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Buhari departs for Addis Ababa to attend AU Summit

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday departed Abuja for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to participate at the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU).

The president left the Presidential Villa, Abuja, via the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport for Addis Ababa two hours after observing the weekly Friday’s Juma’at prayer.

The President alongside with hundreds of other Muslim faithful performed the two Raka’at Juma’at prayer at the Aso Rock Mosque.

Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, had on January 25, in a statement disclosed that the highlight of the President’s engagements during the visit would be his statements under the historic theme for the AU Summit, namely: “Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation.”

“This is the first time in the 54-year history of the AU that anti-corruption will be made a theme of the gathering of the regional leaders,’’ the statement said.

It would be recalled that, on July 4, 2017, during the 29th Session of the AU, African leaders unanimously endorsed President Buhari to champion the fight against corruption on the continent.

The endorsement was in recognition of his personal commitment and widely acclaimed anti-graft drive at the domestic level.

On July 25, 2017, the President, in a letter to President Alpha Conde of Guinea, who is also the out-going AU Chairperson, formally accepted his nomination to lead members of the AU on this crucial crusade against a veritable socio-economic vice that is anti-development.

While thanking his colleagues for the honour, Buhari reiterated his “commitment to contribute towards our collective efforts to strengthen good governance and development on the continent.’’

Adesina said that apart from anti-corruption, other issues lined for consideration by African leaders and their delegations would include peace and security (transnational terrorism). institutional reforms of the continental body and free movement of persons.

Also Read: Buhari signs eight bills into law

Others are climate change, trade; aviation, education, gender and development.

He said President Buhari would also hold bilateral meetings with some of his colleagues on issues of common interests.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Danbazau and the Minister of State (Aviation), Hadi Sirika, are in the President’s delegation to the summit.

Others are the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, and the Ag. Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC ), Mr Ibrahim Magu.

NAN

January 26, 2018
Buhari to attend African Union summit in Addis Ababa

President Muhammadu Buhari will today depart for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to participate in the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU).

A statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said the highlight of the President’s engagements during the visit would be his statement under the historic theme for the AU Summit, namely: “Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation.”

“This is the first time in the 54-year history of the AU that anti-corruption will be made a theme of the gathering of the regional leaders.

“It would be recalled that on July 4, 2017 during the 29th Session of the AU, African leaders unanimously endorsed President Buhari to champion the fight against corruption on the continent. The endorsement was in recognition of his personal commitment and widely acclaimed anti-graft drive at the domestic level.”

January 26, 2018
UN: Africa to witness economic pickup in 2018

Africa’s economy is expected to grow 3.5 per cent in 2018, an increase of 0.3 percentage points from 2017, a UN official said Thursday.

Speaking at 30th AU Summit being held in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, Vera Songwe, Secretary-General of the UN Economic Commission for Africa ( UNECA ), said the growth uptick will be underpinned by strengthened external demand and moderate increase in commodity prices.

She said the growth will also be supported by more favorable domestic conditions including restoration of oil production in a number of countries and expected recovery in 2018 and 2019 of major economies like Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa.

However, she said the growth would not be enough for the continent’s rising population of more than one billion, 70 per cent of whom are categorized in the youth group.

Read Also:UN accuses Congo forces of targeting officials during deadly protests

Songwe said: “adjusting for population growth, the projected economic growth remains inadequate for Africa to make significant progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs ), the eradication of poverty and hunger.

“Although poverty level is reducing, it is still intolerably high at an average of 40 percent for the continent. As Such, there’s need to upscale efforts at structural reforms, prudent economic management and promoting regional integration.”

Nevertheless, UNECA projects the uptick in economic growth to continue for some time with 3.7 percent economic growth expected in 2019.

SDGs are a universal set of goals, targets and indicators that UN member states will be expected to use to frame their agendas and political policies until 2030.

NAN

January 25, 2018
CAMPUSLIFE man represents West Africa at Ethiopia climate workshop

An Australia-based non-profit organisation, Climate Tracker, has hosted 17 young Africans from across the continent to a Climate Change Journalism Workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The workshop was aimed at training young journalists on the art of reporting climate issues and in their communities.

The event hosted participants from nine countries, including Egypt, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Nigeria.

A Corps member and CAMPUSLIFE man, Caleb Adebayo, was picked from Nigerian to represent West Africa.

The workshop had training sessions during which the participants were taken through topics ranging from climate change science and United Nations (UN) negotiations on climate change.

Terhi Lehtinen, the Deputy Head of Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Ethiopia, opened the event with a discussion about EU’s efforts to make Africa safe from the climate change effects.

