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Mineral resources alone can’t take Nigeria to prosperity – Makinde
Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde, said on Sunday that natural resources alone cannot take Nigeria to its desired prosperity.
The Governor, who spoke during a church service in respect of the 2020 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration, held at Cathedral of St. Peter, Aremo, Ibadan, said that education and human capital development would remain the top priority of his Administration.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted the Governor as saying the no country of the world became prosperous by merely relying on natural resources.
Governor Makinde said: “Knowledge is power and that is why, in this administration, education will still remain top priority.”
He said that the Nigerian Armed Forces has sacrificed heavily including making supreme sacrifices for the peace and unity of Nigeria.
He added: “I want to appreciate the officers and men of the Nigerian Armed forces because you have done well for this country. Your colleagues have made supreme sacrifice for the unity of this country and for peace of the world because we have a record of members of the Armed forces that actually fought in the World War. So, they have contributed to peace in the world.
“So, we know you have taken a lot of risk on behalf of all of us and we just want to say thank you.”
The Governor said the effective management and usage of our natural resources by those at the helms of affairs of this country was the only thing that could take “us out of the poverty in Nigeria.
“And on the occasion of this celebration, when I came in, as I was listening to what the Archbishop was saying, I picked some certain things from his statement. He said that God has blessed us a lot in this country but the leadership has only been managing poverty. That is actually true but I also beg to differ slightly, because natural resources alone can never take any country or society out of poverty.
“The only thing that can take us out of poverty is how we can organise ourselves and how we utilize those natural resources. We can have an abundance of it and we still waste it. As a matter of fact, if we look at the trajectory of countries that have been successful, for example, Japan, they barely have any natural resources but when we look at their people, they utilise the brain God has given to them, developed it and utilised it. Even, they take natural resources from other countries, refine them and sell it back to the countries they got it from at a high cost. So, this is how they were able to take themselves out of poverty.”
The Governor charged Nigerians to emulate the Armed Forces by organising themselves and doing the right thing at the right time, adding that we should look beyond the natural resources God has given us and utilise the talents that we have inherent in us as individuals, because according to him, that is what can take this country out of poverty.
“One of the things that is fascinating to me is how the Armed Forces have been organised. When you go to their function, I cherish the way they carry themselves,” he said.
He, therefore, wished the members of Nigerian Armed Forces and their families a fruitful celebration and pledged the continuous support of his administration.
“On this note, I want to wish the members of Nigerian Armed Forces and their families a happy celebration and know that we are with them always,” he said.
Earlier in his sermon, the Archbishop of Ibadan Province, Most Reverend Segun Okubadejo, appreciated the members of the Nigerians Armed Forces for protecting the lives and properties of the Citizens in Nigeria.
He admonished them to always put God first in all their dealings, even as he maintained that members of the Armed Forces were known to be indispensable in the society.
This was as the Archbishop called on all leaders in the country to manage the nation’s natural resources well so that the poverty in the land could be alleviated.
Personalities that attended the service included the wife of the Governor, Mrs Tamunominini Makinde; the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Olubamiwo Adeosun; Deputy Chief of Staff, Hon. Mojeed Mogbonjubola; General Officer Commanding 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Major-General A.B. Omozoje; Commander 2 Division, Garrison Nigerian Army, Brigadier-General O.O. Soyele; Chairman Nigerian Legion, Oyo State Command, Deacon Micheal Fajimi; military officers, members of paramilitary organizations and many top government officials.
The United States has announced the termination of legal status for over 500,000 immigrants, ordering them to leave the country within weeks, as President Donald Trump pushes forward with what he calls the largest deportation campaign in American history.
The sweeping directive, issued on Friday, affects approximately 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who arrived under a programme launched by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, in October 2022 and later expanded in January 2023.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the affected immigrants will lose their legal protections 30 days after the order is published in the Federal Register on Tuesday. This means they must leave the United States by 24 April, unless they secure another immigration status permitting them to stay.
Welcome.US, an organisation that supports asylum seekers, has urged those impacted to “immediately” seek legal counsel regarding their options.
A Reversal of Biden’s Immigration Policy
The Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) programme, introduced in January 2023, allowed up to 30,000 migrants per month from these nations to enter the United States for two years. The initiative was designed to offer a “safe and humane” alternative to the dangerous crossings at the US-Mexico border, which had seen a surge in arrivals.
However, the DHS reiterated on Friday that the programme was never meant to provide permanent residency.
“Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status, nor does it constitute an admission to the United States,” the agency stated.
Mass Deportations Under Trump
Trump, who has made immigration control a cornerstone of his presidency, has vowed to crack down on migrants—particularly those from Latin America.
Last week, he invoked rare wartime legislation to deport more than 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador, a country that has controversially offered to imprison both migrants and U.S. citizens at a discounted rate.
