The Nation Newspaper

Tag: US

  • US offers micro-grants to 50 women

    Fifty women will receive  micro-grants worth  N2.9 million from the United States Diplomatic Mission.

    The US Diplomatic Mission broke the news at an event in Lagos attended by senior local government officials, health, and community leaders.

    According to the Acting U. S. Consul-General, Will Steuer, the micro-grants are to support families, particularly  vulnerable children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, in five communities in Apapa Local Government Area of Lagos.

    Under the US Ambassador’s PEPFAR Small Grants Programme, a non-governmental organisation, Blissful Life for Women and Children, will train the beneficiaries of the micro-grants in business and vocational skills and trade mentorship. They will also receive trade articles and supplies, it was learnt.

    Ten older orphans and vulnerable children whose parents are living with HIV will also benefit from the training. Blissful Life for Women and Children is one of 27 local organisations that have received funding from the US Ambassador’s PEPFAR Small Grants Programme in the year.

    Steuer said: “The people and government of the United States continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Nigeria and Nigerian families in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Today’s event highlights the importance of supporting families, especially children who are affected by HIV/AIDS through programmes that not only support treatment for the infected, but also to improve the socio-economic well-being of families affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as the PEPFAR Small Grants Programme seeks to do.”

    Beneficiaries of the training are expected to empower themselves and their families by building small businesses.

    The US-Nigeria partnership on HIV/AIDS began in 2004 through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR); from 2004 to 2016, US support for HIV prevention, care, treatment, and support programmes in Nigeria has totaled

  • Aregbesola cautions US over Trump’s decision on climate change

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has urged the United States of America to consider its stand concerning climate change, as whatever decision America takes will affect many countries.

    This was even as the United States of America Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Stuart Symington described the social protection programmes of Osun Government as dividend of democracy and good governance.

    The American envoy also lauded the State Government for running an impactful and people-oriented government in spite of the current economic challenges facing Nigeria.

    Aregbesola, while hosting Syminton, who visited him at the Governor’s office in Osogbo, said the United States of America had over the years evolved to be a major factor in what happens to the other parts of the world.

    He added that when an entity becomes powerful as America in the world, such a nation needs to consider other nations before taking major decisions.

    The governor noted that the position of America in the world is so strategic to the extent that major decisions of the United States have direct bearing on other nations of the world.

    According to Aregbesola, America is so important and significant that issues like climate change can not be taken for granted.

    He said: “America has evolved to be a major factor in world growth and development to the extent that whatever decision the country takes on any burning issue shakes the world.

    “When an entity is as powerful as America, such entity needs to be very careful about every major decision it takes because of other countries.

    “An entity whose decision can affect other nations of the world must be very careful.

    “America’s human and international relations must not be taken for granted, if you love America it is to your own benefit and if you hate America it is to your own disadvantage,” the Governor stated.

    The Osun governor also said his administration came into government with a clear objective of how to tackle its responsibilities to the people.

    He said the coming into power of the administration was to revive the peace, progress and prosperity of the state and the nation at large.

    Aregbesola maintained that his administration focused on the six-point integral action plan which has over the years made his government to focus on social security areas through schemes such as the O-YES, O-MEALS,O-AMBULANCE the welfare scheme for the aged among others.

    “We came into government with a clear objective, it is to stimulate the growth and development of the Osun people and to leave them better than the way we met them.

    “From the onset, our goal for the people of the state was clear to us. As part of our efforts to take our people out of poverty, we re-energised the school feeding programme which we met on ground.

    “The O’MEAL programme of our state has turned subsistence farming into a commercial venture in Osun. It has boosted the sales of agricultural products in the state tremendously” Aregbesola stated.

    Speaking earlier, Symington, who praised the efforts of the state government in road infrastructure likened it to human development.

    The envoy also applauded various social intervention programmes of Aregbesola through job and wealth creation, saying that is why people are always interested in coming to the state to learn.

    Describing democracy as the best form of government in the world, Syminton noted that the policies adopted by the Osun state government in stimulating her economy and advancing the well-being of her citizens remains the major characteristics of democracy in the world.

  • Nigeria set to export certified yams to UK and US

    Nigeria is set to export its first consignment of certified yams to the United Kingdom and United States this month, the Minister  Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief  Audu Ogbeh, has said.

    This will mark a milestone in efforts to bring Nigeria back into reckoning in the agricultural export market. The minister said export of the produce will begin from  June 29.

    In a statement issued by Special Adviser to the Minister on Media, Dr  Kayode Oyeleye  said a number of initiatives  to make the  process successful have been  taken.

    According to him,  the  Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS), has taken steps to ensure the  exporters fulfill   safety and phytosanitary standards  required for  food exports to forestall the national embarrassments arising from the rejections on account of quality deficiency.

