessions.

    He is, however, a mere fragment of our bigger cultural dilemma. Think of him as the pointed end of the spear of in our coliseum of greed, feverish pillaging, and criminality. Think of him as the trigger in our gunnery of violence, ethnoreligious carnage, and sexualised menace.

    In concert with like personae prowling Nigeria’s corridors of power, he reinvents with creative malice, the penetrative outcrops of our national maelstrom. Optimists would call them salvageable ogres from our primeval wild but their cruelty attains jarring resonance thus stifling the possibility of rebirth.

    They are our decadence. Our disease. Like the millions of citizenry they supposedly represent, they are products of our moral void, the sickly stems bearing our poisonous petals. Little wonder we suffer a carnage of incarnations.

    Yet even as we have rightly identified their emergence as an affliction of the eye and disease of the mind, our chances at healing are hindered by chinks in our surgical armour: the fissures of ethnoreligious bias, illiteracy, willful degeneracy, greed, poverty, savage ego, and sheer malevolence.

    These constitute severe impediments to our healing. Thus, as usual, we corrupt the debate on our complicity. We should be discussing and taking decisive steps to rid governance of their savage afflictions but they continually hoodwink Nigerians into a thick emotional fog over several issues of governance and nationhood.

    At the slightest prompt, the citizenry engage each other in intense bickering, often in defence of their ethnic brothers and sisters, irrespective of the latter’s misdemeanour. The people fall for their gimmick, threatening war and secession from the Nigerian enterprise in solidarity with their dubious representatives.

    Read Also: I’m focused on building a model nation for future generations — Tinubu

    It’s a familiar scene, a Nigerian reality that often resounds like the fable of the doomed Odysseus and the labouring ships. In the backdrop of these shameful proceedings, the argument persists in academia, social and political circuits, that the future is blurry and bleak due to youth absence in politics. But the youth had been in politics as armed thugs, assassins, arsonists, and internet trolls for several years.

    Lest we forget our more “youths” in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, controlling the country’s ruling and opposition political parties.

    Their clannish pride bequeath the country’s leadership to their wards to sustain their legacies even as they draft boondocks young as cannon fodder and enforcers of their never-ending cycle of sleaze and mayhem.

    But the youth are hardly the prey they are thought to be. They are often willing participants in a dehumanising ritual of violence and bloodshed.

    This minute, the image persists of the nation’s youth as dispensable tools of specific and random politicians. Unlike the artist’s immobile masterpiece, sculpted in bronze and stone, such youths evolve like plasticine, easily malleable and amenable to devious plots.

    Some have attributed their afflictions to structural banes and the perverse culture of citizenship by which they are weaned and ushered into adulthood.

    In the wake of plausible and often far-fetched analyses, too many ‘patriots’ conveniently absolve themselves of blame. Some propound the tragic theory of Nigerians as being innately incapable of self-determination and self-governance.

    These arguments have over time attained a language of their own and thus evolved as a dialect of dissent and exaggerated self-abnegation. The nation’s elite frequently marshals clashing precepts as solutions and in condemnation of the status quo according to their biases.

    A more damning view identifies the youths’ persistent claims of victimhood as a consequence of their sense of entitlement. Between hyperbole and informed sophistry, Nigeria suffers the affliction of intellectual miscreants and promising youth-turned-fetal-adults.

    The coordinated tragedies afflicting our consciousness daily, append the only real structure to our lives as impoverished Nigerians. From burdensome realities of fast-slipping youth, and recurrent rites of bigotry to the ethical quandary of coping with strict moral codes of adulthood and ideal society, our lives obscure in purpose and meaning. Thus the scorning of ethics by the youths for fast, illicit riches even as ripples of their actions keep hundreds of millions more in binds of despair.

