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Tag: Africans

  • Nigerians, Africans must direct their destiny, says Peterside

    The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has urged Nigerians and other Africans to guard the fledgling democracy, which is gradually taking root on the continent.

    He said this would help catalyse economic development on the continent and by extension the maritime sector.

    Peterside, who is also the chairman of Association of African Maritime Administration (AAMA), spoke yesterday in Lagos during a breakfast with reporters to mark the Eid-el-Kabir.

    He said AAMA under his leadership has prioritised projecting Africa as a block deserving a larger share of global maritime trade, based on its contributions.

    “Some African countries still operate along colonial inclination and that tends to slow down development, particularly in the maritime sector. In those countries where democracy is fully thriving, such as Nigeria, stakeholders in the maritime sector now speak with the voice of development, independent of colonial masters. AAMA, under my watch, has given African maritime sector a new voice, particularly at the International Maritime Organisation, IMO”, Peterside said.

    Commenting on how the agency has become one of the leading parastatals of the Federal Government in its contribution to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), the NIMASA D-G said some policies his administration adopted alongside the Treasury Single Account (TSA) were responsible.

    “NIMASA has transformed from contributing barely 3 billion naira to over 20 billion naira annually to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and it will keep getting better,” he said.

    Peterside added: “In order to block financial leakages, we subscribed to a full bouquet of the Lloyds and Clarkson intelligence; this made it almost impossible for any vessel calling at our ports to escape or under declare. The TSA and our collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), among other agencies, also played an important role.”

    He restated NIMASA’s commitment to growing indigenous capacity in the sector, noting that the engagement ongoing between the agency and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was aimed at securing special interest rates and intervention funds for vessel acquisition and other ancillary transactions in the sector, geared towards improving the Cabotage regime and the realisation of a robust maritime sector.

    Peterside, who referred to the maritime sector as a goldmine, took the opportunity to call for more objectivity in the report of activities of the sector.

    He said the agency would embrace all forms of collaborative initiatives that could help boost the fortunes of the nation’s maritime sector.

    In his Eid-el-Kabir message, the NIMASA D-G urged Nigerians to love one another and live peacefully as they celebrate Sallah, adding that the period was not only for merriment, but also a time to reflect on happenings in the country.

     

     

     

  • 17m Africans migrate for greener pastures

    No fewer than 17 million Africans left the continent in 2017 in search of greener pastures, a new report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said.

    The ‘Economic Development in Africa’ report also said 5.5 million people moved to Africa from other continents while some 19 million international migrants moved within Africa.

    “Overall, some 19 million international migrants moved within Africa, and 17 million Africans left the continent during last year. The continent was also the destination for about 5.5 million people from outside,” the report found.

    It said the large-scale migration of people within Africa tended to boost growth and lifted the continent’s whole economy, urging the world to dispel misconceptions and “harmful narratives” targeting migration.

    The report also said cross-border movement offered “a chance for a better life, with the social and economic benefits extending to both source and destination countries, as well as future generations”.

    Mukhisa Kituyi, the Secretary-General of (UNCTAD), said at the launching the report: “Our analysis shows this to be true for millions of African migrants and their families”.

    Kituyi added that public perception, “particularly as it relates to international African migration, is rife with misconceptions that have become part of a divisive, misleading and harmful narrative.”

    The report said remittances travelling back home from migrant workers both outside and inside Africa rose – on average – from 38.4 billion dollars between 2005 to 2007, to 64.9 billion dollars, during the two-year period up to the end of 2016.

    According to the report, therefore, remittances accounted for over half of the capital flows within the continent.

    Likewise, migrants contributed nearly 20 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Côte d’Ivoire according to figures from 2008, and 13 per cent in Rwanda (2012 figures).

    Junior Davis, the lead author of the report, said it provided evidence of the “intimate correlation” between migration and trade – two sides of the same coin.

    “Africa is on the cusp of tremendous change,” he said, noting the recently agreed African Continental Free Trade Area and the Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons.

    “In this context the report contributes to a better understanding of the implications of intra-African migration for the continent’s socio-economic transformation,” Davis added.

