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Rajnath to meet Nigerian Prez ahead of G20

India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1 last year with the theme — ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, and since then about 200 meetings related to G20 have been organized in 60 cities across the country…reports Asian Lite News

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will meet Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in New Delhi on Wednesday ahead of the G20 summit in New Delhi.

Nigerian President Tinubu is the first head of state to arrive in the national capital for the G20 summit scheduled to be held on September 9, 10. It is also Tinubu’s first visit to India since the assumption of office in May 2023.

According to an official statement released earlier by Nigeria, Tinbu will participate in and deliver keynote addresses at both the Nigeria-India Presidential Roundtable and the Nigeria-India Business Conference on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.

President Tinubu aims to leverage this platform to attract global capital and promote increased foreign direct investments in key labour-intensive sectors of Nigeria’s economy for job creation and revenue expansion, it said.

Moreover, he will use this opportunity to highlight Nigeria’s attractiveness as an investment destination, specifically outlining his cross-sectoral reform plan as encapsulated by the Renewed Hope Agenda, according to the statement.

The President will also hold bilateral meetings with a cross-section of world leaders from four different continents, representing both G20 and non-G20 countries. These engagements are geared towards strengthening bilateral economic, trade, and investment partnerships for mutual benefit, as per the statement.

At the G20 Summit, the Nigerian leader is expected to share Nigeria’s perspective on the theme, “One Earth-One Family-One Future,” which speaks to the global unity required to address the challenges facing humanity and the planet.

With its collective contribution of up to 80 per cent of global GDP, 75 per cent of international trade, and housing 60 per cent of the world’s population, the G-20 constitutes a significant economic power bloc of socio-economic opportunity and geo-political stability.

While Nigeria’s membership of the G20 is desirable, the government has embarked on wide-ranging consultations with a view to ascertaining the benefits and risks of membership.

The Group of Twenty (G20) comprises 19 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, United Kingdom and United States) and the European Union.

India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1 last year with the theme — ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, and since then about 200 meetings related to G20 have been organized in 60 cities across the country.

The summit will be hosted at the state-of-the-art Bharat Mandapam Convention Centre at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. (ANI)

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Nigeria frees detained Indian sailors

The ship has a total of 26 crew members out of which 16 are Indians who were first detained in Equatorial Guinea in August 2022 and later moved to Nigeria in November 2022…reports Asian Lite News

Nigeria released Indian sailors, who were detained last year in Equatorial Guinea and later in Nigeria, and warned them to carefully conduct their operations and maritime-related activities within extant regulations, according to the statement released by the Nigerian Navy.

Metilda, wife of Sanu Jose, Chief Officer of the ship ‘Heroic Idun’ shared her happiness after Nigeria released the Indian sailors detained on November 2022 for allegedly violating the international maritime boundary line. Metilda, on Tuesday, thanked everyone including political leaders for offering support during hard times and informed that she had a telephonic conversation with her husband on Sunday and he would be back in the country in 10-12 days.

The ship has a total of 26 crew members out of which 16 are Indians who were first detained in Equatorial Guinea in August 2022 and later moved to Nigeria in November 2022.

“It has taken around 10 months for the release of ‘Heroic Idun’ including 26 crew members and we are very grateful to family members, friends, including political leaders, who supported us during our hard times. He (Sanu) called me on Sunday morning and informed me that the ship has been taken and soon he will reach cape town and within 10-12 days he will be here,” said Metilda, wife of Sanu Jose while talking to ANI on Tuesday.

Soon after getting detained, in a video message, the Chief Officer from MT Heroic Idun said that they “will be forcefully taken by arranging the tug boats”. The sailors have urged the Indian government to “save” them.

“We have got the info that the ship will be illegally towed from here to Nigeria, the government here is arranging for tug boats, this is an act of piracy. The ship is prohibited to sail from here by the flag state. Our flag state is the Marshall Islands. We have received instructions not to move out from here. So, we will be forcefully taken from here by arranging the tug boat. So this is the information I have received,” he said.

“The people from the ship, they are standing at the jetty. They will be coming any moment on board and the ship will be taken forcefully from here. We will not be able to send any more videos. This might be our last video. We don’t know when the army comes on board the ship what they are going to do,” he added.

