Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala appointed by UN to address child malnutrion

Ahead of knowing whether she will head the World Bank, the coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was yesterday appointed by the UN Secretary-General, along with 26 other global leaders, to head a worldwide effort to address child malnutrition.

According to an announcement from the United Nation's Department of Public Information yesterday, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon appointed 27 individuals who included some heads of state and other reputable individuals to focus on improving nutrition as key to progress in health and development.

The group is to represent the many countries, organizations and sectors working to improve nutrition, and serve as strategic guides for the global movement, Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN), which is committed to advancing the strength and security of nations by improving maternal and child nutrition. SUN is a global push for action and investment to improve maternal and child nutrition.

"Never before have so many leaders, from so many countries and fields, agreed to work together to improve nutrition," said Secretary-General Ki-moon, as he explained that "the SUN movement gives all of us, including the UN, an opportunity to support countries in their efforts to end hunger and malnutrition."

Okonjo-Iweala will be joining the lead group which includes heads of state from countries that have prioritized efforts to scale up nutrition, as well as representatives of the donor, civil society, business and UN system organizations that are aligning resources to help SUN countries drive progress.

The group's role is to ensure that the countries at the heart of the movement are supported as they work to create tangible and sustainable improvements in nutrition. In addition to providing strategic oversight, the group will help to mobilize support and strengthen both coordination and accountability within the movement.

Twenty-seven countries have so far signed up to the SUN movement and, according to the UN, more countries are set to join in the coming months.

SUN helps governments, civil society, businesses, development agencies, international organizations and foundations to synergize their support to communities as they reduce malnutrition - and demonstrate their results.

"This is a historic moment for nutrition," said David Nabarro, Coordinator of the SUN Movement."Today a group of world leaders pledges to work together to improve the nutrition of the world's poorest and most vulnerable children. Their two-year commitment to SUN illustrates the urgency and priority that these leaders place on alleviating malnutrition, as well as a recognition of the incredible impact that improved nutrition could have on the future of both individuals and nations."

Others appointed alongside Okonjo-Iweala to head the SUN project include Armando Emílio Guebuza, President of Mozambique, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of Tanzania, Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh; Nahas Angula, Prime Minister of Namibia; Babu Ram Bhattarai, Prime Minister of Nepal; Nina Sardjunani, Deputy Minister of Development Planning of Indonesia; Nadine Heredia, First Lady of Per and Ibrahim Mayaki, CEO of NEPAD Civil Society Organizations.

Daily Trust

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Violence spreads in Nigeria after deadly Easter Sunday car bomb explosion

Suspected members of Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram have killed four people and a large undetonated bomb was found in Kano on Monday, authorities said, a day after at least 36 people were killed in a car bomb near a church in northern Kaduna.

Police said they found a car filled with explosives near a military checkpoint in Kano, Nigeria's second largest city and the scene of Boko Haram's most deadly strike - a coordinated attack in January that killed 178 people.

On Easter Sunday a man attempted to force a car packed with explosives into a church compound during a service but after being stopped by security he turned back and the bomb exploded by a large group of motorbike taxi riders, the police and witnesses said.

Hospital staff and a Red Cross official confirmed the death toll and said 13 people were critically wounded.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the apparent targeting of a Christian place of worship will stir memories of a string of deadly assaults by Boko Haram on Christmas Day last year, including one at a church that killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 50.

The military in Maiduguri, capital of remote Borno state and the home base of Boko Haram, said the sect attacked several targets, including a bank and a police station on Monday.

"The former chairman of Dikwa, a police sergeant and a civilian were killed by BH... three BH were killed by (military) and many others escaped with bullet wounds," said Sagir Musa, military spokesman in Maiduguri.

Musa said the military found shotguns, AK47s, a bullet proof jacket and a van being used by Boko Haram members.

In neighboring Yobe state, suspected members of Boko Haram on Sunday stormed the home of local policeman Hassan Isa and shot dead his 6-year old daughter, injuring two of Isa's other children, a police spokesman there said.

Boko Haram, which wants sharia, Islamic law, more widely applied across Africa's most populous nation, has killed hundreds this year in gun and bomb attacks, the majority of which take place in its home base of Borno and neighboring states.

Reuters

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Nigeria has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world

The global average corporate tax shows that Nigeria still has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) Engineer Mustafa Bello has said.

The Executive Secretary made the remarks in Abuja while presenting a paper on "Sector-specific incentives policy for Nigeria: Manufacturing investments incentives," at the launching of investments profiles on automotive components by the National Automotive Council (NAC).

He said that the global average corporate tax rate is about 25.51 per cent while Nigeria's average rate is about 30 per cent.

He explained that global average indirect tax rate has moved very little in the past six years, remaining within 15.2 per cent to 15.85 per cent range, adding that the Asia Pacific operates the lowest Value Added Tax system of between 3 to 5 per cent.

The former Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Inland Revenue Service Ifueko Omoigui Okauru has said that despite the reforms in the country's tax system, it's not yet "uhuru" as there is still much to be done.

"It takes time to achieve success. It is like building a foundation, we are still very far," she said.

The NIPC Executive Secretary said that the investment policy environment in Nigeria is characterized by multiplicity of taxes by different ties of government, unpredictability, high operational and entry cost, bureaucratic bottleneck among others.

He said that in ease of doing business, Nigeria was ranked 16 out of 183 countries in Africa in 2010, 15 in 2011 and also 15 in 2012. In the world, Nigeria was ranked 134 in 2010,133 in 2011 and 133 in 2012.

In global competitiveness index, Nigeria was ranked 127 out of 142 countries in 2011/2012, 127 out of 139 in 2010/2011, 99 out of 133 in 2009/2010 and 94 out of 134 in 2008/2009.

Engineer Bello said the objectives of the sector-specific incentives policy is to among other things institute a stable and conducive investment climate, simplify procedures and bring down transaction cost while instituting predictable policy environment by eliminating distortions.

Daily Trust

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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.

Leadership

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