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Tag: Dabiri-Erewa

  • I owe no bank N122m, says Dabiri-Erewa

    I owe no bank N122m, says Dabiri-Erewa

    The immediate past Chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on the Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, yesterday said she does not owe any bank N122million.

    She said she has no business investment in Thriller Endeavour not to talk of the N122million debt credited to the company.

    Dabiri-Erewa, who made the clarifications in a statement last night, said: “I owe nobody any money, not even myself.”

    The statement reads: “I was thoroughly embarrassed to see my picture on the front page of a newspaper that Thriller Endeavor Company, claiming me as a director, owes about N100million to Diamond Bank.

    [quote font_size=”18″ color=”#f2f2f2″ bgcolor=”#2d5945″ arrow=”yes” align=”right”]I know nothing about the said company, Thriller Endeavor, or its activities, as mentioned in the publication.[/quote]

    “If the company claims I am a director in the said bank, then it has definitely done so without my knowledge and without my permission.

    “If this is the case it’s a case of fraud and will have to be brought to the attention of relevant security agencies, the bank in question, and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    “I once again state categorically that the company (Thriller Endeavour) is not known to me.

    “As a very contented person, I owe nobody any money, not even myself.”

  • Dabiri-Erewa makes case for Ambode

    Dabiri-Erewa makes case for Ambode

    Ahead of tomorrrow’s governorship election, House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Diaspora Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa has urged residents of Lagos State to vote for the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode and the  House of Assembly candidates.

    A victory for Mr Ambode and all APC House of Assembly candidates  presents the best opportunity for Lagos State to align with the APC-led Federal Government.

    “For the first time in 16 years, since the advent of our democracy, the ruling party in Lagos State is set to take control not only at the state level but also at the Federal level and these portends a lot of good things for Lagos State.”

    Reiterating Governor Babatunde Fashola’s address to residents of Lagos, Hon Dabiri Erewa appealed to all to vote wisely for APC tomorrow and urged that all distractions on ethnicity should be set aside, as APC remains the best option for Lagos State.

  • SERAP petitions Fed Govt, Dabiri-Erewa over Nigerians in Azerbaijan

    SERAP petitions Fed Govt, Dabiri-Erewa over Nigerians in Azerbaijan

    Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent separate open letters to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Aminu Wali, and the Chairperson, Diaspora Committee, House of Representatives, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, over the situation of Nigerians living in Baku, Azerbaijan.

    In the open letters dated  February 20, 2015, and signed by SERAP Executive Director Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organisation urged them to “urgently intervene in the situation of Nigerians living in Baku, Azerbaijan, who are being arbitrarily denied their right to nationality by the Embassy of Nigeria in Tehran, Iran by failing and/or refusing to issue the citizens renewal of their international passports.

    “Several Nigerians living in Baku, Azerbaijan have told SERAP that they participated in an e-passport exercise conducted by two Nigerian Immigration officers. This exercise took place between August 31, 2014 and September 1, 2014 and was witnessed by the Ambassador of Nigeria to Iran, Alhaji Tukur Mani, and an embassy officer.  Every adult participant paid $150 while every child paid $120. But the embassy has so far failed and/or refused to issue the participants any passport,” the organisation said.

    The organisation also quoted Nick Nwolisa, President of Nigerians in the Diaspora, Azerbaijan chapter as saying that: “Nigerians residing in Azerbaijan are left to their own fate. Some of the Nigerians here are on the verge of losing their jobs because without a valid passport, you can’t get a residence or working permit.

    “Most would be wandering the streets of Baku looking over their back because with an expired legal permit, you are a target of the immigration officers, who are bent on deporting Nigerians. Some would be expelled from school and can’t continue with their studies. We have been on our own here, and the situation we are in now is a matter of urgency and desperation,” Nwolisa said.

     

  • Dabiri-Erewa: Lawmaker of example

    Dabiri-Erewa: Lawmaker of example

    By virtue of her trade then as a newscaster in the nation’s main electronic media,  Abike Dabiri – as she was then known – probably carved for herself an image that the Nigerian public was at liberty to interpret in so many ways. As a TV personality, the Nigerian public probably saw her with different lenses whenever she appeared in their living rooms to deliver her message. By plunging herself into the foul, if not nauseating waters of Nigerian politics, the member representing Ikorodu Federal constituency, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa has managed not only to mitigate the debris that Nigerian politicians characteristically throw into the country’s political pool, she has also made notable efforts, through her contributions to debates and legislations, in reducing the stench in the political waters as well.