  • How Nigeria will improve trade ties with US, by Osinbajo

    How Nigeria will improve trade ties with US, by Osinbajo

    To improve trade ties with the United States (US), Nigeria will continue to seek potential and greater areas of cooperation with the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has said.

    He spoke when CCA President and CEO  Ms. Florizelle Liser visited him at the State House, Abuja, during her maiden trip to West Africa as part of the ongoing efforts to promote trade, investment and business engagement between the US and Africa.

    CCA, a Washington D.C.-based organisation, is the leading US business association focused solely on connecting business interests between the US and Africa.

    The Acting President said Nigeria would take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to the US market beyond oil.

    Osinbajo noted the importance of Nigeria being positioned in global supply chains; the progress being made in Niger Delta and the efforts at regaining the ease of doing business.

    On this inaugural visit to West Africa as CCA’s CEO, Ms. Liser visited Ghana and Nigeria. In Nigeria, aside meeting with the Acting President, she also met with other high level government officials and business leaders including Minister for Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and Minister of Industry, Trade And Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah.

    Others were Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu; CEO, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Mrs. Yewande Sadiku; Executive Director and CEO, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, as well as the US Ambassador to Nigeria.

    At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Onyeama spoke about his plan to drive economic diplomacy and leverage Nigeria’s 114 foreign offices to drive Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into Nigeria.

    “At the last United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), we were in touch with CCA and we were very impressed with the enthusiasm of US businesses to engage with Nigeria,” Onyeama said.

    Enelamah commended Ms. Liser and CCA for their work in supporting Nigeria’s efforts to create an enabling business environment in Nigeria and promote US.-Nigeria business partnerships.

    On his part, Kachikwu discussed plans for modular refineries with the CCA President. According to him, the modular refineries model being introduced will be tailor-made to the Niger Delta, adding that the ministry would support investors looking to navigate the complex business environment.

    The Ministry also asked for CCA and its members’ support in streamlining and standardizing technology in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria. “We look to CCA when we have something strategic to do with the governments of Africa and promoting greater US FDI into Africa. We are in a trying period and we are looking at whatever investments that comes into Nigeria” the Minister said.

    Ms. Liser commended his efforts on “7-big wins” in the oil sector and stressed the importance of Africa to the US especially in the oil and gas sectors.

    She also had individual meetings with CCA members including Mr. Aliko Dangote of Dangote Group and Mr. Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank, both of whom sit on CCA’s Board of Directors.

    Ms. Liser was thereafter hosted to a special dinner by Dangote, which was attended by Ovia and a dozen leading Nigerian private sector stakeholders to discuss ways to promote greater US.-Nigeria investment and business partnerships, and more broadly, to raise the continent’s profile as an important US partner for global business.

    They also discussed CCA’s upcoming US-Africa Business Summit in June in Washington, D.C. as an important opportunity to showcase that partnership.

    CCA has 30 member companies in Ghana and Nigeria – indigenous and multinationals – including leading businesses like Dangote Group, Microsoft, Zenith Bank, ExxonMobil, Procter & Gamble, Adepetun Caxton-Martins Agbor& Segun (ACAS-LAW), Caterpillar, Kusamotu & Kusamotu and Afro Tourism.

    About 15 per cent of CCA member-companies are Africans, and Nigerian firms make up almost 50 per cent of that number. CCA has a satellite office in Abuja, which is led by Mr. Ekenem Isichei, Director for West Africa.

  • Why the poor will remain with us

    Sir: Being poor literarily means one is unable to get and meet his desires. It is regarded as a state of financial incapacity. We live in a world where poor people dominate the economy. Nigeria as a country has a poverty rate of 67.1% which indicates that majority of citizens are living below the poverty line leaving very few to dwell in affluence.

    Government on the other hand sees to the organization as well as welfare of citizens; thus engages in countless number of programmes to ensure that poverty is reduced to the barest minimum. Most times international agencies as well as private bodies come into the equation, to see to it that an item of the sustainable development goal is achieved. Despite these interventions, the average rate of poor people in the community rather than decrease keep increasing by the day

    Numerous individuals have been empowered, yet few were able to keep the track of their objective because the mentality of most poor people lies in meeting their daily needs. That is why they tend to increase their consumption with respect to their income once they are empowered, making them find it less desirable to engage in the act of saving. Most of them find these empowerment programmes as comfort zones, causing them to relax forgetting that “what makes one successful doesn’t keep him successful”.

    Nigeria is a country endowed with vast arable land yet the youths prefers to be idle as they patiently wait for the comfort of the so-called white collar job. Land is meant to be cultivated to enhance production yet we have concluded in our mind that the occupation called farming is meant for the under-class in the society.

