Why do Nigerian public officials always fail to see the divide between the public and the private? Perhaps taking a cue from their parents, children of successive Nigerian presidents have also made this a pastime. A recent example is the reported cruising in Nigeria’s presidential jet by the president’s son, Seyi Tinubu. He had flown the aircraft last Sunday to attend polo games in Kano State. By convention, it is only the president of Nigeria, the First Lady, Vice-President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Justice of Nigeria, ex-presidents and a presidential delegation who are authorized to use the presidential jet. The convention does not grant the president any powers to transfer that right of usage of the presidential jet to any of his children. Before Tinubu, children, spouses of Nigerian leaders, and top government officials who should have no business with the aircraft, were forerunners of this aberration. This has provoked the question, is this an endemic problem that should bother us as a people, or it is a mere frivolity that we allow to detain us overtime? In trying to answer this question, permit me to journey to the ecology of the forest in Africa. Perhaps, in the forest, we can locate what is the actual issue at stake.

Ayo Adeduntan’s What the forest told me: Yoruba hunter, culture and narrative performance first alerted me to the fact that African forests speak. Or that, in the forest, there are not only conversations between the hunter and his immediate cosmology, but there are communications in the forest that speak to our everyday human routine and which are essential for our lives as humanity.

In African belief, the forest is not only the place where ghosts, monsters, demons live, it is a place reserved for powerful hunters, the habitats of dangerous animals and where curative plants that herbalists deploy for the health of man can be found. Following the works of writers like Amos Tutuola and D. O. Fagunwa, Adeduntan teaches that, in a literal sense, when hunters go hunting in the forest, there is a dialogue between them and the forest world. This makes hunters “equal actor with animal and nature spirits with whom (the hunter) constantly contests and negotiates space.” It is believed that hunters chant incantations to arrest powerful animals, perfectly understand the life routines of demons and know leaves that can help them survive during the period of their sojourn in the forest.

The dialogue in the forest can explain the unequal nature of our human society, especially between those who are in government, their families and the governed. It can also explain the inequality in the economic systems of the world, capitalism and socialism and the divide between leaders and their followers. I hope it can explain our uproars when children of presidents go on junkets with our national insignia, the presidential jet.

Hunting expedition is actually where I am heading. The first thing hunters do when they embark on hunting is to identify what particular forest to go. When they have done this, judging by prior knowledge of the forest or tales told them about them, they then identify the particular game that makes that forest its habitat, ranging from antelopes, porcupines, buffalo, fox, leopards etc. When a hunting crew embarks on this journey, they divide themselves into two. The first is one that holds dane guns; they are often about two or three persons. There is then the other crew, usually many, as many as ten, called the “forest encircling hunting group.” The job of this group is to encircle the identified forest for game-hunting. With sticks, stones and any other objects, they make sufficient noise and discomforting howls to unsettle the animals from where they are holed. The aim is to get the animals suddenly fleeing their holes and scampering to other parts of the forest in a hurry. In the process of fleeing, they run into the hands of the crew of about three whose guns are readied to be cocked. Then the escaping animal gets pounded by a fiery volley of bullets which immobilizes it and prepares it as a fitting gourmet for dinner.

Game successfully hunted, the hunters then heave the animal, blood dripping from it, depending on its weight, on their shoulders, on a journey back to the village. It is time for sharing the meat, the spoil of the hunting expedition. The crew that encircles the forest, which disrupts the animal from its hole, is decidedly, actually the one that does the most herculean of the hunting expedition. It is comparatively less armed and harm could easily come its way. It also exerts the greatest energy, having to walk inside thorns, briers and thistles in the process of getting the animal to scramble off its comfort zone. The other crew merely holds the gun and shoots when the animal attempts to escape. But, in the sharing of the now dismembered animal, the sharing formula does not follow this pattern of contribution to the hunting. The shooting crew gets the chunkiest part, ranging from the thighs, the neck to even the torso while the “encircling crew” is given less meaty parts.

In underscoring the superiority of the “shooting crew” in a hunting expedition, Yoruba Apala music lord, Ayinla Omowura, apparently excoriating his musical adversaries, likened his superiority to that of this crew that shoots the animal. In one of his songs he entitled E f’awon were sile (don’t mind the incorrigible lot) he likened his adversaries to the “bush encircling crew” whose job was “merely” to get the animals run to him, a man whose gun was cocked to shoot. Between him and them, the world should judge who was the most superior, the real hunter, he boasted. Leave the incorrigible lot alone; let them disrupt the peace of the animals in the bush (while we shoot) and let the world assess who is the greater hunter between us –  E f’awon were sile, k’on rugbo si wa k’a w’aperan t’o ba yanju, he boasted.

So, when Seyi was sighted flying in Nigeria’s presidential aircraft last Sunday, tongues began to wag among Nigerians. He had gone to Kano to watch the 2023 NPA Kano International Polo Tournament at the Usman Dantata Polo Ground, in company of his friends. The crew of young sybarites, on the bill of the Nigerian people, was welcomed on its arrival to the ancient city by Kano state government officials. Thereafter, the president’s son was chauffeured to the Polo Ground, chaperoned by a strong retinue of gun-wielding detachments of the Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service. Immediately the finals of the two-week tournament were played, with award trophies given to winners, the presidential jet which was waiting at the Kano airport, then picked the president’s son and his pleasure-seeking friends back to Abuja. Seyi is said to be a polo enthusiast and is in fact the patron of the Lagos STL Polo Team in Lagos. Last year at the Lagos Polo Tournament, he was said to be one of the players who represented the club. It will be recalled that the president’s son was on this pleasure ride at a critical time in Nigeria when prices of jet fuel had hit an all-time high, and hardship has become an abiding companion of the Nigerian people.

