Thursday, 9 March 2017
Marine surveyors, boat operators tackle NIMASA on new water craft policy
By Godwin Oritse
THE Centre for Marine Surveyors in Nigeria and the Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transporters of Nigeria (ATBWATON) has set up three committees to look into the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency’s (NIMASA) new policy on water crafts.
Under the new policy, boat operators are required to use nothing less than a 200 horse power engines to power their boats, a development that has created some level of confusion among operators.
Speaking at a stakeholders meeting in Lagos, yesterday, President of the Centre, Engr Adebambo Ademiluyi, told Vanguard that NIMASA need to explain the marine notice it issued with regards to the kind of boat engine they want on the waterways. Both groups also wondered why NIMASA will want to refer them to the Office of the National Security Adviser before the purchase of boat engine.
The three committees, according to Ademiluyi, are to look at the definition of boats and small crafts, the laws governing their usage on safety, certification of the crafts and education of practitioners on safety.
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‘FG’s economic recovery plan shows “there will be no change”‘
Nigeria’s government this week launched a master plan to lift it out of recession, hoping to hit 7.0 percent growth by 2020, but economists believe the programme sets the bar too high.
The detailed plan was published on Monday and outlines how the west African oil giant thinks it can turn around its worst economic crisis in 25 years.
“One of the key goals of the document was probably to get the World Bank and African Development Bank on board with lending Nigeria some more money, since both of them have made a detailed plan a precondition of further borrowing,” said John Ashbourne, an Africa economist at the consultancy Capital Economics.
Nigeria’s ministry of budget and national planning gave a sober assessment of the current situation in the 140-page document, entitled “Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017-2020”.
Global crude prices have fallen, slashing revenue coming into Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy, weakening the naira and causing inflation to soar to levels approaching 20 percent.
At the same time militant attacks in the country’s oil-rich south have hit production.
“The current administration recognises that the economy is likely to remain on a path of steady and steep decline if nothing is done to change the trajectory,” the master plan warns in an unusually candid assessment of Nigeria’s fortunes.
– Higher growth –
The recovery plan aims to diversify the economy using key sectors such as agriculture and energy, while at the same time increasing crude production to 2.5 million barrels a day (bpd). Currently production is at 1.9 million bpd.
The government, which has launched major infrastructure projects to develop the transport network across the country, plans to sell off or reduce its stake in certain state assets.
The goal is to increase gross domestic product by an average of 4.62 percent between now and 2020, when growth is forecast to be at 7.0 percent.
Such figures are way above current levels: last year, the economy shrank by 1.5 percent.
Razia Khan, chief Africa economist at Standard Chartered Bank, described the overall plan as “positive” and “encouraging”.
“The key here is how it’s going to be implemented and how quickly it’s going to be implemented,” she added.
– Monetary policy –
As part of the recovery plan, a delivery unit will be set up with the sole task of supervising the implementation and government ministers will be given clear objectives.
Monetary policy is a key area, given that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been heavily criticised for doing little to turn around the flagging economy.
“The CBN is in the process of improving the implementation of its current policies, aimed at achieving a market-determined exchange rate regime to build confidence and encourage foreign exchange inflows,” the document says.
Such a statement is a U-turn for the bank, which has been accused of stifling investment by enforcing unpopular currency controls that have resulted in a foreign exchange shortage.
Backed by President Muhammadu Buhari, the bank has refused any devaluation and kept the currency at an artificial level — the official rate is 315 naira to $1 — even as dollar scarcity has caused the naira to hit 520 on the black market.
Last month, the central bank gave some relief by making available billions of dollars from the country’s reserves. But the one-off measure did nothing to fix the problem in the long term.
– Exchange rates –
Even though economists welcomed the apparent change of direction, they remained sceptical about the introduction of a flexible exchange rate.
How that would be implemented is not set out.
“The key reform, many observers would agree, is foreign exchange because this has been the one bottleneck holding back a lot of activity,” said Standard Chartered’s Khan.
“And until we have more clarity on how that issue is going to be dealt with, it’s very difficult to determine what kind of a growth path we’ll see in Nigeria as a result of all of this.”
