OUR CORRESPONDENT

Side by side, federal ministers and selected Nigerian experts based abroad will undertake a comprehensive review of the federal government's reform programme for the first time next week at an international conference in Canada, Empowered Newswire, a US based Nigerian news agency reports.

The conference which is being organized by Nigerians In Diaspora Organizatin, NIDO, and the federal government would include sessions of comprehensive reviews by Nigerian experts abroad in a bid to fine-tune the reform agenda which the current Obasanjo administration has built much of its success around.

While federal ministers would present the components of the reform, selected Nigerian professionals and experts abroad who critique and analyze them.

Nigerian experts abroad are known as among the best in their chosen disciplines and endeavours across the world. Among. For instance, 1998 official US Census showed that Nigerians in the US are the second topmost group of immigrants with advanced university degrees according in the USA.

The review of the government reform agenda by Nigerian experts based abroad is part of the highlight of next week's Nigeria Worldwide Diaspora Conference coming up in Toronto, Canada, according to the Chief Host of the event, Dr. Ola Kassim, who is also the Chairman of NIDO Americas.

Kassim said in a press statement released in Toronto, Canada over the weekend that "the conference would provoke informed debate on some of federal government reform programs with the federal ministers presenting the government perspectives and Nigerian experts abroad responding with a view to sharpening the reform agenda, intensify the implementation and refine its components as and where necessary."

Nigeria's External Affairs Minister Mrs. Joy Ogwu is expected on behalf of President Olusegun Obasanjo to declare the conference open, alongside the Mayor of Toronto, Mr. David Miller, who will also grace the formal opening.

Other dignitaries expected to speak at the formal opening of the conference on Friday, January 19 are the Nigerian Ambassador to Canada, Ambassador Femi George, continental leaders of the NIDO, including the Chief Host, Dr. Ola Kassim, for NIDO Americas, Chief (Dr.) Femi Olojugba, for NIDO Europe-who is also chairman of NIDO Worldwide-and co-chairs of the Conference planning committee Dr. Gabriel Ogundele and Mr. Robert Ngwu.

Attending the conference as featured speakers are a selection of eminent Nigerians within and outside government.

Already confirmed speakers include several honorable federal ministers who will present the reform agenda in their various ministries and parastatals to the Nigerian experts abroad at the conference. They include Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, Education; Mrs. Grace Ogwuche, Youth Development; Mallam Nasir El Rufai, FCT; Frank Nweke, Jnr., Information and National Orientation; and Dr. Femi Aborisade, Culture and Tourism. Professor Attahiru Jega, Vice Chancellor, Bayero University, Kano is also confirmed as a speaker.

Honorable Ministers Eyitayo Lambo, Health; Leslie Obiora, Solid Minerals; and other top government officials are also expected to feature at the conference including Ambassador Joe Keshi Coordinator of the NNVS, and now Permanent Secretary- Cabinet in the Presidency; Professor Julius Okojie, Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, NUC; Mustapha Bello of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council, NIPC; Irene Chigbue, Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE; Amina Ibrahim, Presidential Special Adviser on MDGs; and Nuhu Ribadu, EFCC Chairman, among others.

From the private sector, featured speakers expected include Dr. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, Chief Tony Elumelu of the United Bank for Africa, UBA. 

The Toronto conference which would feature several ministers and top government officials is seen as

a significant one as it signals what the NIDO press statement described as " the increasing collaboration between Nigerians abroad and government's positive developmental efforts at home."

The conference is coming up in Toronto, Canada from January 18-20 with the theme "Awakening the Tiger in the Heart of Africa: The role of the Diaspora in the Socio-economic Development of Nigeria."

The conference is said to be the first of its kind drawing from government, private sector and Nigerian experts abroad in an effort to take a refreshing and Diasporan look at the issues of development, investment, education and tourism in Nigeria. Over 1000 Nigerians in Diaspora are expected to attend the historic conference with delegates coming from across the world from countries of western and eastern Europe, Asia, Middle East, Canada, USA, South Americas, the Caribbean, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, China, Japan and countries from Africa.

