Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, three military-led West African states, signed a confederation treaty on Saturday, underscoring their determination to chart a joint course outside the regional political and economic bloc that has been urging them to return to democratic rule.

The signing took place at the first summit of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and signals an ever-closer alignment between the neighbours in the insurgency-torn central Sahel. Juntas seized control in a series of coups in the three states in 2020-2023 and severed military and diplomatic ties with regional allies and Western powers.

Niger's military leader Abdourahamane Tiani described the AES summit as "the culmination of our determined common will to reclaim our national sovereignty".

Formalising the treaty to establish a confederation confirms the rejection by Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso of the 15-member Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS). Its signing comes a day before a summit being held by ECOWAS, which had hoped to persuade the three to reconsider their decision in January to quit the bloc.

"Our peoples have irrevocably turned their backs on ECOWAS," Tiani said in a speech. "It is up to us today to make the AES Confederation an alternative to any artificial regional group by building ... a community free from the control of foreign powers."

It is not clear how closely the AES will harmonise political, economic and defence policies as it struggles to contain a decade-old battle with Islamist insurgents and grow economies that are among the world's poorest.

In March, the three states agreed to set up a joint force to tackle security threats across their territories.

In a communique issued after the summit, the countries said they had agreed to coordinate diplomatic actions, create an AES investment bank and stabilisation fund, and pool their resources to set up projects in strategic sectors including mining, energy and agriculture.

The heads of state "welcomed their irrevocable withdrawal without delay from ECOWAS," it said.

ECOWAS has made diplomatic efforts to dissuade the three states from quitting the 50-year-old alliance. The split will reverse decades of regional integration and threatens a messy disentanglement from trade and services flows of nearly $150 billion a year.

The falling-out is linked to the ECOWAS decision to respond to the trio's coups with stringent sanctions and its unrealised threat to use force to restore constitutional rule in Niger last year.

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso accuse the regional bloc of abandoning its founding ideals and giving too little support against the Islamist insurgencies that have killed thousands of people and displaced over 3 million more.

The policies of the juntas have reshaped international influence in the central Sahel, with the three states fostering closer defence, diplomatic and business ties with Russia at the expense of former colonial power France, regional heavyweight Nigeria, and the United States.

Reuters

Israeli strike kills 16 at Gaza school, military says it targeted gunmen

At least 16 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in central Gaza on Saturday, the Palestinian health ministry said, in an attack Israel said had targeted militants.

The health ministry said the attack on the school in Al-Nuseirat killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 50.

The Israeli military said it took precautions to minimize risk to civilians before it targeted the gunmen who were using the area as a hideout to plan and carry out attacks against soldiers. Hamas denied its fighters were there.

At the scene, Ayman al-Atouneh said he saw children among the dead. "We came here running to see the targeted area, we saw bodies of children, in pieces, this is a playground, there was a trampoline here, there were swing-sets, and vendors," he said.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesman of the Gaza Civil Emergency Service, said in a statement that the number of dead could rise because many of the wounded were in critical condition.

The attack meant no place in the enclave was safe for families who leave their houses to seek shelters, he said.

Al-Nuseirat, one of Gaza Strip's eight historic refugee camps, was the site of stepped-up Israeli bombardment on Saturday. An air strike earlier on a house in the camp killed at least 10 people and wounded many others, according to medics.

In its daily update of people killed in the nearly nine-month-old war, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli military strikes across the enclave killed at least 29 Palestinians in the past 24 hours and wounded 100 others.

Among those killed in separate air strikes on Saturday were five local journalists, raising the toll of journalists killed since Oct. 7 to 158, according to the Hamas-led Gaza government media office.

Gaza health authorities say more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive. The health ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants but officials say most the dead are civilians.

Israel has lost 323 soldiers in Gaza and says at least a third of the Palestinian dead are fighters.

Israel launched its offensive, aimed at eliminating the militant Islamist group Hamas, in response to a Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

RAFAH OPERATIONS

Israeli forces, which have deepened their incursions into Rafah, in the south of the enclave near the border with Egypt, killed four Palestinian policemen and wounded eight others, in an air strike on their vehicle on Saturday, health officials said.

A statement issued by the Hamas-run interior ministry said the four included Fares Abdel-Al, the head of the police force in western Rafah neighbourhood of Tel Al-Sultan.

The Israeli military said forces continued "intelligence-base operations" in Rafah, destroyed several underground structures, seized weapons and equipment, and killed several Palestinian gunmen.

Israel has said its operations in Rafah aim to eradicate the last Hamas armed wing battalions.

The Israeli military said it eliminated a Hamas rocket cell in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza that operated from inside a humanitarian-designated area. It said it carried out a precise strike after taking measures to ensure civilians were unharmed.

The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked Israeli forces in several areas of Gaza with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian air force commander says Russian military duped by realistic models

Ukraine's air force commander said on Saturday his forces had duped Russian troops into deploying missiles against sophisticated models put in place to look like military targets.

Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the models depicted fighter aircraft and a surface-to-air missile battery. They were put in place at an airfield near the central city of Kriviy Rih and a district of the Black Sea port of Odesa.

A video attached to the post, described as footage from a Russian reconnaissance drone, showed what Oleshchuk said were Russian Iskander missiles attacking the depictions.

"Air force personnel conducted passive defence measures!" Oleshchuk wrote.

"Thank you to everyone who helped with the top-quality mock-ups of aircraft and SAM systems. The enemy now has fewer Iskander missiles and more mock-ups will be delivered."

Oleshchuk said he had gone public with the deception "as an exception, to show the public that not everything is straightforward."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kiev issues demands to potential mediators with Russia

Ukraine is ready to convey its conditions for peace negotiations with Russia through third countries, but potential mediators must align their public statements with Kiev’s position, Vladimir Zelensky’s top aide, Mikhail Podolyak, has said.