    However, alongside the numbers of migrants moving and working within Africa, the continent also has some of the highest number of people forced from their homes due to conflict or natural disasters.

    On top of the development gains lost at home, there is a significant economic and social burden faced by host countries, leaving many migrants dependent on international humanitarian aid, the report stated. (NAN)

  • 650m Africans live without electricity – AfDB

    The African Development Bank, (AfDB) on Wednesday says that no fewer than 650 million Africans currently live without electricity.

    Dr Victor Oladokun,  AfDB Director, Communication and Media Relations disclosed this while welcoming African Journalists on a Media Tour to Saemaul Undong Model village project, in Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire.

    “About 650 million people in Africa are currently without light  and some communities till today never see electricity.

    “We have a commitment to ensure universal electricity commitment and few other commitments,’’ he said

    He said that Africa by 2050 would have a population close to two billion, a population of China and Indian put together.

    He added that about 90 per cent of the people living in rural areas in Africa live in darkness.

    “A state like Lagos in Nigeria has about 25 million population, five million commutes out of Lagos.

    “Lagos, like Addis are likely to double its population  to 40 to 45 million  in the next 20 years, are we prepared? he asked

    He said that the continent needed  to work hard to be able to manage the population with the basic needs.

    He noted that bank had five key areas of focus to ensure effective development of the region

    The five key areas he said include, Light up Africa, feeding Africa, Integrating Africa, Industrializing Africa and Improve quality of life in Africa.

    He said that the bank had continued to expand its office to take business closer to consumers in the field.

    According to him, the bank has established 40 offices in different countries in the region as against 14 that it use to have.

    “As a bank, we need to be closer to the consumers and the private sector,’’ he said

    He added that the bank had refocused its effort to ensure that rural areas were develop adding that developing the urban centres would not bring the desired result in the region (NAN)

  • Nigerians in Diaspora condemn Trump’s vulgarity against Africans

    The Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Americas (NIDOA) has expressed outrage at what it called “the vulgar, insensitive and racist language” about Africans and other immigrants allegedly made by U.S. President Donald Trump.

    The group, in a statement by Mr Obed Monago, Chairman, NIDO Americas Board of Trustees and Mrs Patience Key, Chairman, NIDO USA Board of Directors, strongly condemned the statement allegedly made by the U.S. president.

    The organisation stated that the preference of some immigrants because of the colour of their skin smacked of bigotry.

    It also reminded the U.S. leader that in a country built with the laborious contributions of immigrants, aligning propriety and preference to Norway was clearly racist.

    NIDOA said Nigerian immigrants were among the most educated, and contributed immensely to the greatness of the United States.

    “Nigerians are proud to contribute to the betterment of the United States and will continue to do so.

    “It is with enormous pain and outrage, that NIDOA condemns the deplorable, disgusting use of vulgarity to describe a broad set of people who, for the most part, have and continue to add value to the United States.

    “We are not going to hold our breath for an apology, which would be proper for this insult on a well-meaning group of people.

    “It is unfortunate that we have to voice our disdain and disgust, but we are left, for now, with no other option than this painful reaction.

    “We wish the U.S. the very best in the days ahead. The United States needs to stay true to the founding of its democracy and the reason it should be a ‘light upon the hill’ for the world,” it said.

    NIDOA stressed that such statement was beneath the dignity of the President of a country marked by the Statue of Liberty, honouring the Preamble to the Constitution and striving to attain a more perfect union.

    “We painfully note the statement of Mr Trump that Nigerians will not go back to their ‘huts’ once they see the U.S. and ‘Haitians with AIDS;’ just to name a few,” the Nigerian organisation alleged.

    It also noted what it said were Trump’s utterances over the years, including the ‘birtherism’ against former President Barack Obama and his disparaging announcement when he began his quest for the Presidency.

    “We note the many immigrants who, as others, have bled and died for the U.S., an example being Emmanuel Mensah, who sacrificed himself for others just a few days ago in New York.

    “This racist remark in no way, helps make America great. It does more to damage the cooperative and collaborative manner that other countries engage to help the U.S. in these trying times.

