Saudi arms dealer, Adnan Khashoggi, a businessman once worth billions of dollars and renowned for his lavish lifestyle, has died at the age of 82, his family said.

Hailed for his “elegance, strength and dignity” by loved ones, the tycoon, the uncle of Dodi Fayed, was said to have been undergoing treatment for Parkinson’s disease.

He died in London on Tuesday, according to a family statement.

“It is with deep sadness that the Khashoggi family must announce that our beloved father, Adnan Khashoggi, aged 82, died peacefully today in London while being treated for Parkinson’s disease,” the family said.

“He lived his last days surrounded by his devoted family, children and grandchildren, with the same elegance, strength and dignity that characterised his remarkable life.

“He is survived by his wife, Lamia.”

At the peak of his wealth in the 1970s, Mr. Khashoggi was estimated to be worth £2.4bn.

But the Mirror has previously reported that, for almost two decades, he held the record for the most expensive divorce settlement in history.

When his marriage to wife Soraya broke down, she sued for £1.5bn.

While she didn’t get near that amount, she still walked away with a cool £500m.

His wealth was built after years of forging deals across the globe with giants of the defence industry, including the Lockheed Corporation.

With the vast fortune came a reputation for extravagance, characterised by parties which sometimes ran for days.

On one occasion, the Stanford-educated magnate held a party in Istanbul for actress Liz Taylor after her cancer operation, while reportedly hiring rock band Queen to play another.

In 1987, Mr. Khashoggi appeared on the front cover of Time magazine below the headline: “Those Shadowy Arms Traders: Adnan Khashoggi’s High Life and Flashy Deals.”

Financial turbulence followed, however, and the arms dealer was forced to sell off relics of his flamboyant existence.

This included the super yacht, Nabila, which eventually ended up in the hands of now-US president Donald Trump, according to reports.

According to his biographer, the billionaire’s 50th birthday was a party to remember –- complete with several refrigerator trucks parked outside to cool the champagne.

Brooke Shields and Sean Connery were there. One of his brothers gave him a lion cub. Shirley Bassey sang ‘happy birthday.’

And the birthday cake featured a gold crown made out of sugar after his chef had flown to the Louvre to study Louis XIV’s coronation crown, Gentleman’s Journal reports.

Just last month, it was reported one of his “bevy of beautiful girls” was releasing a memoir today, June 6.

The Inequality report released by Oxfam International, on Wednesday, revealed that the combined wealth of five richest Nigerians put at $29.9bn could end extreme poverty in the country.

The report, entitled ‘Inequality in Nigeria, Exploring the Drivers and obtained in Abuja, exposed the large and growing gap between the rich and poor in Nigeria.

It revealed that the benefits of the nation’s economic growth had been captured by a few wealthy elite at the expense of the ordinary Nigerians.

According to the report, the economic inequality is a key factor in the conflict in the North-Eastern states of the country.

Oxfam International also disclosed that Nigeria’s richest man earned 8,000 times more in one day than a poor Nigerian would spend on basic needs in a year.

It said that more than 112 million people were living in poverty in Nigeria, yet the country’s richest man spent $1m a day for 42 years to exhaust his fortune.

According to the report, Nigeria is one of the few countries where the number of people living in poverty is on the increase despite the growth of the economy.

The report also indicated that 69 percent of people now live below the poverty line in North-Eastern states, compared to the 49 percent in the South-West.

It also showed that women were not being captured on the benefits of economic growth because they tended to be employed in low-skilled, low-paid informal jobs.

According to the organisation, women represent between 60 percent and 79 percent of Nigeria’s rural labour force but are five times less likely to own their own land than men.

It further stated that women were also less likely to have had a decent education, noting that over three-quarter of the poorest women in Nigeria had never been to school.

The report said that poor people did not benefit from Nigeria’s wealth because of the high level of corruption and the excessive influence big business and some wealthy elite had over government and policy making.

According to the report, public office holders steal estimated $20tn from the treasury between 1960 and 2005, while multinational companies receive tax incentives estimated at $2.9bn a year.

This development it said was three times more than Nigeria’s entire health budget.

It further revealed that small and medium size businesses and workers in the informal sector, however, faced multiple taxes.

