Damilola Oyedele
7 November 2009
Abuja — President of the Christian Association of Nigeria and Archbishop of Abuja, Rev. Dr. John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan has said bad leadership and poor resource management are major contributors to the susceptibility of the African continent to conflicts especially religious conflicts.
He added that the bad leadership has contributed to poverty on the continent and a sad fact considering the abundant resources which the continent possesses.
Onaiyekan, speaking at the African Union Commission Preparatory Workshop on Inter-Faith Dialogue in Abuja lamented that the direct contributions of religious leaders is missing in nation building and resolving of conflicts "because they have been excluded by African leaders."
The religious leaders he added are making overtures to governments to get more involved because of the role spirituality plays in the lives of Africans, while calling on African leaders to take into cognizance the role played by religious leaders who the people look up to for spiritual direction.
He also lamented that religions are being presented as bad elements because of the activities of extremists, and their manipulation by politicians to achieve their selfish ends.
He added that there are efforts to bring together all religions to ensure that global harmony is enhanced. Nigeria Inter-Faith Action Asso-ciation, he said is committed to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country. The inter-faith association, he added has distributed sermon kits to pastors and Imams which contain homilies that would promote harmony and peaceful co-existence among Nigerians.
"Religion has been a basis for conflict in many countries of the world. Therefore we have to move from confrontation to dialogue which would positively release the power of religion for good of the continent and the world" he said. "World leaders including Africans are trying hard to liberate themselves from the actions of extremists and politicians who create religious chaos", he added The Archbishop also berated foreign media for their bad reportage of conflicts in Africa especially in Nigeria where they have presented that every conflict has a religious undertone.
Kizito Egeonu emerges of Million Dollar ($1m USD Winner) in Etisalat 9jillions Promo
Lagos November 6, 2009. Etisalat's 9jillions game show which has been all over Nigeria in a five month long series of regional game shows that saw thousands of Nigerians winning high end phones as well as millions of naira has finally come to a climactic end with the emergence on Friday 6 November of Kizito Egeonu, a medical student of University of Jos as winner of the grand prize of one million dollars. The company thus fulfilled its promise to make one Nigerian's dream come true with the award of the singular most impressive individual cash prize in the history of promotions in Nigeria and Africa. Also, apart from the grand prize winner, the company also doled out one million naira each to 34 other subscribers who were lucky to participate at the game show.
The emergence of the million dollar winner was the peak of the promo which commenced in June and had produced over 40 millionaires at the regional game shows held in eight cities across the nation. Over four thousand subscribers were also rewarded with high end phones in the "Win two phones per hour for 90 days" segment of the promotion. Elated Mr. Egeonu, a member of family team of four, who emerged winner of the star prize money, slugged it out with nine other teams which also got one million Naira (N1m) each in the grand finale of the game show. Egeonu's team qualified for the final as the Kaduna regional champions.
Speaking about the promo from inception, Etisalat CEO, Mr. Steven Evans said that not many people believed that Etisalat would give out such an amount of money, the first in the history of promotions in Nigeria and indeed Africa. According to him, "When the promo started, many cast doubts over whether we would indeed give away one million dollars. The answer is standing right here in front of you; xxx is living proof that Etisalat keeps its promise all the time. A lot of Nigerians have also chosen to keep faith with us in the one year of our operations; our subscriber base is now 2million and growing fast, our brand is recognisable all over Nigeria, subscribers on our network have had the quality of their lives improved through the various cash prizes that we gave out during this long promo culminating today in the giving away of one million dollars, the biggest cash prize in not just Nigeria but Africa."
Etisalat Chief Marketing officer explained that the journey to the grand finale began with the purchase of an Etisalat SIM for new customers and recharge of credit worth N200 or N500 for both new and existing customers; subscribers then sent an SMS to the short code, 5000 with their location and full names. Lucky customers subsequently either won a high end phone and/or an opportunity to play at the regional game show. According to him, regional finalists from the game shows as well as subscribers who spend a minimum of one thousand naira monthly and enter for the promo participated in the grand finale.
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