According to her, a new legislative framework was ratified by EU parliament to reduce carbon emissions by 40 per cent by 2030. She said: “The European Union believes taking action on climate change goes hand in hand with economic transformation.”

Mr Binyam Yakob, a UN negotiator from Ethiopia, spoke on the negotiation process and how African countries could explore Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to achieve green goals.

Session on African Union’s efforts in climate change negotiations was taken by Leah Naess, who represented the African Union (AU).

There were also sessions on data journalism, media tools and investigative journalism taken by the Director of Climate Tracker, Chris Wright. The participants were given hands-on training and were divided into different working groups to exchange ideas on how to tackle the climate challenge.

At the end of the week-long event, participants went on a tour of Gullele Botanical Garden in Addis Ababa, the biggest botanical garden in Africa. Afterwards, they were engaged in a tree-planting exercise in communities around the capital city.

A participant from Botswana, Mmabatho Motsamai, promised to impart the knowledge learnt from the training in her community, saying: “I am glad to be a part of this. I learnt a lot from the facilitators, especially about climate journalism. I have built a great network of young climate journalists and I hope to impart the knowledge learnt on them.”

Leena El-Deeb, a journalist from Egypt, said she was excited about visiting Ethiopia for the first time, noting that she was thrilled about the experience she had at the workshop.

Caleb said: “This is an awesome experience for me, having worked with most diverse teams on the most difficult projects and delivered on them within short periods.”

He expressed optimism that the knowledge garnered at the workshop would transform communities in Africa. He added: “I intend to do a step-down training so we can have more competent climate journalists.”

He praised The Nation for creating CAMPUSLIFE platform, which he said had helped him accessed opportunities. He said: “I attended periodic journalism workshops, which The Nation held to train students on journalism. This platform made me a fine journalist and prepped me for this opportunity.”

Caleb is the founder of Earthplus, a Lagos-based non-profit organisation, committed to environmental sustainability in Africa.

September 14, 2017
Osinbajo leaves Abuja for AU Summit in Ethiopia

The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday morning, left Nigeria for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to participate in the 29th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU).

Mr Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity (Office of the Vice-President) confirmed this development on his twitter handle on Monday in Abuja.

According to Akande, the acting president is expected back in Abuja later today .

The presidential aide posted on the twitter handle as saying: “Acting President will be attending summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He leaves Abuja this morning and expected back later today.’’

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the acting president and other Heads of State and Government of the AU Member states will be attending the opening ceremony of the session at the African Union Headquarters, Nelson Mandela Plenary Conference Hall, at 11:00 am.

The theme of the summit is: “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in the Youth’’ while presentation on and moderation of the Theme will be handled by Mr Idriss Deby, President of the Republic of Chad.

Other events expected at the 2017 AU summit include the inauguration of the Road Show for Dot Africa and the Annual AU Gender Score Card.

July 3, 2017
NCAA orders Ethiopian Airlines to stop collection of unauthorised charges

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has ordered Ethiopian Airlines to stop the collection of unauthorised charges forthwith.

The order was contained in a statement signed by Mr Sam Adurogboye, NCAA General Manager, Public Relations, on Sunday in Lagos.

Adurogboye said these unauthorised charges referred to as” refundable deportation fee” is put at between 75 dollars and 150 dollars.

According to him, all South Africa bound passengers on Ethiopian Airlines are compelled to pay this amount before boarding.

He noted that the authority had been inundated with several complaints from many passengers that have suffered this fate.

“According to investigation by NCAA, all outbound passengers to South Africa from Murtala Mohammed International Airport, (MMIA), Lagos and Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, transiting through Addis Ababa, are liable to pay 75 dollars.

“However, if your transiting time is 24 hours or beyond, the passenger will pay 150 dollars.

“While passengers are not given prior notice concerning these charges before arriving at the airports, some were made to sign undertaken to be responsible for all expenses incurred if deported,” Adurogboye said.

He said consequent upon this, the Ethiopian Airlines’ Country management were summoned by NCAA, where they claimed the fees were always refunded when a passenger was not deported.

Adurogboye said the regulatory authority however found this unacceptable and viewed it as a violation of the its extant regulations.

“The Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (NCARs) Part 18.4.1(iii) stipulates that “all air carriers should obtain approval from the authority to introduce or increase add-on charges or surcharges prior to implementation.

“Till date, the authority has not received any request for fare increase, tariff or add-ons from the airline.

“On this strength, Ethiopian Airlines has been ordered to stop with immediate effect these illegal charges,” he said.

