salford1:
Nigeria has given assurances it will help dispel "myths" that illegally crossing from the U.S. is a shortcut to Canada, and will issue travel documents to facilitate the removal of unsuccessful asylum seekers.

Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen visited Nigeria to meet with senior officials and other groups to discuss the spike in the number of Nigerians who are abusing U.S. travel visas to enter Canada illegally.

More than 7,600 people have entered Canada outside official border crossings so far this year, and more than half of them are Nigerian, Hussen said. Of those, more than 75 per cent had a valid travel visa to the U.S. There are more than 15,000 people on Canada's deportation list, including more than 900 Nigerians.

Since Canada raised the issue with the U.S., American officials have been applying more rigorous screening procedures to the visa application process. That has led to a 10 per cent increase in the refusal rate.

Akin Oduntan, public relations officer for the Nigerian Canadian Association, wants to send the message that if people want to come to Canada, they should go through the legal immigration route. Oduntan doesn't know why so many Nigerians are suddenly choosing this route, but speculates that some unscrupulous immigration consultants, or those posing as consultants, are making money by giving out false information. He says some don't want to be patient enough to go through the legitimate process, and don't understand they are actually jeopardizing their chances for a life in Canada.

With so much public attention on Nigerians illegally making their way into the country, he worries it could harm the reputation of Nigerians in Canada. Last year, 5,460 Nigerians were admitted as permanent residents through economic class programs and family sponsorship.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/hussen-nigeria-asylum-seekers-1.4668579?cmp=FB_Post_News

Hello. Good day Sir. I'm a pharmacist, about to start the migration process for Canadian Visa. Saw your comment which you said it took your wife 3years to get back to pharmacy practice. I need your explicit assistance please. How can I contact you please.

DereI:


Congrats tbaby....so long overdue

Hi Good day.
Please do you know a Nigeria Trained Pharmacist that has successfully gone through the Licensure process?
Can you connect me with one. I really need to speak to someone that has gone through the proces already. Thank you.

We need a national rebirth: The Older Generation Must Give Way For The Youths,We have become analogue – IBB

TOWARDS A NATIONAL REBIRTH

In the past few months and weeks, I have played host to many concerned Nigerians who have continued to express legitimate and patriotic worry about the state of affairs in the country.

Some of them have continued to agonize about the turn of events and expressly worried why we have not gotten our leadership compass right as a country with so much potential and opportunity for all.

Some, out of frustration, have elected to interrogate the leadership question and wondered aloud why it has taken this long from independence till date to discover the right model on account of our peculiarities. At 57, we are still a nation in search of the right leadership to contend with the dynamics of a 21st century Nigeria.

Having been privileged to preside over this great country, interacted with all categories of persons, dissected all shades of opinions, understudied different ethnic groupings; I can rightfully conclude that our strength lies in our diversity.

But exploring and exploiting that diversity as a huge potential has remained a hard nut to crack, not because we have not made efforts, but building a consensus on any national issue often has to go through the incinerator of those diverse ethnic configurations.

Opinions in Nigeria are not limited to the borders of the political elite; in fact, every Nigerian no matter how young or old, has an opinion on any national issue. And it is the function of discerning leadership to understand these elemental undercurrents in the discharge of state responsibilities.

WHERE WE ARE

There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria is at a major crossroads at this moment in its history; the choices we are going to make as a nation regarding the leadership question of this country and the vision for our political, economic and religious future will be largely determined by the nature or kind of change that we pursue, the kind of change that we need and the kind of change that we get.

A lot depends on our roles both as followers and leaders in our political undertakings. As we proceed to find the right thesis that would resolve the leadership question, we must bear in mind a formula that could engender national development and the undiluted commitment of our leaders to a resurgence of the moral and ethical foundations that brought us to where we are as a pluralistic and multi-ethnic society.

Nigeria, before now, has been on the one hand our dear native land, where tribes and tongues may differ but in brotherhood we stand, and on the other hand a nation that continues to struggle with itself and in every way stumbling and willful in its quest to become a modern state, starting from the first republic till date.

