European Union Seeks 60 Billion Euros Investment for Nigeria!

The European Union (EU) weekend announced that it was working with Nigeria to shop for 60 billion Euros investment flow into the giant West African economy, towards bridging the huge gap in business and infrastructure.

Ambassador of the EU to Nigeria and the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), Michel Arrion, who dropped the hint, stated that, to help Nigeria attain the massive leap in foreign investment inflow, the EU will be channeling most of the 600 million Euros earmarked for the country for the next five years, towards developing a favourable business environments in the various economics sectors, in order to make the country attractive to ready European investment.

According to him, "There is high interest being shown by serious European investors in the Nigerian economy because the size and growth rate of the economy is very good but the operating environment in most sectors need to be fine tuned and that is what we will spend a good portion our budget addressing, so that this private funds can flow in from the EU into Nigeria"

He said this objective is one of the main reasons for the EU-Nigeria third business summit, which starts today in Lagos.

Arrion said, the summit is expected to provide a platform for private sector participants to gather essential market information, identify business opportunities and connect key players to viable business opportunities obtainable in Nigeria and European countries.

He said ‎ this year's event with the theme, "Time for Private Sector", aims to consolidate on the gains of the 2012 and 2013 editions, and also focusing on specific economic agenda of EU, Nigeria and ECOWAS to identify the role of private sector support.

According to him, the EU is currently implementing, together with Nigeria, a support strategy and also targeting health, nutrition and resilience, sustainable energy and access to electricity, as well as governance and rule of law. He stated that at regional levels, the EU's support will focus on regional integration which will include regional infrastructure, resilience peace and security.

"In critical areas, such as trade-related infrastructure, electricity, health and nutrition, the EU is calling for a closer partnership with the private sector, in line with the conclusions of the 4th EU-Africa summit held in Brussels in April 2014 and the road map 2014-2017, which tasks the EU and African countries to promote private-sector led responsible investment," he added.

According to Arrion, the private sector's contribution will be sought at all stages, starting from programming, down to implementation of EU funded projects and throughout its overall engagement with Nigeria and ECOWAS. This move, he said, is in line with the objectives of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) endorsed by ECOWAS Heads of State in Accra earlier this year.

"Though Nigeria maintains a positive trade balance with the EU and the EU remains the biggest market for both oil and non-oil exports, it is imperative to address the EU-Nigeria relation towards a more diversified composition and a strengthened ECOWAS regional market. The EPA will be a critical instrument in achieving these goals," he said.

He noted that Nigeria is no doubt central to the growth of the continent, adding that the economy has continued to grow at an average of seven per cent over the last 10 years attributing the growth to be driven by the non-oil sector of the economy. Furthermore, he said, the recent GDP rebasing exercise has propelled Nigeria to become the largest economy in Africa, maintaining that the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) outperformed most capital markets in 2013.

"Your banking sector has remained stable after the 2009 crisis, FDI flows and remittances from the diaspora remain significant. These positive indicators point to an increased global confidence in the Nigerian economy in response to ongoing reforms," the ambassador said.

Arrion pointed out that the relationship of the European Union with Nigeria is broad and deep, saying that Nigeria being one of the biggest diaspora communities in Europe is also one of the most frequent destinations of European investment and businessmen in Africa. He added that EU is Nigeria's largest trading partner accounting for 35.4 per cent of its exports worth 82.4 billion Euros and 30 per cent of its imports worth 43.4 billion Euros.

"Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) stock by EU countries in Nigeria grew from N5.3 trillion in 2011 to N5.7 trillion in 2012. In 2013 alone, the total EU-Nigeria trade stood at N8.5 trillion. EU imports from Nigeria were valued at N6 trillion while EU exports to Nigeria stood at N2.5 trillion," Arrion stressed.

Source: This Day news

National Assembly to Probe Egypt Air for Dehumanising Nigerian Student, Tearing His Passport!

