The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Theresa May

  • `Let’s come together,’ May makes Brexit appeal to party

    Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday called on her party to unite behind her plan to leave the European Union, making a direct appeal to critics by saying their desire for a free trade deal was at the heart of her own Brexit proposals.

    At the start of what is set to be one of the Conservative Party’s stormiest annual conferences, May’s plans were once again attacked by two former ministers, with former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, calling them “deranged”.

    Just six months before Britain is due to leave the EU in the country’s biggest shift in foreign and trade policy in over 40 years, the debate over how to leave the bloc is still raging in the center-right Conservative Party.

    May’s already fragile leadership was put under further pressure this month when the EU rejected parts of the so-called Chequers plan.

    However, she put a positive spin on those talks, saying she was ready to consider to the EU’s concerns.

    “My message to my party is let’s come together and get the best deal for Britain.

    “At the heart of the Chequers plan is a free trade deal, a free trade area and frictionless trade.

    “Chequers, at the moment is the only plan on the table that delivers on the Brexit vote and also delivers for the people of Northern Ireland,” May said.

    She has shown little sign of shifting away from her Chequers plan, named after her country residence where she hashed out an agreement on Brexit with her ministers in July, in spite of growing criticism that her proposals offer the worst of all worlds.

    Johnson, who quit May’s cabinet after Chequers was agreed, called her plans “deranged” and attacked the prime minister for not believing in Brexit.

    “Unlike the prime minister I campaigned for Brexit, I fought for this; I believe in it and I think it’s the right thing for our country.

    “I think that what is happening now is, alas, not what people were promised in 2016,” Johnson, the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed May, told the Sunday Times newspaper.

    Davis, who like Johnson resigned in protest said her plan was “just wrong”, but he also said he thought it was 80-90 per cent likely that the government would strike an exit deal with the EU.

    May’s team hoped the party’s conference would give her a platform to renew her pledge to help those people who are “just about managing”, trying to pull the focus away from Brexit and on to a domestic agenda.

    However, her first announcement, for an additional levy on foreign home buyers, did little to reset the conversation, with Sunday dominated again with Brexit, a possible leadership campaign and the prospect of an early election.

    Johnson’s interview in the Sunday Times was seen by many in the party to be the start of a campaign to unseat May, something that angered some Conservatives who are critical of the former foreign minister.

    May refused to be drawn on his comments, and did not refer to him by name in a lengthy interview with the BBC; however, her response was sharp.

    “I do believe in Brexit, but crucially I believe in delivering Brexit in a way that respects the vote.

    “In a way that delivers on the vote of the British people while also protecting our union, protecting jobs and ensuring that we make a success of Brexit for the future,” she said.

    Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said she still believed May could still manage to win a deal with the EU.

    Her party chairman, Brandon Lewis, said he believed May could lead into the next election, due in 2022.

    Davidson told Sky News that the EU summit in Salzburg had actually “slightly cleared the air actually, we know that officials are working very closely together.”

    “I think there is still a basis there for a deal to be done,” Davidson noted.

  • Ms May’s yellow, yellow!

    Oh mi gosh! Did you see that jacket! Hardball must can his uncanny intuition and export it to Britain. It would require some doing, some extractive alchemy, but it’s not beyond doing. Hardball could have sworn that there was something definitely unsettling about that yellow jacket donned by Ms Theresa May, the British PM as she came visiting last week.

    It could have been the most striking thing about the visit if you asked Hardball. Not just because it is bright, violent yellow; yellower than MTN even.

    But if you forgave all that and forgave the fact that the yellow jacket was ill-fitting… now this: she reveals that it was made in Nigeria!

    Here is a NAN report: “Finally she expressed the desire of the British government to assist Lagos in the development of her creative industry and alluded to the fact that the jacket she was wearing when she met with the governor was actually made in Nigeria.”

    There you have that classic British patronizing patronage. The loud dress hanging askew on the PM had to be Nigerian. Typically British, always would hand you a token patronage with a motive to patronize.

    But the yellow fiasco turned out most memorable in the hurried stopover. But first, thank goodness a British PM came calling on a crumbling former outpost. Been quite some time a PM thought good of a shambolic behemoth sucked dry and long left for dead.

    Could Madam PM come to see what is left of the house of horror? Or corroborate the ugly pictures in her head? Didn’t she quip about it when she stopped in South Africa? She spoke about the land of hunger and misery and sorrow. Did a former PM not speak about a ‘fantastically corrupt place?’

