The Nation Newspaper

Category: Foreign

  • NiDCOM boss hails Shoyemi’s election as NHS governor

    NiDCOM boss hails Shoyemi’s election as NHS governor

     Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has congratulated Dr. Olufemi Segun Shoyemi on his election as Governor, South Tees Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust.

    In a congratulatory message, the NiDCOM boss hailed Shoyemi for being a good ambassador of the country.

    Dabiri-Erewa, in a statement by Abdulraman Balogun, Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocol units, described the victory of his election as the governor of NHS Foundation a demonstration of his acceptability based on hard work, dedication and doggedness in the discharge of previous responsibilities assigned to him.

    The statement reads: “Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), has congratulated Dr. Shoyemi on his election as governor, South Tees Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust.

    “In a congratulatory message, the NiDCOM boss described the victory of his election as the governor of NHS Foundation a demonstration of his acceptability based on hard work, dedication and doggedness in the discharge of previous responsibilities assigned to him.

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    “Dabiri-Erewa noted that the feat has placed Dr. Shoyemi’s name in the Council of Governors with South Tees Hospital, NHS Foundation, urging the younger generations to emulate his footsteps of striving for success always.

    “We sincerely appreciate you for being a good ambassador of our dear country, bringing glory to our nation and making us proud. We pray you keep the flag flying always. Once more, congratulations,” Dabiri-Erewa prayed.

    “Dr. Shoyemi, a specialist in Public Health hails from Lagos State, had his early education and  degrees in the West. He obtained his PhD at Bayero University Kano and a Master’s degree in adult Nursing from Plymouth University, UK.”

  • Israel air raid on Gaza clinic kills senior Palestinian health official

    Israel air raid on Gaza clinic kills senior Palestinian health official

    Palestinian medics and rights advocates have denounced the killing of a top medical official in Gaza by the Israeli military, accusing Israel of systematically targeting the health system in the besieged enclave.

    Israel bombed a clinic in Gaza City late on Sunday, killing Hani al-Jaafarawi, Gaza’s director of ambulances and emergency, and four other people.

    The targeted clinic, which offered general health, paediatric and dental services, was also put out of commission by the Israeli attack.

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    “The Israeli war jets bombed the clinic and destroyed its rooms completely,” said Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail Algoul, reporting from Gaza City.

    “The blood of the people who were targeted is still on the floor, while now, thousands of patients are in danger after the clinic lost all of its facilities as a result of the Israeli raid.”

    Eyad Zaqout, director of the emergency department at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, told Al Jazeera on Monday that by killing al-Jaafarawi, Israel removed “a pillar” from the territory’s collapsing health system.

  • Labour would make UK ‘illegal migration capital of world’, says Sunak

    Labour would make UK ‘illegal migration capital of world’, says Sunak

    Labour would make the UK the “soft-touch illegal migration capital of the world”, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has claimed as the Conservative Party highlighted its plans to cut illegal and legal immigration.

    The Tories claim Keir Starmer’s proposals to curb migration would let thousands more into the UK each year.

    Mr Sunak criticised Mr Starmer’s “illegal migration amnesty and sweetheart deal with the EU”, in a desperate bid to reduce Labour’s stubborn double-digit opinion poll lead before the July 4 general election.

    The Conservatives repeated their pledges to halt illegal migration, including “running a regular rhythm of flights to Rwanda to provide an effective deterrent, starting in July, until the boats are stopped”.

    But the opposition replied with, “instead of the gimmicks, Labour will get a grip” on the issue.

    It accused the Tories of “desperately inventing lies” about their policies.

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    The number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel hit a record for the first six months of a calendar year – at 12,901.

    The tally of crossings since Mr Sunak, who promised to “stop the boats”, became Prime Minister in October 2022 is fast approaching 50,000.

    The Tories also vowed to bring into force the Illegal Migration Act, which became law last year, to “stop illegal migrants from bringing spurious claims to stop their removal”, and return more people with no right to be in the UK to their own country.

    On cutting legal migration, the party repeated its plans to introduce a cap on the number of work visas and allowing Parliament to vote on where the limit should be set.

    If re-elected, the Tories would commission the independent Migration Advisory Committee to recommend an annual level, and automatically raise the salary threshold for skilled workers and the family income requirement in line with inflation.

    Net migration – the difference between the number of people legally arriving in the UK and leaving – hit 685,000 last year.

    That is more than three times higher than the figure at the time of the last election, when the Conservatives promised to cut overall numbers in their 2019 manifesto.

    “Migration is too high and the Conservatives have a clear plan to get it down,” Mr Sunak said.

    “Labour would rip up our plan on day one by scrapping the Rwanda scheme, despite countries across Europe looking to it themselves to deal with their own migration pressures.

    “Labour’s only alternative is an illegal migration amnesty and sweetheart deal with the EU that would see Britain taking even more illegal migrants from the continent – the opposite of what Britain needs.

