NIGERIA: U.S. Begins $119M Embassy Annex Project In Abuja

By Emmanuel Okubenji/Daily Times/Nigeria

The U.S., on Friday, commenced the construction of its embassy annex which will accommodate three of its agencies in the Diplomatic Drive, Central Area, Abuja.

The Ambassador, Terence McCulley, at the ground breaking ceremony said that the project, which will cover 7,500 square metres, would cost 119 million dollars.

McCulley said that the building will house the US Agency for International Development, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Defence.

He also listed a five-level parking garage, a swimming pool and a marine security guard quarters as part of the project.

"Many of these team members work out of other office buildings, and must travel to the Chancery building for regular meetings," he said.

"After the completion of this annex, they won’t have to leave this property for meetings. Their trips farther afield will be simplified within a coherent support structure. This effort will also improve the conditions under which we all work."

The envoy said the initiative was a signal that the US considered Nigeria as an important partner.

"Our presence here is critical to maintaining that partnership. It is also a sign that the US is solidifying its commitment to staying engaged in Nigeria."

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru, said the timing of the project was important, given the nation’s current security challenges.

"America believes in Nigeria and its future, and takes a long term view on our relations. We will continue to work together for the success of our Bi-National Commission," Ashiru said.

The Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, said the new construction further indicated that Abuja was a safe destination for investment and tourism.

He commended the embassy for its contribution to the city’s development.

The event was witnessed by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger and members of the diplomatic corps.

The U.S. embassy in Nigeria was moved to Abuja in 2000. It still maintains a consulate in Lagos and plans to open one in Kano soon.

Nigerian Leaders Pay $2,500 A Night To Sleep With Teenage Chinese Girls

Recent discovery by Saturday Sun has revealed that it is not only Chinese products that are flooding Nigeria’s market. Teenage Chinese girls are also now flown into the country to satisfy the sexual urge of big time spenders , thereby bringing a new dimension to the age long prostitution business. Ironically, while Chinese products are the cheapest in Nigerian markets, only the rich and other high net worth individuals can afford the commercial sex service provided by these Chinese girls.
S
aturday Sun investigations revealed that a Chinese couple is running the sex ring from a twin duplex building and another two flats service apartments on Emina Crescent, off Toyin Street, in Ikeja, Lagos State. The two buildings are a few poles apart. Findings further revealed that over 40 Chinese girls are camped in the two apartments, where top government officials, business executives and expatriates pick them for a fee not less than $1, 000 for a round of sex or $2, 500 for long hours, such as overnight sex romps.

Weeks of monitoring and investigation of the syndicate also revealed that about 15 of the girls camped in the flats are usually moved from that location at about 6pm daily to join the others camped in the twin duplex on the same street, from where big clients will either come or send their drivers to pick them. Two chauffeur-driven vehicles dedicated to this task include a cream Toyota Sienna bus and a black Nissan Infiniti SUV, both registered in Lagos.

Usually, it’s always a beehive of activities on the street in the evening, as state-of-the-art cars come and go with the girls. A source within the syndicate told Saturday Sun that the teenage girls are recruited by the Chinese couple through their partners in China, with the promise of factory jobs in Chinese firms in Nigeria and all expenses paid holidays. Thereafter, fake documents are prepared for the girls and with the connivance of embassy officials, short-term visas are granted them. It was further learnt that some of the girls are packaged to travel from China to some other African countries, from where they are smuggled into the country. The source: “Some of the girls were brought in through Ethiopia. I can’t explain how, but I know Master travels there often. More often, most of the girls usually sourced from poor homes are only made to face the reality after some days in Nigeria when they would have seen how the other girls they meet on ground count dollars every morning when they come back from ‘night duty.’

The sight of dollars and other free gifts they are exposed to have a way of forcing them to fall in line quickly. “Sometimes, you have some of the girls that may want to prove stubborn, the ‘Master’ (as the sex cartel kingpin is referred to by his Nigerian domestic aides while the girls call him “Boss”) will start by forcing such to drink hot drinks, like Hennessy or Champagne and smoke cigarette. Some will vomit all through the night after being forced to take more than their strength can take. “The Master can thereafter decide to initiate such stubborn girls by sleeping with them himself and in the process will beat them seriously in the night to make them succumb.”

