The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Britain

  • Britain out of EU

    Britain out of EU

    With 51.8 per cent, Britain has voted to leave the European Union.

    The outcome of the referendum however showed that while England voted overwhelmingly for Brexit, Scotland and Northern Ireland backed favoured continuation as part of EU.
    17,410,742 persons voted to leave compared to 16,141,241 for Remain.
    A record number of Britons — almost 46.5 million — were registered to vote, and over 33.5 million cast ballots. In Scotland, where results were reported earlier than elsewhere, an overwhelming majority voted to Remain.
    But in England, where about 84% of the U.K.’s population of almost 65 million people live, the vote to leave was stronger in most areas. London was the outlier, with most boroughs voting to Remain.
    As initial results trickled in indicating a likely Leave vote, the sterling slid dramatically against the dollar, and stocks in Asian markets saw volatility with investors concerned about the effects of a “Brexit.”
    The Bank of England put out a statement Friday morning saying it would take “all necessary steps” to guarantee economic stability in the wake of the vote.

  • Britain’s historic moment of decision

    SIR: On Thursday June 23, the citizens of Great Britain will be called upon to make one of the most delicate decisions in modern history in a referendum to decide whether to remain or opt out of European Union. An atmosphere of uncertainty is already pervading the entire Britain – to be or not to be.

    The European Union, a successor to the defunct European Economic Community, EEC was designed primarily to achieve full integration and political union on the model of the United States of America (USA). In the spirit and letters of the single European Act of 1987 which sought to create a single market within the European Community or EC and a single currency – the Euro, member nations were also required to cede part of their national sovereignty to the European Union with capital in Brussels. The European Parliament at Luxembourg legislates on economic and political matters for member nations.

    Currently, the E.U is undergoing unprecedented economic and migrant crises occasioned by the influx of millions of refugees mainly from the war-torn countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan seeking refuge in European nations. The current humanitarian catastrophe has indeed overwhelmed most European nations and has brought monumental economic strain on front line members of the EU particularly Germany which alone had taken well over one million migrants mainly Syrians into her country purely on humanitarian grounds.

    On the economic front, the E.U has some perennial challenges as some member nations such as Greece, Spain and other nations currently facing severe economic recession had to seek for financial bailout from the parent body the E.U in order to survive. Greece in particular was recently under terrible economic recession and already on the verge of insolvency before Brussels rushed to bail her out from total collapse.

    Britain, with her solid political-cum-economic base appears not to be totally enthusiastic about the full political and economic integration of Europe and had long remained skeptical about the future of the E.U. hence her refusal to join the European Monetary Union, otherwise known as a single currency-the Euro but rather retained her strong pound sterling as her common currency.

    One important lesson to be learnt particularly in Africa from the current British political scenario is the beauty of democracy which guarantees absolute freedom for people with different shades of opinion and ideas to freely express their views on certain critical issues without let or hindrances. The current situation whereby some senior members of the British cabinet under David Cameron had to differ with the Prime Minister on the question of the future of Britain while at the same time retaining their highly exalted positions in government is a classical example of the British unique sense of tolerance and accommodation which are the major features of democratic principles and ideals that are so dear to the British as a people.

    In other democratic societies particularly in Africa, the ministers would have been treated as rebels and unceremoniously relieved of their positions in government. The British experience exemplifies democracy in action which should be emulated by all civilized societies in the world.

     

    • NzeNwabueze Akabogu, (JP)

    Enugwu-Ukwu, Anambra State.

  • ‘Britain not ready to release Nigeria’s stolen funds’

    Steve Franklin is an American widely traveled journalist and author, President of Nigerian American Press Association (NAPA) a famous media association of Nigerians and American journalists with over 100 memberships. He’s a very outspoken media professional who passionately follow events in Africa. In this interview with Adetutu Audu, he chronicles several vices imbibed in Britain as they continually squander Nigeria’s Stolen Wealth kept in Britain’s Bank Account for their own rapid development at the latest  Anti-Corruption Summit in UK.

     How do you view the on-going Anti-Corruption Summit in Britain?

