Nigeria mourns 23-yr-old youth achiever who drowned at US waterfall

The tragic death of Nigerian student and youth achiever, John Paul Usman who drowned over the weekend at Virginia’s Cascade Falls in the United States has left his country in shock.

Many colleagues and friends as well as sympathisers of the final year student of the University of Ilorin and president of the UNESCO Clubs in Nigeria couldn’t hold back their sadness about his tragic death.

Tributes and messages of condolence have flooded his Facebook page as well as on Twitter. Source: www.africanews.com

John Paul Usman was selected for the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, a flagship programme of President Obama, among a thousand young Africans who have established records of accomplishment in promoting innovation and positive change in their organizations, institutions, communities, and countries.

He was hosted with 25 other fellows from 21 countries early this month in the United States by the Virginia Polytechnic University for a six-week intensive civic leadership training course at the university’s Language and Culture Institute.

On Saturday, John Paul Usman went on a hike among 18 fellows accompanied by two university staff members towards the 66-foot waterfall near the university.

According to local media reports, he fell into the water and after he was retrieved, bystanders performed CPR on him for about 30 minutes before his death.

“Our thoughts are with John Paul’s family in this difficult time. We are devastated by this tragic event,” Don Back, the director of the Institute where Usman was studying said in a statement released by the University.

The United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria as well as the fellowship programme released statements mourning his death and extending condolences to his family.

Source: www.africanews.com

Dangote wants 50% of Nigeria's crude refined internally by 2021

Africa’s richest man disclosed in an interview with Reuters News Agency on Friday (June 24) plans to open Nigeria’s first private oil refinery estimated at a cost of $12 million dollars with the funds to be pooled from multiple sources. Aliko Dangote during a press briefing after touring the construction site of his refinery expected to begin operations in 2019.

“Our target is that in the next five years or so from now, we hope and we believe that half of Nigeria’s crude will be refined and exported rather than just exporting crude to go and create jobs elsewhere.”

He was accompanied on the tour by Nigeria’s vice president Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of Lagos State, where the refinery is being built and a number of key federal level ministers.

The refinery, which would be complemented by petrochemical, gas & fertilizer projects by Aliko Dangote at Lekki Free Zone (LFZ) in Lagos is expected to be completed in 2018 but start operations the next year.

The Governor of Nigeria’s commercial hub said “Firstly, there is a refinery project that is ongoing, second there is a petrochemical project that is also ongoing. There is pipeline transfer project that brings gas from Bonny down to Olokonla and down to Lekki and then the fourth one is the fertilizer project all in one location.”

Isabel dos Santos out of state oil firm

Pressure continues to mount on Angola’s Isabel dos Santos, to step down from her position as the head of Sonangol.

The latest call comes from renowned Angolan human rights campaigner, Rafael Marques, who has asked the country’s attorney general to revoke the appointment of Africa’s richest woman.

He accuses the president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Isabel’s father, of acting unconstitutionally by firing the board early this month, and putting his daughter in charge of the state energy firm.

“The appointments as a consequence of these reforms that are underway, are also unconstitutional because they are illegal. The president uses his decrees, his powers to award state contracts to his families,” he said.

Michelle Obama visited Liberia-based leadership camp for girls

Education for girls is at the heart of the of the first lady’s trip, which also includes stops in Morocco and Spain.

United States first-lady Michelle Obama on Monday visited a Liberia-based leadership camp for girls called, Let Girls Learn, as part of her Africa trip.

Michelle urged the teens, whose faces were glazed with smiles, in one of the world’s poorest countries to keep fighting to stay in school.

The Let Girls Learn campaign is the brainchild of Barack and Michelle Obama established last year

In connection with the first lady’s visit, USAID announced up to $27 million in funding in Liberia programming for Let Girls Learn, an initiative launched by the Obamas last year.

Liberia has suffered the horrors of war for more than a decade. Only 37% of girls aged 15 to 24 can read. The burden of Ebola has not make the situation any easier- schools were closed for months as a result of the epidemic

On early Tuesday, Obama and her two daughters arrived Morocco were welcomed by King Mohammed VI’s wife Princess Lalla Selma at the Merana airport airport.

Morocco, where she will provide details of nearly $100 million in funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a foreign-aid agency, to create a new model for secondary education.

Agencies

POLITICS: MONARCH AT IT'S BEST; EQUATORIAL GUINEA PRESIDENT PROMOTES HIS SON TO VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNTRY

The President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema has promoted his son Teodorin Nguema Obiang to the position of Vice President in charge of defense and security, according to a decree read on Wednesday on state television.

“In accordance with the Basic Law of Equatorial Guinea, I appoint his Excellency Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue Vice President of the Republic,” the decree of President Obiang read.

Teodorin Nguema Obiang, who is 47 years old and a possible successor to his father, previously held the position of Second Vice President since 2012.