Saturday Sun further gathered that the kingpin of the ring, who is assisted by his wife and two other Chinese young men, in addition to about five Nigerian domestic aides, who either serve as drivers or cleaners, make an average of $100,000 in a week on the 40 girls, as all services, both long and short term sex, are paid for in dollars. “The girls are entitled to half of what they get from the men while our Master takes the remaining half, as return on his investments on them. The girls cannot afford to play smart because they don’t understand English language, which is the language of many of the customers. He and his wife are also in control of their international passports and telephones. They help the girls to reply text messages sent to them in English by customers because the girls don’t understand English, while the customers think they are chatting with the girls sometimes it is the Master and his wife that they are actually chatting with,” the source disclosed.

He added that the demand for the girls is usually high between Friday and Sunday, while the demand for week days, from Monday to Thursday, only takes care of about half of the girls. According to the source, “the girls can go as many as seven rounds of sex overnight because they are very young and that is why our Master gives them up to 20 pieces of imported Chinese condoms any time they are going out with a customer. Apart from their ability for many rounds of sex, they are also under instruction from the Master to always wear two condoms any time they are having sex because of the fear of HIV/AIDS.”

It was also learnt that requests for the Chinese girls come from high quarters across the country. “The Master and madam travel with the girls to supply to some highly placed people in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt and other places in all parts of the country, but because we don’t go with them on such trips, we don’t know how much is charged for that, but it can’t be less than $5, 000,” the source added. To cover their tracks, the couple behind the sex cartel had to seal the windows in the apartments where the girls are camped with acoustic materials, so that no voice can be heard from neighbouring premises, while the vehicles used to move the girls are also tinted, to shield them from being noticed.

The two premises are also devoid of movements, while only eagle-eyed domestic aides are stationed outside the gates to monitor movements and attend to enquiries from prospective customers. As at press time, Saturday Sun was unable to get spokesman for the immigration service in Lagos, but a senior immigration officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the service is poised to rid Nigeria of any immigrant who fails to abide by the country’s laws. “We have repatriated a lot of them. The security situation in the country is in a precarious state and the Nigerian immigration would do all it takes to reduce to its barest minimum the number of illegal immigrants and those who fraudulently find their way into Nigeria. We will also welcome any information that can help us to achieve this aim,” he added.
SOURCE: Online Nigeria

NIGERIA: Some Dana Air Crash Victims Identified

Relatives of the Ill-fated Lagos-bound Dana Air checking the manifest with journalists at the Dana Airport Office, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida/Vanguard

According to Vanguard newspaper reports, names on the Dana Airplane's manifest includes: Onyeka Anyiene, Humra Lawal, Manuma. Ayune, Berki Sumyindadi, Ebuka Enuma, Oluchi Onyia, Sunday O, George Moses, Ogechi Njoku, Nsa Anyere, Kasmisgona Anyene, Stanford Obrutse, Kayinetochi Anyene, Okeke Hope, Kaimarachi Anyene, Rev. Ayodeji Cole, Ngozi, Noah Anyene, Ailendi Ehi, Oluwasegun Funmi Abiodun, Shehu Saad Usman, Aladi Martins, Auta Jennifer, Auta Josephine, Ike Achonogor, Joy Alison, John Ahmadu, Agu Rogers, Tatokin Anjola, Tatokin Idris, Abdulrasat Lawa, Abitayo Olatoci, Adekoya Ayoola, Amina Doris, Elizabeth Adaeze, Ajala Adenike, Adekunbi Adebiyi. Three generals (names unconfirmed) of the Nigerian Army were also said to have been on board the plane.

NIGERIA: Lagos Plane Crash, 153 People Feared Dead

All 153 passengers and crew are believed dead according to an eye witness speaking to reporters. Witnesses on the site of the crash said there were no survivors. The plane hit a two-storey building, state emergency official Femi Oke-Osanyinpolu said according to AP news agency. Another official was quoted as saying the Dana Air flight was heading from Lagos to Abuja.

IMAGES COURTESY OF NIGERIAN EYE

Draft Of Nigeria Oil Bill Being Finalized

Photo: Akintunde Akinleye.Reuters, May 24, 2012

ABUJA/LAGOS (Reuters) - A new draft of Nigeria's long delayed oil bill, whose passage is needed to unblock billions of dollars of stalled investment into exploration and production, will be finalized this week, sources close to the matter said on Thursday.

A copy of the 200-page Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) obtained by Reuters includes plans to partly privatize and list the state oil firm, tax oil company profits at 20 percent for deep offshore and 50 percent for shallow or onshore, and give the oil minister supervisory powers over all institutions in the industry.