Nigerians were first confronted with the familial impunity of usage of Nigeria’s presidential aircraft by children of their leaders when on January 17, 1996, Ibrahim, son of late despot, Sani Abacha, who was on same jolly ride to a party and private family engagement in Kano, from Lagos with his friends, crashed. He had boarded the Nigerian Air Force presidential Falcon jet. Ibrahim was with 14 other friends, including his Yoruba girlfriend, Funmi; Bello, younger brother of Aliko Dangote and a wealthy young man called Dan Princewill. They were all swallowed inside the belly of the ill-fated presidential aircraft. The jet was almost landing in Kano when it mysteriously exploded mid air.

Ibrahim, aged 28, was known to be very likeable and wealthy and his friends mourned him as a young man who was not only detribalized but whose friends cut across ethnicities and capital divides. However, he was to later to become subject of many controversial financial engagements, especially foreign plundering of Nigerian resources and illegal avoidance of tax matters. One of the Abacha family bagmen and current minister, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, had told a US court how in February 1994, in company with Ibrahim, he had built a Morgan Procurement Corporation. It was also discovered that Ibrahim had been customer of US Citibank’s private financial businesses since 1988 when he was about 20years old.

The most mysterious aspect of the crash was that the Abacha government refused to investigate the crash. In 2000, the then Minister of Aviation, Kema Chikwe, confirmed this when she said that the report of the crash of the presidential plane carrying Ibrahim, first son of late Head of State and his friends, was never made public because the Abacha government said it was purely a military matter and treated the report thus. The secrecy given the crash had prompted reports at the time which claimed that the late Head of State had a hand in the downing of the jet. The courageous Tell Magazine edition of February 15, 1999 then went ahead to report in a story it entitled How Abacha Killed His Son what actually transpired. Abacha war rumoured to have ordered the crash to obliterate the memory of Ibrahim who was reportedly not his son.

Since then, if there was an earlier usage of the presidential aircraft for private purposes, it was covert, until in 2020. On this day, the man reputed by his followers to be incorrupt and incorruptible, President Muhammadu Buhari, had his daughter fly the presidential jet right under his nose. Hanan Buhari had taken the jet on a private photography trip to Bauchi State. Hanan had then recently graduated with a first-class in photography from Ravensbourne University, London. She was in Bauchi on the invitation of the Emir, Rilwanu Adamu, as special guest of honour. Photographs, which Nigerians considered obscene, showed Hanan disembarking from the presidential aircraft and, like Seyi, being welcomed by Bauchi State government officials. Indeed, the press reported that the traditional durbar event was specifically organized for Hanan so that she could capture in her photography the architecture and cultural ambience of the people and thus document the scenic experiences in pictorial form in her photo gallery. Thereafter, a firework of caustic criticisms of the president ensued with Nigerians accusing Buhari of abuse of office. Before he became the Nigerian president, Buhari had stridently criticized past governments for misusage of public funds, promising that if elected into office, he would sell off some of the jets in the presidential fleet. He reckoned that Nigeria could not afford the high maintenance cost of the fleet. In 2020, Nigeria voted N8.5bn for the maintenance of her presidential aircraft fleet.

The Buhari government justified Hanan’s action. According to presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, the act received the blessing of Buhari who then notified the National Security Adviser (NSA) about Hanan’s usage of the aircraft. Hear him, “The normal practice, in existence for a long time, is that the Presidential Air fleet is available to the President and the first family and four others. These four are the Vice-President, the Senate President the Speaker and any other person(s) authorised by the President.”

America, from where Nigeria cloned its presidential democracy, is very unsparing of private usage of its presidential jet. The Air Force One, the equivalent of our presidential jet, is a designation only for an aircraft the president flies. It has 26 crew members who operate the aircraft as well as providing services to passengers. They are the pilots, navigator, flight engineer, communications specialists, chefs, cabin attendants, two Security Police, and medical staff. In its configuration, the aircraft seats only 76 passengers, which has the President of the United States and ten seats reserved for the press, eight for the Presidential Protection Detail, the President's Doctor, the Military Aide and Football, the Chief of Staff, a Press Secretary or Deputy (sometimes both), the Communications Director, sometimes Speech Writers, the National Security Advisor or Deputy, the President's Body Man, and the secretarial pool, with this assemblage taking about 35 to 42 seats of the aircraft.

As a rule, no one is permitted to fly the Air Force One except the serving president of the United States and anyone he invites on the aircraft. When they fly helicopters, American presidents fly on Marine 1 which are choppers designated for official purposes. America is so rigid about its presidential aircraft that, if a president’s term of office expires at 12:01am on Jan. 20, that is the year after the election is held, the country does not designate any other aircraft the outgoing president would be flying thereafter as AF-1.

Once when President Barrack Obama flew to New York for what was called a "date night" with his wife and for a family vacation in Europe, the press harassed him on the cost of flying the presidential aircraft to taxpayers. Ronald Reagan was also frequently caught flying cross-country on Air Force One to his California ranch while Bill Clinton flew at taxpayers’ expense to expensive vacation spots like Park City, Utah; Amelia Island, Florida and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. There have however never been any reported cases of these presidents’ children flying the presidential aircraft alone. While in some advanced countries, presidents are barred from even flying presidential jets for private matters and if they do, are required to pay from their private purses, Prince Harry, a member of the British Royal family is reported to travel in private aircraft.

The hunting expedition will seem to explain the uproar against private use of Nigerian presidential aircraft by children of presidents. The people believe that their rulers merely use them as canon-fodders even when the principles of democracy consider them, the people, as the central focus of the system of government. Why should we serve those in government and then serve their children as well? they seem to ask. Why should the people, who queue inside the sun to vote politicians, be the ones who get the least when the spoils of the expedition mature?

