Gist Arena

T he leadership of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has banned the use of compulsory uniforms also known as Aso Ebi worn at church functions. According to Tribune, wife of the General Overseer of the church, Pastor Foluke Adeboye, disclosed this yesterday, when she spoke at the church’s women’s meeting, which was part of the activities of its 65th annual convention of the church themed “Halleluyah”. Pastor Mrs Adeboye described as ungodly acts by some church leaders to compel their members to buy and wear a particular uniform aka Aso ebi during any church function. She said that there have been reports that some members of some parishes in the church that cannot afford to buy some of these Aso Ebi’s have been exempted from some church functions. She warned that such un-Christianly act of keeping church members out of programmes because of Aso ebi, must never be heard of again among the women in the church, adding that those caught would be severely sanctioned. A

P resident of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has described the passage of both the Administrative and Fiscal Policy Bills for the Petroleum Industry as key parts of the priorities for the 8th Senate when it resumes after its annual recess. Speaking on the issues that will take up the Senate’s time over the next 22-months, the Senate President also stated that it will focus on developing Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit through appropriate legislation; looking at more Bills aimed at repositioning the national economy so as to enable it address the rising unemployment and strengthening Nigeria’s democracy through legislative oversight on government establishments. He added that other issues that would pre-occupy the upper chamber of the Federal Legislature are the need to entrench transparency in governance at all levels, creating universal health coverage law and strengthening the institution of the Senate by ensuring that people begin to understand the role of

T he federal government on Sunday announced that over 2.8 million primary school children in 14 states currently benefit from the school feeding programme. The spokesperson to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, Laolu Akande, provided details of the program in an email sent to PREMIUM TIMES. The school feeding programme is one of the major planks of the Buhari administration’s social investment programmes, SIP. The programme involves the federal government working with interested and prepared states to provide funding for feeding public primary school pupils. In his statement, Mr. Akande listed the 14 benefitting states and said “a total of N6,204,912,889 has been paid out to 14 states during the school year ending August 2017.” Read Mr. Akande’s full statement below. In fulfilment of its plan to ramp up the Social Investment Programmes, SIP, this year, the Buhari administration is now close to its target of feeding three million primary school children unde

S ome people suspected to be gunmen on Sunday, shot dead a policeman and a civilian near Assemblies of God Church, Oguta Road Onitsha, Anambra. A witness said the gunmen had stopped near the Church, adding that on sighting some policemen at the church, they opened fire on them. The source also said the attackers made away with the rifle of the slain policeman. “When the firing became too hot, the policemen abandoned their patrol vehicle and ran away for safety. “The gunmen moved to their patrol van and took a gun belonging to the policeman they killed,” he said. The witness said he could not identify the number of armed men involved. Another witness said, “Gunmen on Okada (motorcycle) shot a policeman and collected his rifle. They also shot dead an Okada man while escaping and the passenger he was carrying was injured. The policeman was the one armed among his colleagues; they were providing security while church service was going on at Assemblie