 |
Francis's Friends
|
Big Tings be Agwan
Related to country: Canada
About this category: Culture
|
So many changes! Josue and I are settling into our life in Toronto and I have to say that the city is treating us very well. So many amazing smart people working on incredibly innovative projects, with lots of ideas in the mix. The last article I posted talked about Toronto 2.0, and boy are we ever on the run. In the last half a year I have been blown away by the amount of cool internet applications from TTCUpdates to my new place of work as Community Evangelist with GetInvolved.ca. The thing that touches my heart is not just the technical talent embedded in this city, but the city's many artists and activists that are creatively forging ahead using the urban landscape as their canvas, from community mural projects to large festivals and conferences.
Not only is this city beaming with talent, it's beaming with opportunity. Collaboration is in the air, and when there is a will there is away. People are enthusiastic about supporting innovation be it social, creative, technical or otherwise. I really feel like anything is possible at this point, and that Toronto is rapidly challenging large American cities for supreme coolness. Will Toronto murals rival San Francisco's? Will our artists challenge NYC and LA as the top North American art market? Will we take over Silicon Valley with our startups, or should we leave that for Waterloo? Either way Toronto is kicking ass!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
how to keep creative
|
Make, move, make, move, make, move — nothing needs you for too long unless you are in love and/or have kids, and even then, you can still make and move. Help as many people as you can by providing service. But when I say too long, I mean stop when you’re full. By full I don’t mean your hopes and dreams — I mean pride and acceptance. By that I don’t mean give up — I mean stop and think about longevity and sutainability. By lasting I don’t mean doing what you’re told to survive – I mean keep your spirit alive. By spirit I don’t mean God — I mean your self.
Train yourself to be creative because if you don’t, you’ll just miss out on reality. It’s all moving — just catch it when it comes and roll with it baby (yes, you are a baby). The only home you got is in your heart and the only thing that distinguishes you is your creativity. Practice moving around. By that I don’t mean travel the world — I mean face your fears and challenge your comfort.
That’s how you keep creative.
     
|
|
|
|
|
|
dead and gone?
|
Ever wonder if anything is dead when you think it’s dead?
Like when you get into an argument with someone you have a close relationship with, or when you lose a game, or when you promised to do something and you don’t live up to? Do you wonder if you lost something knowing you can never get back?
I thought about it and then I realized I’m too stubborn. I thought about being stubborn and then I realized that human beings have various degrees of stubbornness in them. My stubborn temperature rises in strategic situations where my decision affects a larger situation that it’s dependent upon.
I believe in moments of stubbornness one can learn most about themselves, others and completion of tasks. Nothing can survive or be complete on its own. It otherwise would not exist. This means that we as individuals must realize how important others are and how invisible we as individuals must be in the process of completion.
I believe everyone should aim to become invisible by controlling their times of stubbornness. In the society we live in, people are not like that, which means you have to always remember that.
Nothing is dead and gone, because if it was, you could never grow and mature as an individual. The way you handle and recognize your own stubbornness determines your level of maturity. So learn as much as you can about yourself by aiming to become invisible in your run to the finish line.
Pace yourself to win the marathon.
     
|
|
|
|
|
|
New Private Equity Fund to Strengthen Health Care in Africa
|
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the African Development Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the German development finance institution DEG announced that they have created a new private equity fund that will invest in Africa’s health sector. The Health in Africa Fund will invest in small- and medium-sized companies in sub-Saharan Africa, such as health clinics and diagnostic centers, with the goal of helping low-income Africans gain access to affordable, high-quality health services. The fund will help implement key recommendations of IFC’s report, ‘The Business of Health in Africa: Partnering with the Private Sector to Improve People’s Lives,’ which found that the private sector already delivers about half of all health-related goods and services in Africa, and that greater investment in private health companies could have major health and economic benefits for low-income Africans.
