Project to curb trafficking of Nigerians to Europe Launched

A multilateral project to curb the forced trafficking of Nigerians to Europe and also improve the protection and reintegration of victims of trafficking was launched in Abuja yesterday.

The initiative involving the Federal Government, European Union and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is being hosted by the Ministry of Labour on behalf of the Federal Government.

The project which is to run for 24 months also aims to boost the capacity of Nigerian agencies involved in the prosecution of traffickers and is to cost N220 million being funded by the European Union.

Minister of Labour and Productivity Chief Emeka Wogu who launched the programme at the United Nations building in Abuja praised the collaboration as another evidence of the global endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan's sincere efforts in putting Nigeria on a higher footing.

A press statement signed by Chief Wogu's media aide Mr. Emmanuel Aziken said the minister expressed optimism on the positive impact of the project on Nigerians.

Earlier, the Resident Coordinator of the UN System in Nigeria Mr. Toure noted that trafficking in persons is a crime and an abuse of human rights.

Daily Trust

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President Goodluck Jonathan facebook fans partly responsible for reversing Super Eagles 2 year ban

Nigeria's president has said the hundreds of posts on his Facebook page helped persuade him to reverse his suspension of the national football team from international competition.

"I have listened to your voices," Goodluck Jonathan said in a posting on the social networking site.

He had banned the team for two years after their poor World Cup campaign.

He overturned his decision ahead of a Monday deadline from the football world governing body to expel Nigeria.

Under Fifa rules, government interference with national teams is strictly forbidden.

The president lifted the ban after the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) promised to disband and rebuild the side.

"I read your comments and took them into account in the government's decision to rescind the suspension of Nigeria from international football," Mr Jonathan said on Facebook on Tuesday.

The president, who only set up his Facebook page at the beginning of last week - two days before he banned the Super Eagles - has more than 76,000 Facebook followers.

"I had a meeting with the NFF today and conveyed my disappointment and those of Nigerians on this page and received assurances that there will be positive changes," he said.

"We must now work together to make sure that the NFF and our players do us proud in future events," he said, ending the message with his initials "GEJ".

Nigeria's Super Eagles were knocked out in the group stages of the World Cup taking place in South Africa without winning a game.

BBC

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President Goodluck Jonathan delighted with facebook page

 President Goodluck Jonathan opens facebook account 

President Goodluck Jonathan delighted with facebook page

 

President Goodluck Jonathan has expressed delight at the immense response his new Facebook fan page has received in its first days.

Jonathan made good his promise to set up a page on the social networking site Facebook, after his profile was uploaded last Monday. Within four days, the President has registered 50,000 fans, more than any Nigerian politician on the network.

Jonathan had during a working visit to Rivers State on May 15 this year promised to set up a profile page where he will directly interact with Nigerian youths and sought their opinion on the way forward for the country.

THISDAY's monitoring of the page indicates that while pages of other Nigerian politicians have an average of 80 to 200 comments posted per day, Jonathan's page has an average of 1500 comments per day.

A look at the comments show they are mostly messages of solidarity from Nigerians from all walks of life cutting across the geo-political zones.

Giving an insight into the huge following the President gets from the online community, one of the pioneers of Internet campaigns, Joe Trippi said it is always rare to find a connection between the youth of a country and the head of the political leadership of that country.

"In Goodluck Jonathan however, the Nigerian youth have found a rallying point. "They see an unassuming leader who emerged in almost divine circumstances and who is not the typical type of Nigerian politician and they are flocking to him like the Pied Piper of Hammelin and what I would just advise is for him to ride the crest of the wave," Trippi, the author of the best selling "The Revolution will not be Televised," he told THISDAY from his base in the United States of America.

Also speaking on the issue, a US-based Nigerian and VP Africa at Joe Trippi and Associates, Reno Omokri, said the phenomenal growth of the President's facebook fan page is an indication of his popularity and if he can act on the feedback from Nigerians who comment in their thousands on the page he should be able to sustain this popularity.

According to Omokri, "if for instance Jonathan wants to know what the public feels about any issue in particular, all he has to do is make that issue the subject of his facebook update and within minutes he would have gotten the honest opinions of hundreds of Nigerians from all shades of life."

Asked for his reaction on the issue, the Special Assistant to the President of Strategy, Mr. Oronto Douglas said the President is delighted with the new avenue of interaction with Nigerians, especially the youths.

