The Super Eagles of Nigeria were crowned as the champions of Africa on Sunday night after beating Burkina Faso 1-0 in front of a capacity crowd at the National Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa to end 19-years of wait.
Pope Benedict XVI on Monday said he plans on resigning the papal office on February 28th. Below please find his announcement.
"The pope announced that he will leave his ministry at 8:00pm (7pm UK time) on February 28," said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi.
The reason for the resignation, cited by the Pope himself, is "advanced age".
Full text of Pope's declaration
Dear Brothers,
I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church.
After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering.
However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.
For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.
Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.
From the Vatican, 10 February 2013
BENEDICTUS PP XVI
The Super Eagles’ victory at the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in South Africa is a confirmation that Nigeria has entered a new era of possibilities, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has said.
This is contained in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja and signed by Mr Olisa Metuh, the National Publicity Secretary of the party.
The statement said the victory was an indication that the nation would surmount its challenges under the current dispensation.
It said the fact that the team won the trophy, which has eluded the country for many years, ``shows that nothing is impossible for the country''.
The statement added that the victory had opened the doors for the nation to achieve other goals.
``It is an indication that there is nothing impossible and that collectively we will overcome all the challenges we are facing as a nation," Metuh said.
The Super Eagles on Sunday beat the Stallions of Bukina Faso 1-0 to win the trophy for the third time.
Nigeria won the cup for the first time in 1980. It last won it in 1994. (NAN)
Urging him to join the 2015 presidential contest, Youth Alliance for Good Governance and National Unity, a pro-democracy group, has called for more supports for the Governor of Jigawa state, Alhaji Sule Lamido. The group in a press stateme...
The Birnin Kebbi chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has blamed the ongoing verification of primary and JSS teachers in the area for the delay in the payment of January, 2013 salaries.
The Chairman of the chapter, Alhaji Zaki Sarki made the claim on Monday in an interview with the News agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Birnin Kebbi.
He said the exercise was “a case of injustice on innocent teachers” because it had been subjecting them to untold hardships, especially delay in the payment of salaries.
Zaki said the claim by the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) that teachers’ salaries consumed the highest portion of their allocation was not true.
The chairman said that it was only the backlog of teachers’ promotion that was implemented.
He said the implementation of N18, 000 new minimum wage has boosted the moral of teachers in timely lesson preparations.
Zaki said that prior to the increment the situation was pathetic.
"Deliberate delay in the payment of teachers salary would not augur well for the education sector especially considering that 40 per cent of the teachers were non indigents”, he said.
He called on ALGON to unconditionally release the January 2013 salaries of teachers “as they were suffering over feeding and clothing of their families that had become difficult obligations to accomplish.”
Zaki appealed to teachers in the area to continue to exercise patience pending when the problem would be resolved amicably.
The chairman, however, said that "the salary of a worker is a right; therefore withholding it amounts to denial and deprivation of such rights".
NAN reports that the state chapter of ALGON said it had discovered anomalies in the deductions made on their allocations for payment of teachers’ salary and called for another verification to determine the actual deductions. (NAN)
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Mali's head coach Patrice Carteron has said the citizens of the troubled West African nation are satisfied with the performance of its senior national team, The Eagles, at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nation in South Africa.
Mali finished third after beating one of the pre-tournament favourites Ghana 3-1 in the third place match on Saturday.
Mali also finished third at the last edition of the tournament in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea last year.
``I’m proud of the achievement of my players. They worked hard to get the bronze medal.
``I think the people back home will be very happy with the team’s performance,’’ the Frenchman said after the match.
Malian players had expressed their willingness to perform well at the tournament to make their compatriots back home happy.
That was in view of the situation in the country where armed Islamist groups have been battling the country's forces - assisted by an international intervention force.
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) says it will install biometrics equipment across all the borders posts in the country, to check the influx of immigrants.
The NIS Acting Comptroller-General, Mr Rilwan Musa, made this know to newsmen in Lagos on Sunday after he visited the management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Musa said that the country's borders were porous and needed to be fortified through the introduction of biometrics.
He said that some of the biometrics equipment would be placed at the airports, adding that it would give accurate data of individuals for the next 40 years because all information would be in the data bank.
The comptroller-general said that the immigration counters at the airports would be increased to accelerate passengers’ clearance.
He said that Immigration officers would be sent on observation trips outside the country to observe passengers clearing in other airports, saying that there would be changes as soon as that was done.
``We are trying to put biometrics equipment in place. The passengers are expected to be given speedy clearance on arrival after over eight hours flight.
``Our intention is to have these officers on observation trips so that by the time they come back, I believe they will improve on what they are doing,” he said.
On the difficulties associated with issuance of passport to Nigerians, he blamed it on desperate Nigerians who want to travel by all means without obtaining genuine travelling documents.
He, however, stressed that the organisation was working with embassies in the country to fish out criminals with fake documents.
The Managing Director of FAAN, Mr George Uriesi, assured the Immigration chief of the organisation's support toward ensuring ``seamless clearance of passengers''.
Uriesi said that FAAN and the NIS had been working tirelessly to provide a conducive travelling environment for passengers.
A Member of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Garba Datti, has advised state governors not to prevent local government Areas from becoming autonomous.
Datti (CPC-Kaduna) gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
He said if local governments were autonomous, the funds allocated to the councils would no longer be diverted by some governors.
"Some of the state governors used local government funds to embark on personal projects.
"The activities of some governors necessitated the need for the House of Representatives to amend the constitution in such a way as to grant local government councils the autonomy they deserve," he said.
Datti alleged that on some occasions, governors were in the habit of releasing money to the councils for personnel and overhead cost only while the remaining funds were used for political purposes.
"The joint account between the state and the local governments is a big joke as it has been bastardised by the state governors.
``If the joint account is meaningful to the local governments, majority of the governors will not be rejecting the proposed autonomy for local councils. There is something fishy," he said.
Datti, however, advised state assemblies not to be rubber stamps in the hands of their governors.
He urged them to desist from taking directives that would not lead to the development of their councils.
He said that majority of the state assemblies lacked the political will to amend the constitution in such a way that would lead to the economic development of their states.
He said the assemblies only voted for those things that would serve the ``whims and caprices'' of their governors.
Datti advised the governors not to work against the amendment of the constitution that would grant local government autonomy by being clogs in the wheel of progress of the societies.
On the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the legislator said he was not in support of the provision of fund for the host community in the bill.
He said that the 13 per cent derivation given to state governments should be given to the host communities.
"I am not totally against the host communities fund.
``But the experience we have had in the past with the 13 per cent derivation given to the state governments was not palatable.
``The fund should instead be given to the host communities,'' he said.
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