|
|
|
|
|
|
CSO Observers Sought for Climate Investment Funds
|
The World Bank’s Environmental Department is seeking civil society representatives to serve as observers on two Climate Investment Fund (CIF) Trust Fund Committees. The Bank has contracted a leading public policy dispute resolution organization, RESOLVE, to manage this self-selection process. The CIFs, which are managed by the World Bank and implemented jointly with the Regional Development Banks, were established through an inclusive and consultative process in support of the Bali Action Plan and approved by the World Bank Board in July 2008. Application forms, criteria, and instructions for the observer seats are available on the RESOLVE website (www.resolv.org/cif). Application instructions and criteria will be posted in Arabic, Bengali, Cambodian/Khmer, French, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tajik, and Turkish during the week of June 15. Completed applications are due by Wednesday, July 2. CSO Observers Sought for Climate Investment Funds (CIF)
The Bank’s Environmental Department is seeking civil society representatives to serve as observers on two Climate Investment Fund (CIF) Trust Fund Committees. The Bank has contracted a leading public policy dispute resolution organization, RESOLVE, to manage this self-selection process. The CIFs, which are managed by the World Bank and implemented jointly with the Regional Development Banks, were established through an inclusive and consultative process in support of the Bali Action Plan and approved by the World Bank Board in July 2008. Application forms, criteria, and instructions for the observer seats are available on the RESOLVE website (www.resolv.org/cif). Application instructions and criteria will be posted in Arabic, Bengali, Cambodian/Khmer, French, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tajik, and Turkish during the week of June 15. Completed applications are due by Wednesday, July 15.
Visit the website: www.resolv.org/cif for more details
|
|
|
|
|
|
International House, New York (www.ihouse-nyc.org) SCAM !!
|
Be careful about International House in New York. I innocently applied for a housing in this place for 6 months, but I did not know it was actually a SCAM.
I went through a very bureaucratic process. First I had to pay a NOT REFUNDABLE 65 USD fee for the application. Then, there are admission criteria that I really think I was fulfilling, but I then received a letter telling me I was denied the housing.
I then asked why I was denied the place, and after 3 phone call attempts, the person told me that I did not fulfill the criteria in the same extent than other candidate, but could not explain why exactly or specifically.
She told me that it was like a university application!!!
I am really upset against International House, which basically steals international students or young people's money!!!!
I you feel you were in the same case and this is actually a SCAM, please write me a email at: sigar14@gmail.com.
The more we are the more powerful we will be.
Cheers,
Simon
|
|
|
|
|
|
this is for everyone who thinks i’m nice
|
You’re wrong.
I’m a monster. Just like you.
Calling yourself good or nice is probably the most untruthful thing you can do and the worst path to pursue in promoting yourself in thinking that you are doing good for the world.
This might shock many of you who know me that might be reading this. Over the last few months I’ve realized some things about myself and the world that have spun me around.
I gave up a couple years of my life, or should I say gave in, to a passion for improvement and innovation. I pretty much became the project, the idea, the vision I was pursuing, and let everything about it become me. I left myself behind to explore myself and who I really was. I kept pushing, pushing, pushing for more, more, more. Talked to thousands of people, spread myself out, connected spirits and tapped into hearts. I’ve been called an idealist, altruist, agent of change, a kid with stars in her eyes and anything else you can imagine that falls under the category of hippie or activist.
I have a lot of love to give, that’s one thing. But I’m equally full of anger, greed and pride — sins maybe? I’ve been called brave and seen as a risk-taker. I would say however, that I’m a wimp and cannot manage to put up too long with mundane, institutional, conventional environments and people . So instead, I do what I want to do and find my own nice way to get out and do what I want with the body and energy that I have. If I was brave, I’d work within the system, be a tool and part of the majority of society that is risking their bodies and energy for the consumption of others.
I figured that I have abilities that convince people to throw money in the shit I talk about. I make it all up. None of it exists. I’m not nice. I just want to do what I want to do and forget me not, I have a lot of love. I think that’s all people see and they kind of just trust it…for some reason. Maybe because I’ve got myself convinced that I’m so good.
Love, my fellow humans, is the only thing I have. I’m absolutely not in control of it. It has attracted me to the right people in my life — good or bad I label them not. I’ve become self-aware and realized that I’m nothing but a selfish, honest, confident, angry and competitive five-foot-two Iranian-Canadian girl who wants to take out my athletic personality (body no more) to the next level in society.
I’ll tell you what’s real:
Fiction, science fiction, cartoons, drugs, graffiti, sex, war, sports, dance, comedy and of course music and art tie all of them together. Oh and don’t forget space and energy.
If you put love beside any one of those, you’ll get magic — not good or bad, just magic. Probably the closest experience you can have to reality.
Being nice to people is only so they like you and give you a hand when you need one. You cannot survive in this world on your own. So convince yourself that you’re nice when you’re really a monster. It’s just a game man, you’ve got no choice but to play, and might as well try not to be a loser.