    Hardball insists nothing else about the visit stood out order than the yellow jacket. All the talk from Aso Rock to the Lagos House is one load of baloney. All yak, yak no substance.

    Here: “I was in Abuja and also in Lagos to see the thriving business community here.

    “We want to see increased trade between Nigeria and UK. Increased investment, bringing jobs here in Nigeria, jobs in the UK,” Ms May says. What’s that?

    Apart from Shell, Hardball knows no other British outfit in Nigeria that may really be call a business. We know what Shell does here don’t we?

    Why is it all about letter of credit? Where is the Abacha loot stashed in Britain 20 years on? How come we can’t export our sweet beans (ewa oloyin) to Britain?

    Hardball is not saying that Britain ravaged and abandoned Nigeria. He is saying that Nigeria is ravaged and abandoned.

    And the Chinese are picking the carcass. Thanks for stopping by Ms May.

  • Man gets life in jail for plot to assassinate Theresa May

    A 21-year-old man from north London was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday for plotting the assassination of British Prime Minister Theresa May.

    The Old Bailey, London’s criminal court, said Naa’imur Rahman had been planning to set off several bombs around Westminster and kill May with a knife or gun.

    The Islamic State supporter was caught after undercover investigators contacted him on the internet, posing as Islamic State contacts offering him the necessary explosives.

    He was arrested in November 2017, shortly after he picked up the supposed bombs.

    According to Britain’s Press Association, Justice Haddon-Cave concluded: “Rahman is a very dangerous individual and it is difficult to predict when, if ever, he will become de-radicalised and no longer be a danger to society.”

    He was sentenced to at least 30 years in jail.

  • We’ve lifted millions of Nigerians out of poverty – Osinbajo

    … Stresses Nigeria saves over 200 million dollar annually by revitalising fertiliser plants.

    In what appears like a reaction to the assertion by the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, that Nigeria harbours the largest population of the world’s poorest, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday declared, however, that President Muhammadu Buhari – led administration has “lifted millions of Nigerians out of poverty” in the last three years.

    Osinbajo added that within the same period, the administration has also laid a solid foundation for a more resilient and competitive economy as well as providing the needed infrastructure and opened the space for private investment to accelerate growth and development through the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) initiative.

    The Vice – President who made this known in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, at the 17th Joint Planning Board and National Council on Development Planning (NCPD), identified “social investment initiatives” as the vehicles used to pull Nigerians, in their millions, away from the poverty trap.

    Osinbajo was represented at the occasion by the Minister for Budget and Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma.

    He assured that the government would continue to invest in Nigerians and give them a better life, saying “several billions billions of naira had been committed to tackling infrastructural deficiencies” while resources were also being judiciously utilised and projects prioritized to ensure rapid transformation of the country.

    Speaking on the NCPD meeting with the theme, “Accelerating the implementation of the Economy Recovery and Growth Plan: The Role of Stakeholders,” he noted that the federal government is committed to ensuring that it delivers on the objectives and targets of ERGP.

    According to him, the administration via the ERGP, has revitalised fertiliser blending plants which assisted Nigeria to save over 200 million dollar annually.

    “We are proud of the successes recorded in the agricultural sector. The revitalization of our fertilizer blending plants alone has saved the country over $200 million annually in foreign exchange and over N60 billion in budgetary provisions for fertilizer subsidies.

    “This has also made it possible to purchase fertilizer at prices up to 30% cheaper than previously available. We are importing less rice today than we did few years ago.

    “Indeed, I am glad to note the partnerships that some states like Kebbi and Lagos have entered into in a bid to support the agricultural development and food security objective of the ERGP. I expect to see more of such model agricultural collaboration among other states,” he said.

    He also identified the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), security and inflow of foreign investments as areas where the ERGP has helped the country to experience successes.

    “i am aware that the National Committee on Export Promotion is implementing a plan to enhance export promotion and economic diversification in line with the Zero Oil Plan (ZOP) initiative. We have equally budgeted N44.2 billion in the 2018 Budget for the establishment of Special Economic Zones in the country’s six geo-political zones to drive local manufacturing and exports.

    “We are also paying close attention to the Mining sector by reinforcing the Mining Regulatory Agency. About N644 million has been voted for this in the 2018 budget. We are ready to set up a National Gold Purchase Scheme. The CBN is also advancing discussions on the modalities for gold purchase towards enhancing liquidity in the sector.