    As far as I am concerned, I know that from the outset of United Kingdom Anti-Corruption Summit, David Cameron, British Prime Minister had convened that meeting to embarrass and disgrace Nigeria, which was why he referred to ‘Nigeria and Afghanistan’ as two most corrupt nations in the world during his pre-summit chat with Queen Elizabeth II. Were it not the video camera that captured that scathing and derogatory statement, Cameron could have denied he did not utter it. Britain is not a saint, but very corrupt. In the present list of Transparency International Corruption Index, UK occupied 10th position with Germany, Luxembourg.

    You are aware in the UK Anti Corruption Summit, Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director of Transparency International reacted to Cameron comments regarding Nigeria, Afghanistan as ‘Most Corrupt’ when he said: ‘There is no doubt that historically, Nigeria and Afghanistan have had very high levels of corruption, and that continues to this day. But the leaders of those countries have sent strong signals that they want things to change, and the London Anti-Corruption Summit creates an opportunity for all the countries present to sign up to a new era. This affects the UK as much as other countries we should not forget that by providing a safe haven for corrupt assets, the UK and its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are a big part of the world’s corruption problem.’

    I can tell you that majority of British politicians and Nigerians are presently condemning Cameron for trying to place Britain as a saint, immunized from stealing. In Africa, I have heard lots of people say ‘A Pot cannot be calling the Kettle Black.’ May be you don’t know yet, British opposition politicians and anti-corruption campaigners have said Cameron was ill-placed to criticize Nigeria when Britain’s own record on combating corruption was less than glorious.

    Unilaterally, they have said that corrupt politicians and business people from Nigeria and many other countries have laundered their ill-gotten gains in Britain’s property market, while London also has ties to numerous tax havens routinely used to hide stolen money to develop their country. There will be an Agreement to be signed at the end of the summit on Reparation of Nigeria’ stolen funds in United Kingdom.

    Are you sure that after Nigeria may have signed the Agreement on Stolen Funds Reparation, the UK Government will return the money?

    Based on Britain’s body language, I am sure they are not ready to return Nigeria’s stolen funds stashed in various banks which I will reveal shortly soon. They act and see themselves as Dictator, suffering from Colonial Master’s Syndrome. They want to use Nigeria’s stolen funds to build and rapidly develop their own nation to their optimal satisfaction. When they are through, they will then recycle same stolen funds into their banks and begin to give to Nigeria in piece meal after a long waiting period. They will then attach stringent conditions for Nigeria to follow in implementing the piece meal funds reparation. If they feel that the returned funds is not well executed according to British laid down rules, they will delay releasing other stolen funds.
    My position is further confirmed by a reported statement from British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright, who said that the UK government had no plan to keep the money, but there are certain legal requirements that Nigeria had not met to ease the recovery of the money. He agreed that the money belongs to the Nigerian people but left a caveat that they ‘need to make sure that the money is well spent when it returns to Nigeria’. They need to make sure they ‘can do that in a proper way, which is fully in compliance with the British law.’ What an insult. Nigeria is a Sovereign nation like Britain, with laid down rules on procedures. Britain must do away with its Master-servant mentality. They cannot enforce British laws on Nigerian laws. That is why I call them dictator of the highest order. Nigeria had her independence since October 1, 1960, yet you are not willing to let the country grow, progress forward. What a shame.


    Can you mention those British Banks where British Government hides Nigeria’s stolen funds?

    Let me say here that British Government is government built mostly on stolen funds from the money pilfered by some politicians in those countries and kept in their banks. It is strange that UK knows those funds were stolen from Nigeria yet they instruct their banks to collect such funds, so that they may use the funds through backdoor and play it around in a circle, when tired, they return the funds into the banks. It is that simple. It will shock you to hear that British banks being used by UK Government to hide Nigeria’s funds are: HSBC, Barclays, Natwest, & Royal Bank of Scotland. Till date, no British bank has been publicly fined or even named by the regulators for taking corrupt funds, whether willingly or through negligence.

    Recently, an International corruption watchdog said high street banks in the United Kingdom could have helped fuel corruption in Nigeria by accepting millions of dollars in deposits from dubious politicians in the West African nation.

