Germany Seeks Favourable Investment Environment In Nigeria

The visiting President of Federal Republic of Germany, Mr Joachim Gauck, has advised the Nigerian Government to create the right investment environment for more German businesses.

Gauck made the call in Lagos at a reception held for him and members of delegation of German Parliament and German companies that visited Abuja and Lagos.

The German President, who expressed satisfaction at the successes so far made by German companies in Nigeria, said that it was imperative for Nigeria to evolve measures that would reduce trade barriers.

“My visit to Nigeria has offered me another opportunity to further deepen economic cooperation between Nigeria and Germany.

“I am particularly impressed by the successes so far achieved by German companies on ground in Nigeria.

“We will want the Nigerian government to create the right investment for more German investments by creating the right framework that will reduce trade barriers between us,’’ he said.

Gauck expressed the readiness of more German companies to offer their products to the Nigerian markets as well as willing to share Germans’ know-how with Nigerians.

The president also disclosed his government’s plan to strengthen cooperation with Nigeria in areas of infrastructure, energy, electricity and other sectors.

“Our cooperation will be deepened once we have been able to set up a bilateral chamber of commerce and industry which would then become the centre point for trade relationships.

“We will also be willing to share with Nigeria the experiences we have acquired over the years in trying to achieve a cooperative business exchange,’’ he said.(NAN)

FG CONDOLES VICTIMS OF DIKWA IDP CAMP SUICIDE BOMBING IN BORNO STATE

On behalf of the federal government of Nigeria, Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, expresses his profound condolences to the families of the victims of yesterday’s suicide bombing of an IDP camp in Dikwa, Borno State, and also the entire people and government of the state. His prayers are that the Almighty God will comfort them and grant the injured persons quick recovery.

The Vice President stated that it is indeed regrettable that the heartless terrorists chose to unleash their wickedness on people who were taking refuge from previous acts of destruction in their homes.

He reassured the nation that the full weight of the federal government’s force will be deployed to hunt down the perpetrators of this evil act and also to confront terrorists continuously in the protection of life, liberty and property of all Nigerians: there will be no hiding place for terrorists.

Prof. Osinbajo has given directives that formidable security in and around the IDP Camps in the country be beefed up and renewed measures put in place to guard against future occurrences.

Finally, the Vice President called on the people of Borno State and all Nigerians that the commitment of the federal government to safety of lives and property continues to be of paramount concern to the Buhari administration.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant-Media and Publicity

In the Office of the Vice President
February 10, 2016

US Elections: Carly Fiorina ends presidential bid

Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina is ending her bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

The former Hewlett-Packard executive announced the decision on Facebook Wednesday after finishing seventh in New Hampshire's primary.

"While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them," Fiorina said in a post.

The writing was on the wall after she didn't qualify for last week's ABC News debate, and a last-minute campaign on her behalf to allow her in was unsuccessful.

Fiorina's best moments of the campaign came in the first two presidential debates.

She shined in the "undercard" for the first debate, hosted by Fox News, earning enough of a bump in the polls to make the cut for the main stage in the second debate, hosted by CNN.

And then she handed in a strong enough performance in that debate to rise into the top-polling tier of GOP candidates.

Those poll bounces didn't stick, though -- fading slowly as Donald Trump dominated media attention, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz courted evangelicals and hard-line conservatives and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio worked to consolidate establishment Republicans.

Fiorina also found herself facing a barrage of criticism from Planned Parenthood and its allies after her characterization during one debate of the undercover videos assailing the organization's handling of fetal tissue proved inaccurate.

Her campaign was built on the argument that -- as a woman with a lengthy private-sector resume -- she was the Republican best suited to take on Hillary Clinton in a general election.

Fiorina's willingness to attack Clinton -- she once invited media to a press conference outside the same hotel in South Carolina where Clinton was holding an event just minutes later -- could keep her in the running for the vice presidential nomination.

Fiorina's disappointing performance in Iowa -- she received 2% support there -- was punctuated by her decision to skip her caucus-night party there, citing a snowstorm ahead, and head straight for the airport for her flight to New Hampshire.

