Unongu Shares Mind

I join my fellow citizens this morning to welcome and celebrate the New Year 2018. This year promises to be pivotal in our quest for CHANGE.  Unfortunately, I am saddened to acknowledge that for many this Christmas and New Year holidays have been anything but merry and happy. Instead of showing love, companionship and charity, some of our compatriots chose this period to inflict severe hardship on us all by creating unnecessary fuel scarcity across the country. The consequence was that not many could travel and the few who did had to pay exorbitant transport fares. This is unacceptable given that NNPC had taken measures to ensure availability at all depots. I am determined to get to the root of this collective blackmail of all Nigerians and ensure that whichever groups are behind this manipulated hardship will be prevented from doing so again. Such unpatriotism will not divert the Administration from the course we have set ourselves. Our government’s watch word and policy ...

Spain’s maritime rescue service says it has saved 66 migrants from two boats in the Mediterranean Sea. The service says that one boat carrying 58 migrants was intercepted by rescue craft in the Strait of Gibraltar before sunrise on Sunday. A further eight migrants were pulled from a second boat in waters east of the strait. Spain saved 177 migrants traveling in six boats on Saturday. Thousands of refugees and other migrants attempt the perilous crossing from Africa in hopes of reaching European shores each year. They are often packed by human traffickers into small boats unfit for the open sea. SOURCE: Associated Press 

By Ayo Onikoyi Dr. Queen Blessing Itua, a recipient of  President Obama Lifetime Achievement Award, lifestyle empowerment motivator, inspirational author and speaker, based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA is set to take Nollywood by storm with the release of her first movie, which will address the ills of human trafficking. The movie which parades a top notch array of leading Nollywood and international stars was shot in choice locations in Frankfurt, Germany and Nigeria. Some of the stars that spiced up the movie which has been described as intriguing, with lots of romance and comedy include Francis Duru, Cynthia Agholor, Uche Ogbodo, Jude Orhorha, Cossy Orjiakor, Obi Madubogwu, Casandra Odita, Olutokun Amos and George Eyo. The foreign based stars include Queen Blessing Itua herself, Isaac Izoya, Mathias Kramar, Hassna El- Bacha, Anslem Okhaimoh, Faith Ogoigbe, Imke Brenks and sensational Frankfurt based Zambian music icon, Yvonne Mwale. According to the producer, Itua, the movie tells...

Italy aims to deploy up to 470 troops to Niger to help tackle traffickers, the military General Staff said. Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Dec. 24 that some of the 1,400 Italian troops now stationed in Iraq could be transferred to the Sahel region in West Africa, which includes Niger, after victories against Islamist militants in Iraq. Gentiloni said the redeployed troops could also help to combat terrorism in the Sahel. The military said in a statement that a reconnaissance mission was underway in Niger to help decide the scale of the assistance, which the African country’s government has requested but which still needs to be approved by Italy’s parliament. The general staff said if the necessary approval is given, Italy would aim to gradually send up to 470 troops, probably posting an average of 250 over the course of a year. “The aim of the mission is to increase the operational capacity of the Niger forces and put them in a position to guarantee stability in the area a...

The Director General of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dame Julie Okah-Donli, has charged the destination countries for Irregular Migration and Trafficking in Persons to do more if the fight against TIP and SOM is to be won. Dame Julie Okah-Donli stated this while participating in the CNN Freedom Project to end Modern Slavery, hosted by Richard Quest in the city of Rome on Saturday, 9th December, 2017. Among the panelists were the Former Italian Foreign Minister as well as IOM Chief. The programme which was aired live and watched by over a hundred million audience worldwide, is a brainchild of the Polaris Project organised to combat Human Trafficking, a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabrics of the global society. During the panel discussion, the NAPTIP DG insisted that the destination countries, which are mostly in Europe, need to up their game and do more than they are doing right now to mitigate the crime of trafficking, saying tha...