The Federal Government will hold a stakeholders’ conference on Financial Fraud, Cyber Crime and Cross-border Crimes on Feb. 2 and Feb. 4.
This is contained in a statement signed by Mr. Salihu Isah, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Attorney- General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami, in Abuja on Tuesday.
It stated that the maiden conference was aimed at stepping up government’s fight against corruption and corrupt practices.
It stated that the conference was an attempt by practitioners, academics and policy makers to review current security trends in Nigeria and globally as it relates to transnational organised crimes.
It stated that the conference would also review trends in cyber security threats, terrorism, money laundering and its impact on national security, critical infrastructure and the financial system.
“The conference is expected to give participants the opportunity to determine the prevalence and patterns analyse the causes and proffer policy recommendations on tackling security issues that confront the international community and Nigeria.
“The cliché that one in every four Africans is a Nigerian is well known. Whatever happens in Nigeria always robs off on other African countries.
“Consequently, issues related to the impact of Nigeria’s security challenges on the sub-Saharan Africa will be discussed by experts drawn from various security and intelligence background.
“It will be organised by the Federal Ministry of Justice in conjunction with Digital Forensic Limited and Forensic Insight International Limited and in partnership with some private and public institutions.”
Discussions on mitigating the impact of the plummeting global oil price dominated presentations and panel sessions at the ongoing 20th Offshore West African Conference and Exhibition (OWA) in Lagos.
The three-day conference started yesterday and the concerns on the prevailing reality in the oil and gas industry were expressed by big and small players. The industry operators were sharing ideas on how tackle the plunged oil price that has refused to rally. They discussed various cos- efficient measures, and encouraging government policies that would keep them in business and sustain investments.
The speakers were not optimistic that oil prices will rise, and said there is need for the West African sub-region to take urgent action that will address the problem in the short term while plan and strategise for the long term and the future.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive, Total Exploration and Production (E&P) Nigeria, Nicolas Terraz; Chief Executive Officer, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Alexander K. M. Mould; General Manager, Deep Water Operations & Joint Interest Assets, Esso Exploration & Production, Nigeria, Oladotun Isiaka; Director-General, Federal Institute of Food and Industrial Research Oshodi, Gloria Elemo; and the Managing Director PennWell International, Glenus Ensar, among others were speakers at the event yesterday.
Ensar said: “Guessing the oil price rebounding soon is a max game, with Iran coming online in the market and lack of demand from China, we assume that these relatively low oil price is going to stay for a while, therefore the participants at the OWA conference this year are intellectually looking at the best way forward to survive in the really tough moment.
“Nigeria as an oil producer needs to continue to increase in transparency and make the act of doing business within its territory easy and sustain that process. The big word here is cost control; you need to bring down the price at which you continue to produce to maximize profit.”
The Chief Executive Officer, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Alexander K. M. Mould, said the oil-producing firms should plan for longer period of low oil prices. He urged African governments on policy stability and consistency, noting that the long term of political risk in the continent has largely impacted negatively on businesses.
He said countries such as Nigeria, Ghana and Libya are having relative high cost of production especially in the offshore and may have to shut down some wells and reduce production at a particular point. He said the United States would not relent in the shale oil production because it is a private sector. Private sector will only relent if they cannot meet the cost of production but they have presently reduced their cost to around $20 per barrel.
It’s not a government policy, but in Nigeria, it’s a government policy, OPEC can make a policy and reduce the production but countries like Ghana will be based on economics, if our cost of production is high, we will have to shut down some wells. He said the cost of producing from Jubilee oil field is less that $10 per barrel.
The 20th Offshore West Africa Conference and Exhibition, according to the organizers, PennWell International, began with over 2,400 attendees from more than 35 countries.
Collins Uwadia, training coordinator at Slot Skills Development Centre and founder, Tran Touch International Ltd is an example of what training in technical and vocational education (TVE) can do for young people.
The engineer, who has many graduates (universities and polytechnics) among those training in mobile phone technology and hardware at Slot Technologies, believes that the practical skills he gained from attending a technical college provided a veritable foundation for self-reliance and entrepreneurship, which he said are vital to boost education as well as the economy.
“ I am an advocate for technical education. It will stop Nigeria’s economic challenges. The government needs to realise that what used to be solutions in the past are no longer solutions. Every year they graduate students but there are no jobs. For example almost all my students here are graduates but there is no job that is why they are coming to learn skills.
To this end, Uwadia is organising a Technical Students’ Entrepreneurial and Empowerment Conference to help students understand that technical education is not an inferior path and that through it they could reach whatever heights they desire.
Uwadia said the conference, expected to hold at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island in collaboration with the Lagos State government, would have as theme: Inspiring Total Leaders of Tomorrow.