    A beneficiary of YOUWIN during the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan regime was given a desired sum of money (about N3 million) alongside necessary equipment to empower a particular number of youths in the area for a period of 3-6months. This individual after receiving the particular sum for the first quarter operated for some time then closed down the venture. Although the venture was said to have closed down because the administration delayed in paying the fixed sum slated for the second quarter, my summation is that the owner of the venture was without vision and passion for the sum given for the first quarter is enough to start a reasonable venture successfully even without stress.

    Truth be told, there is no use whatsoever trying to help people who are not ready to help themselves for no one can push anyone up the ladder unless he is ready to climb himself. The truth is most people aspire to become successful; most people termed poor dream to live in affluence. Only that they think they need to acquire much to kick-start their dreams so they decide to do away with the little resources at their disposal. It should be noted that “one who cannot manage little cannot control plenty” for we cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.

     

    • Boboye Abosede Grace,

    University Of Ilorin.

  • Three teenagers arraigned over robbery

    Three teenagers were on Friday brought before an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly robbing one Mr Isaiah Okeimen of his possessions in his house.

    The accused: Rasak Lawal, 20; Ahmed Akogun, 19, and Friday Johnson, 18, are facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and armed robbery.

    The accused, residents of Ojo area, a Lagos suburb, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

    The prosecutor, Insp. Simeon Imhonwa, had earlier told the court that the accused committed the offence with others still at large, at about 1.30 a.m. on Dec. 24, 2016 at Unity Crescent, Igbede town, Ojo area of Lagos.

    Imhonwa alleged that the trio stole 2, 650 US dollars, 7  iPhones, one laptop, a wrist watch, all valued at N3. 2 million, property of the complainant, Okeimen.

    According to him, the accused were apprehended by security guards in the early hours of the day and in their possession were knife, cutlasses and planks.

    “The complainant had raised alarm that robbers had invaded his house which alerted the security guards.

    “The accused persons were eventually arrested while the other accomplices escaped,” he said.

    The offences contravened Sections 295 and 297 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised).

    The section provides up to 21 years imprisonment if convicted.

    The Chief Magistrate, Mrs B.O. Osunsanmi, granted the accused persons bail in the sum of N500, 000 with two sureties each in like sum.

    Osunsanmi said the sureties must be a blood relation and a community leader and should provide evidence of two years tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

    She adjourned the case till July 11, for mention.

     

  • US, UK say Boko Haram wants to kidnap foreigners in Nigeria

    US, UK say Boko Haram wants to kidnap foreigners in Nigeria

    Terror sect Boko Haram is said to be planning to kidnap foreigners in the northeast.

    The extremists, according to the United States and Britain, are targeting Western foreign workers in the Bama area of Borno State, close to the Cameroon border.

    Both countries said in separate travel advice that the affected area was “along the Banki-Kumshe axis”, which is near the border with Cameroon.

    The US embassy in Abuja said in a message to its nationals that the report was ‘credible’.

    Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of women and children, including more than 200 Chibok school girls.

    At least 20,000 people have been killed since 2009, but abductions of foreigners have been rare.

    There was a spate of kidnappings of foreign workers in the wider north from 2011 to 2013, claimed by a Boko Haram splinter group, Ansaru, which was more ideologically aligned to Al-Qaeda.

    The leader of Ansaru, Khalid al-Barnawi, has been charged with the abduction and murder of foreign workers, among them an Italian, a Briton, a German, Greek, Lebanese and Syrians.

    Most were engineers or construction workers. International aid workers now account for the majority of foreign nationals in the northeast, with most of them based in the Borno State.

    Hundreds of thousands of people in the Lake Chad region require urgent food aid as a result of the conflict, which has made more than 2.6 million people homeless and ravaged farmland.

    Boko Haram has been pushed out of strongholds by military efforts but continues to control parts of the northeast.

    That has challenged aid groups’ efforts to address a hunger crisis that the United Nations says has left 4.7 million people in urgent need of food aid.

    Nigeria is part of what the U.N. has called the largest humanitarian crisis since the world body was founded in 1945. The World Food Program has warned of aid cuts if more help doesn’t arrive.

