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Tag: Dabiri-Erewa

  • Buhari nominates Dabiri-Erewa, Sokefun, others to head boards

    President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa for the position of Executive Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Diaspora Commission.

    The nomination was contained in a letter by the President to Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki, dated October 24, 2018. Saraki read the letter at plenary yesterday.

    The President’s letter reads: “In compliance with Section 2(1) of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission (Establishment) Act 2017, I write to forward for confirmation by the Senate, the appointment of Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa as the Executive Chairman/CEO of Nigerian Diaspora Commission. Her curriculum vitae is attached herewith.

    Buhari, in another letter, dated October 23, 2018 and addressed to the Saraki, sought to replace Chief Olabode Akeem Mustapha with Mrs. Ronke Sokefun as chairman of Governing Board of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).

    The President’s letter, which sought to withdraw an earlier one dated March 27, 2018, however, did not state reasons for the substitution.

    In yet another correspondence, dated October 19, 2018, the President sought the Senate’s confirmation of Mr. Chidi K. C. Izuwah as director general of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission.

    In a related development, the President also forwarded the name of Dr. Kabiru Nakaura for confirmation as chairman of the Governing Board of the National Bureau of Statistics.

    Five other names were submitted alongside Nakaura’s as member-nominees of the board. Nakaura was nominated to represent the Northwest geopolitical zone.

    Also nominated for membership of the board are Akinola Bashir (Southwest); Prof. Moses Momoh (Southsouth); Wallijoh Danladi Ahijoh (Northcentral); Adam Modu (Northeast) and Nwafor Paul Chukwudi (Southeast).

    Buhari urged the Senate to expedite action on the confirmation of the nominees.

  • FG to receive Nigerian girl rescued from prostitution on Friday

    FG to receive Nigerian girl rescued from prostitution on Friday

    The Federal Government will on Friday receive a 14-year old girl sent to South Korea for prostitution by her sister.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora Affairs, Mrs. Abike Dabiri Erewa, disclosed this  at the 4th international conference on Love and Tolerance organised by the UFUK Dialogue in Abuja on Thursday.

    The conference aimed at promoting love, peace and tolerance took place at the International Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR).

    The theme of the conference was: “Countering Violent Extremism.”

    Describing child trafficking as inhumane and extreme form of hatred, the presidential aide said young girls between ages of 12 and 13 were rescued at airport while on the verge of being flown abroad for prostitution.

    According to her, the culprit was later apprehended by the security operatives and detained.

    “Just yesterday (Wednesday), I got a call from our Embassy in South Korea. We are bringing in tomorrow (Friday) a 14- year- old girl who was actually sent to South Korea for prostitution by her own sister.

    “That is extreme hatred. That is not love but extremism.

    “My sister a former Deputy Governor, Orelope just this morning also raised alarm about a few girls at the airport. Somebody was trying to traffic 14, 13 and 12 years old girls and a very observant Nigerian was able to get that stopped,” Dabiri-Erewa said.

     

     

  • Alleged deportation of Nigerian refugees by Cameroon worrisome, says Dabiri-Erewa

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Abike Dabiri-Erewa has described the alleged mass forced return of over 100,000 Nigerian asylum seekers by Cameroonian military as worrisome.

    In a statement by her Media Assistant, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, she decried the inhuman treatment meted out to Nigerian asylum seekers, who were affected by the Boko Haram insurgence in the Northeast.

    Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa noted with concern that despite the friendly disposition between the two countries, the alleged mass forced return of Nigerians was disturbing and calls for concern.

    The Presidential aide said Cameroon should heed the UN’s call on all countries to protect refugees fleeing the carnage in the Northeast Nigeria and not to return them there.

    “This unfriendly attitude of the Cameroonian soldiers to Nigerian asylum seekers is really worrisome,” Dabiri-Erewa said.

    She appealed to Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as well as other West African regional groups to prevail on Cameroon to be their brothers’ keeper.

    The deportations, according to Human Rights Watch, defied the UN refugee agency’s plea not to return anyone to Northeast until the security and human rights situation has improved considerably.

