Tag: United Kingdom

Journalist rejects N800,000 bribe offer from foreign NGO to smear ?angote Refinery

Aminu Imam
Journalist exposes

Nigerian investigative journalist, David Hundeyin, has accused an international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), ‘Dialogue Earth’, of offering him an 800 thousand naira bribe to smear the world’s largest single-train refinery, ?angote Refinery. In a lengthy post on his X account yesterday, Hundeyin detailed how the NGO reached out to him sometime last week, with a brief that required him to write a negative review about the ?angote Refinery using climate change and environmental concerns as justifications. According to him the NGO, formerly known as China Dialogue Trust, is based in London,…

Read More

UK charges’s Glencore’s billionaire ex-Head of Oil over bribing NNPCL, FG officials

Aminu Imam
GLENCORE GLENCORE INTERNATIONAL AG, ROHSTOFFHAENDLER, ROHSTOFFHANDEL,

A billionaire former head of oil at Glencore Plc, Alex Beard, has been charged with corruption by the UK’s top fraud agency, alongside four other ex-employees from the commodities trader. Beard, 56, who was one of Glencore’s top executives for more than a decade before his departure in 2019, is the highest profile individual to be charged in a sweeping series of investigations into corruption and market manipulation at the company – and one of the most senior commodity traders ever to be charged with wrongdoing. The UK’s Serious Fraud…

Read More

New UK Foreign Secretary Lammy backs ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza

Aminu Imam
UK Foreign Secretary

Britain’s newly appointed Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, has reiterated his support for international efforts to secure an “immediate ceasefire” in the Israel-Hamas war and for the release of remaining hostages. “The job now is to get to work with tireless diplomacy to support an immediate ceasefire and move towards getting those hostages out,” Lammy told UK broadcasters, in his first comments after becoming the country’s top diplomat hours earlier.

Read More

Treaty violation: Court gives Chinese firm go-ahead to seize Nigeria’s UK properties

Aminu Imam
IMG COM 202406250938415010

A commercial court in London, United Kingdom (UK), has granted Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd., final charging orders over two residential properties owned by Nigeria in the UK. A master at the court, Lisa Sullivan, granted the final charging orders to the Chinese firm following Nigeria’s prior opposition to the orders’ jurisdiction. The Chinese firm seeks to enforce a $70 million investment treaty award against Nigeria. In 2010, Zhongshan, through Zhuhai Zhongfu Industrial Group Co. Ltd (Zhuhai), its Chinese parent company, acquired rights to develop a free trade zone…

Read More

UK expresses support for Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda

Aminu Imam
UK Commissioner

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, has said the United Kingdom (UK) was impressed by the security strategies President Tinubu has put in place. Montgomery stated this during a High-level Dialogue on Delivering the Renewed Hope Agenda, on the theme: “Nigeria’s Global Ambitions: From Hope to Reality,” in Abuja on Friday. He also reiterated the UK government’s support for the Nigerian government in terms of security, transparency and accountability in governance, andapplauded Tinubu’s agenda, saying it focused on priorities and delivery. He said, “I’d like to use this…

Read More

Invictus Games: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle to visit Nigeria in May

Aminu Imam
Harry & Meghan

Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle will visit Nigeria in May following the nation’s debut appearance at Harry’s 2023 Invictus Games that was held in Düsseldorf, Germany. According to reports yesterday, the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex owes to the invitation to visit the country on behalf of the Chief of Defence Staff, Mohammed Badaru. Badaru, who was an attendant at last year’s event, had expressed willingness to host the games should Nigeria be granted the opportunity. On May 8, Harry, 39, will attend the Invictus…

Read More

‘Nigeria, 65 countries now ‘off limits’ to UK travellers’ – FCDO

Aminu Imam

As the spring and summer getaway approaches, the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, (FCDO), has issued warnings  for UK tourists and holidaymakers. The FCDO recently updated its travel advisories, designating 66 countries, including Nigeria, as unsafe for foreign travelers. Nigeria, Angola, Thailand, and 39 other countries are on the “red list”, while 24 countries are tagged “black list destinations” that the Foreign Office advises against travel, deemed unsafe to travel. These 66 countries, including Syria, Russia, Lebanon, and 63 others, are now off-limits to UK tourists due to safety concerns”…

Read More

UK removes U.S. ‘terror alert’ on threat to Nigeria’s major hotels

Aminu Imam

The United Kingdom, (UK) government has removed the security alert issued by the United States (U.S.) Embassy in Nigeria on the increased threat to major hotels in the country’s larger cities and on off-cycle governorship elections from its travel advisory. The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office withdrew the warning in its updated foreign advisory to its citizens in Nigeria on Wednesday. The removal came after it joined the U.S. government to update its travel advisory, with an earlier warning to its citizens of possible terror attacks in some hotels in the…

Read More

Former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke charged to court over bribery – UK Police

Aminu Imam

Former OPEC President Diezani Alison-Madueke has been charged with bribery related to her time as the oil minister of Nigeria, according to the UK National Crime Agency, (NCA), yesterday. Alison-Madueke, who was in office from 2010 to 2015, was the first woman to be oil minister in Nigeria and the first female president of the global oil cartel OPEC. The head of the NCA’s international corruption unit, Andy Kelly, in a statement, said: “We suspect Diezani Alison-Madueke abused her power in Nigeria and accepted financial rewards for awarding multi-million-pound contracts”.…

Read More

UK cuts tariffs on products from Nigeria, 64 others

Aminu Imam

The United Kingdom (UK) reduced tariffs on products from developing countries, including Nigeria, on Monday, saving businesses and consumers millions of pounds per year. According to a statement issued by the British Deputy High Commission in Nigeria, the UK’s new post-Brexit Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) scheme, which went into effect yesterday, covers 65 countries, including Nigeria. According to the new scheme, over 99% of Nigerian goods exported would automatically be eligible for duty-free access to the UK. The statement went on to say that Nigeria would get preferential access…

Read More