Category: Foreign

European  Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms Samuela Isopi, said yesterday over 800 youths had benefited from the Erasmus+ Master’s Study Programme since 2014.

The ambassador spoke at the pre-departure ceremony in Abuja for 135 Nigerians given Eramus + scholarships in 2023 for their Masters’ programme.

She said over 500 students had benefited in four years.

According to her, Nigerian awardees grew to 200 students for 2022.

“These are EU-fully funded scholarships for post-graduate/Master’s study programmes to run for 12 months to 24 months. Erasmus + is unique, because it is a unique multi-country and multi-cultural programme.

“Each of you will have the opportunity to study in at least three different universities in three different countries.

“Most of you will study in European Union countries, but  Turkey, Serbia and UK are also part of Erasmus.

“At the end of your programme, you will receive an internationally recognised master’s degree, jointly awarded by a consortium of top level universities in the framework of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree Programme.

“These master’s degrees are high-level integrated study programmes that are the result of an international partnership between top-level higher education institutions,” Isopi said.

She applauded the efforts of the ministry of education and the National Universities Commission (NUC) in their  partnership.

The EU envoy appealed for further support for the expansion of the Erasmus+ outreach to all young people.

“Let me also thank the ministry of education and the NUC, your partnership and support will be critical to further expand Erasmus+ outreach and attract more candidates.

“Nigerians are among the best students in the world and European Universities are keen to welcome them,” she said.

Mr. Andrew Adejo, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, said the Erasmus+ was a prestigious and renowned programme that had a rich history with significant impact on young individuals.

According to him, the prestigious and renowned programme has a rich history with significant impact on individuals and institutions across Europe and beyond.

“Since its launch in 1987, it has remained steadfast in promoting international cooperation and mobility in the field of higher education.

“The programme has promoted academic excellence and innovation as well as encouraged the exchange of knowledge and best practices among participants.

“It has also helped in facilitating social cohesion and intercultural dialogue as well as promoting mutual respect and tolerance.

“Permit me, therefore, to congratulate each of the 135 Nigerian students who have been awarded the prestigious Erasmus+ scholarship.

This achievement is a testament to your hard work, dedication, and exceptional academic abilities,” Adejo said.

Also, Mr. Chris Maiyaki, Acting Executive Secretary of the NUC, said the Erasmus+ scholarship of the EU was a clear indication of the long standing cooperation between the EU and the NUC.

“This occasion presents an opportunity to celebrate the longstanding partnership of a fruitful friendship between the EU and the NUC.

“We also celebrate the mutual respect, shared values and common vision of empowering Nigerian students and universities through international mobility and cooperation opportunity,” he said.

House of Representatives Speaher, Abbas Tajudeen, has called for better socio-cultural and economic integration and pact among African countries.

A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Musa Kirshi, quoted the Speaker as saying this can be possible through better transportation system that connects African countries.

The Speaker, the statement said, spoke at the 18th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of Commonwealth (CSPOC) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, yesterday.

Abbas said challenges faced  in  transport is not peculiar to East Africa, saying those in West Africa also pass through similar challenge.

The Spealer, who said it was his first time in Cameroon, said although Nigeria shares border with Cameroon, and it does not take more than 20 minutes to drive from one part of Nigeria to Cameroon, logistics, especially in air and land, has made it difficult for the two countries to know what is happening in the other.

He said “how can you foster cooperation when people – neighbours – don’t even know anything about each other?

“So, we need to work not only on air; we need to try ways of improving our railway connectivity. Take an example when you go to Europe – the Schengen areas, it takes you less than one hour from one country to another. And you will do it seamlessly without knowing you have passed a country and you are in the next country,” Abbas said.

The Speaker said the National Assembly has taken steps to ensure better integration among African countries, saying Senate and the House has created a Committee on African Integration and Cooperation “to look at how we can bring Africa.”

Abbas added; “I am sure some of the Speakers might be aware the legislators from Nigeria have been relating with their colleagues on this subject matter. So, I want to urge other legislators to take this matter serious because this is one area where we will make our contributions while waiting for the Executive to do their part.

“We should try establishing, as part of our standing committees, a committee called Committee on African Integration and Cooperation. It is fundamental if we can have it  because it will share these kinds of ideas and find solutions.”

He added another initiative from the Nigeria is the creation of friendship committees, adding in the last four years, the National Assembly had about 10 “primarily to take care of issues on economic and cultural relationships with some countries.”

He noted the 10th House  would create more, stressing: “This is also in our resolve to ensure African countries and non-African countries are closer together, so we can share issues and objectives.”

Abbas urged other parliaments to emulate National Assembly by creating similar committee.

“Among our initiatives is creating a committee called Committee on Legislative Compliance. This committee is charged with looking at treaties that have been entered with our country and making sure each is followed to the letter. What I have observed in Africa is we are good with signing treaties but we are poor when it comes to implementation.

