“During my travels, I have had the opportunity to know other cultures and societies as well as other ways to see the world and this is very enriching,” Messi said in a statement released by the Madrid-based United Nations body announcing his nomination.
The Argentine expressed his feelings saying, “I am happy I can join this mission of promoting responsible tourism,” the five-time winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year award added as the body steps up its campaign to minimise harm tourism can cause to the environment and historical sites.
The UN body defines “responsible tourism” as tourism that “helps maximise the sector’s benefits while minimising its potentially negative impact on the environment, cultural heritage and societies across the globe”.
World Tourism Organization chief Zurab Pololikashvili said it was a “great honour” to have Messi promote “the positive values and benefits that tourism represents.
“Messi is a unique sportsman and an example of how willpower and constant work yield good results,” he added.
The 30-year-old is the leading scorer in La Liga this season with 29 goals and is also the all-time top marksman in Spain’s top flight.
He is also the top scorer in the history of Barcelona and Argentina.
Nigeria has paid its regular UN dues for 2018, making it the 74th out of the 193 Member States of the global international organisation to fulfill its financial obligations.
Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric said in New York that Nigeria paid its annual dues in full.
Dujarric said: “Nigeria has paid its regular budget dues in full, bringing the Honour Roll to 74”.
Checks by newsmen in New York showed that Nigeria paid 5,080,178 dollars on April 5.
However, one hundred and nineteen members are yet to pay their regular budgets.
The records also reports that Nigeria became the 10th country in Africa to pay its UN regular budgets in full.
In 2016, Nigeria had asked the UN to review its assessed contributions to the organisation in view of the economic recession in the country at the time.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, made the call at the UN Headquarters in New York when she visited the Chairman of the UN Fifth Committee, Mr Kingston Rhodes.
The Fifth Committee is the committee of the General Assembly with responsibilities for administrative and budgetary matters.
Nigeria was expected to pay outstanding contributions of 10. 2 million dollars as at December 2016.
Oyo-Ita said: “Due to recession, we want something done to review our dues and we want the UN to reconsider our assessment due to the realities of the time.
“What Nigeria is being asked to pay now is on the high side. Nigeria is committed to paying its contributions but we want some considerations.
“We want something to be done to re-adjust our scale.”
Nigeria’s scale of assessment for 2013 to 2015 was 0.119 before the re-basing of the country’s economy in 2014.
However, with the re-basing of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 500 million dollars, the scale of assessment of Nigeria increased to 0.209 for the period 2016 to 2018.
Nigeria has been pursuing the re-adjustment of the scale due to the economic reality of the country.
However, Rhodes had told Oyo-Ita that the UN was aware of the economic situation in the country but that the effort was hindered by the General Assembly Resolution that cancelled annual review of scale of assessment.
The Fifth Committee Chairman explained that the Resolution now established three years minimum period of scale of assessment.
According to him, therefore, Nigeria’s scale would be due for review in 2018, being the next scale year.
Mr Yassine Gaba, the UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, on Monday, strongly condemned Sunday’s deadly attack near Belle Village in Maiduguri, Borno.
This is contained in a statement by Mr Abiodun Banire, the National Public Information Officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Abuja.
At least 34 civilians lost their lives in the attack which left 90 others injured.
Banire said that recent weeks had seen a steady continuation of attacks on civilians in the three most conflict-affected states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe in the Northeast Zone of the country.
Banire quoted Gaba as saying that since the beginning of the year, no fewer than 120 civilian were reportedly killed while more than 210 sustained serious injuries in more than 22 attacks allegedly carried out by non-state armed groups.
He said that civilians were also regularly abducted in Dapchi, Yobe, where 110 school girls were kidnapped on Feb. 19.
“Innocent civilians continue to suffer daily from direct and indiscriminate attacks in the North-east of Nigeria.
‘’Endless numbers of explosions, brutal killings, abductions and looting continue to uproot the lives of women, children and men daily.
“I call on all parties to the conflict to end this violence and to respect human life and dignity.
“The protection of civilians is a major focus of the ongoing humanitarian response in the north-east of Nigeria where 7.7 million people remain in direct need of humanitarian assistance, including food, shelter, water and health care, in the most conflict-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe,” he said.
According to him, women, children and men face daily grave human rights violations and sexual and gender-based violence.
He said that since the start of the conflict in 2009, more than 20,000 people had been killed, thousands of girls, women, boys and men abducted, while children continue to be used routinely as so-called “suicide” bombers.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that climate chaos would continue in 2018, saying climate change is still moving much faster than human beings.