    How come five leading UK banks have failed to adequately investigate the source of tens of millions of dollars taken from two Nigerian governors accused of corruption in the past. Robert Palmer, a campaigner at Global Witness corroborated my position when he said ‘Banks are quick to penalize ordinary customers for minor infractions but seem to be less concerned about dirty money passing through their accounts.

    He also said ‘Large scale corruption is simply not possible without a bank willing to process payments from dodgy sources, or hold accounts for corrupt politicians in the knowledge of the government.

    I strongly share in the belief that Financial Services Authority (FSA) have failed woefully to do more to prevent money laundering through British banks. The fact that they reportedly acknowledged that in accepting the money, Barclays, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HSBC, as well as Switzerland’s UBS, might not have broken the law is a shame on British Government.

    In Britain, banks help in facilitating corruption. Name one British bank that has been publicly fined or even named by the regulators for taking corrupt funds, whether willingly or through negligence or sacked. In United States, banks that breach the law have been fined hundreds of millions of dollars for handling dirty money. Barclays, HSBC and UBS are all members of the Wolfsberg Group, an international body set up in 2000 to try to improve global anti-money laundering procedures. This revelation was made by Robert based on court documents from cases the Nigerian government has brought in London in an attempt to get funds returned that it said were stolen by two former state governors: Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa state and Joshua Dariye of Plateau state.

  • Update: Egyptair crashed in Mediterranean- officials

    Update: Egyptair crashed in Mediterranean- officials

    Officials in the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday confirmed that the missing Egyptair Flight 804 crashed in the Mediterranean Sea.

    The officials said in Cairo that initial findings showed that that the Airbus A320 has not landed at any nearby airports.

    The Egyptair said the Egyptian military search teams received a distress call from the emergency mechanisms of the missing aircraft at 4:26 am (0226 GMT) almost two hours after it disappeared from radar.

    According to the airline, the flight from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar at 2:30 am local time (0030 GMT), some 45 minutes before it was expected at Cairo airport.

    It said 30 Egyptians and 15 French nationals were among the passengers on the plane before it disappeared from radar.

    It said the other passengers include two Iraqis, and one person each from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Chad, Kuwait, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

  • A diplomatic kerfuffle from Britain

    A diplomatic kerfuffle from Britain

    it feels like the unkindest cut of all. Many fair-minded Nigerians are aghast. To be sure, the odd political tiff, the occasional diplomatic shindig, is not unusual between a former colony and its former colonial masters. It is in the nature of this thing called international politics. In international relations, there are no permanent coalitions only permanent collusions. A nation is on its own and must fend for itself.

    But even then, there are periods when the handshake goes beyond the elbow, particularly after persistent signals of irritation and disgust.  Coming so soon after The Economist, the influential London magazine, dismissed Nigeria’s former ruler, Goodluck Jonathan, as “an ineffectual buffoon”, this week’s sharp putdown of the nation as “fantastically corrupt” by David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, shows how low our stock has fallen with our former colonial masters.

    The language of diplomacy, not to talk of global statesmanship, is usually polite and coolly understated. But there are moments when the telling tease, the friendly tick off, gives way to the sledge hammer, the severe bareknuckle rap. When a European diplomat to the court of the Russian Czars was asked what he thought the Russians did best, he hesitated for a while and then grunted: “They steal!” General Alexander Haig, an American Secretary of State, once famously dismissed Lord Peter Carrington, the British Foreign Secretary, as a “duplicitous bastard”.

    Phew!!! Snooper’s favourite diplomatic putdown is possibly apocryphal. It was alleged that when a serving American diplomat in Karachi finally met the reclusive, dowdy and unprepossessing spouse of the general who executedZulfikar Ali Bhutto, he crowed: “No wonder, he screws the country instead!!!” Give it at least to Nigeria’s military and civilian rulers, most, if not all of their wives, could have come straight out of a beauty pageant.

    Still, it is important for Nigerians and the policy makers not to allow the import and real message of Cameron’s scarifying shellacking to be lost in the thicket of national displeasure and bitter disappointment. President MohammaduBuhari should be commended for rising heroically to the bait with his barbed retort. Coming on the eve of an official visit to Britain, the insult was in your face, an ego-deflating psychological offensive calculated to give maximum offence.

