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CAN Decry IDPs Conditions, Urges Christians To Base Christmas On Spiritual Preparation

CAN Decry IDPs Conditions, Urges Christians To Base Christmas On Spiritual Preparation
By Francis Okoye
The Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Borno State Chapter, Most Rev. John Bogna Bakeni, who is the Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic dioceses of Maiduguri has called on Christians in the state to base the Christmas celebration coming ahead on spiritual preparation and not purely on materials things.
Bishop Bakeni who noted that what is more important in the Christmas celebration is the disposition of the heart , reconciliation with one another, added that joy and happiness doesn’t come from how much one has, but how much gratitude one has even for a little.
The CAN Chairman said these while sharing his Christmas message to Christians in the state in an interview with Journalists on Wednesday in Maiduguri.
He enjoined Christians to see the Christmas as celebration of hope rather than material things not withstanding the economic challenges faced by all in the country.
He decried the worrisome condition of internally displaced persons ( IDPs ) residing in Christian camps at CAN Centre Wulari, Shuwari as well as those in Catholic Centre and host communities in the state, and said even though government doesn’t recognise them because the camps are said to be unofficial, more could be done to see that they are equally treated as those in the recognised camps that has been closed down and the people resettled, since majority of them are also citizens of Borno State.
Bishop Bakeni said “, The IDPs are Nigeria citizens and citizens of Borno State. They are supposed to be directly under the care of the government even though they are in camps not recognised by government, but at the same time the Christian community and the church have been taking care of them as as much as their resources can allow them.
” The plight of the IDPs was one of the issues we discussed at pastor’s meeting held on Tuesday. How to carry them along this festive season, so there are plans on the way by all churches and Christian community to collect items such as foods, cloths among others to celebrate with them. They are very dear to us , but there are certain things that are beyond us in terms of resettlement and going back to their ancestral homes.
” My desire is that they should all be back to their various communities. Officially, the government does not recognise the camps, but we can have conversation with the government authority to see how these IDPs in the care of the church can benefit from the government like other displaced persons,” the Bishop said.
He described the relationship between the Christian community and the state government as cordial, saying that the Governor has been reaching out to the churches in several occasions.
He commended the state government, the Nigeria military and other security agencies for the relative peace the people are enjoying in the state now compared to what was obtained before.
” Having witnessed gradual return of peace in the state, we give thanks to God , and men and women in uniform and all other agencies who are working round the clock to ensure that peace is restored in Borno State and the North-East in general.
” So my message to all Christians in the state is to use this moment of grace to celebrate, pray , share gift and reconcile with one another so that graces set aside for this sacred season will abide with everyone,” Bishop Bakeni said.
CAN Decry IDPs Conditions, Urges Christians To Base Christmas On Spiritual Preparation
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Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised

Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised
By: Zagazola Makama
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), under the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), conducted a successful Air Interdiction (AI) mission at a terrorists’ hideout in the Southern Tumbuns general area in the Lake Chad of Borno, killing scores of the terrorists.
Intelligent sources told Zagazola Makama that the precision air strike, which took place at about 2100 hours on 5 May 2025, targeted a major terrorists’ concentration camp located in the Tumbuma Baba axis of Lake Chad.
The sources said that the offensive was in continuation of a decisive Operation KALACHEN WUTA II, aimed at denying terrorists the freedom to execute large-scale attacks during the Eid el-Kabir period.
The sources said that Intelligence and Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) reports confirmed that several terrorists were neutralised during the strike, and key logistics under heavy foliage were destroyed.
The sources said that the strikes followed credible intelligence on planned coordinated attacks by the insurgents before, during, and after the Eid festivities. The mission was meticulously planned and executed to forestall such threats and sustain pressure on terrorist elements operating in the Lake Chad fringes.
“We observed significant secondary explosions, indicating the presence of arms and fuel storage. Multiple terrorists were seen fleeing the area, while several others were eliminated during the strike,” the source said.
The sources said efforts are ongoing to gather further feedback, as well as to assess the operational impact of the interdiction.
