The Nation Newspaper

Tag: US

  • Nigerian carriers’ plans to fly into US may spark competition 

    Plans by two Nigerian carriers Air Peace and MedView Airlines to fly into the United States in this summer could intensify competition on the route dominated by American giant Delta Airlines.

    The carriers are convinced that they could leverage on the huge Nigerian population residing and doing business in major American cities, including Houston,Texas; Washington; New York; New Jersey and Baltimore to drive traffic for their  proposed flights.

    Although bilateral approvals have been secured from the Federal Government  and the United States, the airlines are putting finishing touches to other regulatory approvals needed for the flight.

    Investigations revealed that the carriers are encouraged to begin US flights as part of fulfilling the reciprocity clause in the Open Skies Agreement Nigeria signed with the US over a decade ago.

    Though, Bellview Airlines, Air Nigeria and Arik Air were granted approval to fly into the US since 2009, only Arik Air accomplished the feat before it discontinued operations in 2016.

    Bellview and Air Nigeria did not make it to the US before they shut down a few years ago.

    Investigations revealed that issues bordering on economic recession and the inability to repatriate ticket sales out of Nigeria forced an American Carrier: United Airlines, to pull out of  Nigeria in 2016. These have cleared the way for Delta Airlines as the lone carrier on the route.

    MedView Airlines Chief Executive Officer, Muneer Bankole, said the airline is set to take the US market by the storm.

    He said the airline has evolved strategies to spike competition on the route by engaging the big players in the game.

    Bankole said:”By summer of 2018, we are going to hit the US skies in our expansion plan into the US.

    “We are putting strategies in place. We have acquired the right aircraft to facilitate the operations. We are working on our marketing to ensure that we hit the ground running.

    “With other intercontinental routes we have started operations into, we are sure flights into the US will offer Nigerian passengers the right deal.”

    He continued: “We relieve ourselves of making noise ahead of plan, we want to give you surprises that is what makes the difference between Med-View and other airlines.”

    ”So, we encourage our marketers to do more, we are lucky that we are stable, so we will continue to run it  when the summer starts. So, what I’m telling you is that come July, it is going to hit the sky.

    Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Chris Iwarah said the airline had already trained some pilots ahead of its international operations.

    Iwarah said Air Peace had been designated by the Federal Government to fly into Atlanta, adding that the airline would be acquiring more aircraft, including some B777s to beef up its rapidly growing fleet.

    Iwarah noted that Air Peace would deploy its B777 aircraft to service its long-haul routes, stressing that no Nigerian airline had ever used a B777 aircraft.

  • Nigerian carriers’ plan to fly into US may ignite competition

    Plans by two carriers, Air Peace and MedView Airlines, to begin flights into the United States next summer could intensify competition on the route hitherto dominated by American carrier – Delta Airlines.

    The carriers are convinced that they could leverage the huge population of Nigerians residing and doing business in major American cities including Houston, in Texas, Washington, New York, New Jersey and Baltimore to drive traffic for the  proposed flights.

    The Nation exclusively gathered that though, the airlines have secured bilateral approvals from the Nigerian Government and the US, the airlines are putting finishing touches to other regulatory approvals needed for the flight to commence.

    Investigations revealed that the carriers were encouraged to begin US flights as part of the fulfillment of reciprocity clause in the Open Skies Agreement Nigeria signed with the US over a decade ago.

    Though Bellview Airlines, Air Nigeria and Arik Air were granted approval to fly into the US since 2009, only Arik Air accomplished the feat before it discontinued operations in 2016.

  • US regulator fines JPMorgan $2.8m over asset breach

    JPMorgan Chase & Co, has been fined $2.8 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for violating United States rules on securities trading by customer.

    According to settlement papers, JPMorgan failed to properly segregate customer securities from its own assets because of systematic coding and design flaws and a lack of supervision.

    The bank will settle charges that a broker-dealer unit lacked sufficient controls to safeguard customer securities from several countries over more than eight years, a U.S. regulator said on yesterday.

    The FINRA said the violations occurred from March 2008 to June 2016, and stemmed in part from defective electronic systems that JPMorgan inherited from Bear Stearns Cos, the investment bank it bought in May 2008 in a government-arranged fire sale.

    JPMorgan did not admit or deny wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. Brian Marchiony, a spokesman for the New York-based bank, in an email report to Reuters said there were no findings that any client accounts were harmed.