“Despite being Africa’s biggest economy, the share of the national budget allocated to education, health and social protection is one of the lowest in the region.

“In 2012, Nigeria spent just 6.5 percent of its national budget on education and just 3.5 per cent on health.

“By comparison, Ghana spent 18.5 per cent and 12.8 per cent, respectively in 2015.

‘’As a result, 57 million Nigerians lack safe water, over 130 million lack adequate sanitation and the country has more than 10 million children out of school.“ it stated.

Commenting on the report, Mr Celestine Odo, Good Governance Programme Coordinator for Oxfam in Nigeria, said extreme inequality was undermining the economy and fermenting social unrest.

According to him, Nigerian leaders must be more determined to tackle this terrible problem.

Odo said that it was an irony that Nigerians were living in poverty in spite the abundance of wealth in the country.

He said it was important to free millions of Nigerians from poverty by building a new political and economic system that would work for everyone and not just a fortunate few.

“The government can make a start by tackling corruption, ensuring big business and wealthy individuals pay their fair share of tax, investing in vital public services, and protecting the rights of women.”

(NAN)

Lewis Hamilton is still the richest sportsman in the UK but Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a close second after he gatecrashed the top 10 of the new Sunday Times Rich List.

Mercedes Formula One driver Hamilton, who is bidding to win his fourth World Championship this year, has a £131m  fortune and has seen his wealth increase by £25m in the past 12 months.

Ibrahimovic, United’s 35-year-old Swedish striker, leapfrogged teammate Wayne Rooney to become the richest footballer on the list after he joined the English side in July last year.

The imposing forward has a wealth of £110m after more than a decade playing for Europe’s elite clubs including PSG, AC Milan, Barcelona, Juventus and Inter Milan and a lucrative long-term endorsement deal with Nike.

Formula One’s Jenson Button and golfer Rory McIlroy make up the top five with wealth of £86m and £82m respectively.

McIlroy’s fortune rose by £26m in the past 12 months, the biggest rise on the list, while Button’s personal fortune grew by £9m even though he handed over his McLaren seat at the end of last season.

Football is the best-represented sport in the top 10, with five of the wealthiest sports people either players or managers.

Rooney (£93m, up £11m) is third, while Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is in seventh place (£61m) and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola equal ninth (£50m).

Wales and Real Madrid striker Gareth Bale has seen his wealth rise by £20m in the last year to a total of £54m, to place him eighth in the top 10.

The world’s richest man, Mr. Bill Gates, with a net worth of $87.2bn as stated by Forbes, has been sighted taking a ride in a tricycle popularly called Keke Napep or Keke Marwa in Nigeria.

The multibillionaire was on one of his yearly visits to India when he took the joy ride.

See the photograph, which earned a whopping 19,180,694 likes, as posted on his Facebook wall:

Bill Gates in the tricycle. To the right is another tricycle driver doing his own business. Photo: Bill Gates on Facebook

Azuka Onwuka

Recently, a friend asked me why those who have enough money to take care of a community die earlier than those who just have enough to feed their families. I looked around my native community and noticed that many of the wealthy and moderately comfortable people passed on either in their prime or in early old age. But there are many people in the lower financial class that have lived into good old age.

That got me thinking. In the rural and semi-urban societies, it seems rich people die earlier than poor people, especially in Nigeria, despite access to better health care. It also seems that poor people look stronger and healthier than rich people at old age. Looking at the lifestyle of those who have made it to ripe old age, I noticed that there is a trend.

The type of food eaten by the two classes of people may be a factor. The food eaten by those on the lower class is more natural. Anxiety and lack of contentment may also be strong factors. Those who are richer have more worries and they exert themselves more to get more wealth or maintain their level of wealth.

But my discussion with doctors and my research also reveal that there is one key factor. That factor exercise! Poor people and those who are barely financially comfortable, especially in rural areas, engage in activities that exercise their body, like walking, farming, splitting wood, cutting grass, fetching water from the stream (that may be up to three kilometres away), dancing, sweeping, cleaning the house, etc. So, they exercise their bodies unconsciously. On the contrary, rich people drive around in cars, have servants and workers who do most of their domestic and office duties. So, they sit down most times either in the office or at home. They end up fatter.