The sailors carried placards that “save us” and urged the government to save them. (ANI)

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4 killed, 3 kidnapped after assault on US convoy in Nigeria

Photo taken on July 6, 2022 shows a damaged vehicle at the site of an attack on a prison in Abuja, Nigeria. At least 300 inmates were on the run while one inmate died and three others were injured during an attack on Tuesday by unidentified gunmen on a prison in Abuja, Nigeria's capital city, a senior official said on Wednesday. (NAN/Handout via Xinhua)

Separatists who operate in the region have escalated their attacks in recent years, usually targeting police or government buildings….reports Asian Lite News

Four people were killed while three others were kidnapped after the US convoy was attacked in Nigeria on Wednesday, reported CNN.

Two personnel from the US consulate and two police officers were killed, while three others were kidnapped, according to local police and US officials. The attack took place in the southeastern Anambra state, with Anambra Police Command telling CNN that the attackers “murdered two police operatives and two staff of the US consulate and set their bodies and their vehicles ablaze,” reported CNN.

The personnel who were killed were not US citizens, according to the White House and the local police. “No US citizens were involved and therefore there were no US citizens hurt,” said John Kirby of the US National Security Council. “We are aware of some casualties, perhaps even some killed.”

When the assailants saw security forces “they made away with two police operatives and a driver of the second vehicle in the convoy,” Ikenga Tochukwu, deputy superintendent of police, said. “No US citizen was in the convoy,” he added.

Police said that joint security forces “have embarked on a rescue and recovery operation in the area.”

A State Department spokesperson said Tuesday that “Mission Nigeria personnel are working with Nigerian security services to investigate.”

“The security of our personnel is always paramount, and we take extensive precautions when organizing trips to the field,” they continued.

Separatists who operate in the region have escalated their attacks in recent years, usually targeting police or government buildings.

Nigerian officials often blame attacks in the south-east on the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra movement (IPOB) and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network.

Separatism is a sensitive issue in Nigeria, where a declaration of an independent Biafra Republic by Igbo army officers in the south-east in 1967 triggered a three-year civil war that left more than 1 million people dead.

Violence in the south-east is just one of the many issues facing president-elect Bola Tinubu, who takes the helm of Africa’s most populous nation later this month.

The military is also battling a 14-year-old jihadist insurgency in the north-east, gangs who kidnap and kill in the north-west and central states and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

After a brief calm period during February and March elections for the presidency and governorships, attacks have been on the rise in the last few weeks. (ANI)

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Nigerians begin voting in crucial polls

For the first time in Nigeria’s modern history, three candidates have emerged in the race for the top office usually dominated by two parties…reports Asian Lite News

Nigeria’s presidential and parliamentary elections kicked off as voters went to the polls nationwide to elect a new president and members of the national assembly.

Polling stations will stay open until the last accredited voter in the queue casts his or her vote, an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the country’s electoral body, said at a polling station in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, on Saturday.

Musa Galadima, a voter, said Nigerians were determined to freely exercise their civic responsibilities in a credible, free, and fair election process.

A total of 87.2 million citizens who have received voters card are expected to vote in the elections across the country, Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the INEC, told a press conference on Friday.

Eighteen presidential candidates will take part in the presidential election.

For the first time in Nigeria’s modern history, 3 candidates have emerged in the race for the top office usually dominated by 2 parties.

With Buhari stepping down after two terms in office, the APC’s Bola Tinubu, 70, a former Lagos governor and political kingmaker, says “It’s my turn” for the presidency.

He faces a familiar rival — PDP candidate and former vice president Atiku Abubakar, 76, who is on his sixth bid for the top job.

But the emergence of a surprise third candidate appealing to young voters, Labour Party’s Peter Obi, 61, has thrown the race open for the first time since the end of military rule in 1999.

“This coming government should try and correct all the wrongs that this administration and other administrations have made,” said Lagos vendor Blessing Asabe, 37.

To win the presidency, a candidate must get the most votes, but also win 25 percent in two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states.

The rules reflect a country where a mostly Muslim  Nigerians live in the north and Christians in the south.  The nation’s three main ethnic groups across regions: Yoruba in southwest, Hausa/Fulani in the north and Igbo in the southeast. Some experts have said voting also often falls along ethnic and religious lines.

