By Harisson Arubu

 UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the reported abduction of 317 schoolgirls in Zamfara.

Guterres’s reaction to the incident, which reportedly occurred in the early hours of Friday, came through his Spokesman, Mr Stephane Dujarric.

“You will have seen the reports of a mass abduction of girls from a school in Zamfara in Nigeria.

“I can tell you that the Secretary-General condemns this in the strongest possible terms and calls for their immediate and unconditional release. 

“As we’ve said before, schools should always remain safe spaces to learn without fear of violence,” Dujarric told newsmen in New York.

He said the Secretary-General would release a full statement on the incident “shortly”.(NAN)

The United States on Friday slapped a visa ban on 76 Saudi individuals in what it calls the “Khashoggi Ban”.

This followed a U.S. intelligence report accusing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of approving the 2018 gruesome murder of exiled journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who announced the measure, alleged that the affected individuals were involved in “threatening dissidents overseas, including but not limited to the Khashoggi killing.

He said the ban was part of measures by the U.S. government to “reinforce the world’s condemnation of that crime”.

The aim, he said, is to stop governments that “reach beyond their borders to threaten and attack journalists and perceived dissidents for exercising their fundamental freedoms”.

“As a matter of safety for all within our borders, perpetrators targeting perceived dissidents on behalf of any foreign government should not be permitted to reach American soil.

“I also have directed that the State Department fully report on any such extraterritorial activities by any government in our annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.  

“The United States will continue to shine a light on any government that targets individuals, either domestically or extraterritorially, merely for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms,” he said.

Khashoggi, a strong critic of bin Salman’s policies, was murdered by Saudi agents at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul while on a visit to obtain papers for his marriage.

According to the declassified report, released by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence on Friday, the prince approved the capture or killing of the late journalist.

It is the first time the U.S., a Saudi ally, is publicly accusing the crown prince of ordering the murder, an allegation bin Salman has always denied.

The visa ban confirms reports that the President Joe Biden Administration will be tough on Saudi Arabia on issues of human rights.

Blinken said although the U.S. would continue to invest in its relationship with Saudi Arabia, the partnership must reflect U.S. values. 

“To that end, we have made absolutely clear that extraterritorial threats and assaults by Saudi Arabia against activists, dissidents, and journalists must end. 

“They will not be tolerated by the United States,” he said.(NAN)

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday said that Washington would never recognise Crimea’s decision to rejoin Russia.

“The United States does not and will never recognise Russia’s purported annexation of the peninsula, and we will stand with Ukraine against Russia’s aggressive acts,” Biden said in a statement.

He promised to continue working to hold Russia accountable for alleged abuses and aggression in Ukraine.

Biden accused Moscow of violating international law and the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

He also assured Kiev of continued U.S. support.

Crimea, a Russian enclave, was transferred to Ukraine in 1954 by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

An overwhelming majority of people in Crimea voted in March 2014 to secede from Ukraine and rejoin Russia in a referendum that Kiev, the U.S. and its Western allies rejected as illegal. (Sputnik/NAN)

By Ibironke Ariyo
The Cross River State Government has suggested a synergy between Nigeria and Ghana through legislations for the two countries to interface on the protection of rights of migrants.

Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River stated this in a message to the maiden Africa Migration Summit organised by JIFORM and Nekotech Centre of Excellence on Friday in Accra, Ghana.

Ayade, who represented by the Director General, Migration Control Agency, Cross River State, said that the Migration Control Agency was tasked with the responsibility of addressing the negatives and exploiting the positives of migration.

This he said was in partnership and collaboration with local, national and international partners in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the National Policy on Migration within and outside the state.

He noted that there was no better time than now for African Governments to resolve challenges of Labour Migration in view of the appointments of personalities like Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, into global strategic positions.

Ayade, while offering the services of the state Migration agency, also recommended Journalists International Forum for Migration (JIFORM), SOS, -Ghana as strategic partners for the realisation of such objective.

“In US, Nigeria has the highest literate migrants as well as black medical practitioners and the appointments of the likes of Dr Okonjo-Iweala creates better opportunity.

“As an agency, one of our outlined goals are to work out modalities for the passage of an executive bill on Migration Control Agency.

“And I will like to announce on this platform that our state is open for collaborations to achieve this ideal.