What the people don’t know is actually that perks that elected executive enjoy are far humongous than the mere talk of usage of presidential jets by their children. Not only do their family members live inside the Villa for free, at taxpayers’ expense, their medicals, schooling, travelling and sundry expensive expenses are borne by the ordinary people. The drafters of the rules and convention envisage that these perks of office will make governance move on an easy and non-distractive plane for the persons who occupy public offices.

However, restricting those aircraft strictly for official usage will promote the principle of fairness and accountability. On its flipside, a school of thought believes that presidents, being human as well, have families and thus, the comfort of their family members will also ensure the smooth conduct of national affairs. With this, a justification is made for the deployment of presidential aircraft for members of families of presidents. But quite significantly, the usage of a revered national instrument as the aircraft for a junket as ordinary as watching polo and a durbar strips the aircraft of its sacredness and respect. Presidential jets are national totems and should be so treated. Otherwise, very soon, they will be flown from Abuja to the Oyingbo market in Lagos to purchase yam!

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him ~ Psalms 68:1. 

Introduction

Let’s get this straight from the onset: our God is very very powerful (Psalms 62:11). He rules by His power forever, and His eyes behold the nations (Psalm 66:7). All He needs to do is arise and speak, and His counsel will stand fast (Psalm 33:8-9). No wonder Jesus said God is even able to raise up children out of stones (Matthew 3:9).

God’s plan for your life is far greater than your ability. Your strength, or anything you have for that matter, is not capable of sponsoring it. Even the diversity of your human connections cannot bring about its full manifestation. It is impossible, therefore, to excel on earth without His supernatural assistance.

Happily, God is more than ready to help us all the way through our journeys in life (Ephesians 3:20). This is an exciting piece of news for all those who truly want to fulfill their glorious destinies on earth.

Though God doesn’t always “explain” Himself on all particular issues of our lives, and it appears as if we’re sometimes left to search for what is not missing, we must still keep trusting and walking with Him by faith like Jacob did (Genesis 37:33-34). He will surely arise for our help, and redeem us for His mercies’ sake (Psalm 44:26).

Ordinarily, to arise means, “to become apparent, to be stirred up, to stand up and be prepared for action”. But, in the particular context that David used it here, “arise” is certainly a powerful word in the lexicon of supplication: “Let God arise”.

David found himself in a critical situation when his enemies were increasing daily, and they concluded that even God could not help him. However, he beseeched God to arise for him. God helped him and defeated his strong enemies (Psalm 3:1-4).

If Peter had kept quiet when he began to sink when the wind became boisterous, he would have drowned. He cried unto the Lord, and Jesus immediately stretched out His hand, caught him and saved him (Matt. 14:26-31). God is waiting to arise for you today, if you will only call upon Him.

It’s quite important to note that the phrase, "Let God Arise", didn’t start with David in Psalm 68. It was first used by Moses during the wilderness journeys of the Israelites (Numbers 10:35). It was then a cry for change and progress towards the Land of Promise.

God’s people should never be ashamed to cry to Him whenever the occasion arises, or when the issues of our lives require His attention. No matter the situation, we should determine to cry out  to God. When we do, He will certainly arise and give us beautiful testimonies of total victory. Amen.

When God Arises

David was so confident that anytime God arises, His enemies scatter (Psalm 68:1). In this assurance, as in all of God’s  promises, should we also root our confidence (Isaiah 41:10-13). When God arises, His children cannot but rejoice (Psalm 68:1-3).

For the avoidance of doubt, the enemies of God in your life include sin, Satan, afflictions, poverty, troubles, delays, arrested development, diseases, rebellion, hard-heartedness, unbelief, disobedience, lukewarmness and any such things that compete for the glory of God in your life.

When God arises, stagnation comes to an end as God makes a way where there was no way (Exodus 3:1-5; 14:1-28). When He arises, every blockade the enemy arranged against your destiny is removed (Joshua 5:13-6:20), and any Goliath terrorizing your life goes down for it (1 Samuel 17:1-51).

When God arises, mountains skip like rams (Psalms 114:6; 2 Kings 4:1-7), and crooked paths become straightened (Luke 13:10-13). When He arises, joy becomes an overflow, as it happened at the wedding in Cana (John 5:1-10).

When God arises for an individual, a family, or even a nation, every form of fear disappears (Acts 4:31). Chains aimed at preventing the fulfillment of God’s plan are broken (Acts 16:16-30). And yes, all those that are against you and your destiny will be in serious trouble when God arises.

Letting God Arise

Basically, God arises when we set ourselves to start doing things His way (Isaiah 55:8-12). Happily, God’s ways are copiously found in God’s Word as proclaimed in His sanctuary (Psalm 77:13).

Over the years, we’ve learnt that if we praise God in everything, He will arise for us in every situation. Paul and Silas did so in their prison experiences, and God showed up for them. God truly inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). We must praise Him, always.

Furthermore, our fervent prayers of faith move God to arise on our behalf (James 4:2; 5:16). Our humble cry to God for help certainly provokes Him to arise for us (Psalms 50:14-15). But, if we keep managing the situations by ourselves, God’s help may be far away from our reach.

Why try to handle what is drowning you? Why not cry out for God’s help like Peter did (Psalm 44:26)? Humble yourself before God, and cry out to Him for help. He is the Very Present Help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1).

Again, our readiness to observe other ordinances of faith —  unusual offerings, a lifestyle of righteousness and implicit obedience to the Will of God — goes very far in expressing our total dependence on God, and how much we value His mercy. Thus, they arouse God to stand for our help (Psalm 84:11).

Finally, we must get ready for exciting experiences when we ask God to arise. He could lead us into spiritual encounters that will stretch our faith to the maximum and downright amaze us. He may even lead us into brand new territories of His promises, just as He did for the Israelites.

As I see it, the most glorious season of your life till date is just beginning. Nothing is ever too late with God. Times and seasons are in His hands. God will yet arise and help you spiritually, maritally, financially, mentally and in all that concerns you. You will still blossom roundabout, and be so exceedingly fruitful. Even your mockers will come to congratulate you.