Current oil firm profit taxes are not published. A spokesman for Nigeria's leading operator Shell said he did not know what current tax rates were.

The PIB has been years in the making and the delays have caused uncertainty over the future framework of working in Nigeria, costing the industry billions of dollars of potential investment and the government much-needed revenues. Without it, most analysts expect oil production in Nigeria to decline substantially over the next few years.

Nigeria exports more than 2 million barrels a day (bpd) of crude oil popular with U.S. buyers because it is light and easy to refine. China and India are also growing takers of Nigerian crude.

Even when this version gets to parliament, there is no guarantee lawmakers will push it through, as powerful vested interests could block or delay it, as has happened in the past.

President Goodluck Jonathan is explicitly behind this version, and it was drawn up by a taskforce of senators his administration appointed, but even though his party has a majority in both houses of parliament it could still stall.

The bill as drafted would also roll Nigeria's various regulatory bodies for upstream and downstream into one, and give Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke power to pick who runs it. Placing all institutions concerned with oil under her supervision may upset those who hoped the bill would curb her already substantial powers. Previously the downstream regulator was independent of the ministry.

Alison-Madueke signed a 20-year oil license in February with U.S. oil giant Exxon on one of Nigeria's largest oil assets, which produces over 500,000 barrels per day, but the terms were kept private.

This license renewal comes despite the minister saying for years that the delay to the PIB was holding contracts like these up. Alison-Madueke said this week that similar renewals with Shell and Chevron would be signed by June.

It is not clear whether those licenses include exemptions from any change of terms brought about by the new PIB.

(Reporting by Joe Brock and Tim Cocks, editing by William Hardy)

Boko Haram Targets Northern Govt. Properties

The Islamic sect, Boko Haram has issued new threats warning the 19 governors of northern Nigeria to be prepared as properties of government in their respective states and in Abuja, the nation’s capital, are their next target of attack. The group said they would soon begin to carry out deadly attacks on all government establishments in northern Nigeria and Abuja, warning that such properties should be evacuated in preparation for the attacks.

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NIGERIA: Armed Forces Ready For Any Crisis - Minister

Soldiers operating an armour tank during Combat Arms Training Week at Victor Kure Firing Range in Bauchi on Thursday (17/5/12). NAN Photo

ABUJA—Defence Minister, Dr. Bello Mohammed, said, yesterday, that the Armed Forces were in a state of combat readiness needed to surmount all issues of insecurity, internal or external. He said government has ensured this by funding the requirements of the different arms of the military.

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Nigeria President Unlikely To Risk Oil Graft Crackdown

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is coming under pressure to prosecute top officials implicated in a $6.8 billion fuel subsidy fraud, but many of the suspects are allies he is unlikely to go after if wants to keep his power base intact.
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How Shell funded militants -Report •It’s not true -Shell

By Olawale Rasheed, Nigerian Tribune

OIL giant, Shell, has been accused of fueling human rights abuses in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria by paying money and awarding contracts to armed militants, according to a new report published on Monday in London by a coalition of local and international non-governmental organizations, led by a London based NGO, the Platform.

Entitled “Counting the Cost,” the report implicated Shell in cases of serious violence in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region from 2000 to 2010, detailing how Shell’s routine payments to armed militants exacerbated conflicts and led to the destruction of Rumuekpe town.

Shell was also accused of collaborating with the state in the execution in 1995 of writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa and other leaders of the Ogoni tribe.

Shell was said to have paid $15.5 million to the eight families in settlement, and key documents implicating it never saw the light of day during the trial.

Shell has, however, disputed the report, defending its human rights record and questioning the accuracy of the evidence, even while it has pledged to study the recommendations, according to its London office.

The coalition backing the report includes Center for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), Friends of the Earth Netherlands/Milieudefensie, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Social Action, Spin-watch and Stakeholder Democracy Network.

According to Platform’s report, Shell continues to rely on Nigerian government forces, which have perpetrated systematic human rights abuses against local residents, including unlawful killings, torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.

Key findings of the report include testimonies of contracts that implicated Shell in regularly assisting armed militants with lucrative payments, such as an alleged transfer of over $159,000 to a group credibly linked to militia violence in late 2010.

Shell was also alleged to have, from 2006 onwards, paid thousands of dollars every month to armed militants in the town of Rumuekpe, in the full knowledge that the money was used to sustain three years of conflict.