The UN chief, therefore, called for the political will, innovation and financing to cut global emissions by at least 25 per cent over the next two years.
Guterres said: “Scientists are now worried that unless accelerated action is taken by 2020, the Paris goal may become unattainable”.
The Paris Agreement on climate change, adopted by world leaders in December 2015, aims to keep global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursues efforts to limit the temperature increase even further, to 1.5 degrees.
“I am beginning to wonder how many more alarm bells must go off before the world rises to the challenge,” Guterres said.
The UN scribe noted that 2017 had been filled with climate chaos and 2018 had already brought more of the same.
“Climate change is still moving much faster than we are,” he warned, calling the phenomenon the greatest threat facing humankind.
Recent information from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the World Bank and the International Energy Agency showed the relentless pace of climate change.
The UN chief said energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose 1.4 per cent, to a historic high of 32.5 gigatonnes in 2017.
Moreover, weather-related disasters caused some 320 billion dollars in economic damage, making 2017 the costliest year ever for such losses.
In social as well as economic terms, the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season was devastating, washing away decades of development in an instant.
In Africa, severe drought drove nearly 900,000 people from their homes while in South Asia, major monsoon floods affected 41 million people.
“Wildfires caused destruction across the world. Arctic sea ice cover in winter is at its lowest level, and the oceans are warmer and more acidic than at any time in recorded history.
“This tsunami of data should create a storm of concern,” Guterres said, announcing that he would convene a climate summit in New York in 2019 aimed at boosting global ambition to meet the level of the climate challenge.
“The Stone Age did not end because the world ran out of stones. It ended because there were better alternatives. The same applies today to fossil fuels,” he said.
The UN chief stressed the need for a further cut in greenhouse gas emissions of at least 25 per cent by 2020.
Guterres said his Special Envoy on climate change and former New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, disclosed that the U.S. might meet the commitments made in Paris due to the positive reactions of the American business community and local authorities.
“All around the world, the role of governments is less and less relevant. The role of the economy, the role of the society is more and more relevant,” Guterres said.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on nations to scour their archives for possible evidence regarding the death of former UN Chief, Dag Hammarskjold in 1961.
A spokesman for Guterres, Farhan Haq, said: “the secretary-general calls on member states that may hold information relevant to the Hammarskjold investigation to appoint an independent and high-ranking official to conduct a dedicated internal review of their intelligence, security and defence archives to determine whether relevant information exists.”
Hammarskjold, the second secretary-general of the UN, was on his way to a cease-fire in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Along with 15 other individuals, Hammarskjold was carried by the 6C-6 aircraft when suddenly the aircraft crashed in September 1961 in Central Africa.
It was first called an accident.
However, information since released showed there was another plane in the region at the time, indicating the
possibility of an aerial attack or other interference as a possible cause of the crash.
Mohamed Othman, former chief justice of Tanzania, was reappointed by Gurerres to lead the inquiry, which followed a 72nd General Assembly resolution.
Othman’s report to the General Assembly in September concluded that “it remained plausible that an external attack
or threat may have been a cause of the crash,” Haq said.
“The secretary-general … firmly believes that he owes it to his illustrious and distinguished predecessor, Hammarskjold, and to the other members of the party accompanying him and to their families, to pursue the full truth of this matter,” Haq said.
Britain was known to have monitored communications at the time along with Rhodesian authorities, and the U. S.
was believed to have electronic surveillance in the region, according to Othman’s previous report.
Therefore, this would indicate either London or Washington, or possibly both, might have evidence to the cause
of the crash nearly 57 years ago.
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured the United Nations of his commitment to conducting a credible, free and fair elections in 2019.
The President gave the assurance when the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, met him in Abuja, according to a note by the UN issued from New York.
“On preparations for the 2019 elections and expected support from the United Nations, President Muhammadu Buhari welcomed continuous support from the United Nations.
“And assured the Deputy Secretary-General of his commitment to ensuring credible, free and fair elections in Nigeria,” the UN said.
Ms Mohammed undertook a two-day visit to Nigeria from March 23 to 25, during which she met with Mr Buhari in Abuja and interacted with other senior officials and stakeholders in Lagos.
The UN said the President and the Deputy Secretary-General discussed four main issues: 2019 general elections, deportation of Cameroonian asylum seekers, the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, and the humanitarian and security challenges in Northeast.
“On the situation in Cameroon and the status of Cameroonian Refugees in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari and the Deputy Secretary-General agreed on the need to respect international obligations on the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, the Cameroonians in particular.