Life without the God who arises is just plainly unpalatable. Moreover, when God moves, we must join Him in His Glory Cloud, or else we will be exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, with no manna from above nor waters from the Rock.

Let God arise! Let’s sanctify Him in our hearts by making room for Jesus Christ in our lives (John 3:16; Romans 10:9-10). He will begin to arise for us, and we will start to enjoy His presence, provision, protection, power and purpose.

Friends and brethren, God will send unimaginable help to you,  soon. Everything blocking your path to progress will be utterly destroyed, and all your enemies will be in disarray, in Jesus name (Judges 14:5-6). Amen. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Connect with Bishop Akinola via these channels:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bishopakinola

SMS/WhatsApp: +234 802 318 4987

God is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the Beginning and the End. (Revelation 1:8). Because He is the End, the end of everything will be good, for God is good. (Matthew 19:17).

My business has been going through the doldrums. I have tried many fixes without any success. But God said to me: “Femi, I will restore double to you.” (Zechariah 9:12). He said this three years ago and it has yet to happen. But nothing in heaven and earth can prevent this prophecy from coming to pass.

Paul says: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

I was attacked by armed robbers, but God assured me nothing would happen to me. The robbers shot me in the leg. But God insisted that nothing was wrong with my leg. Paul says: “(Epaphroditus) was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him.” (Philippians 2:27). Similarly, a bullet broke a bone in my leg, but God healed my leg.

Wait for God

If you wait prayerfully for God in any adversity, He will definitely show up. Let me put it even more insistently: It is IMPOSSIBLE for God not to show up if you ever wait for Him.

If you wait for God, He will come. He will not just come; He will come with a solution. He will come up with an answer. He will come with an exaltation. He will come with a revelation. He will come with redemption. He will come with a healing. He will come with a blessing.

It can take one week, one month, one year, five years, or twenty years. It does not matter. Just wait. The hope that is in God does not disappoint. It does not make us ashamed. (Romans 5:5).

Jeremiah says: “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentation 3:25-26).

Final Say

The songwriter asks: “Who has the final say?” The answer is simple: “Jehovah has the final say.”

When we have an argument with someone, we often want to have the last word. But it is really a waste of time because it is God who always has the last word. We never do so. Neither do our situations and circumstances. That is why God is the First and the Last. (Revelation 22:13).

Job understood this. He knew the principles of “But God.” Therefore, in his afflictions, he expressed the confidence that, no matter how long it took, God would have the last word and redeem him:

“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and He will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see Him for myself. Yes, I will see Him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!” (Job 19:25-27). 

Yes, Job went through great adversity. He underwent great affliction. He lost his wealth and his children. “But God” redeemed him.

“The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters.” (Job 42:12-13).

Promise of God

The promise of God stands sure: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (Isaiah 43:2-3).

You will pass through the waters, “but God.” You will not drown. You will go through the rivers, “but God.” They will not overflow you. You will walk through the fire, “but God.” You will not be burnt.

Joseph went through a terrible ordeal, but God rescued him.

“The patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favour and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house” (Acts 7:9-10).

Every ordeal of Joseph’s moved him a step closer to God’s final destination for him as the prime minister of Egypt.

When his evil brothers who sold him into slavery discovered that he was now the prime minister of Egypt, they were afraid that he would seek retribution against them. But Joseph recognised the hand of God every step of the way.

He said to them: “But God.”

“As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” (Genesis 50:20-21).

Battle and war

There is a difference between the battle and the war. A child of God may lose a battle, but because of God, we can never lose the war. With a child of God, the devil can only win a battle, he can never win the war.

Children of God should know this definitively for a fact. With us, the devil is a loser and will always be a loser. No weapon fashioned against us can prosper. In Christ, we are always triumphant: “Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 2:14).

Jesus says: “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19).

“But God”

“Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. But God remembered Noah.” (Genesis 7:23-24/8:1).

God will remember you. He has not forgotten you. He can never forget you. He says: “I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.” (Isaiah 49:15-16).

“Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. Then he took his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead. But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.” (Genesis 31:22-24). God will contend with those who contend with you.

“Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you.” (Genesis 48:21). With every loss, you gain God.

“David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but Goddid not deliver him into his hand.” (1 Samuel 23:14). The enemy is looking for you. But he cannot find you because you are hidden in Christ in God.

“My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25). Some have lands, houses and great wealth. But God is your portion.

“When they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead.” (Acts 13:29-30). The same resurrection power is operating in you to redeem you from every adversity and affliction. CONCLUDED.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; www.femiaribisala.com 

Most people agree with the sentiment that money can’t buy you happiness, but what if it actually could?

Arthur C. Brooks, a social scientist and Harvard professor, has an interesting perspective on money and happiness, which he shares in his free Harvard happiness course.

“At low levels, money improves well-being. Once you earn a solid living, however, a billionaire is not likely to be any happier than you are,” Brooks wrote in his article for The Atlantic titled, “How to Buy Happiness.”

But “no matter where we sit on the income scale, with a little knowledge and practice any of us can use money to bring more happiness,” he adds.

Money alone can’t buy you happiness, but it can positively impact your well-being if you use your money wisely, Brooks notes. Here are a few ways that he suggests boosting your happiness with your finances.

3 ways you can ‘buy happiness’ according to a happiness expert

1. Spend money on experiences: Invest your money in joyful experiences that you know will make you feel happier like going to a concert to see your favorite artist, or planning a vacation somewhere you’ve always wanted to go.
2. Buy time: “If you pay someone to do something time-consuming that you don’t like to do (for example, cutting your yard) and don’t waste the time you gain on unpleasant things like doom-scrolling on social media, you can get a happiness boost by spending those extra hours with others,” Brooks wrote.
3. Give money away to help others: Donating your money to support a great cause or using your money to help another person can lead to boosts in “feel good” chemicals like serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin, according to the Cleveland Clinic’s health blog.

