PICTURE OF THE DAY

This photo reportedly taken in Indonesia, shows two boys on their way to school passing a group of their peers who are on their way to work. Quite sad to look at!

Grateful and Blessed.

TOKE MAKINWA Hmmmmmm…

NASIR EL-RUFAI’s IMPRESSIVE START TO GOOD GOVERNANCE

Last week Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai held a town hall meeting and rolled out his plan for an exciting tenure. This I must say is a welcome development and it would help Nigeria return to the path of greatness..

Read from him…….

I welcome you all with humility and gratitude to the very first Town Hall meeting we are hosting as a government. It is not yet one month since we were sworn-in, but to the extent that it has pleased Allah to bestow His grace upon us, we have set about doing the work of change that you mandated us to do.

During the campaign, we promised that we shall be engaging and interacting with the public regularly. We pledged that we will provide you regular updates and listen to your feedback, including criticisms and suggestions. Here we are before you today to do as we pledged. As we have started, so we intend to continue, always striving to get better at achieving results.

Immediately after we were sworn-in on 29 May 2015, we reported for duty with the sense of urgency that you demanded. As we expected, we met a state that is broke, and whose schools, hospitals and roads are in poor shape. We knew that a lot of sacrifice will be required to restore the state to good health. This government’s priority is actually growth and development in a safe and secure environment; because we understand that the things that matter are the public goods of quality schools, decent hospitals and good roads; we know that leaders must pursue the creation of a climate that promotes security, social harmony and is therefore conducive to bringing jobs and economic opportunity. Thus our first step was to announce that the deputy-governor and I will be taking a 50% pay cut.

As we took briefings from the ministries, departments and agencies in our very first week, the depth of the financial problem became clearer to us as well as the impact the decades of impunity have had on the mental attitudes of the institutions that constitute the public service. As one astute observer of the situation commented recently, the public service does not serve the public; rather it considers itself as the public and thus serves only itself.

1 LESSON I LEARNT FROM CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

8pm Saturday night, the world…well the football world was all set and ready for the epic final of the UEFA Champions League between FC Barcelona  and Juventus. I had for long waited for this and was settled in, the match was spot on….referee decisions were accurate and decisive from the world class referee Cüneyt Çakır .

The match lived up to expectation and as predicted Barca would take it all, the mistake I suppose Juventus made was placing all focus on Messi….(well who won’t) and they lost other players as Suarez sealed his first season in Spain with a goal in the UCL finals.

On the night it ended 3-1 in favour of FC Barcelona with Rakitic, Suarez and Neymar on the score sheet for Barcelona and Alvaro Morata hit the bulls eye for Juventus only goal.

The biggest lesson I learnt that day was there is always a huge stage to celebrate Jesus. Neymar scored the third goal just a few minutes after one of his goal was disallowed. He knelt down after the final whistle and cried I supposed in appreciation to God.

Neymar afterwards tied a head band with a clear inscription 100% JESUS. Now this is a high level of evangelism I’ve seen in a long time. The estimated global audience was put at about N390 million viewers worldwide. Now imagine how many people Neymar ministered to in the last few minutes of the presentation ceremony. The head band was clear and giving all praise to God. It could only be Him, Jesus was responsible for the victory, and he showed the world the secret of his success. Apparently he had done this since his childhood playing career. Imagine 380 million worldwide viewers reading that head band and getting the message. How many of you give it to God on the world stage, that moment when you are receiving ovation and you have a bunch of eyes and ears looking and listening at you…..would you bring God in at that moment?

My prayer, Lord Jesus, at the peak of my life, career and achievements, when the world’s ovation is deafening loud, help me to always remember you my source. I want to give 100% appreciate and submit all to you my leader. I am just your vessel for expression.

Brief on Neymar

“At the age of 19, Neymar won the 2011 South American Footballer of the Year award, after coming third in 2010. He followed this up by winning it again in 2012. In 2011 Neymar received nominations for the FIFA Ballon d’Or, where he came 10th and the FIFA Puskás Award for Goal of the Year, which he won. He is known for his acceleration, dribbling skills, finishing and ability with both feet. His playing style has earned him critical acclaim, with fans, media and former players drawing comparison to former Brazil forward Pelé, who has called Neymar “an excellent player”, while Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi have stated “he will be the best in the world”.

Neymar joined Santos in 2003 and, after rising through the ranks, was promoted to their first team squad. He made his debut for Santos in 2009 and was voted the Best Young Player of the 2009 Campeonato Paulista. Further awards followed, with Neymar being voted best player as Santos won the 2010 Campeonato Paulista, and also being top scorer in the 2010 Copa do Brasil with 11 goals. He finished the 2010 season with 42 goals in 60 games, as his club achieved the Double. Neymar was again voted best player of the year in 2011 as Santos retained the state title and also won the 2011 Copa Libertadores in which Neymar scored six goals in 13 appearances. He also played a key role in securing a Continental Double, Santos’ first since 1963. Neymar received the Bronze Ball in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup, with Santos reaching the final, where they were defeated 4–0 by Barcelona.”