#federal ministry of work recruitment June 2017

[mariacallous]

Nine others died in the August 23 plane crash that reportedly killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary leader who staged a brief mutiny against Russia’s Defense Ministry in late June. Prigozhin’s death isn’t verified yet, but Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency has confirmed that he was on the passenger list. The other high-profile passenger aboard the doomed flight was Dmitry Utkin, the Wagner Group commander whose callsign is the basis for the company’s very name. Journalists at BBC Russian and the Dossier Center collected information about the other passengers and crew members who perished in the crash. Meduza summarizes these reports.

Passengers

Valery Chekalov

Chekalov managed multiple companies in St. Petersburg that were linked to Prigozhin. BBC Russia learned that his acquaintances logged his number in their phones as “Valery Evgenievich Syria,” “Valery Chekalov Concord Army,” and “Valery Evgenievich Chekalov from Prigozhin.” From 2011 to 2018, he headed the company “Kollektiv-Servis,” which won a contract with the Defense Ministry’s Commissary in 2012 to supply food to the army. Around the same time, the company registered an entity with a mess hall in Sevastopol, the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Chekalov also managed a company created in 2014 called “Neva,” which operated the subsidiary “Evro Polis” — the same Evro Polis that signed a memorandum with the Syrian government in 2016 to recapture and guard oil facilities in exchange for the value of 25 percent of the oil and gas produced there, according to reporting by the news outlet Fontanka. 

Evgeny Makaryan

Born in Magnitogorsk, Makaryan was a former police officer. According to the Dossier Center, he joined Wagner Group in March 2016, serving in its fourth assault detachment in Syria, where he was wounded. BBC Russian calls him one of Prigozhin’s bodyguards.

Sergey Propustin

Propustin is listed at Myrotvorets, the Ukrainian website that names and sometimes doxxes people its authors consider to be “enemies of Ukraine.” Myrotvorets identifies him as a grenadier reconnaissance officer and Wagner Group fighter. According to the Dossier Center, Propustin fought in the Second Chechen War. He reportedly joined Wagner in March 2015 and fought in its second reconnaissance assault detachment, from which Prigozhin would later recruit several of his personal bodyguards. Accordingly, BBC Russian reports that Propustin was another Prigozhin bodyguard.

Alexander Totmin

Myrotvorets lists Totmin too. It’s unknown when he started working for Prigozhin, but journalists learned that he was living in St. Petersburg as recently as 2022. His phone number shows up in shared databases identified as “Sanya Work PMC,” “Totmin Sanya Kontora Piter,” and “Alexander W.” In August 2012, a court in the Altai Krai sentenced him to 300 hours of community service for stealing a chainsaw from a bathhouse located on someone else’s property. In September 2014, he was sentenced to two years of probation for car theft.

Nikolai Matuseev

Researchers at the Dossier Center believe that the Nikolai Matuseev listed among the plane-crash passengers is the same one who joined Wagner Group in January 2017. He was a gunner in the organization’s fourth assault detachment in Syria.

Crew

Rustam Karimov

The aircraft’s 29-year-old second pilot, Karimov lived with his wife in Perm. He graduated from the Sasovo Flight School in Russia’s Ryazan region in 2014. Karimov’s father told reporters that his son was unemployed at the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He says Rustam found work three months ago with MNT-Aero, the company that owns the crashed plane, and then moved to St. Petersburg.

Alexey Levshin

Levshin was the plane’s captain. His daughter Anastasia told the news outlet RBC that her father had worked with Prigozhin for many years, though she provided no further details. BBC Russian discovered that Levshin was featured in a 2018 broadcast by the television network Vesti Novosibirsk about an airshow that included military pilots. In the story, he was identified as the navigator of a Sukhoi Su-34 crew.

Kristina Raspopova

Raspopova was the plane’s flight attendant. Thirty-nine years old, she was born in what is now Kazakhstan. According to the news outlet 74.ru, her younger brother is the deputy prosecutor in Yemanzhelinsk, a city in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region. She attended the Moscow Finance and Law University and lived for some time in Yekaterinburg before moving to Moscow. The Telegram channel Baza reports that she relocated to St. Petersburg after finding a job at MNT-Aero.

Posts on social media indicate that Raspopova often traveled abroad, sharing photos from Jamaica, Singapore, Austria, and other countries. Multiple times, she flew aboard a business jet similar to the plane that crashed: an Embraer Legacy with the tail number RA-02857 based at Vnukovo International Airport, which she frequented. According to Baza, Raspopova spoke to her family a few hours before her final flight departed and said that the plane had been delayed for some reason.