“Since we have Executives and we know we (Legislatures) have a role to play in what they do, it is to ensure we have committees that will be interfacing with our Executives, persuading and encouraging them to ensure domesticate what we they have signed as treaties with African countries and other parts of the world.”

The Government of Equatorial Guinea has introduce e-visa services in order to attract tourists and business-related travels to the country

With the enormous opportunities in the digital world, the country partner with VFS Global to offer a new E-Visa services that will enable a faster and more convenient application, processing, and issuance of visa for leisure and business travellers. 

Speaking on the new development, Mr. Hariprasad Viswanathan, Head – Sub Saharan Africa, VFS Global, said that the global accessible portal is expect to create increase in inbound travel.

“ Visitors from all nationalities who are eligible to apply for one of the E-Visa categories will receive their travel authorisation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs prior to their departure from their country of origin.”

He said: “VFS Global is proud to extend its eVisa solutions to our newest client government- Equatorial Guinea with the launch of the new eVisa portal. With a globally accessible portal that is accessible by all nationalities across the world, we expect an increase in inbound travel to this hidden gem in Central Africa. Apart from being a highly secure and seamless experience that elevates the overall experience of the traveller, we also ensure our partners who avail of our eVisa solutions have a powerful and efficient system in place that is easily integrated with their existing immigration systems using our scalable and customisable experience.”

Also commenting on the launch of the new eVisa services ,Hon. Ms. Manuela Roka Botey, Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea, said “With our new e-visa services, Tourists and Business people from all over the world can easily, securely and faster get a visa to travel to EG and are most welcomed.”

 ” A popular location for business related travel, inbound tourism is expected to see an improvement with the launch of the new eVisa service. This is due to the increased interest amongst global travellers who are looking for newer and offbeat locations for their upcoming trips and sustainable travel becoming a popular trend now. Another reason is the growing preference amongst many travellers who are nowkeen on technology led Do It Yourself solutions like eVisa services by themselves at their convenience.”

 The new eVisa service is available for travellers across the world from 1 July 2023. Travellers can of avail this simplified and seamless, highly secure online service by visiting equatorialguinea-evisa.comfrom a location of their choice, instead of having to visit the Embassy or Consulate in person. With online payment options available, travellers also can use the save and retrieve option for completing the form at a later stage.

The first tranche of the African Union (AU) Peace Fund has been allocated to the East African Community (EAC) for its standby force in the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

AU’s commissioner for political affairs, peace, and security,

Bankole Adeoye, stated this at the end of the AU Summit’s mid-term review in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sunday.

The DRC is due for elections in December this year, and instability in the east could have negative effects on the smooth-running of the polls.

“US$2 million (about R36 million) from the AU is being disbursed for the first time to the East African Community (EAC) regional force, which is based in eastern DRC,” Adeoye said.

He added the funding of the EAC was a sign the AU was serious about fostering peace and the act was a combined effort that “displays African ownership”.

The peace fund covers operational activities, mediation and preventive diplomacy, institutional capacity, and peace support operations of the AU.

In July 2016, the AU resolved the fund would receive about R5.85 billion in endowments in 2017 and R7.2 billion in total by 2020.

The use of the fund comes as the AU deals with growing cases of terrorism, violent extremism and unconstitutional changes in governments.

To date, four African countries – namely Mali, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Guinea – have been suspended from the AU after military takeovers between 2020 and 2022.

Adeoye said: “Five regions are now battling with one form of extremism or the other. It is pervasive, it’s spreading, but we have an opportunity for collective security.”

While in successive meetings at AU and regional bloc levels, heads of state have spoken with one voice for collective security, funding has been a major challenge.T

Voice of Yoruba Radio /TV, a brain-child of a socio-cultural group, Ilana Omo Oodua,  has berthed in the United States as part of efforts to promote Yoruba language, culture and civilisation internationally.

Also known as Voice of Yoruba (Ohun Omo Yoruba), the outfit, which has its core values, promises to ensure that its programmes are accurate, fair and as complete as possible.

The organisation’s Sole Co-Coordinator, Gbade Adekunjo, said that VoY shall be virtually launched on July 23, by a former Nigerian Ambassador to the Philippines, Dr. Yemi Farounbi.

He will be supported by former leader of Yoruba Nation group, Prof. Banji Akintoye, renowned priest and poet, High Chief Yemi Eleburuibon, Chief Imam Aduraniigba, and Venerable Nelson Fadoju.

Providing more information, the Pro Bono General Manager of the broadcasting outfit, Dr. Remi Bamisile, said the Radio-TV is expected to serve the needs of the Yoruba peoples across the globe and showcase the Yoruba Language as an international language.

