FG Takes On India Over Killing Of Nigerian

Federal Government has demanded an unreserved apology from the Indian authorities over the death of a Nigerian, Obodo Uzoma Simeon, and discriminatory attacks on Nigerians in the Asian nation.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, disclosed this while answering questions from journalists at the pre-Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting press briefing in Abuja, Monday.

Tensions between Nigerians and Indians had escalated since Simeon was found dead in Goa, a popular tourist destination, in the country's west region.

Simeon, according to reports, was stabbed to death on October 31 in Panaji, Goa State's capital.

About 200 angry members of the Nigerian community were said to have blocked a highway while Simeon's corpse was being taken to the hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Police reportedly brought the situation under control and registered cases of rioting, arson and damaging public property against 51 Nigerians and one Ghanaian.

Onwuliri, who emphasised that Nigeria would not tolerate any act of unruly behaviour from its citizens, however, said the conduct of Indian authorities was unacceptable.

She told journalists that the Acting Head of Mission of India in Nigeria had been summoned to her office to explain the rationale for the action.

She said, "Actually the growing violence around the countries should be a thing of worry for member states and for us in Nigeria too. We have continued to condemn violence especially against Nigerians in different states. The recent one in India is really a big one to worry about and I had summoned the acting head of Indian Mission to ask him about what happened to our citizens.

"The young man was coming back from lunch, they said there was a clash between two communities, he was not part of them but he was killed! We have also asked for unreserved apology from India, we have asked them to ensure that full-fledged investigations are carried out so that perpetrators of that act will be brought to book," she added.

The minister said the Nigerian government would not hesitate to react appropriately if Nigerians were evicted from their homes in India.

"We have also heard that some of our citizens protested and were arrested and some were evicted from their homes. And we have also said while we are not supporting lawlessness, if Nigerians reacted because of extreme provocation, it should be so seen. And these Nigerians should be released and people should not be evicted from their homes, otherwise, that will also lead to a strain in the relations between the two countries and we will be forced to also react appropriately," she maintained.

Onwuliri said Nigeria was determined to press on with the call for the abolition of visa regime among Commonwealth countries at this year's  meeting starting  on Wednesday (tomorrow) in Colombo, Srilanka.

The country's interim position is for the introduction of a pilot scheme which will facilitate visa free regime for holders of diplomatic and official passports from member countries.

Meet Abdulsamad Rabiu, Africa's Newest Billionaire Who may Unseat Aliko Dangote

Abdulsamad Rabiu made his entry as Forbe's  Africa's Newest Billionaire in the November edition. The 53 year old Nigerian business mogul followed in his father's footsteps, importing basic commodities like rice, sugar, and cement in the 1980s. Today, he heads the BUA Group, a conglomerate with $1.9 billion in revenues and interests in sugar refining, vegetable oil processing and flour mills. The group also operates the BUA Cement I, Nigeria's first floating cement terminal.  He is already touted to unseat Aliko Dangote, the current Africa's richest man. According to Forbes…

Immigration Must Refund Job Seekers- House Of Reps

The House of Representatives yesterday, directed the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to refund job seekers their N1,000 each charged as recruitment fee into the services.

The Reps made this query during a Joint Committee public hearing mandated by the House to investigate racketeering of job placement in the public service. At the commencement of the 2-day investigative public hearing, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal expressed concern over what he described as "one of the worst crises Nigerians face today".
"One of the worst crises we face today is the high rate of unemployment and the damage this has caused to our economic, moral and social development as a nation."

At the hearing, the Office of the Head of Civil Service (OHCS) denied granting recruitment waivers, a prerequisite for employment to the Customs to recruit 5,556 in 2011.
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) Customs Service were asked to return today having failed to provide the Committee with complete documents on the procedure of the recruitment.

 The agency was also unable to provide documentary evidence to prove that due diligence was adhered to in its recruitment exercises it carried out between 2007 and 2010.The agency was discovered to have no policy on job recruitment since 1991 when it was created.Also, in contravention of the Public Service rules, CAC advertised for employment only in 2010 with appointments based on selection.

In what seemed like buck passing, Director, Human Resources, Labaran Shuaibu, who represented the Commission said she was only two days old on the job and could not give satisfactory responses to many of the questions put to her by the Committee.
The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) also provided conflicting documents to the Committee, while failing to follow due process in its recruitment exercises .While document showed that 2,005 people were employed in 2011, another showed 2,550.
The Committee was enraged when the Secretary to the Immigrations board, Sylvanus Tapgun admitted that he does not know the bank account number where the revenue generated from the employment application forms sold for N1,000 and could not disclose the name and contact of the alleged consulting firm the Service hired to conduct its latest recruitment exercise.
The Secretary also claims to be unaware of House of Representatives' resolution urging the NIS to stop collecting fees for the employment forms, "I did not place the advertisement, it was done by my predecessor, I resume office in September".
The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) was also discovered to have flouted Public Service rules by recruiting 5,595 in 2011 without approval from the Head of Service, according to the Permanent Secretary. Career Management Service, Ezekiel Oyemomi.
Similarly, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was granted weaver to recruits 801 workers by the Federal Character Commission (FCC) but has recruited 1,146 so far.
At the point, Chairman of the Joint Committee, Andrew Uchendu said the Committee would no longer accept excuse of being new in the office as reason enough to claim ignorance of official matters.