    Consequently, the revolutionary dissent that sprouts from oppression is pitiless and unbending. It radically splits our world into ‘insensitive ruling class’ and ‘clueless lower class,’ ‘elite’ and ‘downtrodden,’ ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots.’ It fosters even more fragmented discord that continually pits Nigerian Christians against Muslims, Hausa against Igbo, Igbo against Yoruba, and Itsekiri against Urhobo.

    While this piece too may resound as hackneyed howl and lamentation, it needs to be said that our ultimate solution subsists in our capacity for introspection and change that comes from within.

    Can any of the existing political parties foster a progressive nation? Pundits aver that they are programmed to a recurring cycle of self-destruct and rebirth while showing occasional flashes of brilliance and daring against familiar odds. But it’s all smoke and mirrors.

    Greening the Nigerian pasture is not achievable in a sprint or marathon. Think of it as a cross-country run. It is not a race winnable in four years. But who cares?

    As we advance, President Bola Tinubu’s administration must rid Nigeria of a culture of public governance dependent on administrative corruption and lifeboat solutions. To truly empower the citizenry, his administration must actualise a stable electricity supply and a better road and marine infrastructure; revive the agricultural economy, and ensure that all the refineries deemed to be currently working are not eventually sabotaged.

    Systems thrive by their human elements thus Nigerians humanise our systems and dehumanise them. The President must also be wary of the human factors that hinder the successful implementation of most policies and Social Intervention Programmes (SIPs).

  • What will 2025 bring: Leaving humans or lifeless shadows?

    What will 2025 bring: Leaving humans or lifeless shadows?

    What will 2025 throw up for Nigerians and humanity? From the forecasts of industry, economy and business experts, and , from my personal observations of persons I regularly interact with, 2025 will very likely be a worse year than 2024 or 2023. I guess so because it is man, and nothing else, who forms his environment and determines his fortunes and misfortunes. While it is true that, under Tinubu’s Administration, a Grade Level O9 teacher employed by the Government of Imo State will earn about 259,000 Naira from this month, huge market forces will make a means meat of his pocket. That teacher will discover  that his or her 259,000 ,The monthly salary has mealy encourage him or her to deal a slap accros the faces of millions of competitors for money in Nigeria in exchange for slaps across his or her face by rivals in the Naira gold mines. Everywhere in the polity, economy and social order, we will experience worse animal behaviour than in 2024 and 2023. I will explain why, presently. Before then, I will like to share with you three types of animal behaviour I experienced when I reared pigs, hens, cats and dogs.

    On the pig farm, the big pigs eat up the small pigs when food is scarce. The pig farmer who rears pregnant pigs knows he must separate them in different pens. He must boldly imprint on the wall of each pen the date on which the residents pregnant pig will have its piglets. This is three months three weeks and three days from when he took it for mating. Food must be abundant one week from the due date.Should the piglets come in the night ,and there is not enough food for the mother pig ,it may eat up all the new borns before dawn. I had fun in the study of animal behaviour when I reared 24 local hens in the back yard garden of a bungalow in which I lived on Ajanaku Street,Awuse Estate,Opebi, Lagos. I will throw a large piece of mussel meat at them. One will pick it.The others will attack it. It will flee with the meat held in it beak. The others will pursue.  The meat will fall, and another hen will pick it. The vicious circle will continue. The hens are animalistic..they are hungry. There is food . they can not organise themselves to share the food and make each one have some thing to eat. Human often ,human behaviour is like this. The scramble for money in Nigeria this year will grow bigger than in 2024 and should worsen those conditions among men which make their existence unpalatable.

    As for the dogs and the cats,they are always like sworn enemies, unless they are guided by humans who are conscious that they have a unifying influence over all creatures and call forth from deep within them abilities for this leadership purpose.                                                         

    New Year 2025

    If 2025 will be a better new year than prevous new  years, that possibility lies with us all. There is no knife that is so sharp that,on its own, will cut vegetable and plantain in the backyard garden for family dinner. It is a human hand that will put it to work .Persons who bringing out the best in us, like the hand which works the sharp knife,  are  those human  beings   who are working for 2025 to be a better year than 2024. That will determine whether 2025 can hold that promise. Our responses will determine if they will succeed. The evidence  at the outset of  2025 is that many  Nigerian are no different from the persons they  had been since adulthood. Therefore, they should not expect the dense black patches on 2024 to automatically transform into radiant, luminous white hues abd tones in 2025.