Let your love lead the way — that means forget yourself, do it for the game.
     
|
|
|
loyalty is extreme
|
swear at the bus driver
tag the truck
yell at the parents
and punch the wall
burn the grass
pass it around
keep it moving
I don’t have all day bro
shit in a bowl and give it a price tag
that shit is art
it’s worth it
you wanna buy?
     
|
|
|
|
|
|
The IRAN in ME
|
I’m going to zoom out a bit here.
I’m Iranian. Yes. Full-blood, deeply rooted in ideologies, traditions and history of Persian culture. You may argue that it’s dead, but I will argue that it is a living spirit that goes way beyond family, food, religion, language, music, poetry, politics and pride. It is a solid combination of all of them, still in search of identity.
I am who I am because of who my parents are, my family, my childhood and my life as an immigrant girl, now a woman, living in Toronto Canada. It’s not easy might I add, more complicated than I expected. I have come to accept it however and respect myself and my body more than what I’m expected of.
I am also who I am because I don’t agree with what society gives me. I’m completely against it. I wish I could kill people who don’t deserve to live and take up land, resources and infect the minds of humans. I’m completely against brainwashing people with what is THE RIGHT WAY – THE WAY OF GOD, THE WAY OF JESUS, THE WAY OF ALLAH. I think it’s all a pile of crap to keep us in our shells and used as tools within a system, whether its a political system, a technological system, a scientific system, an educational system…whatever the system may be. We have yet to pursue a system in harmony with nature.
Or maybe not, maybe this IS all nature and we ARE meant to be here exactly the way we are up to this point and our future is in our own hands.
Zoom in: your life as one human. Zoom out: your life as one humanity.
Read a book to get ideas, don’t live your life by devotion to writing. Words are interpreted to create meaning, and as we know through evolution and time, things change — it’s inevitable, the way of nature. We are growing up. We’re pretty mature now.
So Muslims, who are you? Tell me! I want to know! What defines you as a Muslim? Because Christians let their faith lead to capitalism and consumer culture and you’ve let your faith limit the nature of your body and pleasures. Sure there are beautiful sayings in the Quran, there are many in the Bible too. Not to mention some other pretty amazing science fiction writers, filmmakers, poets, artists and philosophers with revolutionary minds that manifested to MOVEMENTS in society. They did a good job of literature too, but they never called it the word of God and punished you for disobeying them.
I have the freedom to sit here and type up my thoughts and share it with others. That is nothing new.
What is new is the future of Iran.
Why?
Iran, in my opinion, is the most confused country in the world right now because I can feel Iran living in me since the day I was born. Maybe it’s my dad, or my mom, or the combinations of the two, or the generations passed down in spirit and cosmos. But I am Iran. Iran is a confused, chaotic, versatile, passionate, intelligent and creative spirit that has been encapsulated for thousands of years and has not given up. We are the last hope for this world. We are capable of redefining the Middle East, the cradle of civilization, because of our revolutionary spirit that has lived in us for years.
I don’t know what else to say but…the time is right Iranian people. The media is on us. It’s what we’ve all been waiting for. What’s next? Community. Communication. Poetry. Our poetry will save us. Make a living poet the politician. No other land owns poetry like us. We have lived by it and continue to pass it down.
Use it Iran.
Use it now.
     
|
|
|
|
|
|
Get published in the first MOMENTUM Magazine - Participez à la première édition du magazine MOMENTUM !
|
"MOMENTUM: Mission, Passion, Expression" is a youth-led magazine and a website dedicated to helping youth become more informed and engaged in society. The co-founders of this project are Yassir and Ilyes El Ouarzadi, two young laureates of the Millenium Excellence Scholarships. These young leaders both participated in the leadership program Shad Valley as well as in the 2008 World Youth Congress and in the Dictée des Amériques and they wish, through this project, to give the opportunity to hundreds, even thousands of young people from Canada and abroad, to live such live-changing experiences. Therefore, MOMENTUM is a by-youth, for-youth network dedicated to social change.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MOMENTUM MAGAZINE ?
We welcome your submissions (on current events (economic crisis) or on any topic related to youth engagement, global issues, and leadership) in the form of articles, interviews, poetry, personal reflections, short stories, photography, etc.
Your written submissions should be no longer than 1000 words in length.
Please email all submissions by July 31st to info.momentum@yahoo.com in Word format.
NEW DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS:
July 31st, 2009
Thanks !