He also noted that para military agencies were more guilty of flouting Public Service rules on recruitment.

"This Investigative Hearing is therefore long overdue and I am glad that we are finally getting to the root of this very serious anomaly.

"It is tragic that in a nation with such a high degree of unemployment, people can be so heartless as to make job-seekers pay for the opportunity of contributing their quota to the development of their father-land.

"This means that however qualified they are, unless they can cough out the bribe, they won't get the job. This situation cannot be allowed to continue. We are denying our youth the opportunity to provide our country with the right manpower.

 

Uruguay Is Planning To Legalise And Sell Marijuana From Next Year

Uruguay is planning to start selling marijuana legally next year, a top official said, though the Senate must approve the proposed legislation.

The country is hoping to act as a potential test case for an idea slowly gaining steam across Latin America — that the legalization and regulation of some drugs could sap the cartel violence devastating much of the region.

"The illegal market is very risky and offers poor quality," National Drug Board chief Jose Calzada was quoted as saying in Sunday's El Pais newspaper.

The state "will provide a safe place to buy, a good quality product and, moreover, will sell at a standard price.

"Thegovernment proposes to sell marijuana for $1 a gram, slightly below the current market rate that runs about 30 pesos ($1.40) a gram.

By putting the government in charge of the marijuana industry, which is estimated to be worth $30 million to $40 million a year, the plan aims to curtail illegal trafficking and the violence that comes with it.

The proposed law would allow people to cultivate up to six cannabis plants for their own use, belong to a membership club that could grow up to 99 plants, or buy the drug at pharmacies, with a limit of 40 grams a month per person.

In August, the bill, which is backed by President Jose Mujica's leftist government, was passed by the lower house of Uruguay's legislature.

It now awaits action by the Senate. There are still legislative hurdles to overcome, including allocating money to pay a new director for the Institute for the Regulation and Control of Cannabis, which wasn't included in this year's budget. Opposition parties have also fought against the idea and a poll released over the summer found 63 percent of Uruguayans were against it.

Many opponents fear the legalization of cannabis would turn Uruguay into a pot tourism hub and encourage the use of stronger drugs. But it was argued that the current policies have failed and estimates Uruguay, a small country with just 3.3 million people, spends upwards of $80 million a year on combating drugs but seizes just $4 million to $5 million worth of contraband.

The legality of cannabis for general or recreational use varies from country to country. Possession of cannabis is illegal in most countries, and has been since the beginning of widespread cannabis prohibition in the late 1930s. However, many countries have decriminalized the possession of small quantities of cannabis, particularly in North America, South America, and Europe.

Furthermore, possession is legal or effectively legal in the Netherlands, North Korea, and the U.S. states of Washington and Colorado. On 28 May 2013, Colorado became the world's first fully regulated recreational cannabis market for adults. A larger number of countries have decriminalized or legalized cannabis for medical purposes.

P. Diddy Donates $250k As Nigerian Student Emerge Winner Of Entrepreneurship Challenge

In an #entrepreneurship competition held at The Times Center in New York City recently, rapper and business mogul, Sean Combs, aka P.Diddy was on ground to speak with the participants on how to run their own businesses and being self-made bosses.

At the event, which was created by The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) – an organization that empowers teens through entrepreneurship education, four finalists emerged. The finalists are, #Juny Nguyen, #Jesus Fernandez, #Dagim Girma and #Toheeb Okenla. At the end, Toheeb Okenla and Jesus Fernandez, from South Holland, Illinois, beat out 38 teen competitors with their business plan for T&J Soccer. T&J Soccer is a manufacturing and retail business that sells soccer socks with pockets sewn into them for inserts that protect players' shins during soccer games.

Meanwhile, P. Diddy after a private coaching session with the top finalists donated $250K to the NFTE group for supporting teen's entrepreneurs, while Toheeb Okenla and Jesus Fernandez-Ortiz were awarded $25,000 for taking the first place. The 43-year-old music mogul said, "I believe all young people should be given the opportunity to be successful and to pursue their passions and NFTE gives all kids the tools they need to be the CEOs of their future" "Being an entrepreneur means freedom, it means independence. It means being invested and believing in myself," he added. Toheeb Okenla studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) College of Business.

 

 Photos courtesy Kiyo and Fiyo Blog

Dangote To Chair World Economic Forum Meeting

President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has been appointed to co-chair 2014 World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos-Kloster, Switzerland.

The Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, Prof. Klaus Schwab in his invitation letter to the business mogul, said Aliko Dangote's participation as co-chair will contribute significantly to the substance and relevance of exchanges between global leaders from government, business, academia, civil society, and the media at the forum.

The theme for the 2014 annual forum scheduled to hold from January 22, 2014 to January 25, 2014 is "The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics, and Business" and it aims to "develop insights, initiatives and actions necessary to respond to current and emerging global challenges."

In a same vein, Aliko Dangote was recently appointed to the steering committee of the United Nation Global Education First Initiative, a five-year global advocacy initiative, sponsored by Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, to make a sustainable impact on lives of #children and youth through education and push to achieve internationally-agreed education goals set for 2015.

In the Secretary-General's own words, "when we put Education First, we can reduce poverty and hunger, end wasted potential – and look forward to stronger and better societies for all."

The three priorities of Education First are: putting every child into school; improving the quality of learning and fostering global citizenship.