    “I believe strongly that to accelerate implementation of the ERGP and deliver on its target of 7% GDP growth by 2020, we surely need massive amounts of private investment. And that underscores the significance of the ERGP Focus Labs. I am pleased to note that this exercise has yielded positive outcomes.

    ” In the past few months, we have taken a number of decisions that will further facilitate the realization of the massive private investments unlocked in these labs. And I think the States must be commended for their willingness to cooperate and assist in making these investments to happen.

    “From our reports, some of the States have responded positively to a number of approvals that were required from them. Indeed, the success of the Labs is a clear testimony to what partnerships between the public and the private sector can achieve when they collectively work together for public good,” he added.

  • ‘May’s visit will deepen relationship between countries’

    The business community in Lagos says the visit of British Prime Minister, Theresa May, will deepen existing bilateral relationship between the two countries.

    Some members of the Lagos business community expressed their views on the sideline of the British Prime Minister’s meeting with the business community in Lagos on Wednesday.

    Mr Akin Olawore, the President of Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), said that the meeting was pertinent for Nigeria to maintain a strong economic relationship with Britain in alignment with its membership of the Commonwealth.

    “It seems very convincing now that Britain wants to explore trade with Nigeria and we are also ready to do business with them.

    “We are supposed to be natural business partners because we have so many things in common.

    “But I believe this visit is setting a tone for partnership because we can now work together and see how we can help each other achieve real trade growth.

    “Now that they are ready for serious business with Nigeria, genuine business people can take advantage of the opportunities,” he said.

    Olawore said that the proposed Investment Cooperation Agreement (TICA) between the two countries would enhance trade competitiveness, economic growth and ease of the business climate in the country.

    “The Cooperation Agreement means we are now partners and it will also spell out conditions of free trade agreements

    “If you look at our agric export, for lack of meeting their standard or European Union standard, they were stopped at the port, but now that will not happen again.

    “Instead of stopping it at the ports, they will come and work with us here to ensure that the standard is what they expecectd it to be which is how partnerships work, you do not wait till the person make mistakes, but you work together to achieve mutual growth,”he said.

    He said that trade betwen Britain and Nigeria was expected to rise above 100 million pounds before the end of 2018 and could hit $8 billion by 2020.

    Mr Babatunde Ruwase, the President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said that the business community should position itself to explore the various opportunities and maximise the benefits of the mutual partnership.

    “It is a good development for Nigeria and British relationship because we can see enthusiasm that came from the Prime Minister’s visit and her planned investment in certain sectors of the economy.

    “Particularly, their interest in the areas of improving investment in Fintech and infrastructure development,” he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria is Britain’s second largest trading partner in Africa.

    Nigeria’s top export to the UK is crude oil and its largest import is refined oil.

    May is on a trade mission in an attempt to bolster Britain’s post-Brexit fortunes.

    This is her first visit to Africa since she became Prime Minister in 2016.

    The visit was part of her efforts to “deepen and strengthen partnerships around the world as the UK prepares to leave the European Union (EU) next year.

  • ‘Nigeria, UK trade relations worth £4.2bn per-annum’

    Nigeria’s bilateral trade relationship with the United Kingdom (UK) Nigeria is said to be worth £4.2 billion per annum.

    Britain’s Minister for Africa, Harriet Baldwin, made this disclosure on the sidelines of the recent visit by the British Prime Minister, Theresa May to Nigeria.

    Harriet Baldwin who praised the trade relations between Britain and Nigeria, added that more business partnerships would be announced during and after the Prime Minister’s visit to Nigeria.

    Read Also:I had excellent time in Nigeria — Theresa May

    She noted that Britain was “already partnering with Nigeria in the area of green financing with other partnerships with the Nigerian Government expected to create over 100,000 jobs in the country.

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on her part advised investors from the United Kingdom to take advantage of the improved business environment in Nigeria to invest in key sectors of the economy.

    The Minister stated that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had taken a bold step in creating an enabling business environment for attracting investments, through the establishment of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

    She expressed the commitment of the Government to further improve on the business environment and sustain existing reforms to consolidate the gains of the economy through the deepening of the subnational Ease of Doing Business project.

    According to her, “there are lots of business opportunities in Nigeria and the Government is addressing assiduously the impediments to ease of doing business in Nigeria.

    She added that “this will make it easier for businesses to grow and contribute to sustainable economic activity in the country as well as create jobs.”

    The finance minister also canvassed the need for the deepening of the Nigerian capital market with specific products that can be channeled towards infrastructure financing.

    This, according to her, will ensure the capital market plays a pivotal role in stimulating the economy.