With our huge investments in the African emancipation movements and the various contributions that were made by our leadership to extricate South Africa from colonial grip, Nigeria became the giant of Africa during that period. But having gone through leadership failures, we no longer possess the sobriety to claim that status.

And we all are guilty.

We have experimented with Parliamentary and Presidential systems of government amid military interregnum at various times of our national history. We have made some progress, but not good enough to situate us on the pedestal we so desirously crave for.

It is little wonder therefore that we need to deliberately provoke systems and models that will put paid to this recycling leadership experimentation to embrace new generational leadership evolution with the essential attributes of responsive, responsible and proactive leadership configuration to confront the several challenges that we presently face.

In 2019 and beyond, we should come to a national consensus that we need new breed leadership with requisite capacity to manage our diversities and jump-start a process of launching the country on the super highway of technology-driven leadership in line with the dynamics of modern governance. It is short of saying enough of this analogue system.

Let’s give way for digital leadership orientation with all the trappings of consultative, constructive, communicative, interactive and utility-driven approach where everyone has a role to play in the process of enthroning accountability and transparency in governance.

I am particularly enamored that Nigerians are becoming more and more conscious of their rights; and their ability to speak truth to power and interrogate those elected to represent them without fear of arrest and harassment. These are part of the ennobling principles of representative democracy.

As citizens in a democracy, it is our civic responsibility to demand accountability and transparency. Our elected leaders owe us that simple but remarkable accountability creed. Whenever we criticize them, it is not that we do not like their guts; it is just that as stakeholders in the political economy of the country, we also carry certain responsibilities.

In the past few months also, I have taken time to reflect on a number of issues plaguing the country. I get frightened by their dimensions. I get worried by their colourations. I get perplexed by their gory themes.

From Southern Kaduna to Taraba state, from Benue state to Rivers, from Edo state to Zamfara, it has been a theatre of blood with cake of crimson. In Dansadau in Zamfara state recently, North-West of Nigeria, over 200 souls were wasted for no justifiable reason.

The pogrom in Benue state has left me wondering if truly this is the same country some of us fought to keep together. I am alarmed by the amount of blood-letting across the land.

Nigeria is now being described as a land where blood flows d to dry up. Almost on a daily basis, we are both mourning and grieving, and often times left helpless by the sophistication of crimes.

The Boko Haram challenge has remained unabated even though there has been commendable effort by government to maximally downgrade them. I will professionally advise that the battle be taken to the inner fortress of Sambisa Forest rather than responding to the insurgents’ ambushes from time to time.

THINKING ALOUD

In the fullness of our present realities, we need to cooperate with President Muhammadu Buhari to complete his term of office on May 29th, 2019 and collectively prepare the way for new generation leaders to assume the mantle of leadership of the country.

While offering this advice, I speak as a stakeholder, former president, concerned Nigerian and a patriot who desires to see new paradigms in our shared commitment to get this country running. While saying this also, I do not intend to deny President Buhari his inalienable right to vote and be voted for, but there comes a time in the life of a nation, when personal ambition should not override national interest.

This is the time for us to reinvent the will and tap into the resourcefulness of the younger generation, stimulate their entrepreneurial initiatives and provoke a conduce environment to grow national economy both at the micro and macro levels.

Contemporary leadership has to be proactive and not reactive. It must factor in citizens’ participation. Its language of discourse must be persuasive not agitated and abusive. It must give room for confidence building.

It must build consensus and form aggregate opinion on any issue to reflect the wishes of the people across the country. It must gauge the mood of the country at every point in time in order to send the right message. It must share in their aspirations and give them cause to have confidence in the system.

Modern leadership is not just about “fighting” corruption, it is about plugging the leakages and building systems that will militate against corruption. Accountability in leadership should flow from copious examples. It goes beyond mere sloganeering.

My support for a new breed leadership derives from theunderstanding that it will show a marked departure from recycled leadership to creating new paradigms that will breathe fresh air into our present polluted leadership actuality.

My intervention in the governance process of Nigeria wasn’t an accident of history. Even as a military government, we had a clear-cut policy agenda on what we needed to achieve. We recruited some of the best brains and introduced policies that remain some of the best in our effort to re-engineer our polity and nation.