This time, Tinubu is a southern Yoruba Muslim, Atiku is an ethnic Fulani Muslim from the northeast and Peter Obi is a Christian Igbo from the southeast.

The presidential elections have in the past often been marked by violence, ethnic tensions, vote-buying and clashes between supporters of rival parties.

In 2019, hours before polls opened, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponed the election by a week because of problems delivering election materials.

Today, most experts see INEC as being more prepared. It has introduced biometric voter IDs to help prevent fraud and results will be transmitted electronically.

If no candidate wins, a runoff will take place between the two frontrunners, an unprecedented outcome that some analysts say is a possibility this time around. If a runoff is declared, the vote has to take place within 21 days.

Violence reported

Nigerian police have said that several polling stations had been attacked by gunmen in Lagos, the nation’s economic hub, during the presidential and national assembly polls.

Idowu Owohunwa, the police chief in Lagos, told reporters at a press conference in Lagos, that 25 staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission deployed to the affected polling stations in the Oshodi area of Lagos have been evacuated with electoral materials to the state police headquarters.

No one has died in the attacks so far, and security has been beefed up in the areas concerned, Owohunwa said, adding the election exercise has been peaceful in most parts of the state.

According to the official News Agency of Nigeria, yet-to-be-identified “thugs” attacked on Saturday some polling stations in the southern state of Delta and the northern state of Katsina, carting away some electronic devices designed to read voter cards and authenticate voters.

Grave security problems

When casting their ballot for the general elections, Nigerians considered key issues such as: the high cost of living, corruption and insecurity.

Internally displaced people voting at the Malkohi camp in Yola, north-eastern Nigeria, looked forward to a positive transformation of the country.

Grave security problems plague the nation (violent jihadist insurgency in the north-east, separatist tensions in the south, rising crime in the north-west and center).

“The one thing we want the new leader to do for us the IDPs is for him to bring us back home so that we can live like normal human beings in our own home. That is all we want,» Idris Abdullahi, farmer a who was displaced from Gwoza said.

A fellow countryman Umaru Abubakar doubled down. “When the new Government takes office, we hope that they will help us, the IDPS, since we also came out to vote. We hope that we will be treated equally because we too are like citizens of this land now.”

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UK govt reaffirms commitment to strengthen ties with Nigeria

@KemiBadenoch-Twitter

UK International Trade Secretary, Kemi Badenoch said, “Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and I’m delighted to see our trade and investment links grow, already worth £5.5 billion…reports Asian Lite News

The UK has reaffirmed commitment to strengthen and deepen its relationship with Nigeria, as both sides confirmed their shared interest in pursuing a potential Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership at the eighth and final UK-Nigeria Economic Development Forum (EDF held on Monday in Abuja.

The EDF was launched by the former Prime Minister, Theresa May and President Muhammed Buhari in August 2018 and held bi-annually; serving as a platform to address market access barriers, respond to opportunities and challenges of doing business and boost bilateral trade and investment in our two countries.

Since 2018, the EDF has played a crucial role in strengthening the UK-Nigeria trading relationship and through this forum, both countries have been able to unlock finance, facilitate better regulatory link ups, support British and Nigerian businesses and engage on important global issues.

The total trade in goods and services (exports plus imports) between the UK and Nigeria currently stands at £5.5billion. Of this £5.5 billion: total UK exports to Nigeria amounted to £3.3 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2022; while total UK imports from Nigeria amounted to £2.2 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2022.

The agreement in the EDF Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) comes to a close today, and the UK and Nigeria agreed that the Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership will offer an alternative high-profile mechanism to progress bilateral economic issues of mutual strategic importance, under which both sides will continue to work together to resolve market access issues and enhance economic cooperation.

UK International Trade Secretary, Kemi Badenoch said, “Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and I’m delighted to see our trade and investment links grow, already worth £5.5 billion. The successes the EDF over the last four years has helped address crucial market access barriers and boosted our exchanges in key sectors such as Legal and Financial Services.

 “I welcome the shared interest in exploring an Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership between our nations that will open up new opportunities for UK and Nigerian business, create jobs and future-proof our economies against a changing world.”

Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria, Helen Grant said, “The UK and Nigeria go far when we go together. We are supporting Nigeria on the path to becoming a higher-growth, more inclusive and more sustainable economy as we move towards the 2023 elections.