Capital Economics’ Ashbourne said the plan gives the impression that “there will be no change”, as the document indicates the government is counting on a provisional figure of 305 naira to the dollar until 2020.
“Wanting the exchange rate to be stable is not necessarily a bad thing but that opens up the possibility that the bank will intervene to make it stable, which will therefore not be hugely different from the current system,” he added.
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Thai graft watchdog to probe Rolls-Royce bribes in Nigeria, others
Thailand’s anti-graft watchdog on Thursday said it will investigate senior government officials and employees of the country’s flagship airline over bribes paid more than a decade ago by Rolls-Royce.
In January Britain’s Serious Fraud Office announced that Rolls Royce had paid out huge sums over three decades to win contracts in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Russia, Nigeria, China and Malaysia.
Rolls Royce admitted to wrongdoing and agreed to pay a $808 million fine to authorities in Britain to settle the case.
But the UK probe has sparked follow up investigations in some of the countries where the bribes were received.
Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on Thursday said an initial fact-finding committee had uncovered “reasonable suspicion” of wrongdoing.
“There are enough facts and witnesses to investigate the allegations,” Sansern Poljiak, secretary general of the NACC said.
The statement said the probe would centre on the “transport minister, their deputy, the THAI Airways board and Thai Airways’ long-term investment subcommitee” between 2004 and 2005 over a deal to buy six passenger jets with Rolls-Royce engines.
The statement did not name any suspects.
At that time the government was headed by Thaksin Shinawatra, a democratically elected prime minister who was toppled in a military coup in 2006. Two transport ministers served during that period.
The Thai Airways board at that time contained major business figures as well as five senior Air Force officers and a police general.
The UK fraud probe, the country’s largest ever, found some $36 million in bribes and incentives were paid between 1991 and 2005 to intermediaries — including “agents of the State of Thailand and employees of Thai Airways” — to help the company win lucrative jet engine deals.
Thai law places a statute of limitations on most crimes and some of the alleged offences that took place before Thaksin took office can no longer be prosecuted.
Civil compensation claims can still be made though it is not clear if authorities plan to do so.
Thai Airways launched its own investigation after the UK probe became public.
Graft is endemic in Thailand, which currently ranks 76th out of 168 countries in Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index.
The current military junta that seized power in 2014 has vowed to root out corruption.
But critics say junta probes have selectively targeted political opponents while top brass have also found themselves accused of graft.
Others say the military’s push has had some effect, especially on cutting out the expected “tea money” needed to secure large government contracts.
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My ‘Ordeal’ inside Kirikiri Prison
THIS is not a joke, but a real-life story. I still wonder how my family members, friends and well-wishers would feel about my ‘ordeal’ inside the Kirikiri Medium Security Prison in Apapa, Lagos.
In fact, this write-up commenced in the Prison. All my life I have tried to avoid any act or behaviour that would warrant me being sent to any solitary confinement whether cell, house-arrest, guard-room, or prison not to talk of the most popular (or is it notorious) Kirikiri Prison in Nigeria.
In the past and up till now, I deliberately try to avoid visiting offices of friends whose mandates are to detain people even when, professionally, I engage in crisis communication which involved relating with security agencies.
Meanwhile, I have also realised that the only person that could be sure of not going to be detained either in cell, house-arrest or prison must surely be the dead person in the grave. Influential leaders have been detained and incarcerated at various times; some went to detentions straight from highly powerful positions while others moved from detention centres to privileged posts. Nelson Mandela, Shehu Shagari, Muhammadu Buhari, Olusegun Obasanjo, Obafemi Awolowo, Wole Soyinka and even Sambo Dasuki who had been granted multiple bails are very few of personalities that have tasted state confinement and imprisonment, where their movement and freedom were not only restricted but denied.
Sometimes last year, I received an invitation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over an investigation of a company involved in crisis management for the security sector. I felt embarrassed by the reckless and baseless indictment of the firm by the controversial and unceremoniously disbanded AVM Jon-Ode arms probe panel. I was nevertheless treated with dignity by the anti-corruption agency without being detained after providing necessary information on the issues at stake. Meanwhile, as a man, I have always prepared for the worst scenario in case of untoward eventualities.