“The key factor connecting all those approaches is other people. If you buy an experience, whether it be a vacation or just a dinner out, you can raise your happiness if you share it with someone you love,” Brooks wrote in The Atlantic.

“Anyone who acquires money can use it to buy some happiness, and do a little self-improvement in the process. If we don’t have much, we can spend any extra cash on removing some of the stressors in our daily lives.”

CNBC

Nigerian state oil company NNPC has begun buying gasoline via cash tenders, rather than oil swaps, for the first time in nearly a decade, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The company's latest tender to buy gasoline for delivery in November closed this week, the sources said. Two of them added that NNPC would pay the last debts owed under the long-running oil swaps by the end of next month.

NNPC did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

"It is a positive thing," Cheta Nwanze, leader partner with Lagos-based SBM Intelligence, said of the move to pay for oil with cash, rather than valuable oil cargoes. "The question is whether it can be sustained."

Last year, NNPC sent nothing to government coffers, even amid surging oil prices, as oil-for-gasoline swaps consumed all the crude oil it had to sell - and more; NNPC owed traders up to $3 billion worth of oil this year, debts the two sources said would be paid in November.

Tinubu's reforms in May more than tripled petrol prices, and virtually eliminated cross-border smuggling that drained millions of litres per day out of Nigeria to neighbouring countries with higher pump prices.

While it pumps more oil than any other African nation, Nigeria refines little and is almost totally reliant on fuel imports to keep its 200 million people moving.

The last round of swaps included more than a dozen consortia including foreign oil traders such as Vitol, TotalEnergies and Mercuria and local companies such as Sahara.

Despite the reforms, NNPC remains the sole gasoline importer, sources said, due to ongoing foreign exchange shortages and an effective pump price cap that has meant private importers can't make money bringing in fuel.

Reuters

Debt Management Office (DMO) says the country’s Sukuk instrument valued at N150 billion ended with a subscription level of over N652 billion.

This is an oversubscription of 435 percent, the debt agency said in a statement on Friday.
Earlier this month, DMO opened an offer for a 10-year N150 billion forward ijarah (lease) sukuk instrument at a rental rate of 15.75 percent per annum, payable half-yearly.

The Sukuk is a strategic initiative that supports infrastructure development, promotes financial inclusion, and deepens the domestic securities market.

DMO said the N150 billion offer had an overwhelming subscription.

The agency added that N350 billion from the total subscription has been allocated to investors who subscribed to the N150 billion sovereign Sukuk.

“The N150 billion sovereign Sukuk whose offer for subscription closed on October 11, 2023, was well received with a total subscription of N652.827 billion,” the statement reads.

“This subscription level, which is 435% of the amount offered (N150 billion), shows that the level of awareness of the product has increased and that investors are willing to support the financing of infrastructure.

“In response to this strong demand for the Sukuk, the DMO has allocated N350 billion to the diverse investors who subscribed to the sovereign Sukuk.”

The debt office said the N350 billion will be used to finance the construction and rehabilitation of roads and bridges across the six geopolitical zones and the federal capital territory (FCT).

The office said it remains committed to meeting the needs of investors, while also supporting the development of the domestic capital market.

The Cable

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Bayo Onanuga as special adviser on information & strategy, and Delu Yakubu as senior special assistant on humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation.

Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, issued a statement on the appointments on Friday.

Ngelale said the appointments were part of efforts to “prioritize effective and efficient working synergy between the Presidency and Federal Ministries”.

“Tinubu has approved the appointments of professionals who have prior working experience within the architecture of the Federal Ministries they will be coordinating with, in addition to duties that will be carried out at the President’s discretion.”

The Cable

Palestinians scrambled to flee northern Gaza after Israel’s military urged about 1 million people to leave for the territory’s south ahead of an expected ground invasion following the surprise attack a week ago by the ruling Hamas militant group — despite warnings from the U.N. that evacuating nearly half of Gaza’s population would be calamitous.

Families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with their possessions crowded a main road southward from Gaza City as Israeli airstrikes hammered the territory Friday. Hamas’ media office said warplanes struck cars fleeing south, killing more than 70 people.

The Israeli military said its troops conducted temporary raids into Gaza to battle militants and hunted for traces of some 150 people abducted in Hamas’s assault on Israel nearly a week ago.

In urging the evacuation, Israel’s military said it planned to target underground Hamas hideouts around Gaza City. But Palestinians and some Egyptian officials fear that Israel ultimately hopes to push Gaza’s people out through the southern border with Egypt.

The U.N. called on Israel to reverse the unprecedented directive. But Israel’s military said it planned to target underground Hamas hideouts around Gaza City.

Hamas told people to ignore the evacuation order. Families in Gaza faced what they saw as a no-win decision to leave or stay, with no safe ground anywhere. Israeli strikes have leveled large swaths of neighborhoods, and Gaza has been sealed off from food, water and medical supplies — all under a virtual total power blackout.

“Forget about food, forget about electricity, forget about fuel. The only concern now is just if you’ll make it, if you’re going to live,” said Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza City, as she broke into heaving sobs.

In the week-old war, the Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that roughly 1,900 people have been killed in the territory. The Hamas assault last Saturday killed more than 1,300 Israelis, most of whom were civilians, and roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed during the fighting, the Israeli government said.

ISRAELI TROOPS MAKE FORAY INTO GAZA

Israel’s raid Friday was the first word of troops entering Gaza since Israel’s round-the-clock bombardment in retaliation for Hamas’ massacre of hundreds of civilians in southern Israel.

A military spokesman said Israeli ground troops left after conducting the raids. The troop movements did not appear to be the beginning of an expected ground invasion.

The evacuation order was taken as a further signal of an expected Israeli ground offensive, although no such decision has been announced.

