Even in death, Prophet T.B. Joshua’s influence continues to grow. And despite the 500 million views on its YouTube before being removed, his church, Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Africa’s leading religious tourist destination, continues to lead other African churches in online presence with 5.6 million subscribers on its Facebook page.
The church, under the leadership of Pastor Evelyn Joshua, Prophet T.B. Joshua’s wife, has gained stability and is currently re-asserting SCOAN Ikotun, Lagos, as the leading religious tourist destination in Africa.
While the Ikotun-Lagos is gradually recovering religious tourism traffic with large number of worshippers trooping to the church, the reintroduction of the popular Prayer Line for the sick has helped to boost the community’s tourist receipt.
SCOAN is also showing its perfect grasp of religious worship in the post COVID 19 era with its huge online presence.
The church is currently leading in Africa with a huge presence of 5.6 million subscribers to the T.B. Joshua Ministries Facebook page.
Coming at second is the Malawian pastor of Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) Prophet Shepherd Bushiri’s Facebook page, with 4.5 million followers.
Nigeria’s Zion Prayer Movement Outreach of Pastor Ebuka Obi, a Lagos based pastor, has a followership of 2.4 million people.
Streams of Joy of Pastor Jerry Eze, an online daily prayer ministry, has a 2.2 million followership on Facebook. The church’s headquarters is in Nigeria.
Christ Embassy headed by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome 546,000 followers on Facebook. Oyakhilome is also from Nigeria.
Pastor Apha Likau’s Prophetic Declarations and Prayers, has above 239,000 subcribers on Facebook.
One of the disciples of the late Prophet TB Joshua, Apostle John Chi has above 523, 000 subcribers on Facebook.
Although the Catholic Church has a population of about 18 million members in Nigeria alone, it has no significant online presence on Facebook.
The University of Nigeria (UNN) has suspended a lecturer, identified as Mfonobong Udoudom, over what it described as an “inappropriate affair” with a student.
On Tuesday, the senior lecturer of General Studies is seen in viral videos pacing back and forth in his office, visibly panicked, and clothed in his underpants.
Sources at the university disclosed that the lecturer was “caught pants down attempting to have sex with a married female student of the school”.
The sources alleged that Udoudom had long been in the practice of only “passing female students after sleeping with them”.
It was alleged that he made a female student understand she wouldn’t pass his course unless she submitted herself for sexual intercourse with him.
One of the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the female student planned with her husband to entrap the lecturer while working with UNN security and other students.
The student source further said the security agents forcefully broke into his office and caught the lecturer “in action”.
“It was planned out with her husband and security agents in the school. The female was made to approach the lecturer to offer him money in order to scale through his course. He refused and insisted he needed to have sexual intercourse with her in his office,” the source said.
“When the lady succumbed to his demands and asked him to undress, he was caught wearing only boxers.”
In the now-viral footage, a witness is heard saying: “We have been following this case from day one. We have all the chats, voice notes, video calls, and every conversation he had with the female student”.
The UNN management confirmed that Udoudom has now been suspended.
Okwun Omeaku, UNN’s acting media spokesperson, said the senior lecturer will be made to face the staff disciplinary panel.
“The indefinite suspension is with immediate effect pending the outcome of a disciplinary panel constituted by the university to investigate the incident,” he said.
“UNN has a zero tolerance for sexual misconducts involving our staff and students.
“We are committed to protecting our students from any form of abuse and exploitation. The university management will not hesitate to punish Mr. Mfonobong David Udoudom according to our rules if he is found guilty.”
In delivering this week’s tourism product, Otunba Olawanle Akinboboye, apologized over the delay, which he attributed to his rather very tight schedule, and work on a project related to this week’s tourism product as well.
He recalled that, in the last 40 years development of the tourism industry in Nigeria, he has always stressed the importance of creating tourism destinations.
Otunba Akinboboye said that, Nigeria has numerous geographical and other attractions that includes beaches, hills, waterfalls, historical landmarks and so on. However, it has failed to transform many of these tourist attractions into tourism destinations, which is essential in creating a viable tourism industry in Nigeria and providing employment and economic empowerment to numerous communities across Nigeria.
The tourism icon, Otunba Olawanle Akinboboye explained that, when tourists visit an attraction, they will only expend money at that location if it contains infrastructure that encourages such expenditure. The required infrastructure includes decent accommodation, places to eat and drink, apparatus for sporting and leisure activities, tourist knick knacks and so on.
When such infrastructure is present. it enhances the tourism experience and encourage the tourist (whether local or international) to spend the money he has put aside for his visit. It also encourages repeat visits.
By providing things the tourist wants to use or purchase at a tourism attraction, you encourage him/her to spend, and this ultimately benefits the economies of the communities in the immediate vicinity of the attraction.
Otunba Akinboboye emphasized that tourist attractions, by themselves, do not bring sustained and significant economic upliftment to the communities in which they are located. It is only when such attractions have been transformed into tourism destinations that their adjacent communities can truly take advantage of the economic advantages they give rise to.
Otunba Akinboboye mentioned that in Nigeria there are 774 Local Government Areas. He also noted that each local government area contains at least one potential tourism attraction which, if properly presented and managed, could become a tourism destination.
While there may be a fear that transforming so many attractions into destinations would be extremely expensive, Otunba Akinboboye is of the view that the current world focus on Eco – tourism means that countries like Nigeria could build tourism destinations that are targeted at eco tourists, and which can leverage off traditional architecture and used equipment for sports and activities that has a traditional bent.
This would give our tourism destinations an African ambiance and promote our culture in a manner that would appeal to international tourists that are focused on obtaining new and unique experiences through tourism.