Urbanisation has changed our lifestyles. It has changed the organic foods like yam, beans, millet, as well as the fruits and vegetables we used to eat on a daily basis. Our food is now less organic and more fried. The availability of cars and motorcycles has also made us not to walk around much. But the heart and the body need to be exercised. The solution is that we should create opportunities to exercise them regularly.

10 reasons why you need to exercise

1. Exercise reduces the risk of premature death, especially through heart diseases and stroke. Exercising helps to strengthen your heart muscle, raise your high-density lipoprotein (good cholesterol) levels and lower your low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) levels. It also improves blood flow in your body and increases your heart’s working capacity. From conception till death, the heart never rests for a minute, even when you are asleep. Unlike our generators and car engines, the heart is never serviced by any engineer. When you exercise, you are servicing the heart for greater and longer performance.
2. It reduces the risk of developing diabetes. Because exercise reduces the fat in the body, this helps to prevent the development of non-insulin-dependent diabetes. In people who already have this type of diabetes, exercise also helps to control it.
3. It reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure. Exercise can reduce the blood pressure. Because exercise reduces body fatness, which is associated with high blood pressure, it is also an enemy of high blood pressure. It also helps to control high blood pressure in people who already have it.
4. It reduces the risk of developing colon cancer.
5. It boosts your energy and sex life. Doctors say that when you exercise, oxygen and nutrients are delivered to your tissues. Regular exercise helps the circulation of blood through your heart, and blood vessels work more efficiently. When your heart and lungs work more efficiently, that means more energy to you. When you exercise, you look good and feel good with yourself, and that has a positive effect on your sex life. Men who exercise regularly are less likely to have problems with erectile dysfunction than men who don’t exercise – especially as they get older. In women, regular physical activity can also help to improve their sex drive.
6. It helps you sleep better. A good night sleep improves one’s concentration, mood and productivity. Sleeping well also helps to reduce stress and worries. When you exercise, your heart pumps blood better and circulates blood better through your body. This helps you to sleep faster and deeper at night. However, note that exercising close to bedtime may make you too energized to fall asleep.
7. It helps to control weight. Exercise helps to lower your body fat. It also helps to improve the body’s ability to burn calories as well as preserve muscle mass. The more your body is exercised, the more calories you burn. When combined with good dieting, it helps to manage weight and prevent obesity.
8. It helps to build and maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints. Regular exercises promote bone formation and help to prevent osteoporosis – loss of tissue by the bones which make them brittle and fragile. Exercise also helps to prevent back pain.
9. Exercise helps people to be stronger and healthier in adult life. Because exercise helps to create strong bones, muscles and joints as well as a strong heart, it helps to make people stronger and healthier when they grow older.
10. It promotes psychological well-being. Exercise helps to make people feel happier with themselves. This boosts their confidence and mood and helps them achieve more results in their endeavours.

How to start

Start with light exercises like walking and swimming. Then move on to jogging, dancing, skipping, aerobics, and cycling. Take the stairs rather than the elevator.

How much exercise do you need?

• For maximum results, it is recommended you do about 30 minutes of high-intensity work-out like jogging, aerobics, or Tennis at least three times a week. Make sure your work-out involves some form of muscle-strengthening activity and stretching.
• If the above is too much for you to do, then make sure you do some light work-out, like walking, for 30 minutes at least five times a week.

Don’ts of exercise

1. Exercise to stay healthy, not to lose weight. It can be demoralizing if you don’t lose the expected amount of weight after some weeks. Losing weight is one of the long-term benefits of exercising; not the main benefit.
2. Don’t over-reach yourself. You are not planning to compete in the Olympics. So take it easy. Straining your body in a bid to keep fit and lose weight overnight can be harmful.
3. Don’t exercise because people say so. Exercise because you love yourself and want to feel good with yourself.
4. Don’t exercise as if it was a punishment. Make exercise fun. Enjoy yourself while you are at it.
5. Don’t make it monotonous and boring. Change the type of exercise you do. A little dancing today; a little swimming tomorrow; and some catch–the-ball another day.