------------------------------------------------------------
«MOMENTUM : Mission, Passion, Expression» est un magazine jeunesse accompagné d'un site web qui a pour but d'aider les jeunes à être bien informés et bien impliqués dans la société. Les cofondateurs de ce projet sont Yassir et Ilyes El Ouarzadi, deux jeunes lauréats de la Bourse d'excellence du millénaire. Ces jeunes leaders ont tous les deux participé au programme de leadership Shad Valley ainsi qu'au Congrès Mondial des jeunes 2008 et à la Dictée des Amériques et qui désirent, grâce à ce projet, donner l'opportunité à des centaines, voire des milliers de jeunes du Canada et d'ailleurs, de vivre de telles expériences qui pourront changer leurs vies. MOMENTUM est donc un réseau de changement social, par les jeunes et pour les jeunes.
COMMENT PARTICIPER AU MAGAZINE MOMENTUM ?
Envoyez-nous vos articles, poèmes et textes d'opinion sur le thème: comment les jeunes changent le monde ? et comment vous faites en tant que jeunes la différence dans vos communautés ? Vous pouvez aussi partager votre expérience personnelle pour inspirer d'autres jeunes à s'engager et à réaliser des projets dans leurs communautés. Vous pouvez également traiter de sujets d'actualité (crise économique), de problèmes qui affectent les jeunes ou encore des problématiques mondiales comme les changements climatiques.
Les articles ne devraient pas contenir plus de 1000 mots.
Faites-nous parvenir vos écrits en format Word à info.momentum@yahoo.com
DATE LIMITE D'ENVOI: la date a été prolongée
Le 31 juillet 2009
MERCI !
Yassir et ilyes
Co-Founders of MOMENTUM: Mission, Passion, Expression
Join us at: http://momentumweb.ning.com/
|
|
|
|
|
|
Be published in the first MOMENTUM Magazine - Participez à la première édition du magazine MOMENTUM !
|
"MOMENTUM: Mission, Passion, Expression" is a youth-led magazine and a website dedicated to helping youth become more informed and engaged in society. The co-founders of this project are Yassir and Ilyes El Ouarzadi, two young laureates of the Millenium Excellence Scholarships. These young leaders both participated in the leadership program Shad Valley as well as in the 2008 World Youth Congress and in the Dictée des Amériques and they wish, through this project, to give the opportunity to hundreds, even thousands of young people from Canada and abroad, to live such live-changing experiences. Therefore, MOMENTUM is a by-youth, for-youth network dedicated to social change.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MOMENTUM MAGAZINE ?
We welcome your submissions (on current events (economic crisis) or on any topic related to youth engagement, global issues, and leadership) in the form of articles, interviews, poetry, personal reflections, short stories, photography, etc.
Your written submissions should be no longer than 1000 words in length.
Please email all submissions by July 31st to info.momentum@yahoo.com in Word format.
NEW DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS:
July 31st, 2009
Thanks !
------------------------------------------------------------
«MOMENTUM : Mission, Passion, Expression» est un magazine jeunesse accompagné d'un site web qui a pour but d'aider les jeunes à être bien informés et bien impliqués dans la société. Les cofondateurs de ce projet sont Yassir et Ilyes El Ouarzadi, deux jeunes lauréats de la Bourse d'excellence du millénaire. Ces jeunes leaders ont tous les deux participé au programme de leadership Shad Valley ainsi qu'au Congrès Mondial des jeunes 2008 et à la Dictée des Amériques et qui désirent, grâce à ce projet, donner l'opportunité à des centaines, voire des milliers de jeunes du Canada et d'ailleurs, de vivre de telles expériences qui pourront changer leurs vies. MOMENTUM est donc un réseau de changement social, par les jeunes et pour les jeunes.
COMMENT PARTICIPER AU MAGAZINE MOMENTUM ?
Envoyez-nous vos articles, poèmes et textes d'opinion sur le thème: comment les jeunes changent le monde ? et comment vous faites en tant que jeunes la différence dans vos communautés ? Vous pouvez aussi partager votre expérience personnelle pour inspirer d'autres jeunes à s'engager et à réaliser des projets dans leurs communautés. Vous pouvez également traiter de sujets d'actualité (crise économique), de problèmes qui affectent les jeunes ou encore des problématiques mondiales comme les changements climatiques.
Les articles ne devraient pas contenir plus de 1000 mots.