    “In a democracy, as against a dictatorship, the checks on the system should rise to denounce, as the rest of the world has, the bigoted utterings from the Oval Office.

    “The President should be the responsible leader of the free world, but the uninformed and bigoted statement of the President has caused the majority of the American people pain in more ways than one.”

    NIDOA encouraged African countries, Haiti and others to be proud of their nationalities and stay true to their  identities. (NAN)

  • Buhari orders immediate repatriation of Nigerians in Libya

    Buhari orders immediate repatriation of Nigerians in Libya

    President Muhammadu Buhari  has ordered the immediate  repatriation of  Nigerians stranded in Libya and other parts of the world for rehabilitation.

    This declaration was made in Abidjan, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by Malam Garba Shehu, President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity

    According to him, the president made this known in an interactive session with members of the Nigerian Community in Cote D’ Ivoire.

    The President vowed to reduce the number of Nigerians heading for Europe illegally through the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea by providing basic social amenities such as education, healthcare, and food security at home, Garba said in the statement.

    According to him, the president said that all necessary steps would be taken to stem the tide of illegal migration by Nigerians.

    He, however, noted that it is very difficult to know the origin of the people who died, while attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, because of lack of documentation.

    “When it was announced that 26 Nigerians died recently in the Mediterranean, before they proved that they were all Nigerians they buried them.

    “The evidence I have from the Senior Special Assistant on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs, (Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa) is that only three of them were identified as Nigerians.

    “But I’ll not be surprised if the majority of them were Nigerians.

    “For people to cross the Sahara desert and Mediterranean through shanty boats… we will try and keep them at home.

    “Anybody who died in the desert and Mediterranean without documents; to prove that he is a Nigerian, there is absolutely nothing we can do.’’

    On the recent footage on the sale of Africans in Libya, he quotes the president as saying, that, “ it was appalling that some Nigerians (in the footage) were being sold like goats for few dollars in Libya.’’

    He said: “after 43 years of Gadhafi, why are they recruiting so many people from the Sahel including Nigerians? All they learned was how to shoot and kill.

    They didn’t learn to be electricians, plumbers or any other trade.’’

    On domestic issues, President Buhari told Nigerians in the Diaspora that “there is good news from home in the area of security, economy and anti-corruption.

    “We are not doing too badly in trying to secure the country, improve the economy and deal with corruption.

    “We are doing our best at all levels including security. It is absolute madness for people to blow others up in markets, churches, and mosques.’’

    According to him, no religion advocates violence, saying that “Justice is the basic thing all religions demand and you can’t go wrong if you do it.’’

    On food security, the President said that his vision of repositioning Nigeria as a food-secure nation was on course as the “country is on the verge of attaining food security.’’

    Read also: 580 more Nigerians to return from Libya this week

    He attributed the development to positive agricultural reform programmes and bumper harvest occasioned by good weather.

    According to the President, interventions through the Anchors Borrows Programme of the CBN and the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, among others, had been very successful in the agricultural reform initiative.

    “People have gone back to the farm. We got the CBN, agriculture minister and money was provided at very low interest to farmers and the farmers responded and it was very positive.

    “We are lucky that we are in a position to feed ourselves. So we are going to have food security in Nigeria earlier than anybody ever thought,’’ he noted.

    The President advised Nigerians in Cote D’ Ivoire to be good ambassadors in their host country, warning that the Embassy would not hesitate to repatriate those who tarnish the image of the country abroad.

    NAN

  • Huawei: 76% of Africans unconnected

    The President, Southern African Region, Huawei Technologies, Mr Li Peng, has lamented that 76 per cent of people in Africa still do not have access to information communication technology (ICT) tools.

    Peng who spoke yesterday at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, venue of the ongoing AfricaCom conference in South Africa, lamented that this huge digital divide provides an opportunity for both the public and private sectors to invest to bridge the divide.

    He spoke during the ICT Africa Forum it organised to bring together regulators, operators and other stakeholders in the information communication technology(ICT) ecosystem to chart a way forward in the continent’s challenges.

    Peng said a lot of African leaders have put in place policies that are designed to bridge this gap, but nonetheless, more still needed to be done to create access for the largely rural dwellers that have been disenfranchised in the digital transformation sweeping across the world.