    On 31 December 2023,the churches were overfilled by worshippers who believed that 2023 was responsible for all their woes. Therefore, they entreated the incoming 2024 to be their friend and futune bearrer.They forgot that, as 2022 was taking its bow,they cause and abused it , and entreated incoming 2023, to be their friend and futune bearer . Every adult today can plot the graph or trajectory of his or her life to the onset of Generative Powerat purberty when his or her spirit carnnel,hitherto protectively world in  by the physical body ,made his first direct contact with all spheres of the material world.That is when the youth is restless, wishing to Storm the mountain,tranvers the earth and conquer it. Often,this coincides with melancoly and choleric years.What happens after that to generative power, which would have burnt the spirit cannel aloft and helped it to not only discover the purpose of his existence on earth,but to also  fullfil it,was that it was drained off into antithetical pursuits. The result was that, in a massive bread and butter existence,the spirit carnnel has forgotten about (1) what it is (2) where it came from (3) while it is on earth (4) the unchangeable laws which govern earthly and post earthly existence (5)the dangers of not complying with these laws,and the benefits of doing  so.

     Two Laws

    I wish to mention here only two of the Laws of Nature which will decide whether we would have a beautiful or an ugly 2025.

    The effect of these laws on our lives through our misconduct or mis behaviour can not be mitigated or abolished by many of the activities which take place in many churches today. These churches are wooing spiritual weaklings with assertions that they are called by Almighty creator to free them from the bondage into which their known and unknown enemies have placed them. Cheap testimonies of freedom from bondage are shared and followed with the sharing of bank account numbers of the prophet. In one such testimony, a Lagos  road side  groundnut seller said   N3 million  was paid into her bank account the day after she paid a N5000 naira covenant leavy to her church. I wondered  what happened to the money laundering law which required that a bank account be frozen were a lodgement of up to one million Naira can not be successfully explained. Some of the other activities of spiritual high way men which can not abort the effects of these two and other natural laws on our misconduct and mis behaviour include but are not limited to … Special prayer, writhing of the hands, shouting at the top of our voices, stamping of our feet on the ground,rubbing  anointing oil on our bodies,or adding it to our foods , drinking  anointing water, wearing of anointing mantle, wearing of singlets kept on the alter for months, anointed handkerchief, eating anointed fruits and cooking with anointed oil and salt, payment of covenant money, and sowing of seeds with money, fasting and prayers for first born children to not rank least among their siblings, deliverance from the enemies, known and unknown,who are said to have placed their Victims in bondage.

    Law of  homogeneity and  law of sowing and reaping

    If we critically observe our environment, including our fellow humans,we would observe the law of homogeneity at work in our universe,and in our fate or conditions of existence.The cells of the tongue are homogeneous and different from those of the brain, eyes, skin,liver or bones. .In  forests, animals leave in homogeneous communities , lions among lions, elephants among elephants etc. In the water,whales do not leave with crayfish, Titus or halibut.

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    Regarding whether 2025 will be a beautiful or ugly year for us, the secret lies in what we do with our thoughts. They are origins of what proceedes from our tongues and hand.The  so called prayer we say in church, expecially during vigil and night prayers,  are mere petitions which constitute wasted energy, because they hardly have the power to bear them aloft to the foot-stool of the Throne of Grace. The spoken  words merely form channels or path ways for our spiritual intuitive perception, which is leaving energy.What is an empty channel without leaving energy in it? The real prayer is what comes out of our thoughts.There are two kinds of thought, namely (1)Intuitive  Thought Volition and (2)Intellectual Thought Volition. Intuitive thought volition comes from the spirit. Interllectual thought volition comes from the intellect. Therefore, intuitive thought volition is more powerful and potent than intellectual thought volition. The spirit, which produces intuitive thought volition, is the highest creature in Creation. The intellect, which belongs to the body, is the toll and servant of the spirit which implement the will of the spirit on earth. The body serves only as a housing to the spirit.  In many persons, the spirit kernels  hardly know  why it  exists, what it is,where it is from ,for what purpose it is on earth, where it goes after the earth,and the laws which govern its existence on earth, in the beyond.