We saw the future of Nigeria but lack of continuity in government and of policntinuity in government and of policies killed some of our intentions and initiatives. Even though we did not provide answers to all the developmental challenges that confronted us as at that time, we were not short of taking decisions whenever the need arose.

GROWING INSECURITY ON OUR HANDS

The unchecked activities of the herdsmen have continued to raise doubt on the capacity of this government to handle with dispatch, security concerns that continue to threaten our dear nation; suicide bombings, kidnappings, armed banditry, ethnic clashes and other divisive tendencies.

We need to bring different actors to the roundtable. Government must generate platform to interact and dialogue on the issues with a view to finding permanent solutions to the crises. The festering nature of this crisis is an inelegant testimony to the sharp divisions and polarizations that exist across the country.

For example, this is not the first time herdsmen engage in pastoral nomadism but the anger in the land is suggestive of the absence of mutual love and togetherness that once defined our nationality. We must collectively rise up to the occasion and do something urgently to arrest this drift.

If left unchecked, it portends danger to our collective existence as one nation bound by common destiny; and may snowball into another internecine warfare that would not be good for nation-building.

We have to reorient the minds of the herdsmen or gunmen to embrace ranching as a new and modern way to herd cattle. We also need to expand the capacity of the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Army, the Navy and Air Force to provide the necessary security for all.

We need to catch up with modern sophistication in crime detection and crime fighting. Due to the peculiarity of our country, we must begin community policing to close the gaps that presently exist in our policing system.

We cannot continue to use old methods and expect new results. We just have to constructively engage the people from time to time through platforms that would help them ventilate their opinions and viewpoints.

THE CHANGE MANTRA

When the ruling party campaigned with the change mantra, I had thought they would device new methods, provoke new initiatives and proffer new ways to addressing some of our developmental problems.

By now, in line with her manifesto, one would have thought that the APC will give fillip to the idea of devolution of powers and tinker with processes that would strengthen and reform the various sectors of the economy.

Like I did state in my previous statement late last year, devolution of power or restructuring is an idea whose time has come if we must be honest with ourselves. We need to critically address the issue and take informed positions based on the expectations of the people on how to make the union work better.

Political parties should not exploit this as a decoy to woo voters because election time is here. We need to begin the process of restructuring both in the letter and spirit of it.

For example, I still cannot reconcile why my state government would not be allowed to fix the Minna-Suleja road, simply because it is called Federal Government road, or why state governments cannot run their own policing system to support the Federal Police.

We are still experiencing huge infrastructural deficit across the country and one had thought the APC-led Federal Government would behave differently from their counterparts in previous administrations. I am hesitant to ask; where is the promised change?

LOOKING AHEAD

At this point of our national history, we must take some rather useful decisions that would lead to real development and promote peaceful co-existence among all the nationalities.

We must be unanimous in what we desire for our country; new generation leadership, result-driven leadership, sound political foundation, demonetization of our politics, enhanced internal democracy, elimination of impunity in our politics, inclusiveness in decision-making, and promotion of citizens’ participation in our democratic process. The search for that new breed leadership must start now as we prepare for 2019 election.

I get worried when politicians visit to inform me about their aspirations and what you hear in terms of budgetary allocations for electoral contest does not cover voters’ education but very ridiculous sub-heads.

A typical aspirant in Nigeria draws up budget to cover INEC, Police, Army and men and officers of the Civil Defense, instead of talking of voters’ education, mobilization and sensitization.

Even where benchmarks are set for electoral expenditure, monitoring and compliance are always difficult to adhere to. We truly need to reform the political system. And we must deliberately get fresh hands involved for improved participation.

We need new ways and new approaches in our political order. We need a national rebirth. We need a rebranded Nigeria and rebranded politics. It is not so much for the people, but for the institutions that are put in place to promote our political engagements.

We must strengthen the one-man, one-vote mantra. It is often ridiculous for me when people use smaller countries in our West Africa sub-region as handy references of how democracy should be. It beggars our giant of Africa status.

The next election in 2019, therefore, presents us a unique opportunity to reinvent the will and provoke fresh leadership that would immediately begin the process of healing the wounds in the land and ensuring that the wishes and aspirations of the people are realized in building and sustaining national cohesion and consensus.