“They also called for the respect of the guarantee of fair and humane treatment of those recently arrested and deported to Cameroon,” the UN said.
“On the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, President Muhammadu Buhari assured the Deputy Secretary-General of the country’s intention to sign the agreement following national consultations.
“On the humanitarian and security situation in the North East, President Muhammadu Buhari and the Deputy-Secretary welcomed the speedy return of the recently abducted girls from Dapchi.
“And highlighted the need for particular attention to be given to securing schools through the accelerated implementation of the Safe School Initiative,” the UN added.
The Deputy Secretary-General has departed Abuja for Prague on Sunday, according to the UN.
The Governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has urged world leaders to strengthen existing laws and policies against all forms of slavery, to uphold the dignity of the human being.
Obaseki made the call in commemoration of the United Nations International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, marked on March 25 each year.
He decried the reappearance of slavery in Libya and other parts of the world, several decades after it was abolished, and hailed the efforts of the Benin Monarch, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’ Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Ewuare II, at bringing an end to human trafficking in the state.
“Since the intervention by Oba Ewuare II, we have received positive feedbacks from the camps of the human traffickers in Europe and other parts of the world. They have been rattled and many of them have given up the inhuman trade for decent lifestyles, knowing the weight of the royal pronouncements.”
The governor assured that “with the extensive and speedy work that have been done by the Edo State House of Assembly on the ‘Bill to Prohibit Trafficking in Persons and Establish the Edo State Taskforce Against Trafficking in Persons’, the stage is set for an all out war against human traffickers and their collaborators.”
He said the Bill, when signed into law, will strengthen existing Federal Government laws and agencies in tackling human trafficking.
Obaseki noted that the United Nations International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, should remind everyone of the millions of lives that were lost; namely women, children and young men.
“We must never go that route again. In Edo State, we have lost thousands of our young men and women to illegal migration and human trafficking and this is unacceptable.
“My administration is committed to a new order that will engage our productive youths in dignifying and rewarding economic ventures that earn them decent wages,” he added.
According to the United Nations, “for over 400 years, more than 15 million men, women and children were the victims of the tragic transatlantic slave trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history.
“Every year on March 25, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade offers the opportunity to honour and remember those who suffered and died at the hands of the brutal slavery system. The International Day also aims to raise awareness about the dangers of racism and prejudice today.”
In order to more permanently honour the victims, a memorial has been erected at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
An exhibition titled “Remember Slavery: Say It Loud” has been on display since March 5, in the Visitors Lobby at United Nations Headquarters New York.
The exhibit is organised as part of the commemoration of the 2018 International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, under the theme “Remember Slavery: Triumphs and Struggles for Freedom and Equality”.
“The theme celebrates the gains of people of African descent from slavery to present. It also acknowledges the challenges that have been overcome in the movement towards freedom and equality in all professions” the UN said.
The Presidency on Saturday said the decision by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to drag the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the United Nations (UN) over alleged plans to rig it (the PDP) out of the 2019 general elections was laughable and silly.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement made available to journalists on Saturday.
Shehu said the opposition party’s decision demonstrated the level of desperation that party leaders now found themselves.
Rather than raising false alarms, the presidential spokesman challenged the PDP leaders to address the concerns raised about their role in the mass data harvesting at the heart of the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The statement read, “The Presidency has advised the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party to stop raising false alarms in order to gain public sympathy and divert attention from its abysmal past record and failures.
“They should, instead, address the concerns raised about their role in the mass data harvesting at the heart of the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal, following the revelation that they hacked into Candidate Muhammadu Buhari’s personal data in the run-up to the 2015 general elections.
“Nothing undermines a country’s democracy as such unfair practices.
That is why President Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment when they hacked into the opposition, Democratic Party records, and this is why a Special Counsel is investigating the alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election, and if President Donald Trump’s campaign is complicit in the attempted subversion of democracy in that country.
“The PDP’s decision to drag the All Progressives Congress and INEC to the United Nations over alleged plan or plot to rig the 2019 general elections are not only laughable and puerile, but they also demonstrate the level of desperation that is haunting the opposition leaders.”
“President Muhammadu Buhari is passionately committed to free and fair elections in the country and for a man who joined forces with local and international observers to ensure a free and fair election which brought him to power in 2015, the President would under no circumstances tolerate any attempt to derail constitutional democracy.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) has announced the resumption of humanitarian operations in Rann town, in Borno.
The UN relief wing said the resumption of aid operations in the community followed several security assessments by the UN and non-governmental organisations.
The UN had on March 2, suspended aid operations and withdrew its workers from Rann after a March 1 attack by suspected Boko Haram terrorists, who killed eight persons, including three aid workers, and abducted a nurse.