    I  will say the spirit seed germ  or kernels is on earth,like a mango seed sowed in the soil,to sprout,germinate,flower and fruit, recognise the will of the Almighty Creator in Creation and unconditionally fulfill it , perfect its abilities and return home to Paradise where it may be previleged to partake in the further up building of creation.

    Many of us are far removed from this reality as human spirit,will produce intuitive thought that are contrary to pure thought which the Laws of Creation expect of us . How many of us are not envious or hateful,greedy, cunning or malcontent and malevolent,for example? These weaknesses may exit,feeble or dormant, in our intuitive thought volition without our knowing that they do. Let us take envy and hatred as example. The intuitive thought volition is fashioned by a special specie of nature beings into intuitive thought form. If they are pure forms,they would purify,ennoble,beautify and up grade us,our environment and whatever they impact. If they are dark and ugly intuitive thought forms,they will produce opposite effects.Beautiful and ugly intuitive thought forms are alive and active. The  ugly ones are the demons we always talk about. They are attached to their authors. If we do not target them at anyone ,they roam about and attract to themselves demonic forms of their nature or homogeneity that they are stronger than, or are attracted by the ones that are stronger than they are gradually, they form communities on earth and in the beyond which some Christians called principalities. These homogeneous principalities are nourished by larger homogeneous power centres .Whenever we permit ourselves to think evil, we tune ourselves to the energy vibrations of these principalities and power centres. Their energies rouse and nourish our intuitive and  intellectual volitions, invigorating them and our capacity to think and to impact evil.

    The day we send intuitive thought of envy or hatred to any one , these huge army will attack our target. Envy and hatred will envelope such a person with all their manifestation , including murder. Pure target come to no harm. Inevitably,the demons will attack the author of one or several of them, causing such vicicitudes of existence from which deliverance from and imagined enemy is often or whereas the author is the cause of his or her own problems.On the other hand, beautiful intuitive thought bring us beautiful, bountiful harvests .

    As stated earlier,the forms of intellectual thought volition have no lives of their own, are weaker and soon perish when they are not nourished by their authors.Nevertheless, they are powerful enough to destroy individuals and nations. We often encounter them,too, in our dreams.

    When we are faced with challenges of existence in whatever form and we critically examine ourselves,we may discovered that we have a hand or hands in what is afflicting us. Look at this scenario. When we envy or hate someone,we are attached with spiritual bound to that person. We become like two birds, figuratively speaking, tied together at the wings. Neither of us will be able to move about freely.Imagine the other person tied to about 50 other persons on earth and in the beyond. Imagine this other 50 persons attached to several other persons who have their own lineagies of attachment as well.Now imagine yourself with an array of homogeneous number of attachments.How would you be able to move as freely as you would like to? Which prophet or pastor or general overseer can face the will of God to free you from the effort of the LAW OF ATTRACTION OF HOMOGENEOUS SOCIETY. Your salvation lies in the recognition of this will and unconditionally fulfilling it by doing only what is good at all times.That was why the LORD JESUS,the anniversary of Who’s birth on earth we celebrated on Christmas day eight days ago, warned us :LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THY SELF.Whatever weapon we fashion against our neighbour we fashion against ourselves. Thee LORD JESUS also said THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH, that is THE HOLY SPIRIT,does not forgive sins.Now, let us do a simple audit of our intuitive thought volition and our intellectual thought volition.How does our day go? It does not matter if we are single, married, parents,or friends or workers in a household. What of the power play in our offices, businesses,residential neighbourhoods? What goes out of us every day will determine what come back to us in bigger multitudes. Long  ago, while I was observing THE LAW OF SOWING AND REAPING,I contemplated the sowing of an ear of corn.It produced a stalk of maize on which were five cobs, each with about 400 ears of corns. Therefore,we can assume that one ear of corn can give birth to 2000 ears of corn. That is how you and I stand with our intuitive thought volition and intellectual thought volition in the wounderful creation of GOD governed by his Powers and Justice. 