[thetens-blog1]

Brickwall Global Investment Limited recruitment for Marketing Executives in Lagos 2017

Brickwall Global Investment Limited recruitment for Marketing Executives in Lagos 2017

Brickwall Global Investment Limited recruitment for Marketing Executives in Lagos 2017 Brickwall Global Investment limited is an indigenous company duly registered and incorporated in Nigeria (head office in Lagos), to carry out a Real Estate business like Property Development, Property Management, Property Maintenance, Structural Designs, Architectural Designs, and Documentation etc. We are…

[newstfionline]

Saturday, January 2, 2021

Chaotic Congress winds down (AP) Congress is ending a chaotic session, a two-year political firestorm that started with the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, was riven by impeachment and a pandemic, and now closes with a rare rebuff by Republicans of President Donald Trump. In the few days remaining, GOP senators are ignoring Trump’s demand to increase COVID-19 aid checks to $2,000 and are poised to override his veto of a major defense bill, asserting traditional Republican spending and security priorities. It’s a dizzying end to a session of Congress that resembles few others for the sheer number of crises and political standoffs. Congress opened in 2019 with the federal government shutdown over Trump’s demands for money to build the border wall with Mexico. Nancy Pelosi regained the speaker’s gavel after Democrats swept to the House majority in the midterm election. The Democratic-led House went on to impeach the president over his request to the Ukrainian president to “do us a favor” against Biden ahead of the presidential election. The Republican-led Senate acquitted the president in 2020 of the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. When the pandemic struck, Congress rallied with unusual speed and agreement to pass a $2 trillion relief package, the largest federal intervention of its kind in U.S. history. The Congress had few other notable legislative accomplishes, and could not agree on how to respond to the racial injustice reckoning that erupted after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement.

Dollar posts worst year since 2017 (Reuters) The dollar posted its biggest yearly loss since 2017 on Thursday, capping off a manic year that saw the currency serve as a safe haven in March when panic over the spread of COVID-19 in the United States peaked, before dropping on unprecedented Federal Reserve stimulus. The greenback soared to a three-year high of 102.99 against a basket of currencies in March, before ending the year at 89.96, down 6.77% on the year and 12.65% from its March high. An improving global economic outlook as COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out, rock-bottom U.S. interest rates and ongoing Fed bond purchases have dented the dollar’s appeal. “I expect the dollar to depreciate further over the next few years as the Fed keeps rates at zero whilst maintaining its bloated balance sheet,” Kevin Boscher, chief investment officer at asset manager Ravenscroft, told clients. “The magnitude of the twin deficits dwarfs any other major economy,” he said.

Expensive, faulty weapons (Bloomberg) The Pentagon has put a decision on approving full-rate production of Lockheed Martin’s $398 billion F-35 fighter program, the subject of numerous design defects and even a criminal investigation, on indefinite hold. The plane has yet to demonstrate its effectiveness against the most challenging Russian and Chinese air defense systems and aircraft. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy’s plan to deliver on time the first of its $128 billion next-generation missile submarine fleet is at risk because of inexperienced contractors with spotty quality control, a government watchdog warned. And the cost overrun could be as much as $384 million—for the one boat.

Why California’s immigrants are heading back to Mexico (The Guardian) California’s most vulnerable immigrants have faced unprecedented challenges this year, with some weighing whether it’s worth staying in the United States altogether. Ten months of a pandemic that has disproportionately sickened immigrants and devastated some of the industries that rely on immigrant labor, combined with years of anti-immigrant policies by the Trump administration have exacerbated insecurities for undocumented people and immigrants working low-wage jobs across California. For immigrants at the bottom of the economic ladder, it’s never been easy in the US, said Luz Gallegos, the executive director of the immigrant advocacy group Training Occupational Development Educating Communities Legal Center (Todec). “But California was also always a place where my family—my parents and grandparents—believed they could build a better life,” said Gallegos who was born into a family of immigrant activists and organizers. “It was always a place with potential.” Until this year. “There’s been so much fear and trauma—just layers of trauma,” she said. Javier Lua Figureo moved back to his home town in Michoacán, Mexico, three years ago, after living and working in California for a dozen years. Since the pandemic hit, several of his friends and family members have followed his lead, he said. “Things aren’t perfect in Mexico,” Figureo said in Spanish. But at least there’s access to healthcare, and some unemployment benefits for those who need it, he added. “In comparison to what it was in the US, the situation for us in Mexico right now is much better.”

Brexit’s Silver Lining for Europe (NYT) It is done at last. On Jan. 1, with the Brexit transition period over, Britain will no longer be part of the European Union’s single market and customs union. A great loss will be consummated. Loss for the European Union of one of its biggest member states, a major economy, a robust military. Loss for Britain of diplomatic heft in a world of renewed great power rivalry; of some future economic growth; of clarity over European access for its big financial services industry; and of countless opportunities to study, live, work and dream across the continent. “Brexit is an act of mutual weakening,” Michel Barnier, the chief European Union negotiator, told the French daily Le Figaro. But the weakening is uneven. Britain is closer to fracture. The possibility has increased that Scotland and Northern Ireland will opt to leave the United Kingdom and, by different means, rejoin the European Union. The bloc, by contrast, has in some ways been galvanized by the trauma of Brexit. It has overcome longstanding obstacles, lifted its ambitions and reignited the Franco-German motor of closer union. “Brexit is not good news for anyone, but it has unquestionably contributed to a reconsolidation of Europe, which demonstrated its unity throughout the negotiations,” François Delattre, the secretary-general of the French foreign ministry, said.