    According to her, “we can’t have enough capital to finance infrastructure development. Deepening the capital market is key to the funding of infrastructure in Nigeria.”

     

  • May: Britain committed to free trade with Kenya after Brexit

    Britain is committed to free trade with Kenya after it leaves the European Union, British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday on a visit to Nairobi.

    May, speaking on the third stop of a trip to Africa, said she would want Britain to become the biggest investor on the continent out of the world’s richest nations.

    “As Britain prepares to leave the European Union we are committed to a smooth transition that ensures continuity in our trading relationship with Kenya, ensuring Kenya retains its duty free quota free access to the UK market.”

    May also announced Britain would set up a cyber-center in Nairobi to help authorities fight online child sex abuse by tracking the sharing of abusive images on the internet.

    The EU is currently Britain’s biggest trading partner. Skeptics say closer ties and more trade with Africa will do little to offset the economic impact of Brexit.

    Total trade with Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya, the three nations on her tour this week, amounted to just over 13 billion pounds in 2016, official British figures show, compared with 554 billion pounds of trade with the EU that year.

    Read Also: Buhari to May: 2019 polls will be free, fair, credible

    The prime minister has used her first official visit to the region of more than one billion people to stress that Britain’s relationship with former colonies, including Kenya and other African nations, is increasingly focused on private investment, not on aid.

    In Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and most populous nation, May also promised closer commercial ties and promoted the longstanding presence of British companies in the country.

    Britain is Kenya’s largest trading partner and a major market for its exports of cut flowers. The rapidly expanding agriculture sector is Kenya’s biggest foreign exchange earner and a big source of jobs.

    Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, speaking alongside May at a news conference, said he welcomed her assurance that Kenyan duty free exports would continue after Brexit and said Kenya would be pressing for an increase in exports.

    Kenyatta said two agreements signed on Thursday-one to enhance military cooperation, the other for Britain to return assets and proceeds of corruption to Kenya- indicated the close ties between the two countries.
    Kenyatta, who was re-elected for a second term after a bloody and prolonged elections season, said his government’s fight against graft was important for national unity and his legacy.

    Corruption drains billions of dollars from the state every year in Kenya, and foreign businessmen complain it is hard to get things done without paying bribes.

    Margaret Thatcher was the last British prime minister to visit Kenya, in 1988.

  • UK foreign minister attacks Google over ‘child abuse content’

    British Foreign Minister, Jeremy Hunt, accused Google ( GOOGL.O ) on Thursday of abandoning its moral values by failing to remove child abuse content while launching a version of its search engine in China that will block some websites.

    The government has repeatedly criticised online platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook for failing to remove abusive material or sexual content posted online even after they were notified.

    “Seems extraordinary that Google is considering censoring its content to get into China but won’t cooperate with UK, U.S. … in removing child abuse content,” Hunt said on Twitter.

    “They used to be so proud of being values-driven.”

    Alphabet’s Google plans a search engine in China that will block some search terms and websites, two sources told Reuters earlier this month, in a move that could mark its return to a market it abandoned eight years ago on censorship concerns.

    Google declined to comment on Hunt’s remarks.

    Britain, the U.S., Australia, Canada and New Zealand invited major technology companies to attend a meeting on tackling child abuse and extremism on their websites, but the firms declined to attend, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday.

    Read Also: Trump accuses Google of hiding ‘fair media’ coverage of him

    Google did offer to send an executive to the conference but the offer was not taken up, a source at the company said.

    In January, Prime Minister Theresa May used an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos to say investors should use their financial power to force internet firms into taking more responsibility for stopping militants and pedophiles using their platforms.

    Google, which quit China’s search engine market in 2010, has been actively seeking ways to re-enter China where many of its products are blocked by regulators.

    Leading human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have urged Google not to bow to censorship demands in China because by doing so, they allege, the company would be complicit in the repression of freedom of speech.

    Search terms about human rights, democracy, religion and peaceful protests will be among the words blacklisted in the search engine app, which The Intercept website said had already been demonstrated to the Chinese government.

    The project is code-named “Dragonfly” and has been under way since the spring of 2017, the news website said.

  • Kenya: May pledges Britain’s help in fight against militants

    Theresa May pledged support for East Africa’s fight against Islamist militancy on Thursday during the first trip by a British prime minister to Kenya in 30 years.

    In Nairobi, the last stop on her three-country Africa trip, May was also at pains to assure the region’s biggest economy that Kenya would not experience any trade fallout from Brexit.