Israel has been massing troops along the Gaza border, although no decision on a ground offensive has been announced.

An assault into densely populated and impoverished Gaza would likely bring even higher casualties on both sides in brutal house-to-house fighting.

“We will destroy Hamas,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Friday night in a speech.

Hamas said Israel’s airstrikes killed 13 hostages. It said the dead included foreigners but did not give their nationalities. Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari denied the claim.

In Israel, the public is overwhelmingly in favor of a military offensive, and Israeli TV stations have set up special broadcasts with slogans like “together we will win” and “strong together.” Their reports focus heavily on the aftermath of the Hamas attack and stories of heroism and national unity, and they make scant mention of the unfolding crisis in Gaza.

In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported 16 Palestinians were killed Friday, bringing the total of Palestinians killed there to 51. The U.N. says attacks by Israeli settlers have surged there since the Hamas assault.

ISRAEL URGES MASS EVACUATION OF GAZA CIVILIANS

The U.N. said the Israeli military’s call for civilians to move south affects 1.1 million people. If carried out, that would mean the territory’s entire population would have to cram into the southern half of the 40-kilometer (25-mile) strip.

An Israeli spokesperson, Jonathan Conricus, said the military would take “extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians” and that residents would be allowed to return when the war is over.

Israel has long accused Hamas of using Palestinians as human shields. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel wanted to separate Hamas militants from the civilian population.

“So those who want to save their life, please go south,” he said at a news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said it would be impossible to stage such an evacuation without “devastating humanitarian consequences.”

PALESTINIANS IN GAZA GRAPPLE WITH WHERE TO GO

Hamas’ media office said airstrikes hit cars in three locations as they headed south from Gaza City, killing 70 people. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes.

Two witnesses reported a strike on fleeing cars near the town of Deir el-Balah, south of the evacuation zone and in the area Israel told people to flee to. Fayza Hamoudi said she and her family were driving from their home in the north when the strike hit some distance ahead on the road and two vehicles burst into flames. A witness from another car on the road gave a similar account.

“Why should we trust that they’re trying to keep us safe?” Hamoudi said, her voice choking. “They are sick.”

The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the strike.

Many feared they would not be able to return or would be gradually displaced to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

More than half of the Palestinians in Gaza are descendants of refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, when hundreds of thousands fled or were expelled from what is now Israel. For many, the evacuation order dredged up fears of a second expulsion. Already, at least 423,000 people — nearly 1 in 5 Gazans — have been forced from their homes by Israeli airstrikes, the U.N. said Thursday.

“Where is the sense of security in Gaza? Is this what Hamas is offering us?” said one resident, Tarek Mraish, standing by an avenue as vehicles flowed by.

The U.N. estimated that tens of thousands had fled homes in the north by Friday night.

HOSPITALS STRUGGLE WITH PATIENTS

Gaza’s Health Ministry said it was impossible to safely transport the many wounded from hospitals, which are already struggling with high numbers of dead and injured. “We cannot evacuate hospitals and leave the wounded and sick to die,” spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said.

Farsakh, of the Palestinian Red Crescent, said some medics refused to abandon patients and instead called colleagues to say goodbye.

“We have wounded, we have elderly, we have children who are in hospitals,” she said.

Al Awda Hospital struggled to evacuate dozens of patients and staff after the military contacted it and told it to do so by Friday night, said the aid group Doctors Without Borders, which supports the facility. The military extended the deadline to Saturday morning, it said.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it would not evacuate its schools, where hundreds of thousands have taken shelter. But it relocated its headquarters to southern Gaza, according to spokesperson Juliette Touma.

“The scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone-chilling. Gaza is fast becoming a hellhole and is on the brink of collapse,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner general.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces pound Avdiivka for fourth straight day

Russian forces pounded the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka for the fourth day in a row on Friday, with both Moscow and Washington deeming the intensified fighting a new offensive in Russia's 19-month-old invasion of its neighbour.

In attacks elsewhere in Ukraine, a Russian missile strike killed one person in the city of Pokrovsk, also in the east, while a drone attack in the south killed a women and seriously injured her husband.

In Avdiivka, known for its large coking plant in Ukraine's Donbas industrial heartland, officials said the Russian assaults had left the already-gutted city in flames.

"The fighting has been going on for four consecutive days," Vitaliy Barabash, head of the city's military administration, told Ukrainian national television.

"They have substantial reserves of personnel and equipment. Avdiivka is completely ablaze. They shoot, using everything they have. The hospital is again under fire, as are administrative buildings and our volunteer centre."

Russia has focused its campaign along the 1,000-km (600-mile) front on the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

A Ukrainian counteroffensive launched in June has made some progress in both the east, near Bakhmut, and in the south, where Kyiv hopes to sever a land bridge joining Russian positions in the south and east.

But the gains have not yet matched rapid gains made by advances last year in the northeast and south.

Russia's representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, said the intensified battles in the east signified a new stage in its campaign.

"Russian troops have, for several days now, switched over to active combat action practically throughout the entire front line," Nebenzia told a session of the U.N. Security Council.

"The so-called Ukrainian counteroffensive can therefore be considered finished."

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In Washington, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the Russian action amounted to a "new offensive", showing that Russia was in no way ready to give up its campaign.

But the United States, he said, was confident that the Ukrainian military would beat back Russian forces.

Military analyst Serhiy Zgurets, writing on the Espreso TV website, said Avdiivka had withstood Russian attacks in 2014, when Russian-financed separatists had seized large chunks of Ukrainian territory. The area had since been fortified.

"All Russian attacks have resulted in significant losses for them," he wrote.

In Pokrovsk, northwest of Avdiivka, one person died and 24 were injured in the morning missile attack, while in Beryslav, in the southern region of Kherson, a drone attack killed a 34-year-old woman and seriously injured her 36-year-old husband.