    The Human Rights Watch had interviewed 61 asylum seekers and refugees in Nigeria about the abuses they faced in Cameroon in June and July of 2017.

    They said soldiers accused them of belonging to Boko Haram or of being “Boko Haram wives” while torturing or assaulting them and dozens of others on arrival, during their stay in remote border areas, and during mass deportations”.

    The report stated that their children, weakened after living for months or years without adequate food and medical care in border areas, died during or just after the deportations, and others said children were separated from their parents.

    An asylum-seeker, who was deported from Mora in March 2017, described how without warning, Cameroonian soldiers rounded up 40 asylum seekers “and severely beat us and forced us onto a bus. They beat some of the men so badly, they were heavily bleeding. When we got to the Nigerian border they shouted ‘Go and die in Nigeria.’”

  • Dabiri-Erewa deplores killing of another Nigerian in South Africa

    Dabiri-Erewa deplores killing of another Nigerian in South Africa

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has condemned Wednesday’s killing of another Nigerian by the South African police.

    Kingsley Ikeri, a 27year old businessman from Mbaitolu, Imo State, was allegedly suffocated to death during interrogation by the police.

    He is the latest Nigerian to be killed in South Africa.

    Dabiri-Erewa in a statement through her Special Assistant on Media, Abdurrahman Balogun, said “this is one death, too many.”

    She said in spite of all diplomatic talks between Nigeria and South Africa to put an early warning signal in place, “it doesn’t seem to be working.”

    The Nigeria Union in South Africa has confirmed the killing of Ikeri at Vryheid town in KwaZulu Natal Province of South Africa on August  30.

    He is the second Imo State indigene to be so killed in the last two weeks.

    Dabiri-Erewa described the latest extra judicial killing of another Nigerian in South Africa as “worrying and condemnable.”

    She said that the latest gruesome killing of Ikeri by the Police in South Africa is “unacceptable to the people and government of Nigeria.”

    While reiterating President Muhammadu Buhari’s calls to Nigerians to avoid crimes like drug peddling which attracts stiff penalties, sometimes death, she noted that the latest killing has increased the number of Nigerians killed in South Africa through extrajudicial means in the last one year.

    “The barbaric behaviour of the perpetrators is not only unacceptable but also calls for urgent attention by diplomatic authorities in Nigeria and South Africa,” she said.

    Dabiri-Erewa urged the South African government to ensure that justice prevails by carrying out investigation and bring the culprits to book.

    She reiterated her calls to Nigerians living abroad to always respect the laws of their host countries and be good ambassadors.

    “My heart goes out to the families of the deceased and I pray God to grant the departed soul eternal rest,” the SSA prayed.

    Bartholomew Eziagulu, Chairman of the Nigerian Union in the province, said at the weekend that Ikeri was tortured to death by the police.

    He said the union’s investigations revealed that the police arrested the deceased and a friend on suspicion that they were carrying hard drugs.

    He said while interrogating him, the police used plastic to cover his face to extort information from him.

    “In the process, they suffocated the deceased. When the police took him to the hospital, he was confirmed dead,” he said.

    Adetola Olubajo, the Secretary General of the union, said the national secretariat had been informed about the death of the Nigerian.

    He said the body had informed appropriate Nigerian authorities and the police in South Africa.

    A senior diplomat from the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg has visited Vryheid on a fact-finding mission.

    Dabiri-Erewa had in February during a meeting in Abuja with South Africa High Commissioner, Mr Lulu Louis Mnguni, said a total of 116 Nigerians have been killed in South Africa through extrajudicial means in the last two years.

    Seven in 10 of the killings were carried out by the Police.

     

  • High society set to honour Amosun, Dabiri-Erewa

    All roads lead to Abeokuta, Ogun State, today as the wedding train moves to the ancient city for the traditional marriage of the children of two political bigwigs in the South-West.