Chairman House Committee on Diaspora, Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa has vowed to get to the roots of how a 17- year- old Nigerian medical student based in Ukraine, Master Joshua Kunle Abdulazeez was wrongfully deported and dehumanised by the Egyptian authorities last August.

Apparently disturbed by the young man's narrative of how he was traumatised, starved for four days, his Nigerian passport torn to shreds in last Saturday's Vanguard, Dabiri-Erewa vowed that "we will invite all the parties involved to the House to explain why a 17 year old boy should go through such a trauma for no fault of his".

Said she: "Vanguard is a credible newspaper but we will still hear their own side of the matter and ensure that justice is appropriately delivered.

"I've always warned Nigerian parents in different fora to beware of foreign universities because if you compare the cost of private universities here, it is almost the same".

"Although some like the university of Legon and a few others are well organised, it is still better to try our private universities.

"We've had several cases where Nigerian students are killed in the premises of some foreign universities and not even an ordinary condolence letter was written to families of the victims.

" A case in point is that of a Cyprus university where a Nigerian student was killed last year and the school authority did not bother to send a condolence letter to the family of the young man.

"We had to stop Cyprus from further recruitment of Nigerian students as a warning to other countries who come here to scout for students.

"But this case of Abdulazeez would not be treated with kid gloves, like I said earlier we must get to the bottom of this case.

"And to be candid, not until our authorities here start practicing the doctrine of citizens supremacy, this trend may just continue.

"Recently, immediately after Patrick Sawyer imported Ebola into our shores, a Nigerian family traveled all the way to Srilanka to attend a wedding ceremony, they were all deported without undergoing any test.

"It is rather unfortunate as some of the family members came all the way from Britain, the US and other parts of the world to attend the wedding of a family member but because they were Nigerians they were ridiculously ridiculed.

"This trend had to stop but the bodies involved in the fight against such dehumanisation and maltreatment meted to Nigerians are not funded, so what do you expect?, she wondered.

"Nigerian students in Eastern Europe too go through unnecessary stress particularly those in Russia. You won't believe it, they beg fellow students from Liberia and Ghana for survival.

"Some even beg in supermarkets to survive because they pay high fees and even pay as much as $300 dollars to register courses at the beginning of a session.

"What about Nigerians rotting in Brazilian, Malaysian and Chinese jail houses without fair trial?

"Just last month, the son of an NTA staff was sentenced to death without fair trial and several others that are not reported in the media.

"The issue here is how long will Nigerians continue to suffer this malady that has remained largely unabated".

Background:

A Nigerian medical student returning to school in Ukraine, Joshua Kunle Abdulazeez in last Saturday Vanguard, gave an account of how he nearly died at the hands of Egypt Air officials who wrongly routed him to Moldova, never gave him food for days and called him bloody Nigerian before deporting him back to Lagos

The student who is lucky to be alive said on Friday, August 15, 2014 my mother and I went to Egypt Air head office at 22B Idowu Taylor Street, Victoria Island, Lagos to book a return ticket for me to go back to school to continue my studies at Dnepropetrovsk Medical Academy, Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine. This was about 11:15 am.

On entering the Egypt air office we met Mr. Tony Nzan on counter 1 to attend to us and we asked to book a ticket to Kiev, Ukraine. Mr. Tony Nzan explained to us the itinerary for the flight going to Ukraine after which we went to the bank to withdraw money and returned to pay for the ticket and obtained two printouts, so that my mother could have my return itinerary from Kiev next year.

We reviewed the ticket itinerary before leaving Egypt air's office and immediately observed that the airport code indicated on it was different from what we were familiar with, having traveled to Kiev before. The ticket indicated an unfamiliar airport code.

We immediately brought this discovery to another ticketing officer's attention who was seated at Counter 2, as we were informed that his colleague, Mr. Nzan, had stepped out of the office. This ticketing officer restated that the ticket was full economy and for Kiev, Ukraine with all the segments confirmed. However, we remained unconvinced, given that our prior experience indicated that the airport code for Kiev, Ukraine would usually read "KBP".

