Given below are the names of the six new cardinals created by Pope Benedict XVI in this morning's consistory, and the titular or diaconate churches assigned to each:
- Cardinal James Michael Harvey, diaconate of San Pio V a Villa Carpegna.
- Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai O.M.M.
- Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, title of San Gregorio VII.
- Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, title of San Saturnino.
- Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, title of San Gerardo Maiella.
- Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, title of San Felice da Cantalice a Centocelle.
History is made today in the annals of Nigerian Church. Archbishop John Onaiyekan joins the college of the Cardinals. In the just concluded ordinary public consistory held in Vatican on Saturday, Pope Benedict created six Cardinals among whom is Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria.
Pope Benedict XVI took the universality of the Church as the theme of his allocution to the participants in the Consistory during which he created six new Cardinals: Archbishop James M. Harvey, Prefect of the Papal Household; His Beatitude, Bechara Boutros Raï, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch in Lebanon; His Beatitude, Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, Major Archbishop of Trivandrum in India and head of the Syro-Malankara Church; Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria; Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogotá, Colombia; and Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila in the Philippines.
“All powerful and merciful father, you are the God of justice love and peace. You rule over all the Nations of Earth. Power and Might are in your hands and no one can withstand you. We present our country Nigeria before you. We praise and thank for you are the source of all we have and are. We are sorry for all the sins we have committed and for the good deeds we have failed to do.
In your loving forgiveness, keep us save from the punishment we deserve. Lord we are weighed down not only by uncertainties, but also by moral, economic and political problems. Listen to the cries of your people who confidently turn to you. God of infinite goodness, our strength in diversity, our health in weakness, our comfort in sorrow, Be merciful to us your people. Spare this nation Nigeria from chaos anarchy and doom. Bless us with your kingdom of justice, love and peace. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen”.
The insecurity state of Nigeria today has become a thing of great worry to the rest of the world. The menace of the Boko Haram group has become uncontrollable for the federal government. The President of Nigeria is now ‘incapacitated’ to handle the group and to arrest the awful situation since all the strategies he brought to arrest the problem have failed. The state governments have all resigned and submitted to the will and operations of Boko Haram and have ‘entered into their holes, since the ‘cat is out’. All these result to the incessant killings of the innocent citizens of Nigeria everyday.
The fact exists that the situation is like this and that fear and tension has become the very companion of the average Nigerians who have fled from the very centres of Boko Haram operations to a self-house-arrest in their villas, wounded.
This situation has been on the hold until about two months ago when the operations of Boko Haram group became more intensive in the country. Reading the handwriting on the wall, one can say that the country is at the highest point of crisis and derange, and as such, needs an integral management and control.
In 1977, a ‘prophetic Nigerian musician iconoclastic evangelist, Sonny Okosun in one of his albums “Which Way Nigeria” posed this rhetoric question which still applies to Nigeria in her present state of high rate of insecurity, disunity, confusion, educational decay, uncontrollable nature of corruption, lost of lives, to mention but a few. 35 years ago, Okosun did not know he was proposing a question for Nigeria in 2012.
Nollywood is the name attributed to Nigeria's movie industry. By definition it is Nigeria's movie industry by Nigerian production teams for the Nigerian people. Nollywood has over the years become a world phenomenon, as its movies are being sold in Ghana, Togo, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa as well as Jamaica, USA and the UK to name a few. The Nigerian movie industry (Home video Industry) a.k.a Nollywood has been typically accepted to have started immediately following the success of Ken Nebue’s “Living in bondage” in 1992. From then on, its expansion and attendant complications are known. However, events preceding 1992 are not popular even although a few have tried to trace the history of Nollywood. With revenues estimated at $200 – 250 million annually, the industry developed in the late 1980's when the depreciation of the local currency made foreign film imports extremely expensive. Today, over 1000 movies are produced annually with an average production budget of $15,000 - $25,000 with most movies directly for the home video market. Shooting time is on average between 10 - 14 days and quality is variable. On average, movies sell about 20,000 - 50,000 copies but best sellers (e.g. Osuofia in London) sell between 200,000 to 400,000 copies. The genre varies from romance, thrillers, witchcraft, and religious. Interestingly, the export market does not only consist of the English films (form about 65% of titles) but films in one of the three major languages appear to be populated.
In an apparent defiance of the pressure by Western interests, especially the United Kingdom, which has threatened to stop its financial assistance to any country that legislates against gay marriage, the Senate Tuesday passed the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill.
Henceforth, people found guilty of indulging in same sex marriage risk a jail term of 14 years with no option of fine.