Faites-nous parvenir vos écrits en format Word à info.momentum@yahoo.com
DATE LIMITE D'ENVOI: la date a été prolongée
Le 31 juillet 2009
MERCI !
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Seven point Agenda crucial to national economy
|
The Presidency is satisfied with the conception and implementation of the Seven-point Agenda of the Administration and therefore has no plans to either prune or adjust it.
Presidential spokesman, Mr Olusegun Adeniyi said that the agenda was crucial to the survival of the Nigerian economy and the pivot on which Vision 20-2020 was anchored.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity was reacting to the suggestion put forward by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Sanusi Lamido Sanusi during his confirmation hearing on the floor of the senate.
Mr. Adeniyi noted that since the Seven-point agenda is not an ad-hoc measure, any attempt to prune it would amount to economic suicide and urged Nigerians to see the views expressed by Governor Sanusi as “a suggestion with the best of intention and not an attack on the government focal policy.
The 7 Point Agenda are:
1. Critical Infrastructure
2. Niger Delta
3. Food Security
4. Human Capital
5. Land Tenure Changes & Home Ownership
6. National Security & Intelligence
7. Wealth Creation
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nigeria’s sustained quest for Foreign Direct Investment
|
Having painstakingly laid the foundations of economic development, as articulated in the Seven-point Agenda and Vision 20:2020, there is a visible resurgence in Nigeria’s international economic relations under President Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s administration. There is a new impetus, a fresh dynamism as well as growing momentum to open up Nigeria and make it ready for solid and sustainable investments. It is not just a case of doing more of the same old drive for foreign direct investments.
Though the concept of using Investment Forums/Fairs to interact with investors is not new, the style of the current investment drive is novel. The current exercise is not just a series of talk-shops or seminars. The campaign involves networking sessions, investment dialogue forums, informal and interactive engagement sessions as well as road shows and rallies as each particular occasion demands.
This time around, there are conscious efforts to diversify Nigeria’s economic diplomacy away from restriction to traditional partners in order to engage new and more development partners in the international arena. Through diplomatic contacts and hosting or making official visits, the current administration has concretized Nigeria’s economic relations with Asian tigers such as India, Japan, China and South Korea. It has also forged links with Brazil, South American and Caribbean countries. Of course, the traditional partnership with United States of America, United Kingdom, France, and continental Europe as well as with North America continues to be strengthened.
It is no longer about telling investors fairy tales about Nigeria, rather it is about letting them know the immense potentialities as well as the daunting challenges while encouraging them to come on-board. The government is also going beyond offering incentives and palliatives to creatively engage investors in fixing and improving the critical infrastructures in order to reduce the cost of doing business in Nigeria.
Moreover, the investment drive is not just about wooing big companies, conglomerates and trans-national corporations; it is more to do with encouraging partnership between Nigeria’s small and medium enterprises and their foreign counterparts. It is about encouraging information exchange, technology transfer and personnel exchange/training collaborative schemes in a way that will integrate Nigeria into the global economy matrix.
It is within this context that the present administration has enlarged and re-energized the Honorary International Investors Council (HIIC), which it inherited from President Olusegun Obasanjo’s civilian regime. The HIIC has been enlarged to become more representative of different economic sectors as well as the various geographical locations and investing populations of the world. Beyond the two six-monthly meetings held annually, Council Members scattered around the globe are now more practically engaged to organize investment meetings and dialogues in their different geographical regions as occasions demand.
From a high-brow technocratic talk-shop on investments, the HIIC is gradually becoming an interventionist and activist agency for attracting investors to Nigeria’s rich but challenging economy. HIIC has become more pro-active, pragmatic and sector-specific in its drive to too investors into the Nigerian market.
This administration is not just urging investors to come to Nigeria; it is also making the investing environment more conducive to investors and fertile for their investments. Definite steps are being taken to reduce corporate taxes, eliminate double taxation and end the rash of illegal levies on manufacturing companies. Following the advice and at the instance of members of the HIIC, the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has instructed Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs ministry to make issuance of visas in our embassies abroad more investor-friendly. In the same vein, the Vice President said our immigration laws must be more investment-oriented and tourist-friendly.
According to him, “It is in the overall national economic interests of our country to issue long-term visas and make procurement of visas easier for investors and tourists. We must also make our airports and ports less cumbersome and more people-friendly if we are serious about getting foreigners to partner with us in our development efforts.” With the effectiveness of Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission’s (NIPC) one-stop-investment-centre (OSIC), where foreigners can access information and register new business without delay, a brand new deal is being forged for investors in Nigeria.