Earlier this week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban embarked on a “peacekeeping mission,” proposing a “quick ceasefire” to Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky during his visit to Kiev. Orban then traveled to Moscow to discuss the “shortest way out” of the conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed outrage that Orban went to Russia “without approval or coordination with Ukraine.”Podolyak stated during a national telethon on Saturday that mediators should “behave differently.”

“Any country serious about mediation will not publicly make banal statements. When they say ‘we support an immediate ceasefire,’ it shows they are not ready for a mediation mission. Big wars require a different approach,” Podolyak said, as cited by RBK news outlet, without specifically naming Orban.

Moscow’s and Kiev’s positions remain very “far apart,” according to Orban, who noted that Zelensky “didn’t like” his proposals much. The Hungarian PM nevertheless stressed that establishing contact was the “most important step” and promised to “work on this in the future.”

After his meeting with Orban, Putin reiterated Moscow’s readiness to resolve hostilities through negotiations but noted that the Ukrainian leadership appears committed to waging war “until the end.”

The Russian president asserted the conflict can only end if several conditions are met, including Kiev withdrawing its forces from Donbass and the former Ukrainian regions of Zaporozhye and Kherson, which became part of Russia following public referendums. Other conditions exist, Putin added, but they would be detailed during possible joint work.

Previously, Putin proposed an immediate ceasefire on the condition that Ukraine withdraws its forces, recognizes Russia’s sovereignty over the territories, and provides legally binding guarantees of not seeking NATO membership. Kiev and its Western backers have rejected the plan, though Putin stated the offer remains “on the table.”

RT

One phenomenon that cannot be denied in Nigeria today is hunger. Nigerian people are hungry. Very unusually, no one – politicians, elected government functionaries or their appendages – has been able to allege that this general cry of hunger is politically motivated. So many occurrences have been painted with the camwood of that word, “politically motivated”. It is worse for some of us who write. We must have taken overnight instructions from political baron opponents to paint government black. Or, our views are hangovers from ancient hatred and bile. But, hunger seems to be in a class of its own. It is borderless.

Hunger is like death. Permit me to cite a line of a song I have cited severally which relates to one of death’s innumerable cognomens. It is the line in a song of Ibadan master singer, Awurebe lord, Dauda Adeeyo, a.k.a. Epo Akara. In an elegy to Murtala Muhammed on his assassination by Bukar Suka Dimka, Epo made an evergreen quip. He sang, “Ikú tí ó p’eni à ńpè, á p’eni tí ńpe ni” – death the leveler is the one that will kill the chanter and the enchanter. Hunger is such a monstrous and awesome phenomenon, so much that Yoruba promoted it from its inanimate to an animate being status. In doing this, they conferred on death the cognomen, “ebi òp’àgbà f’owó m’éké”. I have struggled to defrost this deep Yoruba saying of its inscrutable meaning. The farthest I have gone was to explain it. In ancient society, when people were hungry at home, all they did was look heavenwards at the ceiling rafter, as if looking unto Eledumare – God – for redemption. It was almost as if Hunger had turned into a huge snake which crawled up the eké wood, up to the rafter. All that the hungry did was look towards the ceiling, the àjà.

In this piece, I want to take liberty to talk about hunger, poverty and connect them with Joseph Folahan Odunjo. Odunjo was known simply as J. F. Odunjo. His highly celebrated poem, Isé l’òògùn ìsé – Work is an antidote to poverty – is my referent. I chose Odunjo so as to analyze his poem which can be found in the famous Alawiye 

series. That poem was used in syllabi of primary schools in the 1970s and 1980s. By the way, who is Odunjo? Literary colossus, educator and politician who was best known for his works in Yoruba children’s literature, Odunjo, in 1951, won a seat in the Western House of Assembly and was later appointed Western Region’s first Minister of Lands and Labour by Obafemi Awolowo. In his immense literary prowess, Odunjo communicated Yoruba values through folklore and myths.

Africans used folklore as a strong imprint from the past. Odunjo then deployed those folklores to relate to our present social and sociological conditions. Like D.O. Fagunwa, Odunjo was greatly respected for having shaped the minds of generations of Yoruba of western Nigeria, especially through his highly famous Alawiye series. The series transformed into a book from the oral folklore and stories of traditional society told at moonlight after dinner. With this, he was able to communicate the values, beliefs and literary skills of the people. Using fictive characters (human or non-human) like Trickster Tortoise (Ijapa, his wife, Yannibo and their son, Irere), ghomids, (ebora) streams, animal kingdom, human kingdom, etc., Odunjo intermixed ìtàn (traditional mythology, history and philosophy) and ààló (beliefs, customs and stories of a community passed through generations through words of mouth). Ìtàn was more believable because they are factual, dependable and historical than myths, in conveying the reality of the time.

Like all other ethnic groups, Yoruba have very many epistemological stands on hunger. In their paper entitled Poverty alleviation in Nigeria: lessons from socioeconomic thoughts of the Yoruba, four scholars, Joel Babalola, Adesoji Oni, Ademola Atanda and Benedicta Oyejola-Oshodi did this. They examined how Yoruba distinguish between three seemingly similar concepts of “òsì”, “ìsé” and “ìyà.” While ÒsÌ is unending chronic poverty, ìsé is acute, transitory poverty and ìyà is suffering, hunger, psychological torture and shame. The three are borne out of denial of essential needs necessary for the sustenance of life.

In Igbo philosophy, poverty is ụ̀bị̀àm̀. Igbo believe that hunger is the complete erosion of human dignity. A man who is unable to feed himself and his family is éfűléfụ (a worthless person) and Igbo see hunger and poverty as a disease, expressed in Ụbịam bụ ajọ ọrịa or ágūū bụ ọnyà – hunger is a sickness of its own. To them, evil or human suffering comes from interplay of man and their personal god, the Chi or the machinations of some known or unknown mischievous spirits. Igbo cosmological study seems to agree that human suffering cannot be fully explained and as such, human suffering is a mystery.