The 2016 race was Fiorina's second bid for political office. She previously for California's Senate seat in 2010, but lost by 10 percentage points to incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Via: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/10/politics/carly-fiorina-drops-out-suspends-campaign/index.html?sr=twCNN021016carly-fiorina-drops-out-suspends-campaign0318PMVODtop

Court Jails Two for $5.5m Cash Smuggling

Roland & Chibuike

Two Nigerians, Ojukwu Nnamdi Roland and Ngene Linus Chibuike, arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos while attempting to smuggled $5, 424,270 USD out of the country, have been convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment respectively by Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

Rowland was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on  22 October, 2015, for being in  possession of  cash in the sum of US$2,917,272 (Two Million, Nine Hundred and Seventeen Thousand, Two Hundred and Seventy Two United States Dollars) during his outbound clearance for a journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Contrary to the requirements of the law, Rowland did not declare the money to men and officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and was subsequently arrested and arraigned before Justice Buba.

Rowland pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge preferred against him and the matter went into full trial. Justice Buba found him guilty and sentenced him to two years imprisonment. He also ordered that the convict should forfeit the entire sum of $2,917,272 USD (Two Million, Nine Hundred and Seventeen Thousand, Two Hundred and Seventy Two United States Dollars) to the Federal government.

Justice Buba said that the convict did not do the right thing by failing to declare the money to Customs officials. He ruled that the two years imprisonment should take effect from 9 February, 2016. 

Chibuike, on the other hand,  was arraigned on 22 October, 2015  for falsely declaring the sum of US$11,500 (Eleven Thousand and Five Hundred United States Dollars) out of the sum of $2,506,998 USD (Two Million, Five Hundred and Six Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety Eight United States Dollars) he had in his possession during an outbound clearance for a journey to China en-route Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Chibuike pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge raised against him and the matter went into full trial. Justice Buba found him guilty and sentenced him to two years imprisonment. He also ordered that the convict should forfeit the sum of $2,495, 498 ( Two Million, Four Hundred and Ninety- Five Thousand, Four Hundred and Ninety-Eight United States Dollars) not declared to the Customs Officials to the Federal government

He ruled that the two years imprisonment should take effect from 9 February, 2016. 

Presidency Reacts to Brouhaha Over Telegraph Interview

The State House has described as misconstrued, the various interpretations of President Muhammadu Buhari's comments in an interview granted to the UK's Telegraph newspaper on February 5, 2016.

In a statement released in Abuja on Tuesday, February 9, Malam Garba Shehu (Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity) noted that the wave of negative reactions to the President's remarks about the reputation of Nigerians abroad was as a result of an incomplete understanding of President Buhari's point.

"President Buhari was asked about the flood of migrants from Nigeria and the fraudulent applications for asylum put in by people desperate to leave their motherland at any cost, and it was this question that elicited his response," he said, encouraging Nigerians to avail themselves of a full text of the interview, which has now been made available on the Telegraph's website.

Malam Shehu added that it was preposterous for anyone to imagine that the President of Nigeria would describe all the citizens of the country he leads as criminals, when he himself is a Nigerian--obviously not a criminal--and when there are many Nigerians of honest living making their country proud all over the world.

"Unfortunately, there are also Nigerians giving their country a bad image abroad, and it is to those Nigerians that the President referred in his comments," he said, adding that people may play politics and online games with the President's comments, but the fact of the matter remains that Nigeria's reputation abroad has been severely damaged by her own citizens.

"These Nigerians who leave their country to go and make mischief on foreign shores have given the rest of us a bad reputation that we daily struggle to overcome."

Malam Shehu called attention to the many efforts of President Buhari to clean up the image of Nigeria, such as the war on corruption, stating that acknowledging you have a problem is the first step to preferring a solution.

"President Buhari is very aware of the problems the people of Nigeria face both at home and abroad, and he is not shying away from admitting them even as he focuses on solutions to bring them to a permanent end."