  • Somalia accuses Ethiopian troops of illegally crossing shared border

    Somalia accuses Ethiopian troops of illegally crossing shared border

    Somalia’s UN envoy accused Ethiopian troops on Monday of illegally crossing the countries’ shared border and confronting local security forces.

    “Somalia reaffirms its commitment to respecting the principles enshrined in the UN Charter and good neighbourliness,” Abukar Osman told the 15-member Security Council.

    “And we expect Ethiopia to do the same by reconsidering its memorandum of misadventure without any further delay.”

    Because of Ethiopia’s “destabilising actions” in the wider region, Mr Osman said that Mogadishu has had to postpone from July to September the withdrawal of troops with the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia.

    Atmis is expected to conclude operations in the country on December 31 after 17 years in the country.

    The force was first sent to help drive Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabab out of the Somali capital and to support the internationally recognised federal government.

    The AU force is operating under a UN mandate to counter a resurgence of Al Shabab and to train Somali security forces.

    Tension is rising between Addis Ababa and Mogadishu, fuelled by an agreement signed in January between Ethiopia and Somaliland, a self-declared republic in northern Somalia.

    Ethiopia said it would formally recognise the Republic of Somaliland in exchange for 20km of access to the Red Sea for Ethiopian naval forces, leased for 50 years.

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    Shortly afterwards, the Arab League convened a ministerial-level emergency session at the request of Somalia, reaffirming that Somaliland is an integral part of the country and categorically rejecting the January agreement.

     Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 but remains internationally unrecognised despite its claim to independence. It is in a strategic location close to the Gulf of Aden and the southern mouth of the Red Sea.

              The Arab League requested Algeria, as the only Arab member of the UN Security Council, to “mobilise necessary support to issue necessary resolutions affirming the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia”.

    The acting special representative of the UN Secretary General, James Swan, expressed concern to the council about the agreement, which he said has “created tensions in the Horn of Africa at a time when the region faces other crises”.

  • Ukraine, Russia trade lethal attacks

    Ukraine, Russia trade lethal attacks

    Ukraine and Russia traded new lethal attacks yesterday as their war neared the 28-month mark.

    Five people, including two children, were killed by falling debris and another 124 were wounded when Russian forces shot down five Ukrainian missiles in Sevastopol, a Black Sea port city in Russian-occupied Crimea, officials said.

    In a separate attack, one person was killed and three injured in Russia’s Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, when three Ukrainian drones hit the city of Grayvoron.

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    Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said the attack there hit Uchkuyevka, an area with sandy beaches and hotels. A local news channel on Telegram, ChP Sevastopol, reported that witnesses said an elderly woman was killed as she swam in the sea.

    Fragments hit beachgoers after at least one missile was intercepted by air defenses and exploded in the air, according to officials.

    Sevastopol is a naval base on the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. It has regularly come under fire from Ukraine, but Yesterday’s attack was unusually deadly.

  • Embassy, NGO rescue 24 victims of sexual violence in Senegal

    Embassy, NGO rescue 24 victims of sexual violence in Senegal

    The combined operatives of Nigerian Embassy and a Senegalese-based NGO have in an overnight operation rescued 24 Nigerian girls who were subjected to sexual exploitation in Tamaccounda and Kedougou Regions of Senegal.

    Dr Salihu Abubakar, the acting Ambassador in the Nigerian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dakar yesterday.

    According to him, the girls mostly under-aged, ranging between the ages of  11, 13 and 24 are being trafficked to Senegal, through Cotonou, Republic of Benin, via Mali to Senegal border for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Tamaccounda and Kedougou Regions.

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    “These girls and many more are being trafficked to Senegal, through Cotonou, Benin Republic via Mali to the Senegal border for prostitution,” the diplomat said.

    Abubakar said preliminary investigation revealed that most of the girls, who were school dropouts were from Edo and Delta, adding that a few of them were from Imo and Abia while two others were from Plateau.

    He, however, said of the 24, 22 were already repatriated weeks ago while the two other  ladies were repatriated to Nigeria on Saturday and had landed in Nigeria safely.

  • Tinubu congratulates Modi on election victory

    Tinubu congratulates Modi on election victory

    More than 1,000 people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced extreme high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, officials said yesterday.

    More than half of the fatalities were people from Egypt, according to two officials in Cairo. Egypt revoked the licences of 16 travel agencies that helped unauthorised pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia, authorities said.

    Saudi Arabia has not commented on the deaths during the pilgrimage, which is required of every able Muslim once in their life.

    The Egyptian government announced the death of 31 authorised pilgrims due to chronic diseases during this year’s Hajj, but didn’t offer an official tally for other pilgrims.