He added that its “presenters are trained to conduct their work with honesty and respect, and they strive to be both independent and impartial in their efforts,” even as their “methods are transparent, and will be accountable in its reports.

“Our Yoru`ba´ presenters are talented, highly educated, and versatile in the use of Yoru`ba´ language. At VoY, we know that language is socially constrained. This principle of sociolinguistics is what guides our broadcasts, both as it is performed and as it is perceived,” he said.

Bamisile added that the station shall hold those who serve and influence the public about the Yoruba Nation to a high standard when it reports about their actions, hence the station would ask no less of itself.

“Broadcasting is a daily process of painting an ever-truer picture of the world, hence every step of this process – from reporting to editing to presenting information – shall be done with utmost diligence.

“VoY reports shall be accurate even as it shall pursue the truth and diligent verification of its reports shall be critical of its operations. It shall take great care to ensure that statements of fact in our broadcasts are both correct and in context. In our reporting, we shall rigorously challenge both the claims we encounter and the assumptions we bring.”

United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said prolonged drought in the Horn of Africa has left 23.4 million people acutely food insecure and 5.1 million children acutely malnourished.

It said 36.6 million people have been affected by the drought across the region, calling for “immediate and medium-to-long-term actions” to prevent and mitigate the worst impacts and reduce vulnerability and risks while building and strengthening resilience.

An estimated 2.7 million people have been displaced by the drought, the WFP said in its latest situation update released on Sunday evening.

Successive below-average harvests, coupled with high production and transport costs, reduced local agricultural produce and led to food price spikes, the WFP said.

It said the impacts of the 2020-2023 droughts are likely to persist for a long time, noting that as droughts have become more frequent and intense, it will take longer for the affected populations to fully recover.

The WFP said favourable rains over March-June led to better-than-normal vegetation conditions in the pastoral and agro-pastoral areas of Ethiopia, northern Somalia, and parts of Kenya, compared to the end of 2022 short rains season.

“This signifies improved availability of livestock grazing pastures/forage except in localised areas. However, in south-central Somalia and southwest Kenya, insufficient precipitation or localised incidences of floods might impact the seasonal harvests, affecting food availability,” it said.

• Nigeria among top five in Africa, top 31 globally

The United Nations (UN) has ranked the Federal Government high on its efforts and commitments towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030.

According to its 2023 SDGs report showing the scores, which was obtained by The Nation, the Nigerian Government is ranked among the top five African countries, and top 31 countries worldwide, scoring 64.6 per cent and ranked 31st.

Other five African governments topping the chart globally are: Benin, ranked 5th at 78.7 per cent; Ghana, ranked 24th at 69.1 per cent; Egypt, ranked 28th at 65.8 per cent; and Senegal, ranked 30th at 65.3 per cent.

Interestingly, the UN’s report, which was published by the Dublin University Press, ranked the efforts of Nigeria towards achieving the SDGs ahead of countries like France (64.1 per cent), China (56.8 per cent), United Kingdom (54.8 per cent), South Africa (52.5 per cent), Brazil (48.7 per cent), India (47.5 per cent), Russia (39.3 per cent), Israel (36.1 per cent), and the United States of America (28.6 per cent).

The report stated: “We assume that rich countries with high educational levels and good health and infrastructure systems would have greater access to capital to invest in SDG transformations. Yet government efforts for the SDGs in 2023 correlate only moderately to their 2015 SDG Index scores and per-capita GDP in 2015.

“Benin, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Senegal are just some of the countries that are performing much better on the SDG government effort measure than would be predicted from their baseline SDG Index levels and 2015 per-capita GDP.

“In contrast, a few countries with very high per-capita GDPs (US$50,000 and above) and SDG Index scores (75 percent and above), such as Australia and the United States, demonstrate only a limited commitment to the SDGs, with apparently limited efforts made.”

Also, although overall, Nigeria is ranked 146 out of 166 countries with 54.3 per cent score on the SDGs, it is among the few countries globally that are on their way to achieving more than five SDG sub-goals.

According to the report, Nigeria is on track or maintaining SDG achievement in nine SDG sub-goals out of five of the 17 SDGs, including: zero hunger; good health and wellbeing; industry, innovation and infrastructure; life below water; and peace, justice and strong institutions.

The nine sub-goals are: Prevalence of wasting in children under 5 years of age; Human Trophic Level; New HIV infections (per 1,000 uninfected population); Age-standardised death rate due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, or chronic respiratory disease in adults aged 30 to 70 years.

Others are: Population using the internet; Fish caught from overexploited or collapsed stocks; Fish caught by trawling or dredging; Fish caught that are then discarded; and Homicides (per 100,000 population).

The report noted that based on the pace of progress since 2015, none of the goals is on track to be achieved globally by 2030, with the 2020 pandemic greatly affecting progress.