NEXT-LEVEL PROMOTION !! Nigeria Minister to local airlines: Take advantage of our bad roads… develop routes

Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, has asked local airlines in the country to take advantage of the country’s population and bad roads, and develop routes.

Sirika said this while reacting to complaints of the local airlines that foreign airlines are taking up more routes which they “should be flying”.

In an interview with Channels TV on Monday, the minister said while he has been receiving requests for more foreign airlines to use the Lagos airport, the capacity of the airport has forced him to spread their routes to other parts of the country.

He said Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos was built for 200,000 capacity but currently takes as much as eight million passengers.

“As a policy maker, I ought to look after that guy whom I want his business to develop as much as I want the business of the local airlines to develop. So I have to strike a balance between the two,” he said.

“I allow them (foreign airlines) to go to Kano, Port Harcourt and Abuja; big deal. Still, the population of Nigeria with 200 million people and 926,766sq. km of land mass, with dilapidated infrastructure, especially roads, support aviation businesses and air transportation in Nigeria.

“So, the local airlines must not be lazy. They should get up and develop the routes.”

The minister cited an example with the Nigeria Airways which he said was having its planes “filled on Lagos to Maiduguri route”.

“Nigeria Airways was going to Makurdi, Yola, Sokoto. But these people (local airlines) want to do the triangle of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, the easy way to make money,” he said.

“Today, we have airlines that have created routes. Example, Overland. Somebody has suffered the initial shocks to open those routes and kept the faith, develop the confidence and trust of passengers.

“I think they don’t see it, they only see it from their own business. I should support them, but I should also support the downtrodden whose business was also for the Nigerian people.”

He said Nigeria plans to create two aviation hubs in Lagos and Abuja as part of plans to improve the aviation industry.

“Our geography supports the creation of hubs and part of our policy is to create two hubs, perhaps one hub in Abuja, which will tender for international, and the natural hub in Lagos that tender for regional flights and so on,” he said.

“So, it is our intention to create these hubs, and that is why we are trying to expand these airports to be able to accommodate these things that are coming.”

- THECABLE

Nigeria, US sign agreement to repatriate $308m Abacha Loot

Nigeria has signed an agreement with the governments of the Island of Jersey and the United States for the repatriation of over $308 million looted by Sani Abacha, former head of state.

The sum was recovered and frozen in 2013 but the repatriation process was stalled, following a lawsuit filed by the Abachas. 

The agreement was signed on Monday by Mark Temple, the solicitor-general and attorney-general designate of Jersey on behalf of Jersey, Brian Benczkowski, a deputy assistant attorney on behalf of the United States, and Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the federation (AGF), on Nigeria’s behalf. 

TheCable in January reported that the parties were set to sign the agreement.

“This Agreement represents the culmination of two decades of intensive work by law officers in Jersey, the United States and Nigeria. The return of the assets to Nigeria had been delayed by a number of hard-fought challenges by third parties which were defeated in the courts in Jersey and the United States,” Temple said. 

He said the agreement establishes a framework based on fruitful cooperation, trust and respect so that the forfeited funds can be repatriated to benefit the people of Nigeria from whom they had been taken.

Temple said the agreement is a significant achievement that demonstrates his country’s commitment to tackling international financial crime and money laundering.

The Island of Jersey, a British Crown Dependency, is self-governed and has its own financial, legal systems and courts of law.

Ian Gorst, Jersey’s minister for external relations, said Jersey’s authorities had done everything within their power to investigate the loot since the country became aware of the money laundered by Abacha.

“As a leading international finance centre with an effective and robust regulatory regime, Jersey has a responsibility to firmly address any instances of alleged money laundering and corruption,” he said.

In November 2013, the United States filed a civil forfeiture action alleging that approximately $625 million located in Jersey, France, and the United Kingdom was traceable to money laundering activity in the country involving Abacha and his associates.

Commenting on the agreement, Benczkowski, who represented the US, said it is a major achievement, and that “it also stands as a clear statement of our commitment to safeguard the United States from those who seek to launder the proceeds of corruption through the abuse of our financial system”.