Adurogboye noted that the Airline could take advantage of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CAR) and obtain necessary approvals from the Authority if it has genuine grounds to increase fares or obtain tariffs.

The spokesman said :”the NCAA hereby warns all operating airlines to endeavour to adhere to the regulations in all facets of their operations.

“It is part of our statutory responsibilities to protect the rights of passengers and this we shall continue to do in accordance to the law.”

May 21, 2017
Nigeria records highest Chinese outbound visitors to Africa

Nigeria recorded the highest number of Chinese outbound visitors to Africa in 2016 with a total number of 200,000 visitors to the country.

The report was released on Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the 59th Conference of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Commission for Africa and High Level Meeting on Chinese Outbound Tourists to Africa.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, led the Nigerian delegation to the conference.

According to the report, Nigeria is ahead of other acclaimed tourist destinations like Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia and the Gambia.

It stated that there were 157 million Chinese outbound visitors globally in the year in review out of which 3.2 million came to Africa and 260 billion dollar were spent on the whole.

Reacting to the report, the minister said that comparatively, it is an indication that the tourism sector is picking up in the country.

He said with the appropriate policies and legal framework that the government is putting in place, the country will maximise it to advantage.

Mohammed, however, noted that Africa and indeed Nigeria have a lot to do to develop and promote tourism sector to attract more tourists.

“Tourism contributes 10 per cent to global GDP but the African share of this is low.

“When you look at this statistics that of the 137 million Chinese outbound visitors globally, spending about 260 billion dollars only 3.2 billion dollars came to Africa and 200,000 to Nigeria, that is not good enough.

“Nigeria and Africa need to invest more in promoting tourism and there must be enough messages about the continent to attract tourists,” he said.

The minister said that one of the objectives of the conference was to promote Africa and see how the continent could benefit more from what China have to offer.

He added that the ongoing campaign for Africa to take up the leadership of UNWTO would be of huge advantage in improving the tourism sector in the continent.

NAN reports that the the current UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Riffai, a Jordanian national, is due to stand down from the post at the end of 2017.

The African Union (AU) has reportedly endorsed the Zimbabwe’s Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Dr Walter Mzembi’s candidature for the post which is being keenly contested by members from other continents.

Another African, Mr Alain St. Ange, a former Seychelles Minister of Tourism is also a candidate for the exalted office of the UNWTO Secretary General

In an interview with NAN correspondent covering the conference, Rifai, the outgoing UNWTO Secretary General, said the high level meeting on Chinese outbound tourists to Africa aimed to exchange national experiences and tourism border development.

Rifai said the conference was organised to create synergy among African countries and promote Africa as tourists destination.

He commended Mohammed for his passion for the industry and his initiative to bring Nigeria back to the UNWTO fold in 2016 after many years on non participation in the activities of the global tourism body.

Rifai said the endorsement of Nigeria for the hosting of UNWTO Conference of Africa Tourism Ministers in 2018 is a catalyst for the realisation of the Federal Government agenda to bring tourism to the mainstream.

April 21, 2017
World leaders endorse Buhari’s programmes, efforts – Lai Mohammed

The right won by Nigeria to host the United Nation World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) conference in 2018 has been described as “a global endorsement of programmes and efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration”.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said on Thursday in Addis Ababa that the hosting right reiterated the confidence the global community has in Nigeria.

Nigeria, on Wednesday, won the right to host, in 2018, the 61st meeting of African Ministers in charge of Tourism tagged UNWTO Commission for Africa (CAF)

Mohammed, who led Nigeria’s delegation to Addis Ababa for the 59th edition of the meeting and a high level meeting on Chinese Outbound Tourism in Africa, said the country would leverage on the hosting opportunity.

“Wednesday was a big moment for Nigeria here in Addis Ababa because Nigeria got the endorsement of the whole world to host the 61st session of the CAF mission of the UNTWO.

“What that means really is that the entire world has endorsed the programmes and efforts of President Buhari’s administration,” he said.

Mohammed said that hosting the conference should be seen in a bigger picture that “Nigeria “is once again on the global stage”.

He said the event would provide the country, the opportunity to showcase its diverse culture and give its own narrative from its own perspective.

“Hosting this conference will give confidence to investors that this is a country they can come and invest in.

“It will also convince the entire world that Nigeria is serious in promoting culture, music, film and entertainment industry to diversify its economy,” he said.

The minister said that no amount of money invested in hosting the conference could be seen as waste because of the goodwill it will bring to the country.

He said so many other countries were bidding to host the event to boost their tourism industry and attract goodwill to their nations.

Speaking in same vein, the Secretary General of UNWTO, Taleb Rifa said “the endorsement of Nigeria for the hosting of 61st CAF “is a great piece of news for the country”.

