Day: May 21, 2024

The Enugu State Government has said that plans are underway to revamp the 85 abandoned tourist sites spread across the state.

The Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Ugochi Madueke, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Monday.

Madueke said that the ministry would complete the development of 10 of the 85 tourist sites before the end of the year.

According to her, Gov. Peter Mbah’s vision is to make the state culture and tourism destination of the world.

‘The ministry is working to develop, sustain and showcase the tourism potentials of the state to the world for revenue, employment, leisure through smart and result-oriented policies.’

Madueke said that the ministry would partner the vigilance groups in the host communities, in addition to other security measures to secure the sites.

‘We will use the local vigilance groups, in addition to security agencies in the state,’ she said.

She listed the tourist sites to include Awhum Water Fall, Ezimo Water Fall, Eze
agu Hot-and-Cold Stream, the cave, called Ebe Chukwu Bili in Oha, Ezeagu, Obiara Ohu Water Fall in Awgu, Osum Water Fall in Awgu Nta and Akpawfu Lake in Enugu East, among others.

‘We have also discovered an age-long Pyramid at Nsude in Udi Local Government Area and we are putting necessary infrastructure, access roads and social amenities to give a facelift to the sites.

‘The ministry will put amenities, such as toilets, food court and street lights in place at the sites.

‘Awhum needs a resort because of the monastery there to make it a religious tourism site, where people will visit like Pilgrimage,’ she said.

Madueke further disclosed that the ministry was working to amend the law establishing it to boost its revenue.

‘The ministry does not generate revenue before now but with the administration of Mbah, which said that 20 per cent of the 30 billion dollars target of the state would come from tourism, we are trying to develop our tourist sites for influx of people.

‘We tend to generate that 20 per ce
nt from the tourist sites as our revenue currently comes from our cultural troupe,’ the commissioner said.

She said that the major challenge confronting the ministry was paucity of funds.

She urged the people to support Mbah’s efforts to develop the state.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The National Union of Nigerian Associations in Italy (NUNAI) has solicited the support of the Federal Ministry of Interior for a seamless passport process to its members.

The National President of the union, Mr Rowland Ndukuba, made the appeal on Monday in Abuja, when he led members of NUNAI on a courtesy visit to the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.

Ndukuba said that there were about 19,000 regular migrants in Italy, adding if the numbers of those on irregular basis were added the figure would be over 200,000.

According to him, most of these people are being trafficked to Italy, meaning that they are always in huge difficulty getting a Nigerian passport back home.

‘In Italy, if you don’t have a document, you can’t own a house, you can’t go to the hospital, nor can you even send your children to school,’ he said.

He explained that these were the major reasons why they chose to visit the minister for his support to ensure Nigerians in Italy have easy access to Nigerian passports.

‘As you all
know, Italy has a population of about 59 million people, with so many islands and Nigerians are living in these areas.

‘For instance for somebody living in Calabria, which is really outskirt of the capital Rome, where the Nigerian Embassy is situated, to come to the embassy in Rome for capturing, will take him or her some days to do that.

‘And these usually result to serious expenses to the family, and you know, Nigerians in Italy are not as rich as the Nigerians in Canada, U.S. and in the UK.”

All these difficulties, he said, informed their visit to the minister to plead with him for a seamless process to take-off the strenuous burden on them.

‘However, since we came to office in 2021, through the help of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), and the Nigerian Embassy, most of the problems associated with passports have been at least 60 per cent resolved.

‘We owe this thanks to the ministry, and NIS, who did marvelously well to visit more than 40 cities in Italy and captured more than 14,000 Nigerians,
‘he said.

In his response, the minister promised that rather than establishing a passport front office for them in Italy, which was one of their requests, the Federal Government would soon deploy technology to ease passport problems.

‘Latest by the end of May, we are going to deploy cutting-edge technology to ease all the difficulties associated with getting a Nigerian passport.

‘We are going to kick-start the pilot scheme in countries like Canada, Italy, and the UK among others.

‘Therefore, the idea of establishing a front office in Italy cannot be granted because we will in no distant time deploy technology to take care of the difficulties.

‘By that time, people can even at the comfort of their homes do whatever they want to do regarding the Nigerian passport with their cellphones,’ the minister said.

Tunji-Ojo, also refused to grant their request to give those irregular Nigerian migrants in Italy a lifeline on return back to the country.

‘In October 2023, I was in Palermo and this issue was raised i
n a bilateral meeting between myself and the Minister of Interior of Italy, and I told him you people should not even try it.