    Nigeria’s lower chamber has 390-odd legislators, some of whom may have found the hallowed chamber so discomfiting, if not intimidating (or both), that their colleagues could have sworn never to have seen them before. Some of these legislators (after their (s)elections) may even be unknown in the constituencies from whence they came, let alone be familiar to that segment of the Nigerian public interested in the business of legislation, for they exist in relative obscurity. They could not say anything because they saw nothing.

    Dabiri-Erewa, in her 12-year stint as a member of the Second Estate of the Realm, has proven to Nigerians to be a legislator of distinction not only in terms of performance but in character and integrity. Her contributions to the deepening of our nation’s nascent democracy as a result of the many bills (some of them unprecedented in the nation’s history) that has become the laws of the land either authored by her or co-sponsored are bound to become points of reference for many years to come. Her contributions to issues of national importance at plenary can be so passionate that one is left with no doubt that she’s being driven by the values that shapes her being as well as her acute awareness of how a nation must be the protector of all her citizens wherever they may be.

    As a chairperson of the House Committee on Diaspora, Nigerians in the Diaspora have come to see her as the conscience of the nation because of the seriousness with which she takes and reacts swiftly to the unfortunate circumstances that befalls them either as individuals or as a group in their host countries. A very proactive legislator, one must not hesitate to mention here that one of the greatest disservice that a nation’s legislature must not do to a critical mass of her citizenry (Nigerians in the Diaspora) is the vacillation of this Seventh Assembly in signing Dabiri-Erewa’s Diaspora Commission bill into law before she finally takes her leave in May 2015. But her place is nonetheless secured in the legislature of the Fourth Republic.

    While the news that the legislator from Ikorodu, on her own volition, would not be presenting herself for re-election took Nigerians by surprise, judging from their reactions in the social media, I only smiled. On learning about her decision, I spoke gently to myself, and said: “This woman is so true to herself,” mentally recalling a discussion I had with her almost two years ago at the Oriental Hotel about 2015. One who’s true to oneself has no other choice than to be true to the entity s/he is serving at any given period. That was the lesson that the universe drew for me to learn from with the news. Nigerians on the social media could not understand why such an effective legislator with very high approval ratings from her constituency in particular and Nigerians at-large was calling it quits. Others simply thanked her for her decision.

    While Dabiri-Erewa’s refusal to seek re-election in 2015 because she wanted to give someone else the chance to contribute and rise in the business of nation building fundamentally attests to her character (and character, as they say, is what you do when no one is looking), the decision, as ennobling as it is, can also be seen in a different light. Her willingness not to return to the National Assembly is also capable of having a detrimental effect on the strength and quality of the nation’s democratic experience, it can be argued. The stark truth is that Nigeria lacks capacity in just about all those infrastructures that guarantees development and the nation’s legislative Houses are not exempt. These houses are a key segment of our national institutions in which capable and experienced hands are desperately needed to acquire capacity. After all, one is not talking about some deadwood legislators that dot both the upper and lower legislative chambers who doesn’t even know the questions let alone have answers, refusing to seek re-election. But someone so good and effective in her job that Nigeria is by a small notch better as a result.

    A politically enlightened constituency with the sophistication to know what politics should produce and a political party that knows a good legislator when it sees one would have insisted that Dabiri-Erewa seeks re-election. Did I hear someone say nobody is indispensable? True. But in a nation that is seriously hemorrhaging and suffering from all kinds of socio-economic and political ailments, her best hands should be seen as indispensable at this material juncture. Dabiri-Erewa is one of these capable hands in the National Assembly. The high turn-over of good, effective and experienced legislators in the name of turn-by-turn politics during election cycles just doesn’t augur well for deepening democracy and good governance in the polity.

