The richest man in Africa and foremost Nigerian industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is beleived to be planning to turn his Academy in Obajana, Kogi state into a full fledge University with bias for industrial production. Experts who have already seen the proposed Dangote University as ‘Nigerian Havar’ have expressed confidence that when formerly established, it will create the spark for the Nigeria’s industrial take off. The Dangote University is being mooted against the background of the Nigeria industrial revolution plan (NIRP)which President Goodluck Jonathan launched in February and the National Enterprise Development Plan(NEDP). The NIRP is tergetted at increasing the contribution of the manufacturing sector to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the present 4% to more than 10% over the next five years. The proposed Dangote University, according to inside sources, will help the Federal Government in achieving its dreams with a mind set on the principle that no nation can develop educationally without the required educational system in place. Speaking on the philosophy behind the establishment of the Dangote Academy, a fore-runner to the proposed University, the Director, Mr. Paramjit Pabby said: “The philosophy behind the establishment of the Academy is to help get the required skills for our companies which are in short supply in Nigeria.” The Dangote Academy currently runs Graduate Engineer Trainees Scheme(GET), Junior Technicians Scheme (JTS), Management Skills and Leadership training scheme, among others. Also, Head of Management Development of the Academy, Mr. Hassan Salisu, said that the Academy is aimed at supporting the Nigeria’s educational system by emphasizing practical application of knowledge and skills. He said that the absorbed graduates have started adding value to the company and that Dangote Group may not need to shop for engineers outside the shores of Nigeria in the nearest future. According to him, the Academy, which one of its kind in the country, has gulped huge amount of money. Fielding questions from newsmen, the Assistant General Manager(AGM) Training of the Dangote Cement Plc, Engr. Haruna Adinoyi said the phase I and II of the Dangote Academy campus is expected to accommodate about 550 trainees at a go. He said that so far, about 450 Graduate Trainees and Junior Technicians have been trained and absorbed; about 150 are currently undergoing training at different levels; while 300 trainees are expected to join later in the year.
The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned in the strongest terms, the reign of terror and brigandage launched on the streets of Lagos by soldiers ostensibly protesting the alleged accidental death of a soldier who was involved in an accident with a BRT bus on Ikorodu Road Lagos. The party, which described the action of the soldiers as senseless wilderness, frowned at an attempt by a spokesman of the Nigerian Army to deny the involvement of soldiers in that shameful act. In a statement in Lagos today by the state Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, the party said that the untamed and uncivilized conduct of the soldiers, which involved burning many BRT buses and inflicting injuries and pains on other Lagosians is disgraceful and bore danger to the peace and security of Lagos state and Nigeria. The party warned that allowing these soldiers to get away with this act of brazen brigandage will send clear signals that democracy is endangered. “First, we commiserate with the soldier that was involved in the accident and we express our heartfelt sympathy to him and his family. But then, it is an accident and could have happened to anybody. “We do not know the grounds upon which these soldiers went on rampage. From reports we got, it was purely an accident and there are reports that the said soldier did not die. We wonder what can make soldiers, paid and maintained to guarantee the security of the country should go so brazenly against the people, burning buses that serve to alleviate the plight of the masses and inflicting injury to passers-by. We wonder what is behind the raw anger displayed by these unruly soldiers on the streets of Lagos. We wonder what type of training these soldiers receive and we wonder what should turn those saddled with the defense of the nation to persecutors of the people. “We are even more angry that the Army, instead of wading in and dousing the tension caused by this serious affront on the peace and security of Lagos, is busy trying to childishly obfuscate the issue, going by the statement by its spokesman,Olajide Olaleye, who was reported to state that area boys and not soldiers were responsible for the burning of the BRT buses. “We wonder what the spokesman was trying to tell the many people that witnessed the rampage, some of whom were injured in that moment of senseless wildness. “We call on the Military high command to move in and order a full scale investigation into the deliberate mayhem and ensure that all culprits are fished out and punished. We demand that an open investigation be instituted to ascertain the reason for that wild act that endangered the peace and security of Lagos and Lagosians. “We believe that the findings of the investigation panel will go a long way to prevent such ugly incidence in the future.”
