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Tag: Commonwealth

  • Opposition sponsoring thugs to destroy our commonwealth in Adamawa – Gov Fintiri

    Opposition sponsoring thugs to destroy our commonwealth in Adamawa – Gov Fintiri

    Adamawa Governor Ahmadu Fintiri has accused opposition forces of sponsoring critics and thugs to undermine his administration

    Fintiri, who spoke to newsmen in the course of inspecting projects around the state capital, Yola, charged the opposition to appreciate his projects and join him in advancing the cause of the state.

    “They should not be sponsoring thugs to destroy our Commonwealth, they should come and see what we are using public funds for,” the Governor said.

    The governor, who said unconstructive criticisms serve no public good, stressed he is using funds for capital projects, which he said should be appreciated.

    Ongoing projects which the governor inspected during the weekend include Dougire Lane, Government House back gate road, Doctors Quarters, Zumo Street and Link, Lagos Street Off Army Barracks road, Falu Road and links, among others, all within the metropolitan Yola North and Yola South local government areas.

    Fintiri, who said his intention is to build a state that can compete with other developed states, vowed that no amount of pressure will deter him from executing people-oriented projects.

    “I expect the opposition forces to come and see how government’s funds are judiciously utilized for the common good of the citizenry,” he reiterated, declaring that despite the activities of hoodlums who last Sunday and Monday vandalised government and private warehouses and stores, his administration would not be distracted from its projects.

    He expressed satisfaction with projects being carried out under the Urban Renewal Programme, assuring that he would continue to strive to meet with the yearnings of Adamawa people.

    Out of the eight road projects that Fintiri reached during the inspection of Saturday, those of Dogirei Lane and Lekki Tabba streets, both in Jimeta, Yola North LGA, had been completed.

  • #EndSARS: SERAP drags Buhari-led govt to Commonwealth for sanction

    #EndSARS: SERAP drags Buhari-led govt to Commonwealth for sanction

    Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged President Muhammadu Buhari’s Nigeria to the Commonwealth, requesting for Nigeria’s suspension over human rights violations and abuses.

    The group made the request in an urgent appeal to Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

    The group once suspended Nigeria in 1995 during the Abacha era for illegal executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others and ‘serious violation of the principles set out in the Harare Declaration’.

    In the appeal dated 10 October, SERAP urged her to use her “leadership position to apply the Commonwealth Charter to hold Nigerian authorities to account for widespread and persistent attacks on peaceful protesters, reports of human rights violations and abuses, corruption, impunity, as well as disregard for the rule of law.”

    The organization asked Scotland to “urgently consider recommending the suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth to the Heads of Government, the Commonwealth Chair-in-office, and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as Head of the Commonwealth, to push the government to respect the Commonwealth’s values of human rights, transparency, accountability and the rule of law.”

    SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, who signed the appeal said: “Such action by the Commonwealth will be commensurate with the gravity of the human rights situation in the country.

    “A government that attacks its own citizens for peaceful protests severely undermines its credibility as a democratic regime that respects human rights and the rule of law.”

    According to SERAP, “Respect for Commonwealth values is essential for citizens to trust Commonwealth institutions. The Commonwealth ought to make clear that respect for human rights, transparency and the rule of law is fundamental to the integrity, functioning and effectiveness of its institutions.”

    “Persistent attacks on protesters have severely constrained the ability of the people to participate in their own government, and to hold authorities and public officials to account for alleged corruption, and human rights violations and abuses, thereby causing serious hardships for ordinary Nigerians, and undermining their rights, livelihood and dignity.”

    “The ongoing events in Nigeria demonstrate the authorities’ determination to suppress all forms of peaceful dissent and freedom of expression of the Nigerian people. There are well-founded fears that the human rights situation in Nigeria will deteriorate even further if urgent action is not taken to address it.”

    “These protests are taking place against a backdrop of the failure by the Nigerian government to address persistent concerns around police brutality and impunity, corruption, lack of respect for economic and social rights of the people, and disregard for the rule of law.

    “The result has been a crisis of daily electricity outages, a struggling public education and health system, lack of access to clean water, and widespread youth unemployment.”

    “Lack of transparency and accountability, and the absence of the rule of law in Nigeria have resulted in a growing level of protest activity, and an unprecedented brutal crackdown on human rights by the authorities.”

    “People have been targeted simply for exercising their fundamental freedoms including their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression to end police brutality and impunity.

    “SERAP is concerned about a significant deterioration in the human rights situation in the country since the assumption of office by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2015.”

    “Nigerian authorities have since 2015 promised to address police brutality and impunity but have repeatedly failed to do so. Authorities would seem to be suppressing protests to punish and intimidate people campaigning for an end to police corruption and brutality, grand corruption and impunity, human rights abuses, and disregard for the rule of law.”

    “Allowing citizens to freely exercise their human rights including to freedom of expression and peaceful protest without threat of reprisal or attack would enable them to contribute to society on issues of transparency, accountability, good governance, integrity, and human rights.”

    “The Commonwealth Charter recognises the inalienable right of individuals to participate in democratic processes, in particular through peaceful protests and freedom of expression in shaping the society in which they live and for these rights to be protected and respected.”

    “Similarly, Nigeria has responsibility under the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended] and international human rights treaties to which the country is a state party to protect peaceful protesters and ensure a safe and enabling environment for people to exercise their freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

    “According to our information, the Nigerian government has continued to crackdown on peaceful protesters, including #EndSARS protesters, who are campaigning against police brutality, corruption and impunity.”

    READ ALSO Leah Sharibu: Buhari vows to seek her release and others from Boko Haram
    “The authorities are committing other ongoing, widespread violations of human rights, including arbitrary arrests, torture and other ill- treatment and killings in response to the exercise by the people of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

    “Amnesty International’s reports show disturbing cases of attacks on #EndSARS protesters. Jimoh Isiaq, a protester, was killed by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operatives of the Nigeria Police in Ogbomoso. Tiamiyu Kazeem, a footballer was also killed in Sagamu by the police. These are just a few examples of the many human rights violations and abuses committed by the Nigeria police and security agents.

    “According to Amnesty International, ‘SARS detention centre in Abuja was previously a butcher’s yard and is commonly known as the abattoir. Some suspects detained in abattoir rarely come out alive.’”

    “Nigeria police and security agents routinely respond to peaceful protests with disproportionate use of force, including using live ammunition, resulting in injuries to many individuals and deaths. Journalists covering protests have been targeted, some of whom have been beaten simply for performing their professional duty.”

  • TNG Analysis: Reps probe of forensic looting of NDDC, final killing of Niger-Delta commonwealth

    TNG Analysis: Reps probe of forensic looting of NDDC, final killing of Niger-Delta commonwealth

    …will Nigerians see the cttee’s final report?

    … spending N122m on condolences is offensive
    …N1.3bn on palliatives is an insult on Niger Deltans sensibilities
    … a peep at Rep Kingsley Chinda’s observation
    By Emman Ovuakporie
    The signals were too visible to perceive that something was really amiss from day one that the former uncommon Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio inaugurated the Interim Management Committee, IMC.
    TheNewsGuru.com TNG had on October 29th last year reported how Senator Akpabio within five hours that President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter was read on the floor of the Senate, inaugurated another interim board to run the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
    Ignoring the IMC the Senate, Akpabio went ahead to confirm the 14 nominees of President Muhammadu Buhari but he (the uncommon Governor) had his way insisting that the forensic audit proposed by the president supersedes every other wisdom displayed by 109 wise men.
    The resultant of the rushed IMC is the squandering of N81billion within a space of six months, plundering the Niger Delta people into another wave of poverty.
    The region that lays the golden eggs that is the live wire of Nigeria’s economic survival still has a very high rate of poverty while its resources are squandered by those adjudged to be leaders of the region.
    Rep Kingsley Chinda’s Observation:
    In a statement issued last Monday, the leader of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the Federal Legislature aptly captured the rot associated with Akpabio’s IMC in part.
    Read Him:

    There is something more sinister going on that the behaviour of Daniel Pondei seeks to mask. Never in the history of the NDDC has corruption reached a peak as it has today.

    According to revelations already in the media, N81bn was squandered alone between January-June, 2020, with an individual paid $1m from NDDC in what appears as forensic looting of the NDDC coffers; yet, the Acting Managing Director of the NDDC rather than be sober and repentant, had the effrontery to walk out of the Committee charged to look at the books of the Commission. This is unacceptable.

    All these dramas are moves to change the current narrative of bad, corrupt, and inept governance and turn the attention of Nigerians away from the main issues of unpardonable deceit and deep-rooted corruption that bedevil this government.

    This is a clarion call on the Leadership of NASS to take back its independence from the Executive and desist from making such statements as “I will approve whatever GMB asks for”; “better to be a rubber stamp and get what we want “. The institution of the National Assembly, made up of its members, is higher and bigger than the members themselves; the institution of the National Assembly remains the symbol of democracy; and its independence should not be negotiated under any circumstance whatsoever.

    We cannot as Members of the PDP Caucus, watch from the side-lines as if nothing is happening when the tenets of democracy are being subverted and the Constitution desecrated. The snub of the National Assembly by the Executive and the unconscionable and obsequious behaviours of appointees of Executive arm have to stop forthwith.

    And the man fainted at Reps investigative hearing same day.

    The drama that unfolded at the Reps probe of the forensic and scientific looting of NDDC in a long time will remain indelible in the hearts of Nigerians.

    How media consultancy contracts were awarded to an engineering firm and an advance fee of N.7bn paid to a company that does not know the definition of the word news.

    A Medicare job was given to a transport company that does not know how to diagnose ailments all in the name of looting the commonwealth of a zone that has been relegated to the background despite the enormous resources being tapped from its communities on a daily basis.

    N1.3bn spent on palliatives for staff of the commission to cushion the effects of Covid-19 in a region where citizens live below $1 per day.

    The most annoying is the N122m spent on condolences. Who did they pay condolence message to or better still could it be that every burial ceremony in the nine states of the commission monies are doled out to individuals.

    Reps Probe:

    To let Nigerians know that the House of Reps will be transparent in handling the probe, Chairman of the committee Hon Olubunmi Ojo stepped aside before Professor Pondei started his submission on Monday but midway the man fainted.

    Akpabio the uncommon Governor spoke from both sides of his mouth after taking his oath but tactically avoided signing the oath form he filled.

    Pondei did not adequately address how N1.3bn was distributed to staff of the commission whether it was a bazaar or bonanza for staff.

    The former MD Joi Nunieh had told Nigerians how she refused to sign a N10bn bonanza and church bazaar for Christmas last December in a zone where eating rice is seen as exclusive for the rich.

    The House of Reps by now should have enough evidence to bury all those that plundered the commonwealth of Niger Deltans but wait a minute, will this report not go the way many reports and many NASS Resolutions were thrown into archival dustbins.

    This is one report that must be made public and those indicted should be made to face the long arm of the law.

  • Buhari writes for New York Times, states vision for post-Brexit Commonwealth

    Buhari writes for New York Times, states vision for post-Brexit Commonwealth

    By Muhammadu Buhari

    The United Kingdom’s exit of the European Union is now all but certain. Only the passage of time will reveal what their new relationship shall be. But with this new arrangement, I – like many other Commonwealth leaders – also seek a new settlement: not only of closer relations between the UK and my own nation, but of unleashing trade within the club in which we together shall remain.

    Relations between Nigeria and the UK are close and longstanding, most recently reiterated in our 2018 bi-lateral security pact and our collaboration in anti-trafficking. But in recent years, our relationship – particularly economically – has become increasingly defined by Britain’s membership of the European Union.

    A new free trade agreement would reconfigure this, presenting new opportunities for both. As the largest economy in Africa, my country of nearly 200 million people has a great deal to offer: Nigeria’s vast natural energy and mineral resources, unbarred through the ending of customs barriers, could help supply growth for companies in all corners of the UK. Greater access would also be forthcoming to one of the world’s fastest expanding groups of consumers – the Nigerian middle classes.

    For my country, greater UK engagement in its economy would bring jobs to under-tapped sectors, such as agriculture and manufacturing. Millions of highly skilled, English-speaking but underemployed young people, are eager to work but without the opportunities that foreign investment can bring to create jobs and build businesses.

    Yet there is also a case to be made that our two Commonwealth countries should try, with other members, to deliver more – collectively. In 2015, I became the first head of a new Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council tasked with boosting trade and investment within the wider organisation. Now with the United Kingdom – the Commonwealth’s largest economy – no longer obliged to ringfence its economy with tariffs, this mission will be given a jolt of vitality.

    However, we must be realistic: the commonwealth will not suddenly become a multilateral-free trade zone. Today many members reside within regional free trade and customs zones of their own. Yet without any of us needing to relinquish these ties, we can work together to minimise – consistent with respective memberships – as far as possible many of the tariffs and barriers on commodities, products and services. Because member countries’ national laws are built on the principles of English jurisprudence, we might work together from this common platform to better align regulations on investment, certification and trade.

    A renewed sense of Commonwealth solidarity would also be of enormous benefit to the large and vital diasporas – particularly from Africa and the Indian subcontinent – that live in Western Commonwealth countries such as Britain, Canada and Australia. These communities still maintain the strongest of cultural and family links with the countries from which they and their forebears emigrated.

    Time will tell if Britain’s new ability to strike free trade deals directly with other countries once it departs the EU can be built into more than bilateral economic cooperation. But there is no reason why, collectively, we should not try.

    Yet visa restrictions and customs barriers must be reduced to fulfil the potential these connections could bring to the nations where they today reside. As an African leader I have an obligation to speak of the fact that while many in the African Diaspora enjoy considerable benefits from life in the West, they do not always feel at the heart of the community. A renewed sense that there are ties that bind us through the Commonwealth, and a concerted effort to grow those links through trade, could act as a spur to encourage togetherness and the certainty of belonging.

    This year provides two critical summits in which this new determination could take seed. In January, London shall play host to the UK-Africa Investment Summit. (The continent is the Commonwealth’s largest constituent, providing over a third of its membership.) And then back to Africa, where Rwanda will welcome countries to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It is at this biennial summit that many of the organisation’s milestones have been achieved – particularly in democracy and human rights. The 2020 summit could be the wrench that begins to tighten our economic structures, drawing strength from our shared bonds of history, friendship and language.

    Time will tell if Britain’s new ability to strike free trade deals directly with other countries once it departs the EU can be built into more than bilateral economic cooperation. But there is no reason why, collectively, we should not try.

    Nor should we dismiss the potential for making the Commonwealth of Nations more than a voluntary organization of equals based on a shared history that it is today. Instead it is in all our people’s interests to labour, dispassionately, to increase our focus on lowering barriers to achieving what truly brings freedom, friendship and equality: prosperity through trade.

    *Muhammadu Buhari is President, Federal Republic of Nigeria

  • Ex-Tanzanian president leads Commonwealth observers for Nigeria’s presidential poll

    Ex-Tanzanian president leads Commonwealth observers for Nigeria’s presidential poll

    The Commonwealth has deployed a 20-member Observer Group, led by former President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, for the February 16 Nigerian presidential election.

    The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, constituted the observer group following an invitation from Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), according to Commonwealth Secretariat.

    Josephine Latu-Sanft, Commonwealth Secretariat’s Senior Communications Officer, said members of the group included politicians, diplomats and experts in law, human rights, gender and election administration from across the Commonwealth.

    She quoted Ms Scotland as saying that an advance group of observers was deployed to Nigeria on January 28, while other members of the team were expected to arrive in Abuja on February 8.

    Ms Scotland said: “The Commonwealth has a long history of observing elections in member countries, in solidarity with electors as they choose their leaders, and in support of efforts to strengthen democracy and the rule of law in accordance with the values and principles of the Commonwealth Charter.

    “The Commonwealth has observed the previous five elections in Nigeria, and I am pleased to be deploying so distinguished a group to again support the nation in its continuing journey of democratic development”.

    The Commonwealth Observer Group’s mandate was to observe and consider factors affecting the credibility of the electoral process as a whole.

    It would assess whether the elections have been conducted in accordance with the standards for democratic elections to which Nigeria has committed itself, with reference to national legislation and relevant regional, Commonwealth and international commitments.

    Where appropriate, the Group could also make recommendations for the future strengthening of the electoral framework.

    The Commonwealth Observer Group would consider the pre-election environment and election preparations.

    Members would be deployed to various regions of the country where they will observe the voting, vote-counting and results procedures.

    The Group would submit its final report for consideration by the Commonwealth Secretary-General, and she will in turn share it with the Government of Nigeria, INEC and political parties.

    The Secretary-General would also convey the report to all Commonwealth governments after which the report would then be made public.

    The Group would be supported by Commonwealth Secretariat staff led by Katalaina Sapolu, Senior Director of the Governance and Peace Directorate.

    Other members of the Commonwealth Observer Group are Lesley Clark of Australia; Gary Dunn, former Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General from Australia; and Omar Jallow from The Gambia.

    Members of the group also comprised Emmanuel Akwetey, Prosper Bani and Emmanuel Bombande, all from Ghana.

    Shahabuddin Quraishi from India, Orrette Fisher from Jamaica and Jedidah Waruhiu from Kenya are also members of the group.

    Also in the group are Notemba Tjipueja from Namibia, Eric Kwa from Papua New Guinea, Ernest Sagaga from Rwanda and Marcella Samba-Sesay from Sierra Leone.

    Others are Crystal Orderson from South Africa, Joy Napier from St Kitts & Nevis, Elizabeth Donnelly from United Kingdom, Linda Duffield, also from United Kingdom, and Musa Mwenye from Zambia.

  • Leaders approve Prince Charles to succeed Queen as head of Commonwealth

    Leaders on Friday approved Prince Charles as the successor to Queen Elizabeth as head of the Commonwealth at a meeting of the group’s heads of government in Windsor, Sky News reported citing unnamed sources.

    There had been calls for the role to be rotated around the 53 member-states, most of which are former British territories, but in recent days the queen, the British government and other leaders have backed Charles to take on the role.

    The summit which was originally to be hosted by Vanuatu at the end of 2017 was moved to the UK as Vanuatu was no longer able to host the event due to the damage done by Cyclone Pam to the island nation’s infrastructure.

    The meeting was postponed to the spring of 2018 due to other international commitments.

    The position of Commonwealth Chair-in-Office, held by the government leader of the CHOGM host country, will be transferred at the summit from the Prime Minister of Malta to the Prime Minister of the UK who will hold the post until the 26th CHOGM expected in 2020.

    The theme of the summit is “Towards a Common Future”.

    The British hosts have set out four main goals for the summit.

    These are prosperity: boosting intra-Commonwealth trade and investment security: increasing cooperation across security challenges including global terrorism, organised crime and cyber attacks fairness: promoting democracy.

    Others are fundamental freedoms and good governance across the Commonwealth sustainability: building the resilience of small and vulnerable states to deal with the effects of climate change and other global crises

    Under consideration will be a Commonwealth Blue Charter on ocean governance, a Commonwealth connectivity agenda for trade and investment, a declaration on cybercrime, and revised Commonwealth guidelines on election observation in member countries.[

    This will be the first CHOGM held following the UK’s decision to withdraw from the European Union, a decision which has resulted in calls for Britain to strengthen its economic ties with and play a greater role in the Commonwealth.

    The Commonwealth currently is responsible for one-tenth of British trade compare to the EU with which the UK currently conducts half of its trade.

    Intra-Commonwealth trade, overall, is expected to increase by at least 17 per cent around 700 billion dollars by 2020.

    The summit, however, ends on Friday (today).

  • CHOGM18: Buhari highlights how member countries can make business easier

    President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria on Wednesday explained how member countries of Commonwealth can improve business and generate resources for sustainable development within and outside their regions.

    The president gave the advice in his keynote address at the Commonwealth Business Forum in London on Wednesday.

    Buhari spoke on the need to improve ease of doing business, regional integration that expands markets with safeguards against injurious trade practices from third parties; more inclusive growth with the empowerment of women and the youth; and provision of a platform for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

    He also called for radical expansion of human capital for the 21st Century, provision of hard and software infrastructure for the 21st Century digital economy to boost e-commerce, increased efficiency, solving of development problems and enhancing cyber security.

    The President said Nigeria has already started championing the cause by hosting the High-Level Trade and Investment Facilitation Forum for Development in November 2017 in Abuja, in partnership with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

    “To underscore Nigeria’s commitment to spreading prosperity throughout the Commonwealth, in the past six months, Nigeria Co-Chaired with the United Kingdom, the ‘UK All-Parliamentary Group for Trade out of Poverty’ (APPG-TOP). The Report of this Commonwealth Inquiry Report was launched on 3rd April, 2018.

    “Nigeria affirms its commitment to the principal message from this Commonwealth Inquiry Group that Nigeria co-chaired with the UK. The surest, most sustainable way to lift millions of people out of poverty across the Commonwealth is through boosting trade and investment.

    “We believe that, we, as leaders in the Commonwealth, should grasp the opportunity and agree a major new focus on trade and investment for inclusive development,” the President

    Buhari further referred to the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ Report published in November 2017 where in Nigeria moved up 24 places and was recognised as one of the top 10 most improved economies in the world, as evidence that Nigeria’s efforts have not been futile.

    “In developing countries, labour and industry are concerned about distortions in trade policies that result in subsidised products which have contributed to exports dumped in developing economies. These have had bad effects in the form of job losses.

    “Growth is not yet inclusive and remains elusive. There are downside risks about disruptions to trade and investment. Global and regional markets have been considerably rattled by the risks of trade wars. Concerns over climate change are unabated and are increasing. There are tasks and duties on all sides,” he said.

    Going beyond the Commonwealth, the president said trade wars have to be avoided in order for countries to work collectively to preserve the global trading order.

    “But if we are to make business easier between our countries and going beyond the Commonwealth, we must avoid trade wars and work collectively to preserve the global trading order, support regional initiatives as well as support domestic structural reforms that focus on the priorities of individual countries

    “If there is a collective Commonwealth Commitment to the Ease of Doing Business, we shall spur growth, multiply wealth and expand employment opportunities. These objectives will be accelerated by trade and investment facilitation,” the president noted.

     

  • CHOGM18: Queen Elizabeth pushes for Prince Charles succession

    Queen Elizabeth on Thursday while formally declaring open the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at Buckingham Palace in Central London, urged Commonwealth heads of governments to allow her son, Prince Charles, succeed her.

    TheNewsGuru reports Queen Elizabeth is pushing Prince Charles becomes the group’s next head in advance amid expectation that the 53 heads of government presently attending the CHOGM18 will discuss succession on Friday.

    “It is my sincere wish that the Commonwealth will continue to offer stability and continuity to future generations, and will decide that one day the Prince of Wales [Prince Charles] should carry on the important work started by my father in 1949,” the queen, 91, told the leaders at the opening of a biennial summit.

    Although the Queen took over from her father, King George VI, who died of lung cancer in 1952, the position of the queen or king of England is said to be not hereditary.

    “We are one of the great convening powers… and we seem to by growing stronger year by year,” the queen told the 53 heads of government, including British Prime Minister Theresa May and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    She highlighted Commonwealth initiatives including a “blue charter” to protect the marine environment, saying the British royal family was “proud to play a part” in them.

    Earlier, May paid tribute to the queen’s “service and dedication” to the Commonwealth, which Elizabeth has headed since 1952.

    “You have been true to the deepest values of the Commonwealth – that the voice of the smallest member country is worth precisely as much as that of the largest; that the wealthiest and the most vulnerable stand shoulder to shoulder. For your service, for your dedication, for your constancy – we thank you,” May said in a speech.

    May earlier urged the other nations at the two-day summit to follow Britain’s plan to end the sale of plastic straws, drink stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds.

    “Plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world, which is why protecting the marine environment is central to our agenda at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting,” she said.

    Most of the 53 states in the Commonwealth, which was formed in 1949, were once ruled directly or indirectly by Britain.

    The summit which was originally to be hosted by Vanuatu at the end of 2017 was moved to the UK as Vanuatu was no longer able to host the event due to the damage done by Cyclone Pam to the island nation’s infrastructure.

    The meeting was postponed to the spring of 2018 due to other international commitments.

    The position of Commonwealth Chair-in-Office, held by the government leader of the CHOGM host country, will be transferred at the summit from the Prime Minister of Malta to the Prime Minister of the UK who will hold the post until the 26th CHOGM expected in 2020.

    The theme of the summit is “Towards a Common Future”.

    The British hosts have set out four main goals for the summit.

    These are prosperity; boosting intra-Commonwealth trade and investment security; increasing cooperation across security challenges including global terrorism, organized crime and cyber attacks fairness, and promoting democracy.

    Others are fundamental freedoms and good governance across the Commonwealth sustainability; building the resilience of small and vulnerable states to deal with the effects of climate change and other global crises

    Under consideration will be a Commonwealth Blue Charter on ocean governance, a Commonwealth connectivity agenda for trade and investment, a declaration on cybercrime, and revised Commonwealth guidelines on election observation in member countries.[

    This will be the first CHOGM held following the UK’s decision to withdraw from the European Union, a decision which has resulted in calls for Britain to strengthen its economic ties with and play a greater role in the Commonwealth.

    The Commonwealth currently is responsible for one-tenth of British trade compare to the EU with which the UK currently conducts half of its trade.

    Intra-Commonwealth trade, overall, is expected to increase by at least 17 per cent around 700 billion dollars by 2020.

    The summit ends on Friday.

     

  • Queen Elizabeth urges Commonwealth to make Prince Charles next head

    Queen Elizabeth urges Commonwealth to make Prince Charles next head

    Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday urged Commonwealth leaders to make her son, Prince Charles, the group’s next head, amid expectation that the 53 leaders will discuss succession on Friday.

    “It is my sincere wish that the Commonwealth will continue to offer stability and continuity to future generations, and will decide that one day the Prince of Wales [Prince Charles] should carry on the important work started by my father in 1949,” the queen told the leaders as she opened a biennial summit on Thursday.

    British media said the Commonwealth leaders were likely to accept the queen’s wishes when they meet behind closed doors at Windsor Castle, a royal residence outside London, on Friday.

    The acceptance of Charles to be the next ceremonial head of the group “is now widely considered a foregone conclusion,” The Telegraph reported, adding in a commentary that he was the “one person qualified” to succeed the queen.

    The queen, who turns 92 on Saturday, said she saw “with pride and satisfaction, that this is a flourishing network.”

    “We are one of the great convening powers… and we seem to be growing stronger year by year,” she told the 53 heads of government, including British Prime Minister Theresa May and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    She highlighted Commonwealth initiatives including a “blue charter” to protect the marine environment, saying the British royal family was “proud to play a part” in them.

    May paid tribute to the queen’s “service and dedication” to the Commonwealth, which Elizabeth has headed since 1952.

    “You have been true to the deepest values of the Commonwealth – that the voice of the smallest member country is worth precisely as much as that of the largest; that the wealthiest and the most vulnerable stand shoulder to shoulder​,” May said in a speech.

    “For your service, for your dedication, for your constancy – we thank you.”

    May earlier urged the other nations at the two-day summit to follow Britain’s plan to end the sale of plastic straws, drink stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds.

    “Plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world, which is why protecting the marine environment is central to our agenda at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting,” she said.

    On Wednesday, May apologized to 12 leaders of Caribbean nations following an outcry over Commonwealth migrants who moved to Britain as children more than 50 years ago but were recently denied residency and healthcare rights under new immigration rules, often because they had never applied for British passports.

    A political row over this “Windrush generation” of migrants – named after the first ship carrying Caribbean migrants to Britain in 1948 – overshadowed Commonwealth ministerial meetings earlier this week.

    Most of the 53 states in the Commonwealth, which was formed in 1949, were once ruled directly or indirectly by Britain.

    dpa

  • CHOGM18: Question provoking Buhari’s #LazyNigerianYouths comment [Watch video]

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction with the country’s young population he said just want government to hand them everything on a platter.

    President Buhari was fielding questions at the Commonwealth Business Forum 2018 when he made the comments that hatched the #LazyNigerianYouths trend on Twitter…

    Anthony Okolo questioned the president about the Northeastern region of the country, which actually prompted his reaction.

    See video…

    https://youtu.be/zzsxim-q-eo

     

    Read more here…