Where to exercise

• You don’t have a gym at home? You don’t have the money to register with a club or gym? You don’t want people to stare at you or laugh at you when you jog on the streets?
• You leave home too early and come back too late?
• Then use your sitting room, bedroom, bathroom or balcony.
• Wake up 30 minutes earlier and exercise or do it once you are back from work before having your bath.

When to start exercising

Start today. Start now. Don’t postpone it till weekend or until you buy the right sportswear or shoes or until you are less busy. It is your life. It is your body. Love it; pamper it; exercise it.

—Twitter @BrandAzuka

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An investigation carried out by SUNDAY PUNCH has shown that many of Nigeria’s mega rich churches pay their pastors poor wages, reports SUNDAY ABORISADE

An extensive investigation carried out by SUNDAY PUNCH has revealed that many of the country’s prosperity-preaching, super-rich mega churches pay their pastors poor wages. The newspaper’s findings revealed that a substantial majority of the pastors engaged by the churches, who are polytechnic and university graduates, earn between N25,000 and N45,000 a month.

According to our correspondent’s findings, full-time pastors, in addition to preaching and teaching during midweek services and Sunday services are also expected to perform other sundry duties that leave them with little time for other business endeavours.

Some of the churches reviewed were the Redeemed Christian Church of God, the Living Faith World Outreach, popularly known as Winners Chapel, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (an holiness church that has of late embraced economic empowerment themes), Christ Embassy International and Lord Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries.

Nigeria is home to several Christian denominations broadly categorised as orthodox and unorthodox churches. But a clearer categorisation of churches is the one adopted by the Christian Association of Nigeria. It divides churches in Nigeria into five broad categories. According to the CAN website, the groups are the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria; Christian Council of Nigeria, comprising the Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Foursquare, Presbyterian, Eternal Sacred Order of C&S, Church of the Lord Aladura and other orthodox Churches; the   Christian Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria; Organisation of African Instituted Churches; and ECWA – Evangelical Church of West Africa and Northern-Nigerian churches like COCIN, HKAN NKST, Christian Assemblies, LCCN etc.

In recent years, the Pentecostals, especially Pentecostal groups that preach faith, miracles and prosperity, have come to symbolise the face of Nigerian Christianity to the world. In addition to their huge memberships, running into tens of millions, these churches are also widely known because of their jet-set senior pastors and the businesses they run. These churches own primary and secondary schools and universities, micro-finance banks, foods and beverages companies, huge agricultural farms, sports teams, printing firms and so on.

Their senior pastors are known to be extremely wealthy, own private jets, maintain luxury homes in the country and abroad, and send their children to some of the best schools in the world.

However, the parish pastors of some of the biggest churches in the country, who spoke to our correspondent, painted a picture that showed that they live in a different world from their senior pastors.

Our correspondent noted that the clergymen spoke reluctantly for the fear of losing their jobs. Efforts made by our correspondent to ascertain the financial health of the churches were unsuccessful as the churches are known not to make their financial reports public, neither are they made available to their members.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God

The RCCG is one of the country’s biggest Pentecostal churches. It has a group of primary and secondary schools spread all over the country. The schools are Redeemer’s International School, Redeemer’s International Secondary School, Redeemer’s High School and Christ the Redeemer’s College. The church also owns Redeemer’s University, Haggai Mortgage Finance Bank, Lifeway Radio, Dove Media, Redemption Light Printing Press, hospitals, among others.

The most senior pastor of the church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, a former university lecturer, is known to be humble and simple in taste, but he is also reputed to fly a private jet said to have been given to him by the members of the church.

At the RCCG, newly ordained full-time pastors with National Diplomas are currently being paid N25,000 a month while their counterparts with a university degree receive N35,000 as their monthly salaries. SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that in some RCCG churches with small congregations, parish pastors sometimes use personal funds every Sunday to run their local churches.

Sources in the church, who disclosed this to our correspondents in various states across the country, further explained that a full-time area pastor earns a minimum monthly salary of N40,000 while a full-time provincial pastor is entitled to a minimum monthly salary of N85, 000. According to the church’s structure, an area pastor is in charge of about five or six parishes while a provincial pastor is in charge of about 100 parishes or a state.

