All Posts in "Human Angle"

Nigerian envoy to issue passports after 8 wks of biometric capturing in Frankfurt

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The Consul General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Frankfurt, Mr Wahab Akande, has vowed to issue passports eight weeks maximum after the biometric data capturing of the applicants.

The envoy made the pledge when he received a joint delegation of the Nigerian Community Germany (NCG) e.V. and the Concerned Nigerians Germany (CNG) e.V. on Friday.

Ambassador Akande however said that his pledge was subject to the availability of passport booklets.

The audience was sought by the two associations to discuss issues affecting Nigerians living in Germany, especially passport issuance, visa application by German nationals who were born Nigerian and the situation of Nigerian students who fled the war in Ukraine and are currently seeking refuge in Germany.

The meeting resolved that, among others, that: Passports are to be issued 6-8 weeks after the capturing of biometric data of applicants depending on the availability of passport booklets.

Administrative charges for passport application would be 20 Euro
Applicants would receive their passports by submitting self-addressed envelopes or paying 10 euros for postage
The meeting also resolved that the General Consul would instal POS machine in its premises to make payment for its services easier for Nigerians and others.

The Consul General also advised Nigerian-born German nationals to contact the consulate once their visa applications had been made and fees paid to facilitate the processing of their applications.

The delegation that visited Consul General Akande comprised, among others, of David Peters, President of NCG, and Chuks Lewis Ehiwario (President, CNG).

Patoma Admin by — June 9, 2022 in Foreign 0
African-German Association brings new approach to Germany

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

African-German Association (AGA) has emerged in Germany to bring new approach to building a strong community.

It brings people of African descent together and wants to build the capacity of organisations to support and promote community engagement and participation.

“We noticed that a major weakness of African associations is their membership focus which hampers their effectiveness,” Michael Williams Iyare, President of AGA, said in an exclusive interview with The African Courier.

“Quite frankly speaking, most of our organisations base their membership on specific nationalities, linguistic zones, ethnic groups or other subnational identities,” he explained.

“We seek to change that by creating an umbrella where all Africans – irrespective of where you come from in the continent – can feel at home. Hence, our mission is to unite people of African descent.”

AGA, which is based in Berlin, brings together other groups and influential members of different communities who now act as multipliers.

The association has identified lack of information as a major challenge facing Africans, especially the newcomers, and seek to address the challenge by disseminating information on different issues that migrants are confronted with in Germany.

“Despite the many organisations in the African community, our people are still lacking information which makes life unnecessarily difficult,” Iyare, who is an entrepreneur, said. “So, we have chosen to provide orientation to our people,” he explained.

Another primary purpose of the association is the promotion of community engagement and participation in civic matters, which it believes is an effective way to promote integration.

AGA holds monthly information sessions on different legal, health, social and cultural issues to support the integration of Africans and promote their welfare in the country.

The association also raises money for charity such as it’s currently doing for Red Cross to support the humanitarian organisation in rendering assistance to African refugees from Ukraine.
Moreover, AGA is actively involved in development in Africa. “Let’s face it, the diaspora has an important role to play in the development of the continent,” he said.

This is why the association seeks collaboration with local organisations as well as communal politicians in Africa to implement development projects.

Among its ongoing activities in Africa is the provision of drainage for a rural road in the town of Igbanke, Edo State, Nigeria. “Roads are a major challenge for rural dwellers in Africa which hampers economic activities. This is why we are involved in the project in Igbanke, where my parents hail from. We are adding a drainage system to the 3.5 km road,” he revealed.

Working with a local organisation, AGA is also currently roofing a primary school in Maputo in Mozambique.

“What we have found out is that the diaspora could make greater impact if it works with communal politicians to impart development at the local level,” Iyare said. “These people know the communities very well and they know what we could do to improve the living conditions of the people.”

AGA was inaugurated in 2021 and already has 38 corporate members. The association, which builds capacities of member organisations to ensure effective and efficient service delivery to the community, is targeting 100 members before the end of 2023.

