The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) on Sunday affirmed its rejection of homosexuality, vowing to defend the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Primate, Archbishop Henry Ndukuba, made the position of the church known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja

“The Church of Nigeria affirms its total rejection of homosexuality, and will surely stand to defend the truth of the gospel based on the injunctions and ethical principles of the Holy Bible,’’ Ndukub said.

The statement is entitled: ‘‘Church of Nigeria’s Position on the Recent Developments in Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)”.

He condemned recent signing of a letter which, he said recognised and promoted homosexuality in ACNA.

The cleric called for sanctions against bishops, priests and laity in ACNA Province who signed the letter.

Ndukuba said that the letter might have brought the Church to ridicule on biblical teachings about Christian marriage and human sexuality.

“We appreciate Archbishop Foley Beach’s intervention by which the offensive gay Anglican letter was removed from the web, but this has not cured the diseases that have set in, neither has it mitigated the damage this has done by the public advertisement and the changing perception of the ACNA stand on Biblical orthodoxy.

“A gay is a gay, he cannot be rightly described otherwise.

“We cannot describe people as Christian murderers or Christian adulterers, neither should we have gay Christians or gay Anglican.

“Without holiness, no man shall see God,’’ the cleric said.

He advised ACNA to take a clear stand on homosexuality and same -sex relations of all types. (NAN)

The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) said it has harvested 25,000 litres of urine from over 5000 rabbits that would be used as organic fertiliser for its farms.

This is just as it said it is also expecting to get 136,0000 rabbits from the 17000 shared among its farmers in a year, while the programme will be extended to five states.

The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne, revealed this in Owerri, Imo State, at the weekend during the unveiling of Rabbit Waste Organic Fertiliser harvested from rabbits in four pilot states in the country.

According to the CEO, the Authority is expected to harvest 2,142,000 litter of urine within a year.

“The rabbit rearing program was kick off about 3 months ago after Mr President flagged off National Young Farmers Scheme (NYFS) in November 2020. The pilot states for the program are Imo, Abia, Oyo and Cross River.

“As of today, NALDA has been able to harvest over 25,000 litres of urine from over 5,000 rabbit which is to serve as organic fertiliser to support NALDA young farmer’s in their various farms at zero cost.

“All the NALDA farmers who do submit their urine to various collection centres are been paid to encourage them on the business viability of rabbit farm business, ‘Rabbit Urine as Organic fertiliser,” he said

Ikonne further said that according to the result analysis from the laboratory, the rabbit urine contains Nitrogen: 13.3 g/l; Chloride (Cl-): 5.87 g/l; Sodium (Na+): 3.17 g/l; Potassium (k+): 1.750 g/l; Inorganic sulfur (S): 0.163 g/l; Phosphate (P): 0.95 g/l; pH: 5:6

He said the program is designed to engage 17,000 young Nigerians in rabbit rearing, but as a result of learning points from the first pilot phase, NALDA has generated a deep insight into the dynamics of rabbit farming.

“It on this backdrop, that the program will be extended to other states and also increase the number of participants in the existing states,” he said.

Analysing the prospect Ikonne said: “With a total of five rabbits given to farmers on five per farmers bases, in three months, 85000 will be distributed, while 10 rabbits kits per rabbits per gestation period and 20 rabbits are expected to be recovered from each farmer within the same period amounting to 340,000 rabbits in three months, 680,000 in six months and 1,360,000 in a year.”

Also analysing the quantity of rabbits urine that will be produced during this period, the ES said “357,000 rabbits will produce 535,500 litres of urine fertiliser in three months, while in six months period 714,000 rabbits will produce 1,071,000 litres of urine fertiliser and 1,428,000 rabbits will produce 2,142,000 litres of urine fertiliser which will serve as organic fertiliser to support NALDA young farmer’s in their various farms at zero cost.”

Ikonne further said the Federal Government in its efforts to engage more youths in the agricultural value chain launched rabbit farming in November last year with Imo, Abia, Cross River and Oyo as pilot states for the programme.

He added that the rabbits were subsequently distributed to those who indicated an interest in the project to among other things harvest urine from these animals which have been found to be a rich source of organic fertiliser for rice and maize farming.

Ikonne described agro-business as a lucrative venture that requires patience, noting that the organic fertiliser would be distributed to farmers alongside spraying machines to increase their yield.

The Imo State Executive Coordinator NALDA, Mr Amanze Ofor, stated that about 108 youths were currently participating in the programme in the state, noting that the beneficiaries get paid immediately they turn in urine harvested from the rabbits.

Armed bandits have invaded Government Technical College, Kagara in Rafi local government area of Niger State.

Report say armed men broke into the school on Sunday night but met the place empty.

The Niger State government had shut all boarding schools after the abduction of students and staff of Government Science Secondary School, Kagara.

The bandits, who were said to be targeting large-scale abduction, reportedly left the school in anger and moved to a nearby community where seven persons were said to have been abducted.

“They found the school empty as students and staff have vacated following the closure of schools in the area,” a source was quoted to have volunteered.

The source said among those abducted were one Alhaji Aminu, who is the director of Kongwama Table Water.

The incident happened after the release of those kidnapped at Government Science College, Kagara.

After the release of the captives, bandits had raided villages in Kagara, killing four persons.

A total of 11 persons, including seven women (among them two nursing mothers), were kidnapped while cows were rustled.

The high level of insecurity in the country has been a source of concern to the government and citizens but all efforts to put the situation under control have failed.