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has renewed, for another two-year, at the cost of N168 Million, the contract of Stephen Keshi, the Head Coach of the nation’s senior football team, Super Eagles.
This may have foreclosed his announced resignation immediately after the team lost 2-0 to France last week in the ongoing world cup tournament in Brazil.
Keshi had announced on Monday that he would be standing down as Eagles manager even as he told the players in the dressing room that the NFF had not offered him a new contract and as such would be moving on, prompting speculation about who would be his replacement.
Earlier this week, however, NFF executive committee member, Emeka Inyama, said the federation had not received any formal notification from Keshi. It appears that both the NFF and Keshi are waiting for the other to get in touch, so in order the break the logjam, the federation is proposing a new two-year deal to the coach.
Under the terms of the new N168m (£602,477) deal, Keshi’s monthly salary would also be increased to N7m (£25,103) from the N5m (£17,930) he was earning under his previous contract. It is still uncertain when the contract will be formally presented to Keshi and whether he will accept it or not.
Keshi had complained about his previous contract saying it did not make provision for assistants, a house and a car among other things, so may likely insist that any new one does. It is believed that if Keshi refuses the contract, the NFF will look to hire a foreign coach, who will be assisted by a local assistant. [myad]
Nigerian soldiers have been on rampage since morning today, blocking roads, firing shots into the air and burning several buses in Lagos following the death of a soldier in a bus accident.
The mayhem unleashed on Lagos since morning has been likened by some Lagos residents to the country’s former military dictatorship.
Publisher of children books, Bunmi Ajayi who shut the doors of his office as the shootings were going on said: “they (soldiers) were armed to the teeth. We are all afraid. Everybody was afraid of stray bullets because the soldiers were shooting sporadically (in the air) to scare away people.”
Another witness, Segun Alabi, said soldiers were preventing buses from passing through and confiscating and destroying people’s smartphones to prevent witnesses filming them.
The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for Lagos state, Femi Oke-Osanyitolu said: “the rampaging soldiers have already burnt five … buses, referring to the incidence as “barbaric and uncivilized.”
The soldiers, he said, were reacting to the killing of one of their number who was hit by a bus while riding a motorcycle.
The governor of the state, Babatunde Raji Fashola, is said to be currently talking with the superior officers of the army to restore order within the area, around Ikorodu Road, on the sprawling Lagos mainland, Oke-Osanyitoluhe said.
The defence spokesman did not immediately comment on the soldiers’ behaviour. Disturbances continued for several hours from the morning into the afternoon.
Local TV stations broadcast pictures of the buses up in flames. Twitter buzzed with comments from Lagos residents comparing it to the days of military dictatorship in the 1970s and 80s.
Rights groups have noted since the return of democracy the abuses and indiscipline which have remained the problem of the soldiers, especially in the remote northeast, where Boko Haram is threatening the stability of the country. [myad]
The Nigeria House of Representatives has asked the medical doctors in the country who began an indefinite nationwide strike on Tuesday, to go back to work
This was even as the House mandated its Committee on Health to formally wade into the industrial crisis which is pitting the umbrella body of the medical doctors, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) against the Federal Ministry of Health.
The committee, which has a week to accomplish its task and report back to the House, is expected to find amicable ways of resolving the impasse.
The House, acting on a motion on ‘urgent need to resolve the crisis in the health sector’ moved by the Minority Whip, Hon. Samson Osagie (APC, Edo), urged the NMA and its members to call off the strike they embarked upon on Tuesday.
The lawmakers also appealed to the federal government “to do everything possible as a matter of utmost urgency to have the crisis resolved in the interest of the citizens of this country.