    To be adjudged corrupt is one thing, but to be condemned as “fantastically corrupt” is not a funny matter at all. It connotes gravity-defying sleaze and irredeemable muck; a world-historic despoliation that is beyond the realm of actual reality; a fairy tale phantasmagoria of stealing which calls into question the very notion of national sanity.

    The Brits are known as the masters of the wry understatement, not given to hyperactive hyperbole. But they are also deadly past masters of the rapier thrust in close diplomatic encounters. That their current leader should reach for this extreme metaphor to describe Nigeria ought to be a cause for national anxiety.  If this is the way we are perceived by the outside world, then God helps the nation in the coming years.

    The fact that no retraction was given and none was forthcoming despite General Buhari’s aura of incorruptibility and immaculate integrity shows that Britain means business. Indeed if anything the fact that usual diplomatic gnomes from the storied catacombs of Whitehall insisted that there was nothing to add or remove is indicative of how the western world might have lost patience with this gifted but dysfunctional nation.

    Another way of looking at this is to view it as a typical relapse of a hard pressed Tory government to the old infamous image of the nasty Tory notorious for their lack of civic and cultural compassion and empathy for embattled people. It is this trait that often turns the Conservative Party to a political pariah in most of Northern England, Scotland and among coloured people in Britain.

    Yet when all is said, we need to ask ourselves whether we didn’t bring this historic shame on our own head. Each new day brings such horrid tales of looting that the nation itself has become scandal-fatigued. You begin to wonder whether these people are human-beings at all. The daily tales are so outlandish that you wonder whether this is a nation at all or some armed robbers’ paradise straight out of the most macabre of malignant fiction.

    This is the burden of shame in a nation crying for some catharsis. We do not know what information the British government have on us. But so far it seems they are not impressed by the efforts to cleanse and sanitize the system. It is possible that they feel it is too personalized for their liking and smacks of the loss of institutional ballast.

    But it is also possibly an attempt to arm twist theBuhari administration and makeit amenable to western bidding. The sudden and precipitate capitulation of the Nigerian authorities to the forces of deregulation after months of stiff resistance is an indication of a well-coordinated political psych-op. If General Buhari is unable to withstand these forces, and if he is unwilling to call out for assistance, the situation may be more scary than one had imagined.

    To those from whom much has been taken in the course of an unequal exchange lasting a millennium, there ought to be some charity and generosity of spirit. Britain should not join the league of Nigerian tormentors, or at least should be seen to be resisting the temptation to do so. Apart from being occasionally politically unhelpful in our hour of political distress such as during the June 12 debacle, it has found it economically lucrative to serve as a haven for stolen patrimony from Nigeria and a smiling paradise for Nigerian economic miscreants.

    This is not how a parent colony should treat its colonial offspring that it ought to nurture out of protracted teething troubles. Yet despite the infractions, most Nigerians retain a certain fondness and affection for the parent country. It remains our preferred destination and our first port of call whenever the global wanderlust beckons. Despite adopting the presidential system of governance, the brilliant jousting, the cut and thrust of British parliamentary system, are a source of eternal fascination and admiration for many Nigerian political pundits.

    While it is true that a section of the British ruling class exhibits a sweet tooth for filthy lucre, Nigerians always applaud when other British institutions, particularly an upright judiciary, a stringent investigative body and a truly independent press, rise to the occasion in a redemptive rally. This is the hallmark of a nation that truly functions. When one national institution stumbles and falters, others cover for the loss and lapses.

    Britain should not always seek to tie its former colonies to its political and economic apron strings. This is historically counter-productive and against the longer term interests of the parent-nation. Were the great American founding fathers to listen to Great Britain and remain a vassal and underling of the old empire, it would have been impossible for the new nation, bursting with fresh and dynamic energies, to strike out in a bold and innovative direction.

    Were this to be so, and without the help of this new gargantuan nation and bedrock of liberal democracy, it is quite feasible that Britain would have gone under from the fascist sledge hammer of the German military machine. America came on the world scene precisely at the moment when the liberal democratic project needed to be re-imagined and re-envisioned on a grand and grandiose scale despite the great and roiling internal contradictions of America itself. This was conceptually beyond empire hallucinations.

