An unidentified man has committed suicide in Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State, yesterday, at Meme Bridge.

The deceased, a tricycle rider, was said to have arrived at the bridge, parked his tricycle, and jumped into the river which is just a few metres from the popular Dunamis Church in Lokoja.

A witness who pleaded anonymity disclosed that they were shocked when the deceased took his life untimely.

He blamed the current hardship facing the country as one of the reasons why such a person could decide to take his own life.

“There is nothing anybody could do when the Keke man jumped into the river.

“When he jumped, we saw a snake, and there was nothing anyone could do at that moment”.

Meanwhile, the Kogi State Police Command public relations officer, SP William Aya, has confirmed the incident.

Aya, however, said officers of the Nigeria Marine Police Force have been mobilised to the river to recover the deceased’s body.

“We are yet to get details of the incident. Our officers have been mobilised to recover the body of the deceased. As soon as we get details, our unit will issue details of the sad incident,” he stated.

The corpse is yet to be recovered as at the time of filing this report.

Professor  Bolaji Akinyemi, a former foreign minister, admonished recently Nigerians who are wont to “de-market” their country because of its multi-dimensional problems. The scholar spoke at an online forum organised by the Academy of International Affairs  with the theme: “Opportunities and Challenges of BRICS.”  Not a few strong voices in the public sphere  contend that Nigeria lacks  the elements necessary to play  a leadership role in international affairs.  Some of those who hold this view talk down on their country and portray it as the worst place  to be on earth. So they cannot imagine such a country aspiring to global relevance.  Akinyemi’s counter argument is  that the problems of development currently facing Nigeria should not be a basis to perish the thought of the country aspiring to be a regional power and a beacon of hope for the black race. 

This  idea of a bold foreign policy aspiration even amidst economic and  socio-political difficulties has propelled India’s recent outing in the global arena. It is  an idea  that  Nigeria can borrow from India. Come to think of it, India projects itself as the leader of the “Global South” while Nigeria is expected to take its place as a regional leader in Africa. In fact, Nelson Mandela, the first president of democratic South Africa, once voiced this expectation of Nigeria. With a population of over 1.4 billion, India is the largest  liberal democracy on earth and Nigeria, another  liberal democracy  of over 200 million, is the largest black nation. India is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country like Nigeria. The leaf that  Nigeria can  borrow from the book of the most populous  country   is the focus of this column today. 

As foreign minister in the military government of President Ibrahim Babangida, Akinyemi  promoted the concept of the “Concert of Medium Powers” in 1987.  The countries proposed as members of the Concert were to act independently of the global powers  to influence global affairs. For Nigeria, it was to be an avenue for the country  to re-focus its foreign policy  objective in  a post-apartheid world.  It was a bold and strategic  move beyond Nigeria’s “Afrocentric” foreign policy at a period when decolonisation of southern Africa had been substantially achieved and the end of apartheid itself  was already in sight.  Some of the countries that were to be in the Concert of Medium as conceived at the time are today members of BRICS –  India, Brazil, Egypt.

Significantly, the concept was a Nigerian initiative, a legitimate ambition to be relevant in global affairs while pursing national interests. In fact the other name for the group  is “Lagos  Forum” because Nigeria played host to the forum. It’s an irony that 36 years after the Lagos Forum, it was South Africa  that invited  Nigeria and other African countries to Johannesburg a fortnight ago to “interact” with BRICS.

In making a synthesis of the views expressed  at the forum of the Academy, Akinyemi said while Nigeria should not its sleep over  the membership  of BRICS, the country should demonstrate fresh initiatives to be a global power. Akinyemi said “it is a duty Nigeria  owes the black race.” It is expected that the Academy, of which Akinyemi is the president, and similar institutions would make ideas available for policymakers to harvest.

In recent months,  a lot of good news India has  issued from India. Last week was a shining moment for India as it played host to the G-20.  President Tinubu was in India at the time also for a Nigeria-India Biliteral  Conference.  India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be seeking a return to power  next  year, has become a focus of global attention. He had been in South Africa for the BRICS meeting  that resolved to invite more countries including Ethiopia and Egypt  (from Africa)  to the economic bloc. To start with, the growing diplomatic influence of India at the G-20 meeting was demonstrated by the tone of the communique. Against the preference of the  western countries, the G-20 avoided the condemnation of Russia for the war in Ukraine. It rather called for “just peace” in Ukraine as well as respect for international law. The communique also called for a return to  the Black Sea Deal to ensure the export of grain from Ukraine. It is remarkable that the western countries  agreed to a compromise in the “balanced” tone of the communique. In the  previous G-20 meeting in Indonesia, the western nations insisted  on  an outright condemnation of Russia in the final document despite Russia’s membership of the group. India is now perceived  as making the G-20 more inclusive because of its moves to forge compromises in the organisation. 