“From the NMA perspective, a number of issues, including the appointment of surgeon-general for the federation, payment of hazard allowances to doctors, retirement age of doctors, expansion of the NHIS (National Health Insurance Scheme) to cover a wider spectrum of the society among others are also some of the issues that the National Assembly (has) passed resolutions on,” he noted.
He expressed worry that the citizens stand a very high risk during emergencies, if medical services are not made available, given the very critical state of insecurity in Nigeria. [myad]
Nigeria’s Second Republic Kaduna state governor, Alhaji Balarabe Musa has said that sponsors of the deadly Boko Haram may be either the Federal Government or bands of thieves in the country or foreign imperialists.
The sponsors, he insisted: “must be either the Federal Government or bands of thieves in the country, who are rich; or foreign imperialist, who have targeted Nigeria for disintegration by 2015. These are the forces we should look at as possible sponsors of this insurgency working towards the destabilisation of Nigeria.”
Balarabe, who spoke in an interview with The Punch newspaper dismissed the insinuations in many quarters that Boko Haram is being sponsored by Northern elders, adding: “it is irrelevant because the so-called northern leaders are not the Federal Government. They cannot control any part of the country.
“They are just elders, who have been identified for their roles or age. They have no power. They don’t even have moral authority. It is the Federal Government that has the legal power and moral authority to face the situation. The highest authorities in the North are the governors.
“Even the governors can’t do much. They are the chief security officers of their states but they don’t control the police, the army and other security services. They don’t even control the funds that could have enabled them to perform.”
The former governor under the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) regretted the inability of the federal government to resolve the issue of the abduction of the schoolgirls from Chibok, Borno State, and the continued abduction of women and children.
He said that this is a show of gross incompetence on the part of the Federal Government, saying that apart from that, “President Goodluck Jonathan and his government went ahead to unpatriotically invite foreigners to solve a problem that the Federal Government has the capacity to solve.
“And up till today, the foreigners have not been able to identify where the abducted children are. Nothing concrete is coming both from the Federal Government and those invited to help.”
He described members of Boko Haram as clearly unIslamic, saying that they are violating the fundamental tenets of Islam one of which is the dignity of women folk.
“It is a consensus that the Boko Haram insurgents are agents that are out to destabilise the country either by the Federal Government itself or some band of thieves or by foreign imperialists. There is no way a sectional group in Nigeria can mount such insurgency as the Boko Haram. They don’t have the resources; they don’t have the cohesion or coordination.” [myad]
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has reversed himself over planned competency test for teachers in the state, even as he recalled the 936 teachers who were sacked over certificate discrepancies and age falsification.
Governor Oshiomhole said, when he met with the teachers’ union and the Nigeria Labour Congress, that government’s earlier decision to conduct the competency test was borne out of its commitment to uplift the standard of education in the state and the discovery that some teachers were not qualified or up to date with recent teaching methods.
“Our insistence on the competency test must be seen in this light. However, having listened to all suggestions and consultations with various groups, government has agreed to set aside the competency or assessment test in order to re- assure Edo workers that it has no intention to sack anyone”, he said.
He said in place of the test, government would introduce training and re-training programmes for teachers and other civil servants with welfare packages during such trainings.
“On the teachers with falsified age declaration with criminal intentions to cheat, government has resolved to pardon them and retire those whose records show that they are above 60 years while those below 60 years are to return to the classroom with their names returned to the payroll and will benefit from the training programmes. Following investigation, the alleged ghost workers in Ovia North East LGA who were found to have actually been on ground will have their two months pending salaries paid,” he added.
Responding, the NLC, TUC, and NUT thanked the governor, saying the prolonged crisis in the leadership of the organised labour as it affects teachers and workers in the state would now cease. They promised to continue to support his administration. [myad]
African champions Nigeria risk an international ban due to government interference after a court sacked the football federation’s executive committee.
Nigerian sports minister Tammy Danagogo on Thursday appointed Lawrence Katiken as sole administrator of the NFF.
The move comes in the wake of Nigeria’s World Cup campaign which came to an end on Monday with defeat to France in the last 16.