On his part, Malami said the agreement is a major victory for Nigeria and other African countries.

“Without the commitment of the three parties to the Agreement (Nigeria, Jersey and the United States) and that of the legal experts and attorneys representing Nigeria, it would have been impossible to achieve the success recorded today,” he said.

“As you are aware, the government of Nigeria has committed that the assets will support and assist in expediting the construction of the three major infrastructure projects across Nigeria – namely Lagos – Ibadan expressway, Abuja – Kano express way and the second Niger bridge.”

The AGF asked civil society organisations and Nigerians to be involved in the monitoring of the implementation of the key infrastructure projects that would enhance road transportation in Nigeria.

There was controversy over the $321 million earlier repatriated from Switzerland.

Malami had engaged Oladipo Okpeseyi and Temitope Adebayo, Nigerian lawyers, for the recovery of the sum. But Enrico Monfrini, a Swiss lawyer who had been on the recovery job since 2000, told TheCable in a series of interviews that hiring the new lawyers was needless because he had already completed the task.

Despite an outcry, the Nigerian lawyers were paid $15 million by the federal government.

 -THECABLE

FG introduces multiple-entry visa for Nigerians who renounced citizenship

The federal government has introduced a multiple-entry, multi-year visa for Nigerians by birth who had to renounce their citizenship.

According to a tweet by Tolu Ogunlesi, special assistant on digital/new media to President Muhammadu Buhari, the visa is available to people who renounced their Nigerian status to become citizens of other countries.

Journalists, entertainers and sportsmen wishing to visit Nigeria will now also get single-entry, short-visit visas.

This is part of provisions stated in the new visa policy unveiled by the president on Tuesday.

“If you’re a Nigerian by birth but have had to give up your citizenship because your new country doesn’t allow dual citizenship (China, Isreal, India etc), you are now eligible to get a multi-year, multiple entry visa that allows you to visit Nigeria easily,” Ogunlesi tweeted.

“[Israelis by birth can acquire dual citizenships but people acquiring Israeli citizenship by naturalization — which is what would apply to a Nigerian who acquires Israeli citizenship — must first renounce their original citizenship].

“Nigeria today launched special Short Visa classes (single entry) for the following categories of people: journalists, clerics, sportspeople, artists/entertainers/musicians, religious tourists, humanitarian workers, etc.”

According to Ogunlesi, the visa for investors has also been expanded into five categories.

“Nigeria has now launched an “Investor Visa” Class: 5 categories: N3A, N3B, N3C, N3D, N3E.”

Ogunlesi said the new visa policy is part of efforts to improve security and ease of doing business.

- THECABLE

Arrest warrant issued against ex-President Jacob Zuma

A South African court has issued an arrest warrant for former President Jacob Zuma, after he skipped court on grounds of needing medical treatment.

The judge however suspended the execution of the warrant until 6 May when Zuma’s corruption trial will resume.

Zuma’s lawyer presented the judge with a sick note from what he said was a military hospital, but the judge questioned whether the note was valid or even written by a doctor.

The former leader of Africa’s most industrialised country is on trial for on corruption charges over a 2 billion dollars arms deal with French defence firm Thales in the 1990s.

Zuma, president from 2009-2018, had previously applied for a permanent stay of prosecution on 18 charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering relating to the deal, but the court in Pietermaritzburg threw out his appeal in November.

Zuma is accused of accepting 500,000 rand (34,000 dollars ) annually from Thales in 1999, in exchange for protecting the company from an investigation into the deal.

He rejects the allegations as a politically motivated witch-hunt against him.

- PM NEWS

Woman cuts off her rapist’s penis

The 25-year-old Pakistani woman used a knife to defend herself from the assault of the man who stormed her house in the central province of Punjab, police official Mohamed Ilyas said.

The woman told police she was alone at home when the man broke in and tried to overpower her.

The woman then ran to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and then cut off his penis when he again tried to assault her, Ilyas said, citing the woman’s account.

The 28-year-old man was being treated at the hospital in the city of Faisalabad and will be interrogated once his condition improves, Ilyas added.