A lot has changed as far as Nigeria’s investing environment is concerned. Yet, the world out there is still stuck with the old stereotype of Nigeria as the tottering sleeping giant. Not much is known is about the positively altered macroeconomic situation or more favourable policy environment.
It is against this backdrop of changed circumstances in Nigeria vis-à-vis global ignorance -- at a time when the country is in dire need of international resources and support -- that this administration has been organizing or facilitating a series of investment forums in key development centres across the globe.
The first in the series of investment forums was a two-legged conference on Stating the Case for Investing in Nigeria scheduled to take place in Dubai and London, which was jointly facilitated by African Matters Limited and Developing Markets Associates. While the Dubai Forum was postponed for logistic reasons, the London Forum was successfully held at IET Savoy Place on April 22, 2009 with about 200 participants comprising government officials, prospective investors, business tycoons, development activists, non-governmental organizations, diplomats and representatives of the international community.
At the London Event, the Ministers of National Planning, Commerce and Industry, Finance, Mines and Steel Development, Agriculture and Water Resources as well as the Governors of Kano State, Rivers State and Ondo State (represented by the Secretary to Government) were on hand to showcase Nigeria’s immense investment potentialities vis-à-vis the country’s agenda for development. Aside from fielding questions after each session of paper presentations, the Nigerian investment delegation used coffee breaks and networking moments to engage and interact with would-be investors and fact-finding tourists who had many posers about Nigeria’s social climate and economic environment.
The tone of the London Forum was set by H. E. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who spoke passionately and analytically about Nigeria’s largely untapped investment potentials amidst some daunting development challenges. He said that Nigeria remains the preferred investment destination because of its abundant natural endowment and immense manpower resources as well as because of infrastructural gaps and deficiencies that are being fixed. The investment forums, he explained, are veritable avenues to get willing and genuine development partners and investors to collaborate with Nigeria to develop, upgrade or upscale the infrastructures in order to make the country the ideal and fertile investment ground. He said we cannot wait to fix all our infrastructural deficiencies, logistics problems and legal hurdles before calling on development partners who may actually be needed to accelerate the process of getting the ideal investment climate in the first place.
Expectedly, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, Engr. Mustafa Bello was around to restate and recall all the steps that Nigeria has taken and is taking to transform Nigeria to an investor’s paradise. He spoke about the myriads of incentives, tax holidays and all sorts of sweeteners and palliatives designed to woo investors into the manufacturing sector of Nigeria’s economy. He said the One-Stop-Investment-Centre (OSIC) has removed most of the logistics challenges and bureaucratic hurdles that new investors face in a developing economy like Nigeria.
Representatives of the organized private sector in Nigeria like the Dangote Group and Total Oil were readily available to give the needed endorsement to Nigeria’s investment climate. The Chief Executive of Dangote Cement Group, Tony Hadley said “Nigeria’s improved investment climate is making it easier to do business, to source external finance and secure foreign technical partners.” He explained that investors and foreign finance institutions have more confidence in Nigeria’s economy.
Following on the resounding success of the London Forum, Nigeria’s ambassador to Sweden, Dr. Godknows Bolade Igali (who was present at the London Forum) successfully organized a Nordic Forum on Nigeria-Nordic Economic Partnership that will take the Vice President’s delegation to Finland, Sweden and Denmark between May 10 and 17, 2009. This is a bold initiative to concretize and expand Nigeria’s international economic relations with Scandinavian countries with a view to benefiting from their high technologies and other comparative economic advantages.
The first of two HIIC meetings held annually will hold from June 25 to 26 in London this year to take stock of the gains and challenges of Nigeria’s investment drive in the light of the current global economic melt-down. The second Council meeting slated for November should ordinarily take place in Abuja but may be moved to the United States to tap into the business connections and investment potential of some American members on the Council. There is also the possibility of another Nigeria Investment Forum in Germany in the first quarter of next year to engage with investors in Germany, Austria, Czechs and Slovenia.
The global meltdown or economic downturn is not a reason for Nigeria to slow down its drive for foreign investment rather it is a good reason to intensify it. For one, investors have become more wary and discriminatory in their choice of investment destinations, making it necessary for countries to deliberately publicize their investment opportunities and comparative advantages. Secondly, the fact that several investors and banks had their fingers burnt in hitherto favoured investment destinations has made emerging markets like Nigeria to become objects of favourable consideration for new equities. It is therefore the right time for Nigeria to press her comparative advantage as a preferred investment destination.