He added that preliminary signs suggest a high level of disarray and panic within the terrorists’ ranks, with reports of attempted regrouping under surveillance.
Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised
News
Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani
By: Zagazola Makama
The Nigerian Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai have executed a coordinated strike on a major terrorist enclave located at Maisani in the Timbuktu Triangle general area of Borno State, killing several ISWAP terrorists.
Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the air interdiction mission conducted on May 4, 2025, at approximately 1800 hours, was informed by credible intelligence and sustained surveillance, targeted terrorists’ structures cleverly concealed and camouflaged under thick shrubs in the area.
The sources said that using advanced platforms, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) conducted a focused Air Interdiction (AI) mission, resulting in the destruction of the identified enemy hideouts and the neutralisation of an unconfirmed number of insurgent fighters.
According to the sources, Post-strike Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) obtained from our Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms confirmed that the airstrike achieved its intended objectives, dealing a significant blow to terrorists.
Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani
News
Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting
By: Michael Mike
As the world marks the 2025 Environment Day, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has appealed to the World Bank for support on capacity building, data and in addressing the challenges poised by Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) in the country.
Head of Department, National Accounts Energy and Environment at the NBS, Dr. Baba Madu made the appeal at the 2025 Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) Conference on Thursday in Abuja with support from the World Bank in. collaboration with the NBS and the Federal Ministry of Environment.
Madu while noting that the NCA was a new area Nigeria must exploit to further boost the nation’s economy, said for Nigeria to grow and be at par with other developed nations, there was need to account for her natural resources.
He said: “NCA has been tasked with the crucial role of integrating natural capital into economic measurement. It is impossible to measure the economy accurately without accounting for natural resources. Issues such as environmental degradation, afforestation, desertification, and climate change all directly impact productivity.
“Productivity in turn, influences output—one of the core components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). These environmental factors must be reflected across all economic activity sectors to present a more accurate picture of national output.”
While stating that Nigeria currently has data on NCA in Nigeria, the NBS official however raised concerns over the huge data gap from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the environment sector.
He said: “We are not doing badly but we need to improve on what we are doing. In terms of data sources, I can tell you there’s a big gap because these are new areas needed to be exploited.”
Programme Leader on Sustainable Development at the World Bank, Vina Vutukuru, said there was need to jointly
explore the vital role of national accounting in national development plans and to brainstorm on how Nigeria could institutionalize it.
He said: “Establishing the national capital accounting as part of the national account system will allow us to measure the economic value of ecosystem services such as clean air, water and biodiversity which are essential for our well-being and economic prosperity.”
Vutukuru commended Nigeria for having “very bold ambitions” as far as responding to climate change was concerned saying, “That shows the commitment of the policy makers here towards the issue of climate.
“But I think to back up that aspiration and the aggressive goals that Nigeria has set for itself, the foundational thing for those goals to materialize those objectives to come true is a very strong natural account system.”
Head of Media, National Council on Climate Change Secretariat (NCCCS), Chioma Azie who represented her Director General, Dr. Nkiruka Maduekwe at the event, described Nigeria as a very ambitious country, stressing that natural resources was instrumental to achieving all the objective of climate action.
She said: “Technology, policy reforms, behavioral changes has a role to play but natural resources is very key because they’re underpinning the mitigation and adaptation for climate action.
“If you look at Nigeria’s NDC, the NCA is an avenue to provide raw materials that we could use to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies.
“If you look at what we have done in terms of this NDC in 2020.which is the second leg of the NDC, we identified a lot of mitigation activities within this mentioned sectors of ours. In agricultural sector we talked about smart agriculture. What is smart agriculture without natural resources?
“We talked about biomass, what is biomass without natural resources? We also spoke about land use changes and that is natural resources, we talk about natural solutions and we talked about also afforestation, reafforestation. Those are mitigation potentials of our NDC. So, we cannot achieve our NDC without SEEA.
“What you cannot be able to account for is recorded as if it is not done so if we know what is existing in terms of the reservoirs we have for natural resources, it can inform the scope of the mitigation activities we’re going to be imputing in the NDC 3.0,” she said.
Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting
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