Russian forces abandoned the western bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region late last year, but continue to shell towns there from positions on the eastern bank.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Top Zelensky aide blames West for Ukraine's frontline failures

Ukraine’s Western backers are responsible for the slowdown in Kiev’s counteroffensive, a senior adviser to President Vladimir Zelensky, Mikhail Podoliak, has suggested, lamenting that weapons deliveries are taking too long. Earlier this week, Kirill Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, acknowledged that Kiev’s military had fallen behind schedule in its attempt to drive Russian forces away.

In an interview with Ukraine’s Channel 24 on Thursday, Podoliak was asked whether he concurred with Budunov’s assessment. The official replied that Kiev’s counteroffensive is “six to nine months behind schedule.” He explained that “intensive” negotiations on arms deliveries, which began last fall, proved to be a long-drawn-out process, “with the partners afraid to acknowledge then that everything Ukraine needs should be provided as soon as possible.”

According to the Ukrainian presidential adviser, some in the West have adopted a wait-and-see approach, apparently not entirely sure whether Ukraine could withstand Russia’s push, adding that these supposed doubts are “holding back both the provision of aid and the quantity of aid.”

He revealed that President Zelensky’s regular visits to Western capitals aim to keep the conflict on the agenda. His aide pointed out that the Ukrainian head of state is also proving “very effective” in demanding compliance with existing defense agreements.

In an interview with the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper published on Thursday, intelligence chief Budanov said that Ukrainian forces were not merely behind schedule but had completely “fallen out of it.” He cited several things that did not go as “smoothly” as Kiev had hoped.

The official also expressed concern that the recent military conflict between Israel and HAMAS could potentially hamper the continued supply of arms to Ukraine should the hostilities in the Middle East become protracted.

Earlier, President Zelensky admitted there were problems with Ukraine’s counteroffensive, launched in early June. Last month, he said that the operation had slowed down due to Russian air superiority and blamed Kiev’s Western backers for failing to supply Ukraine’s forces with the necessary weapons.

Western military officials have also stated that Russian defenses have proven more resilient than expected.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that the Ukrainian military had lost as many as 90,000 troops, nearly 1,900 armored vehicles, and some 557 tanks since the start of its counteroffensive.

Reuters/RT

As if buying a home isn't hard enough, there can be a pretty steep learning curve once you start actually living in it. Recently, u/Cheirogaleidae asked people on Reddit to share ways people have damaged their homes through sheer ignorance, and the replies are pretty wild. Here's what they had to say:

1. "Not paying attention to wooden things that need periodic painting. Porch posts, door trim, fences, etc. If you don't keep up with it, it rots. Then you have to replace porch posts, door trim, fences, etc. I had no idea until things rotted."

"My wood deck rotted when I didn't keep up with paint/stain. Once I rebuilt it, I painted the banisters and railings and stained/sealed the floor boards. Repeat every three years or so.

Unprotected wood rots. Even pressure treated."

—u/meowmobile999

2. "Flushing 'flushable' wipes."

—u/sousvideandsmoke

3. "I was a new homeowner at 26. I grilled too close to the plastic siding of my house and warped it."

—u/iamtheemoose

"I’ve seen people catch their house on fire doing this because they don’t ever clean their gas grill and they are too close to their wood siding. Don’t put your grill against the house, ever."

—u/thebimpo

"My friends lit their roof on fire doing this exact thing."

—u/echo_birch

4. "Brick is meant to breathe. Painting it can trap moisture inside your walls."

—u/jo-z

"Stopping up the weep holes is also bad. I had to explain that those openings in our walls were put there deliberately; no, we will not be mortaring them."

—u/pocapractica

5. "Husband’s coworker hired someone to remove a tree from his backyard. They quoted him $600 to do it. Dude was not insured or licensed. Near as we can tell, it was just a dude who owned a chainsaw."

"The tree fell on the house, damaged part of the roof, siding, and took out the electricity. His insurance wouldn’t cover it because the dude who did it was just a dude. Took four days to get the electricity fixed. The dude who took down the tree 'felt really bad' about the damage he caused, so is going to fix it all himself.

Husband’s coworker had owned the house less than a month."

—u/jezebelleacid

6. "Forgot to take a hose off of the spigot before the first freeze of winter."

—u/sudifirjfhfjvicodke

"Oh yeah. My husband did that and we got a surprise waterfall in our basement the next year when he turned the hose on."

—u/criticismturbulent54

7. "Furnace filters. Replace them more often than you think you need. Don’t run ultra high MERV ratings. You need airflow over your indoor coil for the system to work well."

—u/69stangrestomod

"Just bought a house that had renters for over three years. They had not changed the furnace filter since moving in. It was BAD. The worst I've seen, and I'm not sure how the AC or furnace were still operational. I immediately called in a duct cleaner, who sucked out a very large carton of dirt and hair and bugs and drywall dust, and told me this was worse than the average house he sees. He even opened the furnace and air handler in my crawl space and cleaned it out with a shop vac.

I've now got a Merv 8 carbon filter in there, and peace of mind that most of the funk the gross renters oozed into the ducts is gone. The house smells better now."

—u/loanslinger

8. "I was this dummy. My toilet started running. Intermittently at first but then more frequently. I kept putting it off. Then I had three major surgeries back to back and put off looking at the bills until they were due at the end of the month. My water bill was somewhere around $550 dollars. It is normally $50!"

"Then, because I'd put off looking at it until the end of the month and the water bill invoices for the month before that, I hadn't caught it in time. So when the next month's bill arrived it was $650ish!

It was just one piece inside the tank that needed to be swapped out. A $10 part that literally took four minutes. It cost me over $1k just because I kept putting off looking at a toilet that had started running."

—u/mountainhighonlife

9. "Putting egg shells down your drain/garbage disposal. Tons of people do it. It can create a cement and clog your drain."

