Hope for two Nigerian students in Canada facing deportation

Reprieve is coming the way of two Nigerian students as the Canadian Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney look to adjust international student regulations so that the two University of Regina student be allowed to remain in the country.

The proposed new changes include allowing foreign student to work part-time off campus without a work permit, which is what the two Nigerian students Victoria Ordu and Ihuoma Amadi were caught doing in 2011(Amadi was working full-time).  Both were ordered to leave Canada for one year, but have instead been hiding out in Regina churches since last year.

The students legal counsel, Kay Adebogun, with support from a parliamentarian, MP Ralph Goodale, has argued that that if the rules governing off-campus work are relaxed, Amadi and Ordu should be allowed to remain and return to school.

However, further complicating the situation for the Nigerian students is the fact that Ordu's student visa expired in December, while Amadi's visa is good until April 2013.
Both students acknowledged they broke the law, they however maintain they did not know they needed a work permit to work off campus at Walmart.

In another twist, Phillippe Couvrette, a spokesperson with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), said Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews is the one to grant the reprieve for Amadi and Orlu, and not Kenney.

Henry Okah gets 24-years jail sentence

JOHANNESBURG A South African court on Tuesday jailed Nigerian national Henry Okah for 24 years after he was convicted of 13 terrorism charges over deadly twin bomb attacks in Abuja in 2010.

   Twelve people were killed in the attacks as Nigeria was celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence.

   The state argued that Okah showed little remorse during the trial, and that his intentions in the bombings were to "obtain maximum casualties."

   "Effectively, the accused Okah is therefore sentenced to 24 years imprisonment," said Judge Neels Claassen at the Johannesburg court.

   The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which in 2010 was a well-equipped armed group fighting for a greater share of the Delta oil wealth, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

   Okah, who has permanent residency in South Africa, has denied any involvement in the bombings and of being the leader of MEND, claiming the charges against him were politically motivated.

   The 46-year-old was also found guilty over two explosions in March 2010 in the southern Nigerian city of Warri, a major hub in the oil-rich Delta region.

   State prosecutor Shaun Abrahams said that the sentence included 12 years each for the Warri and Abuja attacks. He was also sentenced to 10 years for being a threat to South Africa, a term that will run concurrently.

   Abrahams said the prosecution -- which had asked for a maximum of life in prison -- will consider appealing the sentence.

   Okah is thought to be the first foreign national to be tried for terrorism in South Africa. He has been in custody since his arrest in October 2010, a day after the Abuja bombings.

   Okah did not testify during trial, prompting the judge to say that his failure to take the stand meant the evidence against him remained uncontested.

   He has had several run-ins with the law. In September 2007, he was arrested for arms and explosives trafficking in Angola and later extradited to Nigeria.

   Police identified him as "an international gun-runner and a major oil bunkerer (thief) in the Niger Delta."

13 million Nigerians wants to move to USA: poll

WASHINGTON More than 100 million people from across the world, including 13 million from Nigeria, would like to move permanently to the United States, which remains the most popular global destination, according to a latest opinion poll. The UK, Canada, and France also rank among the top choices for potential migrants.

  

Potential migrants who would like to move to the US are logically the most likely to come from some of the most populous countries in the world, the Gallup poll said.

The poll said that 19 million Chinese would like to move to the US, followed by 13 million from Nigeria, 10 million from India and six million each from Brazil and Bangladesh.  

However, other populous countries such as Iran and Pakistan do not have large groups of people who say that they would like to move to the US permanently.     

Instead, Pakistanis most desire to relocate to Saudi Arabia and the UK, and Iranians would prefer to move to Jordan or Lebanon. This is not surprising, as Iranians and Pakistanis have some of the lowest US leadership approval ratings in the world.        

Gallup said the percentage of people in each country, who would like to move to the US permanently is perhaps more interesting.       

A staggering 37 per cent of Liberians say that they would like to relocate to the US permanently.  One in four adults or more in Sierra Leone, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti would also like to move to the US permanently.          

Three countries with the highest percentages of people who would like to relocate to the US permanently are in Africa, seven are in Central America and the Caribbean, with the remaining country, Cambodia, in Asia.           

Gallup said about 13 per cent of the world's adults -- or about 630 million people -- say they would like to leave their country and move somewhere else permanently.       

For roughly 138 million people, that somewhere else would be the US -- the number one desired destination for potential migrants, the poll said.   

Tribute to father of African literature, Chinua Achebe

I attended an interview for a reporter's job in a newspaper in Qatar few years back. Having read and prepared myself adequately I was sure nothing will stop me passing the test and eventually securing a reporter's job in the second biggest newspaper in the country.

The editor of the newspaper was an Indian fellow who had a perfect knowledge of Nigerian political history. When I entered into his office, he admired my Nigerian attire and read through my CV. He asked which political affiliation do I belong to and I told him am a democrat, he laughed and told me his interest in Nigeria and why he loved the country. He has schooled with a few Nigerians during his college and university days in the United States.

It was quite an experience to see an Indian with vast knowledge of the political landscape of Nigeria from the 1960s up until Obasanjo's administration. After talking for over an hour on the political terrain, I was still waiting for a job related question or something related. To my chagrin, he asked which African authors are my favourite, I mentioned Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and Ngugi Wa Thiong'O. Probing further, he asked which are my favourite books from the stable of the renowned authors; I mentioned, Things Falls Apart, A Grain of Wheat and The Lion and The Jewel etc.