    What remedies would then be open to us but to take ourselves to the cleaners and turn new leaves, that is conduct our existence on entirely new platforms, beliefs and conceptions? The new platform and conceptions have come to us in the extension of spiritual knowledge on earth at this juncture of THE COSMIC TURNING- POINT which has taken our universe millions of earth years to achieve. Every cosmic turning point, the earth comes under greater spiritual impact and increased energy and tensions. Imagine the tensions education in primary school, secondary school and in the university, and of how persons who could not with stand them fall  way. The earth is a spiritual training school.The curricular have grown more voluminous. By now, every-one of us ought to have known what we are ,were we came from, what we are here for,the laws which govern  existence here and in the here after ,the road map of our journey back home,the land marks on the way , the dangers which may make us loose our way, the helps on the way which will make us not to be lost,and,even while here on earth, what we can always do to leave in a surfeit  of peace, plenty, happiness and joy. Those of us who are already moving in these direction are the ones said by the keepers of the HOUSEHOLD OF GOD ,the Universe,to be LEAVING HUMANS BEINGS. Advisedly, I mentioned the words HUMAN BEINGS.For not every human creature who exists in  external human form is a human being.There are other creatures who are not human in their content but exist in external human form.Our forebears knew about them.They are the Nature Beings or the elemental beings who are responsible for the formation of  Nature…rivers, seas and oceans,the Stars,the hills,mountains,rocks and plants e.t.c. The HUMAN BEING is the human karnel creature which,dwelling within the earth human body,as evolved into the human form such a being is the one said to be …A CHILD  OF GOD. The head line of this article acknowledges such a person as a … LIVING HUMANS. Leaving, when we know what we are and begin to act as is expected of us so that we do not become irritable , irritating, disturbing and unwanted guests in the household of God who, eventually,must be cast out according to adamantine laws of the wounderful Creation of GOD. The other hand THE LIFELESS SHADOWS refers to those humans who are not yet human beings and are groping about in the dark, SPIRITUALLY BLIND, DEAF AND DUMB, their spiritual senses, insensitive and  feeble like the physical   body of new born baby on earth. In spiritual parlance, they are brain cripples .They can not use their brains aright.Their brains are disconnected from the human spirits resident within the external human body. In these persons,the human spirits cannot gorvern the earth alright and since they form the majority of humans on earth, nothing on earth today is not crippled. Education is crippled in Nigeria.We Educate the brain, to produce fine intellect, and not the spirit,the real man.Wasn’t Nigeria a better country when we had only five universities than today with about 250? Brain cripples have removed medicine and nutrition from THE WILL OF GOD and caged them in THE WILL OF MAN. The social order has been overturned.Marriage is no longer marriage even democracy is man made and this is not the best form of government. The economy is covetous,greedy, cunning, suffocating, acquisitive etc.  So what goodness can 2025 bring: LEAVING HUMANS or LIFELESS SHADOWS of them?

  • 2025: Pivotal year for Tinubu, Nigeria

    2025: Pivotal year for Tinubu, Nigeria

    Nigerians are a very religious people. Not surprisingly, a tradition has developed over the years in this country where prophets, priests, seers and others of that tribe, unleash a torrent of prophecies concerning the new year. With the benefit of hindsight, one can say some of these predictions fairly captured the general tone 2024 took. Others were wide off the mark. But don’t expect that failing to stop some from approaching their clouded crystal balls again.