In support of his thinking, Otunba Akinboboye pointed to the rise of luxury camping trips or glamping in Europe and in Kenya. This involved the use of tent as accommodation. He also spoke about the thousands of European tourists that backpacked through Asia and stayed in fairly basic accommodation so they could experience something new.
Otunba Akinboboye then spoke about his experience developing a tourism attraction into a tourism destination. He noted that when he first came across attraction, it consisted of a site bordered by the ocean and which contained both a lagoon and mangrove forest. Although those three natural features were interesting, they would not have attracted the tourism traffic required to make them economically beneficial.
He therefore weaved a Resort – La Campagne Tropicana – around these natural attractions. In particular he built unique accommodation, installed sporting facilities and made provision for African centrex entertainment. By doing this, he transformed these natural attractions into a tourism destination which local and international tourists could visit for recreation.
Otunba Akinboboye noted that the transformation of these attractions to a tourism destination provided economic benefits for the surrounding communities. The Resort employs workers from the surrounding villages and therefore generate employment for young people who otherwise would have migrated to the city. The closest village; Ikegun, which, when the Resort was first founded, could d only boast of 4 concrete structures now counts its concrete houses in hundreds and even has its own petrol station.
Otunba Akinboboye mentioned that he was currently transforming a tourism attraction in Ondo town, Ondo, which consists of rocky hills, caves and forest, into a tourism destination, which will take the form of Resort.
He mention that the Resort, which was nearing completion, made use of the the caves to create a unique ‘restaurant’ and‘ night club’, which unlike other so called cave restaurants was completely natural not man made.
The Resort also provide accommodation that is aligned to the Afrocentric architecture used by the La Campagne brand.
It was anticipated that visitors to the Ondo Resort would be able to hike in the forest, while swimming in the pools that form part of the Resort and playing tennis on its tennis court.
Otunba Akinboboye noted that in line with the operating procedures he adopted, while transforming tourism attractions to tourism destination, which he refers to as SCC – Structure – Culture and Clientele – he would now be focusing on generating clientele for the new Resort.
He mentioned that the Ondo Resort would be hosting an Asun Carnival on 27 April 2024. This carnival leverages off and celebrates ‘Asun’ a popular culinary item synonymous with the people of Ondo.
The carnival will feature colourful costumes, street dancing and plenty of opportunities to eat Asun.
The tourism icon said, he will be happy to host any of our readers who would like to visit the Resort and participate in the Asun carnival on 27 April 2024, which is coincidentally the day on which the Resort will be officially declared open.
We hope you have enjoyed hearing about the creation of tourism destination from a tourism guru and we look forward to further opportunities to benefit from his wealth of experience on growing tourism in Nigeria.
Embattled cross-dresser, Idris Olanrewaju Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky, has appealed against the six months imprisonment imposed on him by the Federal High Court in Lagos which convicted him of charges of abuse of naira.
In the appeal lodged on his behalf by his lawyer, Bimbo Kusanu, Bobrisky wants the Court of Appeal to convert the six-month imprisonment to N50,000 fine on each of the four counts he was convicted of.
Justice Abimbola Awogboro had on April 12, 2024, sentenced Bobrisky, to six months imprisonment without an option fine for abusing the naira by spraying the currency at a party, leading to mutilation.
Bobrisky had on April 5, 2024, pleaded guilty to four counts of abuse of the naira preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The judge, while sentencing the cross-dresser, said the judgment would serve as a deterrent to others who are fond of abusing and mutilating the naira.
However, in his Notice of Appeal filed before the Appeal Court, the cross-dresser urged the appellate court to consider the fact that he has no previous record of criminal conviction.
He averred that the sentence imposed by the trial court against him was punitive contrary to the mandatory provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law on sentencing.
He stated that the trial court did not consider the positive antecedent of the appellant, who did not waste the precious judicial resources of the trial court, when he pleaded guilty to the charge.
He also noted that he honoured the invitation of the EFCC on the first invitation during the investigation leading to the charge.
“The sentence of the lower court that imposed the maximum penalty of six months imprisonment without option of fine on the appellant, who is a first-time convict without a previous record of criminal conviction, is harsh.
“The learned trial judge erred in law and facts by his imposition of the maximum sentence of six months imprisonment terms against the appellant without the option of fine contrary to the provisions of Section 416(2) (d) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015 that prescribed the mandatory guidelines on the trial court on imposition of sentencing after criminal conviction of a first time offender as the appellant.
“The trial court imposed the maximum sentence on the appellant, who has no previous record criminal of conviction, when there are options to impose a lesser sentence by the provisions of the ADCJA.
“The sentence imposed by the trial court against the appellant is punitive contrary to the mandatory provisions of the law on sentencing.
“The appellant has suffered a miscarriage of justice by the maximum sentence imposed by the learned trial court.
“The reasons adduced by the learned trial court for the imposition of maximum punishment on the appellant, which is essentially on what foreigners think of abuse of naira, is perverse and is out of tune with the reality of what the trial court should have been considered to impose maximum punishment on the appellant.
“The intendment of the provisions of the Central Bank Act 2007 that the appellant was charged with is for Nigerians not to tamper with naira and not what nationals of foreign countries view about tampering with naira.
“The trial court did not consider the positive antecedent of the appellant, who did not waste the precious judicial resources of the trial court when he pleaded guilty to the charge. The appellant honoured the invitation of the respondent, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on the first invitation during the investigation leading to the charge.
“The trial court failed to exercise his discretion judiciously and judicially in sentencing the appellant which has occasioned a miscarriage of justice against the appellant.”