"A plumber told my wife that decades ago so we never did it. I figured there's no harm in not doing it so better safe than sorry. Then some friends of ours had plumbing problems. Lucky for them, the point of compaction was above an unfinished room so it was easy to get to. He cut out a section of PVC pipe and it was like a chunk of cement inside. All caused from egg shells."

—u/captainawesome06

10. "Previous homeowners bricked over the only (tiny) access point to the crawlspace. It's been super fun trying to fix copper plumbing lines they ran under the house, up an exterior wall to the second floor laundry. Every winter they freeze a few times. There's supposedly a heating line on them but I expect it's no longer working."

"I'm using next weekend to pull out the floor in the back stairwell to create a new access point so I can get under and see what's happening. I dread going into the crawlspace. I've been here for seven years and I have no idea what to expect."

—u/invisiblesoulmate

11. "Not paying attention to termites invading his garage. The framing was so chewed up that the only thing keeping it standing was the outside stucco. And he won't take advice on it."

—u/greginvalley

12. "Forgetting to clean the condensation line on my HVAC. During a hot streak in the summer, the condensation line got clogged. Water slowly leaked out of the HVAC (it was in a utility closet so I have no idea how long it was leaking). The water leaked under the drywall to the adjacent room and ruined all of the flooring."

—u/randmness
13. "I only learned recently about the filter in the dishwasher and I’m so grossed out."

—u/freshouttapatience

"I was probably the first person to clean that and my in-wall AC filter in my old apartment. The AC had to be replaced because of so much mold. The dishwasher was gross but after that and a proper dishwasher cleaner cycle, it was glorious to use again!"

—u/newsghost

"I swear to god I learn about a new filter or drain in my home every week and want to cry."

—u/mrsharris2019

14. "I once left a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner on the laminate countertop. It leaked and permanently etched the countertop."

—u/esqueezeme-

"I did something similar. We have hard water and it was leaving residue on our marble vanity top. I soaked some paper towels in vinegar and left it around the edges of the sink where the discoloration was. That stripped the sealant or whatever off and now it's etched or whatever I did to it. Sigh."

—u/amidormi

15. "A customer replaced the ballcock in his second floor toilet and then went out of town. A neighbor called the police the next day when water started coming out the front door. Always call a licensed plumber."

—u/five-and-dimer
16. "Ignoring very basic maintenance like clearing debris causing water to pool on roofs. And ignoring caulking around windows. My aunt and uncle had a beautiful Spanish mission style house from the 1920s. And it was in really good condition when they bought it. Roughly 20-25 years later, the only thing in halfway decent condition were the wood floors."

"Roof was shot and actively leaking in multiple rooms. Causing plaster ceilings to just fall. Exterior walls were destroyed. Framing was completely destroyed, and again plaster just falling off he walls.

The house stood in great condition for over 70 years. And through minor neglect, fell apart in the last 20."

—u/sparky_zell

17. "The first 10 years we owned our house, we rarely (maybe never, I can't recall) got our gutters cleaned. We didn't see the value in it. Eventually, we had to replace an entire bay window and the surrounding wall. I think it cost $10-15k twenty years ago."

"The clogged gutter above the bay window structure didn't direct rainwater to the downspout, and it just poured down over the front. It poured on to the roof of the bay, got behind it, we were clueless (both worked long hours), and eventually we learned the structure rotted."

—u/ilikeplantsnow

18. "Friend decided to finish his basement. Built his stud wall on the ground and tipped it up to place, then discovered it was an inch or two taller then it should have been."

"Instead of taking it down and cutting it to size, he managed to force it into place by essentially jacking up a section of his first floor. Upstairs, tile grout began to crack and come up, doors didn’t shut or latch properly, and you could see new gaps between the baseboards and flooring."

—u/mr_midwestern
19. "Probably the biggest one I see a lot as an insurance agent is people not trimming trees over their roof. Usually the company has something to say about it, and it's not just because you want to avoid having a giant limb fall onto your roof during a storm, but also because the falling leaves or pine needles will make short work of your roof by encouraging moss, rot, and whatever else to propagate."

"I've told clients if they won't trim the trees, they'll want to get up there once or twice a year with a roof rake or broom, so it's easier to just take down the limbs and be safe."

—u/kevymetal87
20. "Oh pick me! I had a wash sink next to my washing machine. Had NO idea that the washing machine actually drained into the sink. Left a pile of rags in the sink and flooded the whole basement. I would like to say this was isolated, but I went on to do it two more times. The shop vac was my friend."

—u/[deleted]
21. "Moved to Texas around a year ago. Learned the hard way that during the dry, hot months you are supposed to water your foundation to help the clay-like soil settle in and around it. Wtf, I have to water my house?"

—u/hotsaltynutz
22. "Our sump pump was working when we moved in, but about nine months later we had a week of heavy spring rains. I realized I hadn't heard the sump pump making noise for awhile so I went into the garage to check the three foot crawlspace we never use which runs the length of our entire house."

"I kid you not — we had a two foot deep swimming pool under our home. We spent $7k on getting the water pumped out, mold mitigation, getting a vapor barrier installed, and replacing the sump pump with one that has an alarm. The old sump pump was the cheapest one our plumber had ever seen. Would've been nice if our home inspector had bothered to mention it."

—u/vlascia
23. "Our newly purchased (one year) home nearly killed me this year. A pocket of leaked natural gas had floated into and sat in our nearby bedroom from the kitchen after I made a whole bunch of stuff for dinner with the gas oven and stove."

"Check for gas leaks regularly!!! The detectors are less than $20 on Amazon."

—u/acrobaticrutabagas

24. And finally, "My daughter looked at a house for sale where the owners poured unused tile grout down the tub drain. Totally clogged. Did NOT buy that one."

—u/key-helicopter-12

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