Danagogo acted after a high court in Plateau State granted an injunction stopping elected NFF President, Aminu Maigari, his executive committee and the NFF congress from office.
This represents direct interference by government in football, which has in the past incurred worldwide bans handed down by FIFA.
Nigeria were threatened with a FIFA ban in 2010 just after the Super Eagles crashed out of the 2010 World Cup hosted by South Africa.
This was as a result of the federal government’s decision to withdraw the country from all international competitions for two years and sack the NFF management.
The government also called for a corruption probe of the NFF.
However, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will later rescind this decision for FIFA to spare the country.
But later in 2010, the FIFA hammer finally fell on the country when top Nigeria FA officials were dragged before a court.
The ban was only quashed when the court ruling was set aside.
Nigeria reached the knockout stage of the World Cup in Brazil for only the third time in their history after 1994 and 1998.
Last year, the country also won the Africa Cup of Nations as well as a fourth FIFA U17 World Cup. [myad]
The Bishop of Hereford was once being patronised by a great lord who talked very proudly. “I never go to church,” boasted the lord.
“Perhaps you have noticed that, Bishop?”
“Yes, I have noticed it,” answered the Bishop gravely.
“Well, the reason I don’t go is that there are so many hypocrites there.”
“Oh, don’t let that keep you away,” said the Bishop smiling.
“There is always room for one more, you know.”
This is the true position of life. Many people have stopped going to church because of many abominable things going on in various churches. This is core religiosity and not spirituality.
The spirituality of the ancient is today seen as a taboo and is replaced by “me I no go suffer, I no go beg for bread, God of miracle na my papa“. What an error!
The ancient voiced the spirit of unity and agreement; that is why we may accuse them of (plagiarism) copying from one another. They have been the founders of divine reality. If man can forsake imitations and investigate the reality underlying the revealed word of God, they will be reconciled, for reality is one in diversity. This, however, is not to be doubted because there is unity even in golden rule among all religions of the world. The teaching according to which we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated, is an ethic variously repeated in all great religions:
In Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful” Udana- varqa, 5:18. In Ziriastruabusn: “That nature only is good for when it shall not do unto another whatever is not good for its own self”- Dadis-tan-I dinik, 94:4. In Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. That is the entire law, all the rest is commentary.”- The Talmud, Shahbat 310. In Hinduism: “This is the sum of all righteousness: deal with others as thou wouldst thy self be dealt by. Do nothing to thy neighbor which thou wouldst not him do to thee after.”- The Mahabharata.
In Christianity, the same voice is heard thus: “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” -Jesus Christ, Luke 6:31. In Islam: “No one is believer until he desires for his brother that which he desire for himself.”-Sunnah. In Taoism: “The good ought to pity the malignant tendencies of others, to rejoice over their excellence to help them in their straits to regard their gains as if they were his own, and their losses in the same way.”-The Thai-Shang, 3. According to Confucianism: “Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you.”-Analects, xv, 23. In the tablet of Baha-u-llah, 71 (bahai) it says: “Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself.”
Every religion is one. Religion is the outer expression of divine reality. Therefore, it must be living, vitalized, moving and progressive. If it be without motion and non-progressive it is without the divine life; it is dead. The divine institutes are continuously active and evolutionary; therefore, the revelation of them must be progressive and continuous. All things are subject to reformation. Old ideas and modes of thought are fast becoming obsolete. Ancient laws and archaic ethical systems will not meet the age of the revelation of reality and therefore the greatest of all centuries.
All the world over, mankind has honoured the spokesmen of God and has adopted their teachings. It reveres Christ, Muhammad, Buddha, Zoroaster, Krishna, and other high prophets as its greatest leaders. But it has not looked at them as related to one another. It has thought of them as rivals, competing for the homage of the world. Man has imagined that to accept the revelation of one is to deny the revelation of every other and that the followers of any one high-prophet are not loyal to their lord unless they esteem Him the sole authentic revealer come from God. This imagination of man has sought to balance the high- prophet-against one another as it were in scales, so that when one goes up, the other must go down. Thus, the influence of religion which ought to unify the earthmen, has, through a deep misunderstanding, engendered hostility and strife.