    As a former Liaison Officer (USA) to the House Committee on Diaspora, I needed to brief Hon. Dabiri-Erewa on the progress of a project I was assigned by her on behalf of her committee and our meeting place was the Oriental Hotel. After my briefing and having read her body language that she was satisfied with my answers to her usually tough questions, which I had anticipated, having worked with her for some time (as my own inventive strategy to further ‘detain’ her, thereby doing justice to more drinks), I re-directed our conversation to the politics of Lagos, the nation and her own political future. “So, my chairwoman, what options for another office are you considering in 2015?” I asked. “I am not considering any options,” she said curtly. “That means you’ll just go back to the House,” I replied. “I will not be running for re-election,” she deadpanned. Though I did not believe that she wouldn’t run again knowing full well she would trounce anyone from her constituency during elections anytime, I still asked her what she would be doing after her voluntary retirement from the House to which she said she would find something to do, including going back to the electronic media.

    Having arrived very early for the convention and sitting all alone, lazily leafing through the programme brochure, her caring and motherly instinct probably nudged her to former governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola to intimate him of the availability of foods and other refreshments to relax with in the meantime. Oyinlola nodded approvingly. Dabiri-Erewa led the former governor to the VIP Lounge and arranged for his food. “You actually meant what you said to me almost two years ago, my chairwoman”, I reminded her as we both talked some more at the APC’s third National Convention in Lagos. This congresswoman is most assuredly in the new league of truly selfless, brilliant, caring and highly effective political leaders that this country desperately needs. With her decision not to seek re-election even when the ticket is hers for the asking and her chances of winning in the general elections is as good as predicting that there will not be darkness at 12 noon, Dabiri-Erewa has shown that she’s a legislator of example.

     

    • Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com
  • Dabiri-Erewa renews call for Diaspora commission

    Dabiri-Erewa renews call for Diaspora commission

    The Chairperson of House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Hon. Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has emphasised the need for the establishment of Diaspora Affairs Commission.

    She made the call while receiving African Bridge-Builders Award, which the Diaspora African Forum conferred on her committee in Washington D.C, United States, recently.

    In a statement issued after the award was conferred on the committee, Dabiri-Erewa acknowledged that the award was not just for the committee, but also for the House of Representatives.

    She said, “It is a good thing that our committee was recongised in Washington D.C. It only tells you that we have to continue working hard. Diaspora issues are now in front burner of the issues worldwide.”

    She said the Diaspora committee facilitated the return of Nigerians from Libya during the civil conflict in that North African country, intervened in the plight of Nigerians in South African prisons and waded into the gruesome killing of Nigerian students in Dubai, Ghana and Cyprus, among others

    She explained the need to establish Diaspora Affairs Commission in the country, noting that about 24 countries globally “have been able to establish the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs.”

    She lamented that Nigeria was not part of the countries that had established the commission, saying it “is important that we have Diaspora commission, a one stop agency that will take care of the Diaspora needs. But we will continue to engage Nigerians in Diaspora.

    “We will also continue to see how the country can benefit from it and ensure that they are part of the policies of government. And in the U.S, we have most of the literate immigrants.”

     

     

  • Reps committee seeks justice for Falode’s son

    Reps committee seeks justice for Falode’s son

    The House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Matters resolved yesterday to bring  the killer of Oluwadamilola Oloruntoba, son of ace sports broadcaster Ms. Aisha Falode, to book.

    Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who chairs the committee, said members had put machinery in motion on the issue and would not relent until justice is done.

    She spoke yesterday during a meeting with Ms. Falode.

    Oluwadamilola was allegedly murdered in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate (UAE).

    At the meeting were Ms. Falode’s lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, and Dr. Joe Odumakin of the Women Arise Initiative.

    Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa said the committee would collaborate with the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House to ensure justice.

    Ms. Falode was in tears as she narrated the incident. She said her son was murdered by the son of a wealthy Saudi businessman, adding that the UAE authorities were trying to cover up the murder.

    Her words: “My son, whom we believe was murdered in Dubai, was thrown down from the 17th floor of his apartment at Manchester Towers in Dubai. When I got the call, I went there and requested to see the case file of how he died. It took us three months to get their response. So I went again with my lawyer and we met the people who gave verbal evidence. From what we gathered, he did not die a natural death, and his death is being covered up.