Aminu, M. L., in a then-unpublished doctoral thesis, entitled The Hausa Metaphysical World View: A Paremeological Exposition, submitted to the Department of Nigerian and African Language, A.B.U. Zaria, after scrutinizing 230 proverbs, came to the conclusion that the Hausa identify the chief goal of human life as peaceful living, what is called Zaman lafiya. He also found out that there are fourteen attributes of world life. Poverty, called talauci, is a variety of pain, expressed as drinking, like in sunàa shân wàhalàa, literally meaning, drinking trouble.

Yoruba believe that the human personal intervention is key to arresting poverty and hunger. This is why they express it in “bí ebi bá kùrò nínú ìsé, ìsé bùse” (by removing hunger from poverty, you have defeated it). To curtail poverty, individual effort is necessary. The people however also believe that, no matter how harrowing and persistent the pangs of poverty may be, whether for 20 years or 30 months, once poverty does not lead to death, it has an expiry. So, they say, “Ìsé tó sé omo l'ógún odún, ìyà tó je omo l'ógbòn osù, tí kò bá pa omo, á dèhìn léhìn omo.” No matter how difficult poverty may be to man, the people still believe that you can wrestle it and conquer. This speaks to the capacity of human intervention in existential travails.

From whatever human prism you may want to look at it, food security is sine non qua non to human existence. Yoruba even made the stomach, a deity. They did in such statements as, no god demands propitiations as the god of the throat – òrìsà tìí gb’ebo bí òfun s’òwón. This is why the sky-high cost of living that has made food scarce on Nigerians’ table, as well as unprecedented inflation, are causing untold hardships in the country today. However, the above dips into traditional epistemology of hunger have shown that, while governments of all cadres are complicit in the mass hunger across Nigeria, as individuals, we seem to have abandoned what used to be done. This has resulted in the unusual happening. Our situation today was painted by William Butler Yeats’ 1919 poem, The Second Coming. In it, he said, “The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” I am sure we all have recollections of our personal gardening in the 1970s and 80s. This was at a time when, comparatively, Nigerians were not hungry. This has almost totally dried off now.

Odunjo’s evergreen poem teaches that work is the only antidote to poverty (Isé l’òògùn ìsé) and hunger. It tells us that hard work and self-reliance have pleasant ending. He also counseled that hard work is the only pedestal to the top (Isé la fií d’eni gíga). Today, this virtue has gone to the dogs. Indolent but street-smart Nigerians are the ones at the top, exploring tact and terse energy to sustain their leeching leverage. In those days, resolute persons, who though were bereft of helpers, were recorded to have made it in life, as the poem says (Bí a kò bá r’éni f’èyìn tì, bí òle làá rí, bí a kò bá r’éni gbékèlé) in which case, we needed to work harder (A te’ra mósé eni). Odunjo frowned at reliance on parental wealth (Ìya re leè l’ówó l’'ówó/ Bàbá re leè l’ésin l’éèkàn/Bí o bá gbó’jú lé won/O té tán ni mo so fún o). Today, people don’t suffer for the attainments they get. You only need to be a politician or Yahoo Boy. But, Odunjo has a word for them: Whatever accomplishment that is not complemented with sweats has a twinkle-of-an-eye endurance (Ohun tí a kò bá jì’yà fún/Sé kìí leè t'ójó). It is only what is labored for, the – Ohun tí a bá f’ara sisé fún/Níí pé l’ówó eni – that endures, he says.

Odunjo also counsels on total reliance on our strength (Apá l’ará/Ìgúnpá n'ìyekan). The world only loves you on account of your material accomplishment (B’áyé bá ńfé o lónìí/Bí o bá l’ówó l'ówó/Ayé á má fé o l’óla). They can also love you if you occupy a prestigious position (Tàbí tí o bá wà n'ípò àtàtà/ Ayé á máa yé o sí t’èrín t’èrín). However, the day you become poor or lose that position, (Jé k’óo de’ni tí ń'rágó/Ayé a máa yínmú sí o) you will be a recipient of their grimaces. Odunjo then ends the poem by canvassing the eternal essence of education (Èkó sì’ńso ni d’ògá/Múra kí o kó dára dára) and the need to flee the midst of those who mock education (Bí o sì rí òpò ènìyàn/Tì wón ńf’èkó s’èrín rín/ Dákun má f’ara wé won). The consequences of abandoning education, he says, are dire (Ìyà ń’bò f'ómo tí kò gbón/Ekún ń’be f'ómo tí ńsá kiri). Finally, Odunjo pleaded with those who literally turn their youths into casino to get off the wastage of their youth because time waits for no man (Má f’òwúrò se’ré, òré mi/Múra sísé, ojó ńlo). An Apala musician, Ayinla Omowura, in his elegy to Murtala, later adapted this poem to say that when a man (I add, a woman, as well) wakes up early in the morning and he is not being pursued by anything, he must pursue something because of the finality that dusk poses for hard work. Whoever works conquers poverty – eni bá s’isé jàre òsì, he says.

I gave the above as keynote address yesterday at a Rotary International, Ibadan, Oyo State (Ring Road) Investiture of Bolade Ipadeola. Government cannot claim not to know that hunger is killing Nigerians. I completely share Igbo philosophical understanding of hunger as a complete erosion of human dignity. Most Nigerian men have become éfűléfụ, de-masculinized by the Bola Tinubu government. There is a strong link between hunger and deconstruction of hard work today. Families must rise in defence of hard work. This deconstruction has made the Isé l’òògùn ìsé which Odunjo canvassed in his poem to be a mere rhetoric. Work is no longer an antidote to poverty. Yahoo-Yahoo is. Political positions are. Hard work must return to its pride of place in Nigeria. Let us teach our children that hard work is king.

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force ~ Matthew 11:12.

Introduction:

For far too long, many saints have stood idle and watched the steady decline of the believers' influence and their exercise of authority in the world. Pigs are appearing in our parlours! It’s time to fight back, spiritually, to take back what rightfully belongs to us.

God designed the believers with the divine precision to qualify to be “more than conquerors”, no matter the challenges we may face (Romans 8:37).Therefore, falling, failing or losing and refusing to do something about it amounts to missing God’s set-mark for our lives.