    Oladipo Dabiri, son of Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Relations and Diaspora to President Muhammadu Buhari, will tie the nuptial knot with Ayomide, daughter of Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

    Their wedding is certain to be a grand event attended by the who’s who in the political and celebrity scene. Already, the parents are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the high-class shindig lives up to expectation.

    The second leg of the wedding is scheduled for later in the year.

  • $300m Diaspora bond will be used for capital projects, says Dabiri-Erewa

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has affirmed that the net proceeds of the $300 million maiden Diaspora bond issued by the Federal Government will be used to finance capital projects.

    In a statement by her media assistant, Mr. Abdurrahman Balogun, Dabiri-Erewa urged all Nigerians to buy into the first-ever Diaspora offer and contribute to ongoing national developmental efforts.

    She said the net proceeds from the bond would be used to finance capital projects to enhance the economy’s development.

    Her office, she noted, has noted great enthusiasm among Nigerians in the Diaspora as the first ever Diaspora bond is being rolled out to the benefits of Nigerians.

    According to her, subscription to the bond is a unique way of lubricating the interest of Nigerians in the Diaspora to participate in the developmental projects being carried out by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

    “We believe Nigerians abroad want to support development in Nigeria and such would be glad to invest in it,” Dabiri-Erewa said.

    The DMO had said the Diaspora bond would be admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s regulated market.

    The bonds will be direct general obligations of Nigeria and will be denominated in US dollars. The international Joint Lead Managers are Bank of America Merrill Lynch and The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited. The Nigerian Joint Lead Managers are First Bank of Nigeria Limited and United Bank for Africa Plc. Pricing for the bond will, however, be made after series of investor meetings, subject to market conditions.

    Fitch Ratings had assigned a rating of ‘B+(EXP)’ to the Diaspora bond. Fitch stated that it assigned the rating after the receipt of final documents materially conforming to information already reviewed, adding that the rating was in line with Nigeria’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘B+’. The rating agency had issued a negative outlook on the country’s IDR.

    Fitch noted that the rating is sensitive to changes in Nigeria’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR. It had earlier in January 2017 affirmed Nigeria’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR at ‘B+’ and revised the outlook to negative. The Long-Term Local-Currency IDR was also affirmed at ‘B+’ with a negative outlook.

    Fitch had also assigned B+ ratings to Nigeria’s $1 billion Eurobond, which was overwhelmingly oversubscribed.

  • Dabiri-Erewa laments death of Nigerians at sea

    Dabiri-Erewa laments death of Nigerians at sea

    THE Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has lamented the death of Nigerians in the recent Mediterranean boat mishap.
    She described the incidents as “unfortunate, tragic and preventable”.
    The presidential aide commiserated with the parents and families of victims of the mishap and prayed to God to give them the fortitude to bear the loss.
    In a statement by her Special Assistant on Media, Abdurrahman Balogun, she lamented that promising young Nigerians embarking on such dangerous journeys, in search of greener pastures, end up with hopelessness, torture, despair and sometimes death”.
    “It is tragic and lamentable. It is just not worth it ultimately. There has to be sustained awareness campaigns on the dangers inherent in such journeys Migration policies are getting tougher all over.
    “In Germany alone, there are about 12,000 Nigerians seeking asylum and they will not be granted. They are likely to be deported”.
    The International Organisation of Migration (IOM) said 128 migrants, comprising Nigerians and other West Africans, died while crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe between March 6 and 26.