Since the 2000 formation of NIDO, a not-for-profit, non partisan umbrella group of all Nigerians abroad with continental chapters in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, there has been a renewed push for greater integration of Nigerians abroad into the process of national development. For instance during the last National Political Dialogue, Nigerians abroad through NIDO where invited to and did send delegates to the Political Conference, igniting an unprecedented political fervor towards the country among Nigerians abroad.

Nigerian Ministers and top business leaders are expected at the 3-day conference to mingle and exchange ideas with Nigeria professionals abroad on how best Nigerians abroad can participate in the country's socio-economic life and contribute their quota.

According to Dr. Ola Kassim, the Chief Host of the conference and Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, NIDO, in the Americas, sub-themes of the international conference include:

Marketing the Nigeria brand: the Heart of Africa Project,

Socio-economic development and reforms: empowerment of youth, women, and the under-privileged,

Investment opportunities for the Nigerian Diaspora, and

Diversifying the Nigerian economy: Tourism the untapped potent

Diaspora Engagement in the Ongoing Education Reforms in Nigeria

The conference is being organized by NIDO and several collaborating Nigeria Diaspora organizations with the active partnership of the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Nigerian National Volunteer Services, NNVS, a government unit located in the Presidency.

The Collaborating Diaspora Organizations include the Nigeria Peoples Forum (NPF), the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA), the Canadian Association of Nigerian Physicians and Dentists (CANPAD), the Medical Association of Nigerian Specialists and General Practitioners in the British Isles (MANSAG), the Nigerian Association of Nurses, the Nigerian Canadian Association (NCA), Young Nigerian PROfessionals (NiPRO), the Eko Club International and the Nigeria Democratic Movement (NDM) amongst several others. Leaders and members of the collaborating organizations are expected to attend the Toronto conference.

There is also a separate programme of events for the youths in Diaspora opening with a discussion of "Our Experiences-Living and Coping in the Western World as Nigerian Youths."

The conference also has the overall objectives of mobilising and sensitizing Nigerians in the Diaspora to be involved in:

Moving Nigeria forward, promote and strengthen NIDO locally and worldwide through partnerships and other organizations, promote Nigeria as an investment destination and highlight the investment opportunities in Nigeria for the Diaspora.

According to Kassim, "part of what we want to achieve is to encourage several prosperous Nigerians abroad who are able to invest to consider putting their traditional 10% foreign investment portfolio in Nigeria rather than another country outside where they are regularly domiciled."

The NIDO Worldwide conference would be held at the Doubletree International Plaza Hotel, near the Toronto Airport from the evening of January 18, 2006, with a meeting of the Local and central Organizing Committees of the Conference, while the conference proper begins on Friday, January 19 and ends the next day.

Dr. Ola Kassim, the Chairman of NIDO Americas, the Chief Host of the worldwide conference is a successful Toronto-based medical practitioner, who has made a distinguished mark both in his profession and as a Nigerian-Canadian. Meanwhile, Chief (Dr.) Femi Olojugba, a successful Nigerian dental surgeon in Manchester, England who is the Chairman, Board of Trustees, NIDO Europe, is also the inaugural and current Chairman of NIDO Worldwide. At the end of the Toronto Conference, Dr. Kassim will retain the Chairmanship of NIDO Americas and assume the Chairmanship of NIDO Worldwide.

The NIDO Worldwide chair rotates yearly between the heads of the four continental NIDO chapters in a budding tradition along the lines of the yearly rotating Presidency of the United Nations General Assembly. NIDO Worldwide is designed to provide a forum whereby leaders and members of NIDO throughout the world could exchange ideas, especially as Diaspora experiences differ from one country or region of the world to the other.

Robot  # 1 | 08.01.2007 07:15

OUR CORRESPONDENT Side by side, federal ministers a...Read the full article.

