Minister Flags Off Home Grown School Feeding Programme In Abuja

The Minister, Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq has flagged off the modified Home Grown School Feeding Programme in the FCT.

Sadiya Farouq performed the commencement of the programme today in Kuje, Abuja.

She said that the Modified Home Grown School Feeding is a National Programme funded by the Federal Government but implemented by the states.

According to Farouq, '' the ministry is working hard with our partners both at National and International levels to mitigate the challenge posed by hunger especially during this trying period.''

The Minister disclosed that she was in Kuje to flag off the commencement of the modified programme in the FCT and to also conduct a spot check of the operations.

Farouq explained that hunger is a serious by-product of this pandemic crisis, which is why from the onset the Ministry has been evolving strategies to facilitate humanitarian interventions in the country.

She maintained that the commencement of the school feeding programme today was based on Mr. President’s directive to the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to liaise with State governments to develop strategies on the continuation of the school feeding programme.

She further disclosed that the Ministry in consultation and collaboration with State governments identified the distribution of Take-Home Rations (THR) to the households of the children on the programme as a feasible method of achieving this directive after exploring several options, this according to her is a globally accepted means of supporting children to continue to have access to nutrient rich foods despite disruptions to the traditional channels of school feeding.

She highlighted that beginning from today in Abuja, this programme will target parents and guardians of children in primary 1 to 3 in public schools participating in the programme.

‘’We are working with the World Food Programme, who are providing technical support while other agencies of Government have been invited to provide an extra layer of monitoring. They include the DSS, EFCC, ICPC, Code of Conduct Bureau and a host of NGOS and CSOS. The Ministry is using the opportunity of the Programme to collect and verify data with the support of CSOs and NGOs’’, she added.

The programme will impact 3,131,971 households across the nation out of which the FCT has 29,609 households. The Take Home Rations will be distributed to parents and guardians of the children in six Area Councils in FCT- Kuje, Kwali and Abaji on Thursday and Friday while the distributions continue in Amac, Bwari and Gwagwalada on Monday and Tuesday next week.

Sadiya Farouq said Lagos and Ogun states are next ports of call before the programme moves to other states of the Federation.

In his remarks, the Nigeria Country Director, World Food Programme, Paul Howe, noted that everyone shares the aspiration for Nigeria to be a country with zero hunger but COVID-19 had really been a setback.

He said the WFP and other partners are in support of the Ministry's leadership in trying to address in a high quality, effective and timely manner the crises of hunger caused by COVID-19.

Howe encouraged more collaboration between the Ministry and other partners to achieve zero hunger for Nigeria. (CKN News)

Laylatul Qadr Is Not a Carnival Night

Laylatul Qadr Is Not a Carnival Night

The manner with which some of us observe the night is quite different from what is expected of us.

The night of power otherwise known as Laylatul Qadr is a prominent night in the month of Ramadan.

It is the night we are expected to seek from the 20th of Ramadan to the end of the holy month.

However, seeking the night requires Muslims to stay up all night observing vigil (Tahajud), remembering Allah (adhkar), reciting the Holy Qur'an and other forms of Ibadah.

However, the manner with which some of us observe the night is quite different from what is expected of us. Some people sees the night of majesty as some forms of entertainment.

This stems from the misconceptions we have about the night. In the Holy Qur'an Allah informed us about the night and its virtues.

Allah says:

"The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months. The angels and the Spirit descend therein by permission of their Lord for every matter. Peace it is until the emergence of dawn."

Literally, this means worshipping Allah on this night is equivalent to 83.3 years. And is the reason why Muslims are expected to devote the whole of the last 10 days to the worship of their Lord.

However, this is not the case in most Muslim communities. Laytul Qadr has a different meaning in these communities as it comes with funfare and entertainment.

The night of majesty has no specific date. The prophet only enjoined us to observe it in the last 10 days and seek it within the odd days of the period. The night comes on the 21, 23, 25, 27 and 29 of Ramadan.

Laylatul Qadr in some communities has become more or less a praise jamz because it has some elements of carnival. It comes with drums, music and food to entertain the guest. Only few hour is spent for Ibadah.

