Society

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, was at the weekend honored by the cities of Antioch and Lathrop in the United States for promoting peace and democracy in Africa.

At the award ceremony, the Mayor of the city of Antioch, Mayor Wade Harper, expressed his admiration for Jonathan and declared that the city of Antioch, California, was proud of his legacies, especially his act of overseeing free, fair and conclusive elections and leaving the scene when the ovation was loudest.

He recommended Jonathan’s behaviour to other leaders.

Jonathan, who was represented by Mr. Reno Omokri, gave a goodwill message to the two cities that had gathered to honor him as well as to the Nigerian community in the Bay Area of California.

Jonathan said he was “proud of Nigerians in the diaspora and more so of Nigerians in the US and even more so of the Nigerian diaspora in California.”

Continuing, the former President said Nigerians in the diaspora were an asset to Nigeria who remitted over $20 billion home annually, “much more than the World Bank, IMF and foreign direct investment.” 

Jonathan ended by saying he was proud of diaspora Nigerians and tried to show his appreciation for their support of Nigeria by ensuring that during his time in office at least three direct flights were initiated between America and Nigeria to ease travel challenges and reduce costs for travelers to Nigeria.

Also, former President Jonathan gave the keynote speech at the Cal State University’s Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution’s 25th annual Africa/Diaspora conference, in Sacramento, California, on April 23, 2016.

Also represented by Mr. Reno Omokri, Jonathan received an award by the center in recognition of his role in promoting democracy and peace in Nigeria and Africa.

Speaking at the event, the representative of the former Nigerian leader spoke on the role Jonathan played in ensuring that Nigerian remained at peace in the aftermath of the 2015 elections thus defeating doomsday prophets who had speculated that Nigeria may disintegrate based on the outcome of the polls.

Jonathan said: “Democracy is the panacea to most conflicts in Africa, and that is why the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation is committed to strengthening democracy throughout Africa by building capacity within electoral institutions and engendering willingness to accept the results of the people freely given via a transparent election process.”

Continuing, the former President said “Until democracy is strong internally, you cannot be effective against conflict and terrorism internally and externally.”

The provost of the university, Professor Mike Lee, praised the outstanding character displayed by Jonathan and called for others leaders to emulate his conscience driven leadership.

The Director of the centre, Professor Ernest Uwazie, also commended the former President and declared that his conduct during the elections made him one of the few statesmen with the moral authority to speak on democratic issues in Africa.

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Elangwe Pauline

25.Apr.2016

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The Cameroonian Communities in Cologne and Kaiserslautern Germany announce with deep regret the death of thir Cameroonian brother Hermann Olivier Djomo Kamnang.
Chao, as as he was nicknamed, died at the age of 26 years at the Cologne University Clinic Saturday April 23, 2016 at 8:16 PM.He suffered a sudden heart attack while playing soccer earlier on that fateful Saturday. 
Cameroonians are gathering in their numbers to organize the transportation of his remains back to Cameroon for burial.
An account has been made public for donations.The family will highly appreciate donations in kind to help in arranging his funeral.Please find below the account details:
Konto Inhaber: Jean Marc Djomo Kwonang
IBAN: DE04 2007 0024 0023 5846 00
BIC: DEUTDEDBHAM
Verwendungszweck: Hermann Djomo

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Jackson Tantoh

25.Apr.2016

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A Cameroonian from Boston Massachusetts USA by name, William Tchouamou Ganjui was a victim of heart attack while vacationing with his wife and 3 kids in Montreal Canada.

William suffered a heart attack while swimming in the hotel pool where the family had lodged in Montreal.He was declared dead on the spot meanwhile his two years old don who was with him at the time of the incident, happened to have drowned but was revived at the scene .  

Devastatingly the 2years old Menelik also died later on in the hospital. This tragedy comes barely two days after two Cameroonian sisters lost their live in a ghastly accident in Iowa-USA

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Elangwe Pauline

23.Apr.2016

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The government of Cameroon is denying claims that ace world footballer and icon, Samuel Eto’o recently bought and renovated the Cameroon Embassy in Washington DC, USA.

In a statement issued April 22, the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in Charge of Relations with the Commonwealth, said, the building remains state property and had never been sold to anyone, not even Eto’o.  

It remains unclear why it took several months for the government through Minister Joseph Dion Ngute to publicly deny earlier claims.The statement did not also explain where such a circulating story could have generated.Samuel Eto’o Fils also maintained sealed lips over the claimsas if in consent.

 Worth recalling, Cameroonian soldier now in exile, Patrice Nouma, had exposed the abandonment of the Embassy, by the government which preferred to rent other buildings for use as its chancellery.

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Solomon Amabo Amabo

23.Apr.2016

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Criminals appear to be taking advantage of Russia's student visa system to force girls into prostitution. DW's Emma Burrows has been investigating how Nigerians come for university and disappear into the sex trade.

Two years ago a woman came to Blessing Osakwe's hometown in the south of Nigeria and told the young woman there was work for her in Russia. She told Osakwe she would have a job in a supermarket, and that it would take the her just five or six months to earn the money to reimburse the costs of the visa and the journey to Russia. After paying back the $40,000, Osakwe could keep all the money she made, the woman said.