“However, UN aid workers have not yet been authorised to stay overnight in Rann, and daily operations are expected to continue until security conditions are met by the Nigerian authorities.
“The UN and partners are providing life-saving emergency assistance in Rann including food, shelter and medicine to over 80,000 women, children and men, among them 55,000 internally displaced people.
“The World Food Programme is planning to distribute food to at least 61,000 people this month.
“Pre-positioning of food is also key ahead of the rainy season, which starts in June, cutting off road access to Rann,” the UN said on Friday.
It said following the resumption of humanitarian activities in Rann, camp management and displacement tracking activities for impacted people have resumed, in addition to medical services.
The President of Liberia, George Weah, has thanked “specially” the last batch of 108 Nigerian Formed Police Unit (FPU) deployed to Liberia under the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) whose tour of duty will end after five years following the conclusion of their mission.
The mission which ends at the end of the month will see the last 108 Nigerian FPU officers and the last UNMIL uniformed contingent in Liberia withdrawing as part of the UN mission’s termination.
Liberian President George Weah commended UNMIL for its longstanding support to peace and stability, saying the Liberian people will forever remain grateful to them for their bravery and service.
“Thank you for your hard work and sacrifice you have made over the years to keep the peace and stability of our beloved mama Liberia. As you leave us now, we will forever remember you,” Weah said.
A batch of 200 Nigerian peacekeepers had also withdrawn from Liberia in February as part of the termination of the mission’s mandate, scheduled on March 30, the mission said.
“The Nigerian contingent has been deployed in Liberia since UNMIL was first established in 2003. Nigeria has been a main contributor of military and police to UNMIL.
“The UNMIL has been a steadfast partner to Liberia for the last 15 years.
“It has supported security and security sector reform, rule of law, efforts to disarm, human rights and sustainable peace.
“The Mission will complete its mandate on March 30.
“UNMIL was established in September 2003 with 16,475 uniformed personnel to monitor a ceasefire agreement in Liberia, following the conclusion of the Second Liberian Civil War”.
108 NIGERIAN FORMED POLICE UNIT AT UN MISSION IN LIBERIA DEPARTS FOR HOME COUNTRY
An official farewell ceremony was held in February in honour of the last departing 689 uniformed personnel – 404 military and 285 police personnel – who had served with the Mission.
This symbolised the end of UNMIL’s military and police operations in Liberia, more than 14 years after UNMIL was deployed in compliance with Security Council resolution 1509 (2003).
NIGERIAN POLICE PERSONNEL WITHDRAW FROM LIBERIA AFTER 15 YEARS OF SACRIFICE
Nigeria’s Maj.-Gen. Salihu Uba is the Force Commander and Head of UNMIL’s Military component of men and women from various countries including: Nigeria, Pakistan and Ukraine.
Uba was Commander of the Training and Doctrine Command of the Nigerian Army before his appointment as the Force Commander for UNMIL by the former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 9, 2015.
The Formed Police Unit composed of Nigerian and Chinese personnel and since 2003, 61 contingents from various countries had served in Liberia, UNMIL said.
According to Uba, the mission’s uniform component military and police have taken greater stride towards strengthening peace and security, rule of law, governance among others in Liberia.
The Force Commander stated that it was not all roses particularly for the military which had the highest fatalities of 138 personnel while the police lost 21 persons.
“As we are closing, the memory of those 159 persons and others in the Mission will continue to live in our minds.
“We will continue to pay special tribute to them and those who contributed to peace and security in Liberia” the Major General said.
THE LAST NIGERIAN POLICE ‘BOOT’ BIDS FAREWELL TO LIBERIA
The Force Commander, on behalf of the Police Commissioner Simon Blatchly, expressed their profound appreciation to the uniformed component of UNSMIL.
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Farid Zarif, had in his speech, stated that the farewell signified an important benchmark in the history of the UN in West Africa.
“While my colleagues in uniform are writing the last pages of the peacekeeping operations here, Liberians and their Leaders have started writing the first pages of a brand new chapter in their history.”
An official farewell ceremony was held in February in honour of the last departing 689 uniformed personnel – 404 military and 285 police personnel – who had served with the Mission.
Nigeria’s Maj.-Gen. Salihu Uba is the Force Commander and Head of UNMIL’s Military component of men and women from various countries including: Nigeria, Pakistan and Ukraine.
The Force Commander, on behalf of the Police Commissioner Simon Blatchly, expressed their profound appreciation to the uniformed component of UNSMIL.