That is not the version of the night of power Allah and his Prophet informed us about.

Aishah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported: I asked: "O Messenger of Allah! If I realize Lailat-ul-Qadr (Night of Decree), what should I supplicate in it?'' He (PBUH) replied, "You should supplicate: Allahumma innaka `afuwwun, tuhibbul-`afwa, fa`fu `anni (O Allah, You are Most Forgiving, and You love forgiveness; so forgive me).'' [At-Tirmidhi].

It is a night to seek forgiveness, praise Allah, pray for ourselves, and repent from our sins. It is not called the night of majesty and power for no reason.

BRT crushes Lagos businesswoman to death, driver flees

By Deji Lambo

A driver with the Bus Rapid Transit , Collins Nnodi, has gone into hiding after crushing a businesswoman , Mrs Grace Okeleke, to death at the Agric bus stop in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

The incident happened on Monday.

PUNCH Metro gathered that Grace, the wife of the Head of Public Relations , Globacom , Andrew Okeleke, attempted to cross the road after being dropped off by her driver around 7 .20pm, when Nnodi, who was driving a bus with number plate EPE 59 XR, knocked her down.

It was learnt that the businesswoman died on the spot.

However, Nnodi was said to have zoomed off and abandoned the victim at the scene of the accident.

Annoyed by the development, it was gathered that an angry mob vandalised some BRT buses plying the route .

Explaining the circumstances surrounding the incident, the family said in a statement that until her death , Grace was a minister at the Redeemed Christian Church of God , adding that the businesswoman was survived by her husband and children.

The statement read in part , “ The death has been announced of Mrs Grace Okeleke, wife of the Head , Public Relations , Globacom , Mr Andrew Okeleke.

“ Mrs Okeleke died in a motor accident on the Lagos Road , Ikorodu , on Monday evening. She was hit by a Lagos BRT bus with number plate EPE 59 XR.

“ The deceased was crossing the road after being dropped off by her driver just after the Agric bus stop, inwards Ketu , where there was no pedestrian bridge, when she was hit by the BRT bus. She died on the spot before she could be taken to hospital.

“ The late Mrs Okeleke, a businesswoman , hailed from Issele - Mkpitime , Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State. She was until her demise a top leader of her town’s women group in Lagos as well as a minister of the Redeemed Christian Church of God , Grace Hall Parish , Ikorodu.

“ Mrs Okeleke is survived by her husband and children. Burial arrangements will be announced later by her family .”

When contacted, the Chief Security Officer , Primero Transport Services Limited, the franchise holder of the BRT buses, Cletus Okodolor, while commiserating with the family , condemned Nnodi for abandoning Grace at the scene of the accident.

Okodolor said, “ We sympathise with the family and we are shocked at the action of the busman. The accident involved one of our buses, with number 344. The bus was coming from Ikorodu inwards Mile 12, and she was trying to cross to the other side of the road without actually looking properly ; she entered the BRT corridor to cross and there was contact.

“ The woman died on the spot . But the busman did not help matters , because he drove off out of fear of being hurt and refused to put us in the picture. Suddenly , we started getting calls that an angry mob was vandalising our vehicles , because one of our buses knocked someone down on the corridor and we quickly informed the Traffic Division of the Owutu Police Station and its personnel were dispatched in the area .

“ When we got there, we learnt that the husband had taken the corpse to the morgue . But during our investigation, we realised that the busman had parked his bus in front of our office and left the engine running, instead of parking it at the right place.

“ So, we started searching for the busman, but he was nowhere to be found and that was how we realised that it was the busman, who knocked down the woman.

“ The driver is still at large and we are working with the police to get him arrested. We have also taken the bus to the police station.”

(The Punch)

Atiku Asks FG To Sell Presidential Jets, Scrap N27bn N’assembly Renovation Budget

Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has advised Nigerian leaders to abandon luxury and adjust to the reality that comes with living in a pandemic.

In a statement on Thursday, Atiku described the reduction of the 2020 budget by 0.6% as “window dressing”.