“Therefore, ‘Yes, our services will extend beyond the state, because it is the responsibility of our government to also serve and protect our citizens outside the state and offer paid services too, to those within and outside the state, ” he said.

The Governor said that globally the issue of migration was a hot cake as the topic in Europe and other developed nation had seen to the rise and fall, support or criticism of government and several intervention funds set up to address the trend.

“Now Cross River, as a state, has border with Cameroun and Equatorial Guinea via the Atlantic Ocean and within Nigeria borders Benue, Abia, Akwa- Ibom and Ebonyi.

“Therefore, Cross River State aside its location, the fertility and hospitality of her people makes her a hot spot for local and international migration.

“The crisis in the northern part of Nigeria and the middle belt as well as the civil war in Cameroun and the Bakassi has seen to migrants who are internally displaced people, (IDP) and refugees pouring into the state,” he said.

Ayade appreciated the wisdom of the organisers in putting together the platform which seeks to explore the gains of migration for Africa’s good.

He said that Cross River State Government was one that was very committed to the affairs of migrants and IDPs within and outside the State.

“This is evidence by the creation of a Mother Agency-Cross River State Migration Control Agency, to oversee the affairs of migrants, refugees, IDPs and keep track of new settlers in the state.

‘So far in one year, the agency has been able to reach out to over 6000 youths and women directly.

“We will love to encourage other sub regional government to replicate this model in Cross River State in the respective regions and states.

“And there is need for all African national governments to improve upon their policy framework to protect her migrants and boost her GDP, ” he said.

The President, JIFORM, Mr Ajibola Abayomi said that the Journalist forum would be looking forward for the support from the state and also ready to partner to ensure irregular Migration is reduced to the barest minimum.

Abayomi said that it was evident that illegal migration issues in Nigeria and Africa would be reduced to the barest minimum, noting that all hands must be on deck to ensure the success.

He urged other stakeholders to emulate the Cross River State initiative to help curb the illegal migration and encourage proper ways to migration.

Dr Princess Ocansey, African Union Migration Advisory Committee Member, also promised partnership with the Cross River State Government to address Migration issues

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the summit; Labour Migration: Shifting the paradigm to benefit Africa held in Accra Ghana between Feb. 25 and Feb. 26.

Bodies of four old men were recovered dead from a hole in the ice in a frozen lake in Sweden, police said on Friday morning.

The men, aged between 65 and 75, could not be saved in spite of attempts to resuscitate them, police added.

The circumstances of their death were initially  unclear, although there were no indications that a crime had taken place, a police spokesperson told Aftonbladet newspaper.

It remains unclear why the men were on the ice.

The authorities were alerted to an emergency on a lake near Savsjo, 200km east of Gothenburg, on Thursday evening, the police said.

The incident was not the only ice-related accident in Sweden on Thursday night.

Three adults and a child fell through the ice on a lake near Ekero, not far from Stockholm, and were taken to hospital. All were conscious  before going to hospital, TT news agency reported.

Many of Sweden’s lakes have frozen due to cold weather in the past few weeks.

However, temperatures have risen significantly, especially in southern Sweden, leading to thinning of the ice and increasing the risk of accidents. (dpa/NAN)

The European Union (EU) has expelled Claudia Salerno Caldera, head of the Venezuelan Mission to the EU, and declared the diplomat persona non grata, media reports on Friday said.

The EU decision followed Venezuela’s expulsion of the EU Ambassador to Venezuela, Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa and giving her 72 hours to leave.

“The EU considers this declaration as wholly unwarranted and contrary to the EU’s objective of developing relations and building partnerships in third countries,” said a statement issued by the EU Council.

Caldera said on Twitter that she defended Venezuela “by handling the relationship with the European Union with sobriety and respect,” but “the independence and sovereignty of our homeland are not negotiable.”

Venezuela’s decision came after the EU issued “55 decisions, what in the European Union or in the U.S. they call sanctions,” against Caracas, Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza said.

He described the actions of the European bloc as “interference,” noting the United Nations (UN) Charter only allows for coercive measures against countries at the approval of the UN Security Council.

By Ibironke Ariyo
The Journalist International Forum for Migration (JIFORM) and the House of Representatives committee on Diaspora have decried the continuous increase in number of migrants across the world.