‘If you do, I will not support it because it will send a bad signal to the upcoming generations,’he added.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Matthew Burkaa, SAN, counsel to Mrs Ogooluwa Aondo, has petitioned Minister of Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu, over alleged discrimination in offering admission to Caleb, son to his client by Loyola Jesuit College (LJC) in Abuja.

Burkaa, in the letter dated May 17 and a copy made available to newsmen on Monday in Abuja, urged the minister to intervene in the matter.

He expressed disappointment over the way Caleb was disqualified after his successful performance.

The lawyer said that Caleb had a successful performance in the 2024/2025 JSS1 Entrance Examination and was ranked 29th out of approximately 6,000 students.

He said the 11-year-old boy was allegedly denied admission after encountering obstacles in the cause of payment and admission confirmation process.

He contended that Caleb met all requirements, including excelling in the interview process, yet faced undue barriers in securing his place at the prestigious institution.

The senior lawyer, therefore, called for the restoration of Caleb’s admission wi
thin seven days, along with the return of his personal belongings held by the school.

He said Caleb’s constitutional rights must be upheld and the principle of equal educational opportunities for all students, regardless of background or ethnicity, must be ensured.

According to him, there is a need for accountability and the protection of students’ rights in Nigeria’s education system.

‘The family of Master Caleb Aondo is seeking a directive from the Ministry to Loyola Jesuit College to reverse its decision preventing Caleb from paying the registration fee less than 24 hours before the deadline, despite his successful admission for the 2024/2025 academic session.’

Burkaa also demanded that the school should return the aggrieved student’s birth certificate to his guardians for safekeeping.

When the school was contacted, a security officer, who simply identified herself as Deborah, acknowledged that the school was in receipt of the letter.

She, however, said the principal who was expected to respond to th
e inquiry had travelled outside the country.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has commenced the final stage of the selection process for the award of the 2023/2024 overseas scholarship to qualified Nigerians.

The Head of Overseas Scholarship Scheme, Mrs Bolanle Agboola, told newsmen on Monday in Abuja that only qualified candidates would be awarded.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the PTDF on February 5 put out an advert inviting qualified Nigerians to apply for the 2024/2025 Postgraduate Overseas Scholarship Scheme (OSS).

The physical Interview exercise for shortlisted candidates in the two categories (MSc/PhD) is scheduled to be held between May 20 and 24 in six designated centres across the country’s six geo-political zones.

According to Agboola, the exercise is not just held in Abuja. We have a centre for the South-South at the University of Port Harcourt; and for South-West, the University of Ibadan.

Agboola said, ‘For the South-East, we have University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus; for North-West we have College of P
etroleum and Energy Studies in Kaduna; and for the North-East we have ATBU, Bauchi.

‘The exercise is running concurrently in all the six geo-political zones of the county and our target is to select the best candidates for the scholarship.’

She disclosed that more than 20,000 applications were received, out of which over 5,000 were shortlisted across the zones.

Agboola explained that PTDF was an agency of the Federal Government charged with the responsibility of building capacity and capability for the oil and gas industry.

‘The purpose of this is for the indigenisation of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

‘Our target is to give the necessary skills and provide the opportunity for Nigerians to acquire the knowledge, skills and competence required for the oil and gas industry.

‘Note that every state of the nation will get an equal number of candidates based on our budget for the year,’ she said.

On the reason for the overseas training, Agboola explained that it was due to the non-availability of most o
f the high level equipment needed for the training in the country.

‘So, we train people abroad, so they can have hands-on experience of all the equipment and technology needed for the industry which is not readily available in the country.

‘Aside from the overseas scholarship we also have the in-country scholarship where Nigerians are trained within Nigeria.

‘We have upgraded the facilities of some universities in the country to some level and we partner with these universities to run the scholarship,” she added.

Speaking on the ‘Japa syndrome’, Agboola said that the PTDF had some measures in place to ensure that the candidates returned back to the country upon completion of their training.

She added,’What we do is that the applicants sign bonds with us before going abroad. Also some of these countries we send them to do not allow them to stay back.

‘Once you have sponsorship from a government agency, if you want to get a stay visa, they will ask you to go back to your sponsor for a letter of no object
ion.

‘So these are some of the measures that are in place and I can tell you that lots of them come back.”

Agboola said the PTDF was partnering with four countries which the candidates would be sent to for training, adding that they included the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Malaysia.

Meanwhile, one of the shortlisted candidates, Amira Bello from Niger, expressed delight at the seamless nature and smoothness of the exercise.

Bello, who expressed optimism that she would be awarded to further her studies in Project Management, urged other Nigerians to key into the process to benefit from the scheme.