Garba Shehu
SSAP(Media and Publicity)
Abuja.09-02-16.

HALF A TRILLION NAIRA SOCIAL INVESTMENT ALLOCATION IN 2016 BUDGET UNPRECEDENTED - VP OSINBAJO

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT

PRESS RELEASE:

*Says access to healthcare is a poverty issue

Determined to ensure healthcare access to all Nigerians, the Buhari administration will put in place effective primary healthcare centers across the country, while also collaborating with international agencies to end HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country.

The indications were given today by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, while receiving a delegation of the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, led by its Executive Director, Mr. Michel Sidibe at the Presidential Villa.

According to the Vice President, access to healthcare is “a poverty issue, we must put it in that perspective.” He explained that it was for the same reasons that the Buhari administration put the “half a trillion Naira in the 2016 budget, the largest single budgetary item of any government ever on social investments programmes," that address poverty.

The Vice President was referring to the 6 social investment plans of the Buhari presidency which are:

*Creation of 500,000 teaching jobs for unemployed graduates
*370,000 youths to be taken through vocational training and skills acquisition and would be paid while doing so
*Conditional Cash Transfer programme where one million extremely poor Nigerians would be paid N5000 per month in 2016
*Homegrown School Feeding programme where the federal government provides one-meal-a-day to primary school pupils across the country
*Free Education for tertiary education students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
*A one-time N60,000 loan to market women, artisans and traders through a Micro Credit scheme using the Bank of Industry.

All the programmes have been provided for in the 2016 budget, the Vice President restated, and they are means of reducing poverty and vulnerabilities. He stated that access to treatment by patients of HIV/AIDS as in other diseases is an equality issue “because the vast majority of people who need help are those who can’t afford it.”

He said the federal government will ramp up funding for healthcare in the country and work with the UN to eliminate Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV/AIDS, expanding treatment for patients and spurring local manufacture of the Anti retroviral drugs, the three major issues the UNAIDS director tabled before him at the meeting.

Sidibe said there is a good opportunity for Nigeria, which is the second largest HIV endemic country in the world to beat the disease. He said already there is a decline in new HIV infections in the country and that about 800,000 people in the country are undergoing treatment. He said ending HIV infection in Nigeria will send a positive message across the world. But he noted that there are still 50,000 babies born yearly in the country with HIV infection, a situation he noted “is unnecessary.”

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant-Media & Publicity
In the Office of the Vice President.
February 9, 2016

Lamido Sanusi criticises Nigerian President Buhari's naira policy

Image copyright Images

Image captionLamido Sanusi was Nigeria's central bank governor from 2009 to 2014

Respected former head of Nigeria's Central Bank Lamido Sanusi has said the government should end its policy of trying to maintain the value of the currency, the naira.

Mr Sanusi said the drawbacks of the policy "far outweigh its dubious benefits", the Financial Times reports.

President Muhammadu Buhari told the BBC last week that he was not convinced of the need to "murder" the naira.

The falling oil price has put pressure on his currency policy.

The authorities are keeping the official naira rate at around 200 to the US dollar, but the black market rate is closer to 300.

Africa Live: BBC news updates

Nigeria's supercar sellers hit by economic slow-down

The government relies on oil exports for vital foreign exchange and the declining price means there are fewer dollars in the country.

Image copyright

Image captionThe value of the naira is much lower on the black market

"The government does not have the reserves to keep the exchange rate at its official level in the market," Mr Sanusi told the Financial Times.

The policy has "never worked" wherever it has been tried, he added.

But Mr Buhari told the BBC that he is yet to be convinced that he should allow the currency to be devalued.

In an effort to sustain the policy, the government has imposed currency restrictions, and halted the importation of certain goods in order to stop dollars leaving the country.

Mr Sanusi was the central bank governor from 2009 to 2014, when he was suspended by then-President Goodluck Jonathan following a row over corruption in the oil sector.

He is now the emir of Kano, an influential religious post among Muslims in Nigeria.

Via: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35522635