  • Govt ‘ll protect Nigerians abroad, says Dabiri-Erewa

    Govt ‘ll protect Nigerians abroad, says Dabiri-Erewa

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said the government will protect the interest of Nigerians living abroad.
    She said a bill proposing the creation of a commission in charge of diaspora matters is underway, adding that it will bring relief to Nigerians across the globe.
    Mrs Dabiri-Erewa, who was the speaker at the Island Club lecture with the topic: “Nigerians in Diaspora: Strengths and Challenges in the Pursuit of National Development, said the commission would have other countries as members.
    She urged the citizens to support the government’s efforts in stabilising the economy, noting that awareness will be created on the dangers Nigerians are likely to face when they travel out of the country through unorthodox method.
    Dabiri-Erewa said the  15 million Nigerians scattered all over the world contributed to the economy, adding that about 35 billion dollars came into the country from citizens in the diaspora last year.
    She said: “Nigerians in the diaspora are doing quite well. Some of them have broken records in their chosen careers. Some of them are now willing to come back home to invest and make contribution to the growth of the country.
    “We should all strive to rewrite the wrong notion by foreign countries about us. We should be brand ambassadors of Nigeria. It is wrong for these foreign countries to believe that nothing good can emanate from Africa.
    “In changing the wrong impression held about Nigeria, the government alone cannot do it. We have to work together. The country needs a commission that will handle all challenges posed by bureaucratic bottleneck.
    “ Nigerians are likely going to face long jail terms when they travel through unapproved means to some countries that are not very friendly. They risk being killed in the voyages to other lands.”
    The former lawmaker said the government was willing to assist Nigerians living overseas who want to relocate to their roots. She noted that those who have psychological challenges would be properly guided.
    “It is not only Nigerians who had lived abroad that should be made to undergo psychological test or treatment. I think those who are at home and refuse to talk in the face of some grave dangers in the society equally need to be treated.
    “This is not the time to stay aloof, this is the time to support the government in proferring solutions to the problems facing the country. We must all rise up to get the country working.”

  • Buhari will return soon – Dabiri -Erewa

    Buhari will return soon – Dabiri -Erewa

    President Muhammadu Buhari will come home very soon, the Special Adviser to the President on Diaspora Affairs, Abike Dabiri -Erewa, has said.

    Dabiri –Erewa made the remark while addressing women during the symposium to mark 2017 International Women’s Day celebration at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, on Monday.

    The symposium titled: ‘Be bold for change’ was facilitated by the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA).

    Addressing the women, Dabiri said: “I spoke with Baba and he said I should tell you that he will soon be back. I even joked with him that since he is abroad, he is now my constituent and he laughed over it.”

    While thanking WAPA for being at the forefront of promoting women issues, the former lawmaker lamented the plight of Nigerian girls and women trafficked abroad.

    She added: “We rescued some girls trafficked to Mali last week. The sight and words of those girls moved one to tears. One of them called the mother and started cursing her. She said in adulterated English language that ‘mummy see where you don push me reach. They f…k me tire and money I no get.

    “As I speak to you, we have 90 girls that are trafficked to Bukina Faso that we are bringing back to the country soon and also going to rehabilitate. We have law on violence against persons and need to implement it.”

    Earlier in her speech, the Commissioner for WAPA, Hon Lola Akande, informed the gathering that the state government has never rested on its oars in dealing with issues that affect women.

    She said: “Lagos State government is truly committed to actualising Sustainable Development Goals and in furtherance of these objectives, the state government under the leadership of His Excellency, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, established  vocational and skill acquisition centres across the state to empower women and others to create job opportunities for the unemployed while encouraging young university graduates to look beyond white collar jobs and become self- employed and grow to become employers of labour.”

     

     

     

  • Presidency condemns killing of Nigerians in South Africa

    Presidency condemns killing of Nigerians in South Africa

    The Presidency on Monday condemned the renewed xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other Africans in South Africa.

    It called for the urgent intervention by the African Union (AU).

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, stated these in a statement in Abuja.

    While urging restraint on the part of Nigerians, Dabiri-Erewa warned that further attacks without any reprimand may have dire consequences.

    She regretted that 116 Nigerians had been killed in the last two years and about 20 were killed in 2016 alone.

    The presidential aide said the unhealthy development was unacceptable.

    She said “We have lost about 116 Nigerian in the last two years and in 2016 alone, about 20 were killed. This is unacceptable to the people and government of Nigeria.”

    Stressing that the attacks were unnecessary setback, she advised Nigerians to be extra cautious.

    Dabiri-Erewa also called on the South African government to take decisive and definitive measures to protect Nigerians and other Africans within South African borders.