The prophets never spoke evil or ill of one another; the antagonism originated from their followers. None of the prophets affirmed that his revelation was final or exhaustive. In former ages the manifestations of prophets and masters did not explain clearly their station. Sometimes they spoke as though they were God himself, at other times they would admit that they themselves were human. Their immediate companions, perhaps, understood the hidden references to their true state, but later followers were confused. These either worshipped them as God or regarded them only as inspired men. Doctrines such as the Trinity were evolved to try to explain the seeming contradiction of their station.
We, in this glorious age, are more fortunate because Christ is here in the person of the Holy Spirit to teach us all things. A casual look at the great religions of the world is enough, if unprejudiced, to reveal that they have much in common. All teach love, justice, detachment from personal desire, honesty, selflessness, mercy, truthfulness, moderation, and trustworthiness. These truths are not just words. When society forgets them, the resulting pain is sharp and deep.
Baha’ is believe that religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and disputes to vanish from the face of the earth, give birth to spirituality, and bring life and light to each heart. Mankind will have achieved the great peace, for which from age the sacred scriptures have constantly held the promise, as we shall soon see. The Bible says: “Depart from evil, and do good, seek peace and pursue it”- Ps. 34:14. According to Lao Tse: “Weapons, however ornamental, are not a source of happiness, but are dreaded by all. Therefore, the man of Tao will not abide where such things are.” For Buddha: “Among such humans, brethren, at Ketumati the royal city, there will arise Sankha, a wheel-turning king, righteous and ruling in righteousness.
“He will live in supremacy over this earth to ocean bounds, having conquered it not by the scourge, not by the sword, but by righteousness.”
Mr. NATHAN UZORMA, a social critic, wrote from Lagos. [myad]
Nigeria medical doctors under the umbrella of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) began a nationwide strike on Monday because the government has failed to meet their demands as follows:
1. The post of Deputy Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (DCMAC) has been circularised and operational. Rather than abolish it, the NMA hereby demands that four (4) DCMACs for teaching hospitals and three (3) for the Federal Medical Centres be appointed forthwith to assist the CMACs whose statutory responsibilities are too heavy for any single individual to handle. Directors in other government agencies are supported by several Deputy Directors, why not the CMAC who is also a Director? Such a DCMAC must have same qualifications as the CMAC.
2. The NMA is opposed to the appointment of Directors in the Hospitals. This position distorts the chain of command in the hospital, induces anarchy and exposes the patient to conflicting treatment and management directives with attendant negative consequences.
3. The NMA demands that grade level 12 (CONMESS 2) in the health sector MUST be SKIPPED for medical doctors. Consequently no medical/dental practitioners should be on that grade level anymore.
4. The title “CONSULTANT” in a hospital setting describes the relationship between the Specialist Medical Doctor and his patient. It will be a source of confusion if the title is applied to any other health worker who statutorily does not own patient. NMA, therefore, declares with unmitigated emphasis that if “non-doctor consultants” are appointed, it will lead to chaos and anarchy in the health sector. This should not happen.
5. Relativity in health sector is sacrosanct. The NMA hereby demands for immediate implementation of the January 3rd, 2014 circular. The NMA also demands the immediate payment of the arrears of the corrected relativity for 22 years during which her members were short changed.
Much as we are not against salary increase for any category of workers, either in health or elsewhere, the NMA demands for immediate adjustment of the doctors’ salary to maintain the relativity as agreed and documented once CONHESS is adjusted.
6. That Government should expedite the passage of the National Health Bill (NHB), and extend Universal Health Coverage to cover 100% of Nigerians and not 30% as currently prescribed by National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
7. Surgeon General of the Federation MUST be appointed with immediate effect.
8. The entry point of the House Officer should be corrected to CONMESS 1 step 4 as originally contained in MSS/MSSS while the Registrar/Medical Officer is moved to CONMESS 3 step 3.
