Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to face World Bank panel today

Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is in the race for the World Bank Presidency, will face the panel of interviewers at the bank’s headquarters in Washington DC Monday.

She is in the race with Colombian national and professor at Columbia University, Jose Antonio Ocampo, who will take his turn tomorrow and Dr. Jim Yong Kim - a Korean-American Physician, nominated by the United States - whose interview session has been scheduled for Wednesday.

A presidency source who disclosed this to THISDAY said given the torrent of support that had poured in for  Okonjo-Iweala, she had been encouraged to move on  and had vowed to fight to the end.

The source said: “This is a historic battle because this is the first time in over six decades, American domination is being challenged and the developing world is being considered and supported by the leading light of the western world.”

Okonjo-Iweala has been widely acclaimed to be the most qualified candidate for the multilateral development institution’s top position and has been endorsed by various globally respected newspapers.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Sunday charged Nigerian envoys in various countries across the world to build diplomatic support for Okonjo-Iweala.

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Hon. Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje, said that as representatives of the government and people of Nigeria abroad, the envoys have a duty to intensify the lobby for Okonjo-Iweala to get the highly rated job at the World Bank.

Elendu-Ukeje told journalists that part of the reason Nigeria established diplomatic missions in several countries was to use them to constructively engage them in furtherance of Nigeria's economic and political interests.

According to her, diplomatic postings were meant to select the best hands that could use the diplomatic platform to advance the aspirations of Nigeria on a number of issues including Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).

"One of our aspirations within Nigeria today is to see one of ours heading the World Bank and I believe that since it is something that goes with horse trading, with a lot of countries, we will need to get across to other countries and rally support for her.

“I know that Africa has already endorsed her but of course we only have 19 votes as a continent. I know that we have missions in many countries and I believe Nigerian missions abroad would do their best in this regard,” she said.

The three-way fight between Okonjo-Iweala, Ocampo and Kim, is attracting increasingly passionate comment from candidates' supporters.

It has also shone a light on the way the World Bank chooses its head.

The US, which is the bank's largest shareholder, has always picked the bank's president.

The country, Europe and Japan have 54 per cent of the votes.

Under an informal arrangement, in return, Europe appoints a European as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a sister Bretton Woods institution. It is currently run by Frenchwoman, Christine Lagarde.

Emerging economies have become increasingly unhappy with this system and are pushing for change.

The leaders of Russia, Brazil, China, India and South Africa recently called for a review of that weighted voting system.

The nations, sometimes referred to as the BRICS countries, are working to choose a joint candidate, according to the Brazilian Finance Minister, Guido Mantega.

This Day

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Ultimatum given to British Airways for unfair business practice

There is disparity in the fares paid by travellers who board British Airways (BA) from Nigeria and travellers from other countries, especially in the West Coast.

Nigerians, for instance, pay higher fares for flights to London airports than their counterparts who fly from Accra in Ghana, irrespective of the fact that the distance from Accra to London is longer than from either Abuja or Lagos to London.

This disparity is more pronounced in the business and first-class tickets, however. Only recently, the federal government gave the airline a 30-day ultimatum to adjust its fares on the Nigerian routes or face sanctions. The House of Representatives has also endorsed the position of government.

It is confounding that the BA authorities have refused to renegotiate the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) they signed with Nigeria since 1988. This BASA, which was initiated and signed during the dark days of military rule in Nigeria, is heavily skewed in favour of Britain.

After almost a quarter of a century of the existence of this agreement, it would be in the interest of the parties involved to review it.

It is a standard convention that bilateral agreements should be reviewed after at least 10 years. The minister of aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, voiced her frustration recently when she remarked, "Each time we try to review it, they (British aviation authorities) refuse to sign because they think we are the only ones who need them."

If the British aviation authorities mean well for Nigeria, they should accept without any hesitation the review of the BASA. Apart from paying relatively higher fares, Nigerian air travellers suffer undignified treatment on some foreign airlines. This includes restricting them to a select menu list. It is unacceptable that some foreign aviation authorities should disrespect and treat Nigerians as second-class citizens, a sad reminder of the colonial days.