The Indian singled out Things Fall Apart and asked I review it before he gives me the job. I recall properly, I first read the novel in my Junior Secondary School class in the mid 1990s at Falomo High School in Lagos. I told him the groundbreaking 1958 novel Things Fall Apart; a novel still considered to be required reading the world over, has sold over twelve million copies and has been translated into more than fifty languages.

With my interest in politics and literature, I was able to dissect the book in pre-colonial Nigeria, 1890s Things Fall Apart highlights the clash between colonialism and traditional culture. The protagonist Okonkwo is strong, hard-working, and strives to show no weakness. The first of these stories traces Okonkwo's fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives, and in its classical purity of line and economical beauty it provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the individual and society.

The second story concerns the clash of cultures and destruction of Okonkwo's World through the arrival of aggressive European missionaries. As the proliferation of the missions increased, the presence of the white people grows and a new government is introduced. The village was forced to accept the white man's system nascent administration.

We both agreed the book is Africa's finest literary work and Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe is known the world over for having played a seminal role in the founding and development of African literature. He continues to be considered among the most significant world writers.  That was our I secured that job some years back thanks to Chinua Achebe’s magnum opus, Thing Fall Apart.

Achebe's global significance lies not only in his talent and recognition as a writer, but also as a critical thinker and essayist who has written extensively on questions of the role of culture in Africa and the social and political significance of aesthetics and analysis of the postcolonial state in Africa.

Chinua Achebe is born  Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe, on 16 November 1930 and passed on 21 March 2013.

May his gentle soul rest in peace.

SELECTED HONORS AND AWARDS:

·         The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, 2010

·         Man Booker International Award, 2007

·         1st Living Author presented in the Everyman's Library collection by Alfred A. Knopf, 1992

·         Rockefeller Fellowship, 1960

·         UNESCO Fellowship for Creative Artists, 1960

·         Margaret Wrong Prize

·         The New Statesman Jock Campbell Prize

·         The Commonwealth Poetry Prize

SELECTED NOVELS:

·         Anthills of the Savanna (Anchor Press, 1987)

·         A Man of the People (Anchor Press, 1966)

·         Arrow of God (Anchor Press, 1964)

·         No Longer At Ease (Anchor Press, 1960)

·         Things Fall Apart (Anchor Press, 1958)

SELECTED ESSAYS:

·         "2009 Blessed Pope John XXIII Lecture Series" in Theology and Culture (University of Notre Dame, Forthcoming)

·         "The Igbo and their Perception of God, Human Beings and Creation" (2009)

·         "Education of a British Protected Child" (Alfred A Knopf, 2009)

·         "Home and Exile" (Oxford University Press, 2000)

·         Beyond hunger in Africa: Conventional Wisdom and an African Vision (Heinemann; J. Currey, 1990)

·         "Nigerian Topics" (1989)

·         "The University and the Leadership Factor in Nigerian Politics" (Abic Books & Equipment, 1988)

·         "Hopes and Impediments" (Doubleday, 1988)

·         "The World of Ogbanje" (Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1986)

·         "The Trouble With Nigeria" (Heinemann, 1983)

·         "Morning Yet on Creation Day" (Anchor Press, 1975)

SELECTED SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS:

·         The Voter (Viva Books, 1994)

·         Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories (Heinemann, 1992)

·         African Short Stories (Heinemann, 1985)

·         Girls at War and Other Stories (Doubleday, 1973)

·         The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories (Etudo, 1962)

SELECTED POETRY:

·         Collected Poems (Carcanet Press, 2005)

·         Another Africa (Anchor Press, 1998)

·         Don't Let Him Die: An Anthology of Memorial Poems for Christopher Okigbo (Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1978)

·         Christmas in Biafra and Other Poems (Doubleday, 1973)

·         Beware, Soul Brother (Heinemann Educational, 1972)

SELECTED CHILDREN'S BOOKS:

·         The Flute (Fourth Dimension, 1977)

·         The Drum (Fourth Dimension, 1977)

·         How The Leopard Got His Claws (Third Press, 1973)

·         Chike and the River (Cambridge University Press, 1966)

Japanese jeweler unveils Messi's golden left-foot

TOKYO If anyone doubts Lionel Messi has a golden foot, now there's proof. A pure gold replica of his left foot was unveiled in Tokyo on Wednesday. The foot, which is valued at $5.25 million, was created by Japanese jeweler Ginza Tanaka to commemorate the football player's achievements.
 "It's exceptional. You can see each line in the foot. It's an impressive piece of work," Messi's brother, Rodrigo, said at the unveiling.
 The jeweler said he cast Messi's foot in Spain at the end of 2012.
 "We loved the sound of making the 'golden left foot,' and it being gold, it was our goal to make the project of recreating Messi's left foot a reality," said Masakazu Tanaka, president of the company that made the golden artifact.
 The foot will go on sale on Thursday, with an endorsement from the Leo Messi Foundation, which helps children at risk around the world.
 Other golden artifacts going on sale are Messi's golden footprint worth $94,500 and the "Golden Foot Mini," which is half the size of the actual golden foot, worth $42,000.
 Part of the proceeds will go to Messi's foundation, which in turn will go to support children in areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami disaster that hit Japan in March 2011.