9. Clinical duty allowance for Honorary Consultants should be increased by 90% of CONMESS
10. Adjust the specialist allowance as contained in the 2009 collective bargaining agreement. Additionally, ALL doctors on CONMESS 3 and above MUST be paid specialist allowance or its equivalent that is not less than 50% higher than what is paid to other health workers.
11. Hazard allowance MUST be at least N100, 000 per month for Medical Doctors.
12. Immediate release of the circular on rural posting, teaching and other allowances which MUST include house officers.
13. Immediate withdrawal of the CBN circular authorizing the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) to approve licenses for the importation of In-Vitro Diagnostics (IVDs).
14. Immediate Release of Circular on retirement age for Medical Doctors as agreed with the Federal Government (FG)
15. The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health should formalise and implement the report of the interagency committee on residency training as well as release the uniform template on appointment of Resident Doctors in line with earlier agreements. Moreover, a concrete Funding framework for residency training must be established. The Overseas clinical attachment must be fully restored and properly funded in the interest of the nation.
16. That in the interest of harmony in Federal Medical Centre, Owerri the government should pay the salaries of our members in the centre as agreed on 21st October, 2013.
17. Immediate concrete steps must be put in place for the reintegration of our members back into the IPPIS platform.
18. All attempts to coerce house officers not to join NARD must stop.
19. The orchestrated intimidation, harassment and physical assault of our members in departments of Pathology (Laboratory Medicine) by Laboratory Scientists which is being tolerated by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) must stop.
20. The Endless circle of incomplete salary payment to our members in many hospitals in the name of shortfalls in personnel cost must stop.
21. Universal applicability of all establishment circulars on the remuneration and conditions of service for doctors at all levels of Government must be guaranteed.
22. Government should as a matter of urgency set up a health trust fund that will enhance the upgrading of all hospitals in Nigeria.
23. The position of Chief Medical Director/Medical Director must continue to be occupied by a Medical Doctor as contained in the Act establishing the tertiary Hospitals. This position remains sacrosanct and untouchable.
24. The NMA henceforth shall not accept the continued violation of any of the terms of the 2009 Collective Bargaining Agreement. This is exemplified by the payment of Medical Physicists and Optometrists with OD (who are on CONHESS) call duty allowance using the CONMESS Circular. Similarly, the phrase “Ministries, Departments and Agencies” (MDA) in the said agreement should replace “Federal Ministry of Health and other Federal Health Institutions” as contained in the 2009 CONMESS Circular. [myad]
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Nigerian soldiers have been on rampage since morning today, blocking roads, firing shots into the air and burning several buses in Lagos following the death of a soldier in a bus accident.
Nigeria’s Second Republic Kaduna state governor, Alhaji Balarabe Musa has said that sponsors of the deadly Boko Haram may be either the Federal Government or bands of thieves in the country or foreign imperialists.
Are All Religions The Same? By Nathan Uzorman
The Bishop of Hereford was once being patronised by a great lord who talked very proudly. “I never go to church,” boasted the lord.
“Perhaps you have noticed that, Bishop?”
“Yes, I have noticed it,” answered the Bishop gravely.
“Well, the reason I don’t go is that there are so many hypocrites there.”
“Oh, don’t let that keep you away,” said the Bishop smiling.
“There is always room for one more, you know.”
This is the true position of life. Many people have stopped going to church because of many abominable things going on in various churches. This is core religiosity and not spirituality.
The spirituality of the ancient is today seen as a taboo and is replaced by “me I no go suffer, I no go beg for bread, God of miracle na my papa“. What an error!