    “I came here to get justice as a mother. I am pleading with the Nigerian government to help me get justice for my son and prevent another Nigerian family from experiencing such again.”

    Mrs Dabiri-Erewa said the parliament was trying its best to protect Nigerians abroad.

    She said: “This committee, in pursuit of this matter, tabled a motion on March 19 on your son and other Nigerians, who are victims of such evil. If our children are not safe in Nigeria and are not safe abroad, then where is the hope?

    “For your son, we have obtained some documents from the Nigerian High  Commission in Dubai and we must follow up to ensure that those responsible are  brought to book. I assure you that this matter will not be swept under the carpet.”

    Keyamo, giving an account of his investigation in the case, said the UAE Police was shielding an Arab boy called Faizal, whose father had a substantial investment in Dubai.

    He said the boy is suspected of murdering Aishat’s son.

    Keyamo said: “I am only concerned about the  facts of the case. We need to briefly recount the facts. The mother took her son to a school in Dubai. There is a certain Arab boy called Faizal, whose father has a substantial investment in Dubai. It is a fact that the boy had been getting away with many criminal conducts. On that fateful day, he was seen walking Toba’s girlfriend out of his (Toba’s) home, saying she had no business being there. He (Faizal), according to evidence, does not live there.

    “Thereafter, Toba and two of his friends (a Nigerian and a South African) went to the club and they met the same boy, who was seen making gestures at them. Later that night, they came back and met the same boy and the white girl on the 17th floor in front of Toba’s apartment with the girl crying.

    “According to the witnesses, they started arguing the moment Toba went into his apartment, only for the Arab boy and the white girl to come back into the room some minutes later saying Toba fell. Thy said there was blood on Faizal’s shirt and an injury on his knuckle.

    “The boy gave a confessional statement, telling the boys that they should not worry, that he would only spend 25 years in jail and come out. Police took all of them, separated them and charged the others to court with drinking, except Faizal, who was asked to go home.”

    Keyamo expressed surprise that the police report cleared the Arab boy.

    He said the had petitioned the Office of the Public Prosecutor, asking them to remove the case from that police station, adding: “There is no room for private prosecution in Dubai.”

    Dr. Odumakin told the committee that her organisation suspected fraud by the UAE police, saying: “That is why we sent a letter to the committee, as well as the President, who minuted on it and sent it to the Foreign Affairs Minister. We can, by that approach, get justice from all angles.

    “We want to send a message that our green passport is respected and we demand to know why private prosecution is not allowed. It is up to our government to take it up.”

     

     

  • Lawmaker urges DISCOs to patronise local meter manufacturers

    Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Power, on Monday appealed to electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) to patronise local meter manufacturing companies.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Dabiri-Erewa made the appeal when she visited Momas Meter Manufacturing Company (MEMCOL) in Lagos.

    She said that there was the need for government at all levels to support indigenous companies to strive rather than encourage importation of pre-paid meters.

    Dabiri-Erewa said that the only way to ensure the growth of the economy was to encourage patronage of local industries.

    She said that Nigeria had the best meter manufacturing company and there was no need importing meter into the country. “I was shocked when I saw the equipment at MEMCOL.

    “I didn’t believe that we have that kind of sophisticated equipment in Nigeria and we still complain about metering challenges.

    “In spite of the effort by local companies to manufacture energy meters, we still go ahead to import meters; this is very bad for the economy.

    “It will be better we make use of what we have. We have to believe in our people.

    “As a parliamentarian, I am going to discuss with the House Committee on Power on ways to enforce patronage of local meter manufacturing companies,’’ she said.

    Dabiri-Arewa urged all DISCOs to ensure that all consumers were metered to avoid estimated billings.

    She said that the DISCOs might be compelled to install pre-paid meters to all electricity consumers soon.

    The Chairman of MEMCOL, Mr Kola Balogun, decried poor patronage by government agencies in spite of the competiveness of the product internationally.

    Balogun said that the low patronage had retarded the growth of the company.

    He said that employment opportunities would triple if local manufacturers got more support from government at all levels.

    He said that the local content policy of government would not succeed if home-made innovations were not adequately utilised.

    “I can tell you that our company has 100 per cent local content in the manufacturing of meters.

    “Even all our operations and production processes are managed by Nigerians.