In any case, as explained by the Vice President, to achieve Nigeria’s Vision 2020-20, there is no way Nigeria can shy away from partnership with the international community by way of international trade and utilization of foreign investment. The current drive is for solid strategic investments that can deepen and diversify the country’s economy and promote sustainable development. Such investments would lead to genuine value-addition through improving and increasing local content of Nigeria’s products. Moreover, the investments would not only build personnel and institutional capacity but also create more jobs and employment opportunities for Nigeria’s huge and resourceful population
Therefore, while Nigeria continues to take concrete actions to improve her infrastructure and improve the regulatory environment, it must continue to state and reassert its credentials as a desirable emerging market in order to continue to attract and retain foreign investments.
|
|
|
|
|
|
President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua of Nigeria
|
Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, GCFR is the President, and the Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was born in the ancient city of Katsina, Katsina State on August 16, 1951 to the famous Musa Yar’Adua family that has become synonymous with politics and public service in Nigeria.
He started his primary education at Rafukka Primary School, Katsina in 1958. He moved to Dutsinma Senior Boarding Primary School in 1962 where he completed his primary education in 1964.
Between 1965 and 1969, Yar’Adua was a student at the Government College, Keffi, in the present day Nasarawa State for his secondary education, from where he moved to the famous Barewa College, Zaria for his Higher School Certificate between 1970 and 1971.
He gained admission into the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in 1972 and obtained a B.Sc Education degree with specialization in Chemistry in 1975. He returned to the same University in 1978, earning a Master’s degree in Analytical Chemistry in 1980. Yar’Adua taught Chemistry at the Katsina Polytechnic before venturing into private business and eventually into politics.
In the political arena, Yar’Adua opted for a socialist leaning contrary to the traditional conservative posture of his renowned family. During the Second Republic, the late Malam Aminu Kano, leader of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP)and acclaimed ‘champion of the masses’, was his political mentor when most members of his family were with the more establishment-inclined National Party of Nigeria (NPN). He also associated very closely with the late Ahmadu Bello University 'radical' lecturer, Dr. Bala Usman, among others as a member of the Think-Tank.
Yar’Adua was a member of the 1989 Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) which prepared the groundwork for the return to civil democratic governance in the aborted Third Republic. In 1990, he became the Secretary of both the defunct Peoples Front (PFN) and was later elected the State Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Katsina State. A year later, he emerged the SDP gubernatorial candidate in the state. In 1999, he contested and won the governorship of Katsina State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – a positioned he retained for eight years following his re-election in 2003.
For Yar’Adua, politics has always been viewed as a vehicle for transforming the society for the general well-being of the citizens. This is evident from his commitment to the ideals of accountability, transparency and prudent management of state resources. It is on record that as Governor of Katsina State, Yar’Adua was not only able to massively change the infrastructural landscape of the state, he also radically transformed the educational sector.
His commitment to engendering qualitative education in the State has manifested in the trebling of primary school enrolment in the State from 460,000 pupils in 1999 to over one million in 2007; and the reduction of the number of pupils per class in primary schools from 250 to 40 pupils throughout the State. He also established a N1.5 billion Scholarship Trust Fund.
More remarkable is the fact that even with these laudable accomplishments, Yar’Adua was able to leave behind well over six billion naira (N6b) in the Katsina State treasury at the end of his outstanding stewardship. This, surely, is an enduring testimony to prudent management of public resources.
Given these exceptional antecedents, it is no surprise that the PDP decided to field him as its presidential candidate during the 2007 presidential election. He contested and won the election convincingly.
Today, Nigerians are beginning to see that his declaration at his inauguration of himself as a Servant-Leader was made with the highest sense of responsibility and clear vision of the legacy he wishes to leave behind for posterity.
His self-effacing style, disarming humility, transparently honest devotion to the supremacy of the rule of law, focused leadership and uncommon commitment to Nigeria’s restoration combine to evoke a new hope and abounding faith in the eventual realization of the great potentials with which Nigeria is endowed.
Yar’Adua, who holds the traditional title of the “Mutawallen Katsina”, is married to Hajia Turai and the couple is blessed with many children.
|
|
|
Latest Posts
Monthly Archive
Change Language
Tags Archive
africa cooperation development
Filter By Type
Friends
17713 views
|
|