I pray the Almighty Allah grant us the gift of good life to witness that glorious dawn in 2019. Amen.

I have not written an open letter to the President, I have just shared my thoughts with fellow compatriots on the need to enthrone younger blood into the mainstream of our political leadership starting from 2019.

SIGNED FOR AND ON BEHALF OF GENERAL I.B.BABANGIDA, GCFR.

PRINCE KASSIM AFEGBUA

MEDIA SPOKESMAN[

I actually expected Ifu Ennada to top the votes.

If the voting is fair, this goes a long way to show that people have differing opinions.

Congratulations to the returning Housemates. But I doubt any of them will be winning the grand prize.

I wish her success in her endeavors.

Tho the salaries are lower than I expected.

How do they afford the extravagant lifestyles they live.

Why keep it alive?

Pharnta:

Hello pharm emedy.i am a pharmacist on this PR issue.pls don't be discouraged.it looks complicated but it's actually not.what I did in my case, I nominated pharmacy technician and got positive outcome with vetassess in six weeks, I applied for nomination with NT for 489.patiently waiting for my nomination.from my findings I can do all that is needed to register as a retail pharmacist as soon as I land in OZ. I am nominating pharmacy technician majorly because I had 7,7,6,6.5 in IELTS.to nominate retail pharmacist you need minimum of 7 across the four bands in IELTS academic.APharmC requires the academic module.you do not need to write any exam aside IELTS from here.the registration involves exams when u get to OZ.pls do not bury your interest.You don't know how glad i am to see a fellow pharmacist on this thread.u can send me a PM if u need further clarifications.as men of honour we join hands.

You have really made my day. I'll reach out to you Pharm.
As men of Honour, we join hands really

doyen06:
@emedy, there's nothing impossible about your case. You need to do skill assessment like everyone else here. Read all the relevant information and you will be good. You don't need to give up cos of the registrations, I've checked retail pharmacist and you have good chance as it's been sponsored by some states. From my opinion, it's easier getting invitation for occupations restricted to stsol list.

.

Thank you for the encouragement. Lemme do some more research on it. But from what I read, skill assessment goes through the Australian Pharmacy Board, which I'll have to go through as an intern first. This makes the whole Visa process different.

*Please is there a Pharmacist in the House?Help a brother*

rozayx5:


Dude does not know how strong akpabio is

Something in your signature. Will do you a pm.

fyneguy:
The fear of a recall is the...

You see Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio? You can't attempt to recall such a man.

noscarn91:

It's hard for pharmacist to migrate to Australia through PR, the occupation is not in demand , there are lots of Australia pharmacist without jobs

Ok. Thank you. I guess that buries my interest there.
Any ideas about Canada? I was considering it too.

bellong:


What is your question?

Hello sir, I'm a pharmacist and I'm very interested securing PR. I have gone through this thread and other reffered sites. But it seems it's a bit complicated for Pharmacists, given the process of registration and all that.

Do you know any Nigerian Pharmacist that has gone through the process that can shed more light? Please kindly tag. Thank you.

cowleg:

Not yet..try connect with us on facebook

admin please add 08133702206. and please what's the Facebook username.

Is this while I haven't been able to recharge since?

please what the minimum amount that could be invested.

www.google.com.ng/url?q=http://www.unn.edu.ng/publications/files/images/project%2520A.doc%2520(2003)B.pdf&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwj7xaP8ytrPAhXL2xoKHePxCvkQFgg2MBA&usg=AFQjCNGurHyoQV4AvuZwgapeFNlIVk5UDw

ochuski:

Abi?.. I know ur type for school...copy n paste
Better go study medicine or pharmacy.

Abeg i no dey do like dat.. i read, i decipher n push it out d way i understand it.. Am an Enterprenuer.

that's a harsh one on my profession. you can make your point without running someone else's profession.

Vivly:

So you've just concluded that Andre has lost both wife and unborn child already. Even Rhonda doesn't know if her baby will make it in the next season.

Granted, Empire is unpredictable. if Rhonda comes out alive,i don't expect the baby too be alive,the reason I started out with IMHO, anything can happen.