    FINRA cited as examples how the improper safeguarding of Italian securities for nearly two years and Nigerian securities for four years created respective deficits of $146 million and $120 million. The fine reflected JPMorgan’s “extraordinary” cooperation in addressing the violations, and its practice of setting aside excess deposits to protect customers from losses, FINRA said.

  • Nigeria demands restructuring and expansion of UN Security Council

    Nigeria demands restructuring and expansion of UN Security Council

    Nigeria has demanded an immediate restructuring and expansion of the UN Security Council to correct the injustices meted out against Africa in the composition of the prestigious 15-member body.

    Nigeria’s position was delivered by Amb. Babatunde Nurudeen, Permanent Representative of Nigeria to ECOWAS at the UN General Assembly Debate on ‘Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council’.

    The Security Council is UN’s most powerful principal organ charged with the maintenance of international peace and security, accepting new members to the UN and approving any changes to the UN Charter.

    Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, the authorisation of military action and it is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.

    Nurudeen regretted that 72 years after its formation, Africa continued to be marginalised in the representation on the prestigious body in spite of its ability and capacity.

    He stressed that a reformed Council would entail a restructuring and expansion of its membership to take account of, inter-alia, the increased membership of UN and the need to reflect the interests of all the constituent regions.

    The Nigerian envoy said: “Nigeria and other emerging nations continue to demonstrate the capacity to add value to the work, of all the organs of the United Nations, including the Security Council.

    “For that reason, we must now commit ourselves to accelerating the long-overdue reforms of the Security Council. This will no doubt make the Council more equitable, more inclusive and more effective”.

    Russia, UK, France, China, and U.S. serve as the body’s only five permanent members that can veto any substantive Security Council resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or candidates for Secretary-General.

    Nurudeen stressed: “Nigeria believes that a reformed Security Council with expanded permanent membership would benefit from the unique experiences and capacities that regional representatives could bring to bear on its work.

    “Nigeria has always expressed its support for the advancement of the intergovernmental negotiations process in an open, inclusive and transparent manner”.

    The Nigerian envoy re-affirmed Nigeria’s very strong adherence to the Common African Union Position on the entire subject of Security Council reform.

    “That is important in order to correct the historical injustice done to the continent and its continued marginalisation over so many years.

    “For that reason, we wish to underscore the overriding need to ensure that the interests of Africa continue to be advanced and safeguarded.

    “African States have offered a coherent, practical and persuasive blueprint for the Council’s reform.

    “We have come up with a common position, which asserts the right of our continent that has for so long been marginalised, and we recognise the legitimate aspirations of other regions to be fully represented in the Council.

    According to him, the clear objective of the reform process is based on the sovereign equality of all Member States and on the need to adhere to the principles of democratisation and inclusiveness in the UN.

    “It is undoubtedly a worthwhile process. Therefore, we must muster the desired will that can lead to the achievement of a reformed Security Council sooner rather than indefinitely,” Nurudeen said.

    NAN

  • Consul-General pledges to address complaints of Nigerians in U.S

    The Acting Consul-General of Nigeria to New York, Tanko Suleiman, has said that he would liaise with the Nigerian community in the US to address challenges about accessing consular activities.

    Suleiman made the pledge at a meeting with members of the Organisation for the Advancement of Nigerians (OAN) on concerns and expectations of Nigerians from the Consulate.

    The focus of the meeting was how to make the Consulate more friendly to those seeking consular services and how it could better engage with the Nigerian Community.

    The Nigerian community in the U.S. was led by the Chairman of the Board of OAN, Mr Yinka Dansalami, and a Member of the Board, Alhaji Raheem Banire.

    Suleiman said the consulate would transform its image through the improvement of services to Nigerians within its geographical jurisdiction.

    He pledged to change the perception that one needed to know someone at the Consulate in order to obtain prompt services.

    He explained that he had an open-door policy and welcomed all pro-active suggestions from the Nigerian community.

    Suleiman stressed that he believed the task of building a new and better Nigeria was a collective effort.

    According to him, he intends to hold Town Halls and meet with Nigerians wherever they are, including in Churches and Mosques.

    The meeting was connected with a recent incident at the Consulate over alleged delays to obtain Passport, Visa and all travel documents by many Nigerians.

    The Consulate, however, refuted the allegation, describing it as a misrepresentation of the facts.

    Rather, it blamed the incident on alleged unruly behaviours by some of the applicants.

    After the meeting, Dansalami, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the meeting was fruitful and commended the Acting Consul-General for his ‘understanding’.

    “We’ll like to state that the discussion was candid and direct.