Whatever you refuse to confront continues to present an intimidating front against your dreams and aspirations in life. Whatever you refuse to confront continues to terrorize you.

Confrontation is the only valid pathway between two irreconcilable kingdoms! We must take our stand against all evil machinations, and stand right to recover all our stolen benefits (Ephesians 6:12-14).

Today, there are many perennial problems, globally. Even in many personal experiences, there are hassles, delays, rough starts, sicknesses, hunger, poverty and such other frustrating issues of life. However, there’s the matchlessgrace of God available to the believers in Christ, whereby we were fitted to conquer the conquerors (1Corinthians 10:13)!

Difficult things are truly numerous in this world; hard things are plentiful, but the impossible shouldn’t exist in the lexicon of the believers in Christ. We can always take back whatever is lost, or stolen from us by the adversary. Miracles are still possible!

However, this calls for the good fight of faith! As you do, you will enjoy streams of striking interpositions by divine intervention in the ordinary course or even the complex operations of your life. Nature will be overruled, suspended, or modified in your favour, in Jesus name. Amen.

Identifying The Stolen Benefits

Unarguably, the whole world rightly belongs to God (Psalm 24:1; Genesis 1:26). Moreover, believers in Christ are God's very own children, and the dominion and all the creations on the earth are essentially made available to them (Psalms 115:16; Hosea 2:21).

Each time Satan attempts to checkmate the believer’s dominion, he is plainly acting as a trespasser. Happily, as God’s people, we have both right and power to cast him out anywhere he’s found around us: in our homes, schools, businesses, finances, churches, nations and individual destinies.

More importantly, our full-orbed mission is to tear down the enemy’s stronghold, spread the gospel and even expand the territories of God’s Kingdom. We should never worry or be scared if seemingly impossible situations stare us in the face. All that must matters is for us to arise, confront and conquer.

Core Strategies for Winning In Spiritual Warfare

A foremost strategy for taking back whatever the enemy has stolen from us is revelation knowledge (Ephesians 1:17-18). Having our eyes opened to receive the revelation of who Jesus Christ really is, and who we are in Him, is absolutely vital to effective and victorious territorial Christianity.

Weeping will do us no favour; feeling hopeless will never help us. We must rather choose to have a clear understanding of the true nature of our anticipated supernatural interventions.

Furthermore, spiritual intelligence via keen enquiries is also an essential requirement. We certainly need wisdom and discernment to accomplish the taskof taking back whatever the enemy has stolen.

David deployed this strategy any time he planned to recover whatever the enemies stole from him. Before he embarked on any battle, he always inquired of the Lord for specific instructions through serious prayers (1Samuel 23:2-4; 2Samuel 5:19, 23).

With this intelligence and zest, David fought the Amalekites and he took back what they stole from him in Ziklag (1Samuel 30:1-20). You too must fight the fight of faith, win and take back whatever the enemy has stolen from you.

It is trite that in order to effectively "counter-invade" the enemy's territory, we must first know the territory and, thereafter, develop the best plan for advancement. At any rate, the strongman must be confronted, tackled and bound before his stolen goods can be despoiled(Luke 11:20-22). To conquer, we must confront.

Meanwhile, strong supernatural forces are always required to confront effectively, and the following are essential: the forces of faith, prayer, praise & thanksgiving, prophetic covers, personal sacrifice, Christian manliness & persistence and, of course, the force of the Holy Ghost intervention.

The Place of Fighting Faith

Faith is a crucial requirement in fighting effectively to take back whatever the enemies have stolen from us. Its place cannot be overemphasized in the believer’s day-to-day living (Romans 1:17). Hence, the believers are commanded to fight the good fight of faith in order to lay hold on the benefits of eternal life (1Timothy 6:12).

The main thrust (or, the driving force) of faith is that God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18). Men may experience ultimate impossibilities, only when they are without confidence in God (Mark 10:27).

Friends and brethren, we all need grace to conquer! Don’t ever consider or put your trust in your physical frame or your financial size at the present moment (1Samuel 2:9).

David had neither the strength of body nor skill in military matters. Goliath on the other hand was a gigantic man, trained in affairs of violence and very versed in the intrigues of practical warfare.

In their memorable military clash, David immediately saw the need to prioritize divine equipping rather than engage himself in a futile race for weapons and body development. He relied on God’sgrace to conquer, and he became smarter, faster and sharper than Goliath.

When pressures arise, and when it appears like you are being attacked left, right and center in satanic battles of attrition, don’t be tempted to think that victory is no longer available.

Your case, whatever it may be, was factored into the mighty, eternal, abundant victory that Christ accomplished on the Cross and in Hisresurrection (Colossians 2:14-15).

Our victorious position in any situation is not circumstantial; it’s relational. We are united by faith to the Victorious One, the Lord Jesus Christ (1Corinthians 15:57)!

Take your stand against that devil, against that challenge, that sin, that sickness, that lack, that oppression, affliction, delay, barrenness, etc. They must bow at last, in Jesus name (Philippians 2:9-11).

In Him, we already received grace to amaze our world! Whatever the enemy stole from you, take it back right now. Confront the adversaries, and stop the ongoing party in hell. You won’t miss this, in Jesus name. 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

A distraught Christian laments: “Pastor, I have been so worried, I have not been able to pray.” This is like falling off a cliff, hanging by a shrub and refusing to cry out for help. If there ever was a time to pray, it is in time of trouble. God’s promise is the strength of our hearts:

“Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” (Psalms 50:15).

My brother had left the country unannounced. For years we did not know where he was. But one day my Aunty, who is a Christian, came with a wonderful suggestion.

“I am not saying that God is not powerful,” she said, starting on an apologetic and defensive note. “But what I am saying is that sometimes we need to mix things with our own native and local abracadabra.”

Her suggestion was that we should go to the “babalawo” (the voodoo man or fortune teller), who would be sure to tell us exactly where my brother was. Her logic was impeccable: God sometimes needs local help.