    You don’t need to be a soothsayer to know that 2025 would a pivotal year for President Bola Tinubu, his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the opposition parties and Nigeria as a whole. There’s much that happened in the closing weeks and months of the last year that gives you a sense of how things might pan out over the next 12 months.

    The big story for the 2025 would, again, be the state of the economy. In 2024, Nigeria grappled with the fallout from Tinubu’s economic reforms. The fuel subsidy regime that had become a permanent feature of our national life was terminated abruptly. It wasn’t exactly surgery without anaesthesia, rather the painkillers – now popularly referred to as palliatives – felt more like placebos.

    For much of the year all the talk was about economic hardship as citizens battled an inflationary spiral that didn’t respond to anything the Central Bank threw at it. The cost of moving goods and people hit an all-time high. Hopes that the commencement of operations by the Dangote Refinery would bring some relief, proved to be massively exaggerated.

    But as the year wound to a close, the unexpected resuscitation of the old Port Harcourt refinery, produced a very rare phenomenon – a drop in the price of a popular commodity. Before our very eyes, the arguments of proponents of full deregulation of the petroleum sector began to manifest. Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) were soon locked in a price competition that brought pump price of petrol to less than N1,000 per litre in major cities.

    More good news came last Monday with reactivation of the 125,000 bpd Warri Refinery. Some time in this new year, Abdulsamad Rabiu’s BUA Refinery and the new Port Harcourt refinery are expected to come on stream. This is expected to further sharpen competition for market share, leading to a drop in prices benefiting motorists.

    Read Also: Warri refinery restoration, New Year gift to Nigerians – Gov Okpebholo

    It doesn’t end there. The rise in local refining capacity means Nigeria is effectively now an exporter of refined petroleum products. Dangote is already sending its products to different parts of Africa and beyond. There were reports last year that the coming of this 650,000 bpd facility would be bad news for some refineries across Europe as they were likely to lose customers, eventually leading to them shutting down.

    This is a remarkable turnaround for a country which for many decades was enslaved to imported petrol. It is especially cheering that facilities which many had dismissed as junk have been substantially recovered, such that it can be said that not all of the billions of dollars invested in turnaround maintenance were totally wasted.

    Events in the petroleum sector are a welcome departure from much of the gloom and doom of the past year. They just help everyone to see the possibilities for economic prosperity that lie ahead.

    It would be hasty to think that the refineries alone would change the fundamental issues dogging the economy. Much will rest on the fortunes of the naira against the dollar and other major currencies. The consensus is that CBN tweaking alone won’t strengthen the currency. Rather, producing for export as well as attracting foreign investment would do the trick.

    The last set of figures from the government showed that our foreign reserves had crossed the $40 billion mark. This is the highest it has reached for years. Still, we can do better. A weaker naira might be good for exporters but it’s also bad news for local business whose inputs are largely imported. It would be the challenge of the managers of the economy to get the rate down to a level that’s satisfactory for all sides.

    One of the great disappointments of the past few years has been in the area of agriculture where it is generally acknowledged the country in punching below its weight. The scary headline inflation rate has been largely impacted by high food prices. Aside smuggling, food inflation has been fuelled by insecurity across the nation’s baskets. Until farmers feel safe enough to return to their lands not much will change.

    The government understands this much. That’s why security has received the highest allocation of funds in the 2025 budget. Tinubu has vowed in recent speeches that his government would take back every inch of Nigerian land occupied by non-state actors as well as stamp its presence on all ungoverned spaces.

    Hopefully, he would match his words with action as security is crucial to the nation meeting its agricultural and crude oil production targets.

    Concerning, the wider challenge of insecurity, some progress was made in 2024. With the exception of the Lakurawa terror group which suddenly emerged in the Nothwest, attacks by Boko Haram in the Northeast have been muted or virtually non-existent. Beyond a few attacks in Benue and Plateau, this season has been relatively devoid of bloodshed in such theatres as Southern Kaduna. Such gains need to sustained while ensuring kidnapping becomes a rare story.