“I am absolutely sure that with the hosting of the CAF meeting, you will see that the Nigeria’s tourism industry will get on the right track and achieve results.

“In addition to the direct economic benefits this event will bring to the country, the limelight the country will be exposed to is unquantifiable.

“Nigeria will be hosting all Ministers of Tourism in Africa, that itself will send the powerful message that tourism is important for Nigeria.”

Rifai said Nigeria was a major player in tourism industry and the UNTWO had missed the country in its fold until the minister launched it back last year.

“Nigeria is one third in times of number and the weight it represents in the arts, the movie and the creative industry in general in Africa.

“What comes out of Nigeria in these areas of the industry is enough to be disseminated to the whole world.

“However, Nigeria is not utilising that yet and this conference will be a great opportunity to realise that,’’ he said.

Rifai commended the passion and efforts of the minister at repositioning the tourism and creative sector.

April 21, 2017
Decision time in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, otherwise called the city of Flowers is a frenzy less than 24 hours to the much talked about CAF Election. Two men are at the centre of it all, incumbent President Issah Hayatou who has been at the helm of the affairs since 1988 and Ahmad Ahmad , President of Madagascar Football Federation who is seeking a mandate that will put an end to Hayatou’s close to three decade reign. Some stakeholders and watchers alike have dubbed the election ‘old order’ versus ‘new order’ while others have described it as straight fight between the old with their old method of doing things versus the young with their modern cum jet age of doing things. Hayatou who is 71, is seen as a chip of the old block and part of the old order where former FIFA President Sepp Blatter reigned supreme. The change that occurred at the World football house in Zurich that saw Gianni Infantino emerging president appears to have triggered off clamor for change not only at the world level but even at the regional and national levels.

The anti Hayatou brigades believe that sit tight syndrome should go with the wind of change. The Cameroonian is seeking his eight term in office and some considered this too much for comfort. Backing an Ahmad who has promised to reform administration of the game in the continent some say is the way to go. Ahmad is not taking his desire to lead the continent lightly. He has presented before the 54 countries that will be voting in a matter of hours what can be dubbed four point agenda like the politicians would say. These include;

To promote football and run an all inclusive administration

To bring about reconciliation within African football

To give greater recognition to those who played a major role in African football

To create infrastructure that suits African football while avoiding the creation of ‘white elephant’ stadiums

Those who back Ahmad, a member of the CAF Executive Committee, who is currently in his third period of office, opine that some of the points raised if achieved will make a huge impact. On the pitch, the good thing about football is that in 90 minutes unless of course it drags to extra time and eventual penalty a winner must always emerge and the team that believes it is technically better can always prove that within the period allotted. In matter of hours a winner will emerge. Whether CAF decides to maintain the status quo or go with the wind of change is a matter of time. All the talking and campaign have been done now it is time to walk the talk. Call it decision time in Addis Ababa and you will be absolutely right.

March 15, 2017
Ethiopia declares three -day mourning for victims of landslide

The Ethiopian parliament on Tuesday declared a three-day national mourning for 72 citizens who lost their lives after a massive garbage dump landslide on the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

Head of Addis Ababa City Administration Communication Affairs Office, Dagmawit Moges, said during the three-day national mourning period, from Wednesday to Friday, the country’s flags will fly at half mast.

Moges said the hope of finding missing residents alive is almost unlikely, many more bodies could still be found as the search continues “day and night” at the site where the landslide occurred.

According to him, in an effort to avoid the impact of similar other tragic incidents, has already evacuated 320 inhabitants from the area.

A committee particularly designated to properly respond to the crisis has been also established by the municipality.

He said that as the death toll increased from the initial 15 to 72, the city administration has organised a public funeral and memorial service for victims of the tragic accident.

Hundreds of emergency personnel comprised from the Addis Ababa city Fire and Emergency Prevention and Rescue Agency and Addis Ababa Police Commission are also undertaking humanitarian activities at the site where the landslide occurred.

Moges, however, noted that since almost all residents in the area were informal settlers, the number of people missing has not been yet confirmed.

The condition at the 50-year old landfill is said to be a bigger challenge for emergency personnel who are working “day and night” to save the lives of those residents who are missing.

The massive landslide that occurred at 8p.m. on Saturday has buried and damaged several buildings in the area, while many of the residents were inside their houses during the landslide.

The 36 hectare municipal landfill, called “Koshe”, is home to a number of Addis Ababa dwellers who were apparently victim of a number of landslides over the years including the latest one on Saturday.

March 14, 2017