Shekau Impostor Likely Killed!

Information revealed that troops might have killed a man they believe had been masquerading as Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau during a fierce fighting in Konduga, Borno State last week.

A statement from PRNigeria, an independent public relations agency that does consultancy work for the security agencies, said there was strong resemblance between the man killed and the one making video appearances in the name of Shekau.

"During a desperate attempt to capture Konduga in their delusion to eventually marching on and capturing Maiduguri, the man who had been mimicking late Abubakar Shekau in recent videos might have been finally killed," the statement said.

It quoted senior military and intelligence sources as saying the man was killed on September 17, 2014.

PRNigeria agency said cited as possible evidence that man killed was Shekau impostor to include "his facial marks, beards and teeth apart from the recovery by the Nigerian troops of some of the Armoured vehicles and Hilux jeeps that had featured in previous videos of the prime suspect."

Discretion advised:

It added that intelligence sources said the suspected demise of the Boko Haram leader is responsible for the scattering of the sect members in different locations in neighbouring countries, especially in Cameroon.

But they cautioned that "the process of confirming that the dead body we have is the same as that character who has been posing as Shekau is ongoing. He is definitely a prominent terrorist commander. I don't want to say anything about this yet please."

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Intruder Jumps Fence And Gets Into White House!

The US Secret Service will carry out an investigation after a man jumped over the White House's north fence and made it through the front door of the presidential residence.

According to report, Barack Obama and his daughters had just left the mansion on board the Marine One helicopter bound for Camp David when the breach occurred.

Much of the presidential residence was evacuated following the security alert shortly after 7pm on Friday at one of the world's most highly protected buildings.

Video from the scene showed a man making it most of the way across the North Lawn and approaching the main entrance to the presidential residence. The Secret Service confirmed an intruder had jumped the fence and was apprehended just inside the North Portico doors.

White House staffers and some journalists inside the West Wing were led out by Secret Service officers, some with their weapons drawn.

Those evacuated were allowed back in about half an hour later.

First Lady Michelle Obama had travelled separately to the presidential retreat in Maryland and was not at home.

Although it is not uncommon for people to make it over the White House fence, they are typically stopped almost immediately and rarely get very far.

The Secret Service identified the suspect as 42-year-old Omar J Gonzalez from Copperas Cove, Texas.

He was charged with unlawful entry into the White House complex and was taken to a nearby hospital complaining of chest pain.

The Secret Service said the incident would be carefully reviewed to ensure proper protocols were followed.

Spokesman Ed Donovan said: "This situation was a little different than other incidents we have at the White House.

"There will be a thorough investigation into the incident."

The incident was the latest setback for an elite agency whose reputation has been hit in recent years.

In 2012, 13 Secret Service agents and officers were implicated in a prostitution scandal during preparations for Obama's trip to Cartagena, Colombia.

The next year, two officers were removed from the president's detail after another alleged incident of sexually-related misconduct.

And in March, an agent was found drunk by staff at a Dutch hotel the day before Obama was set to arrive in the Netherlands.

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US, Canadian Jets Intercept 8 Russian Aircraft!

Two F-22 fighter jets intercepted six Russian military airplanes that neared the western coast of Alaska, military officials said Friday.

Lt. Col. Michael Jazdyk, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said the U.S. jets intercepted the planes about 55 nautical miles from the Alaskan coast at about 7 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday.

The Russian planes were identified as two IL-78 refueling tankers, two Mig-31 fighter jets and two Bear long-range bombers. They looped south and returned to their base in Russia after the U.S. jets were scrambled.

At about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets intercepted two of the long-range bombers about 40 nautical miles off the Canadian coastline in the Beaufort Sea.