MrOneNaija  # 2 | 08.01.2007 11:08

A NEEDLESS BOONDOGGLE No matter how it is packaged - by a complacent, ill-informed media and the Obasanjo regime's errand boys - the inane and diversionary Ass of Africa boondoggle will remain a peice of egregious propaganda construct that is both wasteful and unnecessary. That these imbeciles or misfits masquerading as a government have decided to take their theatre of the absurd to another Western location is hardly surprising. Like its American outing, the Canadian leg of the deeply offensive "Heart of Africa" freak show must be seen as yet another occasion on the part of agents of a desperate, incompetent and criminally reckless regime and its "diasporan" footsoldiers in the likes of that outfit called NIDO to fleece the hapless Nigerian tax payer. The sinister clowns in the mould of Nweke Jr and el-Rufai should be told in no uncertain terms that the crude shenanigans of their political master, the garrison ruler of Aso Rock, Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu, have no place in a decent, progress-oriented society. How does a regime that has barely four months to exist expect any rational being to take it seriously by pretentiously gathering soi-disant experts to supposedly "finetune" its sadistic policies or "reforms"? That these n-i-t-w-i-t-s imagine that a responsible government that is the outcome of the true wishes of the people will be interested in maintaining the anti-people "reforms" of the Obasanjo kleptocracy speaks volumes. No expert worth his mettle should associate himself with Nweke's Ass of Africa crap. One should first of all ask the barbarians what they have been doing in the past seven and a half years of the most intolerant, corrupt, lawless and undemocratic tyranny Nigeria has been saddled with since independence.

Afeni  # 3 | 08.01.2007 18:54

With less than 5 months left, it is just now that Baba thinks to build bridges with Nigerians in diaspora. This is nothing more than another one of Obasonjo's silly antics that are designed to produce an already pre-determined result. Obasonjo is nothing more than a megalomaniac. Everything from the PDP presidential primaries, PDP Senate and House primaries, and the national conference of the various ethnic groups in Nigeria (forget what the charade was called) were all designed to produce results that Baba agrees with. Heck, even census is a charade. I know I am not the only Nigerian that finds it ironic that Nigerias census figure is 140 million. 140 million being the perfect number as it does not upset the Islamic North that continue to claim 70 million muslims. I hate Obasonjo, and I hate his reforms. The stupid old man should pick-up an economic text book and learn something instead of allowing the racist Europeans and Americans write Nigerian economic policy.