Only last month, India landed an uncrewed spacecraft near Moon in the unexplored South Pole. By that feat, India will henceforth be respected as an international space power. India had been in race with Russia  to be the first to land in the Moon’s South Pole. Landing on the Moon is more than a scientific achievement for India; it is a geo-political booster for its  profile in the international arena. Modi described the event as the “the dawn of a new India,” and a proof that “ all the countries of the world including the ones in the global south are capable of achieving such feats.  

Today, India is the most populous nation and it is  aspiring to be an economic, technological and geo-political power. Its middle class is growing with a diaspora that constitutes a huge asset. The dynamic of   the  Indian federalism is such that power is  moving   from the centre to the states.   

Yet, the poverty rate in India is still 14.96%. of the population of 1.428 billion. That is despite the good news from  the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in July that about 135 million people, representing 10% of the  Indian population were moved out of poverty in the five year-period of 2015 to 2021. Like other economies in the world,   COVID-19 devasted the Indian economy, making worse the economic crisis facing the country. Modi is often criticised for being authoritarian in his politics. The opposition parties and human rights organisations have alleged that agents of the state intimidate democratic voices.   India is a remarkably diverse and complex  country.  The mismanagement of India’s diversity by the government  still remains a huge problem. The administration of Modi has been accused of Islamophobia. Indeed, the socio-political and economic landscape of India is still defined by an uneven modernity. India has presented  humanity with unique  experience in the theory and practice of development.   

The journey  of  India’s development has indeed been long and rough especially viewed against the background of the country’s  brutal colonial history.

Perhaps, the most crucial factor in the Indian development story is the capacity for self-definition. The country has independently  chosen its own direction.  To go on this path a nation should not behave as if  it needs the permission of a super power to make its own foreign policy  choices.  

The trajectory of India’s outing on the international stage has gone beyond  the old policy of “non-alignment”.  This, of course, has been determined by the mix of policies at home.  The Indian story is, therefore, a veritable response to the  argument of those who see no basis for Nigeria nursing ambition of becoming  a global power even in medium terms. They say   that  the enormity of problems  at home would not permit such an aspiration. For instance, they point to the huge challenges of national integration. As envisaged by Indian thinkers, their country has been  proving that argument wrong with recent events. An  Indian scholar, Sunil Khilnani , seems to respond to the argument in his book entitled “The Idea of India”  like this: “… Ultimately, the viability – and most importantly, the point -of India’s democracy will rest on its capacity to sustain internal diversity, on its ability to avoid giving reason to groups within the citizen body to harbour dreams of having their own exclusive nation states. Such dreams of partition and domestic purity are animated by the fantasy that all problems begin and end at the border; they do not. There is no ideological or cultural guarantee for a nation to hold together. It just depends on human skills.

“That is why politics, as an arena where different projects are proposed and decided for and against, has never been more important for Indians.

“In entering the world as a state, India has had to cut its own modern garb. For Indians, this self-fashioning has brought discomforts, pain and risks. But it has also brought them new liberties. India’s experience reveals the ordinariness of democracy – untidy, massively complex, unsatisfying, but vital to the sense of a human life today. It establishes that historical and cultural innocence do not exclude Asian cultures from the idea of democracy. But it does not mean that these cultures – or any other, for that matter – are tailor-made for democracy. It will always be a wary struggle. For opponents of democracy in Asia, the history of this experience is a warning of what can be done. For its advocates, it is a basis of hope.”

In sum, Nigeria does not have to wait until all  internal problems are solved  before registering its presence in a focussed manner on the international stage. In the course of anti-colonial struggle  in southern Africa , Nigeria was deemed a  “frontline state” despite the contrary fact of geography. Nigeria was not an economically  developed during the period just like now. Yet the government  and the  people supported the struggle for African liberation. So internal problems should not be an excuse to be absent where it matters to be present. Even the superpowers are bedevilled with their own internal problems; yet they even  dictate for others in international affairs.  The bug of Afropessimism has made a number of Africans to argue against African nations defining their own  path on the global landscape. Maybe, watching India closely  on the international stage may be the cure to this inferiority complex.