Platform’s investigation alleged that government forces, hired by Shell, perpetrated atrocities against local civilians. (Shell disputes the report, but has pledged to study the recommendations).

Last year, Shell was said to have transferred more than $159,000 to a group credibly linked to militia violence.

One gang member, Chukwu Azikwe, told Platform that “we were given money and that is the money we were using to buy ammunition, to buy this bullet, and every other thing to eat and to sustain the war,” adding that his gang and its leader, S. K. Agala, had vandalized Shell pipelines.

“They will pay ransom. Some of them in the management will bring out money, dole out money into this place, in cash,” he said.

Platform alleged that in Rumuekpe, ”the main artery of Shell’s eastern operations in Rivers State,” Shell distributed “community development” funds and contracts via Friday Edu, a youth leader and Shell community liaison officer.

By 2005, Mr Edu’s monopoly over the resources of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) was reported to have sparked a leadership tussle with Agala’s group, with the latter reportedly forced out of the community and a number of people killed.

The allegations, according to Platform, were largely substantiated by a Shell official, adding that a manager with Shell confirmed that in 2006, one of the most violent years, Shell awarded six types of contract in Rumuekpe.

Rumuekpe is just one of several case studies examined by the report, which alleged that in 2009 and 2010, security personnel guarding Shell facilities were responsible for extra-judicial killings and torture in Ogoniland.

Meanwhile, a Nigerian environmental activist, Sunny Ofehe, standing trial in The Netherlands for alleged plot to bomb pipelines in the Niger Delta, has cried out, saying “I am not a terrorist or suicide bomber.”

In an e-mail made available to the Nigerian Tribune, Ofehe, who is also the founder of Hope for Niger Delta Campaign, said his travail was traceable to the parliamentary testimonies he gave at the Dutch parliament about degradation of Niger Delta environment by Shell Oil and other oil majors.

“I have been campaigning against environmental devastation of our people’s environment for many years and testified at the Dutch Parliament against Shell in a parliamentary hearing, where Shell was summoned to defend its practice in the region,” he said.

He said less than a month after the hearing, “a team of about 30 policemen came to my house and arrested me on trumped-up charges and I was detained for 14 days before being released, but remained a suspect, adding that “when they could not establish a case against me, they came up with a new charge of conspiracy to commit terror act by blowing oil pipelines belonging to Shell in the Niger Delta.

“I became the first person to be charged under this law since it came into effect in 2004. I appeared in court for the first time on September 5 and we now have a new hearing date of December 5, 2011.”

Nigeria: Can Law Makers Adjust To Pay Cut?

By Chibuzo Ukaibe, Leadership Nigeria


Running the bicameral legislature in Nigeria is very expensive. Since 1999, the running cost of the National Assembly and the states houses of assemblies have been rising to intolerable level with Nigerians crying blue murder. After succumbing to pressures by Nigerians to cut their jumbo package, Chibuzo Ukaibe, in this piece looks at whether lawmakers of the national assembly can adjust to the new development.

When the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi declared that legislators gulped a huge chunk of the national budget- an amazing 25 percent- it sparked off a tirade from virtually all sectors of the country.

From the academic community to the civil society, the legislators came under intense criticisms. The criticisms were anchored on the larger than life lifestyle they live which was a sharp contrast to the pervasive squalor of those they represent.

It was unhealthy for the country and its economy which is stifled under the weight of a crippled power sector, lethargic infrastructure and massive unemployment.

The outcry was further intensified by renowned scholar of Law, Professor Itse Sagay who said Nigerian federal legislators are the highest paid legislators in the globe, and that their salaries and allowances represent a cruel anomaly in the country’s democratic governance.

Putting it in perspective, he noted that the Nigerian Senate President earned N88.33 million per month while his deputy earned N50 million, comparing their pay with what US President Barrack Obama who “earns $400,000 per annum while British Prime Minister David Cameron goes home with 190,000 pounds.”

According to Sagay, the anomaly is a breach of public trust. “A senator earns N240 million ($1.7 million) in salaries and allowances while his House of Representatives counterpart earns about N204 million ($1.45 million) per annum,” Sagay said.
The erudite Professor said an American senator “earns $174, 000 while a UK parliamentarian earns about $64, 000 per annum, which is very low compared to that of Nigerian lawmakers when compared with what their colleagues earn in the United States and United Kingdom.”