I Love Nigeria  # 4 | 09.01.2007 13:00

Govt plans new council on reforms, transformation Ex-PDP presidential aspirants absent at retreat From John Abba-Ogbodo, Abuja A RETREAT organised for candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the April general polls offered President Olusegun Obasanjo another opportunity to speak on the last lap of his administration. Prominent among the issues he dwelt on was his disclosure that the Federal Government would put up fresh structures to institutionalise the current economic and political reforms. The President said at the event in Abuja yesterday that the body to be known as National Council for Reforms and Transformation would ensure that the present reforms were entrenched in the polity. The three-day retreat is being attended by PDP candidates for state and national offices. Among the PDP governors absent at the retreat were Abdullahi Adamu of Nasarawa State, Donald Duke of Cross River, Sam Egwu of Ebonyi and Obong Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom. The absentee governors were allegedly compelled to step down for their Katsina State counterpart, Alhaji Umar Musa Yar'Adua, who eventually clinched the party's presidential ticket at its Abuja convention late last year. The governors have equally served two terms allowed by the constitution in their states. Some mild drama however took place at the retreat when different persons claimed victory at the party's last state primaries. In Imo State, the duo of Senator Ifeanyi Ararume and Charles Ugwu, laid claim to the governorship ticket of the PDP. The same went for Governor Rashidi Ladoja and his deputy, Chief Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State. Obasanjo said: "Any living and dynamic human organisation must constantly reform and transform if it is not to remain static and retrogress. "Our new agenda setting, issues driven party is taking politics beyond mere contests for political offices to a level where we are able to deepen and broaden the content of our democratic values." He said such core values of good governance would enable the candidates to be imbued with an "ingrained social responsibility and abiding faith in the growth, peace, security, stability of our dear nation. "We are resolved to ensure that all the candidates, who will be flying our flag in the forthcoming general elections, know and thoroughly familiarise themselves with the spirit and letter of the 1999 Constitution," he said. Obasanjo said that such candidates must also be abreast with the party's expanded and redefined manifesto, the PDP code of conduct and best practices. "We also expect our candidates to be sufficiently knowledgeable about the peculiarities of the Nigerian situation, the West African situation, the African situation and the 21st Century world," he added. The President said that in setting our agenda for the sustained regeneration of the nation, the government must look at short, medium and long term issues, objectives and targets. Obasanjo, who said there was visible evidence of the success of the programmes, however told the candidates that "these reforms are still at the realm of an uncompleted job and have yet to attain the stature of desired irreversibility. "We need to build a critical mass of believers in the new Nigeria, believers in the reform process, believers in democratic good governance, believers in the fight against corruption, and believers in transparency, due process and accountability," he said. The former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Mr. P.J. Patterson, who spoke on what the world expected from Nigeria at the retreat, declared that the international community was eager to see free and fair elections in accordance with the country's constitution. He added that the world also wants to see the reform of the Nigerian constitution to entrench democracy and make dictatorship a thing of the past. "The harnessing of the country's human and material resources toward development in the areas of housing, water, roads and environment formed part of the expectations", he said. Patterson stated that other nations equally expect Nigeria to be a power that could contribute to such global issues such as trade, resolution of conflicts, partnership for development and the fight against terrorism. The former leader, who traced the extreme poverty in Africa to its history of slave trade and colonialism, urged political parties in Nigeria to dedicate themselves to the eradication of poverty, Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), violence and environmental degradation. Describing democracy as the best form of government in spite of its imperfections, Patterson called for increased freedom of information and popular participation as part of efforts to encourage civil rule in Africa. He praised Obasanjo for being the first Nigerian head of state, who handed over to an elected civilian President, and the person who was willing to vacate office after serving the two terms allowed by the country's constitution Some leaders of the PDP, who spoke at the forum, declared that no party could stop it from winning the next general election gave the candidates the marching order to mobilise their supporters for the polls. In his opening remarks, the PDP National Chairman, Col. Ahmadu Ali (rtd), said that the successes recorded by the party in the 1999 and 2003 elections were due to the commitment and determination of its members, adding that the 2007 general elections would not be too different. Ali said that the party expected all the candidates to go to the battle field and ensure victory at all levels. "You are the products of the primaries at our congresses and the special national convention and therefore our flag bearers in the various elections that will come up in the next few months," he said. In his paper titled: "The New PDP; Context, Content and Commitment," its National Secretary, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, said going by the reforms, which the party had carried out so far, nothing would stop the party from sweeping the polls in the next elections. Guardian E Fileserver 1a:2Teusday:Text:Reform (New) P.1 09/01/07

Robot  # 5 | 08.01.2007 07:15

OUR CORRESPONDENT Side by side, federal ministers a...Read the full article.