The programme to be attended by students of the six Government Technical Colleges (GTC Agidingbi, Ikotun, Odomola, Ikorodu, and Ado-Soba) in Lagos State would feature talks by TVE experts, including Hasseb Hasan, CEO, Intek Solutions, UAE; and Nnamdi Ezeigbo, CEO, Slot Systems Limited among others.
There would also be exhibition of inventions designed by the students for which prizes would be awarded, while seasoned experts and entrepreneurs leading various organisations that use technology would be on hand to mentor the students.
Uwadia told The Nation that through the conference he hopes to attract recognition for technical students.
“We want to shift from to the past of where nobody gets to recognise technical college students, what they have presented or done. We want to use this as a medium to present a form of competition where every technical school can bring something and show to the world and the most creative will be rewarded. The school gets rewarded; student will be rewarded and everybody will be encouraged and when such avenue comes up again, you will see everybody will seat up,” he said.
Lamenting the neglect of technical colleges, Uwadia urged the government to equip the schools.
“I will honestly tell you that the attention on technical education is very poor. The students just want to have a sense of belonging in the society, having in mind that the government is also concerned about them. Equip the schools with laboratories and tools to work with and it becomes very easy for them to learn,” he said.
Lauding the proposed conference, Executive Secretary, Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB), Mr Olawumi Gasper, said it would address the mindset of technical students, which would go a long way to prepare them to be responsible.
“The initiative is fantastic. Let us work on their minds, then by the time we send them for training, they would be ready,” he said.
Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of banks, foreign government emissaries, captains of industry, development partner organisations and an array of stakeholders are expected to attend the forthcoming Aba Development Summit.
In a statement, Abia State government expressed its commitment to transforming the city of Aba to enable it realise its full potential. It said the development summit, holding in Aba, the state’s commercial nerve centre, will be taking place from January 13 to 15.
A letter signed by the State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, explained that the summit is in line with one of the key cardinal development agendas of our administration which is to drive sustainable and all-inclusive development in Abia state. Aba, the commercial nerve of the state, when sustainably developed, will trigger development activities in other parts of the state.
The summit, being organised in partnership with the Ford Foundation, seeks to convey key policy makers, social, economic and technical experts and investors and entrepreneurs to discuss the key priorities and levers for unlocking the full potentials of Aba.
Ikpeazu said the summit is also expected to “showcase opportunities for the private sector and development community to partner Aba in particular and Abia more broadly to invest in the infrastructure, power, agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors.
Aside the expected participating stakeholders, the entire Abia State Executive Council and members of the Abia State House of Assembly, will make up the projected 300 participants, who must be invited guests.
AUnited States (U.S)-based group, Women Empowered to Achieve The impossible (WETATi) in partnership with the University of Lagos (UNILAG), will host youths, men and women as well as professionals from both the public and private sectors to its maiden youth empowerment conference and awards banquet.
The event theme is Empowering the Youth in Building a Nation Through Positive Mindset, Service, Volunteerism, Mentorship, Leadership with Integrity and Entrepreneurship– WETATi Style! It will hold between November 12 and 14 at the UNILAG Staff School Hall, Tafawa Balewa Way, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos.
According to the organisers, the conference seeks to bring together individuals from different walks of life, gender and ethnicity to discuss issues ranging from gaining empowerment through a positive mindset to development issues and challenges in the country.
The confab will provide a forum for Nigerian youth from different demographic populations and other African communities to meet and share information on how to move the country forward through empowering the youth and the society at large; the importance of political and social entrepreneurship and the third world countries, thereby saving the next through political and social entrepreneurship.
“We are very excited about this conference because we are bringing together dynamic and diverse individuals from different parts of the country to hold the private and public sectors socially accountable in the communities in which they do business,” the organisers explained in a statement.
It added that the conference would be a window for operators in the oil and gas companies, banking, media and private business sectors to share their personal, business and professional experiences; exchange ideas, encourage partnership relations and empower those in attendance, particularly the youth towards gaining knowledge, skills and relationship to make a difference in their communities through service, volunteerism and entrepreneurship.
The group maintained that it was through positive mindset change, active engagement in civic responsibility and commitment by the youths to their communities that the better Nigeria envisioned by President Muhammadu Buhari’s government emerge.
“It is focused on the issues of youths, men and women in leadership across various sectors including business, politics, education, healthcare, religion and public service and designed to train, equip and empower individuals to successfully lead, pursue entrepreneurship, build wealth and increase their access to executive leadership positions as well as help build their country with honesty and integrity.
“The conference will equally feature an impressive roster of distinguished presenters and speakers; attendees, general session and panel discussions, networking events sessions geared toward young entrepreneurs, business aspirants and WETATi-Anne Reese Scholarship and Awards Banquet that would recognize trailblazers, emerging leaders,” the organisers added.
