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The Mistake Of Courting Chinese Investors In Aviation

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When it comes to aviation, Nigeria seems to repeat the same mistakes with an appalling consistency and accuracy.

The announcement on Tuesday by the Minister of Aviation, Stella Adaeze Oduah, that Nigeria has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China for the delivery of four new international airport terminals in a record time of 20 months and at a cost of  $ 500 million, seems like deja-vu.

The Ministry said China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, CCECC, would construct the four new international terminals in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano airports. The commencement of construction work on the terminals had been on hold pending the formal signing of the loan deal, which will be financed by the Chinese EXIM Bank, the Ministry announced.

Now that the deal has been signed, authorities said, construction is likely to commence in earnest. Many are already commending the Minister for the new project. The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala said the Federal Government was elated that the loan deal for the financing of the construction of the terminals has finally been sealed.

She said airports, as the country’s gateways are critical not only as drivers of the socio-economic development of Nigeria, but also an outward reflection of the character of any nation. However, while the ministry is seeking loan and investors in China, Nigerian investors remain unmoved.

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, is at war with virtually all the main local concessionaires at the country’s airports. FAAN last year stormed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and evicted Maevis Nigeria Limited, its revenue concessionaire in Lagos and Abuja airports. Despite a court injunction, FAAN claimed Maevis contract was a backdoor agreement and had to cancel it. The agency also accused Maevis of not respecting the term of the contract, which the latter had repeatedly denied and had even approached a court for arbitration.

But FAAN could not wait for the law to take its course and it cancelled the concession agreement all together. FAAN is also battling Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, builders and managers of MMA2 terminal in Lagos. The Federal Government agency is also in court with AIC Limited, its land concessionaire.

Many other agreements in the past have been cancelled once a new administration came in. Over the years, FAAN seemed quick at signing deals or contracts but also quick at cancelling them. We do not believe it is right to drive away local investors and bring in foreign investors, most times, for the same projects. It is not the right way to go.

Besides, many are wondering if building four new terminals at our four international airports is the right focus for now, especially as it comes shortly after spending billions of naira to upgrade the same terminals. The current administration seems to be trying to do so many things at the same time in the aviation industry at a cost running into billions of naira.

Recently, the ministry  announced that it intended to buy over 30 planes for struggling Nigerian airlines, even though the airlines had not requested for planes. The ministry also announced that it wanted to buy many planes for a new national carrier, even though most countries in the world have realised that government has no business in aviation business. The authorities have also said they are remodelling eleven airports in the country and are seeking to build 13 perishable cargo terminals at the same time. The ministry has also said that it wants to build airport cities across the country.

The latest announcement on building four terminals at the four international airports is only one of these series of announcements. We are wondering if the government is not putting too much on its plate at the same time. We believe that with only 2 percent of Nigerians using our airports, an even greater attention should be paid to other projects such as the construction of roads, efficient fast rail system, schools and hospitals among other things.

Spending all our resources on aviation to service only the super rich while the rest of Nigerians are stuck in squalor and hopelessness is not right.

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

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Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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