Founder of Silver Bird Group, Ben Bruce has claimed that Africa has leaders who do not understand ‘basic economic’ policies.

The former Nigerian lawmaker said the failures of leaders have subjected their countries to hardship and weak economic growth.

The Silver Bird boss made the comment at the IATF 2023 Business Road Show in Lagos with the theme, ‘Positioning Nigeria to harness the opportunities at the African Continental Free Trade Area,’ monitored by THE WHISTLER.

The road show aims at creating awareness for Nigerian businesses ahead of the IATF – Intra-African Trade Fair 2023 in Cairo, Egypt between November 9-15, 2023.

Bruce said, “I think one area that we have not addressed is leadership in Africa. I think some of us are subjected to the most incompetent leaders in the world, and these incompetent leaders make it impossible for us to do what we all talked about.

“I don’t support military coups, but if I am to guess, how many of the 54 African leaders can sit here and have an intellectual conversation and understand basic economic principles? If they do, how don’t they sell it to their people? That is the problem.”

He argued that laws should be made to make it mandatory for government officials or representatives who intend to travel abroad to fly national carriers, a move he believes will promote the aviation sector.

He said, “If every African government says to the people, if you fly, fly only your carrier. What happens to the aviation industry? I was going to speak at Harvard University, and they said that for them to pay for my ticket, I must fly an American carrier. If you represent Nigeria at the United Nations, you must fly a Nigerian carrier, and if not, an African carrier. That should be a law for African leaders.”

He lamented the high cost of securing visas to the UK, US and other parts of the globe, saying they are reciprocal gestures as a result of the cost of visas at Nigerian and other African embassies abroad.

According to the entrepreneur, Nigerians and other African travellers are at the receiving end.

Bruce said, “Why do the British and the Americans, charge so much for visas? It is a reciprocal agreement. It is because we charge too much to come to Nigeria. But look at it this way. How many British and Americans and Germans want to come to Nigeria or Africa versus the number of Africans that want to leave? If we drop those visa rates, they have no choice but to drop theirs.

“The reason why we charge so much for visas is because we do not send money to our embassies for upkeep. So, they collect the $50 and $100 to stay alive. So, because they want to stay alive in the countries, we sent them to suffer, we millions of Nigerians pay a hundred times more to go to those countries. These are the serious things we should look out for. Maybe if we conduct an IQ test for our leaders, that could help.”

United Bank for Africa PLC is facing 1,146 litigations from customers and business partners who are claiming a total of N593.1bn.

But the lender’s directors do not see the amount claimed as serious audit issues, the bank said in its financial statement for June 2023, THE WHISTLER reports.

The claim does not also amount to an admission of liability by the bank, the lender said.

UBA said, “The Group, in the ordinary course of business is currently involved in 1,146 legal cases (2022:1,422). The total amount claimed in the cases against the Group is estimated at N593.188 billion (2022: N666.124 billion).

“The directors having sought the advice of professional legal counsel, are of the opinion that no significant liability will crystalise from these cases beyond the provision made in the financial statements.”

The company’s books also showed that borrowing rose to N 595.8bn in June, a N60.1bn rise from the N535.7bn in December 2022.

The debts are dominated by – Eurobond debt security of N226.3bn; Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank N38bn; Proparco N45.6bn; African Development Bank N29.19bn; European Investment Bank N19.7bn; Agence Francaise de Development N14bn and others worth N2.69bn.

The lender however, paid N20.135bn as interest on borrowing, up from the N12.98bn paid in June last year.

Meanwhile, UBA declared N403.6bn profit before tax in June, up from the N85.75bn posted in the corresponding period of last year.

UBA’s revenue surged to N981.77bn during the period with the Nigerian segment accounting for N716.7bn, the books show.

In the first half of last year, the lender posted N372bn revenue with the Nigerian operations accounting for N218.89bn.

The Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali, has inaugurated the first cargo movement from the Lagos-Ibadan rail corridor during his first official tour of on Tuesday, September 12.

The Minister kicked off the rail corridor tour at the Ebute Meta station before proceeding to Apapa for the launch, then travelled to Ibadan using the 157 km rail corridor. Three coaches of 30 wagons were loaded as the inaugural freight movement was kicked off.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) said it would start with three coaches per day with its Managing Director (MD) noting that the corporation had the capacity to scale up the numbers.

