NAIJAFEED

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Arik Air hostess arrested for smuggling cocaine

An air hostess for Arik Air, Ms Chinwendu Uwakaonyenma Ogbonnaya, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on Sunday over an allegation of smuggling four kilogram's of cocaine into the United Kingdom.

The airline promptly promised to support the British police and the magistrates in the matter even as it regrets that the incident is the first involving its crew.

A statement by the British High Commission in Abuja Tuesday said the drug was discovered in an item of luggage conveyed by 30-year-old Ogbonnaya.

"She had arrived into Heathrow Terminal 4 having travelled on an Arik Air flight from Lagos in Nigeria," the statement said, adding that she was charged with attempting to import a class A substance, and appeared before Uxbridge Magistrate court Tuesday.

The British High Commission quoted the Director of UK Border Agency operations at Heathrow, Marc Owen, as saying: "UK Border Agency officers are on constant alert, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to keep class A drugs and other banned substances out of the UK."

According to him, the agency is determined to prevent this terrible trade which can have "such a destructive impact on the lives of so many".

This Day

Another Cocaine Haul Uncovered in Lagos Port

John Obi Mikel frustrated at Chelsea

Super Eagles midfielder John Obi Mikel admits he is frustrated to find himself on the fringes of the Chelsea first-team, but realises that the club's search for collective team success is more important than personal gain.

The 24-year-old midfielder is the latest Blues star to have been overlooked by Portuguese tactician Andre Villas-Boas, following the likes of Frank Lampard and Fernando Torres, who have also been forced to settle for a place on the bench in recent weeks.

"It has been hard, but the most important thing is that the team keeps doing well," confirmed Mikel. "As much as I want to play, the team comes first."

Mikel has lost his holding midfield place in the Chelsea side to summer signing Oriol Romeu following the club's 2-1 loss to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.

The former Barcelona man was Villas-Boas' first signing as Blues boss, and is highly regarded by everyone in west London. Romeu has impressed when called into the first-team as he looks to cement his place in the starting line-up.

"If the team keeps winning, then I shouldn't complain," Mikel continued. "Any time I am called upon, I just want to help the team win."

Vanguard

Video - John Mikel Obi's family speak about kidnapping

Mikel Obi - between club and country

Monday, December 19, 2011

Wole Soyinka advises anti-gay bill legislators to go back to school

As controversy continues to trail the recent passage of the Anti-gay Marriage Bill, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has asked lawmakers in the National Assembly to go back to school in order to clearly understand the difference between public and private affairs.

A bill banning same-sex marriages was recently passed by the Senate. The bill, which makes same-sex marriage punishable by a 14-year jail term, still has to be ratified by the House of Representatives before it is signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Soyinka, who spoke with journalists on Friday in Calabar, Cross River State, shortly after he had delivered a lecture titled Faith, Science and the Morality of Knowledge, to mark the fifth convocation of the Cross River University of Technology, said he did not see any reason why lawmakers should bother themselves with legislation that deals with the private life of adults.

He said, "The problem with legislators is that they fail to distinguish between personal bills and interventions in private lives. That is the problem. I see no reason why they should intervene in the private lives of adults. What people do in their bedrooms is no business of mine. It should not be the business of legislators.

"But at the same time, I think other countries who are pointing fingers should look inwards and see whether they also do not practise the same kind of discrimination. That is where I disagree, but I think it is important we learn to distinguish between what is a public affair and what is a private affair.

"The legislators need to go back to school to learn the difference before they waste their time with what people do in their private bedrooms."

On the activities of the fundamentalist Boko Haram sect, Soyinka, who restricted himself to the aspect that affects higher institutions, wondered why the security situation had degenerated to the extent that it affected one of the country’s earliest universities.

He said, "The aspect of Boko Haram that affects me in this environment is what is happening to institutions. I think it is a disgrace that we allow an institution to be closed down by a bunch of fanatics. I think it is a disgrace to the government; it is a disgrace to the entire university system. It is a disgrace to you and me that we accept to be intimidated out of what is our own proper environment of learning.

"University of Maiduguri as far as I am concerned is like the University of Ibadan, Ife, Lagos and we should be concerned about that. To talk about Boko Haram outside that concept requires a larger picture. Self-respecting people should never allow their institutions of learning to be closed down by a bunch of fanatics."

Codewit

Related stories:

IMF Chief Christine Lagarde praises President Goodluck Jonathan reform plans

IMF chief Christine Lagarde met President Goodluck Jonathan, Monday, on her first visit to Africa as head of the fund, with the trip to focus partly on potential fallout from the European debt crisis.

Lagarde held talks with President Goodluck Jonathan after meeting Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a respected former World Bank managing director, and other Nigerian economic officials earlier in the day.

The International Monetary Fund managing director said she was impressed with economic reform plans being pursued by the government in Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer and the continent’s most populous nation.

“My mission is to come and listen and appreciate and understand exactly what economy programme will be implemented in Nigeria, and the initiative and the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan,” she told journalists after the meeting.

“I was extremely impressed with … the energy and pace at which he wants to transform the economy, create jobs, focus on agriculture …”

Lagarde is expected in the economic capital Lagos on Tuesday for a forum on Africa’s future before moving on to the neighbouring nation of Niger.

She is also expected to visit South Africa in the coming weeks, but details are to be released later, an IMF official said.

Nigeria has long been held back by corruption and mismanagement despite its vast oil wealth.

Most of its population lives on less than $2 per day and electricity blackouts occur daily, while the country’s mainly Muslim north has been hit by scores of deadly attacks attributed to Islamist group Boko Haram.

The government is seeking to enact reforms, including a deeply controversial measure which would lead to an increase in petrol prices, that would allow the country to invest more in its badly neglected infrastructure.

Lagarde’s trip is expected to focus on issues such as addressing youth unemployment in Africa, the world’s fastest-growing continent, as well as potential fallout from the European debt crisis.

Many African nations rely heavily upon European investment and trade.

Vanguard

Nigeria's middle class growing

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

European Union Commission states anti-gay bill violates human rights

The European Union Commission in Nigeria has expressed fear that passage of the same sex bill by the National Assembly would cause serious conflicts with various human rights conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory.

The Head of EU Delegation in Nigeria, Ambassador David MacRae, said at a media luncheon in Abuja yesterday, that the EU was concerned about the consequences of such a bill.

He noted that it may jeopardise some rights such as the freedom of association. “We are of the view that sexual orientation is a private matter and we respect the rights of individual persons, so it is a matter of human rights,” he said.

MacRae, however, conceded that Nigerians and people in some parts of Africa have difficulty accepting the issue of gay rights because of their cultures.

Speaking on the proposed removal of fuel subsidy by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, MacRae expressed the EU's support for the proposal.

He added that it was better for the government to seek to help the masses by providing basic services such as education, healthcare, water and infrastructure than retain the subsidy that benefits a few.

He however noted that it is necessary for the government to adequately inform the populace about the issue so that they would be in a better position to judge whether it was good for the country or not.

“In a general context, in any economy, subsidising petroleum is not something governments do to help the poor. EU countries do not subsidise fuel; rather, we impose heavy taxes," he added.

MacRae also advised that the government should work hard to improve other sectors such as agriculture so as to improve employment.

This Day

Nigeria rejects U.S. criticism over anti-gay law

Britain won't accept Nigeria's anti-gay law

14 years jail term for same sex marriage offenders

Bill banning gay marriage approved in Nigeria