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As Muslim Faithful in Nigeria make last minute preparations to celebrate the  Ed el Kabir, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke  stresses that  the essence of Ed el Kabir is to be grateful to God for inspiring Muslim Faithful to know the right from the wrong and for giving them the resistance against the incursion of Satan , who is always out to derail mankind from the path of righteousness.

Excerpts :

The essence of every celebration is for the comity of nations to be reminded of what brought about the event and the lessons learnt from it, in terms of values for the purpose of adoption to correct possible cases of anomalies or aberration.

Unfortunately, Nigerians are a particular specie of Homo Sapiens who easily forget the past to be able to build in the right way the present for a better future.

This year's Ed el Kabir celebration must be a turning point for our society to benefit immensely from its lessons. For example, the fabric of the home is broken in many respects , resulting  in our children and youth swimming in the ocean of sins and crimes,because of the erosion of societal values and norms.

The household of Prophet Ibrahim happened to be a perfect example of trust and memorandum of understanding. When the issue of barrenness was to be resolved, Sarah advised her husband to have a trial with their maid, whom she equally believed would receive the glory and grace of God, which became prophetic, with the birth of Isaac(Isiaka) through Haggar, after 14 years of  patient wait.

When the time was up to face the trial of a reneged promise, a ram was mercifully substituted for slaughtering in place of Ismail, while the grace of fertility was equally conferred on Sarah, who conceived and gave birth to Isaac through Ibrahim's fulfilled promise to God.

By implication, every home must be founded on the platform of trust and transparency, to be able to receive divine intervention, most especially in the times of trouble.

Another lesson is that we must establish good parenting for every home, which results in good child upbringing. This ensures  the products of good upbringing are  the future leaders for the purpose of sustainable development.

Besides this, the lessons of unbroken promises and oath of allegiance becomes prominent, most especially in the aspect of upholding ethical principles on justice dispensation and  related services.

Prophet Ibrahim's stand by his oath of allegiance to God led to his been the father of faith as well as the father of the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims all over the world. What an amazing news of immortality to the family.

During the celebration, animals such as rams or cows that would be slaughtered for the celebration must be free of diseases and blemish, to fulfill Quran  22 : 35, which states that people whose offering shall be accepted  are those with absolute belief in God without fear of future denial, people who are patient with high resistant to the distresses of life and those who do not deviate  from the righteous path of God.

They must be practicing Muslims  as must be evident  in observing Solat, besides this, they must be cheerful givers who live by the concept of philanthropy, before, during and after the Ed el Kabir.

The slaughtered ram must be shared into three, one part for  the orphanages, prison inmates and destitute, the second part for the needy around who ask for it, while the third part is consumed by families and friends.

The essence of this, lies on good parenting, proper child upbringing and the need for good neighborliness.

The underlying factor is the need to uphold holiness for Allah which  is the basis for performing the holy pilgrimage so as to attain the height of piety.

Take note, that religion as a school of faith building, driven by the curriculum of the scripture must get us aligned with our creator for the right inspirational energy to be endowed  in order that man would be able to creditably offer services with the necessary impact in governance through astute management and classical administration.

The foregoing are the import of Islam for all Muslims to imbibe in their day to day activities.

The essence of Ed el Kabir is to be grateful to God for inspiring us to know the right from the wrong and for giving us the resistance against the incursion of Satan , who is always out to derail mankind from the path of righteousness.

This is why the throwing of stones for three days always starts on Ed el Kabir day, so that the grace received by Prophet Ibrahim, his son, Ismail and his wife, Haggar is bestowed on the new Alhajis and Alhajas, to be able to shun evil and other forms of misdemeanor in their routine day to day activities after the holy pilgrimage and Ed el Kabir, to be able to live a just life and create a disciplined society with zero tolerance to corruption.

If we are able to heed the voice of God and His directives, the lessons of Ed el Kabir on the state of piety, to uphold faith, would easily be granted by God, the almighty  Allah.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has increased the pump price of Kerosene with the feeling that it has pocketed and silenced impoverished and disillusioned Nigerians.