    Ironically, the only other nation that rallied against the German onslaught and the destruction of the liberal democratic project was Soviet and socialist Russia whose emergence had earlier caused Britain so much trepidation and palpitation. The cunning of history is such that nations often mistake their natural friends and potential allies for enemies and automatic political adversaries.

    The Commandist economy made it possible for the Soviet production of war munitions to outstrip western efforts and the rallying ideology which made it possible for the Russian people to forge ahead as one people proved decisive in the battle for Stalingrad. After the Germans were turned back at this site of historic and horrific carnage, the end of Hitler’s monstrous Reich became a matter of time.

    For a people so deep and reflective in their ways, so alert to the contradictions of historical developments, it is quite bemusing that the British attitude to Nigeria since independence has been a classic example of how to sacrifice longer term interest and perspective for the sake of short-termism and immediate gratification.

    It is in Britain’s longer term interest to help nurture Nigeria through its protracted adolescence, and to help the beleaguered nation achieve its manifest destiny as the Mecca for Black people. If Nigeria were to unravel, the humanitarian catastrophe would be unimaginable in its magnitude and seismic possibilities.  Everybody, including Great Britain, would be hurt.

    It is only those with a misbegotten and incurably racist mind-set who cannot imagine a prosperous and democratically vibrant Nigeria one day coming to the aid of the parent colony. For now, it is not only strategically expedient for Britain to help Nigeria overcome its cripplinglimitations, it is also politically rational to do so. A crumbling Nigeria is a death sentence for so many.

    In this diplomatic duel between colonial father and son, the son appears to trump the father despite being fatally wounded. It is a profound irony that it is the man with the military background famously challenged in the department of verbal eloquence who has carried day with the political cogency of his response and its higher moral clarity and authority.

    General Buhari is right.Nigeria does not demand an apology or retraction from Britain. A receiver of stolen goods is also morally compromised. What Nigeria demands from Britain is the repatriation of its stolen patrimony with or without apologies. A father must not be seen helping to rob his own child however profligate and irresponsible the son appears to be. Even in the amoral world of international politics and diplomacy, this is quite a crushing ethical burden.

  • Illegal immigrant ‘exploited genital mutilation laws to stay in Britain’

    An illegal immigrant from Nigeria was granted leave to remain in Britain after falsely alleging that her daughters would be subjected to female genital mutilation if they were sent back.

    A High Court judge ruled that the three girls, aged 13, 10 and seven, needed protection from their father after hearing claims he was making arrangements for them to be “cut”, the London Telegraph reported.

    In a landmark case, the girls became the first subjects of a female genital mutilation (FGM) protection order, by the British courts.

    But that decision has now been overturned after a different judge dismissed the claim, describing it as part of an “immigration scam”.

    The case will raise concerns that more illegal migrants could seek to dishonestly take advantage of tough new rules aimed at protecting young girls from barbaric FGM practices.

    The family arrived in Britain in 2012 on a two-year visitor visa but when the husband returned to Nigeria, the woman stayed on with the children.

    Last summer, she twice failed to persuade the Home Office to allow her to remain in the UK, but then 19 days later made the claims about her daughters facing the threat of FGM.

    Mr Justice Holman said despite only hearing one side of the story the threat was so great the family should be allowed to remain.

    But following the decision, the father travelled to London to deny that he had ever intended to subject the girls to FGM and a different judge declared that the woman had “fundamentally and dishonestly misrepresented the true position”.

    Mr Justice MacDonald said it was “more likely than not” that the allegations had been part of an “immigration scam”.

    The judge also ruled that the children should no longer live with their mother in London but be cared for by their father – and he has given the man permission to move the youngsters to Nigeria.

    The judge concluded that the woman was lying when she claimed to have been subjected to FGM.

  • Obama urges Britain to remain in EU

    United States President, Barack Obama, has said Britain would go to the “back of the queue” for trade deals with America if it votes to leave the European Union.

    He said Britain was at its best when “helping to lead” a strong EU and membership made it a “bigger player” on the world stage.

    The U.S President spoke at the start of a three- day visit to the United Kingdom, the BBC reports.