A pastor in Lagos, who spoke to our correspondent, said tithes (10 per cent) of their salaries were usually deducted before salaries were paid.

However, the pastor refused to be drawn into a detailed explanation of how he makes ends meet on such a salary.  He said, “The job of a pastor is a sacrificial one, no doubt, but what we are paid cannot ordinarily sustain us. The money is definitely not enough to meet our needs even with our access to loans and free accommodation provided by the church.

“Our parish members are most supportive and I encourage my wife to work. Some of our wives own small-scale businesses or crèches.”

The pastors said that members of the parishes are expected to generously support the upkeep of the pastor’s families and provide  “comfortable accommodation” for them. They also added that the RCCG paid half of their children’s tuition fees in schools established by the ministry.

Further investigations revealed that the RCCG is cutting the costs of running its various missions by encouraging born-again and well-trained members to lead the parishes, zones and provinces on a part-time basis.

Attempts to get the official position of the church on the welfare of its pastors failed as a member of the church’s media team, Olanike Olaomo, told our correspondent that she was not competent to speak on the issue, when contacted on phone.

She also refused to give out the phone number of the head of the team.

“If you ask for my candid opinion, I will tell you to drop your story because no one will give you the information you are requesting for,” she said.

Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries

Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries is a prayer-themed ministry led by Dr. Daniel Olukoya. It has hundreds of branches in Nigeria and beyond. The church runs school groups, comprising Mountain Top Nursery and Primary schools, Mountain Top Secondary schools, Mountain Top University, a printing press, among others.

Majority of the ministers operate on full-time basis. A source told SUNDAY PUNCH that the church operates a “central salary scale for pastors working in God’s vineyard at the church’s branch, zonal and regional levels.”

The salary scheme for the clerics ranges from N25,000 to N80,000 depending on the level of their deployment.

A pastor in a branch of the church in Abuja, who could not be named because he was not authorised to give any information on the matter, said that clerics in the church’s branches averagely earned between N20,000 and N25,000 monthly. He, however, added   that pastors were also supported by “benevolent church members.”

The pastor said, “The salary is paid by the region under which the branch is with strict directive from the headquarters since the amount payable monthly is structured. But there are also few newly ordained ministers who assist pastors-in-charge at zones and regions during deliverance programmes. These set of ministers get about N15,000 monthly.”

Also, a zonal pastor with the church in Abuja, who did not want to be named, told our correspondent that the salary for his category was between N40,000 and N45,000.

It was gathered that the church, either at the level of branch, zonal or regional was expected to provide accommodation for its pastor.

The support for accommodation, it was learnt, could come from the region under which the branch operates if such a branch was unable to bear the burden alone.

Another pastor, who pleaded anonymity, said they survived through what he described as the ‘the grace of God and the support of children of God.’

He disclosed that having chosen to work for God, they look beyond material comfort and fix their gaze on the reward from above.

“There are other supports from the church in terms of education for our children. Since the church has a school, there is a provision for a certain percentage of the tuition fees to be waived for pastors’ children. I have yet started to enjoy the privilege because my children are still young. When they start going to school, I will also benefit from it,’’ he stated.

For pastors in the regional arms of the church, they get about N80,000 monthly according to a pastor in one of the church’s branches in Benin City, Edo State, who refused to be named.

When contacted, the Chairman, Media Committee, MFM, Pastor Oladele Bank-Olemoh, said though he could not specifically say the amount each of the pastors in the church gets as salary, the general overseer takes their welfare seriously.

Bank-Olemoh said, “The general overseer takes care of them very well. He caters for their accommodation, school fees of their children and gives them money personally. Those who abide by the vision of the church and support the general overseer know that he does not joke with the welfare of the ministers.

“Every minister in the MFM knows that if you are conscientious and diligent, you will be blessed. The money you take as salary is nothing but the blessing is the most important.  You can earn so much and still not be able to do anything with it. That is what we call pocket with holes. The general overseer is passionate about the welfare of the pastors.’’