Patoma Admin by — June 9, 2022 in Foreign 0
8 dead, 23 rescued as three-storey building collapse in Lagos

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

No fewer than eight persons have recovered dead while 23 persons have been rescued from the debris of a three-storey building that collapsed around 9.40pm on Sunday night at 32 Ibadan Street, Ebute Meta area of Lagos

According to a female resident, names are withheld, and the numbers of occupants trapped in the building are yet to be known.
Immediately the building collapsed, we began to call the emergency toll free lines 767 and 112 but they were not picking up their calls.”

It was gathered that it took the intervention of the past Managing Director, Adesina Tiamiyu who was contacted to get through to officials of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) before men and equipment were mobilised to the scene for the incident.

Confirming the incident, Dr Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, PS LASEMA said on arrival at the incident scene, an old three-storey building comprising rooms and a parlour was discovered to have collapsed.”

“Further information gathered revealed that the incident occurred at about 10.56 pm with an undetermined number of people trapped.”

As search and rescue are still ongoing
22 males, one female were rescued alive out of the victims rescued two sustained severe injuries and have been taken to LASUTH for further treatment, while five males and three females were recovered dead.”

Rescued victim at the collapsed building

Patoma Admin by — May 2, 2022 in Human Angle 0
Nigerians in Germany to bid Oguchi Unachukwu farewell

Oguchi Unachukwu (middle) was a beloved member of the Nigerian community in Hamburg, Germany/Photo: Private

 

By admin

 

Nigerians from across the length and breadth of Germany will gather in Hamburg today, Saturday, to bid farewell to Oguchi Unachukwu, who was shot in May while he was visiting his homeland.

Unachukwu, a very active member of several Nigerian organisations in Hamburg, was shot by a yet to be identified officer of the Nigerian Airforce on 31 May in the presence of his wife, two of his children and a relative while he was driving into the premises of the Owerri airport to catch his flight to Lagos for his return journey to Germany.

“We are appealing to all Africans, friends and well-wishers here in Hamburg and within Germany to please come out en masse and support us on Saturday, the 31st of July 2021, for the wake keep of my brother Late Mr Oguchi Unachukwu,” Chi chi Unachukwu Uwadiegwu, a brother of the deceased, appealed in a Facebook post.
Among the activities planned for the farewell on Saturday are a football match between the Nigerian Community Germany FC Hamburg and Billstrasse Boys which will take place at 2pm and a wake keeping ceremony later at 5pm.

Meanwhile, calls continue to be made to the authorities in Nigeria to identify the military officer who shot Unachukwu and bring him to justice. The issue has also been tabled in the Federal House of Representatives, with the parliamentarians calling on the military authorities to find and punish the murderer of the Hamburg-based Nigerian.

The southeastern region of Nigeria, where Unachukwu was killed, is currently mired in insecurity. In reaction to arson attacks against police stations and other government installations by unknown persons, security forces have been accused of committing extra-judicial executions and other grave human rights violations

Patoma Admin by — July 31, 2021 in Human Angle 0
South Africa sentence Nigerian man to 3 life imprisonment terms for sex slaving 12-year-old girl

By admin

 

A Nigerian national, Augustine Omini Obono, who kidnapped a 12-year-old girl, fed her drugs and forced her to have sex with up to six men a day over a three-month period has been sentenced to three life imprisonment terms by a South African court in Gauteng.

The Gauteng North High Court handed down three life imprisonment terms for human trafficking, rape, statutory rape and sexual exploitation. Obono was further sentenced to three years for kidnapping and seven years for keeping a brothel.

The National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said in September 2016, the girl was at a park in Derdepoort for a picnic with her friends when she met a woman who asked her to accompany her to a flat in Sunnyside, Pretoria, where she would meet a man.

“The woman promised the minor that she would give her taxi money to go to Mamelodi the following morning,” he said.

When they arrived at the flat in Sunnyside, the woman handed the minor over to Obono for purposes of sexual exploitation or for her to be used as a prostitute.

“Obono kept the minor in the flat for three months,” Mahanjana said.

She said over the three-month period, Obono fed the girl drugs and forced her to have sex with between five to six men a day.