    “The Acting Consul-General was very receptive and very understanding of the frustration expressed by Nigerians.

    “He informed the representatives of the Nigerian community of some of the programmes and initiatives he wanted to implement at the Consulate,” Dansalami said. (NAN)

  • Buhari to Atiku: Leave me out of your trouble with US

    Buhari to Atiku: Leave me out of your trouble with US

    •Declares: ‘I have never been barred from entering America’
    •Ex-VP on why he can’t enter USA
    •Vows to beat President in 2019

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday told  ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar to go and deal with whatever issues he has with the United States of America (USA) instead of looking  for a straw to clutch at.

    He dismissed as a fiction, claim by Atiku that he ( Buhari ) was barred from entering the USA for 15 years on account of his religious views.

    Atiku had admitted in an interview with  The Boss newspaper published yesterday that  he has been unable to visit  the United States of America (USA) in the last few years owing to what he  termed  administrative denials.

    He said it was wrong therefore to suggest that he was avoiding a trip to America or afraid of an arrest warrant against him in the US.

    He then cited President Buhari, who according to him, was also   denied entry into the US for 15 years on account of strong reservations by the White House about his religious views.

    The President did not take kindly to the statement.

    His Special Adviser of Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina branded the Atiku allegation as “a fictive concoction being passed off as truth.”

    He said: “”This fictive concoction being passed off as truth is mind boggling, coming from a former Number Two man of Nigeria, who should know the truth.

    “At no time was President Buhari, as a private person, ever forbidden from entering any country in the world.

    “Rather, the rest of the world has always held Muhammadu Buhari as a man of sterling qualities, strong on integrity, transparency and accountability. The same testimony is still borne of the Nigerian President by many world leaders today.

    “It is curious that former VP Abubakar had been asked why he had not visited America for over a decade, something that had been a stubborn fact dogging his footsteps.

    “Instead of answering directly, he begged the question, saying Buhari also had been disallowed from entering the same country for 15 years, before becoming President.

    “We hereby make it resoundingly clear that what the former Vice President said only exists in the realm of his imagination. If he has issues to settle with American authorities, he should do so, rather than clutch at a straw.”

    Atiku, explaining his own situation said: “I applied but wasn’t issued a visa. However, they did not decline me categorically either.

    “They’ve only said my application is going through administrative process. It is the sole prerogative of America to determine who they want in their country or not. I’m not running away from America.”

    Speculations about Atiku’s run in with the U.S. authorities stemmed from a broadband contract awarded to iGate, an America company which Williams Jefferson, then U.S. federal lawmaker from Louisiana, had interest in.

    Jefferson was jailed in the US for  his involvement in the deal in which cash was said to have changed hands.

    The former Congressman revealed in a secretly recorded conversation with the FBI that Atiku stood to benefit up to $500,000 for helping influence the broadband deal in Nigeria at the time.

    Jefferson subsequently lost his seat in the Congress but Atiku was never prosecuted in Nigeria and there is no record that he was indicted in the U.S over the case.

    Responding to the perception he is a corrupt politician, Atiku said: “I have challenged anyone, anywhere, who has any evidence of corruption against me to come forward.

    “I’m sure they would have combed everywhere trying to find anything incriminating against me but they have not found it.”

    On his presidential ambition in 2019, Atiku who recently resigned from the All Progressives Congress (APC) boasted that he would easily defeat President Muhammadu Buhari should he contest against him in 2019.

    “I will beat him this time. He has wasted a lot of his massive goodwill.

    “A lot of people are disgruntled but keeping quiet and lying low. Our youths are suffering terribly and now they are being sold into slavery.”

     

     

  • US, Nigeria sign MOU on commercial investment

    The United States of America and the Nigerian government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Commercial Investment Dialogue (CID) to strengthen bilateral investments and promote private sector involvement in the bilateral commercial relationship.

    The deputy Assistant Secretary, United State Department of Commerce, Seward Jones said the two countries would identify barriers to investments and trade as well as opportunities in mutual investment and trade.  This was disclosed during a meeting conveyed by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, NIPC in Abuja.

    Jones said the two countries would prioritise investments in key sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure and digital economy.

    He said, “This is to lay the ground work for a sustained growth in bilateral commercial relationship between the United States and Nigeria. The United States is keen on finding out Nigeria’s private sector perspective on doing business with the United States, especially in the areas of trade and investment.

    The Executive Secretary of the NIPC, Ms. Yewade Sadiku, said the whole essence of the CID is to promote and sustain economic engagement between the two countries and identify sectors that will bring bilateral investments.