    EU exit campaigners reacted angrily to Obama’s words, with Tory Member of Parliament, Dominic Raab, dubbing him a “lame duck” president.

    Mr Raab told BBC News: “The reality is the U.S has failed and Barack Obama’s biggest trade failure has been in not being able to secure a trade deal with the EU.

    “I think those left to pick up the pieces after Obama moves on will be a little bit frustrated about his comments because they don’t reflect U.S trade policy and I’m sure they won’t reflect future U.S trade policy.

    “What you had here was a lame-duck American president doing an old British friend a political favour.”

    Speaking at a joint press conference with Mr. Obama, Prime Minister David Cameron said being a member of the EU strengthened Britain’s “special relationship.”

    On the UK’s upcoming referendum on its EU membership, he said: “This is our choice – nobody else’s – the sovereign choice of the British people – but as we make that choice, it surely makes sense to listen to what our friends think.”

    Mr Obama said: “The UK is at its best when it’s helping to lead a strong European Union. It leverages UK power to be part of the EU. I don’t think the EU moderates British influence in the world, it magnifies it.

    “America wants Britain’s influence to grow, including within Europe.”

  • Six arrested Britons to be deported – Immigration boss

    Six arrested Britons to be deported – Immigration boss

    The six Britons arrested last Saturday for violating Nigerian Immigration Laws are to be deported the Comptroller- General of Immigrations, Martins Kure Abeshi  has said.

    Abeshi, who made the revelation Tuesday before the House of Representatives Committee on Interior headed by Hon. Jagaba Adams Jagaba said the expatriates have breached Nigeria’s immigration laws and would therefore be deported.

    Part VIII, Sections 56 (1-7); 58; 59; and 60 (1–5) of the Immigration Act, 2015 which provides for the immigration offences and penalties, stipulates a term of imprisonment of 10 years or fine of N2 million.

    While reacting to questions in the Britons from Hon. Sunday Katung, representing Zango Kataf Federal Constituency in Kaduna State, the NIS boss said;

    “I just arrived from abroad Monday and met this case. As I’m talking, yesterday in the evening, the company that employed those expatriates, after my discussion with them they are to be responsible for their air ticket. As I’m talking now I’m sure they have been flown out.”

    While putting the case in perspective, Immigration boss said:

    “One company employed them. They were in the services of that company, but they travelled out, when they were coming back, another employer gave them visa to come, which is against immigration law, it is against the law of the land. So their first employer complained about these expatiates, so it is an offence they have committed and we have ordered their deportation.

    “When we conduct our operation and discover that someone who is not a Nigerian is living in this country illegally, he will be repatriated. That is on our own part, they have to go.

    “There is another angle to it. If he is a worker, working in a company and we discover that he does not have papers to stay in this country, he has committed an offense against the state, the company that the expatriate is working will give us money; buy ticket or whatever is their responsibility.

    “Before anybody takes an appointment here as an expatriate, the Organization will write to immigration that they are taking immigration responsibility for that expatriate.

    “If that expatriate commits any offence against the company and they want to remove him, that company must provide ticket so that the person is removed from this country.”

    Recall that the Nigeria Immigration Service, (NIS), had arrested six Britons following on alleged breach of Nigeria laws especially sections of the Immigration Act, 2015 regulating expatriate quota.

    The expatriates were working for GMT Energy Resources, contractors to EXXONMOBIL, a US International Oil Company (IOC) in Nigeria with headquarters in Houston, Texas. At the time of the arrest of the six expatriates they were engaged by GMT in a project for the IOC.

  • Britain to assist in retrieving looted funds

    Britain to assist in retrieving looted funds

    •Foreign Secretary says 250,000 Nigerians are in the UK
    •Bilateral trade hits £7 billion per annum

    THE British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron has pledged more assistance for the country in tracking and retrieving looted public funds.

    Prime Minister in a goodwill message to President Muhammadu Buhari requested a list of what Nigeria wants to help succeed against the current challenges facing the country.

    He asked President Buhari to attend the forthcoming meeting of the “G7” industrialized nations with a “wish list”. The summit is scheduled for June 7-9 in Berlin, Germany.

    The British Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Philip Hammond who delivered the message said:”We are waiting for your own list.”

