₦airaland Forum

About 100 million Nigerians live in destitution, the World Bank has said.

The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly, said this at the bank’s Country Programme Portfolio Review in

Enugu on Tuesday.

She said that the bank’s ongoing commitment to Nigeria stood at $5.34bn. According to the World Bank boss, the number of Nigerians

living in destitution makes up 8.33 per cent of the total number of people living in destitution all over the world, which the bank plans to

reduce drastically by 2030.

She said, “1.2 billion people live in destitution out of which 100 million are Nigerians. Inequality is rising in many developing nations.

“For this reason, the World Bank’s corporate perspective has shifted more strategically in the past year. The World Bank wants to galvanise

international and national support around two goals: to end extreme poverty in a generation and to push for greater equality.

“To end extreme poverty, the World Bank Group’s goal is to decrease the percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day from 20 per

cent today to three per cent by 2030.

“The goal is to promote income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population in each country. In Nigeria, 63 per cent of the population

live on less than $1.25 a day.”

Marie-Nelly said although the World Bank was the largest overseas development agency that provided assistance to Nigeria, the contribution

of the organisation to the country was very small compared to the budgets of the states and the Federal Government.

She said if the World Bank’s small assistance could produce so much result because of effective implementation and monitoring, the

revenues accruable to the country could do much more if they were similarly utilised.

Giving a more graphic picture of the World Bank’s credit to Nigeria in relation to revenues accruing to the nation, Marie-Nelly said while the

bank’s total commitment to Nigeria amounted to $4.67bn by 2012, the budget of the states and Federal Government amounted to

$64.05bn in the same year.

She said the World Bank’s portfolio amounted to $5.34bn as of June 2013, while the budget of the Federal Government alone for 2013

amounted to $31.17bn.

She said the bank had shifted from being Federal Government centric to a more balanced federal and state level support.

She said the annual Country Programme Portfolio Review, which the bank undertakes with various governments, was necessary to assess

the progress in achieving the development objectives as well as the quality of implementation of the projects.

[quote author=Mr. Chris]Is this a strategy to sell his so called book? Baba oh![/quote]You got me thinking there, Probably this is just a Set-up to make money off Nigerians. Hmmm!

No Tribal War here Please... Just Politics!

Messi's Girlfriend is my number 1 pick.

Politics will always remain a dirty game...

HTC Sprint Phone did it. But its GOD's Grace Oh...

Hope this stops the violence, at least reduce it...

That's too much...

Too much money...

The Syrian regime fired a senior official on Tuesday shortly after he disclosed that he met with a U.S. envoy for talks to prepare a proposed

peace conference.

The meeting between American Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and Qadri Jamil, deputy prime minister for economic affairs, was a rare

face-to-face encounter between senior officials from the two countries. They U.S. confirmed on Tuesday that they met over the weekend in

Geneva.

Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil was fired after he met with U.S. officials in Europe. Reuters

Washington has called repeatedly for President Bashar al-Assad to step down and has supported elements of the opposition fighting to oust

him. But State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the meeting doesn't represent any shift in the U.S. stance.

"Our position on Assad and his legitimacy hasn't changed," she said.

U.S. officials said the Obama administration "does regularly meet with Syrians with direct ties to the leadership in Damascus." Some Syrian

businessmen close to the regime have in the past said they have had meetings with U.S. officials. Mr. Jamil, 61 years old, is among the

most enthusiastic proponents of the peace conference, which is strongly backed by the U.S. as well as key Assad ally Russia.

Mr. Jamil was one of the few members of government who wasn't a member of Syria's ruling Baath Party. He joined the government along

with another politician in June 2012 as representatives of the so-called internal peaceful opposition. It was seen at the time as an attempt

by Mr. Assad to show his readiness for some reforms to help end the civil war that has killed more than 115,000.

Qadri Jamil speaks during an interview in Cairo on Aug. 22. AP

The official state news agency SANA said Mr. Jamil was fired for conducting meetings "outside the homeland without coordination with the

government and overstepping institutional norms and the state's overall structure." It added that he was absent from government without

consent at a time when he is most needed to help deal with the country's economic crisis.

"There are no disputes," Minister of Information Omran al-Zoubi said of the firing. "The whole matter is that he left the country and

performed a political activity that's more compatible with his partisan affiliation and political vision and not with his presence as a member

of this government."

Mr. Jamil, who was in Moscow on Tuesday, told a Lebanese television channel there are "no deep differences" with the regime and that he is

returning to Syria shortly. He said leaving his government post frees him to focus on helping find a solution to end bloodshed.