This effort is expected to decongest the Apapa port as shippers moved 92.28 percent of Nigeria’s total exports and 60.77 percent of imports through the facility in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1’22).

Jose Peseiro the Super Eagles head coach,  has stated reasons behind his decision to accept a short-term contract with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Recall that Peseiro’s previous contract expired at the end of June.

There was a lot of back and forth before the Portuguese gaffer accepted a pay cut and a short term deal that will expire after the AFCON in 2024.

The 63-year-old’s contract is subject to renewal if the Super Eagles finish well at 2024 AFCON.

The Portuguese stated that the desire to win the AFCON was the main reason behind his decision.

“Me and my staff did everything in order to stay here to train these players and reach the big goal – win the AFCON title,” Peseiro told Brila FM.

The Super Eagles have won the AFCON title three times in the past.

[Newsguru]

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has approved the sacking of the media team attached to the Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

Naija News reports that this was made known in a statement on Tuesday titled: ‘Government House Media Team Rejigged’ and signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Olabode Richard Olatunde.

The Governor stated that all media aides seconded to the office of the deputy Governor have been relieved of their appointments with immediate effect.

The affected aides include: Press Secretary to the Governor, Kenneth Odusola; Special Assistant to Governor (New Media) Oladipupo Okunniga; and Special Assistant to the Governor (Photography) Samson Abayomi Adefolalu.

The statement added that they are to submit all government properties in their possession to the Acting Permanent Secretary, Office of the deputy Governor.

“Similarly, the Press Crew attached to the office of the deputy governor has been disbanded.

‘Consequently, all members of the Press Crew are to report back to their various ministries and stations.

“Equally, the ministry of Information and Orientation is directed to provide adequate coverage for the activities of the deputy’s governor office henceforth,” the statement read.

Naija News reports that Akeredolu’s action follows the footstep of his counterpart in Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, who sacked media aides to his deputy, Philip Shaibu.

The announcement is coming hours after the Deputy Governor of Ondo State expressed his commitment to his principal, Governor Akeredolu.

Aiyedatiwa in a statement released through his media aide, Kennet Odusola-Stevenson described reports making rounds about his purported disloyalty to Akeredolu as lies.

He claimed that the allegations were aimed at causing disaffection between him and his boss.

The statement was titled, ‘The fabricated lies against the deputy governor of Ondo State: the blackmailers are at it again.’

According to the statement, the reports were spread by some faceless groups and individuals in the state to soil his image for political reasons.

[NaijaNews]

…and when, where and how were they written?

…US, UK and Nigerian Rights and Democracy Groups and campaigners demand public snswers within deven days from five justices of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal or face international lawful campaigns

The United States, United Kingdom and Nigerian Human Rights and Democracy roups and campaigners are strongly and humbly calling on the five Justices (Justices of the Court of Appeal) of the Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) led by its Chairman, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani (Bauchi State) to publicly tell Nigerians and the world “who actually wrote the 2023 Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal Judgments and when, where and how they were written”.

Signatories to this joint-statement are the Global Igbo Leaders based in the United Kingdom led by Amadiebube Mbama, the Ekwenche Research Institute based in the United States of America led by Prof Justin Akujieze, John Gregg, an American respected International Human Rights and Democracy Campaigner, Bernhard Wanner, a Swiss respected International Human Rights and Democracy Campaigner, the South-East Based Coalition of Democracy and Human Rights Organizations represented by Prof Jerry Chukwuokoro (renowned University Don) and Ikenweoke Nwandu (Computer Security Expert), the South-East Zone of the Civil Liberties Organization (South-East CLO) led by Comrade Aloysius Emeka Attah (award winning journalist) and the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) led by Emeka Umeagbalasi (respected Criminologist).

The democracy groups are of the view that the five Justices of the PEPT may face international lawful campaigns unless the clarify issues surrounding the judgement document with the header of the Tinubu legal team.

The groups are jointly demanding that an urgent attention be paid to the issue the raised arising from controversies from the delivered judgments of Sept 6, 2023. “It must also be pointed out that the PEPT five Justices are inexcusably obligated as public officers maintained with public funds from taxpayers to provide concrete answers to the above mentioned question in a world press conference within seven days”.

The group said that failure of the judges to provide explanation will most likely leave them with no other option than to commence international lawful campaigns including letter writings and diplomatic engagements, among other lawful steps, with international democracy compliant countries in Americas, Asia, Middle East and European Union.