But the message of the Bible is unambiguous:

Why are you trying to find out the future by consulting witches and mediums? Do not listen to their whisperings and mutterings. Can the living find out the future from the dead? Why not ask your God? (Isaiah 8:19 TLB).

A god who needs help is not God. A god who needs help does not deserve our worship. When man decides to help God, he ends up with Ishmael instead of Isaac. When man decides to help God, he arrogates himself as God and sometimes ends up dead like Uzzah, who tried to help the ark from falling and met his end.

When a man decides to help God, he will get a lorry-load of problems. That is how people get children from the god of the river and start eating the bread of sorrows. That is how people make deals with the devil, get rich quickly and within a short time, the god of mammon receives them into his everlasting habitations.

All our lives, we have dealt with men who have disappointed us. We have dealt with men, and they have lied to our faces. We have dealt with men, and they have betrayed us. We have dealt with men, and they have deceived us.

Many have even used God to deceive us. Many use the name of God to defraud us. Many swear by God and then stab us in the back. So, when we deal directly with God, we become hostages of our past. But we need to remember one thing. God is not a man even though He became man.

God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfil? (Numbers 23:19).

Let God be true even if all men were liars. Jesus can never fail us; He can never disappoint us.

A man was on a plane and the plane was having some difficulty. Everyone became anxious. Some were already saying their last prayers. Suddenly, he recognised a passenger sitting several rows ahead of him as cool as a cucumber. He was a renowned man of God. The man relaxed. “If this man of God is on this plane,” he reasoned, “there is no way this plane will crash.”

Our worries and anxieties testify that we have failed to enter into the rest of God. If Jesus is not our Prince of Peace and if we cannot enter into God’s rest on earth, we may not be allowed to enter into His rest in heaven:

Since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (Hebrews 4:1-3).

If God is with us, why do we fear? Why are we lonely? Why are we sad? Why are we anxious? Why are we troubled? If Jesus is in the boat, why should we be afraid of perishing? The answer is simple: We fear because we do not know Him. We fear because we do not believe in Him. But eternal life is in the knowledge of God. (John 17:3).

Is God not enough? God says do not worry and we are still worried. Is there any other reassurance that we need? If God cannot reassure us and we keep our peace, then who can?

Are the consolations of God too small for you, and the word spoken gently with you? Why does your heart carry you away, and what do your eyes wink at, that you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth? (Job 15:11-13).

“God, I thought everything would be smooth sailing because I have You. But things were getting worse and worse.” “God, You deceived me,” cried Jeremiah. “You said You would defend me, so why am I here in this dungeon?”

John the Baptist experiences a similar crisis of faith. “Are You the Messiah,” he asked. “Or should we look for another?” If You are the Messiah, why should I end up in prison for doing Your work?

“My case was different,” said one of my parishioners. “I was a faithful servant. I waited for God. But He kept me waiting forever. I had to do something before it was too late.”

I could not but sympathise with the fellow. The problem with God is that He always takes too long. Where was He all this time? Where was He when all those problems were piling up? “I had told Him that I could only wait for Him until eleven o’clock. After eleven o’clock, I had no choice but to look for other options.” 

We have other options because we have other gods. We have gods as insurance policies. We have gods as fallback positions. Just in case God fails to act, let us not be entirely godless. But God is never late with people who truly put their trust in Him. And he that believes never makes haste. (Isaiah 28:16).

Many of us are wonderful starters, but bad finishers. We can build a temple over ten years but destroy it in one day with one missile. We can establish a strong relationship over the long haul but destroy it by one act of frivolity. We can shipwreck it by one casual act of unfaithfulness. Sometimes, we give up at the very last minute. Not knowing the time, we often give up at eleven-thirty.

And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11).

We must be careful not to waste all our effort by running out of patience. Patience is the twin brother of faith. If we cannot be patient, we cannot have faith.

I was a student at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford. Oxford University had a strange system. You had to belong to the university, as well as the college. You had to pay fees to the university and then to the college.

I was a foreign student and I objected on principle. As a doctoral student, I did practically nothing in the college. None of my tutors were in my college. I did not live on college grounds. So why should I be paying fees to the college?

Sometimes, I was invited to “wine and cheese” parties in the college. But how much wine and cheese could I consume to justify my fees? So, I refused to pay my college fees. I put the money in a bank account. With every request, I told the college I was from a poor Third World country. How could I be expected to pay double fees when the college had nothing to offer me?

This prevailed for an extended period, while I remained adamant that paying fees to St. Catherine’s College was a rip-off. Then one day, I got a summons. I was ordered to come and see the Master of the College on the question of my outstanding fees.

I panicked. “The Master of the College,” I thought. I did not know it would get that far. I hurriedly wrote a cheque and paid the college fees.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I was required to come and see the Master of the College because a decision had been taken to waive my fees on compassionate grounds. I lost everything as a result of a last-minute panic attack.

The truth is that we were never God worshippers. A God worshipper never has any other option. A God worshipper never has any other alternatives. If we have options outside of God, even though we remain in the church, we are adulterers. Yes, we are faithful to our wives physically but are unfaithful in our hearts. We are faithful to God with our lips, but unfaithful in our minds. (Matthew 15:8). CONTINUED.

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A hospice nurse has revealed the three things that shocked her the most about death when she first started her career - from people being able to hear even when they're unconscious to dehydration actually making the process less painful.

Julie McFadden, 41 - a registered nurse based in Los Angeles, California, who specializes in end of life care - has racked up hundreds of thousands of followers while sharing insights into people's final moments in the hopes of destigmatizing death.

Most recently, she uploaded a video to her YouTube channel in which she detailed the three most surprising things that she has learned about what happens to the body before someone passes away.

'Here are the most surprising things I've learned about the end of life,' she began in the clip, which has been viewed more than 23,000 times.

Julie explained that the first thing about death that astonished her was that it's believed that people on the brink of passing away can still hear - even when they're unconscious.

'When someone is unconscious and not responding to us we do believe they can hear us,' she explained. 