IMHO... Luscious might be a devil but he understands that he should remain a Father. he'll probably a rude Father that wished things go his way. Hakeem is messed up, luscious has tolerated him enough. Everything he's got originates from his dad... even his LYON DYNASTY. The only sparing him from lawsuits is the fact that he's a LYON. The very same beat his dad gave him which he rejected got voted for the song of the year. I fear for his ending, he better work hard to cater to for the child Anika will bear him. Andre will be so devastated, loosing his wife and child. Cookie will get to love his husband more. Really.... there's no Empire without Luscious as C.E.O.

Life is so complicated than we think. I pity Amechi tho. Woke shouldn't think he has got it all now.

Lordseyad:
I think the 10mins of a match stops at 10:29 -- 10:30+ gives 11 mins.. So I think the goals still came @ 1-10 mins..

standard betting rules are 9.59 and 10.00,above that is in the 11th minute.

puskin:

Better check that time very well

I did. on BBC sports.

please is there any merrybet agent on this thread? Naitalanders check this out with me. I placed a bet of 1-10mibs draw. a goal came at 10:02mins. I know that's a win for me yet. it was red. I have tried talking to their customer care. but they ain't helpful in any way. what can I do?

believe me, Football and Politics are the two events God watches. He's non-partisan when it gets to these. no need for trstimonies.

There are speculations that President Muhammadu Buhari will keep the petroleum minister portfolio for himself in the new cabinet rather than trust anyone else with the ministry, which currently contributes over 80 per cent of Nigeria’s revenue.

Reuters quoted some close associates of the President as saying this on Tuesday.

One long-standing associate of Buhari, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the cabinet decision was still under wraps, said Nigeria’s oil sector was so dirty that nobody’s hands were clean enough to do the “surgical changes” needed.

Reuters also quoted another political associate as saying, “He will do it. It would be stupid to give that position to anyone else.”

The first source said Buhari had still not decided on his cabinet and had laughed off media speculation about the figures he would appoint, joking with friends as he read out a newspaper article that mentioned possible names: “They have picked my ministers for me! Have I even told you who I want?”

Buhari has extensive knowledge of the oil sector, having been head of the Petroleum Trust Fund under an ex-military ruler, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, in the 1990s and oil minister in the 1970s under Olusegun Obasanjo.

He was voted in by Nigerians on an anti-corruption platform after years in which graft appeared to worsen under the leadership of his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan.

Buhari sent a list of 15 special advisers to the outgoing National Assembly for approval on Tuesday, but the cabinet is unlikely to be publicly revealed until the end of July or early August, Reuters reported.

The Senate, which must confirm the cabinet, will convene only briefly on June 9 before its members go on recess for up to six weeks.

“It’s going to be a lean government; I doubt he’ll have 42 ministers like Jonathan but he must have at least 36 (for the number of states) as prescribed by the constitution, though it does not specify whether they have to be senior or junior,” an adviser in the ruling All Progressives Congress party was quoted as saying.

The new administration had not yet gone through Jonathan’s handover notes on policy, the adviser said.

“There is a huge body of proposals being bandied around the place,” the adviser said, adding that nothing beyond broad strokes had been outlined.

Jonathan has left Buhari with a cash-strapped government, with a rainy-day fund so depleted that the government must borrow just to cover salaries.

The government relies on oil sales for the bulk of its revenues but there has been little oversight on how these are handled. A former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Lamido Sanusi, was sacked under Jonathan after he declared that some $20bn in oil revenues was missing between 2012 and 2013.

http://www.punchng.com/news/buhari-likely-to-head-oil-ministry-in-new-cabinet/
Source:

tinubu is this lean? well I'll say he's a fulfilled man, that's enough good health.

Distance is a devil, but there's a
magic called trust. I'm in a distance relationship at the moment. I'm committed to it same as her, but this is a case one must understand that it requires more than Love. Trust and Respect seems more required to keep it going. we get to see like 3,4 times in a year and the rate of chykers abuses me,but I'm fixed on a happy tomorrow. Trust, respect and Love make it up.

all i want is a changed Nation.