Recall: His son was under trial in France for fraudulently amassing wealth out of Equatorial Guinea’s public purse. The case was later dismissed.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE NOT RECOGNISED AS CRIME IN CAMEROON

Domestic violence is not recognised as a specific crime in Cameroon and we don't have a legal definition of domestic violence. Cameroon does not have specific legislation by which domestic violence can be prosecuted; the criminal law is notoriously silent and victims are left to [rely] on the general law of assault. Thus, acts of domestic violence can be prosecuted using the Cameroon's penal code under the following articles:

Article 275 which punishes murder
Article 276 which punishes capital murder
Article 277 which punishes grievous harm
Article 278 which punishes assault occasioning death
Article 279 which punishes assault occasioning grievous harm Article 280 which punishes simple harm. Article 282 which punishes failure to assist women who have been abandoned by their spouses
Article 338 which punishes assault on woman with child whose aim is to protect pregnant women from assault.

Two sources indicate that spousal rape is not criminalized (US 11 Mar. 2010, Sec. 6; IPS 4 Nov. 2009). According to the Executive Secretary of CAWOLED, who is cited in the CRI Project country fact sheet, spousal rape is "generally" not considered an offence under customary law; it is rather understood that a married woman "consents to sexual intercourse with her husband at any time" (Nov. 2008, 7). An Inter Press Service (IPS) article also notes the following: Cameroon's penal code states that "whoever by force or moral ascendancy compels any female, whether above or below the age of puberty, to have sexual intercourse with him shall be punished with imprisonment for from five to 10 years." It further makes it illegal for a man to have sex with a woman under 16 years of age even if she consents to such intercourse. Despite these laws, few perpetrators of rape are ever prosecuted in Cameroon. Section 297 of the penal code, for instance, prevents prosecution for rape when marriage has been freely consented to by the parties involved, as long as the woman assaulted is over the age of puberty at the time of the offence.

Haven said all that progress is taking place. Counselling and advice are available to victims throughout Cameroon at social service centres provided by the Ministry of Social Affairs; social welfare services are available from the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and the Family (Ministire de la Promotion de la Femme et de la Famille, MINPROFF), thus, Cameroon now has a call centers for abused women.

GERMANY DONATES €1m TO LIBYA TOWARDS KIDS IMMINIZATION

Germany is increasing its assistance to the United nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) towards expansion in the immunization of Libyan children.

This was disclosed after a meeting between the German Ambassador Christian Much and UNICEF Special Representative for Libya Ghassan Khalil after they signed an agreement to that effect on Monday (June 20)

The assistance would ensure a strengthening of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in Libya, where children constitute about 40% of the population.

SEVEN POLICEMEN KILLED DURING AN ATTACK AGAINST BOKO HARAM

Seven police constables were killed in a Thursday attack at the Nguagam camp hosting refugees and IDPs in southeastern Niger who are fleeing the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram.

“Seven policemen were killed. They were buried today (Friday),” a source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The attack took place shortly after the passing of a high ministerial delegation which included MPs and representatives of the UN and humanitarian personnel in the region.

“At around 5:30 p.m., three Boko Haram vehicles came to this area … They went to attack the police position making them abandon their posts. They took the vehicles and set fire to the police camp,” Al Hadj Kilibou, one of the displaced persons at the Nguagam camp told AFP.

“They (Boko Haram) were wearing gendarmes and policemen uniforms aboard vehicles. I saw them with my own eyes. They passed by me. They told me: Do not run, stay, we do not kill the civilians,” he added.

Al Hadj Kilibou had fled the town of Bosso, scene of a massive Boko Haram attack of June 3 where 26 Nigeriens and Nigerian soldiers and civilians were killed and 50,000 people displaced.

NIGERIA GOVERNMENT CALLS PARENTS TO BE EXTRA VIGILANT AGAINST ISIS APP

The Nigerian Information Minister in an exclusive interview with Africanews says an alert issued over an ISIS app was critical in the fight against jihadists.

“I think the whole world should be worried about it, because it is an app that is very attractive, with very bright images but they use guns as some form of games,” said Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Some young people according to the minister have fallen prey to these indoctrination on social media, raising fears that the app disguised in a form of a video game to indoctrinate young people into jihad could worsen the already fragile situation.

MTN APPOINTS NEW CEO. FORMER VODAFONE EUROPE HEAD

MTN, Africa’s biggest mobile- phone operator has appointed Rob Shuter as the group president and chief executive officer. Rob, a South African national ,joins the telecom from Vodafone Europe where he was the head.

The appointment is viewed as a step toward overhauling the company’s governance standards while looking for new revenue streams as the market becomes more competitive.

The news sent MTN shares rising to as high as 151.70 rand in early trading at the JSE , before settling at 143.30 rand.

Earlier this month, MTN agreed to pay a reduced fine of 330 billion naira an estimated $1.7 billion, in a settlement with Nigerian authorities, over failure to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered mobile phone users in the country.

However, Nigeria’s senate on Monday accused the government of short changing the country by reducing the fine. Nigeria is MTN biggest market with over 60 million subscribers.

 

Source Africanews