The Living Faith Church Worldwide

Winners Chapel, one of the foremost and most popular Pentecostal churches in Nigeria has a chain of about 30 secondary schools and 50 primary schools and two universities, Covenant University and Landmark University. Owned by Bishop David Oyedepo, who is famed for owning a private jet, the church also owns one of the country’s biggest and most sophisticated printing firms, Dominion Publishing House, Hebron Bottled Water, bottled water processing plant, a bakery, various restaurants and stores, among others.

Investigations by our correspondents in the South-West revealed that a newly-ordained pastor outside Lagos in Winners Chapel receives N35,000 as monthly salary while new pastors in Lagos earn between N45,000 and N55,000. An area pastor with some years of experience collects N85,000 per month while a resident pastor (state pastor) now collects N200,000 per month.

Some area pastors who spoke with our correspondents, strictly on condition of anonymity, explained that pastors could earn more depending on their years of experience.

One of them said, “Apart from the salaries, pastors are usually well taken care of by members of their local assemblies. Pastors-offering is encouraged and a pastor could get more than his salary as offering from just a member in a day.”

Believers LoveWorld

SUNDAY PUNCH investigations revealed that most pastors of the Believers LoveWorld, a.k.a Christ Embassy, owned by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, are engaged on part-time basis while the few ones on full-time appointments are paid like other workers in the ministry.

A part-time pastor of the church in the Ikeja area of Lagos State and another one in the Bodija area of Ibadan, in Oyo State confided in our correspondents that most of their full-time pastors are in the headquarters.

They said a newly-ordained pastor earns about N40,000 but that only the headquarters could provide further details.

When contacted, the Believers LoveWorld officials declined to make comments on the welfare of their pastors.

A representative of the church attached to a church in Lekki reprimanded our correspondent for “picking a phone number from the website” and added that it was “wrong.”

Another representative of the church, identified simply as Pastor Mercy of the Prayer and Counselling Centre at the church headquarters, said she was not authorised to speak to the media about issues relating to the church.

She also refused to give out the contact number of the spokesperson of the church because of the sensitive nature of the information requested.

Deeper Christian Life Ministry

Popularly called Deeper Life, the church was founded by Pastor William Kumuyi. Widely known for its strict conservativism, the church, in recent times, has embraced economic-empowerment and Christian prosperity themes, while not letting go of its conservatism. With millions of members and thousands of branches in Nigeria and other parts of the world, it owns Life Press Limited, Deeper Life Nursery and Primary School, Deeper Life High School, Anchor University, among ohers.

A top member of the church told one of our correspondents that 95 per cent of its members in Lagos are part-time workers who receive no salary.

He said, “Most of the church’s full-time workers are not in Lagos. They have jobs so they don’t have to rely on church district members. The church encourages its pastors to work, so full time pastors are a rarity. The most the part-time pastors get is N5, 000 for recharge cards monthly.”

SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that outside Lagos, the church have three categories of pastors. Part-time pastors do not earn salaries, they are said to be ‘taken care of by their local parishes’.

A long-time member of the church said, “Our pastors who are volunteer full-time pastors are not on the payroll of the church. The local church where they belong to may then decide to give them out of the offering but the tithe goes to the central (unit).”

The last category of pastors, he added, are those who are overseers and senior pastors and their salaries range from N2.5m to N6m per annum.”

The phone number of the Secretary, Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor Jerry Asemota, who is the only person authorised to speak on official issues, was switched off when our correspondent contacted him on Saturday.

Lords’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries

Investigations by SUNDAY PUNCH revealed that there is no salary structure for pastors of the Lord Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries, founded by Pastor Lazarus Muoka.

The church runs various primary and secondary schools while it also has a few standard private hospitals.

A leader of the church, who spoke with one of our correspondents, explained that when a new pastor is ordained and ‘given a pulpit’ (put in charge of a branch), he is entitled to one-tenth of whatever income that the church generates every week.

He said, “We don’t have a structured salary system for our pastors. They are paid based on the money they generate from tithes and offerings. However, the headquarters usually give a considerable amount to their wives to set up a small business.

“It is expected that the proceeds from the wife’s business will be used to augment the family’s upkeep. Also, the church ensures that all the pastors’ biological children enjoy free education at all the Lord’s Chosen primary and secondary schools.

“The church also arranges scholarship for the pastors’ children in their various higher institutions.”