    On the political front, it promises to be an intriguing year for Tinubu and APC. By May 29, he would be at the halfway mark of his four-year tenure. How his administration is perceived at that point could have a bearing on his fortunes at the 2027 elections. This is moreso considering that his political foes have been scheming from day one to deny him a second term.

    At the height of the challenges arising from his economic reforms many suggested they would have a negative impact on his political fortunes. I have, however, argued that time is the president’s greatest ally. His smartest step was to move quickly on the most painful reforms at a time far removed from the next polls. If his policies produce positive results voters would have forgotten the pain come 2027. For every success story delivered, his stature becomes more muscular.

    The reverse is the case for his rivals who can only watch from the sidelines while he pulls all the powerful levers of the presidency. Tinubu is either a very lucky man or a truly visionary politician. With fuel subsidy he pulled off what all his predecessors were too scared to touch. He did it and the heavens didn’t fall. Miraculously, Nigerians who largely resisted it in the past meekly fell in line.

    Under him, refineries that the likes former President Olusegun Obasanjo swore can never work, are roaring back to life. He is on the verge of scoring a major coup with the tax reform bills despite desperate opposition from entrenched interests. He is pressing ahead with landmark road projects like the Lagos-Calabar and Badagry-Sokoto highways.

    For the opposition parties this year would be make or break. Elements from across their folds are supposedly working on a so-called ‘mega party’ with the sole aim of ending Tinubu’s reign. Nigerian history is replete with attempts at forming some sort of ‘mega’ party or the other. In the end what was delivered was a damp squib.

    In reality, an opposition ‘mega’ party already exists in the form of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with presence across the country. But those scurrying around to create a new contraption are by their action passing a vote of no confidence on it, and rightly so. This once dominant party is today so riven with factions that it would be a pitiable sight if its troubles are not resolved soon. The indications are that, given the egos at war, they won’t be resolved soon.

    Still, PDP would be a platform at the next election along with whatever new thing is being cooked up. From the Second Republic until now it has been established that a fractured opposition can never unseat a focused Nigerian incumbent. The 2023 presidential election outcome is the most recent confirmation of that fact of life. So good luck with the mega party and similar wild goose chases of this new year.

    In the meantime, a very happy new to one and all, to the political and apolitical!

  • Will 2025 be a year of reform or chaos?

    Will 2025 be a year of reform or chaos?

    • By Richard Falk|

    Rarely has the crystal ball used to divine the near future seemed so clouded by uncertainties. The year 2024 was dominated by disappointments, disturbing surprises, and continuing devastation in Ukraine and Gaza. It was also a year that underscored the inability of the UN to stop the most transparent genocide ever in Gaza, a senseless war in Ukraine, and mass slaughter in Sudan. 

    Is 2024 a turning point?

    There were a variety of multilateral efforts in 2024 to escape from US international dominance after the Cold War. This dominance had fueled a global politics of resentment and a search for an alternative world order that is law-governed and not subject to the geopolitical maneuvers of the five winners of World War II. These powers were granted unrestricted veto rights in the UN Security Council under the UN Charter, which has long paralyzed efforts to ensure compliance with international law. This produces a deep contradiction in the way the world is organized, allowing the most powerful and dangerous countries, all five being nuclear-armed states, to be legally free of any obligation to respect international law.

    The question in many thoughtful minds is whether these developments in the prior year will continue in the year ahead. One near certain development is the rightward turn of internal politics in the West, given a dramatic twist by the prospects of radical change associated with the second coming of Donald Trump as US president. Trump has already appointed highly controversial political figures to his Cabinet, with the expectation of implementing an ultra-right domestic agenda. However, what is his approach to foreign policy? As well, the leading governments of Europe, including Germany, France, and Italy, all exhibit signs of leaning further toward authoritarianism. 