"I must say that Mr. President is pleasantly surprised at the response from the people of Nigeria to his page particularly as he manages and monitors it personally.

"The feedback we glean from the almost 2,000 comments posted on the page by Nigerians daily has started helping and will continue helping Mr. President feel the pulse of the public as he takes decisions that affect Nigerians everyday."

This Day

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Man murders wife with a matchet and Teen throws baby in pit

THE Anambra State Police Command has arrested a 60-year–old Nwankwo Nnabuobu, who allegedly murdered his wife over allegation of infidelity.

Also in the police net is a 17-year-old girl who threw her five month–old baby girl into a pit because, according to her, she could no longer afford to feed her. Both were paraded along with several other suspects involved in various criminal offences in the state in the last one month.

Nnabuobu, who claimed to be a farmer and a palm wine taper, told reporters at the police headquarters in Awka that he could no longer bear the alleged illicit affair between his wife, Adanma, and her lover, adding that when he confronted her on the issue, she told him to go and die and it was that statement that angered her into cutting her with a matchet.

He said that the climax was when his wife eloped with the man with the N130,000 he saved for feeding their six children and used the money to buy a motorcycle, a generating set popularly called “I pass my neighbour” and a stove.

He said he reported the matter to the police at his home town, Achalla in Awka North Local Government Area, adding that even when the police arrested the man, his wife was sending food to him in detention from her matrimonial home.

For the 17-year-old Ozioma Ezeude, who threw her baby into a pit, her reason was that her mother abandoned her with the baby and she had to throw her away to regain her freedom because the baby was disturbing her and she could also not afford to take her to hospital whenever she fell sick.

She added that her cousin who impregnated her had disappeared from the village and there was nobody to run to for assistance, as her mother relocated from their village in Ezinifite in Nnewi South Local Government Area for Delta State.

Vanguard

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President Goodluck Jonathan reverses Super Eagles suspension

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday rescinded an earlier decision withdrawing Nigeria from all international football competitions, apparently caving in to threats of sanctions from world football governing body FIFA.

The lift of the withdrawal, announced an hour before the FIFA deadline of 5pm yesterday was to elapse, was taken at a closed-door meeting between the president and the leadership of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) at the State House in Abuja.

In announcing the earlier ban on Wednesday, Jonathan said it was to enable the country reorganise its football administration and audit the finances of the World Cup project following the poor performance of the Super Eagles at the ongoing World Cup in South Africa.

FIFA, however, told Nigeria to reverse the decision or risk suspension from the football community, an action that would have led to withdrawal of financial help, suspension of Nigerian referees from officiating in international matches and other punitive measures.

A statement by presidential spokesman Ima Niboro yesterday said the government rescinded the withdrawal from international football based on assurances given by the NFF that it would evolve an enduring football development programme for the country.

"NFF at a meeting with President Jonathan (yesterday) tendered unreserved apology to the president and the Nigerian people on the dismal performance of the country's football team, the Super Eagles, at the World Cup appearance," Niboro said.

"They also informed the president of their decision to disband the team and address the numerous shortcomings evident in the management of football in Nigeria.

"They assured the president of their commitment to evolving an enduring football development programme and grow a new senior national team that will bring glory rather than consistent embarrassment to Nigeria on the world stage.

"They informed the president that as a first step, they have proceeded to put their own house in order by removing the former leadership of the NFF and replacing it with an interim leadership.

"Based on these assurances and the appeals of well-meaning Nigerians, including former leaders, President Jonathan has decided to review the earlier two-year ban on the country from all international football competitions."

The review of the earlier decision would enable other categories of Nigerian players to participate in global football competitions, while a new senior national team was being developed, the statement said.

It said the president had directed the sports minister to call a meeting of all relevant stakeholders to resuscitate football academicals and other talent spotting outlets to produce a new crop of footballers and other sportsmen for the country, so "that this kind of rather embarrassing outcome we had from South Africa will not repeat itself."

Following the initial presidential order, FIFA threatened to sanction Nigeria over government interference in football administration, saying its rules prohibit political interference in football administration.

"We consider that this governmental decision would only completely isolate Nigerian football and could thus stall reforms and further development and improvement of Nigerian football for a long time," FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke said.

The NFF on Sunday fired its president Sani Lulu Abdullahi and two other executives over the Super Eagles poor outing in South Africa, finishing bottom of Group B and crashing out in the first round.

Daily Trust

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