“This is part of a wider push by the UK to drive a free trade, pro-growth agenda across the globe, using trade to drive prosperity and help eradicate poverty. A potential Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership would include a series of commitments to tackle non-tariff market access barriers to deliver tangible results for businesses in both the UK and Nigeria“

The UK had recently launched the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), one of the most generous preference schemes in the world, with enhanced preferences for Nigeria-UK Trade and Investment. The new scheme which will come into effect in early 2023, will cut tariffs on hundreds of everyday products from developing countries – this will be welcome news to Nigerian exporters.   

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Nigeria unveils new notes

Buhari said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) redesigned the 200, 500, and 1,000 naira banknotes with security features that make them difficult to counterfeit…reports Asian Lite News

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari launched the re-designed local banknotes to control the supply of the Nigerian naira, the local currency of the most populous African country.

Speaking during the unveiling of the locally-produced currencies in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, Buhari explained in detail the basis for his approval to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign the 200, 500, and 1,000 naira banknotes, saying they have been fortified with security features that make them difficult to counterfeit.

“There was an urgent need to take control of currency in circulation and to address the hoarding of naira banknotes outside the banking system, the shortage of clean and fit banknotes in circulation, and the increase in counterfeiting of high-denomination naira banknotes. It is on this basis that I gave my approval for the redesign of the 200, 500, and 1,000 naira banknotes,” the Nigerian leader said, noting the CBN had approached him earlier in the year to seek his permission to embark on the currency redesign project.

The re-designing of the naira notes had been long overdue to wear a new look, Buhari said, considering that international best practice requires central banks and national authorities to issue new or redesigned currency notes every five to eight years. He also noted it is now almost 20 years since the last major redesign of Nigeria’s local currency was done.

“A cycle of banknote redesign is generally aimed at achieving specific objectives, including but not limited to: improving the security of banknotes, mitigating counterfeiting, preserving the collective national heritage, controlling currency in circulation, and reducing the overall cost of currency management,” he explained.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, said at the unveiling ceremony that the redesigned banknotes would help in the fight against corruption, control rising inflation, make policies more effective, and ensure financial inclusion.

About a month ago, the CBN said the move to redesign the naira notes became necessary as currency management in the country had recently faced several daunting challenges which continued to grow in scale and sophistication with unintended consequences.

At least 80 percent of the local currency in circulation is outside the vaults of commercial banks, the CBN noted, saying this was due to significant hoarding of banknotes by members of the public.

Following the unveiling of the new banknotes Wednesday, the existing notes would seize to be regarded as legal tender by Jan. 31, 2023, according to the CBN.

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Nigerian President allays fears on security situation

Muhammadu Buhari.

Despite the evacuation by the foreign governments and the panic caused so far, the presidential statement said security measures had been reinforced in and around the Federal Capital Territory…reports Asian Lite News

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari allayed fears of citizens and warned against “unnecessary” panic over the current security situation in the country, saying security agencies were working around the clock to keep harm at bay.

In a statement, Buhari, who arrived home on Friday after a five-day trip to South Korea, said that while attacks are being foiled, security agents were proactively rooting out threats to keep citizens safe with much of their work unseen and necessarily confidential.

Earlier this week, the US and British embassies in Nigeria released security advisories to their employees on a possible terror attack on public places in the capital Abuja, and subsequently a directive to families of non-emergency workers of the embassies to evacuate the west African country.

The statement said the recent changes in travel advice from the US and the British governments should not be a cause for panic, describing “terror” as “a reality the world over”.

Despite the evacuation by the foreign governments and the panic caused so far, the presidential statement said security measures had been reinforced in and around the Federal Capital Territory.

“The President stresses that while being security conscious, staying alert, and careful, is crucial. It is also important that responsible members of society do not create situations leading to unnecessary panic,” it said.

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Nigeria vows to continue anti-corruption campaign

Referring to the achievements in anti-corruption during his presidential terms, Buhari said the progress was one step in the reform process, which he had vowed to continue…reports Asian Lite News

 Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari emphasized on Saturday the importance of continuing to fight corruption and preventing opportunities for corrupt practices in the country.