Before I give the reason for my journey into Kirikiri prison, I know for sure that the right of prisoners in relations to physical integrity must have freedom from arbitrary arrest. No matter the situation, I know that potential detainees, by right, should be informed of the fact and grounds of any arrest. In fact, victims of emerging professional whistle-blowing enterprises deserve some respect because they are innocent until proven guilty in competent courts.
I must state that I had no hesitation when the Prison officials in Abuja, insisted that I must be conveyed to Kirikiri Prison. I was flown to Lagos and transported by a bus to the Prison in Apapa. I must also be very sincere to state that I was neither maltreated nor harassed from Abuja to Lagos even though we had flight delay.
At the entrance to the Prison, I became scared to the marrow when I read a notice which stated that the Kirikiri Medium Security Prison was overcrowded. On that day, March 1, 2017, it accommodated 3051 prisoners instead of 1700 of its official capacity. More shocking was the fact that 2627 detainees were not convicted by any court but they were awaiting trial. Some awaiting trial inmates were immorally detained for frivolous offence of fighting, walking at odd hours and petition writings.
Rather than conveying me straight to the cell, the officials at the Kirikiri Prison took me to a barbing saloon where imprisoned barbers and trainees provide the services. Next to the barbing saloon were tailoring and shoemaking workshops where inmates were trained in the production of clothes, shoes, bags among others. I learnt some religious bodies and Non-Governmental Organisations purchase the items for sale outside the prison yards.
At another corner of the Kirikiri prison was a Library and a Computer Centre where some inmates study for examinations. Some even graduated with flying colours from the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, I learnt. By conventions, further education is to be provided to all prisoners while schooling of illiterates and young inmates are made compulsory. Even though Prison is not a place for recreation and relaxation, in this prison, there is a playground, a volleyball court and table tennis facilities. Such recreational activities like sports, music and other hobbies are by the same conventions required to be made available in prisons.
Strange enough, I noticed that most of the inmates were not malnourished but looked healthier than I had thought. I suspect that they are probably offered better medical examinations and treatments than it is imagined or believed.
While being led towards the prison accommodation, the official said that by law cells for individuals should not be used to accommodate more than one person while communal cells should only house prisoners who had been selected to share them. He added that all facilities should meet the requirement regarding health, heating, ventilation, floor space, sanitary facilities and lighting.
My ‘real ordeal’ inside the prison was how to convincingly inform my family members and well-wishers that I was never arrested but was actually on an official assignment and Special Tour of prison facilities in Lagos with some media executives including editors, columnists, broadcasters and journalists. We were being led and guided by the spokesperson of Nigerian Prison Service, NPS, Francis Enobore and the officer in charge of the Prison, Emmanuel Oluwaniyi.
As a proof of the tour of the prison, I requested the spokesperson of NPS to take my picture while standing at the Window of the Computer Centre. He obliged. After the tour, we returned to our hotel for buffet and attended a three-day workshop on prison reform organised by Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action, PRAWA.
After spending nights in the hotel, I returned to Abuja without spending a night in the Prison.
*Mr. SYushau Shuaib a publisher PRNigeria, wrote from Abuja.
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Scientists create vaccine to protect Ebola-ravaged chimps
Scientists said Thursday they have developed a vaccine to shield endangered chimpanzees and gorillas against Ebola, which has wiped out tens of thousands of the wild apes in three decades.
The vaccine is given orally, the developers said, which means it could be disguised in food and left out for the animals to eat — easier and less traumatic than darting.
“Our closest relatives are being driven rapidly towards extinction by diseases like Ebola, by commercial bushmeat hunting and by habitat loss, and for a lot of this we are responsible,” said Peter Walsh of the University of Cambridge, who took part in the research.
“We now have this technology that can help save them, and there is a moral obligation that we should do it,” he told AFP.
In laboratory tests with ten chimpanzees, the vaccine — dubbed filorab1 — was shown to be safe and to generate “a robust immune response” to the Ebola virus, researchers reported in the journal Scientific Reports.
Walsh is now developing a system for putting the vaccine into bait that apes will eat in the wild. Only then can the vaccine be rolled out, to gorillas first and chimps later.