While this impasse is being addressed, it is time Nigerian air travellers, especially public officeholders, discarded their appetite for first-class and business-class seats.

BA and other foreign airlines must have noticed the profligacy of Nigerian public officials and have been taking advantage of this. The Nigerian government will do well to stop paying the travelling expenses of officials who cannot travel on economy class. It does not show that we as a people are conscious of the challenges before us.

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Car bomb explosion in Kaduna, Nigeria on Easter Sunday

A car-bomb attack has struck a commercial area in the town of Kaduna in northern Nigeria, causing an unconfirmed number of dead and reports of widespread damage.

The Easter Sunday explosion occurred on a main road in Kaduna where motorcycle taxi drivers and passers-by caught much of the explosion. Medical sources indicated several people had died, but the number of was not disclosed.

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from the scene of the blast, said authorities and medical officials were still evaluating the damage.

"Clearly, people have been killed in this attack, but the number is still uncertain," Ndege said.

No one claimed reponsibility for the blast, but authorities suspect radical group Boko Haram, which has carried out similar attacks in the past.

At least one car said to be driven by a suicide bomber was involved in the attack, which according to initial reports had taken place near a church.

"I'm standing just at the scene where this car exploded and contrary to initial reports, it now looks like this car bomb did not actually detonate outside a church which had been earlier reported," Ndege said.

"What it looks like is that these individuals, clearly suicide bombers, were on their way to potentially a location where they intended to explode their devices.

"Something clearly went wrong because if you look at the area where this car bomb went off it's in the middle of the main road which would have had heavy traffic on Easter Sunday and many ordinary people standing on the side of the road selling their wares.

Suicide attack

A rescue official told the AFP news agency that two vehicles packed with explosives had detonated, but this report remains unconfirmed.

A police officer at the scene earlier said a man believed to be a suicide bomber driving a car was stopped at a checkpoint near a church and turned back, but drove to a nearby area close to a hotel and detonated the bomb.

Other cars in the area were damaged, but it was unclear if they were also carrying explosives, he said.

Police confirmed the explosion was a bomb, but did not officially comment further.

"We have a bomb explosion. We are trying to sort things out," Aminu Lawal, a police spokesperson, told AFP.

Residents reported seeing dead and injured people being taken away, with medical sources indicating several deaths.

One resident said the explosion was strong enough to shake his house and cause his ceiling to cave in.

"People have in one sense been bracing themselves for something, because the army, the joint task force who have been dealing with Boko Haram primarily have warned of the threat of attacks," our correspondent said.

Although there had not been any official government reaction to Sunday's blast, "just yesterday [Nigerian] President Goodluck Jonathan in a statement to the Nigerian people asked them to be vigilant and asked them to be defiant in the face of potential terrorist attacks," Ndege said.

Boko Haram set off a series of bombs across Nigeria on Christmas Day last year, including one at a church outside the
capital Abuja that killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 50.

Aljazeera

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U.S. and U.K. warn their citizens not to travel to northern Nigeria

The United States and the United Kingdom yesterday warned their citizens not to travel to certain parts of the north saying there is a high risk of terrorist attack during the Easter holiday.

The UK foreign office and the US embassy in Abuja issued the updated travel warnings yesterday, noting that a radical Islamist sect is behind the planned attacks.

"There is a high threat of terrorist attack during religious festivals," the UK warning read.

The US warning noted the near-daily attacks now hitting Nigeria and that there have been "continued threats, including several that mention US interests".

The warning also noted that personnel from the US embassy no longer travel to northern Nigeria, a rule put in place after a Boko Haram attack on the city of Kano in January killed at least 185 people.

"The US embassy continues to monitor closely the ongoing threats posed by Nigerian extremist and criminal groups, and their stated intentions to carry out attacks against the Nigerian government and western interests and targets in Nigeria," the message read.

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