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The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has mourned former Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, saying he was exceptional son-in-law of the Igbo. (more…)

Worried by the current state of Nigeria, a cleric, Primate Babatunde Elijah Ayodele, has urged the Federal Government to take necessary steps to save the nation from imminent danger.

He said the Nigerian government must work on five areas in 2024 to make the country great again.

Ayodele, the leader of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Oke Afa Ejigbo, Lagos, said government should focus on stable power supply; improve on security/procurement of more weapons; development of infrastructural facilities; agriculture and creation of employment for the citizenry.

“These are the things God said the government of President Bola Tinubu should look into and leave other things for now if the government wants hardship to be reduced drastically in the country. Otherwise there will be compounded problems of hardship.

“If the government fails to listen to my advice now, the economy will go down beyond what we are seeing”, the cleric said during his end of year conference and the unveiling of 2024 prophecies at the INRI Prosperity Estate headquarters of his church.

According to him, the level of poverty with the solution that government is bringing in will be heating up the polity and causing hyper-inflation. If the government fails to reduce the level of poverty in Nigeria, there will be total insecurity in the country.

Speaking on what should be expected in the New Year, the cleric said naira would lose its value against other currencies across the globe, warning that prices of essential commodities would skyrocket during the year.

“I foresee that under the current realities, the CEFA will be stronger than the Naira. Also, the Dollar to Naira will rise to 1,400 naira and this will shake the economy so badly”, he said.

“Local rice will go to 45,000 naira while imported rice will be sold at 80,000 naira; Coca Cola will be 300 naira and pure {sachet} water will be sold at the rate of two for 100 naira.   Biscuit will go to 100 naira; 150 and 200 naira while a bottle of palm oil will go as high as 2,000 naira. I foresee that fish will be very expensive in the market.

“I have not seen anything better for the future looks gloomy. The prices of essential commodities will skyrocket. There will be scarcity of flour, charcoal price will increase. I foresee an increase in the price of cocoa in the international market. There is nothing the government will do as regards Petroleum products for I foresee there will still be increment in the pump price of petrol even as there will be scarcity of petroleum products in 2024.

“I foresee the government in Nigeria will launch Digital currency. The spirit of God says Digital currency will not help our economic woes as expected. The digital currency will only help economy if government agrees to do the right things that will boost the growth of the economy”, he said.

“The Spirit of God says the Nigeria economy needs a lot of prayers for it to be revived. The economic policies and activities need to be well moderated and coordinated in order to achieve desired results.

Ayodele, who has recorded high degree of accuracy in his past predictions, called for prayers for the political leaders and urged the Nigeria’s Governors’ Forum to seek the face of God against bereavement.

“The Spirit of God says we need to pray fervently so that the Governors’ Forum will not be bereaved. Let us pray so that the Governors will not be getting confused or that the Governors will not be trading words with themselves. Let us rebuke through prayers what can cause misunderstanding in the Forum as revealed by the spirit of God. Let us pray so that no Governor will be involved in an accident, be indicted before leaving office or lose any of their aides in terrible circumstances”, he said.

“The Spirit of God says let us pray against problems in the Aso Presidential Villa. Let us pray against fire outbreak. Senate President must watch his health seriously in the month of August, September and October; he must not over do things.

“There will be serious moves underground to effect the removal of the National Security Adviser. I foresee that the current NSA will do more in rendering quality services to the country and the President on security related issues in sharp contrast to what the case used to be. The spirit of God says the moves to remove him will not see the light of the day. There will be serious moves to condemn most of his ways and actions in office. The spirit of God says the NSA should create the Spiritual Intelligence Department to coordinate Spiritual pronouncement and divine directives from God on security in the country”, he said.

Abuja: A non-governmental organisation under the auspices of CBM Global says it will partner the Nigerian film industry, known as Nollywood, and music artistes to combat all forms of inequality against persons with disabilities (PWDs).

The Country Director of the NGO, Ekaete Umoh, stated this on Saturday at a creative art exercise to raise awareness on the inequalities the PWDs face in the country.

“This exercise is all about painting to disrupt inequalities. By disrupting inequalities, we are also challenging stereotypes.

“So today, we are gathered here to see how we can, collectively while relaxing, send out the message of inequalities and challenge stereotypes that people with disabilities may be facing.

“We have said we will stay under this beautiful trees to paint and send out the message that inequalities must be disrupted.

“So it is a way of using creative art to send messages that inequality is unacceptable, especially around people with disabilities in terms of stereotypes.

“This is just the begining of the project.

“So we will be looking at other forms of creative art like music, theatre.

“We are going to be organising musical festival yearly to push out these messages of inequalities.

“And we are going to be partnering with Nollywood to see how we can collectively drive back these inequalities,” she said.

Umoh, who is physically challenged and a 2021 Ford Global Fellow, said the fellowship was about getting people together to organise to disrupt all forms of inequalities.

“So in my fellowship, I am looking at organising people with disabilities to disrupt inequalities.

“This is not to say that people with disabilities have not been disrupting inequalities but how we are disrupting inequalities is what we are rethinking or re-strategising to see how it goes.”

She said some of the inequalities the PWDs face cut across various sectors, including employment, healthcare, access to quality education, inaccessible buildings, etc.

According to her, it is the barrier that they face that is not enabling them to participate effectively in all sectors of the economy they find themselves.

“As I speak with you, how many persons with disabilities do we have as House of Representatives members? How many persons with disabilities are in the Senate? How many governors with a disability do we have?

“Why were they not elected? Was it that they did not participate? What are the issues around their not being able to effectively participate in politics and get representation?” she asked.

Umoh, who commended the Federal Government on the Disability Act passed into law in 2019, called for its effective implementation.

The Creative Director of Potter’s Gallery, Donald Unanka, said the painting exercise was a way of sending a message to the government and private sector operators to wake up to protecting their rights by nipping in the bud all forms of discrimination against the PWDs.

Gabriel Samuel, a visually impaired flutist and saxophonist, said the bright future he believed in kept him moving on.

According to him, tough times don’t last, tough people do; result is what we should be aiming for.

“We should consolidate effort, amalgamate energy to get and achieve greater results.

“Evil thrives not because of the bad persons or the actions of the bad persons but it is as a result of the inactions or counter actions of the good persons,” he said.

Abubakar Sharhu, Chairman, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, FCT Chapter, urged the PWDs to be ready to take up a challenge in any field they found themselves. (Flowerbudnews