Ebola was first identified in what was then Zaire — now the Democratic Republic of Congo — in 1976.
Since then, there have been several outbreaks of the disease which is deadly to all members of the primate family, including humans. A vaccine that works on one primate species is likely to be effective for them all.
Ebola “has already killed about a third of gorillas in the world,” said Walsh — amounting to “tens of thousands” of animals.
Gorillas and chimps tend to live in densely forested areas, and are extremely shy of humans — making their population numbers hard to track.
“When there is an outbreak in a local area, 95 or 90 percent of the gorillas die,” said Walsh.
For chimpanzees, the number of Ebola deaths is even more obscure, but likely “in the low tens of thousands,” he added.
Most gorillas live in an area covering parts of Gabon, Cameroon, Congo, Central African Republic, Guinea and DR Congo, while chimps are more widely spread across the continent.
Without an Ebola vaccine, argued Walsh, the world will end up with “a few little remnant populations” of chimps and gorillas.
“We need to do it for our cousins in the wild,” he said of a vaccine rollout.
It would have the added benefit of protecting humans — many of whom have caught the deadly Ebola virus from eating infected apes.
For humans, at least 15 Ebola vaccines are being designed by laboratories worldwide — one of which the World Health Organization said last December may be “up to 100 percent effective” and could be available in 2018.
More than 11,300 people died in the latest epidemic, the largest in history, which started in West Africa in 2014.
The chimp trial was conducted at the University of Louisiana Lafayette’s New Iberia Research Center before the United States ended captive chimpanzee biomedical research programmes, now banned in all developed countries.
Despite exceptions for veterinary emergencies or research for species conservation, there are no labs with captive chimps left, said Walsh.
This means, in effect, that the vaccine will have to be given to live animals in the wild to determine the best dosage, he explained — a more complicated endeavour.
“We have to use… non-invasive methods like we have to get antibodies from faeces” rather than draw and test blood to determine whether or not the vaccine worked, he explained.
Safety standards for testing animal vaccines are much less onerous than for humans.
Walsh lamented that well-meant efforts to boost animal welfare may have the unintended consequence of hampering vaccine development and “causing deaths in the wild.”
The vaccine, for which a human version also exists, is based on an existing rabies innoculation. Its development for human use was funded largely by the United States government, said Walsh, then adapted for apes.
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Wednesday, 8 March 2017
Thank you everyone; I am humbled, grateful – Osinbajo
Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has said thank you to all Nigerians and well-wishers who sent in kind words and massages to him on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday.
Osinbajo oh his @ProfOsinbajo said ‘Thank you everyone, for your kind words, I am humbled. I am grateful to God for 60 years. There is no me without Him. Saved by Grace alone.’
Osinbajo also said that his life has been the work of God’s grace.
Osinbajo in an interview with State House correspondents after members of cabinet celebrated with cutting of cake at the presidential Villa, Abuja said, “Frankly speaking, there is no difference between today and yesterday. It is really a work of grace.
“It is worth thanking God that one is 60 and one is in good health and that one is able to serve one’s country.
“I am happy and fulfilled. I am thankful to God.”
Earlier, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh who coordinated the cake-cutting described Osinbajo as an unusual man, wishing him more fruitful years.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has attributed Federal Government`s recent achievements in spite of President Muhamadu Buhari`s absence, to the party’s team spirit underscored in Acting President Yemi Osinbajo’s commitment and loyalty.
The party in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, congratulated Osinbajo on his 60th birthday and said he had demonstrated high level loyalty and commitment to the “change agenda’’ of Buhari and APC.
According to the statement by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, no doubt, his wisdom, vigour and innovativeness have been essential to the numerous achievements recorded by this administration.
“At 60, Prof. Osinbajo has recorded several landmark achievements as a man of God and a man of the law,” it said.
The party said that the acting president had visited crisis-prone areas, stabilised the economy and promoted good governance.
It commended Buhari for the vision and wisdom in choosing Osinbajo as his running mate.
The APC wished the acting president a happy birthday filled with God’s blessings and grace.
It also prayed that God would continue to bless him with good health, wisdom and many more years in the service of God and country.
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