Tag Archives: British

British Government To Partner With Nasarawa On Infrastructure

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The British Government has pledged to partner with Nasarawa State Government in the areas of agriculture, mining, housing and infrastructure to help shore up its economic base.

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Thomas, stated this when he paid Governor Tanko Al-Makura his first visit at the Government House, in Lafia, the state capital.

On his part, the Governor assured the UK of all the cooperation it needs so as to achieve optimum results.

While stating the purpose of his visit in a swift manner, he said that more needs is to be done in some sectors of the State and the United Kingdom is ready to partner.

“The purpose of my visit is to understand more about the challenges in this state, to understand about the opportunities in the state and see what support the British Government can bring to Nasarawa.

“Some of these opportunities include agriculture, mining, mass housing, infrastructure, and there is a lot of work that needs to be done, I know the Governor is getting on with that work and doing it very well.

“One of those sectors, one of those priorities are areas where the UK has expertise, British companies can come to the state and engage with you.

“We will look at the opportunities and see in what way they can contribute to the economic development of Nasarawa state”, he said.

The governor who appreciated the visit, responded by saying that the state has a conducive business environment and abundant natural resources, and so the United Kingdom will be given all the cooperation needed for a fruitful partnership.

“Agriculture, solid minerals which abound in Nasarawa state is because we have conducive business environment and climate that can produce any kind of crops.

“So, any British entrepreneur that is interested in partnering with this administration or any organisation within the state can come and we would give certain organisation all the support and encouragement” the governor said.

For optimal result to be achieved, Al-Makura assured that when a deal is signed, it would be supervised by him to avoid any hitch.

“I would like to take the opportunity of this courtesy to bring to your notice that we really acknowledge and appreciate all the support we are getting in terms of this international partner support.

“In particular I would want to assure you that whatever support that comes to Nasarawa state, will be personally supervised by me, to ensure that the ultimate objectives and results are achieved”, he said.

Also part of the visit was an exhibition of samples of mineral resources that the state is endowed with and a visit to the special school in Lafia.

 

Source: Channels TV

British ex-PMs raise possibility of new Brexit vote.

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Former British prime minister John Major believes there is a “credible case” for a second referendum on Brexit, a newspaper reported Friday, after his successor Tony Blair suggested the process could be stopped.

Major, a former leader of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative party, warned against the “tyranny of the majority” in implementing the June vote to leave the European Union, in which 52 percent opted for Brexit.

“I hear the argument that the 48 percent of people who voted to stay should have no say in what happens. I find that very difficult to accept,” he told a dinner this week, according to The Times newspaper.

“The tyranny of the majority has never applied in a democracy and it should not apply in this particular democracy.”

Asked if the public should be given another say on the terms of the withdrawal deal, Major reportedly said: “That is a matter for parliament. You can make a perfectly credible case for it.

“I don’t know whether that will happen. I think we need to see how things pan out before we decide exactly what needs to be done.”

He said he accepted Britain would not remain a full member of the EU but still hoped for a deal that would enable the country to stay as close as possible to the union and its single market.

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The comments by Major, who led Britain between 1990 and 1997, were published the day after his Labour successor suggested that Brexit could still be halted.

“It can be stopped if the British people decide that, having seen what it means, the pain-gain cost-benefit analysis doesn’t stack up,” Blair told the New Statesman magazine.

He added: “I’m not saying it will (be stopped), by the way, but it could. I’m just saying: until you see what it means, how do you know?”

Blair, a fervent pro-European who was prime minister from 1997 to 2007, said: “I think, in the end, it’s going to be about parliament and the country scrutinising the deal.”

May’s government intends to start formal exit talks with the EU by the end of March.

She has said parliament would likely vote on the final deal but is resisting calls to give lawmakers a say before the negotiations begin.

The Supreme Court is due next month to hear the government’s appeal against a lower court ruling that parliament must approve the triggering of Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which begins formal exit talks.

British Woman Arrested after Dubai Rape Claim

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A British woman who told police in Dubai she had been raped has reportedly been charged with having extra-marital sex.