This assertion was made by the All Workers Convergence(AWC) through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

‘’Nigerian workers are shocked to hear that the Federal Government of Nigeria is systematically finding an excuse to increase the pump price of Kerosene in the face of poor economy and poverty. Painfully, they are able to do this because they feel that they have pocketed the Nigerians and the labor movement in Nigeria.’’

‘’Therefore because the labor movement is in agreement with the Government, the Nigerian masses will suffer. Kerosene that is used by the majority of poverty stricken Nigerians, Government wants to increase the pump price, when the issue of the new national minimum wage has not been settled. The AWC knows that this is just a bait, and that government is coming up with more worse agenda in terms of the eventual increase in the pump price of petroleum products.’’, Comrade Eemelieze concluded.

Prime Minister of Namibia Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila has decried the  low positions of women in paid employment in the country.

 Kuugongelwa- Amadhila made this position known on Friday at the Namibia Women in Engineering Annual Conference in Ongwediva.

"Women remain at the lowest level of employment and struggle with practical impediments that limit their economic independence and self-sufficiency," the Prime Minister stated.

She  lamented that  Namibia was a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw), the Beijing Platform for Action (1995), the Cedaw Optional Protocol (2000) and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Declaration on Gender and Development (2005),while noting that  the aim of all these laws, conventions and protocols was to ensure that women have equal opportunities to their male counterparts.

The Prime Minister,however, wondered that despite all these effortslegal equality was yet transform into structural equality.

Federal Government workers whose  take home pay are insignificant have called on their various unions to waive the mandatory check off dues deducted from their salaries monthly.

The workers who made this call incognito for fear of victimization, cut across most of the Federal establishments in Nigeria.

They made their position known on Friday in an interactive session in Abuja.

‘’Our monthly salaries are nothing to write home about and for several years our unions have continued to deduct check off dues for our meager salaries on a monthly basis. They should have pity on us by stopping to deduct these check off dues.’’

‘’If you ask us for the benefits of been members of our various unions, this will be difficult to pin point, this is the precarious situation we find ourselves’’, the workers lamented.

In recent times, workers in Nigeria have been agitating for executives of their unions to justify the monthly deductions of check off dues from the source of payment of their salaries.

Thousands of workers have been unjustly treated, demoted and dismissed by their employers, without any meaningful interventions from their ‘’elected’’ executives.

Corruption is the trend in most of these unions, at the national, state council, chapter and unit level, the issue of accountability has been the unanswered question.

To the chagrin of the workers, elections into a sizable number of these unions are by consensus, selection or imposition, with the covert backing of government.

Meanwhile Federal Government workers under the aegis of All Workers Convergence(AWC) in Oyo state on Monday shut the two entrances into the Federal Secretariat Complex at Ikolaba, Ibadan, to press home their demand for immediate implementation of the new national minimum wage.

As early as 7.00 am in the morning, the workers had took positions outside the entrance, to ensure that vehicles and visitors were not allowed into the Secretariat complex.

Workers were noticed discussing the development in groups.

They chanted solidarity songs, while accusing the executives of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria(ASCSN) of trading the demand of workers for monetary gains.

In a chat, with Poverty Line the National Coordinator of the AWC, Comrade Andrew Emelieze disclosed that the decision to proceed on an indefinite industrial action was reached in a congress by the workers.

‘’By the special grace of God we have shut down this place indefinitely and this is the decision of workers in a congress organized by the All Workers Convergence. They resolved that the non-implementation f the new national minimum wage is a set back to Nigerian workers. And until it is implemented the Federal Secretariat, Ibadan and all Federal Departments and Agencies shall remain shut. We are also protesting against the general insecurity in the land, increasing rate of suicide, high rate of unemployment and poor governance.

On the demand of low income workers, Comrade Emelieze had this to say ‘’as workers they have the right to air their feelings, though the check off dues is automatic, if they can pursue the cause to a logical conclusion, this will wake up labor leaders from their slumber. This has proven that there is no more free check off dues, but rather labor leaders must work and account for such check off dues they collect.’’