'There have been studies done where people were dying and they had EKGS on their brains which showed that the hearing sensor was the last to shut down.'

She suggested that you always 'talk to your loved one like they are there,' rather than speaking about them like they've already passed away.

'Say the things you need and want to say,' she added. 'And don't talk about your loved one like they aren't there.

'As a hospice nurse, I always try to speak to the patient like they could answer me back. 

'And I'll talk to the loved ones around the bedside like the person is still there because studies have shown that they could or have the ability to still hear.'

Julie, who previously worked as an ICU nurse, added that she witnessed many people who came out of comas who told her that they 'could sense' what was going on while they were asleep.

'They would tell us that they could hear certain things, they could sense people in the room,' she said.

'They knew somewhat what was going on. We do think that is the same for the dying person. 

'So really, at the end of life it's just about being present, it's about creating an atmosphere and an environment that's comforting to them.'

The second thing that took her by surprise when she began working as a hospice nurse was 'deathbed phenomena.'

The term is used to describe a series of experiences that occur to someone moments before they pass away.

Sometimes patients describe seeing dead relatives, or will tell their caregivers that they're about to embark on a trip.

Julie said she's witnessed some people getting a 'surge of energy' right before dying, while she's seen others 'waiting' to cross over until their loved ones get 'into the room.' 

'[These things] were mind-blowing to me as a new hospice nurse and it still is mind-blowing to me when I see it now, eight years later,' Julie dished.

While she described the phenomena as 'shocking' and 'unbelievable,' she also said it was 'comforting.' 

'Hence why I always educate about it,' she continued. 'I feel like it's important for me as a hospice nurse to educate the general public that these are things that actually happen. We don't know why but they do.'

Last but not least, the third and final thing that stunned her about death was that dehydration 'helps people have a more peaceful death.' 

'Dehydration at the end of life will help you die more peaceful. Why? Because a dying body cannot handle the hydration that like a living well-body can,' she shared.

'If we try to hydrate a dying body at the end of life they'll become overloaded with fluid. 

'The body can't handle the fluid, it won't stay in the person's veins or arteries, it'll seep out and cause swelling and then eventually cause respiratory distress.

'The more I saw that as a new hospice nurse the more I was amazed about how our bodies really help us die. 

'Our bodies will start helping us be more dehydrated because the body knows that the more dehydrated you are the better you're going to feel. 

'You're going to go into ketosis [if you're dehydrated] and your body will release endorphins that actually will give you a euphoric feeling and help start dulling pain and make you actually feel good.'

Julie explained that being honest about her experiences would help people feel less 'afraid' about death. 

'There are a lot of unknowns about the end of life which I think is what makes people feel afraid,' she concluded.

'But the more I've been around people at the end of their life the less afraid I've become because I've seen with my own eyes the way our body helps us prepare for that and the different things that are comforting to us that happen at the end of life. 

'Witnessing death on a regular basis has made me fear it less. Which is why I bring this information to you. Hopefully this will also decrease your fear.' 

Julie, who used her expertise to write a book, called Nothing to Fear, previously posted a video detailing something known as the 'death stare' - a blank look that comes across someone's face that usually signals they are close to passing away.

'It's when someone gets really fixated on a certain part of the room, and no matter what you do - you can snap your finger right in front of their face - an they will not move their gaze,' she said. 

'Sometimes they just stare. Sometimes they will talk to someone who you don't see. Sometimes they'll have a big smile on their face, like they're seeing something that's obviously making them very happy. So that's called the "death stare."' 

She added that the 'death stare' is frequently accompanied by 'end-of-life visioning,' which is when the dying person claims to see someone that they 'love and know' who has 'already' moved on.

'They will sometimes have conversations right in front of us with these people that we don't see,' she added of the eerie occurrence. 

Julie has also posted a video about how the body is 'built to die,' explaining that everyone has built-in mechanisms that 'shut off' when you're close to death to make passing away feel more 'natural' and 'peaceful.' 

She explained that's why a person nearing death often starts 'eating and drinking less, while sleeping more.'

'Why is that happening? Because calcium levels in the body are going up and because calcium levels are going up the person is getting sleepier,' Julie said.

'Our brains have built in mechanisms to make us hungry and thirsty. Biologically, when the body knows it's getting towards the end of life those mechanisms shut off, so the person does not usually feel hungry and does not usually feel thirsty, which is helping the body slowly shut down.'

Daily Mail

Nigerian poultry farmers have complained that several poultry farms are shutting down operations due to skyrocketing prices of poultry feed and unsustainable cost of production, among other challenges in the sector.

The farmers, who spoke with our correspondents within the week, said the worrying trend could lead to a total collapse of Nigeria’s poultry industry in no distant time if not addressed by those in authority.

The skyrocketing prices of essential livestock feed ingredients such as maize and soybeans and the growing spate of insecurity across farming communities are negatively affecting poultry output.

The farmers also lamented that general price levels have impacted the purchasing power of most Nigerians, with an attendant effect on the poor sale of poultry products such as eggs and broilers.

Concerns

In recent years, the prices of widely consumed staple food items have skyrocketed amid widespread insecurity and fluctuating weather patterns (climate change), among other concerns.

Meanwhile, the situation became worse in the past year after President Bola Tinubu, upon assuming power in May 2023, announced subsidy removal alongside other policies that triggered a spontaneous economic crisis and other concerns.

An immediate impact of the president’s decision was the sudden jump in the price of petrol by over 200 percent, with an attendant increase in transportation costs. The aftermath of this became obvious in the increasing prices of goods and services across the country.

In less than two months after Tinubu took office last year, he declared a state of emergency on food insecurity, with the hope of addressing the increase in food prices.

Consequently, the prices of major staple food items and livestock feed ingredients such as maize and soybeans rose from what they were before he took over power from his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.

Meanwhile, the rising cost of poultry products has made the prices of basic protein such as eggs also unaffordable for many. An egg which was selling for less than N100 last year is being sold for N200 and above, depending on its size.