“In December 2016, the minor eventually managed to escape and went to her uncle’s place in Mamelodi. When she arrived, she informed her uncle of what had happened. The uncle reported the matter to the police and the minor pointed out the flat where she was kept,” she said.

When the police went into the flat, they found Obono and arrested him and he has been in custody since.

South Africa, like Nigeria, is considered to be on the “Tier 2 Watchlist” for human trafficking. Tier 2 represents countries whose governments do not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards

Patoma Admin by — May 2, 2021 in Human Angle 0
Natural disasters claims 1.23m lives in 20 years

Extreme weather events have increased dramatically in the past 20 years, taking a heavy human and economic toll worldwide, and are likely to wreak further havoc, the United Nations has said

The natural disasters such as drought, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires and extreme temperature events caused major damage over the last 20years while it was said to have claimed 1.23million lives with a total of 4.2billion people affected in 7,348 events coating over $3billion

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is making an alarming assessment. The number of natural disasters has doubled over the last two decades (2000-2019). Hence, 7 348 events with an estimated cost of 3 000 billion USD have been reported.

The number of climatic disasters, which amounted to 3 656 during the 1980-1999 decade, has increased by 83 percent to reach 6 681 over the 2000-2019 period. Floods and storms are the most frequent climatic events.

According to the same source, natural disasters have claimed the lives of 1.23 million people in twenty years, an increase of 3.4 percent in comparison with the 1980-1999 period. Even worse, the population affected by disasters is up by 23.1 percent going from from 3.25 billion to 4 billion people.

Heatwaves and droughts will pose the greatest threat in the next decade, as temperatures continue to rise due to heat-trapping gases, experts said.

China (577) and the United States (467) recorded the highest number of disaster events from 2000 to 2019, followed by India (321), the Philippines (304) and Indonesia (278), the U.N. said in a report issued the day before the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. Eight of the top 10 countries are in Asia.

“The good news is that more lives have been saved but the bad news is that more people are being affected by the expanding climate emergency,” Mami Mizutori, the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, told a news briefing.

She called for governments to invest in early warning systems and implement disaster risk reduction strategies.

Debarati Guha-Sapir of the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at the University of Louvain, Belgium, which provided data for the report, said: “If this level of growth in extreme weather events continues over the next twenty years, the future of mankind looks very bleak indeed.

“Heatwaves are going to be our biggest challenge in the next 10 years, especially in the poor countries,” she said.

Last month was the world’s hottest September on record, with unusually high temperatures recorded off Siberia, in the Middle East, and in parts of South America and Australia, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said.

Global temperatures will continue to warm over the next five years, and may even temporarily rise to more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in July. Scientists have set 1.5C (2.7 Fahrenheit) as the ceiling for avoiding catastrophic climate change.

Patoma Admin by — October 31, 2020 in Human Angle 0
Woman, daughter, househelp died in Kubwa

By Favour Nnabugwu

Mrs. Dorothy Igwe

Her shop, Ellegant Dora opening for 10th October

A woman by name, Mrs Dorothy Igwe, a staff of the National Identity Management Commission, was found dear in her shop, Ellegant Dora with her 10 year-old daughter and her househelp yesterday morning.
Dorothy Igwe who is also a caterer was found dead alongside her 10 year old daughter and maid inside her shop on Friday morning near Golden Good Shepherd School in Kubwa, Abuja hours to the grand opening of her pastty shop.
PatomaBusinessOnline.com findings from neighbours said she newly rented the shop and was putting finishing touchy to the shop for the opening slated for Saturday, October 10, 2020 but they said the on Thursday night they held the sound of her Generator on which meant people were inside the shop thatThursday night.
The neighbour who preferred anonymity said surprisingly, when they were going to work on Friday morning her car was still parked where she left it the night before.
Continuing, they said when they saw the car still parked on Friday morning they were wondering what was going on because they had not known her personally because she was new.
Another man said she just marked her daughter 10th birthday and she is supposed to open her store today but sadly she was found dead with her daughter and maid in her shop yesterday.
Police, according to PatomaBusinessOnline.com, is still investigating the cause of their death as at press time
Patoma Admin by — October 10, 2020 in Human Angle 0