     

     

  • Africans and Harvey Weinstein case

    Sometimes, the way Westerners behave in certain situations baffle many Africans. The treatment of pets is one of such situations. Africans generally, don’t treat pets like babies as most Europeans and Americans do. Pets such as cats and dogs are not kept and fed routinely at home by their owners in Africa. In traditional African settings, dogs roam the streets and alleys in search of what they will eat while cats prey on rats inside the ceilings of not only their owner’s homes but also those of nearby homes. Dogs do return to the owners’ home occasionally especially at night but cats rarely do that. Africans who have not been contaminated by Western ways don’t cuddle cats and there is nothing like walking the dog in African culture. What inspired this piece is not about the different way Africans and Westerners treat pets but the way Africans would have reacted if Harvey Weinstein were to be an African in an African country.

    For those who have not heard of the name, harmless-looking 65 years old Harvey Weinstein, until very recently, was a very big man in the film industry in the United States and invariably the world.  He, together with his younger brother Bob, founded the film production and distribution company known as Miramax, and later on, ‘The Weinstein Company’ (TWC). Miramax and TWC often collaborate with giants in the show business industry such as Metro-Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) and Sony Entertainment and like these big names they are also global players and have scores of award winning productions to their credit.  Some of their productions include ‘Shakespeare in Love’ and ‘Mandela Long Walk To Freedom’. Over the years many actors and actresses have won prestigious awards and became famous after appearing in films produced by these companies. In Oscar acceptance speeches since 1996, Harvey Weinstein was, according to Wikipedia, thanked a total of 34 times by actors and actresses –second to only Steven Spielberg with 41.

    Individuals were not the only ones who were appreciative of Harvey Weinstein’s role in enhancing their positions. In honour of his contribution to the British film industry, he was appointed an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2004. He was also made a Knight of the French Legion of Honour in recognition of his efforts to increase the popularity of foreign films in the US. But despite all these and his huge financial contributions to the Democratic Party especially to its candidates during presidential elections, Harvey Weinstein, like Humpty Dumpty crashed from his elevated pedestal this month – October.

    The first thought that usually comes to the mind of many when a successful businessman is reported to have fallen is bankruptcy.  But Harvey Weinstein has not taken a fat loan that his companies were unable to redeem. His companies were not insolvent, they were still doing well. His fall was due to allegations by some actresses that he has harassed them sexually! Since the first allegation was made, 45 women all above 20 years in age had come forward to narrate to the press how he assaulted them.

    Most of their revelations are not very serious. To most African men, they are actually laughable.  From the few I have endured reading to the end, there was no allegation of Harvey drugging his victim before committing any act. There was also no case of Harvey pouncing on any woman, bringing her down by force before in the typical manner we are used to hearing in rape cases.  The allegations made against him ranged from he told me this or that, he touched my hand or my lap without my consent, he spoke to me while he was taking his bath in the bathroom or he came out of the bathroom tying only a towel round his waist. Africans are against violent rape but what the women claimed Harvey Weinstein had done to them did not amount to rape or even assault. Most of the allegations are stuff expected from kids in a kindergarten.  But in the western world, uttering certain words to a woman, touching any part of a woman’s body or exposing some parts of the man’s body in the presence of a woman without her consent was unacceptable and as a result, Harvey Weinstein has become like a leper!

    He has since been expelled from both the board of TWC which he co-founded with his brother as well as that of Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences which is responsible for assessing films/actors and awarding the highly esteemed Oscar prizes.  Well-known names in the US mass media, business and in politics such as Hilary Clinton whose campaign fund he donated a huge sum of money to during the last presidential elections has since been denouncing him. On being interviewed on TV, Mrs. Clinton even went as far as to say that she was going to donate part of the money Harvey donated to her campaign fund to charity. Worse of all, his wife is reported to have deserted him and his brother has also been denouncing him. He has now gone into hiding and there are unconfirmed reports that he has been taken to see a psychiatrist in the U.K because to Westerners, only a mentally sick person could do what he has been alleged to have done.