The ancient voiced the spirit of unity and agreement; that is why we may accuse them of (plagiarism) copying from one another. They have been the founders of divine reality. If man can forsake imitations and investigate the reality underlying the revealed word of God, they will be reconciled, for reality is one in diversity. This, however, is not to be doubted because there is unity even in golden rule among all religions of the world. The teaching according to which we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated, is an ethic variously repeated in all great religions:
In Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful” Udana- varqa, 5:18. In Ziriastruabusn: “That nature only is good for when it shall not do unto another whatever is not good for its own self”- Dadis-tan-I dinik, 94:4. In Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. That is the entire law, all the rest is commentary.”- The Talmud, Shahbat 310. In Hinduism: “This is the sum of all righteousness: deal with others as thou wouldst thy self be dealt by. Do nothing to thy neighbor which thou wouldst not him do to thee after.”- The Mahabharata.
In Christianity, the same voice is heard thus: “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” -Jesus Christ, Luke 6:31. In Islam: “No one is believer until he desires for his brother that which he desire for himself.”-Sunnah. In Taoism: “The good ought to pity the malignant tendencies of others, to rejoice over their excellence to help them in their straits to regard their gains as if they were his own, and their losses in the same way.”-The Thai-Shang, 3. According to Confucianism: “Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you.”-Analects, xv, 23. In the tablet of Baha-u-llah, 71 (bahai) it says: “Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself.”
Every religion is one. Religion is the outer expression of divine reality. Therefore, it must be living, vitalized, moving and progressive. If it be without motion and non-progressive it is without the divine life; it is dead. The divine institutes are continuously active and evolutionary; therefore, the revelation of them must be progressive and continuous. All things are subject to reformation. Old ideas and modes of thought are fast becoming obsolete. Ancient laws and archaic ethical systems will not meet the age of the revelation of reality and therefore the greatest of all centuries.
All the world over, mankind has honoured the spokesmen of God and has adopted their teachings. It reveres Christ, Muhammad, Buddha, Zoroaster, Krishna, and other high prophets as its greatest leaders. But it has not looked at them as related to one another. It has thought of them as rivals, competing for the homage of the world. Man has imagined that to accept the revelation of one is to deny the revelation of every other and that the followers of any one high-prophet are not loyal to their lord unless they esteem Him the sole authentic revealer come from God. This imagination of man has sought to balance the high- prophet-against one another as it were in scales, so that when one goes up, the other must go down. Thus, the influence of religion which ought to unify the earthmen, has, through a deep misunderstanding, engendered hostility and strife.
The prophets never spoke evil or ill of one another; the antagonism originated from their followers. None of the prophets affirmed that his revelation was final or exhaustive. In former ages the manifestations of prophets and masters did not explain clearly their station. Sometimes they spoke as though they were God himself, at other times they would admit that they themselves were human. Their immediate companions, perhaps, understood the hidden references to their true state, but later followers were confused. These either worshipped them as God or regarded them only as inspired men. Doctrines such as the Trinity were evolved to try to explain the seeming contradiction of their station.
We, in this glorious age, are more fortunate because Christ is here in the person of the Holy Spirit to teach us all things. A casual look at the great religions of the world is enough, if unprejudiced, to reveal that they have much in common. All teach love, justice, detachment from personal desire, honesty, selflessness, mercy, truthfulness, moderation, and trustworthiness. These truths are not just words. When society forgets them, the resulting pain is sharp and deep.
Baha’ is believe that religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and disputes to vanish from the face of the earth, give birth to spirituality, and bring life and light to each heart. Mankind will have achieved the great peace, for which from age the sacred scriptures have constantly held the promise, as we shall soon see. The Bible says: “Depart from evil, and do good, seek peace and pursue it”- Ps. 34:14. According to Lao Tse: “Weapons, however ornamental, are not a source of happiness, but are dreaded by all. Therefore, the man of Tao will not abide where such things are.” For Buddha: “Among such humans, brethren, at Ketumati the royal city, there will arise Sankha, a wheel-turning king, righteous and ruling in righteousness.
“He will live in supremacy over this earth to ocean bounds, having conquered it not by the scourge, not by the sword, but by righteousness.”
Mr. NATHAN UZORMA, a social critic, wrote from Lagos. [myad]