Osakwe said her parents are very poor and that the idea of going to Russia to help them and to save money for her education appealed to her. She agreed.

Only when she arrived, did she discover everything the woman had said was a lie.

There was no supermarket job. Instead, Osakwe told DW, she was forced to work as a prostitute.

She was driven around Moscow to have sex with men. One night, she was taken to an apartment building where one man was apparently waiting for her. When she got inside, she discovered there were eight men. She was forced to sleep with all of them, she said. When she refused to have sex without a condom, they took back the money they had paid and beat and molested her,

she said.

Then they threw her from the fourth floor of the building.

Osakwe broke her hip when she hit the ground. She spent two-days on life-support in the hospital until her treatment was stopped because, she said, she could not afford to pay. She now cannot walk properly and is confined to a wheelchair.

Trafficked on student visas

Osakwe's story is not uncommon, said Kenny Kehinde, who works with several Moscow NGOs focused on preventing human trafficking. Around 2,000-3,000 Nigerian girls - many from poor, remote villages - are brought to Russia every year for sex work, he said.

"This is international modern-day slavery, where the girls are brought here with the help of some Russian government officials, some Nigerian authorities and so-called 'madams' [pimps] who exploit these girls for sex in Russia," said Kehinde.  

Most of the girls Kehinde dealt with had come to Russia on student visas, he said.

Such visas are not easy to obtain as universities must provide supporting material for the applications.

Usman Gafai, head of mission at the Nigerian Embassy in Moscow, said he, too, was aware of Nigerians being trafficked for sex to Russia.

"Ten years ago, it was not such a huge problem as this," he told DW. "Those involved are an international cartel. On a daily basis they are growing and making money out of it."

The Russian government needed to "carry out proper scrutiny of visa applicants back in Nigeria," Gafai said. "The majority come to Russia on a student visa, and I want to see more scrutiny of that."

Kehinde said illiterate teenagers were being trafficked.

"How can you bring a girl of 14- or 15-year old to study in a university, when she cannot even read and write?" he asked.

Migration violations

DW was able to examine passports and migration documents belonging to six Nigerian girls, including Blessing Osakwe, that showed they had arrived in Russia on student visas.

The Smolny Institute of the Russian Academy of Education in Saint Petersburg told DW it had issued visa support documents in 2014 for Osakwe to study a Russian-language course in preparation for entering university. However, in an emailed statement to DW, the university's rector, Gaidar Imanov, said she never arrived at the institute, and the university had no knowledge of whether she had entered the country.

Similarly, the Baltic Humanitarian Institute, another St. Petersburg university, confirmed via email it had issued documents to a would-be student from Nigeria who had never made contact to begin her course in Russia.

Both universities rejected the notion that their staff may have been paid to provide documents to students who were not genuine or to traffic girls to Russia for sex, calling the allegation "fiction" and "absolutely baseless."

The Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, whose embassies issue visas, told DW in a written statement that all students in Nigeria undergo an interview "without fail." It also said border officials do not allow entry into the country without confirmation from the university where they are due to study. The ministry said it "wanted to emphasize" that individuals are "personally responsible for adhering to migration legislation."

Russia's Federal Migration Service told DW that it "regularly checks" for migration violations and that immigration law had been broken in more than 325,000 cases in the first two months of 2016. Despite several requests, the agency did not explain how Blessing Osakwe - and girls like her - could have entered Russia on student visas and apparently disappeared from authorities' sight for years into the sex trade.

Tackling trafficking

Despite legislation meant to prevent human trafficking, Russia has not shown a full commitment to tackling the problem, said Andrew Bogrand of the NGO Democracy International.

"Prosecution, although existent, is very limited," he said. "More alarming, according to Russia's few women's rights NGOs, is the almost complete lack of shelter space for women who are victims of sex trafficking or domestic violence.

"Corruption and trafficking are inextricably linked - and Russia fares poorly in most corruption indexes," he continued. "As long as the state continues to turn a blind eye to the problem of corruption, trafficking will flourish."

'Stay home'

Blessing Osakwe recently returned to Nigeria and hopes to resume her studies. But her time in Russia has changed her life forever. It remains unclear whether she will be able to walk properly again.

She has a message for other Nigerian girls who are offered jobs abroad: "Stay back home, learn to work. Even though the pay is small, it is much better than coming here to suffer or lose your life."

DW

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Elangwe Pauline

22.Apr.2016

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As part of his efforts to promote peace and liberty in Africa and all over the world, I former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan met with with Mr. Andrew Forrest, founder of Walkfree International Foundation, the world's prominent anti modern slavery body. The former Nigerian statesman was presented with a copy of the foundation's annual Global Slavery Index which he wholeheartedly endorsed. The Goodluck Jonathan Foundation will partner with Walk Free Foundation to spread Liberty around the world and especially in Africa.  

The Goodluck Foundation has as its main objective the determination to be part of the process for the attainment of global development, security and peace, as well as making the world a better place.

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Ngwa Gilbert

22.Apr.2016

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