“In spite of the dismal standard of living, poverty of the country and low income per capita of the country, Nigerian legislators in Abuja have awarded themselves the highest salaries and allowances in the world. In 2009, the federal legislators received a total of N102.8 billion comprising N11.8 billion as salaries and N90.96 billion as non taxable allowances,”

He described it as a tragic situation that is clearly unsustainable, saying the anomaly “is seriously endangering our democracy.”

It is alleged that these hardly include expenses incurred on duty tours and estacode, as well as the allocations that come from ‘oversight functions’ and ‘lobbying.

But the legislature has explained that there is actually a difference between what people describe as jumbo pay and the actual earnings of the members which are fixed by Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

According to the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, at a press conference in July: “My pay has not been cut. My salary has not been cut because salaries are fixed by Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

“What has been cut is our overheads, our running cost, what you people refer to as jumbo pay. I want to be categorical that the salaries of National Assembly members have not been cut. We earn about the same salaries as ministers and Supreme Court Judges and I am not aware that their salaries have been cut.
“So if we are earning jumbo pay then it means that ministers and Supreme Court Judges are also earning jumbo pay. What has been cut is the over head cost of the National Assembly. It was a decision of the National Assembly.

“We committed ourselves to reducing the cost of governance. If you recall when Mr President came to present the 2011 budget, the president of the Senate made a commitment that this National Assembly was going to do everything in its power to reduce the cost of governance.

“And that we are going to show the example, so we have taken the lead by reducing the cost of running the National Assembly and we are hoping that the other arms of government will follow.

“Our responsibility is to the Federal Government. But at every level of governance in this country, let me put it this way; that every level of government is implicated in the high cost of governance, from the council right up to the Federal Government. So we believe that the states also play a role in ensuring that the cost of governance comes down.”

Chairman of the House ad-hoc committee on media, Mr. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele corroborated Ndoma –Egba. Chairman of RMAFC, Engineer Elias Mbam said apart fom salaries his commission also stipulates how much is to be paid for estacodes and overnight allowances. He however warned that it is illegal for lawmakers or any government officials to earn estacodes or allowances outside what the commission has approved. RMAFC is constitutionally empowered to determine the remuneration of all public office holders, including the president and his vice, governors, ministers, commissioners, special advisers and legislators, amongst others as listed in Sections 84 and 124 of the 1999 constitution. “Any other salaries and allowances being enjoyed by any political office holder outside those provided by the law or determined by the commission from time to time, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution are not known to the commission. Mbam stressed.

LEADERSHIP gathered that the Senate president is to earn N2.4 million as annual basic salary and a total annual emolument of N8.6 million. The speaker of the House of Representatives is to earn N2.4 million, annual basic salary and a total emolument of N4.95 million which amounts to N0.4million monthly. A senator is supposed to earn N12. 76 million per annum and members of the House of Representatives are to earn N9.52 million per annum.
With the commencement of the 40 percent slash, LEADERSHIP learnt that while some of the senators still grapple with the cut in the running costs, others have taken it in stride, “reworked their budgets to reflect current realities”.

It was also learnt that many times when senators visit their constituencies they often spend hugely as they attend to personal needs of their constituents as their house/constituency offices are thronged by those they represent on the slightest whiff of their usually short visit. Their offices in Abuja are not spared as well.
Analysts opine that the posh cars and huge spending are not going to fizzle away soon even as demands on them from their constituencies can only increase (which is usually driven by the members need to ensure their political survival).

Also it was gathered that majority of legislators have their children and wards in expensive schools, locally and internationally.

LEADERSHIP can reveal that the members are not taking the cuts easy as they had to adopt other means of making ends meet.

To make up for the cut in their running cost and meet the demands (before the slash), the ministries and Departments and Agencies have started receiving sterner attention by the legislators to ostensibly make up for what they have lost through the pay cut, a source in the National Assembly said.

The National Assembly has the constitutional right, while performing its oversight function, to summon any ministry, department or agency to provide update on their activities.

But a source in the second estate of the realm believes there has never been any attempt to drain the executive arm of government. ‘‘Most lawmakers are accomplished businessmen, captains of industries and professionals from all works of life. So most of them are quite wealthy before they came to the legislature,’’ the source assured.

A lawmaker who craved for anonymity believes it is not right to generalize that everybody there is out to squander money or be bandied as trying to make money from arm twisting the MDAs while engaging in their oversight functions. Such a perception he said would not be in the overall interest of the country.