MrOneNaija  # 6 | 08.01.2007 11:08

A NEEDLESS BOONDOGGLE No matter how it is packaged - by a complacent, ill-informed media and the Obasanjo regime's errand boys - the inane and diversionary Ass of Africa boondoggle will remain a peice of egregious propaganda construct that is both wasteful and unnecessary. That these imbeciles or misfits masquerading as a government have decided to take their theatre of the absurd to another Western location is hardly surprising. Like its American outing, the Canadian leg of the deeply offensive "Heart of Africa" freak show must be seen as yet another occasion on the part of agents of a desperate, incompetent and criminally reckless regime and its "diasporan" footsoldiers in the likes of that outfit called NIDO to fleece the hapless Nigerian tax payer. The sinister clowns in the mould of Nweke Jr and el-Rufai should be told in no uncertain terms that the crude shenanigans of their political master, the garrison ruler of Aso Rock, Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu, have no place in a decent, progress-oriented society. How does a regime that has barely four months to exist expect any rational being to take it seriously by pretentiously gathering soi-disant experts to supposedly "finetune" its sadistic policies or "reforms"? That these n-i-t-w-i-t-s imagine that a responsible government that is the outcome of the true wishes of the people will be interested in maintaining the anti-people "reforms" of the Obasanjo kleptocracy speaks volumes. No expert worth his mettle should associate himself with Nweke's Ass of Africa crap. One should first of all ask the barbarians what they have been doing in the past seven and a half years of the most intolerant, corrupt, lawless and undemocratic tyranny Nigeria has been saddled with since independence.

Afeni  # 7 | 08.01.2007 18:54

With less than 5 months left, it is just now that Baba thinks to build bridges with Nigerians in diaspora. This is nothing more than another one of Obasonjo's silly antics that are designed to produce an already pre-determined result. Obasonjo is nothing more than a megalomaniac. Everything from the PDP presidential primaries, PDP Senate and House primaries, and the national conference of the various ethnic groups in Nigeria (forget what the charade was called) were all designed to produce results that Baba agrees with. Heck, even census is a charade. I know I am not the only Nigerian that finds it ironic that Nigerias census figure is 140 million. 140 million being the perfect number as it does not upset the Islamic North that continue to claim 70 million muslims. I hate Obasonjo, and I hate his reforms. The stupid old man should pick-up an economic text book and learn something instead of allowing the racist Europeans and Americans write Nigerian economic policy.

I Love Nigeria  # 8 | 09.01.2007 13:00

Govt plans new council on reforms, transformation Ex-PDP presidential aspirants absent at retreat From John Abba-Ogbodo, Abuja A RETREAT organised for candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the April general polls offered President Olusegun Obasanjo another opportunity to speak on the last lap of his administration. Prominent among the issues he dwelt on was his disclosure that the Federal Government would put up fresh structures to institutionalise the current economic and political reforms. The President said at the event in Abuja yesterday that the body to be known as National Council for Reforms and Transformation would ensure that the present reforms were entrenched in the polity. The three-day retreat is being attended by PDP candidates for state and national offices. Among the PDP governors absent at the retreat were Abdullahi Adamu of Nasarawa State, Donald Duke of Cross River, Sam Egwu of Ebonyi and Obong Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom. The absentee governors were allegedly compelled to step down for their Katsina State counterpart, Alhaji Umar Musa Yar'Adua, who eventually clinched the party's presidential ticket at its Abuja convention late last year. The governors have equally served two terms allowed by the constitution in their states. Some mild drama however took place at the retreat when different persons claimed victory at the party's last state primaries. In Imo State, the duo of Senator Ifeanyi Ararume and Charles Ugwu, laid claim to the governorship ticket of the PDP. The same went for Governor Rashidi Ladoja and his deputy, Chief Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State. Obasanjo said: "Any living and dynamic human organisation must constantly reform and transform if it is not to remain static and retrogress. "Our new agenda setting, issues driven party is taking politics beyond mere contests for political offices to a level where we are able to deepen and broaden the content of our democratic values." He said such core values of good governance would enable the candidates to be imbued with an "ingrained social responsibility and abiding faith in the growth, peace, security, stability of our dear nation. "We are resolved to ensure that all the candidates, who will be flying our flag in the forthcoming general elections, know and thoroughly familiarise themselves with the spirit and letter of the 1999 Constitution," he said. Obasanjo said that such candidates must also be abreast with the party's expanded and redefined manifesto, the PDP code of conduct and best practices. "We also expect our candidates to be sufficiently knowledgeable about the peculiarities of the Nigerian situation, the West African situation, the African situation and the 21st Century world," he added. The President said that in setting our agenda for the sustained regeneration of the nation, the government must look at short, medium and long term issues, objectives and targets. Obasanjo, who said there was visible evidence of the success of the programmes, however told the candidates that "these reforms are still at the realm of an uncompleted job and have yet to attain the stature of desired irreversibility. "We need to build a critical mass of believers in the new Nigeria, believers in the reform process, believers in democratic good governance, believers in the fight against corruption, and believers in transparency, due process and accountability," he said. The former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Mr. P.J. Patterson, who spoke on what the world expected from Nigeria at the retreat, declared that the international community was eager to see free and fair elections in accordance with the country's constitution. He added that the world also wants to see the reform of the Nigerian constitution to entrench democracy and make dictatorship a thing of the past. "The harnessing of the country's human and material resources toward development in the areas of housing, water, roads and environment formed part of the expectations", he said. Patterson stated that other nations equally expect Nigeria to be a power that could contribute to such global issues such as trade, resolution of conflicts, partnership for development and the fight against terrorism. The former leader, who traced the extreme poverty in Africa to its history of slave trade and colonialism, urged political parties in Nigeria to dedicate themselves to the eradication of poverty, Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), violence and environmental degradation. Describing democracy as the best form of government in spite of its imperfections, Patterson called for increased freedom of information and popular participation as part of efforts to encourage civil rule in Africa. He praised Obasanjo for being the first Nigerian head of state, who handed over to an elected civilian President, and the person who was willing to vacate office after serving the two terms allowed by the country's constitution Some leaders of the PDP, who spoke at the forum, declared that no party could stop it from winning the next general election gave the candidates the marching order to mobilise their supporters for the polls. In his opening remarks, the PDP National Chairman, Col. Ahmadu Ali (rtd), said that the successes recorded by the party in the 1999 and 2003 elections were due to the commitment and determination of its members, adding that the 2007 general elections would not be too different. Ali said that the party expected all the candidates to go to the battle field and ensure victory at all levels. "You are the products of the primaries at our congresses and the special national convention and therefore our flag bearers in the various elections that will come up in the next few months," he said. In his paper titled: "The New PDP; Context, Content and Commitment," its National Secretary, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, said going by the reforms, which the party had carried out so far, nothing would stop the party from sweeping the polls in the next elections. Guardian E Fileserver 1a:2Teusday:Text:Reform (New) P.1 09/01/07