Workers in Zimbabwe have rejected government's additonal pay of 180 million Zimbabwe dollars($21 million) to cover the seconds half of 2019.

The workers hinged their rejection of the amount on the rising inflation.

The amount which would cater for  309,000 civil servants, would see each worker  receiving a paltry extra $11.28 each month.

The All Workers Convergence(AWC) has condemned the attempt by the Federal Government to unilaterally impose consequential adjustment of salaries on Nigerian workers.

The AWC made its position known through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

‘’The negotiations are not yet completed and it must involve all parties, therefore it is foolhardy of government to unilaterally impose specific payments for specific set of workers without the Joint agreement of the all the parties involved. This is primitive, counterproductive and it also goes against the principles of the international labor organizations as regards the doctrine of collective bargaining.

‘’The AWC is not in any way comfortable with the position of government to divide the rank and file of workers through the nascent questionable inconsequential adjustment of salaries of Grade levels 01 to 06, thereby leaving the rest to go on with negotiations. It is an attempt to divide the Nigerian workers, though government is been deceitful, knowing fully well that between Grade levels 01 to 06 have been concession ed out and only a very few in those levels will benefit from the so called N30,000 new national minimum wage.’’

‘’The AWC supports the move for a national strike by the National Joint Public Negotiating Council as announced by its National Secretary, Comrade Bashir Lawal. Government is trying to hypnotize the Nigerian workers and put them in a state of perpetual disillusionment as regards the new national minimum wage, as it is one story today another story tomorrow, more of a cycle of endless confusion’’, Comrade Emelieze noted.

The Federal Government has proposed a 9.5 per cent increase in salaries for Grade levels 01 to 14, while five per cent increase will be effected for those from Grade levels 15 and above .

However, the labor unions are agitating for a 35 per cent increase across board.

Interestingly, the National Incomes, Salaries and Wages Commission has fixed the salaries of those workers who presently earn below N30,000 and such workers shall begin to receive payments at the end of July.

Recently, elected members of the Federal House of Representatives received N25 million each as entitlements due to them on resumption, while their counterparts in the Senate received N30 million each.

Girls in Senior Secondary Schools in Ghana have been warned not to share personal information on social media.

This warning was given on Wednesday by the Head of Public Relations of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Effia Tenge at at a Forum of Heads of Girls Senior High School (FOHGSHS) summer camp 2019 at Aburi Senior High School (SHS) in the Eastern Region.

Tenge noted that such personal information cuold be utilized by criminals, such as kidnappers, to perpetrate crime.

She also stated that to prevent kidnapping and related crimes, the members of the public be mindful of free rides, undue demands and gifts from strangers.

"Inform trusted people of your movements and avoid spontaneous schedule and also look out for potential threats and people who approach them in hostile environment," Tenge said.

The Polic image maker adviced the girls to ensure that their frienda are known to their parents and guardians, while warning them to avoid late night outings.

She also warned them to turn down odd job offers from people they know

The Malawi Government has for sometime been unable to service its  financial obligations to ensure good governance.

For about two months now, contractors and suppilers have had to put up without badly needed payments from government, which has led to a major cash crunch.

"The prolonged elections tussle, unavailability of the budget means nothing can be spent on without the budget," a well informed source opined.

The government is the major source of survival for most businesses  in Africa's most impoverished but resource endowed country.

Of worry, is the rsing debt of the country, which according to Center for Social Concern(CFSC)Malawi's  debt, both locally and internationally, stands at  about K3.3 trillion .

CFSC's Economic Governance Programmes Officer Lucky Mfungwe says "The research revealed that on average, 14 percent of the budget is being used to pay loans domestically while one percent is being used on foreign loan," 

This development is coming on the heels of violent protests over the outcome of the May elections in the country, which opposition parties allege was rigged  to facilitate President Peter Mutharika's re-election.