Hundreds of women are raped in Pakistan each year, but those who commit the assaults are rarely punished due to weak laws and complicated procedures for prosecution, according to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Rape victims are often blamed for their assaults, accused of socialising with men – something frowned upon in conservative Muslim societies – or of bringing the attack on themselves.

Many women remain silent and decline to file a police report to avoid being named and shamed by Pakistan’s conservative society, advocacy group Aurat Foundation said.

“It is a painful situation. Often victims are blamed both by the legal system and the society,” women’s rights activist Farzana Bari said.

- PM NEWS

70 year-old teacher rapes teenage student daily for 3 months

A 70 year-old teacher has been arrested after he was accused of repeatedly having sex with one of his students, a 17 year-old, in his classroom, daily for three months.

He even insisted on having sex with her after she was injured in a car crash, causing her serious discomfort in her hips

According to the police in Florida, the septuagenarian teacher Tom Miller Privett, has been charged with sexual battery with a child under custodial authority.

He committed the offence at Terra Environmental Research Institute Magnet School, according to reports credited to local Florida papers and TV stations.

Privett, who had been a history and government teacher at the school for 30 years, reportedly groomed the girl for years before taking her virginity in the classroom, police said.

He allegedly began touching her inappropriately in his world history class in 2012, according to prosecutors.

‘These touches began as rubbing her arms while in class, then rubbing her back, and continued to kiss her on the head, cheek and partial lips,’ Detective Ismael Castill wrote in an arrest warrant.

Privett first met the student when she was in ninth grade in 2012, and he started to engage in sexual conversations with the girl when she was in 11th grade, according to detectives.

The victim told detectives the sexual conversations escalated into sexual activity in the classroom when she was in 12th grade.

The following year, Privett began to make ‘rude and disrespectful’ statements about the girl’s weight, which led to her developing an eating disorder to ‘look good’ for Privett, prosecutors said, according to The Miami Herald.

In her third year at the school, Privett allegedly began telling the victim his ‘sexual desires’ and fetishes. He then had sex with her in his classroom during her last year at the school in 2016, police said. The sexual assault began on March 8, 2016, and it continued for about three months, according to the arrest report.

Prosecutors said the 32-year veteran teacher, who also worked at South Dade Senior High School, retired from Miami-Dade County Public Schools in 2017. The victim reported the crime late last month, police said.

The girl went to police in December. To help investigators obtain evidence, she called Privett to discuss their sexual relationship as police listened.

“When a teacher transforms from an esteemed educator to an alleged sexual predator, lives are permanently damaged, trust is betrayed, and a serious crime has been committed,” State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement.

Pinellas County deputies and Miami-Dade school police detectives arrested Privett on Friday morning. He is being held without bond while awaiting extradition to Miami-Dade County.

“Our detectives worked relentlessly to ensure Privett was brought to justice,” Miami-Dade school police Chief Edwin Lopez said in a statement.

- PM NEWS

NSCDC arrests 40-year-old man for alleged rape of own sister

The Jigawa State Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC has arrested a forty-year-old school teacher, Yusuf Ali for allegedly raping his own sister.

Spokesman of the command, SC Adamu Shehu confirmed the incident to DAILY POST.

He said the suspect, a half brother of the victim and primary school teacher in Kaugama local government area of Jigawa state was arrested on Sunday, 02/03/20 at around 2300hrs while attempting to rape his 15-year-old paternal sister.

The NSCDC spokesman explained that the suspect was arrested by personnel of Hisbah Group and handed over to the NSCDC Divisional Office in Gumel local government for further investigation and prosecution.
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Shehu said in the cause of investigation, the victim revealed that her brother raped her three times in her room at different occasions.

He said the victim was taken to Gumel General Hospital for Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) tests to ascertain her health status.

“She earlier said she did not know who raped her because it was at night and in the darkness and was afraid to scream until the third time when she felt it was unbearable for her so she screamed for help and her parents came to her

He said the suspect is a married man with three children confessed to have committed the crime and attributed it to the handwork of the devil

The suspect was taken to a magistrate court in Gumel for alleged incest and rape which contravene the laws of the landrescue,” he said.

DAILY POST