Israel to partner with Nigeria to fight terrorism

The Ambassador of the State of Israel, His Excellency, Mr Moshe Ram has expressed his country's readiness to partner the federal government to combat insurgency in Nigeria.

The envoy who presented a paper on Suicide Terrorism: The Israeli Experience and its relevance to Nigeria, yesterday, during the Abuja Security Summit on Terrorism and Kidnapping in the FCT, however proffered that one way the country could make headway in the fight was to be proactive by using intelligence network to find out their next line of action.

Making allusion to the State of Israel and their fight against terrorism, Ram said that the success so far attained in Israel was mainly due to intelligence operations and the active military presence in the area.

"Israel has not so much learnt how to deter these attacks, as it has learned how to fight and stop them in the planning stages. This is thanks primarily to intelligence operations but also a very strong and active military presence in the area", he said.

Fielding questions from LEADERSHIP, the Ambassador, who disclosed that Nigeria and Israel were already collaborating on various issues of mutual interest said, "Israel is always ready to help Nigeria in the fight against terror. It is our long standing policy to help and to assist our partners and friends. So I mean, it is not a matter of request. Now we are in the process of collaborating on different issues among them is the security issue too.

"We are always ready to help our friends when they are in need and I think that we have a little experience on this issue and our hand is always open to help our friends. There is no magic solution to the problem. All the security organisations should work together, they should know exactly where the people are, they should gather intelligence and more intelligence.

In his keynote address the acting Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Abubakar, who was represented by Chief Superintendent Operations of FCT Command, CSP Gabriel Elaigwu said that terrorism and kidnapping were complex crimes which should not be left for only the security agencies to combat.

While calling on Nigerians to support the security agencies to fight terror, he urged government to provide all the necessary logistics and resources for intelligence gathering and detection of terrorists' activities.

Leadership

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Spain denies Nigerian athletes visas

Nigeria may not participate in the IAAF World Junior Championships as the Spanish Embassy in Lagos denied her athletes visas yesterday.

Tempers rose as the athletes who were at the Embassy early yesterday morning, protested the attitude of the Consular officials by blocking the entrance to the Embassy with their cars, requesting that they be attended to. But the officials remained adamant.

The applications for the visas had been submitted two weeks ago, but officials of the Embassy kept dribbling the athletes and officials. The team was scheduled to travel last night to catch up with the event, which starts this morning, but traveling is most unlikely as a result of the denial of issuing them visas.

Officials of the Embassy insisted that visas couldn't be issued because the officers who were supposed to stamp the passports were not on seat. They asked the team to report on Tuesday morning(today).

"We gave them our passports two weeks ago. We were supposed to travel on Saturday, but they assured us that visas will be issued on Monday.

"By 2.30pm yesterday it dawned on us that there wasn't going to be any visa for us to travel. From the look of things we may not be going to the championships, because it is late for us now," said Jide Josiah, Athletics Federation of Nigeria vice president.

"What kind of injustice is this? After all our training we are being told we can't travel," said Maria Osifo, one of the coaches on the trip

Solomon Ogba, the AFN President, said they met all the conditions set by the Spanish embassy.

Vanguard

Zimbabwe fed up with stubborn Nigerian illegal immigrants

The Immigration Department has expressed concern over Nigerian nationals who attempt to frustrate deportation processes by making frivolous applications to the Supreme Court after being arrested for staying in the country illegally.

This comes after a Nigerian was recently arrested in the city after being found without the required documents to stay in the country. Cletus Chukwuka Anueyiangu had his case dismissed on Wednesday last week at the Supreme Court after he challenged both his arrest and conviction.

He is still in custody and awaiting deportation. Assistant Regional Immigration Officer Mr Francis Mabika said Anueyiangu, who was residing in Braeside, entered into the country sometime in 2004 on a holiday before he went back to his country.

"He then attempted to enter into the country on 7 May, 2005, but was equivocally denied entry," he said.

It is believed that Anueyiangu then sneaked into the country, but was arrested and deported on June 15, 2005.

He sneaked into the country again using fake names and another Nigerian passport.

In 2006, Anueyiangu and two other Nigerians applied for and were issued with a Zimbabwe Investment Licence and they formed a company called Ideal Clothing Manufacturing based at the Gulf Complex.

Immigration officers found out about the company and launched investigations.

Anueyiangu then joined the Pentecostal Assemblies of Zimbabwe where he was a student pastor. On February 6 this year, further investigations carried out revealed that he was once deported.

"On 12 February, 2012, he made an urgent chamber application which was dismissed with costs by Justice Mavhingira on February 29, 2012," said Mr Mabika.

"In the course of the court proceeding, as a way to cover his tracks and as an afterthought, his counterparts went on to renew the Zimbabwe Investment Licence which had since expired on 15 December 2011 and presented the renewed licence in his supplementary affidavits without justifying the action."

Anueyiangu's wife was also ordered to leave the country, but she went into hiding before making an urgent chamber application to interdict the Immigration Department from arresting her knowing fully she had no legal right to stay in the country.

Anueyiangu also made the Supreme Court application against the High Court ruling, but it was dismissed with costs.

"Clearly, Nigerian nationals have shown an inclination towards frustrating due processes of law," said Mr Mabika.

"The dismissal of the application is a clear testament of the supremacy of law in Zimbabwe. Aliens do have a corresponding obligation to observe the laws of Zimbabwe."

Last year, more than 100 foreigners were arrested and deported for illegally operating businesses like grocery shops and restaurants in violation of Zimbabwe's immigration and investment laws.

The Department of Immigration said most of the culprits were Nigerians and Chinese.

The Herald

Nigeria still ranks very high in infant and maternal mortality index

Nigeria still ranks high the list of countries with high maternal and infant mortality rates with a ratio of 545 per 100,000 live births on the maternal mortality index and 75 per 1000 live births on the infant mortality index; these figures are from the UN World Population Prospects and the Institute for Health Metric Reports (2010).

Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Chief Festus Odimegwu, who disclosed this while speaking at a press conference to commemorate this year's World Population Day (WPD), added that the Federal Government had budgeted $3m annually to provide free family planning facilities for Nigerians.

Although some progress had been made since the release of the report, he said a lot more still needed to be done to prevent the avoidable deaths; stressing that only 58 per cent women had access to ante-natal care.

Odimegwu, who represented by the NPC Commissioner in the FCT, Mr. Sani Suleiman, outlined grim statistics of the health status of reproductive women aged between 15 and 49 in Nigeria.

"Fifty-two thousand, nine hundred women and girls die every year from pregnancy-related causes. For every woman that dies, at least 20 others suffer morbidities such as obstetric fistula, infections and disabilities.

Twenty-three percent of women between 15 and 19 are already mothers or are pregnant with their first child, 20 per 1000 children die before the age of one month while 35 per 1000 die before their first birthday," he lamented.

The NPC chairman added that interventions are being carried out in partnership with the UN Fund for Population Activity (UNFPA) to promote family planning, maternal health, sexuality education and HIV/AIDS prevention services.

Earlier, UNFPA's National Program Officer for Reproductive Health Commodity Security, Mrs. Nike Adedeji, said the organisation was currently working to manoeuvre the cultural and religious impediments to the promotion family planning usage in Nigeria.

This, she said, was carried out with the aim of educating leaders of religious and traditional institutions on the need to allow child spacing to preserve the health of mothers and children.

She further added that Nigeria had no excuse on its 10 per cent use of contraceptives, noting that even countries that may be regarded as stables of the major faiths (Italy and Saudi Arabia) already record about 80 per cent use of family planning methods which has helped them to reduce infant and maternal death rates.

This Day