    I make bold to say that if it were to be in Africa, these allegations of assault were made, they wouldn’t have made a dent on Harvey Weinstein’s reputation. If he had actually slept with the women through only intimidation but not with violence, he would have become an idol to many men and a few women would have even admired him secretly.

    This cavalier attitude of most African men in their relationship with women poses some fundamental questions that need to be looked into without our racial binoculars.  The first poser is: Why are Africans still behaving this way despite over 100 years of Westerners trying to wean us from such mentality and ways which to them are uncivilized? The second poser is:  Which of the ways (African or Western) is nature likely to approve? Thirdly, with all their decency towards them, will the African woman prefer a white man to a black man as husband? Since we started this conversation with how Africans and Westerners treat their cats and dogs, let’s also end with them. Which way (African or Western) do you think nature would approve of? And which pets, those of Africans or those of Europeans and Americans are happier? Would the pet of the African man be envious of his well-fed but home-bound counterpart owned by a Westerner?

    We are not here to provide any answer but all we dare suggest is that the near opposite ways Africans and Westerners behave in some situations must have something to do with the way we are made. For though science and religion are not quarreling over the genetic makeup of human beings as they do over our origin, the behaviour of Westerners and Africans often call into question the claim that the genes of human beings everywhere are the same.

     

    • Maduku, a retired Nigeria Army Captain (Infantry) and novelist, lives in Effurun-Otor, Delta State.

     

  • FG denies it wants to start issuing visas on arrival for Africans

    FG denies it wants to start issuing visas on arrival for Africans

    The federal government yesterday denied it has decided to start issuing visas on arrival for all Africans.

    The deputy chairman of the African Union, Kwesi Quartey, was reported to have broken the news in Addis Ababa in a Facebook post.

    He praised the action as a “laudable move towards Africa’s integration agenda.”

    The AU’s political affairs office said in a tweet that Nigeria announced the action at a retreat for permanent representatives.

    A spokeswoman for the AU chairperson, Ebba Kalondo, was also reported to have said they were waiting for details from Nigeria as the news was “announced verbally with no formal communication.”

    Contacted yesterday, Information Minister Lai Mohammed asked for time to confirm from the appropriate quarters.

    He later sent a text message that no such decision was in place.

    The AU has advocated for a “single African passport” that aims to improve intra-African trade and has called for “the abolishment of visa requirements for all African citizens in all African countries by 2018.”

    Africans need visas to travel to 55 percent of the continent, according to AU figures.

    According to the African Development Bank’s 2017 Africa Visa Openness Report, Africans can get a visa on arrival in just 24 percent of other African countries, while North Americans, for example, have easier travel access on the continent.

    “Free movement on the continent would entail the implementation of continent-wide visa-free regimes including issuance of visas at ports of entry for Africans,” the AU suggested in February.

    Already Ghana, Rwanda, Mauritius and the Seychelles issue visas on arrival to all African passport holders, the AU’s Quartey has said.

    In 2016, the electronic African Union Passport was launched and issued to heads of state and governments, with the goal of expanding it to citizens.

  • Africans and weakness of power

    SIR: Philosophers have opined that power enhances the ego, makes leaders believe in their infallibility and above all, unassailable. While there may be elements of exaggeration in this description, the experience throughout the ages put some political actors and business barons in this unsavoury make —belief.

    Some dedicated patriotic leaders have suffered undeserved persecution, even assassination on account of being leaders. Notable names abound in history. In North America, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy plus his brother Robert, have at one time or the other incurred the wrath of their peoples to the extent that some were cut down unnecessarily. The agony and memory of the Kennedy brothers still lingers not only among liberal democrats in America, but throughout the civilized world. These strong leaders were not persecuted because of their misdeeds but because they pursued causes not easily understood by their constituents. In the case of Richard Nixon, breaches of the constitution, political double dealings and sheer arrogance led to his impeachment and being thrown out of the White House.

    The above situations and personalities differ substantially from the African, South American and South Pacific experience. In these continents and countries, there are home grown despots, charlatans and treasury looters who assume leadership for personal or class interest. These ‘leaders’ have done much violence to their countries, destroying valuable institutions of state, riding on high horses to pervert the course of justice and rendering their communities worse than they found them.  Invariably they assume power preaching equity, progress and institutional development.  In the end they achieve nothing except self-enrichment, stealing and plundering their countries into needless political/social chaos and economic ruin.