“It is to my consternation that despite the crash in the price of oil, and the inability of Nigeria to expand our revenue base through the non-oil sector, the FG of Nigeria has only seen fit to slash our budget by a mere 0.6%. This represents a reduction of only ₦71 billion,” Atiku, who was the presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 election, said.

“Putting politics aside, this is grossly insufficient and betrays the fact we have lost touch with the current realities in the global political economy.”

Explaining that crude production and revenue projections have been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Atiku said the 2020 budget should have been slashed by at least 25%.

“How can anyone justify a reduction in expenditure of just 0.6%? We cannot be the only nation bucking the trend?

“Saudi Arabia, a nation with a much stronger production capacity than ours and with a larger global market share, as well as a foreign reserve that is 12 times ours, has slashed her budget by almost 30%. Ditto for other oil economies.

“Any budget slash that is less than 25% will not be in the interest of Nigeria.”

Listing items that should be expunged from the budget, Atiku said the N27 billion budget for the renovation of the national assembly should be scrapped alongside the monies budgeted for purchasing cars for the president and other political officeholders.

“The billions budgeted for the travels and feeding of the president and vice president has to be reduced. Sell eight or nine of the jets in the presidential air fleet,” he advised.

“Leave the salaries of civil servants alone, but reduce the salaries of political appointees.”

Atiku, who once claimed to be the largest employer of labour in Adamawa state, advised the government not to make up for revenue losses by taking more loans and issuing bonds.

Nigeria has had to revise its 2020 budgetafter crude oil, its main source of forex earnings, took a hit on the back of reduced demand as a result of lockdowns imposed across the world to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Don’t Forget Boko Haram And Sponsors In Your Tahajjud Prayers- Zulum Urges Muslims

Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has appealed to citizens in his state and other Nigerians not to forget supplication against boko haram terrorists, their sponsors, and those who support them in any way, during ‘Tahajjud’ (late-night prayers) in these last ten days of Ramadan.

Zulum’s prayer request was contained in a statement issued by his spokesman, Malam Isa Gusau, on Thursday.

“It is expected and rightly so, that in these last ten days of the glorious Ramadan, majority of fellow Muslims all over the world, are likely to focus their minds on seeking Allah’s intervention for an end to the Coronavirus pandemic,” he said.

“Without doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most severe threats to human existence, hence, accelerating prayers against it should be TOP-MUST.

“With that in mind, however, I will like to appeal to Muslims in Nigeria, particularly those of us in Borno state and rest of the northeast, not to forget the murderous activities of boko haram. We have two viruses with equal-lethal proportions.

“Therefore, our late night supplication should have twin-focus: prayers against Coronavirus and prayers against boko haram, their sponsors and those who intentionally support them.

“Without ignoring prayers for other individual, family and societal needs and wants, we should please submit ourselves with absolute faith to continually, seek the divine help of our creator, the almighty Allah, before whom no disease is without cure and no crisis is without solution.”

"Prayers against boko haram are particularly necessary at this time, when our gallant military heroes, together with other security agencies and the complementary support of courageous volunteers in the civilian JTF, hunters and vigilantes, are recording huge victories in the ongoing fight against the insurgents.

“These armed forces and volunteers have earned our eternal gratitude and respect, and they certainly need and deserve our sustained prayers for more victories, their well being and the well being of their families,” the statement added.

Zulum also urged citizens with economic means to intensify support for needy persons especially displaced orphans, widows, relations and neighbours during and beyond the Ramadan.

Nigeria records 193 new COVID-19 cases, total now 5,162

Nigeria has recorded 193 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 5, 162.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control made this known via its Twitter handle on Thursday.

“193 new cases of #COVID19; 58-Lagos, 46-Kano, 35-Jigawa, 12-Yobe, 9-FCT, 7-Ogun, 5-Plateau, 5-Gombe, 4-Imo, 3-Edo, 3-Kwara, 3-Borno, 1-Bauchi, 1-Nasarawa, 1-Ondo” NCDC said.

It further stated that of the 5162 cases of COVID19 in Nigeria,1180 have been discharged with 167 deaths recorded so far.