“By condemning, discarding and expunging the EU Election Observer report from the records of the PEPT, for instance, the five PEPT justices have morally disqualified themselves and members of their nuclear families from having anything whatsoever to do with the EU and its democratic agencies or institutions including holidaying, residing, studying, medical traveling and attendance of international conferences and fellowship/exchange programs, etc on European soils and those of their allies in Americas, ASEAN countries, Oceania and the Caribbean.

“Therefore, unless the above demand of ours is credibly and timely met; otherwise strong international lawful campaigns are most likely going to be put in place to ensure that the Five Justices and members of their nuclear families (wives and children) are denied access to democracy-compliant countries countries of Europe (England, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland inclusive), Canada, US, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, etc,” it said.

Controversies Arising From The PEPT Judgments

The human rights activists said: “Apart from the judgments being received by the majority of lovers of democracy in Nigeria and the world with reservations and rejections; they have also been mired in controversies especially as it concerns the independence and impartiality of their writers and writings.

Controversies leading to the delivery of the judgments had started with rumors that went round on August 5, 2023 that “the Abuja facilities of a former Lagos Governor and Federal Minister have been barricaded by military personnel for purpose of compromising the PEPT judgments”.

It stated: “The camp of the said former Lagos Gov and Federal Minister not only denied the allegation but also filed petitions against some persons before the country’s security establishments and Government-owned communications commission. Few days ago, on Saturday, September 9, 2023, three days the delivery of the judgments, to be precise, Lawyers to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar raised a fresh alarm, calling out five justices of the PEPT to “publicly explain to Nigerians and the world why the HEADER of Tinubu Presidential Legal Team was on the left-hand corner of  the  CTC copies of its judgment, numbering 798 pages and why the CTC of the judgment was first issued to the Respondents instead of the Plaintiffs or Petitioners to enable them proceed to the Supreme Court within the stipulated timeframe of two weeks”.

The Leadership of the Labor Party also reacted and called on the PEPT to offer public explanations. The Tinubu Presidential Legal Team in their own reaction stated that “they watermarked their copy of the judgment after collection from the Court of Appeal before circulating to members of their team”.

“Totality of these has threatened the independence and credibility of the judgments and portrayed them to look as if “they were a duplication of tuhe legal positions or opinions of a partisan third party that is a party to the case”.

Profile Of Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani: Chairman Of The 2023 PEPT

Born in 1959 (age: 64) in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State, North-East, Nigeria. Appointed a Bauchi State High Court Judge on September 17, 1998 at the age of 39 and served for 12 years from where he was elevated to Court of Appeal as Justice of the Court of Appeal (JCA) on July 10, 2010. Justice Tsammani has spent 13 years so far as JCA and is ranked 12th In the Seniority List of the serving Justices of the Court of Appeal in Nigeria, numbering 76.

Profile of Justice Stephen Jonah Adah: Member of The 2023 PEPT

Born in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State, North-Central Nigeria on June 13, 1957 (age: 66).  Appointed a Federal High Court Judge in 1998 at age of 41 where he served for 14 years as a Judge and was elevated to the Court of Appeal in Nov 2012 as JCA. He has served for 12 years so far as JCA and is the Presiding Judge of the Court of Appeal, Asaba Division in Delta State. Justice Stephen Jonah Adah is ranked 22nd In the Seniority List of the Justices of the Court of Appeal in Nigeria, numbering 76.

Profile Of Justice Mistura Bolaji-Yusuf (Female): Member Of The 2023 PEPT

Born in Oyo West in Oyo State, South-West Nigeria on August 7, 1959 (age: 64).  Appointed a High Court Judge of Oyo State on June 30, 1997 at the age of 38 where she served for 17 years before being elevated to the Court of Appeal as JCA on March 24, 2014 and has served for nine years as JCA.

Profile Of Justice Boloukuoromo Ugo: Member Of The 2023 PEPT

Born in 1966 (age: 57) in Kolokuma/Opokua in Bayelsa State, South-South Nigeria.  Appointed a Bayelsa State High Court Judge on March 21, 2006 at the age of 40 where he served for eight years as a Judge before being elevated to the Court of Appeal as JCA on March 24, 2014 and has served for nine years as JCA. He is serving in the Kano Division of the Court of Appeal and ranked 44th in the Seniority List of the Justices of the Court of Appeal in Nigeria, numbering 76.