Robot  # 9 | 08.01.2007 07:15

OUR CORRESPONDENT Side by side, federal ministers a...Read the full article.

MrOneNaija  # 10 | 08.01.2007 11:08

A NEEDLESS BOONDOGGLE No matter how it is packaged - by a complacent, ill-informed media and the Obasanjo regime's errand boys - the inane and diversionary Ass of Africa boondoggle will remain a peice of egregious propaganda construct that is both wasteful and unnecessary. That these imbeciles or misfits masquerading as a government have decided to take their theatre of the absurd to another Western location is hardly surprising. Like its American outing, the Canadian leg of the deeply offensive "Heart of Africa" freak show must be seen as yet another occasion on the part of agents of a desperate, incompetent and criminally reckless regime and its "diasporan" footsoldiers in the likes of that outfit called NIDO to fleece the hapless Nigerian tax payer. The sinister clowns in the mould of Nweke Jr and el-Rufai should be told in no uncertain terms that the crude shenanigans of their political master, the garrison ruler of Aso Rock, Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu, have no place in a decent, progress-oriented society. How does a regime that has barely four months to exist expect any rational being to take it seriously by pretentiously gathering soi-disant experts to supposedly "finetune" its sadistic policies or "reforms"? That these n-i-t-w-i-t-s imagine that a responsible government that is the outcome of the true wishes of the people will be interested in maintaining the anti-people "reforms" of the Obasanjo kleptocracy speaks volumes. No expert worth his mettle should associate himself with Nweke's Ass of Africa crap. One should first of all ask the barbarians what they have been doing in the past seven and a half years of the most intolerant, corrupt, lawless and undemocratic tyranny Nigeria has been saddled with since independence.

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