THE African Union for Housing Finance (AUHF) is set to hold its conference and annual general meeting at the Safari Hotel & Conference Centre, Windhoek, Namibia.
AUHF is grounded in developing the institutional capacity of its members to enable them to effectively participate in addressing housing finance challenges on the continent; engaging with governments through member institutions; and developing partnerships with other regional and continental bodies on the African continent.
For four days last week, 70 secondary school pupils from Lagos, Anambra, and Rivers states deliberated on issues of international importance at the maiden conference of The African FutureTrust Model United Nations (TAFMUN), a simulation of the UN General Assembly.
Acting as representatives of various country members of the UN, they discussed and negotiated solutions to their ‘countries’ problems during the event holding at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Convener of the conference and founder, FutureTrust Initiative for Capacity Building (FTI), Dr Maureen Egbuche, said the participants, as a result of researches done on their countries and presentations and debates they made at the conference, would gain soft skills not taught in schools which would help them in future.
“The ultimate aim is to prepare these children for the future. Today we are teaching critical thinking; negotiation skills. In participating in this conference, they take away these skills without even knowing it. Here you are representing a country that is not your native country. But after your research, you are suddenly at home discussing issues, being quite passionate about it, remaining in character of the country you have been assigned. And then you have to listen to views that may be opposing to what you generally believe in. But the thing is that at the last day of the conference all of you would have come up with solutions that are win-win for everybody,” she said.
The teenagers’deliberation was coordinated by a conference staff made up of university undergraduates who had participated in similar conferences in the past.
Secretary-General of TAFMUN 2015, Eugene Uwiringiyimana, who read the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon’s goodwill message at the opening of the conference, is a student of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola.
Chisom Ogbummuo, a 200-Level student of Political Science at the University of Lagos, acted as the Under-Secretary-General (Protocol).
Of the value of the conference to the pupils, Chisom said: “It will go a long way for them. At present, I work for the UN and it is because I started activities related to this kind of conference as a student of Holy Child College,” she said.
A teacher from the Federal Science and Technical (FSTC), Yaba, Mrs Adebanke Akano, who prepared her 24 delegates for the conference, said the conference would prepare participants to have a say in their future.
In his message, Ban Ki-Moon hoped that the conference would influence the participants to support good international causes.
“Through your participation in this Model United Nations, you demonstrate your concern for peace, justice, human rights and human dignity. I hope this conference will inspire you to be a lifelong global citizen who advances these common goals,” he said.
Mrs Lawrence-Nemi
In her keynote address, former Rivers State Commissioner for Education, Dame Alice Lawrence-Nemi, who was represented by the former Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Education, Dr Richard Ofuru, counseled the participants to form Model UN clubs back in their schools to continue to harness the skills they learn. She recalled with pride how some pupils sponsored by the Rivers State Government to New York for the UN Youth conference returned with prizes.
Dr Egbuche said 70 participants were chosen in recognition of the 70th anniversary of the UN this year.
They were selected from the Federal Government Girls’ College, Onitsha; Federal Science and Technical College, Yaba; Atlantic Hall, Lagos; and Queen’s College, Lagos.
Other are: Archdeacon Brown Education Centre, Port Harcourt; Community Secondary School Alode Eleme; Community Secondary School, Amadi Ama; and Jephthah Comprehensive Secondary School, Port Harcourt.
No fewer than 300 academics from about seven countries are expected at the third International Conference of the U-6 Consortium of African Universities being hosted by UNILORIN between September 6 and 9.
The Chairman of the Conference Local Organising Committee, Prof A.T. Oladiji, said the event was being expected to deepen research collaboration and academic exchange among participating universities and the countries they represent.
The U-6 Consortium comprises six African universities: UNILORIN; the University of Eldoret, Kenya; Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria; Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa; the University of Science and Technology, Kenya; and the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
Members of the Consortium had, on March 10, 2012, at UNILORIN, decided to collaborate on some activities, such as facilitation and coordination of joint researches, curriculum development, collaborative seminars, workshops and conferences as well as academic exchanges to further expose academic staff and students.
Oladiji, who is also the Director, UNILORIN Centre for Research Development and In-House Training (CREDIT), said more than 160 academic papers would be discussed at the five-day conference.
The keynote address on the theme: “Innovative Trends in Science and Humanities for Global Development and Social Transformation” would be delivered by Prof Peter Okebukola, the Pro-Chancellor of Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State.
Other sub-themes to be addressed are: Governance and Legislation; Science, Technology and Energy; Health and Environment; Education, Language and Gender Issues; Peace, Security and Development; Water Resources, Agriculture and Food Security; as well as Information and Communication.