The President of JIFORM, Mr Ajibola Abayomi, said this at the African Migration Summit organised by JIFORM and Nekotech Centre of Excellence, on Thursday in Accra, Ghana.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the summit is Labour Migration: Shifting the Paradigm to benefit Africa.

“According to the United Nations (UN) the estimated number of international migrants worldwide increased in the twenty years between 2000 and 2020, reaching 281 million in 2020.

“This figure is up from 248 million in 2015, 220 million in 2010, 191 million in 2005 and 173 million in 2000.

“In the past two decades, the international migrant stock grew annually by an average of 2.4 per cent. The growth rate increased to 2.5 per cent during the period 2015-2020 from 2.3 per cent between 2010 and 2015,” he said

Abayomi however, said that in spite of the increase, the share of international migrants in proportion to the world’s population had remained relatively stable between 1990 and 2020 at around 2.8 to 3.6 per cent.

According to him, we can no longer live in denial that all is well. Thousands of souls of future leaders are perishing on the Mediterranean Sea as a result of irregular migration.

“In 2020 according to the United Nations out of about 3,101 migrants that died globally while trying to reach their destinations, 1,483 of them were Africans. This percentage is huge, ” he said.

The Chairman, House of Representatives committee on Diaspora, Mrs Tolulope Akande-Sadipe, said that more people than ever were willing to leave their country for another, adding that migration had become a global issue.

Akande-Sadipe noted that at the end of 2018, the number of forced displaced people top 70 million, saying that the number includes almost 26 million refugees, 3.5 asylum seekers, 41 million Internally displaced persons,

She said that people migrate mostly in search of job opportunities, to join families, to study, adding that others used it for terrorism, to escape convictions and even jail.

“But truth be told, can we stop anybody from having a better life? Of course we cannot. I, saddled with the responsibility of the persons in diaspora, I could not possibly stop the migrants for making an attempt to try and get a better life.

“How can we tell them not to? Nigeria, right now, more than half of the population of adult still indicates the interest of leaving the country in spite of all the media information circulating all round about the problem they will face if they leave the country.

“I want to assure all, that we will continue to do our best and that there is readiness of the 9th assembly to formulate legislations to stem the tide,” she said.

Akande-Sadipe commended the JIFORM and Nekotech Centre of Excellence for bringing the summit together to fight the menace of Migration in the continent.

By Lizzy Okoji

A review of Nigeria’s foreign affairs by the National Assembly will ensure all international engagements benefit the interest of the country and its citizens first.

Mr Yusuf Buba, Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.

Buba said that Nigeria would no longer develop policies that would not be beneficial to its national interest.

According to him, Nigeria has played the big brotherly roles, especially in Africa, without reciprocity and almost to self-disadvantage.

Henceforth, he said, there must be gains from whatever international engagements Nigeria would have with other countries.

The chairman cited the United States as a country that considers national interest first in all its engagements and interventions.

Presently, Buba said, the motion for the review of Nigeria’s foreign policy is on the floor of the House of Representatives and a stakeholders’ conference will be convened in March.

“At the conference, everybody will bring their expertise to the table to see that we review our foreign policy to be of more benefit to us.

“In the past, you will find out that we have centred our foreign policy on others mostly like a big brother.

“We want to take care of the interest of all Africans without really caring about what comes in on it and that is why you see us sending our troops to Liberia, to Sierra-Leone and other countries on peacekeeping where we lost a lot of lives.

“If you look at developing countries like the Americans, whenever they send out troops to a country, there must be some economic benefits that will come with it.

“They do not just put in their money without any economic benefit,’’ the lawmaker told NAN.

He said that this would no longer be like before where, after Nigeria had given its support, those countries would come back to treat Nigeria unfairly.

“So, we will not accept that type of foreign policy where you do well to a neighbour and he pays you back in a negative way.

“Therefore, we will look at it and make sure generally, the foreign policy will be to the good of Nigeria first before another.’’

Going forward, Buba said that there would be a frequent review of the nation’s foreign policy in line with changing circumstance.

He also called for the training of diplomats and more funding for the National Institute of International Affairs as well as the Foreign Academy, which comprises a lot of experts in international relations.

Buba said that would enable them to effectively review the nation’s foreign policy.