Discrimination Stoking Poverty In Nigeria

By Bayo Ogunmupe

Lack of enlightenment, poor adaptation of technology and poor telecommunication infrastructure have been identified as reasons for financial exclusion in Nigeria. This lack of financial inclusion caused Nigeria to lack behind its sub Saharan African (SSA) country peers.

Many of our colleagues in the SSA like Kenya, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal are better than us in terms of global system of mobile communication skills education and adaptation of technology. Every telecom company in Kenya has  helped financial penetration through free skills training and financial inclusion.  

Nigeria: In Search Of The Messiah

By Bayo Ogunmupe  

The alert that the occupants of the Bakassi Peninsula will soon become stateless, (being refugees) in Nigeria now, gives cause for concern. This alarm was sounded by the representative for Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the signing of the memorandum of understanding with ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja recently. The alert drew the attention of the world to the displacement of the people of Bakassi. These people are Efiks with linguistic and cultural affinity with Efiks of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Being Nigerians until Bakassi was ceded to Cameroon in August 2008 by the International Court of Justice.

Since then, Bakassi belonged to Cameroon but its residents remained Nigerians. Worse still, the two countries have not been serious in governing the territory inhabited by this people. Due to neglect by the Nigerian government, these people have nowhere to call their country. But evidence abounds that they are Nigerians because they registered and voted at Dayspring Island, Cross River State, Nigeria in 2015.

The people of Bakassi have chosen to remain Nigerians in spite of neglect. This is why we need a messiah to rescue Nigeria from predators who don’t see more than cornering oil money in Nigeria. We need a leader ready to tackle those seeking to balkanise Nigeria to satisfy their security concerns. Like the Jews who are still waiting for their messiah, we should start searching for an emancipator now. We need a leader who will emancipate Bakassi and lift us out of poverty.

Amidst the great yearning for a messiah came the confirmation by the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari that the government of her husband had been hijacked by a mafia. The Senate President, Dr. Bukola  first broke the news at the height of his feud with Buhari over his alleged alteration of Senate standing orders last year. The confirmation of the mafia takeover was a huge blow to us who view Buhari as the much awaited messiah that will transform Nigeria to the Utopian land of our dreams. It means this government is in the hands of a few jejune individuals.

In Memory Of Martin Luther

By Bayo Ogunmupe  

The year 2017 will mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the Christian reform movement when Martin Luther nailed his theses on a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. This Luther decade provides for celebration and reflection.

Wittenberg is a sleepy middle-size town on the borders of Saxony and Brandenburg. Located on one of Germany’s longest rivers – Elbe, Wittenberg has a proud history. There is no shortage of testimonies to the Renaissance in Wittenberg. The reformer, Martin Luther (1483-1546) is inseparably linked with Wittenberg, which is why we should really refer to it as Lutherstadt. But they don’t call it so because people think: why all the fuss about a renegade monk called Luther?

*Martin Luther 

Yet at the moment, it looks all this is gradually changing. Luther, who has always lived on the hearts of Protestants, is being brought closer to other inhabitants of the town and its surroundings. Not least because so many tourists, especially from abroad and overseas go there in search of Martin Luther’s trail. After all, the Luther monuments in Saxony-Anhult have been under UNESCO protection as part of the world heritage since 1996. Luther tourism is certainly an economic factor, not only in Wittenberg, but also in Wittenberg’s sister, Eisleben, in Mansfelder district, where Luther was born and also died.

It was at Eisleben that the person the Roman Church outlawed as Junker Jorg lived in hiding, and in 1521 and 1522, worked on his German translation of the Bible. This was a momentous act, of which there can be no doubt. For many people, the Book of Books is as topical as ever. Sadly in Eastern Germany, during more than 40 years of communist rule, the citizens had their faith driven out of them. Indeed, to a degree the communists succeeded in something that the Christian churches of all denominations unanimously lament.

So the imminent jubilee of the Reformation is coming just at the right time. For this jubilee, the Evangelical church in Germany has instituted a position for a prelate, which was filled by the theologian, Stephen Dorgerloh. The Luther Decade refers to the period up to 2017 the year that will mark the 500th anniversary of Luther’s legendary nailing of his theses to the door of Wittenberg Church.

In those 95 theses, Luther denounced the Roman Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences. He criticised the conditions that prevailed at the time with pertinent references to the Bible.

The posting of the theses took place on October 31, 1517. Therefore the October 31 is Reformation Day, which is a public holiday in the Protestant central German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.