The church leader added that the pastor’s family could also benefit from the welfare offering, usually meant for the needy, based on the discretion of the committee handling the fund.

When our correspondent called the land line on the website of the church, it did not connect while top church members kept sealed lips.

CAN, PFN react

Speaking in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Saturday, the Director, Media and Public Relations of PFN, Simbo Olorunfemi, said pastors’ welfare is part of the issues that would be discussed at the group’s forthcoming biennial conference, scheduled to hold in Edo State.

“The welfare of pastors and indeed Nigerians generally concerns the PFN. This is part of the issues to be discussed at the forthcoming conference. The PFN will make recommendations and suggestions that would enhance the welfare of pastors to fulfill their duties effectively,” he told SUNDAY PUNCH.

The General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Musa Asake,  however told SUNDAY PUNCH that how much mega churches paid their pastors as salaries was not the business of the association.

“The Christian Association of Nigeria does not dabble into how much churches pay their pastors. It is not the mandate of the association to do so. As an association, CAN doesn’t discuss issues like that; we do not discuss doctrines. That is left for individual churches to decide. If there are issues about how much pastors earn as salaries in their churches I think the headquarters of the churches should be able to respond to that. It is not the business of CAN to look into how much churches pay their pastors,” Asake told one of our correspondents.

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China’s richest man, Hollywood investor Wang Jianlin, warned Donald Trump Wednesday against dragging the entertainment industry into a trade war — saying his country’s millions of movie-lovers are key to the future of cinema.

The Chinese billionaire joined a chorus of concern from international business chiefs gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week over the protectionist leanings of the US president-elect, who takes office Friday.

Wang, whose Wanda conglomerate owns a US cinema chain, a Hollywood production company and the firm that runs the Golden Globe awards, said America would be the bigger loser if the entertainment sector fell victim to a trade war.

“The main growth market of English-language films out of the US is actually China, not anywhere else,” Wang told an audience in Davos, noting that China had the most movie screens in the world with 15,000 added in the past year alone.

“If China were to retaliate, it would be bad for both parties so I don’t wish to see that scenario materialising.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping has led calls in Davos for an open global economy as Trump prepares to take power, warning Tuesday: “No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war.”

Wang said last month that the jobs of his 20,000 US employees would be on the line if the Trump administration mishandled Chinese investment.

The 62-year-old acknowledged US political concerns over his acquisitions, which include the $2.6 billion purchase of cinema chain AMC in 2012 and Legendary Entertainment, the company behind the “Batman” trilogy, for $3.5 billion last year.

Several US lawmakers have urged the government to examine the national security implications of such investments in Hollywood, if such Chinese “soft power” is allowed to take root.

AFP

The second richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, chairman emeritus, América Móvil, wants his employees to work for just three days a week.

Slim thinks by introducing the three-day workweek, it would spur on economies with more tourism, entertainment, and culture, and encouraged other companies to follow his lead.

Slim explained why everyone should work less and take more time to relax in an interview he granted Bloomberg Businessweek.

He said, “Historically, the more technology advances and the more progress there is, people work less.

“I think they should work three days a week, so that it creates space for others.

“The quality of life and having four days a week free would encourage a lot of economic activities – more tourism, entertainment, sports, culture, and education.”

However, Slim said working for three days in a week comes with a price. The employee will have to work more time before retirement.

When he was asked if people would earn less this way, he said, “No, I think the companies that can take this on are those in which productivity has led to excess personnel. It’s a great change to exchange fewer days of work for more years until retirement.”

He however argued that the scheme would tackle unemployment due to the increase in size of the workforce, while people retiring later would mean companies could rely on the wisdom and experience of older workers.

Slim said they started the scheme in Telmex [América Móvil’s fixed-line unit] a couple of years ago.

“We’re offering people that have a lot of knowledge to stay longer and work fewer days and about 40 pr cent accepted.”

With a fortune of $44.6bn (N9tn), it is not surprising to see Michael Bloomberg on the 2016 list of Forbes’ world’s billionaires.

The founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies, Bloomberg was the 108th Mayor of New York City in the United States of America and served for three terms.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 14, 1942 and raised in a middle class home in Medford, Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University, where he paid his tuition by taking out loans and working as a parking lot attendant.