On Monday, he made what one Damascus-based Syrian newspaper described as a "shocking revelation," telling Russian media that he had

met with State Department officials over the weekend in Geneva.

Several Syrian regime officials said the firing of Mr. Jamil, who bills himself as a regime opponent, was to free him to take a more active role

in preparations for the peace conference as an opposition figure.

They said his meeting with Mr. Ford couldn't have taken place without Mr. Assad's knowledge and showed the president's desire for some

rapprochement with the U.S. ahead of the peace conference, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 23 in Geneva.

Mr. Assad made two conciliatory gestures toward the opposition one day before a planned meeting Wednesday with the United Nations–Arab

League special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, who is in Damascus.

The president issued a decree pardoning all those who defected from the Syrian army or failed to perform mandatory military service on

condition they "regularize their status" within 30 to 90 days.

Syrian forces also allowed about 500 women, children and elderly men to leave Moadhamiya, a rebel-held community southwest of

Damascus that has been besieged by regime forces since April with no access to food and medicine.

The move followed widespread international condemnation of the situation there.

Syrian state media broadcast footage of Syrian aid workers distributing food to famished children or aiding elderly men and women

streaming out with luggage and other belongings.

Another 3,000 people were allowed to leave Moadhamiya earlier this month. An estimated 8,000 civilians and rebels remain insRegime

forces continue to besiege several rebel enclaves around Damascus and lifting the siege was one condition made last week by the Western-

backed Syrian Opposition Coalition for attending the Geneva talks.

The coalition also wants any talks to be predicated on Mr. Assad giving up power while most rebels on the ground, particularly Islamists,

completely reject any talks with the regime. and have labeled all those who take part in the Geneva conference as "traitors."

Mr. Jamil said there was complete agreement with the senior U.S. officials he met with in Geneva on the need to do everything to stop the

war and convene peace talks.

The U.S. and Syria froze diplomatic ties in October 2011, when Ambassador Ford left Syria. But Mr. Jamil said he believed the U.S. position

was shifting and becoming more realisitic.

"They understand the danger that a continuation of the bloodshed in Syria poses for the region and the whole world," he told Russia's Itar-

Tass news agency in an interview on Monday, a day before he was fired.

The question of who will represent the Syrian opposition at the proposed peace conference came up during the talks, Mr. Jamil said.

"We expressed our point of view, which is that none of the main sides of the opposition can be excluded, and that all should be represented

equally," he said. "I think the Americans have made a positive shift in that direction. The fact that they met with us confirms it."

Syria's opposition is a collection of disparate groups that have failed to unite into a cohesive front despite persistent pressure to do so from

Western backers. The fighting on the ground has become increasingly dominated by radical jihadist groups that the U.S. does not want to

support.

Mr. Jamil said he doesn't think the U.S. should be "hung up on" the idea that the exiled and Western-backed Syrian Opposition Coalition is

the "only legitimate representative of Syria's opposition."

Man City All The Way...

Latest Update

That does not make him World's Best Footballer of the Year.

Hmmm...

Not Again!!!

Yes, i want to moderate the Foreign Affairs Section & am willing to abide by the rules & regulations guiding this forum.

Omg!!!

Really...

World's most famous chelsea fan!

Sometimes, it baffles one to think these are leaders of a nation. Why do you think one should be part of UN? To aid solutions to economic problems and foster development across the world, not keeping malice.

Money is good.

Madrid never tire ni! They spent all the money, yet they are in the 3rd position.

[quote author=Mr. Chris]Most Nigerians including Enyeama keep saying the disallowed & allowed goals were never goals. If the scenario was against Nigeria, I know all hell would lose. Nigerians would cry foul saying FIFA or CAF or the Ethiopian FA bribed the Ref. Ethiopians played their hearts out but got robbed.[/quote]Do we have Ethiopians here? Maybe Ethiopian Embassy. Lol!!!

The act of always waiting for them to be preparing for their last exam, test, project or in their final year before committing such crime is so rampant and cruel.

Oluwaseun was said to have been discovered, few minutes after the shooting; by then, he was already dead. His corpse was said to have been

recovered from the gutter by the police and taken to the Gbagada General Hospital, where he was confirmed dead.

When our correspondent visited the scene a day after the incident, there was an uneasy calm on the street; shops were under lock and key.

While a candlelight procession was held in the deceased’s honour on Saturday, there were fears among residents of more attacks. At the

Oluwaseuns’ residence, visitors poured in to condole with the deceased’s family and pay tribute to his memory. His distraught mother was said to

be unavailable for comments.