    This meeting was a follow-up to an earlier one between the then President-elect and Mr. Cameron in London during which commitments were given to the in-coming administration in several areas, including the fight against terrorism, power and energy and such matters of common concerns of migration challenges facing the continent as well what he called “intelligence fusion” to secure Africa from global terror.

    He also raised the issue of “free trade” between the EU and Africa, a proposal he said enjoyed the support of several countries on the continent and in support of which he sought to enlist the backing of President Buhari.

    The President promised to prepare the government’s aspirations for the summit which he said he will attend.

    And in a statement yesterday in Abuja, Mr. Hammond said his country would assist the Buhari administration to track and retrieve looted funds.

    He said the UK believes that Nigeria’s wealth should be spent for the benefit of all citizens.

    He said about 250,000 Nigerians are currently residing in the UK while bilateral trade with Nigeria stands at over £7 billion per year.

    Besides, Hammond, pledged UK’s preparedness to  collaborate in tackling  Boko Haram.

    Describing Buhari’s ascension to power as important moment for Nigeria, Hammond said: “there are many serious challenges ahead.

    “In our conversations with him and his team both before, and since, the election, we have found many points of agreement on both the size and shape of these challenges, and the way to address them.

    “In particular we agree with President Buhari’s top priorities: tackling corruption; addressing the root causes of instability in the North East; and stabilising the economy in the face of low oil prices.

    “We also stand ready to help where we can with the government’s priority of tackling the diversion and leakage of money so that Nigeria’s wealth can be spent for the benefit of all.

    “Nigeria can and should be one of the great African success stories of the 21st Century. The UK is determined to be a close partner as Nigeria reaches that goal. Together we should seize this moment of renewal, and strengthen yet further our long-standing partnership.”

    On Boko Haram, Hammond said the UK is “ready to support President Buhari and his new government as they begin their programme for a secure and prosperous Nigeria.

    “As we have been increasingly doing over the last year, we look forward to working closely with the Nigerian government and security forces to help them tackle Boko Haram and bring lasting stability to the North East.

    “We will share our experiences in building strong security architecture accountable to an informed political system; the two need to work in harmony, to an agreed set of objectives and standards. And we will continue to support the training of Nigerian soldiers to improve their ability to defeat Boko Haram on the battlefield.

    “Stability is not delivered by an effective military alone. We are also working extensively with many States throughout the country on development programmes which bring health, education and employment opportunity to communities threatened by instability.”

    He said Britain was looking forward to a new beginning for a long-standing partnership with Nigeria.

    Speaking separately, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James F. Entwistle said his country  has always been in support of Nigeria and remains committed to assisting it in every way possible

    His words: “ In terms of what we expect from this government, the US and Nigeria has always had good relations.

    “From government to government, it has always been up and down sometimes but we have always had fundamentally good relations and that will continue with the Buhari administration. President Buhari graciously spent few minutes talking to Secretary Kerry after the inauguration very quickly. Of course it was a short private chat.

    “We focused on the future, doing even more on top of the  extensive assistance we already given against terrorist threat, what can we do to help more on the power sector, things like that. So the future is very bright, not only with government but with private sectors.”

    Mr. Han Changfu, who led the Chinese delegation to the inauguration also had an audience with President Buhari. He asked Nigeria to open avenues for Chinese investments.

    China promised to help out in such areas as agriculture, power and railways.

    President Dennis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo at a meeting with Buhari said he was mandated by other leaders in Central Africa to consult with their counterparts in the ECOWAS with a view to tackling common challenges especially the one posed by terrorism. Nguesso also requested President Buhari to assume his rightful place as the leader of Africa.

    President Buhari agreed that the meeting holds before the next African Union in South Africa as suggested.

  • Buhari on private visit to Britain

    Buhari on private visit to Britain

    The President-elect Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, left for Britain on a private visit.

    In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday by Malam Garba Shehu, Head of the Media Team of the President-elect said General Muhammadu Buhari will use the opportunity of the visit to take a much-deserved rest ahead of his inauguration on May 29th.

    ”He is expected back in the country a few days before the inauguration, refreshed and ready to hit the ground running once he is sworn into office,” he said