After college, he attended Harvard Business School and in 1966 was hired by a Wall Street firm, Salomon Brothers, for an entry-level job.

Not wanting to be an average person, Bloomberg quickly rose through the ranks at Salomon, overseeing equity trading and sales before heading up the firm’s information systems unit.

When Salomon was acquired in 1981, he was fired from the firm, with a severance cheque to the tune of $10m (N2bn).

With the vision of having an information technology company that would bring transparency and efficiency to the buying and selling of financial securities, he set up his own company in a room, called Innovative Market Solutions. The company aimed to make it easier for traders to wade through data. They eventually debuted the Bloomberg Terminal (first known as the MarketMaster terminal).

A bigger company, Merrill Lynch, purchased 22 of those terminals, investing $30m (N6bn) in Bloomberg’s company.

The company, renamed Bloomberg LP, became widely successful throughout the ‘80s and was worth $2bn (N398bn) by 1989.

Eventually, Bloomberg began branching out into other forms of media, including Bloomberg News and Bloomberg TV.

Today, Bloomberg LP is a global company that has more than 15,500 employees and offices in 73 countries around the world.

In 2001, Bloomberg decided to enter the world of politics and ran for mayor of New York City as a Republican. He won and took office in 2002, and he helped rebuild the city in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Already a billionaire, Bloomberg collected only $1 (N199) a year as salary throughout his 12 years in the mayor’s office, plus he still doled out $650m (N129bn) of his own money along the way.

During his tenure as mayor (2002 to 2013), Bloomberg brought his innovation-driven approach to city government. He turned around a broken public school system by raising standards and holding schools accountable for success.

He spurred economic growth and recorded levels of job creation by revitalising old industrial areas, spurring entrepreneurship, supporting small businesses, and strengthening key industries, including new media, film and television, bio-science, technology, and tourism.

Bloomberg’s economic policies were said to have helped New York City experience record-levels of private-sector job growth often in formerly depressed neighbourhoods, even in the wake of the deep national recession.

Upon retiring as a mayor, he returned to the company he founded, while also devoting more time to philanthropy, which has been a top priority for him throughout his career.

He has donated over $2.5bn (N498bn) to various causes through his charitable organisation, Bloomberg Philanthropies.

His recent gifts included $100m (N20bn) to Cornell University, New York, for the construction of a new tech-focused graduate school in the city.

In 2013, he also gave $350m (N70bn) to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins, bringing the sum of his donations to the school to $1.1bn (N220bn). The latest massive donation made him the most generous living donor to any school in the US.

He was said to have also dropped $42m (N8.4bn) to improve municipal governments across the country. The programme will help mid-size cities learn to analyse and use data in ways that help better the citizens’ lives.

Unlike some Republicans like Donald Trump, Bloomberg is firmly in favour of gun control, and has pledged over $50m (N10bn) towards campaign for stricter gun restrictions.

Bloomberg’s cars, homes and private jets

Speed is essential in the financial world, which is perhaps why Bloomberg drives around in an ultra-fast Audi R8.

The German supercar is able to hit a top speed of about 200 miles per hour and can sprint from a 0-62 mph in just 3.6 seconds.

He also owns a Chevrolet Suburban SUV, which is one of the most powerful and comfortable cars in this segment.

With a seating capacity of nine, the car is known for its cavernous spaciousness over its appealing good looks.

He’s also got a handful of expensive toys to keep him busy — including a six-seater Agusta SPA A109s helicopter, worth $4.5m (N900m).

Bloomberg frequently flies one of his private jets down to Bermuda, a group of 150 small islands off the coast of North Carolina in the US, where he owns a house right on the water.

The former mayor heads to the island to unwind, and does everything in his power to keep his life there separate from his days in the bustling New York City.

Bloomberg controls an impressive real estate portfolio, as he owns about 14 properties worldwide, from New York to London to Bermuda.

When he’s home in New York, he relaxes in his five-storey mansion on 79th Street, which he recently renovated at a cost of $1.7m (N340m).

Sources: businessinsider.com, bloomberg.com, bornrich.com, forbes.com, en.wikipedia.org, mikebloomberg.com

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