    However, a Cabinet official said that at least 630 other Egyptians died during the pilgrimage, with most reported at the Emergency Complex in Mecca’s Al-Muaisem neighbourhood. Confirming the tally, an Egyptian diplomat said most of the dead have been buried in Saudi Arabia.

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    The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists.

    Saudi authorities cracked down on unauthorised pilgrims, expelling tens of thousands of people. But many, mostly Egyptians, managed to reach holy sites in and around Mecca, some on foot. Unlike authorised pilgrims, they had no hotels to escape from the scorching heat.

    In its statement, the government said the 16 travel agencies failed to provide adequate services for pilgrims. It said these agencies illegally facilitated the travel of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia using visas that don’t allow holders to travel to Mecca.

  • Power failure disrupts flights at Manchester Airport

    Power failure disrupts flights at Manchester Airport

    A power outage yesterday disrupted a “significant number of flights” at Manchester Airport in northern England though service resumed later in the afternoon, the airport said.

    The airport’s managing director, Chris Woodroofe, said there was a “fault” with a cable onsite, which sent a surge of power across the network and impacted baggage processing and security systems.

    At one time all flights out of Terminals 1 and 2 didn’t depart, and service was affected at Terminal 3.

    “Manchester Airport was affected by a major power cut in the area earlier this morning. This has caused widespread disruption and a significant number of flights, particularly from Terminals 1 and 2, are expected to be delayed or cancelled,” the airport said.

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    The airport had advised passengers due to fly from Terminals 1 and 2 to check with their airlines before going to the airport.

    The airport said flights scheduled for today should not be affected.

    “We thank passengers for their patience and our resilience team and customer service colleagues for their hard work,” the airport said.

    Cancelled were 29 flights from the airport and 36 to the airport, according to Flight Aware. This represented about 10 percent of the flights.

    “Thousands of people were stood around outside just being told to queue for baggage, with the only announcements being the same, ‘Thank you for your patience,’” said Eva Horsefield, a passenger who was waiting at the airport, told CNN. “Thousands of people sat on the cold floor for six-plus hours.”

  • Ruto agrees ‘for conversation’ with Kenyan protesters over tax hikes

    Ruto agrees ‘for conversation’ with Kenyan protesters over tax hikes

    Kenya’s President William Ruto has said he was ready for “a conversation” with thousands of “peaceful” young protesters who held nationwide demonstrations this week to oppose proposed tax increases.

    The protesters, who began their demonstrations on Tuesday, said the administration of President William Ruto has gone back on its pledge to reduce taxes and lower the cost of living.

    Organised on social media and led largely by young Kenyans who livestreamed the demonstrations, the protests caught Ruto’s government off-guard, as discontent mounts over his economic policies.

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    “I am very proud of our young people… they have stepped forward peaceful[ly] and I want to tell them we are going to engage them,” Ruto said in his first public comments on the protests yesterday.”

    “We are going to have a conversation so that together we can build a greater nation,” he added during a church service in the Rift Valley town of Nyahururu.

    In response, however, one protest leader said Ruto had to “respond publically”.

    “If he truly wants dialogue, he must respond publically to our demand letter,” said Hanifa Adan. Protesters have called for a national strike on June 25.”

  • AU member states set for eighth anti-corruption dialogue in Kenya

    AU member states set for eighth anti-corruption dialogue in Kenya

    The African Union (AU) member states will from July 9-10, 2024, in Nairobi, Kenya, gather for the 8th African Anti-Corruption Dialogue to deliberate on further actions on eradicating corruption.

    The event with the theme, “Effective Whistleblowers Protection Mechanism: A Critical Tool in the Fight Against Corruption,” is being organised by the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption (AUABC).

    AUABC is an autonomous organ established within the AU, by Article 22 of the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.

    The convention, which has been instrumental in shaping the anti-corruption landscape of the continent, recently underwent a comprehensive review.

    The theme of the dialogue has become apt recognising whistleblowing as a critical tool for combatting corruption. Article 5 (5) of the Convention obligated State Parties to adopt legislative and other measures to protect informants and witnesses in corruption and related offences, including protection of their identities.

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    Further, Article 5 (6) obligates State Parties to adopt measures that ensure citizens report instances of corruption without fear of consequent reprisals.

    Whistle blowers promote the exposition of corruption hence posing as anti-corruption defenders and promoting corruption prevention.

    A concept note by the AUABC indicated that the Country Reviews have revealed that State Parties have put in place various initiatives such as legislation to promote whistleblowing. Some countries have further put in place whistleblower protection regulations. However, there is little evidence on presence of effective whistleblowing measures.

    Media is always awash with stories of whistleblowers, who are facing retaliation.

    The member states of the AU adopted the Convention at the Second Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the union, held in Maputo (Mozambique), on 11th July 2003.

    The convention entered into force on August 5, 2006, 30 days after the deposit of the 15th instrument of ratification. To date 48 countries have ratified the Convention and are States Parties to it.