The latest order signals Trump’s intent to follow through on his hardline immigration policies, raising concerns among human rights advocates about the humanitarian impact of such mass deportations.
Tens of thousands of malnourished Nigerian children face a dire future as lifesaving food supplies are set to run dry, the United Nations Children’s Agency (UNICEF) warned on Friday, attributing the crisis to a funding shortfall exacerbated by U.S. foreign aid cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The agency said that within the next two months, 80,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Nigeria could lose access to vital treatment, while a total of 1.3 million children under five in Nigeria and Ethiopia remain at risk of starvation this year.
“Without new funding, we will run out of our supply chain of Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic-Food by May, and that means that 70,000 children in Ethiopia that depend on this type of treatment cannot be served,” UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director, Kitty Van der Heijden, said in a video press briefing from Abuja. “Interruption to continuous treatment is life-threatening.”
The situation in Nigeria is even more urgent, with UNICEF warning that food supplies for malnourished children could be exhausted as early as the end of this month. Van der Heijden recounted a harrowing experience at a hospital in Maiduguri, where she saw a child so severely malnourished that her skin was peeling off.
U.S. Aid Suspension Escalates Crisis
UNICEF’s funding crisis follows a significant drop in international donor contributions in recent years, compounded by the U.S. government’s decision to halt all foreign aid for 90 days upon Trump’s return to the White House in January.
According to Reuters, the U.S., a major donor to UNICEF, implemented sweeping suspensions on USAID programmes worldwide, disrupting the delivery of essential food and medical aid. The impact has been catastrophic, with global humanitarian efforts thrown into disarray.
“This funding crisis will become a child survival crisis,” Van der Heijden warned, adding that the abrupt nature of the cuts left UNICEF unable to cushion the impact.
Health Services Crippled in Ethiopia
Beyond food shortages, UNICEF highlighted the devastating effects of the funding crunch on health services in Ethiopia. Programmes providing nutrition and malaria care for pregnant women and children have suffered, with 23 mobile health clinics shut down in Afar, leaving only seven operational.
As the crisis unfolds, humanitarian organisations continue to urge global donors to step in and prevent a full-blown catastrophe. Without urgent intervention, tens of thousands of children in Nigeria and Ethiopia may not survive the coming months.
The Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has distributed a total revenue of N1.678 trillion among the federal, state, and local governments for February 2025.
The revenue distribution was announced in a statement issued on Saturday by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Bawa Mokwa. The allocation was finalised at the March 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, which was chaired by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and attended by the Accountant General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi.
Breakdown of Distributable Revenue
The total distributable revenue of N1.678 trillion comprised:
Statutory revenue – N827.633 billion
Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue – N609.430 billion
Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue – N35.171 billion
Solid Minerals revenue – N28.218 billion
Augmentation – N178 billion
According to the FAAC communiqué, the total gross revenue available for February 2025 was N2.344 trillion. Deductions for the cost of collection amounted to N89.092 billion, while transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings stood at N577.097 billion.
The communiqué also revealed that gross statutory revenue for February 2025 was N1.653 trillion, which was N194.664 billion lower than the N1.848 trillion recorded in January 2025. Similarly, gross VAT revenue fell from N771.886 billion in January to N654.456 billion in February, reflecting a decrease of N117.430 billion.
Revenue Allocation to Tiers of Government
From the total N1.678 trillion distributable revenue:
Federal Government received – N569.656 billion
State Governments received – N562.195 billion
Local Government Councils received – N410.559 billion
Derivation revenue (13% of mineral revenue) to benefiting states – N136.042 billion
Allocation from Statutory Revenue (N827.633 billion)
Federal Government – N366.262 billion
State Governments – N185.773 billion
Local Government Councils – N143.223 billion
Derivation revenue (13%) – N132.374 billion
Allocation from VAT Revenue (N609.430 billion)
Federal Government – N91.415 billion
State Governments – N304.715 billion
Local Government Councils – N213.301 billion
Allocation from EMTL Revenue (N35.171 billion)
Federal Government – N5.276 billion
State Governments – N17.585 billion
Local Government Councils – N12.310 billion
Allocation from Solid Minerals Revenue (N28.218 billion)
Federal Government – N12.933 billion
State Governments – N6.560 billion
Local Government Councils – N5.057 billion
Derivation revenue (13%) – N3.668 billion
Allocation from Augmentation (N178 billion)
Federal Government – N93.770 billion
State Governments – N47.562 billion
Local Government Councils – N36.668 billion
Revenue Trends and Economic Outlook
The FAAC report highlighted a significant increase in Oil and Gas Royalty and Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenues for February 2025. However, there were declines in Value Added Tax (VAT), Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT), Excise Duty, Import Duty, and CET Levies compared to the previous month.
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