NAIJAFEED

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Nigerian government opposes US plan to add Boko Haram to terror watch list

Nigeria has voiced its opposition at the US government's plans to include Boko Haram on its terrorist watch list. Nigeria's ambassador to Washington Ade Adefuye and the country's National Security advisor, General Abdrew Azazi, formally requested that the United States not include Islamist militant group Boko Haram in its watch list of foreign terrorist groups posing a threat to the US or its global interests.

They made their request at the end of a series of meetings with senior White House officials. Nigeria fears that including Boko Haram in the US watch list could make it more difficult for Nigerian citizens to travel to the US and further affect bilateral trade between the two countries.

Nigerian authorities said they would manage to counter the threat posed by Boko Haram, as they did in the past with other terrorist or rebel groups operating in the country. Over the past few days, President Barack Obama has come under increased pressure from the US Congress to include Boko Haram in the terrorist watch list.

A group of US Senators and House Representatives also wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, criticising the Obama administration for acting "too slowly" on this issue and claiming that "ten years after 9/11, we cannot allow bureaucratic stovepipes and interagency turf battles to prevent us from protecting the US homeland and US global interests".

The letter mentioned some recent attacks carried out by Boko Haram against Christian churches in Nigeria and against the UN headquarters in the capital Abuja (August 2011) in which 25 people were killed. Early this morning, a group of Boko Haram militants attacked a police station in the town of Sokoto, in north-western Nigeria, killing a police officer and a civilian. Italian engineer Franco Lamolinara was killed in a failed rescue attempt in Sokoto on March 8, after being held hostage by Boko Haram militants for 10 months.

AGI

Boko Haram attack church at Kano University - 20 confirmed dead

National assembly opposes same sex bill

The National Assembly is strongly opposed to the passage of a bill that will allow same sex marriage despite threats by some Western nations, Chairman of the House Committee on Human Rights Beni Lar (PDP, Plateau), has said.

Speaking when she received a delegation from Holland at the National Assembly yesterday led by the Dutch Ambassador for Human Rights, Veer Lionel, Lar said condemnation of the anti-gay bill by some western countries in the name of human rights was uncalled for.

He said Nigerian should not be sanctioned because of the anti gay bill by cutting or stopping aids.

Responding, Mr. Lionel said they were in Nigeria to dialogue with the committee on human rights in Africa and how to promote it.

Daily Trust

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

Nigeria deports 45 Chinese

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Kano State Command yesterday arrested 45 Chinese nationals for engaging in economic scavenging in the popular textile market of Kantin Kwari.

In addition to the mass arrest, the NIS also said it was set to repatriate the arrested Chinese nationals to their country of origin.

The state Comptroller of Immigration, Dr. Emmanuel Brasca Udo Ifeadi, said the move was a national issue directed by the Controller General of the Immigration service and stated that it was for Kano, Lagos and Ibadan where Chinese nationals were engaged in textile trading.

Addressing journalists in his office, the controller said: “Out of the arrested Chinese nationals, 11 of them are women and it’s an exercise to make the economy of the country getting healthier, but only with quality foreign expatriate that can be allow but those that economic scavengers will be deport back to their country.”

Ifeadi said: “Chinese nationals are selling textile in market, but that of Kano is worrisome, so the comptroller General feels that enough is enough and its going to be a continuous exercise until when they economic revive.”

He said those arrested will be send back to their country, adding that:“Its continuous exercise, all those foreign nationals trading in the market who are causing economic havoc to our country will be arrested and deport back to their country.

“For Chinese to come to our country and be selling textiles in our market we will not allow it and we will continue checking them, arresting them and deport them back to their country.”

He said: “Chinese select basic areas in the country, but basically the exercise three major areas of Kano, Lagos and Ibadan their activities is worst, so we will fish them out and repatriate them.”

Emmanuel added that the Chinese national invaded the Kano market, but the government decided to stop them from trading in the market and deport them back to their countries.

This Day

Nigeria to generate 30 percent of electricity with coal in 2015

The Federal Government said it would utilise coal resource across the country to generate 30 percent of electricity by 2015.

Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Musa Muhammad Sada, made this known in Lokoja when he visited Governor Idris Wada, said a statement yesterday by the ministry's spokesman, Marshal Gundu.

He said everything was being done in the sector to achieve that through collaboration with investors and stakeholders.

Sada was on a working visit to the coal mine of Eta-Zuma Group West Africa Limited at Okobo in Anpka Local Government Area of Kogi State.

"We are ready to partner with anybody who has the wherewithal towards the actualisation of that mandate. We can talk to such persons and they can talk to us," he said.

Responding, Wada said the state was ready to partner with the Federal Government, Eta-Zuma Group West Africa Limited and other investors for the development of the solid mineral endowments in the state.

Daily Trust

The cost of electricity in Nigeria goes up 88 percent

Empowering women is smart economics - Okonjo Iweala

Empowering girls and women is not a threat but one of the smartest social and economic decisions that a nation can make, Minister of Finance and Coordinator of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said.

She made the remark in Abuja at a National Gender Policy Dialogue jointly hosted by the World Bank Nigeria and the Department For International Development (DFID).

She said that the World Bank gender report argues that empowering girls and women is a resource that adds to a nations GDP growth.

She said "We talk about natural resources and sources of growth, what this report is telling us are that girls and women are sources of growth for the economy. So it's actually a matter of vital economic growth of this country that we focus on girls and women.

"I am saying in addition to the fact that we are 80.2 million women in this country but because men are used to hearing this, we have got to find a better way to deliver this powerful message that its more than about our being half of the population of this country but it's about the fact that a country will fall behind if it does not see its girls and women as a growth opportunity for the economy."

She explained that any serious discussion about Nigeria's future must entail discussion about girls and women on the role they play and the barriers they face in making the future a good one for the country.

Women have made progress in the country but the fact still remains that they lack behind men in many areas she said, adding that gender inequality have direct effect in economic growth, poverty reduction and the welfare of the next generation.

"We have just heard that figures on female mortality and education level particularly in parts of our country are not at par with what you find in any of the poorest countries of the World and that's why we find it shocking and unacceptable,"

She said that her ministry is targeting to launch a special competition strictly for women in the You Win programme where about 80,000 to 100,000 entrepreneurs are being targeted.

Daily Trust

Okonjo-Iweala On World's 'Women Deliver 100' List

Video - Documentary on the women of the Niger Delta who use threat of stripping naked to protest unaccountability of oil companies

New York Times supports Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for World Bank president