The president’s remarks came while addressing the nation in a broadcast as part of activities to mark the nation’s 62nd Independence Day in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Referring to the achievements in anti-corruption during his presidential terms, Buhari said the progress was one step in the reform process, which he had vowed to continue.

“We strengthened the institutions for tackling corruption and also cultivated international support, which aided the repatriation of huge sums of money illegally kept outside the country,” he said.

According to the president, the increasing number of prosecutions and convictions, with associated refunds of large sums of money, is still ongoing.

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UK museum agrees to return looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

The Horniman Museum possesses a relatively small share of the Benin Bronzes that once decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now southwestern Nigeria…reports Asian Lite News

A museum in Britain agreed Sunday to return a collection of Benin Bronzes looted in 1897 to Nigeria.

The decision comes as European institutions come under increasing pressure to repatriate artifacts that were stolen during the colonial era.

The Horniman Museum and Gardens in London’s southeast said 72 items would be handed over to the Nigerian government. Among them are 12 brass plaques, known as Benin Bronzes, a brass cockerel altarpiece, ivory and brass ceremonial objects, brass bells and a key to the king’s palace.

The museum received a formal request from Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) earlier in the year asking for the artifacts to be returned.

“The Horniman is pleased to be able to take this step, and we look forward to working with the NCMM to secure longer term care for these precious artifacts,” Eve Salomon, chair of the museum’s board of trustees, said in a statement.

“The evidence is very clear that these objects were acquired through force, and external consultation supported our view that it is both moral and appropriate to return their ownership to Nigeria,” the statement added.

The NCMM welcomed the decision and said it looked forward to “a productive discussion on loan agreements and collaborations.”

The Horniman Museum possesses a relatively small share of the Benin Bronzes that once decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now southwestern Nigeria.

Thousands of treasures, sculptures and other artworks — many of them dating from the 16th to the 18th centuries — were looted by British colonists who attacked and occupied Benin City at the end of the 19th century.

Many of these artifacts ended up in different countries. The British Museum alone holds more than 900 objects from Benin, and National Museums Scotland has another 74.

Germany has more than 1,000 of the artifacts, split between around 20 museums. Its biggest collection is held by Berlin’s Ethnological Museum, which is considered the most important outside the British Museum.

The Nigerian government has stepped up its demands in recent years for European countries to hand back the Benin Bronzes. It ultimately plans to build a museum in Benin City, in the southern Edo state, to house the recovered treasures.

Last month, Nigeria and Germany signed a deal to begin the return of hundreds of Benin Bronzes — the biggest effort yet by a European country to give back the looted artworks.

France last year handed over 26 pieces, known as the Abomey Treasures, that French forces looted from the 19th century Dahomey kingdom in present-day Benin.

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Algeria, Niger, Nigeria ink deal on gas pipeline

The idea was first proposed more than 40 years ago and an agreement signed between the countries in 2009, but progress stalled…reports Asian Lite News

Algeria, Niger and Nigeria have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the construction of a gas pipeline across the Sahara Desert that will supply Europe with additional gas, said the Algerian Energy Minister.

The signing ceremony was held in Algiers, capital of Algeria, in the presence of the Energy Ministers of the three African countries, and came in the wake of a trilateral meeting on the Trans-Saharan Gas-Pipeline (TSGP) on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Today’s meeting follows two previous meetings respectively in Niamey in February and in Abuja in June,” Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Mohamed Arkab told reporters.

“We have taken a number of decisions and we are making remarkable advance in the construction of this strategic project,” he said.

The TSGP, a mega gas pipeline project linking Algeria, Niger and Nigeria, is expected to span 4,000 km and could send up to 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year.

The idea was first proposed more than 40 years ago and an agreement signed between the countries in 2009, but progress stalled.

Two weeks, ago Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in Algeria for a one-day visit, and held talks with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune over several issues of common interest.

Reports said that Algeria would raise its gas shipments to Italy by 4 billion cubic metres per year, without providing a timeline for the increased delivery round, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Algerian energy giant Sonatrach will ensure the delivery of the additional natural gas shipment to its Italian partners, including Eni, APS news agency reported on Friday.

Algeria has already delivered 13.9 billion cubic metres of gas to Italy so far in 2022. In 2021, the North African country exported 21.2 billion cubic metres of natural gas to Italy.

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