    As I said, examples abound in the developing world like Brazil, Argentina, in South America, and Africa Mugabe, Idi Amin, Hail Selassie, Col Ghadafi, Ian Smith, Nkrumah, our own home grown Sani Abacha are examples.  In some of the countries ruled by these small-time tyrants, the social political and economic developments have been reversed and their countries totter and collapse before they are overthrown and some measure of sanity restored.

    In this category of infantile leaders, Africa takes a lead. Sure many come to power espousing vigour, commitment and the best wishes, but they soon show their true colour after a short time.  Their insatiable lost for more power, money, and influence and debased living soon run counter to the wishes and welfare of society which they pretend to serve.

    Coming nearer home, pointing to Kwame Nkrumah and Abacha vividly illustrate the fate of Africa, in our recent past and in the present time.  Nearly all Africa leaders come to power with good intentions, but this subterfuge soon disappears, laying bare the greedy and selfish desires of these leaders. Currently in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa there are pockets of pretenders, deceitful and self-serving chief executive of states who are not aware that the veils they wear are porous and visible to the bulk of the population.  The atrocities of these little tyrants while in office lead to convulsions and disruptions that follow their rule. Several countries in Africa have experienced and continue to experience these avoidable social dislocations. The pity of it is that we don’t seem to learn from past mistakes of electing or appointing people to high offices which by temperament, education or belief they are not suited.

    While in office these leaders amass obscene wealth stacking part of their loot in European, Mid-East and American vaults making planning and development at home difficult and in some cases near impossible, it takes a lot of effort and expense for governments to retrieve part of the loot which have been absorbed by the willing hands of foreign crooks and collaborators.  The money stolen by politicians and their fronts is enough to re-activate Nigeria’s ailing economy.  It is only in Nigeria that politicians, even public servants keep billions in pits, kitchenettes, wardrobes and anywhere that can provide temporary shelter.  Recent battles only reveal this trend.  How much has been lost in the past can only be imagined.

    The lessons from our wrong judgment are clear.  We will continue to tumble and stumble until we get it right.  Putting wrong people in position is our fault.  We will also continue to experience stunted development with the resultant effect of malignant poverty and desperation.  Can Africa, nay Nigeria learn?

     

    • Deji Fasuan MON; JP

    Ado Ekiti.

  • Otudeko advises Africans on growth strategies

    Otudeko advises Africans on growth strategies

    The Chairman, Honeywell Group, Dr. Oba Otudeko has urged African governments and entrepreneurs to adopt innovative solutions that will help fastrack  develop in Africa.

    He said companies should aim at moving the continent from its pre-colonial business model of trading and exporting raw materials, to manufacturing of value-added goods.

    Otudeko, who spoke at the London Business School’s Africa Business Summit, as a keynote speaker at this year’s summit titled: Made in Africa, said despite the political, infrastructural and other challenges facing the continent, there still exists enormous opportunities.

    He urged entrepreneurs to take advantage of opportunities and reap buoyant rewards, saying there is need for businesses to come up with effective strategies for developing made-in-Africa solutions that embrace the diversity and peculiarity of the continent. He said for many decades, Africa has been depending on the exportation of low value commodities and industrial raw materials while importing more expensive finished products.

    “The Nigerian experience presents a vivid situation of the status quo with manufacturing in Africa. We export crude oil and use a significant percentage of revenues earned therefrom to import refined petroleum products. Africa cannot continue in this trajectory (low valued added exports). The continent must rapidly migrate from trading, exporting raw materials to manufacturing value-added goods,” he said.

    According to Otudeko, manufacturing accounts for only 11 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in sub-Saharan Africa, suggesting that there is a huge untapped opportunity in the sector. He said these opportunities can only be effectively utilised by deliberate, concerted efforts at implementing potent strategies for economic growth and inclusion. Otudeko said there was need for the continent to change its current business model as well as policies and adopt reforms that would engender sustainable economic growth.