  • US, UK monitors validate INEC’s final result

    US, UK monitors validate INEC’s final result

    •Anambra election in percentages 

    The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) yesterday validated the final result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Anambra State governorship election.

    Along with the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI), the international organisations partnered with the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) on a project called Watching the Vote (WTV).

    They used a parallel vote tabulation (PVT) methodology to compare the results.

    In a verification statement issued after incumbent Governor Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) was declared winner, the observers said the win percentage estimate for the parties tallied with INEC’s results.

    For the APGA, the observers estimated 52.1-57.7 per cent, while INEC declared 55.4 per cent.

    The other ranges are: All Progressives Congress (APC), 20.4-24.8 per cent (INEC, 23.4), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), 15.8-19.4 per cent (INEC, 16.6) and the United Peoples Party (UPP), 1.0-2.2 per cent (INEC, 1.9).

    The observers said: “The INEC official result is consistent with the YIAGA WTV estimated range.

    “Had the official results been changed at the ward, local government area or state collation centres, the official result would not have fallen within the YIAGA WTV estimated ranges.

    “Because the official results fall within the estimated ranges, governorship contestants, parties, and voters should have confidence that INEC’s official results for the Anambra 2017 gubernatorial election reflects the ballots cast at polling units.”

    On their observations, YIAGA said the management of logistics was poor in rural areas, with INEC officials arriving by 7.30am at only 28 per cent of the polling units on average.

    According to the group, it was possible to see how a voter’s ballot paper was marked in 14 per cent of the units; however, 92 per cent of the units were properly set up.

    YIAGA said 13 per cent of polling units completed accreditation and voting by 2pm, while 82 per cent of them completed the process by 3.pm.

    YIAGA’s findings are based on reports from 243 polling units from a representative statistical sample of 250.

    INEC officials, YIAGA said, arrived at 28 per cent of polling units by 7.30am on Saturday.

    Only 75 per cent of the polling units were open as at 10am, while almost 98 per cent of polling units had card readers, YIAGA said.

    The group said APC agents were at 89 per cent of polling units; those of APGA were at 96 per cent of the units; while those of PDP were at 87 per cent of the units.

    YIAGA said the card reader functioned in 77 per cent of the units, adding that one in four persons was allowed to vote even without the authentication of fingerprints.

    The group said there were attempts to intimidate, harass and influence the polling officials at four per cent of the units.

    YIAGA said its data centre received 36 critical incident reports, 14 of which were card reader malfunctions and six of which were cases of vote buying or bribery.

    On vote buying, YIAGA said: “The secrecy of the ballot remains a cardinal feature of democratic elections. Evidence abound that the secrecy of the ballot in this election was undermined in some polling units.

    “This created an opportunity for vote buying. There were also cases of bribery of election officials. These acts occurred in the presence of security officials who made no arrests or attempts to abate the illegality.”

    The group said the delay in the collation and announcement of results at the collation centre raised unnecessary suspicion among key stakeholders.

    It urged losers to accept the results and to show political maturity and maintain peace.

    It urged INEC to address the challenges in distribution of materials and training of ad-hoc staff, among others.

  • US trains 460 students, teachers on robotics

    The United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria, in collaboration with RoboRave International, a US-based robotics education academy, has begun a week-long robotics workshop for 460 elementary, secondary and university students, STEM teachers, robotics enthusiasts, and scientists.

    Holding at the American corner at the Co-Creation Hub (CCHUB), Yaba, Lagos, it will end at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library Complex, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

    The workshop seeks to boost technology education by engaging the participating students in hands-on robotics activities to stimulate their interest in mathematics and science as well as careers in the STEM fields.

    One hundred robots will be donated to participating schools in Lagos and Ogun states, many of them with little or no experience in robotics. This is expected to provide the students and their teachers with an opportunity to put their skills to use on the completion of the training.

    The US Consul-General, F. John Bray, explained that the US Mission was supporting the capacity building workshop in hopes that participants will be inspired to work collaboratively with the aid of technology to create innovative solutions to shared global challenges.

    “In a world that is becoming increasingly technology-driven, it is more important than ever before for our youth to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to become innovators, educators, researchers and leaders, who can solve the most pressing challenges facing our world, both today and tomorrow.

    “We are honoured to support this initiative, which promotes science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects collectively known as STEM in Nigeria,” Consul-General Bray said.