The youth group of Ohaneze Ndigbo has hailed the All Progressive Congress (APC) president – elect, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari over his victory against the incumbent president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) during the March 28th elections.
The Ohaneze youth therefore urged him to implement the report of the National Conference and to carry all the regions in the country along in his administration.
In a communiqué yesterday issued in Awka, Anambra State, after its meeting, which was signed by Comrade Arthur Obiorah, the group also warned Boko-Haram to stop destroying properties belonging to Ndigbo or face the wrath of their people.
Even for many of those who supported the convocation of last year’s national conference, last Wednesday’s decision by the Goodluck Jonathan government to begin the implementation of the report about a week to a crucial election is hasty, indecent and grossly opportunistic. Barometer never supported the conference in the manner it was convoked, and many of its decisions are patently unrealistic and impractical. But to announce the commencement of the report’s implementation at the time they did is nothing but a flagrant abuse of trust and a clear attempt to hoodwink the gullible and misdirect the electorate a few days to the March 28 presidential election.
The plan to implement the report is childish. Nothing can be done in the next few days, even for the peripheral and insignificant items in the report involving only policy matters, or such items that are in the province of the Jonathan presidency to execute without legislation. For seven months, a government panel set up to examine what should be done with the report and the modalities of implementation wrestled with all sorts of scenario as to how to circumvent the absence of a legal framework for the conference, and make sense of many of its clearly ridiculous resolutions, such as the creation of additional 18 states. Apparently, the government had hoped that by conducting the conference and stalling for time, it could kill two birds with one stone: achieved the political purpose of satisfying the cravings of conference advocates, and making political capital out of winning the support of the electorate for the Goodluck Jonathan reelection plan.
For many critical months, those goals seemed on the surface to have been achieved. But while no other geopolitical zone cared a hoot what became of the conference report, considering especially that the conference decisions were neither fundamental nor revolutionary, the Southwest, for inexplicable reasons, became the chief advocates of the report. It satisfied many of their needs, a few Southwest leaders in the Yoruba political organisation, Afenifere, said enthusiastically. No, it didn’t, said many other Southwest leaders, some of them principled and ideological. Sensing that the conference report had further divided the Southwest, the Jonathan government pressed its luck and made cabinet appointments and created a momentum to ensure the divisions in the Southwest became ossified.
But even then neither the convocation of the conference itself, as a political tool for garnering support, nor the very essentials of the report assumed the overriding significance associated with it today as it did when the conference ended last August. It was a little after the conference ended that the All Progressives Congress (APC) served powerful notice it was here to stay. The party then proceeded to hold its primaries, including the all-important presidential primary that produced former head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, a retired army general with cult following in nearly all parts of the North. It was also soon after the conference that the government’s shambolic handling of the insurgency in the Northeast jumped exasperatingly for President Jonathan to the front burner, and the Chibok abductions of 219 schoolgirls became the totem of the Jonathan government’s failure.
Recognising that he was unlikely to receive a hearing, let alone a fair one, in the aggrieved and incensed North, President Jonathan has belatedly turned his gaze south, particularly to the Southwest, where an ideological conflict and power struggle was smouldering between the rump and conservative arm of the old Afenifere on one hand, and the aggressive, boisterous and iconoclastic ideologues of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu camp. The Asiwaju Tinubu camp was uninterested in taking prisoners in the conflict, and the Afenifere elders, together with a few young followers, remained implacable. There, smack in the middle of the conflict, jumped President Jonathan, with his conference report, which he promised to implement post haste. At bottom, he had no interest in the conference, not to talk of its many contradictory and weakened resolutions. But if he could make political capital out of it, why not.
Neither the president not his aides have tried to sell the conference report with any enthusiasm, for they have not even thoroughly studied its elements, not to talk of digesting them. And the president, in particular, has been spectrally silent on whether the report addresses lofty ideological and visionary ideas germane to the remaking and retooling of a nation sundering at the seams. But the aforesaid Afenifere elders have become the report’s salesmen, mouthing its attributes and encasing it in so much saccharine that even the report’s raconteurs are unlikely to recognise it as their handiwork. It took the dogged intervention of Femi Falana, a lawyer and conference participant, and Alani Akinrinade, a former Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Defence Staff, conference participant, and in fact leader of the Yoruba delegation to the conference, to put the lie to the infamous conclusion that the report met the aspirations of the Yoruba.
The hasty and incoherent attempt to begin implementing the conference report is nothing but a ploy to strengthen the hands of the faction of the Yoruba power elite arraigned in battle against the dominant regional power bloc led by Asiwaju Tinubu. The rest of the country is amused, for both the other geopolitical zones of the South and the entire North know that nothing can be done about the conference report until after the elections. But it does not stop Jonathan’s trusting friends in the Southwest from swallowing his boondoggle.