    “The company produces about one million meters a month,” he said.

     

  • 409 Nigerians in South African prisons – Dabiri-Erewa

    409 Nigerians in South African prisons – Dabiri-Erewa

    The Chairman House Committee on Diaspora, Hon Abike Dabiri Erewa, has said that 409 Nigerians are currently serving different jail terms in South African prisons.

    Dabiri Erewa said the committee discovered the situation during its visit to two prisons where Nigerians were being held for various offences.

    She was accompanied on the visit by Hon. Ajibola Famurewa and Hon. Umaru Shidanfi both members of the committee, consular officers of the Nigerian Embassy and executives of the Nigerian Union in South Africa.

    She explained that the committee interacted with some inmates and gathered that some of them have completed their prison terms, but were still kept in Jail.

    Dabiri-Erewa said the inmates complained of extreme discrimination by the prison authorities in the former apartheid enclave, saying that as Nigerians, they got “very bad deal.”

     

  • Reps to probe death of Nigerian in Cyprus

    Reps to probe death of Nigerian in Cyprus

    The House of Representative has promised to investigate the circumstances that led to the death of a 20-year-old student of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Mr. Gabriel Soriwei, in Cyprus.

    The Chairman House Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Hon Abike Dabiri Erewa, who confirmed the development to journalists, assured the family of the deceased that the legislature will do its best to ensure justice in the matter.

    She said Gabriel a student of Cyprus International University in the north of Cyprus, under the control of Turkey, died on September 7 after a woman knocked him down with a car.

    She explained that the report presented by the father of the deceased, Mr. Patrick Soriwei, before the House Committee on Diaspora, said police authorities in Turkey were shielding the identity of the woman and has also concealed information on the incident from his family.

    She said the deceased father also told the Committee how his late son’s school also treated his death with disdain, adding that the Turkish Embassy in Nigeria did not show much interest in the death of Gabriel.

     

     

  • Diaspora Day: Appraisal of Dabiri -Erewa’s address

    Hon. Abike Dabiri – Erewa hit the nail on the head in her recent address on the issues affecting Nigerians abroad. It is very interesting that she noted the dysfunctional nature of many groups claiming to represent Nigerians in the Diaspora.

    I could not hold back applauding her, when she admitted that Diaspora day tend to be a gathering of those who lack the capacity to focus on many important issues affecting Nigerians abroad. A jamboree!!! The same person attends the so called Diaspora day without

    significant impact on those they claim to go to Nigeria to represent.

    Many of the groups do not have any office base, no financial support to enable effective representation in many countries abroad – for example the UK. These are groups I consider to be on shoe strings. !!!

    It is about time Nigerians abroad organise themselves to take up issues with the country to whom they pay their dues – for example Council Tax in the UK!!! Whilst many Non – Nigerian communities in the UK strategically and successfully present issues of importance to UK Local, Regional and Central Governments, Nigerians in the UK continues to focus on the Nigerian government via the Nigerian High Commission.

    The mission with many highly dedicated and good staff but inadequate resources to function as a Diplomatic Mission, let alone represent a group of people who are British with legitimate with legitimate rights to seek assistance from Britain.

    May I suggest that in future the Diaspora Day should seek to focus on how Nigerians who are abroad can effectively present issues to the government of the countries in which they reside.

    I have always wondered why Nigerians in the Diaspora should be of any importance to Nigerian government when many do not wish to return to Nigeria.

    Those who wish to contribute to the development of Nigeria cannot remain abroad to do so – (Unless they wish to invest cash). Perhaps Nigerian government should create opportunities for those who wish to return to make such contribution. The latter I believe is inappropriate simply because, many abroad are out of touch with the realities of life in Nigeria, consequently those who may choose to go to Nigeria will require orientation to be fit for purpose.

     

    Finally, may I suggest that future Days for Nigerians in the Diaspora should be hosted outside of Nigeria in different countries to enable the representatives who have been going to Nigeria to show case the groups they represent. There are a number of groups in Liverpool who are successfully set up to cater for the needs of Nigerians in Merseyside area of the UK.

    A visit by Hon. Abike Dabiri should be an eye opener!!!

     

    Hon. Lola Ayorinde, writes from the UK.