In both cases, the Russian planes entered the Air Defense Identification Zone, which extends about 200 miles from the coastline. They did not enter sovereign airspace of the United States or Canada.

Jazdyk said the fighter jets were scrambled "basically to let those aircraft know that we see them, and in case of a threat, to let them know we are there to protect our sovereign airspace."

In the past five years, jets under NORAD's command have intercepted more than 50 Russian bombers approaching North American airspace.

NORAD is a binational American and Canadian command responsible for air defense in North America.

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Teen comes out to his mother and she surprises him with her own confession!

A teen boy, who secretly set up a camera to record the moment when he told his mother he was gay, received a big surprise when his mother revealed a secret of her own.

According to the story, Hayden Smith, who uploaded the video to YouTube, tucked his camera onto a shelf before yelling for his mother to come into his “messy” room.

After she enters and he asks her to close the door, he flatly states “I’m gay.”

"Are you? That’s OK,” she replies.

His voice trembling, he says, “I’ve known for awhile.”

Placing her hand on his knee, his mother says, “Honey? That’s very brave of you to tell me that. Thank you for telling me. Doesn’t make me love you any less, at all. OK? You choice is your choice. And I accept you however way you are. You’re still my boy, you’re still my son. It’s OK.”

After some discussion over how long he has known and the difficulties he has been having keeping it a secret, his mother asks him if he is worried what other people will say.

And I accept you however way you are. You’re still my boy, you’re still my son. It’s OK.”

After some discussion over how long he has known and the difficulties he has been having keeping it a secret, his mother asks him if he is worried what other people will say.

“No,” he replies, “I was worried what you were going to say.”

Then his mother surprises him.

“Can I tell you something too? Since you’ve opened up to me, I’ll tell you a little secret too,” she says. “I’ve had a girlfriend. Not since your dad passed away. It goes both ways. And I was always worried what you would think.”

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Prison Break at infamous Brazilian jail!

Reports says about a dozen inmates at an overcrowded Brazilian prison have tunnelled to freedom, and another group made a failed attempt to scale the wall.

A department spokesman said the high-security prisoners broke out of the infamous Pedrinhas prison in the northeastern city of Sao Luis de Maranhao, site of numerous attempts to escape conditions renowned as hellish.

Brazilian television reported from the site that at least 10 prisoners were believed to have escaped through the tunnel, but authorities could not confirm the figure.

The G1 web news portal showed images from the tunnel exit and a pile of earth which appeared to have escaped the authorities' notice ahead of the inmates' dawn exit.

It was unclear how many prisoners had escaped.

"There was no visit or inspection on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, allowing them to get on with digging out their tunnel," said Sebastiao Uchia, Maranhao secretary of state for justice told G1 before handing in his own resignation.

How come there were no checks for three days? Someone has to be held to account

Tunnelling is an age-old means of jailbreaking, and in Pedrinhas around 20 prisoners took advantage of the commotion caused by the first escape to break out of their cells and converge on the front gate.

There, some tried to jump a wall topped with barbed wire which they attacked with cutters before elite police nabbed them, Globo News reported.

Escape attempts have been on the rise in recent weeks in Brazil, which has 274 people in prison per 100,000 residents, according to the International Centre of Penitentiary Studies, causing facilities to burst at the seams.

Last week, 36 prisoners escaped from Pedrinhas after a stealing a dumper truck and using it to breach the rear wall of the facility. Just one was recaptured.

This month alone has now seen three escapes from the same facility.

On Monday, police arrested a prison director accused of taking bribes to look the other way.

Pedrinhas, with a capacity of 1,700 prisoners but currently crammed with 2,500, has been the scene of repeated riots and killings of inmates.

At least 15 have been killed this year, following on from 60 last year - three were decapitated and grisly footage was posted online.

Five prisoners were killed and 25 wounded in a riot at a prison in Cascavel in the southern state of Parana, where inmates took two guards hostage.