Profile of Justice Abbah Bello Mohammed: Member of the 2023 PEPT

Born on Feb 19, 1961 (age: 62) in Tudun Wada, Kano State in North-West Nigeria. Appointed a Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2010 at the age of 49 and served for 11 years as a Judge before being elevated to the Court of Appeal as JCA on June 28, 2021 where he has served for two years so far as JCA. He is ranked 71st In the Seniority List or Roll Call of the Justices of the Court of Appeal, numbering 76. Profile Data (including PEPT Justices Photos) Source: Obtained from the official Registry of the Court of Appeal, Three-Arms-Zone, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria: (https://www.courtofappeal.gov.ng/current-justices)

Our Joint-Question And Public Answer Request

Who actually wrote the Judgments of the 2023 Presidential Election Petitions’ Tribunal and when, where and how were they written?

The document was jointly signed by

Prof Justin Akujieze (Ekwenche Research Institute, USA, Nze Amadiebube Mbama (Global Igbo Leaders, United Kingdom);

John Gregg (American); Bernhard Wanner (Swiss); Prof Jerry Chukwuokoro (South-East Based Rights and Democracy Coalition);  Ikenweoke Nwandu (South-East Based Human Rights and Democracy Coalition); Aloysius Emeka Attah (South-East CLO); and Emeka Umeagbalasi (Intersociety).

Veteran Nollywood actor, Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD), has admitted that it is “very hard” for entertainers to be faithful in marriage.

He said married male celebrities are often targeted by desperate ladies who aim to lure them into infidelity.

The 62-year-old thespian stated this in the latest episode of the Teju Babyface Deep Dive Podcast, hosted by comedian Olateju Oyelakin, aka Teju Babyface

Mofe-Damijo said, “It’s very hard for entertainers to be faithful in marriage because of the line of work that we are in. Every one of us is married, we are the target. Look at how women are, how can you escape it? Women are like Delilah, they are like Jezebel, they prepare… The only way the enemy can perpetrate their real intention is to constantly aim at the image of God or the symbol of authority in any home. Then shut it down. It’s like shooting a General on the battlefield. You drop him and then the battalion scatter. Their mission is to take down the head of the family.

“So, it’s very difficult [to be faithful]. You have to get to the point where your wife understands what she is up against as well. Because if your wife is not up to speed on what she is up against, then you would be left open.”

RMD is married to television personality Jumobi Adegbesan. The couple got married after he lost his first wife, talk show host May Ellen ‘MEE’ Mofe-Damijo in 1996.

The Special Adviser to the President on media and publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, has said that the reversal of the visa ban on Nigerians by the United Arab Emirates does not mean that things would go back to business as usual as it concerns UAE visa applications and processing.

He said this in an interview with Channels ‘Politics Today on Monday night, September 11.

Ngelale said: “Every agreement comes with mutual responsibility, there’s no free lunch. And what I mean by that is the notion that “flood gates open up and that we will go back to business as usual”. That is not what Nigerians should expect. I want to be very clear about this so that everybody understands.

“One of the major challenges within the bilateral relationship with respect to visa processing, with respect to Nigerian being able to migrate to the UAE, for example, was the fact that there was a kind of relax on the part of certain visa processes or certain applications that were being made that created a lack of specificity or lack of diligent evaluation with respect to who is travelling to the UAE and why they are travelling.”

“This why we had issues, just a few bad eggs amongst our people, giving a bad name to all of us which was a major sticking point as to why we got to this point. What we’ve done is part of the process is put in place new measures that will ensure that there’s effective diligence done on the part of both sides, that’s the UAE authorities and the Nigerian authorities in making sure that any Nigerian citizen seeking to travel to the UAE for example is being thoroughly scrutinized not in a way that is prejudicial, not in a way that is presumptuous or negative but in a way that ensures that well-meaning citizens, people that want to go and do business or people who want to get education or people who want to participate as active in productive or active citizens in those domains are those people.

“Not people that’ll be involved in drug trafficking that some of our people have engaged in when they travel abroad. So, these are some of the things that have to be sorted not in a way that is whimsical, in a way that is disturbing and that is part of what we are agreeing to. To ensure that our best people, our peace-loving and well-meaning people are those leaving abroad. Because they’re going to give us a good name and effectively represent us wherever they’re in the world.”

[NationalDaily]