However, a close friend of the family, Alhaja Modupeola Kazeem, described Oluwaseun as gentle and an easygoing young man.

Kazeem said, “I was shocked on hearing the news because I am like a second mother to him. I was one of the people who brought him up; he

was a cheerful person who never made trouble. We were all surprised how those guys just came and shot at him without any provocation.

Ibrahim was just a victim; he was never part of any bad group.”

She added that Oluwaseun had been buried on Saturday in accordance with Muslim rites.

The Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Damasus Ozoani, confirmed the incident to our reporter on the telephone. He said, “There was indeed

an incident on Friday night in which some suspected cultists shot one Oluwaseun in Somolu. Police immediately swung into action. They saw him

lying down and he was rushed to the hospital where he died. We are investigating the case to ensure we bring the culprits to book.”

A final year student of Lagos State Polytechnic, Ibrahim Oluwaseun, 26, has been killed by suspected cult members at his parents’ home in

Somolu area of Lagos. The deceased, a student of Business Administration, was said to have been preparing to defend his final year project this

week when he was killed on Friday night.

Our correspondent also gathered that the deceased was sitting with his mother outside their home on New Balogun street, when he was shot

around 9pm.

An eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity, said the gunmen were about seven.

He said, “They were seven in number; they came to the area fully armed. All those guys were strangers to us but have been coming to the area

for some time now. Nobody knew exactly what they were up to.

“That night, they confronted the boys in the area with guns and immediately people saw them, they ran for their lives.

“They shot at Oluwaseun who was with his mum outside their house. It wasn’t as if Oluwaseun was involved in any fight. He fell into the gutter

immediately he was shot, just as everybody tried running for cover.”

PUNCH Metro gathered that in the ensuing confusion, neither of Oluwaseun’s neighbours nor relatives, witnessed his fall into the gutter. It wasn’t

until after the confusion had subsided that residents allegedly observed that Oluwaseun was nowhere to be found.

Another source told PUNCH Metro that the Divisional Police Officer, Somolu Station, responding to a distress call on the shooting, drafted some

patrol teams to the area.

He said, “Two patrol vehicles were sent to the area but even while the police patrolled the streets, no one noticed that Oluwaseun was in the

gutter. Perhaps he might have survived the shooting if he had been discovered on time.”

I guess killing fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and children, not to mention unborn babies is justice to some people, i guess the videos or pictures we all have seen over the past week were manipulated? as some people seem to believe... But really, we now live in a world that we all are forced to either join them or ..........................

Oprah Winfrey has fielded her fair share of questions over the years when it comes to her personal life. One of the more popular questions -- will

she and Stedman Graham ever get married?

As Access Hollywood's Oprah Winfrey exclusive week continues, Shaun Robinson sat down with the TV icon to find out -- once and for all - if a

walk down the aisle will ever be in Lady O's future.

"Will you leave this earth as a never-married woman?" Shaun asked Oprah.

"Yes," she quickly replied. "Yeah, I think that's my final answer."

While it's a topic on many people's minds, as it turns out, it's also something Oprah herself had been pondering.

"I think that it's interesting that you would ask it because I thought about it again at Tina Turner's wedding," Oprah revealed, referring to the

singer's July nuptials.

"Because Tina was like, 'Oprah, you need to do this. You need to do it,'" she continued. "And I was just thinking, 'Well, OK, would things really be

different?'

And no, I don't think so."

But what does Stedman - whom Oprah has been with for nearly 30 years - think about the idea of marriage with his longtime love?

"If you ever interviewed him, he would tell you that had we married, we would not be together today," Oprah said candidly of Stedman. "Because

he's a traditional man and this is a very untraditional relationship. And I think it's acceptable as a relationship, but if I had the title 'wife,' I think

there would be other expectations for what a wife is and what a wife does.

"First of all, you've got to come home sometimes," Oprah laughed.

...

Prince Ikye: always allowed de court to pronounce a person quilty before u do so especially when u didnt witness the crime as been committed.Now OVer To D Court.

Mr. Lawyer or Prince, as your name implies, do you think there is justice anywhere? NO!!! People are dying everyday because some people have decided to take their beliefs to the next level & you are here saying ..................I guess killing in the name of its beliefs to you is Justice!!!

Rossikk: You need to be hanged for rushing to hang someone based on a few pictures and tv images. Tell me something. Did you personally see a verifiably dead person throughout that incident?

It is obvious you are looking for attention & it seems you are getting it. My advice, everyone should ignore him..................