The woman in her 20s was allegedly attacked by two men from Birmingham while on holiday in the United Arab Emirates.

When she reported the incident, police arrested her and confiscated her passport, according to UAE law experts detained in Dubai.

The woman has since been bailed but could face jail if found guilty at trial.

Radha Stirling, from the Detained in Dubai group, said the emirate’s treatment of rape victims was “tremendously disturbing”.

She said: “The UAE has a long history of penalising rape victims.

“It is still not safe for victims to report these crimes to the police without the risk of suffering a double punishment.

“Police regularly fail to differentiate between consensual intercourse and violent rape. Victims go to them expecting justice, and end up being prosecuted.

“They not only invalidate their victimisation, they actually punish them for it.”

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We are supporting a British woman in relation to this case and will remain in contact with her family.”

Ken Olisa: The Most Powerful Black Man In Britain

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He’s the Queen’s escort in London who locked horns with John Bercow and has a library named after him at Cambridge – not bad for a boy who grew up without a loo in Nottingham

Today Ken Olisa is officially named as the most powerful black person in Britain, not that any of the commuters on the 8.10am from Hampton Wick would know it.

Unassuming and usually dressed in the commuter’s favoured uniform of suit and raincoat, the only thing that hints at his influence is his trademark bow tie – he owns more than 100.

Otherwise, there is little to suggest that Mr Olisa is, according to the annual Powerlist – which names
the most influential black people in Britain, more important than Sir Lenny Henry or Mo Farah or the Oscar-winning film director Steve McQueen. How could anyone know that this quiet man from Nottingham wields more power than Lewis Hamilton or Baroness Lawrence?

But wield power Ken Olisa does. The 63-year old was the first British born black man to serve on the board of a public company (Reuters), has his own merchant bank (Restoration Partners), and a library named after him at his Cambridge alma mater (Fitzwilliam).

He is a keen philanthropist (the library came after a £2 million donation), a former governor of the Peabody Trust, a chair of not one but two charities (Thames Reach, which deals with the homeless, and Shaw Trust, which helps the disabled), and is on the board of the Institute of Directors.

And as if all of that weren’t enough, in April, he was made Lord Lieutenant of London, appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister. The title gives him an office in Whitehall, a staff of 90, and puts him in charge of all visits made by the royal family within the city – with him even standing in for them on occasion.

So he escorted the Queen to the Home Office last week, and had the miserable task of accompanying the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the Spectre premiere last month, along with Prince Harry. The next morning he was up early to spend yet more time with the Duchess – this time, on a charity visit to Islington Town Hall.

“I do a lot of calming down in the moments before their arrival,” he explains. “People tend to get very wound up and stressed.” Not so Olisa, who is as cool as the proverbial cucumber, even when wearing the heavy military-style uniform of the Lord Lieutenant.

Source: TelegraphUK

British Grandmother Prepares For Execution In Indonesia

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A British grandmother on death row in Indonesia is writing goodbye letters to her family and believes she could be executed at any time, she wrote in an article on Sunday.

Lindsay Sandiford, 58, said she was expecting to die shortly, after seven foreign drug convicts were executed last week, causing a storm of international protest.

“My execution is imminent and I know I might die at any time now. I could be taken tomorrow from my cell,” Sandiford wrote in British newspaper the Mail on Sunday.

“I have started to write goodbye letters to members of my family.”

Sandiford, originally from Redcar in northeast England, wrote that she planned to sing the cheery popular song “Magic Moments” when facing the firing squad.

“I won’t wear a blindfold. It’s not because I’m brave but because I don’t want to hide — I want them to look at me when they shoot me.”

She said her greatest sadness is that she may never meet her two-year-old granddaughter, who was born after her arrest.

Sandiford was sentenced to death on the island of Bali in 2013 after she was convicted of trafficking drugs.

Customs officers found cocaine worth an estimated £1.6 million ($2.4 million, 2.2 million euros) hidden in a false bottom in Sandiford’s suitcase when she arrived in Bali on a flight from Thailand in 2012.

Sandiford admitted the offences, but says that she agreed to carry the drugs after a drug syndicate threatened to kill her son.

Read More: AP