The continuous increase in the prices of goods and services over the past year has made many farm owners close shops, poultry farmers said, and that many others have cut down on their production quantity amidst fears that feed producers might have also compromised livestock feed qualities due to skyrocketing prices of feed ingredients.

Meanwhile, a review of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data in the past year indicated that despite moves by the government to boost food production, inflationary pressure subsisted.

Nigeria’s inflation rate has risen since Tinubu became president. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), inflation rose to 33.95 per cent in May 2024 from 22.41 per cent in May last year. Food inflation followed a similar trend, climbing to 40.66 per cent in May 2024 from 24.82 per cent last year in May.

According to the latest NBS National Agricultural Sample Census (NASC) Report 2022, published last month, there are about 40.2 million agricultural households in Nigeria. Of this figure, the report says only about 42.5 per cent (approximately 17.1 million) of agricultural households raise birds, most commonly chicken.

“While chicken is the most common poultry type raised by more than 95 per cent of poultry-raising households in most of the States, turkey is raised by only 5.4 per cent of those households,” the NBS said.

Poultry farmers lament

Speaking on the recent development, a former president of the Kaduna State chapter of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Timothy Okunade, said people are already running away from the poultry industry due to the continuous increase in the prices of poultry feeds and day old chicks ( pullets).

“There is no money in circulation. The purchasing power has dropped to an unimaginable level,” Okunade said, adding that poultry products are now luxury as far as Nigerian society is concerned.

Okunade lamented that a bag of maize and soya beans, which are essential ingredients for feed formulation, is selling for N85,000 to N87,000 per bag in his region.

This, he said, is affecting the industry because the higher the prices of these products ( Soybeans and maize), the higher the price of finished products (feedstock).

“As of today, eggs are selling from farms at N4,200/crate. I don’t know how much an egg is being sold at the retailer’s end,” Okunade said, stating that a man who has not eaten since morning, or who is probably receiving N20,000 as salary, cannot afford to buy it conveniently anymore.

In the previous year, Okunade said a bag of maize was sold for between N50,000 and N60,000 but that things took a turn due to the economic crisis.

“This is the first time in the history of Nigeria or the industry ( maize/Soy would be selling for N87,000 and above). We thought the worst had come when we bought a bag of maize for N20,000, not knowing that we had not reached anywhere,” the farmer said.

He explained that when the price of maize rose to N40,000 and above, they were still managing the situation. However, he described the current situation as a “complex one” because farmers are being kidnapped on their farms daily.

“You dare not enter the bush now as a farmer as you’ll regret making such a mistake because kidnappers will kidnap that farmer, and the money he/she has not seen in their life is what the kidnappers are demanding,” Okunade explained, adding that most of the farmers kidnapped don’t survive the trauma.

“I’d rather stay and be hungry than go and die,” he added.

The farmer lamented that the high cost of feed has also made him cut down his production.

On his part, Jolayemi Christopher, who runs a poultry farm in Abuja, explained that the rising cost of poultry feed in the market has also affected his poultry business over the past year.

This, he said, was triggered by the continuous increase in the prices of maize and soybeans in the market.

In his explanations, Christopher said, “For feedmill companies selling layer feeds below N20,000, it is either one or two things; it is either they have kept maize for long that they are now using or they are not milling according to standard.”

The farmer stated it has been observed that some feed mills, instead of using 50 per cent maize, only use 30 per cent maize in their feed.

“That is why farmers cannot get value for their money because the most expensive feed in the market is less than N15,000 in the market. So, how do you want feed millers to make a profit with their production costs at that price? It is simply because they are compromising,” the farmer argued.

He said that most poultry farms are shutting down also because the increase in the prices of maize and Soya is making feed millers compromise some of the components of poultry feed for profit.

Christopher, who is also a veterinary specialist, explained that when some of the components of feed are compromised in terms of concentration, maybe where maize that was supposed to be 50% is now 35%, it will affect the farmers in terms of production.

“When they are supposed to have 90% on their farms, they would be battling with 70-75% in a well-managed system,” he said.

“This is the rainy season. It is the best time for these birds to produce because the weather is cool, but because of the compromise in the feed, production is just about 70% for well-managed farms. Other average farms, of which they are the majority in the country, are just managing 50-50%.”

On his part, Onallo Akpa, director general,

The Poultry Association of Nigeria, described the challenges poultry farmers in the country are facing as ‘very bad’.

“The situation is such that has never been witnessed in the last 13 years of my being in the industry. Poultry farms, especially the medium scale, the small and medium scale farms are shutting down,” he said.

Akpa said further that farms that are still in existence, especially the industrial poultry and integrated poultry farms, are also threatening to shut down because of operational hazards.

“They can’t break even since there are difficulties in sourcing raw materials, especially maize and soybeans, as well as other raw materials,” he said.

The farmer argued that the situation became worse due to the regulation of petroleum products (subsidy removal), naira floatation, and insecurity.

Akpa emphasised that the insecurity in the country has made it impossible for farmers to go to their farms to produce and that the prices of soybeans and maize in just one year have moved from N300,000 per metric ton to almost N1 million currently, making it difficult for farmers to afford.

“Today we’re threatened and worried that Nigeria may become a dumping ground for all kinds of foreign poultry products,” Akpa said.

Way forward

To remedy the situation, Christopher said there is a need to revamp Nigeria’s storage facilities across the country.

“During the season, we have everything in abundance, but in the off-season, we’re lacking,” he said, adding that most food-producing states like Benue lack effective storage facilities to prevent spoilage of food commodities at peak season.

“During the peak season, the government should provide storage and processing facilities. We have more than enough even with the insecurity; we always have food in abundance during the season, but they are not properly stored,” Christopher said.

He said the naira should be strengthened to curb farmers from selling farm produce to neighbouring countries in the bid to make more profit.

“Immediately, what they ( the government) can do is to at least import grains and give to farmers through the poultry association and all other associations, and give to farmers at a subsidised rate. If not, farmers may not be able to cope,” he said.

In his intervention, Akpa said there is a need for real practical action on the ground across states in the country to address the challenges.