‘I have been hearing about the PTDF scholarship and did not know that it was possible until now. The whole process has been fair and smooth.

‘I encourage Nigerians out there to apply for this scholarship, as they stand the chance to qualify as the process is based on merit,’ she said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), says the Federal Government is committed to deepening bilateral ties and investment opportunities with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Lokpobiri said this on Monday when he received Mr Salem Al Shamsi, the UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, and his delegation in his office.

The minister said the visit and was expected to further strengthen the ties between Nigeria and the UAE, fostering greater cooperation and mutual benefits in the energy sector.

He described the visit as a demonstration of the enduring diplomatic relationship between Nigeria and the UAE, adding that he has been interfacing with his counterpart in the UAE to boost the relationship.

He commended the recent bilateral agreement to restore visa issuance for Nigerians, which had been on hold.

He attributed this achievement to the dedication of President Bola Tinubu, whose efforts were pivotal in reinstating this important service.

He acknowledged that the restoration of visa serv
ices was significant given the high volume of travel between Nigeria and the UAE.

He emphasised Nigeria’s commitment to increasing oil production, stating that while Nigeria was not in a rush to transition from oil, the country was actively seeking to enhance its production capabilities.

‘We are focused on ramping up our oil production; at the same time, we are inviting UAE investors to look at Nigeria as a prime destination. Our business environment is friendly, and our crude deposits are vast.

‘We need to create more opportunities for investments to come in so that we can create the requisite funding for us to be able to finance our transition,’ he said.

The Minister highlighted the benefits of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which provides a robust legal framework that guarantees returns on investments and has significantly reshaped the oil and gas sector.

Lokpobiri said the PIA ensured a secure and profitable investment climate, making Nigeria an attractive location for investors.

‘Nigeria has eno
rmous investment opportunities. Our pipelines need renewal. The pipelines have been there for over 50 years. Nigeria found oil in commercial quantity in 1956/58.

‘From then till now, it’s almost 70 years and most of those pipelines were built around that time, so they have already outlived their lifespan.

‘Even if you have the capacity to produce, you need to evacuate to the terminals where you could do export.

‘So, it’s an opportunity we are actually looking up to for potential investors from the UAE to come and invest and recover their money through those investments,’ he said.

He said Nigeria should be doing more 37 billion barrel of crude, stating that the current administration had emphasised the need to resume drilling campaigns to ensure more discoveries.

Responding, Al Shamsi said he could see great potential in Nigeria’s energy sector and appreciated the steps being taken to create a conducive investment environment.

He said the technical teams from the Ministry and the UAE Embassy would need t
o interface and explore areas of collaboration and partnership between the two countries.

‘Our countries have much to gain from continued collaboration,’ he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The German government has said that poverty is not responsible for illegal migration to Europe.

The German Ambassador to Nigeria, Mrs Annett Gunther, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

According to her, poverty cannot be the root cause of irregular migration because people who migrate to Europe are not the poorest citing the North East as an example.

‘The people who migrate to Europe are not the poorest.

‘You have a situation where people from the very poor like in North East Nigeria where there is conflict and poverty, amongst others.

‘What happens there is displacement; regional migration.

‘They go to neighbouring countries because they cannot afford to go to Europe.

‘They do not have the money for the agents who smuggle them through illegal routes.

‘The people who have the money and decide to go to Europe are usually kind of educated and have some money. They’re not the poorest.

‘I will not say poverty is the root cause of migration either legal or illegal.

‘Many people who migrate – even if they are not the poorest – are still looking for a better life – better life for their children, better education and others,’ she said

She stressed the need for the government to address the shortage or lack of basic amenities such as health, education, security, and jobs, to tackle illegal migration to Europe.

She said that the provision of basic social amenities would reduce the desire by young people to risk their lives going through the wrong and dangerous routes to get to Europe in search of greener pastures.

‘I think we have to work on that – what we can call the root causes of illegal migration. The government should try to give them what they are looking for.

‘And I think the current government is very much aware of these problems and is working on them.

‘These are the areas we have to work on, to provide the services that these people are looking for in their country, to develop the Nigerian economy and also provide those jobs that the young people are lookin
g for in Europe,’ she said.

Speaking further, the envoy stated that Germany is exploring legal ways by which migrants can come to the country.

‘Legal migration is perfectly okay because Germany is also looking to boost its workforce.

‘That is why we want to open up more legal ways to prevent people from taking the risk and following those potentially deadly routes through the Mediterranean Sea and others.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria