TheNewsGuru

Tag: U.S. Government

  • CUBA FLIGHTS: U.S. reverses Trump admin restrictions

    CUBA FLIGHTS: U.S. reverses Trump admin restrictions

    The U.S. Government has announced a historic shift in its policy toward Cuba Monday night, saying that for the first time in six decades it will sign off on an American company investing in a private Cuba-based and Cuban-owned business.

     

    The deal is pending approval by the Cuban government but could open the door for additional American dollars flowing to entrepreneurs in the island nation.

     

    Additionally, the Biden administration said it would authorize flights to Cuba beyond Havana, reinstate the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program, which allows Cubans to join family members in the U.S. on a temporary basis with the potential for obtaining permanent status, and lift the $1,000 per quarter limit on remittances per sender-receiver pair and allow for donative (non-family) remittances.

     

    A senior administration official said these changes have been in the works for a long time and will be “implemented in the coming weeks,” but “some will take place faster than others.”

     

    The administration characterizes these moves as “measures to further support the Cuban people, providing them additional tools to pursue a life free from Cuban government oppression and to seek greater economic opportunities.”

     

    Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez said that in the wake of the 2021 pro-democracy uprising, the announcement risks sending “the wrong message to the wrong people, at the wrong time for all the wrong reasons.”

     

    “For years, the United States foolishly eased travel restrictions arguing millions of American dollars would bring about freedom and nothing changed,” he said in a statement Monday.

     

    “The regime in #Cuba threatened Biden with mass migration and have sympathizers inside the administration and the result is today we see the first steps back to the failed Obama policies on Cuba,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted.

     

    The administration will also “encourage commercial opportunities outside of the state sector” by authorizing access to expanded cloud technology, and e-commerce platforms, as well as explore options to “expand support of additional payment options for Internet-based activities, electronic payments, and business with independent Cuban entrepreneurs,” officials said.

     

    Biden’s admin says it will not alter the Cuba Restricted List, entities with which the U.S. government generally prohibits direct financial reactions, “because they would disproportionately benefit the Cuban military, intelligence and security services or personnel at the expense of the Cuban people or private enterprise in Cuba,” as defined by the State Department, according to senior administration officials.

  • Nigerian govt receives Super Tucano jet fighters from U.S

    Nigerian govt receives Super Tucano jet fighters from U.S

    The presidency has received from the U.S. government Super Tucano jet fighters for the Nigerian Air Force, to fight insecurity across the country.

     

    Revealing this on Sunday, the presidency said: “Now, today, under a new US administration these jets have been delivered, and with it, a serious blow against the terrorists—with the supreme leader of Islamic State in West Africa and scores of other leaders of the group eliminated in airstrikes.”

     

    It also said that the United States’ policy and support to Nigeria have been so inconsistent over the years, especially as regards the provision of military equipment to fight the decade-long insecurity in the Sahel region.

     

    The presidency also blamed the Catholic Bishop of Diocese of Sokoto, Mathew Kukah, on Sunday, over the delayed delivery of 12 Super Tucano jet fighters for the Nigerian Air Force.

     

    Bishop Kukah, alongside others (names unmentioned) were described as “the opponents of the Nigerian government”.

     

    The Presidency revealed that the reasons given for the delay—poor interreligious relations between Christianity and Islam in the country—were compounded by constant lobbying of US Congress by the government’s opponents, including Bishop Kukah.

     

    These were contained in a statement signed on Sunday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, titled ‘Predicting Nigeria’s collapse is a perennial pursuit of US think tanks and policy experts.”

     

    The presidency also berated the US policy experts and think tanks for their perennial attempts at predicting the country’s collapse; which, it said, does not paint a true picture of a country that has enjoyed 23 years of steady democracy 29 years since its last coup.

     

    The statement partly read: “It is a pity therefore that US policy and support towards our country, including during the Buhari administration, has been so inconsistent.

     

    “In 2015 the then newly-elected Buhari government requested US military support in the form of Super Tucano jet fighters for the Nigerian Air Force. The Nigerian military, security, and intelligence services repeatedly made this request.

     

    “The US administration of the time concurred: the delivery of such jets would help deliver a critical turning point in Nigeria’s struggle against jihadist terrorists across the Sahel.

     

    “Yet two years later, that jet delivery was rescinded, the reasons given that unless Nigeria improved its religious relations between Christianity and Islam then US support would not be forthcoming in this, and many other areas.

     

    “Such views were compounded by the constant lobbying of US Congress by the opponents of the Nigerian government who had lost the previous election, and many of their southern religious supporters—including Bishop Mathew Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Diocese of Sokoto, who, unsurprising, provides a supportive quote for the dustcover of the new edition of Campbell’s book.

     

    “(Kukah even took to addressing the US Congress himself, briefing his audience on the history of coups in Nigeria—without, of course, mentioning that none had occurred since 1993, some 29 years ago).

     

    “It is also inconsistent to preach the need for stability but needlessly delay sharing military equipment in the form of jets – not least when it is now proven they would have helped Nigeria much earlier defeat the terrorists who threaten our country.”

     

    The Presidency also lamented that despite glaring contrary evidence predictors of Nigeria’s state collapse have continued to bet big on their word.

     

    It said, “In 2005, a US National Intelligence Council paper “Mapping Sub-Saharan Africa’s Future” floated the idea there could be a military coup in Nigeria. However, for the last 29 years—close to a generation—there have been none.

     

    “Since the return of democracy in 1999 there have been six general elections, four elected presidents, four transfers of power—including one in 2015 between the winning opposition candidate and the losing incumbent president seeking re-election.

     

    “Yet despite all the evidence to the contrary, the collapse predictors keep doubling down on their bets. Most recently retired former US Ambassador to Nigeria 2004-7 John Campbell has updated his book, of which the first edition said: ‘while Nigerians often claim they are masters of dancing on the brink without falling off, the disastrous administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, the radical Islamic insurrection Boko Haram, and escalating violence in the delta and the north may finally provide the impetus that pushes it into the abyss of state failure.”

     

    “It didn’t of course, quite the opposite: Jonathan was defeated at the 2015 general election with power peacefully transferring to the victor, President Muhammadu Buhari.”

  • U.S. sanction 6 Nigerians over involvement with Boko Haram

    U.S. sanction 6 Nigerians over involvement with Boko Haram

    Six Nigerians have been sanctioned by the United States for their support of the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

     

    Disclosing this in a statement by the Department of States spokesperson, Ned Price, the U.S. listed the individuals as Abdurrahman Ado Musa, Salihu Yusuf Adamu, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad.

    

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Musa, Adamu, Yusuf, Isa, Alhassan and Muhammad to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Boko Haram.

     

    The statement reads:” Today’s action follows the United Arab Emirates’ prosecutions, convictions, and designations of these individuals for supporting terrorism.

     

    “The Department of State designated Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and Specially Designated Global Terrorist organisation on November 14, 2013.

     

    “The Nigeria-based group is responsible for numerous attacks in the northern and northeastern regions of the country as well as in the Lake Chad Basin in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger that have killed thousands of people since 2009.”

  • Falana blasts U.S. Govt: Your report on Lekki Toll Gate shootings contradictory, misleading

    Falana blasts U.S. Govt: Your report on Lekki Toll Gate shootings contradictory, misleading

    Popular human rights activist and lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) on Thursday said a report by the United States of America (U.S.A) on Lekki Toll Plaza killings is contradictory and misleading.

    He also said the report was prejudicial in view of the current sitting of the panel of enquiry set up by the Lagos State government into the matter.

    The lawyer urged the panel members to ignore it.

    In a statement in Lagos, Falana said the report attempted to cover up the killings at Lekki and other parts of the state from October 20 to 27, 2020.

    He said: “On the one hand, the report claimed that the members of the security forces were enforcing curfew by firing into the air to disperse protesters at the toll plaza. On the other hand, the report states that some protesters had turned violent after criminal elements infiltrated them and so the security forces fired protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate.”

    The lawyer noted that the report did not mention the detachment of soldiers, who he said allegedly caused the mayhem.

    “Do soldiers shoot into the air to enforce curfew in the United States? How can the United States Government be allowed to treat the proceedings before a properly constituted Judicial Panel of Enquiry so contemptuously?” he asked.

    Falana added: “The report is prejudicial in every material particular. It should be ignored by the Judicial Panel as it is designed to preempt the evidence being adduced by the survivors of the barbaric attack.”

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that the United States Government had in its report on Wednesday said that information on the number of fatalities recorded during the #ENDSARS protests in Lekki Tollgate last year, is not available.

    According to the US Department of State’s 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, “Accurate information on fatalities resulting from the shooting was not available at year’s end”.

  • U.S. Government calls on Nigerian students to come study in American schools

    U.S. Government calls on Nigerian students to come study in American schools

    Nigerian students seems to be in for a good time as the Government of the United States of America is seeking to have more of them study in American tertiary institutions.
    This was made known during the formal opening of the EducationUSA Centre at the American Space, on Friday in Calabar.
    Speaking during the inauguration of the Centre, Mr Aruna Amirthanayagam, Country Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy, Abuja, disclosed that EducationUSA was an arm of the U.S. Government promoting education in the USA.
    According to Amirthanayagam, there are about 4,500 educational institutions in the USA, making it one of the greatest educational destinations in the world.
    He said “We really want more Nigerians to come and take part in our educational system; through our EducationUSA Centre in Calabar, we hope to have more students from Cross River going to the U.S. to further their education.”
    Mr Stephen Ibelli, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Consulate General Lagos, said the centre helps to facilitate the movement of Nigerian students to tertiary institutions in the USA.
    Ibelli said through arrangement, no fewer than 14,000 Nigerians had gained admission into schools in the U.S.
    “At present, we have over 14,000 Nigerian students studying in the U.S and we hope to grow that number and further strengthen the ties between both countries.
    “This is where the EducationUSA Resource Centre comes in, so, we urge the residents of Cross River to visit the centre and learn about the educational opportunities in the U.S. free of charge.
    “We are also opening centres in Benin, Akwa, Enugu to provide these information, so that students don’t have to travel all the way to Lagos Abuja or other big cities,” he said.
    In his remark, Mr. Godwin Amanke, Cross River Commissioner for Education, said the state was proud to identify with EducationUSA.
    Amanke said the state would take advantage of the centre to ensure that its students get first hand information on scholarships and empowerment programmes.
    “The information given here is the information that people pay for but through the EducationUSA Resource Centre, it is free.
    “However, as much as it is okay for Nigerian students to travel to the U.S. to study, all I ask for is for them to come back and develop our country when they are done,” he said.