    Programme partner and Director RoboRAVE Nigeria, Mr. Kingsley Imade, explained that the training sessions would be facilitated by an international faculty, including RoboRAVE International Director of Global Programmes Russ Fisher-Ives and RoboRAVE North American Director, Brian Montoya.

    According to him, the sessions, focusing on robotics designs and programming, will provide a platform for teachers to learn how to implement the STEM approach in the educational process via practical scientific activities throughout the training days.

    “An education to develop robotics skills places students on track to develop such STEM enabling competencies like critical and computational thinking, collaboration and creativity that have life-long advantages,” Director, RoboRAVE Nigeria, Kingsley Imade, said.

     

  • Just the two of us

    SEARCHING for greener pastures? Yes, everyone dreams of something good and wonderful. We all have standards and it’s great if we find what we want or something close to the original.

    Unfortunately, Rebecca has been criss-crossing the emotional zone without getting to the proverbial promised land in her search. “Most times, I wonder what is always happening to me. I have discovered that I do not love the people who fall in love with. On the other hand, I find that the people that I love or really admire are already hooked up. They have people that they treasure and they don’t usually care about my feelings towards them.”

    Well, sometimes we do not find what we really want. When you get to this realisation, then you just have to move and not stick to someone that you know that you can never have. All you need to do is to focus on the good sides of the person who cares about you and make the love idea reciprocal. If you do not move on and make the best of your emotional situation, then you are going to be caught in an emotional cobweb that may lead to depression.

    Fear, love, jealousy, pride, vanity and resentment. These are some of the emotions that we are faced with on a daily basis, whether we like it or not. The mind can be very adventurous when it comes to love matters. While some can stick to a particular relationship for so long and do things that would make it look new as the years roll by, there are others who are very adventurous.

    Like the mouse pad, love is just a click away. The person in question is always experiencing some excitements, a burst of emotions at any time. As soon as the present emotion fades away you can be sure that something fresh and new will take its place soon.

    For this group, no single emotional response can be permanent. This relates to the other kind of emotions too. For instance, when any emotion, such as anger, is experienced, the person is likely to stay angry only for some time; eventually the anger will fade away and a fresh emotion will arise.

    Interestingly, an abundance of good feelings, and emotional satisfaction, become the criterion for a successful life. However, emotions present problems for the mind (which is just the personality). When emotions become intense, they neutralise intellectual concerns. In fact, common negatively-valued emotions such as self-pity, fear, anxiety, as well as moods like depression, actually tend to inhibit rationality – in particular, intense anxiety seems to produce a mental fog in one’s mind, making it impossible to study.

    Experts also advise that it is important to understand the nature of emotions if we really want to forge ahead and make our relationship to work. This is because it has profound implications for psycho-therapy.

    Interestingly, a lot of people think that their feelings are the same as emotions. This is not true because there are fundamental differences between feelings and emotions. There are a multitude of emotions, but only three feeling. These include the pleasant one, the unpleasant one, and the neutral one. The importance of feelings is that they help give rise to emotions, that is, the bases of all emotions are the three feelings. Sometimes you can keep emotional hope alive in the face of certain odds. “Mid way into the relationship, things just went upside down and I thought it was all over. However, I made up my mind to play along because I loved her so much. She continued to date the other guy who turned out to be a Casanova. When she realised that I was the one that genuinely loved her, she ran back to me.”

    So how did he survive during the hurting period? you wonder. “Well, I must confess that it was really tough but I was determined to make it in spite of the odds. I filled my heart with memories of some of the happy moments we shared together just before the emotional crisis. His ever smiling face, sexy eyeballs and loving smile encouraged me to bank on luck.”

    When the emotional matter is more than a fling, then you would discover that a lot of people who are busy, successful, inspiring sometimes have issues with their partners in their lives.

    The big question, therefore, would be that can being successful reduce the amount of emotional current you give? Are you likely to be selfish and self-centred?

    Your environment, level of exposure and age also determine how you feel. A medical doctor explains the state of mind of the young girls going into puberty as anxious and adventurous. “At this age, it is normal to feel curious, anxious and ashamed, especially if you are the only girl in the house. I also have a case of someone who was happy because she was going to wear a bra. Others are ashamed and they wear double vest to cover the bump. Some of the changes include menstruation, pubic hair, pimples, growing by the hips, nipples and other internal organs.”

    She adds: “Mood swings also occur and the sex hormones are responsible for sexually maturity.  Here the young ones need information to guide them from irresponsible people who would want to take advantage of them.”