NIGERIA: Boko Haram Threatens To Bomb UI, UNIBEN, 18 Others

Screening of vehicles at University of Ibadan following a bomb scare in the institution, Photo; Kehinde Gbadamosi
By Ola Ajayi & Gabriel Enogholase, Vanguard

IBADAN – DISSATISFIED with its unchallenged bombing activities in the North, Boko Haram has threatened to extend the reign of terror to southern parts of the country.

Leaders of the sect said yesterday that their radar was now on University of Ibadan (UI), University of Benin (UNIBEN) and 18 other universities, which they said they would bomb between yesterday (September 12) and September 17.

Boko Haram sent an e-mail last Thursday to the mail box of UNIBEN Registrar, notifying the institution of its resolve to bomb the university as part of its agenda to stop western education in the country. Last week, there was a bomb scare at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa.A deadly bomb explosions detonated by the dreaded Islamic Sect, Boko Haram, in many Northern cities including Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

For about a year now, counting from the October 1, 2010 Independence Day twin bomb explosions in Abuja, Boko Haram had stepped up its campaign to stop western education in Nigeria with a series of bomb blasts including a recent car-bombing of the Police Headquarters, Abuja and the bombing of the United Nations office in Abuja, which claimed scores of lives and with property worth millions of Naira destroyed.

Finland cautions on Chinese market dominance in Nigeria

By Ameto Akpe, Abuja/Business Day

Mikko Kosonen, president, Finland Innovation Fund – SITRA, has cautioned Nigeria on the extensive presence and dominance of the Chinese in the country, saying “dominance of the Chinese needs to be dealt with in a smart way.”

Notably, the EU late last year warned Nigeria on China’s increasing interests in the country, when Belen Uyarra head, political and economic unit of the EU delegation in Nigeria at a media chat in Abuja, noted that the “Nigerian businesses should be the ones worried about the Chinese because they are both looking at the same niche.”

Speaking at the Nigeria-Finnish Business Forum in Abuja, Kosonen noted that it was important Nigerians learnt quickly from this foreign presence and acquire the skill to manage these projects and handle the technologies independently.

The Nigeria-Finnish Business Forum is designed to deepen awareness on the business and investment opportunities between both countries within the context of the existing comparative and competitive advantages, and the development histories of both nations.

Kosonen noted further that Nigeria needed to invest in research and education if it hoped to become competitive and attain its developmental aspirations, adding that “there is no short cut to success.”

Meanwhile, also speaking at the same forum, Arete-Zoe Amana, executive director of the Nigeria-Finnish Business Group, said in order to enhance the competitive index of the nation, Nigeria must leverage on its bilateral and multilateral relations through a more strategic approach to trade and investment promotion.

Amana stated that this was in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s inaugural speech where he emphasised the need for the formation of technical financial partnerships with global businesses and organisations.

She said: “Recognising the pivotal role in economic development, government needs to pay more than lip service to the objective of enhancing FDIs inflow by strengthening NIPC’s institutional capacity through adequate funding of it operations so that it can achieve its raison d’être and remain the regional beacon of excellence.

The Nigerian Finnish Business Group, which is the business networking platform of the Nigerian-Finnish Business Association, is poised to provide unparalleled membership services to enable members achieve their strategic objective in a professional and purposeful manner employing global best practices in its operations.

“We will continue to collaborate actively and then with the embassy of Finland and forge beneficial alliance with relevant local and international ministries, department and agencies to enable us serve our stakeholder public,” Amana said.

Images of New Year's Eve Abuja Bomb Blast

Photo: Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Oluseyi Petirin was amongst the first senior government personnel to arrive the scene.













IMAGES COURTESY OFTHE WILL NIGERIA

Nollywood Review: "Girls Cot"

I’m not sure if I should say one is now hooked to Nigerian movies, the Nollywood and fourth-ranked movie industry on the Planet. I have been watching quite a lot lately but I do have a problem with the plots and the titles. They all seem to be the same. Like “Girls Cot” which marks the genuine return of Genevieve Nnaji after a long sabbatical. It has the same resemblance of Nollywood’s previous projects which much appears they have ran out of stories and better creative stuff.