    Crisis areas in the world

    There are some hopeful signs. Trump seems likely to push for a negotiated peace in Ukraine and bring to a close US President Joe Biden’s “geopolitical war,” involving fighting Moscow by supplying and funding Kyiv with ever more provocative weaponry while turning his back on diplomacy and urging NATO to join in the fight with Rusi to the last Ukrainian. Such a posture raised risks of a confrontation with Russia that could also result in catastrophic nuclear warfare. Trump wants to cut spending on distant and expensive foreign adventures with no genuine American security interest and stand before the world as a peacemaker. Ukraine was a war that never should have been, as a diplomatic compromise between Russia and Ukraine was from its inception in the interest of Ukraine and world peace, as well as being attainable by responsible statecraft.

    In contrast to Ukraine, the context of Israel/Palestine is far bleaker. There is every indication that Trump intends to outdo Biden by being an even more unconditional ally of Israel, fully supportive of the Netanyahu-led project entailing the establishment of Greater Israel. This is a plan to erase the Palestinian challenge through the annexation of the West Bank, parts of Gaza, and to support Israel in extending its “buffer zones” in Syria and Lebanon. The plan also includes intensified efforts to destroy Iran’s nuclear program and promote regime change in Tehran by force. The rightward turn of major governments in the West is likely to repress civil society opposition to the continuation of Israeli genocide and expansionism. 

    Militarism versus symbolic victories: The calculus of legitimacy wars

    The efforts by countries in the Global South to have recourse to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC) are a notable expression on the part of non-Western states to invoke international law to serve the causes of peace with justice. And the ICJ has responded in an encouraging professional manner, ruling in favor of provisional measures in response to South Africa’s submission and issuing a separate opinion invalidating Israel’s continuing occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem in an authoritative near-unanimous exposition of applicable international law. Of course, it is expected that Israel will defy these developments, as it has consistently done in the face of adverse rulings by international tribunals. Nevertheless, such rulings sympathetic with Palestinian grievances are symbolically important, delegitimizing Israel and mobilizing civil society activism that gives rise to global solidarity initiatives of a Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) variety.

    Read Also: Implement 2025 budget with sincerity, group urges govt

    The fate of the arrest warrants issued by the ICC, ordering the arrest and transfer to The Hague for prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after a long delay is highly uncertain. Israel has mounted a legal challenge, and its government has made clear that the arrest warrants for the Israeli leaders are antisemitic outrages, and any implementation would be denounced and disrupted no matter what the ICC might decide. As with the ICJ genocide and occupation cases, the mere issuance of arrest warrants by the ICC was a significant symbolic Palestinian victory in the Legitimacy War, which may yet surprise the world in 2025 or shortly thereafter, by its overall impact on the viability of the Israeli state as now operative. It should be appreciated that the anti-colonial wars of the past 50 years were won by the weaker side militarily that managed to prevail on the symbolic battlefields of the Legitimacy War, which gives decisive weight to law, morality, and perseverance of a repressed people. The establishment of the civil society Gaza Tribunal in November of 2024 is a further legitimizing development in the Palestinian struggle for basic rights that seeks to activate global solidarity initiatives that shifted the balance in the global movement against South African apartheid, and before that of the global anti-war movement that nullified US military superiority in the Vietnam War. 

    The rise of multipolarity in 2025?

    At the same time, global society is experiencing a surge of multilateral initiatives. Strengthening the impulse to create autonomous multipolar networks of the sort modeled by the BRICS, and especially to mount challenges to dollarization of trade and finance, which, to the extent successful, will produce a backlash in the form of high tariffs and the economic menace of a trade war, aggravated by an increase in the tendency to replace workers with digitally sophisticated substitutes for human labor to promote profitability and efficiency.

    Above all, 2025 will witness growing tensions between the unified governance of global security by continued US hegemony and a resurgent challenge mounted by the Global South in the ongoing Legitimacy War with the West.

    • This article was first published in www.aa.com.tr