Beyond the rhetoric, he said there should be real practical action on the ground across states.

“A lot of money is being shared with state governments, but nothing is being done. The government should mandate every state with their comparative crop advantage, to produce, secure their environment and let farmers go into the farms to produce while the government serves as off-takers and then stores the produce,” he said.

PT

The United Nations has again predicted that 82 million Nigerians, may go hungry by 2030, calling on the government to tackle climate change, pest infestations, and other threats to agricultural productivity.

The prediction comes in the wake of a persistent hike in food prices in the country.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s food inflation rate hit a record high of 40.66 per cent in May 2024, surpassing the previous month’s 40.53 increase.

This surge represents the largest year-on-year increase in food prices since records began in 1996.

Historically, food inflation in Nigeria has averaged 13.42 per cent, with the lowest point of -17.50 per cent in January 2000.

In 2023, the Food and Agriculture Organisation predicted that no fewer than 2.6 million Nigerians in Borno, Sokoto and Zamfara states, and the FCT may face a food crisis between June and August 2024.

According to a government-led Cadre Harmonisé analysis released in March, 2024, approximately 4.8 million people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states are experiencing severe food insecurity, the highest level in seven years.

Also, as Nigerian workers commemorated the 2024 May Day, Organised Labour expressed concern about the country’s rising food prices and fuel scarcity, saying that the current situation threatened the survival of workers.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, also recently warned that a hunger riot might soon break out in Nigeria, calling on the Federal Government to act fast.

Speaking recently at the launch of CropWatch in Abuja, the Resident Humanitarian Coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, represented by one of the UN officials, Taofiq Braimoh, said, “The government of Nigeria, in collaboration with others, conducts an annual food security survey. This year’s results are alarming: approximately 22 million Nigerians will face food insecurity in 2024, and around 80-82 million are at risk of severe food insecurity by 2030.

“Nigeria, like many countries, grapples with food insecurity, climate change, unreliable water patterns, pest infestations, and other threats to agricultural productivity. As an agrarian society, our farms’ success directly impacts food availability for our population. Leveraging technology is crucial to strengthening our agriculture sector and ensuring food security.”

He stressed that satellite-based crop monitoring provided real-time data on crop conditions, enabling farmers and policymakers to make informed decisions and optimise agricultural practices.

He noted that the technology could help expedite the accomplishment of sustainable development goals in food and agriculture.

Punch

Fresh queues for Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, surfaced in Abuja, parts of Niger and Nasarawa States on Friday, following the closure of many filling stations operated by independent marketers.

Dealers closed their retail outlets due to their inability to access petrol as a result of the hike in the ex-depot price of the commodity to N710/litre by private depot owners.

Motorists besieged the few stations that dispensed petrol on Friday, particularly those operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and some major oil marketers in Abuja and neighbouring states.

This led to massive queues in outlets, such as the NNPC mega station on the Gwarimpa axis of the Zuba-Kubwa Expressway, Conoil and Total filling stations directly opposite the headquarters of NNPC in the Abuja city centre, and Salbas filling station at the Dei-Dei end of the Zuba-Kubwa expressway, among others.

Independent oil marketers, who own over 70 per cent of filling stations across the country, blamed the hike in the ex-depot price of petrol as dispensed by private depot owners.

National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Maigandi, said that private depot owners had raised the ex-depot price of PMS to N710/litre, whereas the pump price of the commodity at NNPC retail stations was N617/litre.

Maigandi said, “The current situation is a result of how the private depot owners have been selling their products. It has been very difficult for independent petroleum marketers to get the product and sell it in Abuja and neighbouring states, as well as in other states in the North.

“So, the queues you are seeing now are because of the cost of PMS by private depots. The private depots are selling at N710/litre, but if you check the price of the same product at NNPC retail outlets, it is N617/litre.

“Therefore, by the time the independent marketers buy from private depots and bring it to our filling stations, we will not be able to sell our product because our cost price is already so high, while the cost at NNPC retail outlets is far lower.

“And you know that when we buy it at the rate of N710/litre, we have to add transportation cost again because there is no equalisation. And when we add the cost of transportation, the pump price is going to be higher than the N710/litre ex-depot price, whereas NNPC stations sell at N617/litre.”

Maigandi explained that because of the widespread number of stations operated by IPMAN, any distortion in the supply of products to members of the group would lead to fuel queues because major marketers and NNPC stations were fewer in number.

On whether IPMAN members cannot get direct PMS supply from NNPC, instead of buying the product from private depots, he replied, “That is what we have been negotiating with them (NNPC), and they promised us that they will start giving us our allocation.

“They have started, but the quantity is small compared to the number of retail outlets operated by IPMAN nationwide. We are getting products from NNPC, but the volume is too small for our members.

“So, we are requesting additional volumes because, in Abuja alone, we have over 250 retail outlets belonging to IPMAN members. This is just for Abuja. We have not talked about Niger, Kaduna, and other states in the North, not to mention the number nationwide.”

Maigandi, however, stated that the queues for petrol were not pronounced in remote villages, adding that “when you go to the villages, you will see that there are no queues.”.

“But in the city centres, where you have NNPC stations selling cheaper than the N710/litre price, you will see queues there, as well as in front of the few outlets that have products to dispense.”

The IPMAN president said petrol was not scarce, as there were enough volumes in-country concerning what was imported by NNPC – Nigeria’s sole importer of the commodity.

“There is no scarcity. The product is available. The queues are caused basically by the market challenge, as I have explained to you. But as soon as we get products from NNPC or at fairly good prices, we will dispense and the queues will vanish,” he stated.

Officials at the Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources confirmed that there was enough product in-country, and stated that the market had been deregulated.

“It is a deregulated downstream oil sector, so dealers buy and sell based on demand and supply. There is enough product from NNPC. There is no scarcity,” an official at the ministry, who requested not to be named due to a lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, stated.

Another official at NNPC assured motorists that the queues would clear out fast because the company had enough product in-country.

Punch