Nollywood should come out bold and start telling stories of human events and tragic moments of our time and beyond. Like Hollywood’s “Shindler’s List,” “We Were Soldiers,” “Pearl Harbor,” "Gangs of New York," “Platoon,” “Hotel Rwanda,” “The Pianist,” “The Holocaust,” “Flags of Our Fathers,” “Letters From Iwo Jima,” “Malcolm X,” “Amistad,” and many more films in that nature, it would be worthy of Nollywood to start producing movies in the same manner with scenes like “Blood on the Niger,” "Aba Market Women Riot," “Asaba Male Death March,” “Where Vultures Feast,” “The Pogrom,” “Never Again,” “A Tragedy Without Heroes,” “Sunset in Biafra,” “No Place to Hide: Crises and Conflicts inside Biafra,” “The Brutality of Nations,” “Blood Lust Hausa-Fulanis,” “The Northern Islamic Jihadist Murderers,” “Adekunle the Beast,” and “The Rapists.”

Most Nollywood movies, if not all, now tells the same story. The story-line and plots has the same similarity even with its different titles which somehow has nothing related to the movie. Take for instance, movies like “Hot Money,” Blood Billionaires,” “Millionaire’s Club,” “Blood Money,” “No Way Out,” “Broken Shield,” “Battle for Battle,” “Under Control,” “Blames of Memories,” “Where Envy Lies,” “Touch My Heart,” “The World of Riches,” “Total Control,” “The Prince,” “Golden Axe,” and many more are chiefly the same with basically the same cast. On the other hand, the titles of most of these movies do not relate to the theme when the movie breaks down to its climax; for example, “Girls Cot.”

First, let’s take a look at the word “cot.” Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “cot” (1) as a light portable bed, one of canvas on a folding frame, and (2) as a small house; a cottage; a hut; a small place of shelter; and a sheath or protective covering. Or could it be as abbreviated—“cot”—Commitments of Traders Report which is a report published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that seeks to provide investors with up-to-date information on futures market operations and increase the transparency of these complex exchanges. While Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary defines “cot” as a wheeled stretcher for hospital, mortuary, or ambulance service, one is getting confused and puzzled to the subject-matter in question—“Girls Cot.” Maybe, the logic here works as the movie plays on.

“Girls Cot,” an all-star cast marking the return of Genevieve Nnaji is about campus girls in a town where politicians, government officials and top-notch businessmen run the show. The movie stars Nnaji as Queen; Uche Jumbo as Bella; Rita Dominic as Alicia and Ini Edo as Eve. It also features Bonita Nzeribe and McMaurice Ndubueze and directed by Afam Okereke.

The movie starts with a high speed chase on either a moving violation or a crime committed by the foursome Queen, Bella, Alicia and Eve. They reach their destination while on hot pursuit by the cops. The cops could not arrest them on the ground the compound they vroomed into belongs to the men of higher places. All you could do in the words of these girls was for the cops to vamoose before they get themselves into some big trouble. Much is made in the movie of the fact that these girls did not think of themselves as prostitutes. They were just ordinary campus girls who get by scamming the top shots and politicians in Abuja.

Bella and Eve shared a room in the school dorm (perhaps the word “cot” appropriately fits here as in a small shelter place) when Eve runs into Alicia in an alley where sluts hangs out to do business. Alicia, desperate, destitute and kicked out by her uncle had no place to stay. Eve comes to the rescue and offers her a squatting spot in the dorm room she shared with Bella. Bella complains but later gives in and accepts Alicia’s temporary stay. Later on Queen arrives and claims the room had been allocated to her from the students’ office. A little squabbles over the issue but worked out as the four most dangerous and most glamorous girls in Abuja sets out for a kill.

Although the story is centered on Queen (Nnaji) who calls the shots and makes all the connections, the most interesting character in the movie is Alicia beautifully acted by Rita Dominic who had always lost out on the men who slept with her and quite often would either not pay her or leave a little change while she is still asleep in her hotel room. Over and over again her vulnerability makes her an easy lay for cheap change until Queen played by Nnaji, the Vice President’s daughter who had gone low profile to live in the dorm rather than rent a flat off campus, comes to the rescue using her Abuja connections to get everyone involved in a high scale prostitution ring. Not even the bad guys on campus could touch or mess with these girls who had power and money, and had the politicians and business moguls slammed in their pockets. The scam is played over and over again. The movies upshot shows the power of escort enterprise if you have the right connections.

"Bad Girls" or "The Vice President's Daughter" would have made a better and logical title for the movie.

My ratings: Three Stars.