  • Expectant mum, kids stranded in U.S. after husband’s sudden death

    A Nigerian, Tunde Adepega on holiday in the United States with his seven-month pregnant wife, Oluwayemisi and two children has died in a metro bus.
    The wife who has two daughters aged two and eight, had barely spent 12 hours with her husband when he was picked up dead.
    The late Adepegba, a computer systems analyst, suffered a suspected heart attack while inside a metro bus in Annapolis area of Maryland and died with no help until the bus driver got to a final stop and came for him.
    The late Adepegba’s burial will cost about $10,000, which the wife does not have. A gofundme account has been set up for her husband burial.
    A deputy editor with THISDAY newspaper, Olawale Olaleye, who has been part of the fundraiser, wrote on his facebook wall: “This is no good news but a time I need the Nigerian in us to act true to type. Sadly, he left behind a pregnant wife. It is such a pathetic situation. But we can’t go on and on brooding over what we can’t change. This is an appeal for his burial, which is a bit expensive in the U.S and of course, whatever is left of this will be given to the pregnant wife.”
    A columnist with THISDAY newspaper, Adeola Akinremi, who is  in the US and has seen the family of the deceased, said: “It is a sad story.  The gofundme.com is probably the first place to start, but you can also reach out to the woman directly.”
    Mrs Adepegba and her children are in Randallstown, Maryland, United States, where a Good Samaritan is accommodating them.

  • Iyabo Obasanjo lives it up in US

    Thursday April 27 was a landmark for Senator Iyabo Obasanjo. That was the day she joined the league of golden age, having turned 50. The eldest daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been scarce on the local scene since her infamous bust-up with her father, which culminated in her widely circulated open letter in which she blasted him for craving power at the nation’s expense, vowing never to speak with him again.

    With reconciliation between father and daughter nowhere in sight, the former Ogun State Commissioner for Health has maintained a very low profile. In fact, she is said to be permanently resident overseas these days, having abandoned local politics to pursue a professional teaching career in global health.

    Iyabo studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Ibadan, with a master’s degree in Preventive Veterinary Medicine from the University of California and a PhD in Epidemiology at Cornell University. She is currently a visiting professor of Global Health and Contemporary African Politics at the Virginia Military Institute in the US.

  • US as Nigeria’s fair weather friend

    SIR: The recent decision by the United States to sell 12 Embraer A-29 Super Tucano fighter jets cannot make up for past US snubbing of Nigeria. During the Nigeria civil war, former US President Lyndon B Johnson refused to sell ammunitions, equipment and fighter jets to the Yakubu Gowon administration to prosecute the war; in fact they refused to provide spare parts for hardware they supplied before civil war broke-out.

    This refusal was as a result of discovery and development of oil production in the region which the US and its allies wanted to exploit.

    History repeated itself again when the US at the height of the Boko-Haram insurgency refused to sell cobra helicopters and other military hardware that would have made substantial difference on the battle field. The hypocritical excuse cited by our Washington friends was laughable: and unfounded allegation of human rights violations. Didn’t the Egyptian military kill and unlawfully detain protesters and journalists during the Arab uprising? Did that stop the delivery of F16 fighter jets to them?

    The Saudis also killed innocent civilians during an air mishap on a wedding compound in Yemen and the US didn’t stop the sale of military hardware to the Saudis despite that the mainstream media in the USA had a 24hours rolling coverage on it.

    The fact is that the US not only refused sell military hardware to Nigeria but also blocked sales from other countries to Nigeria notably the sale of surplus AH-1 cobra attack helicopters which the Israel defence force(IDF) phased out in 2013 and the Israeli-produced unmanned air system. The US can make up whatever flimsy excuse for all I care; the true reason for the refusal was because the US had a preferred candidate in the 2015 elections which wasn’t GEJ; the US knew fully well that the preponderance of consideration on which the electorate will vote was security and therefore decided to leave the then administration in the cold.

    The USA cannot abandon us in the days of adversity and come back with open arms when our existential threat has been eliminated. The main reason why the Trump administration has decided to sell the $600million worth fighter jets to us is to boost job creation at home and in the same vein achieve its campaign promise and not our national security interest. The fact that many folks in Nigeria’s foreign affairs establishment are blowing trumpets to high heavens citing the new decision of US to sale military hardware as a foreign policy success story is not only misleading but self-deceiving; we must see it as a Greek gift. To think otherwise is to live in a fool’s paradise. We must not forget that the Trump administration is also proposing cuts in foreign aids to Nigeria.

    The present administration will be wise to remember history; a quick tweaking and recalibration of our bilateral relation to reflect historical realities is urgently needed. It is not that we should ignore our longstanding relation with the US; of course we admire the US democratic principles; in fact our presidential system of government is a copycat of the US presidential system. We cannot emulate the strongman dictatorial tendencies of the Russian federation, who have been with us through the thick and thin of all existential threat; nor can we copy the communist system of the Chinese who were also with us in our days of adversities. But we must remember and recognize the countries that have stood with us in the days of trouble and make them our national security allies and treat the US as a fair weather friend and partner in progress in the days of peace.

     

    • Olaniran Oladotun,

    olaniranoladotun19@gmail.com