    “The UK’s already the largest foreign investor in Kenya. … And I’ve set out this week our ambition to be the G7’s number one investor in Africa by 2022,’’ she said.

    “As Britain prepares to leave the EU we’re committed to a smooth transition that ensures continuity in our trading relationship with Kenya,” the Prime Minister added at a joint news conference with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.

    May will later Thursday watch the British and Kenyan militaries training together to identify and destroy improvised explosive devices.

    Read Also: I had excellent time in Nigeria — Theresa May

    “This afternoon we’ve signed a new compact that will see us expand our joint work on security even further.

    “The UK is no longer just training our own military in Kenya but training with Kenyans to promote stability in east Africa,” May said.

    “The UK continues to support the commitment of the brave Kenyan soldiers fighting in Somalia against al-Shabaab and I will announce a new package of funding to support the African Union mission in Somalia,” she said.

    Al-Shabaab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, is a Somalia-based terror group which has launched regular attacks on neighbouring Kenya, such as the assault on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall that killed at least 67 people in 2013.

  • I had excellent time in Nigeria — Theresa May

    British Prime Minister, Theresa May, says she had an excellent time in Nigeria and hopes to see increased trade and investment between Nigeria and the UK.

    She spoke with newsmen at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja on Wednesday in Lagos, shortly before departing the country at 8:10 p.m.

    “I was in Abuja and also in Lagos to see the thriving business community here.

    “We want to see increased trade between Nigeria and UK, increased investment, bringing jobs here in Nigeria, jobs in the UK.

    “This will be good for both countries and I have had an excellent time in here in Nigeria, and I am very pleased to be here today,” she told newsmen.

    Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, who was at the airport to see her off, said the important visit centered on improving investment in the state and the country in general.

    “She has visited Abuja earlier in the day.

    “The important part of this visit was discussion on how investment in Lagos can be improved by British investors.

    “We realise that Lagos is the commercial capital of Nigeria and a whole lot of British investment are domiciled in Lagos,” he said.

    The governor said they spoke about how to improve investment planning and what Lagos has been doing to attract investors.

    “We having been doing a lot of judicial sector reforms and security sector reforms and she is pleased with the progress we are making in Lagos.

    “She is ready to complement our efforts by opening up export credit facility and also with development finance to some of the things that we are doing in Lagos,” he said.

    Ambode said the discussion also centred around boosting technology and improving infrastructure and the creative industry.

    “We spoke about things related to technology, infrastructure and also the creative industry.”

    On the relationship between Lagos and Britain, Ambode said: “we need to make sure that a whole lot of British investment is coming to Lagos. She is willing to do more with us.

    “You know, Lagos in 1861 was a British colony. The history has been so long, so, we also need to reactivate that,” Ambode said.

    NAN reports that the state government, in a statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Habib Aruna, shed more light on Ambode’s discussion with May.

    Ambode, according to the statement, said that much of Nigerian education, cultural and political systems were influenced by Britain and there were more Nigerians living in the UK than elsewhere in the world.

    The governor said that Lagos remained a place of choice for British investors, especially given that stability in the government, the size of Lagos economy and population, as well as the particular focus of his administration on the rule of law and justice sector reform.

    He also said that it would be of particular importance to Lagos State if British investors could explore the various opportunities that exist in the State in the areas of energy, technology, export finance, infrastructure and the creative industry.

    “So, we spoke about how we can improve the investment climate in Lagos and then the other parts of what Lagos has been doing to attract investors.

    “You know we have been doing a lot in judicial sector reforms and security sector reforms and the Prime Minister was pleased with the progress that we are making in Lagos and ready to complement our efforts by opening up export credit facility and development finance to some of the things that we are doing in Lagos State.”

    The Governor expressed optimism in the strengthening of the relationship between Britain and Lagos and avowed that his administration would do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.

    According to the statement, May, on her part, said that export credit finance to the tune of 750 million pounds sterling, as well as a considerable development finance was available, which Lagos State could look towards.

    She also spoke about the role that British could play in the development of the technology industry in Lagos given the particular capability of the UK in that area.

    The British Prime Minister also noted the special strength of the London City as a financial hub that could be of considerable importance for Lagos State, just as she emphasized sustainability and growth in Britain/Lagos relationship.

    Finally, she expressed the desire of the British government to assist Lagos in the development of her creative industry and alluded to the fact that the jacket she was wearing when she met with the Governor was actually made in Nigeria.(NAN)