Coronavirus overshadows Japan’s New Year’s Day festivities (Reuters) New Year’s Day is the biggest holiday in Japan’s calendar, but this year’s festivities have been subdued following record highs in new coronavirus cases nationwide and calls from the government to stay home. Japan’s Emperor Naruhito appealed to the public to work together through the pandemic in a videotaped New Year’s Day address to the nation released on Friday. “I am wishing from my heart that everyone can move forward during this hard time by supporting and helping one another,” he said in the address, which was released in place of an annual public appearance by the imperial family during the New Year holidays. The event was cancelled this year because of the pandemic. New Year’s Day festivities in Japan involves spending time with family and praying at local temples, where hordes of people wish for good luck in the coming year.

Philippines to ban U.S. travellers from Sunday (Reuters) The Philippines will prohibit the entry of foreign travellers from the United States from Sunday after the more infectious new variant of the coronavirus was detected in Florida. The travel ban, lasting until Jan. 15, covers those who have been to the United States within 14 days preceding arrival in the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman said in a statement.

Floods ravage South Sudan (AP) On a scrap of land surrounded by flooding in South Sudan, families drink and bathe from the waters that swept away latrines and continue to rise. Some 1 million people in the country have been displaced or isolated for months by the worst flooding in memory, with the intense rainy season a sign of climate change. The waters began rising in June, washing away crops, swamping roads and worsening hunger and disease in the young nation struggling to recover from civil war. Now famine is a threat. On a recent visit by The Associated Press to the Old Fangak area in hard-hit Jonglei state, parents spoke of walking for hours in chest-deep water to find food and health care as malaria and diarrheal diseases spread.

Gratitude (NYT) Numerous studies show that people who have a daily gratitude practice, in which they consciously count their blessings, tend to be happier, have lower stress levels, sleep better and are less likely to experience depression. In one study, researchers recruited 300 adults, most of them college students seeking mental health counseling. All the volunteers received counseling, but one group added a writing exercise focused on bad experiences, while another group wrote a letter of gratitude to another person each week for three weeks. A month later, those who wrote gratitude letters reported significantly better mental health. And the effect appears to last. Three months later the researchers scanned the brains of students while they completed a different gratitude exercise. The students who had written gratitude letters earlier in the study showed greater activation in a part of the brain called the medial prefrontal cortex, believed to be related to both reward and higher-level cognition.      Send an appreciative email or text, thank a service worker or tell your children, your spouse or a friend how they have made your life better. You can send emails or post feelings of gratitude on social media or in a group chat. Or think of someone in your life and write them a letter of gratitude. (You don’t have to mail it.) Fill your letter with details describing how this person influenced your life and the things you appreciate about them. Or keep a daily gratitude journal. “I think the full potential of gratitude is realized when people are able to express gratitude in words,” says Y. Joel Wong, chairman of the department of counseling and educational psychology at Indiana University. “When we are able to say what we’re grateful for and explain why, it shifts our attention from what’s negative to what’s positive in our lives.”

[thisdaynews]

BREAKING:NDDC Budgets ‘Hijacked’ By Nigerian Lawmakers

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/breakingnddc-budgets-hijacked-by-nigerian-lawmakers/

BREAKING:NDDC Budgets ‘Hijacked’ By Nigerian Lawmakers

The Senate ad-hoc committee investigating the N40 billion corruption allegation against the interim management committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was stunned on Thursday when an official accused unnamed members of the parliament of ‘hijacking’ the commission’s budgets over the years.

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In his submission, at the hearing, the acting deputy director, projects, NDDC, Cairo Ojougboh, said the budgets of the commission ”have always been hijacked by the leadership of the committee on NDCC from both chambers for their personal gain”.

He asked the National Assembly ”to let the commission function in peace.”

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“The budget(s) of the NNDC from 2001 till date, has (have) always been hijacked by the two chairmen of the committee; the chairman in the house and the chairman in the Senate,” the angry official said. ”Not one kobo has been misused since the coming of the IMC.

“We want to beg the National Assembly that they should allow the people of the Niger Delta to grow. Since the inauguration of the IMC, we have not known peace. It has been one false allegation after another.

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“Some contracts supplied to ‘an NDDC warehouse’ along Benin-expressway. The warehouse belongs to Peter Nwabaoshi (a senator). About 2900 emergency projects were awarded and Mr Nwabaoshi collected 1000 of them saying he will distribute them among senators and House of Representatives members. But when asked, lawmakers denied receipt. We are being accused because we are working for the region and because they want to take over the commission.

“NGOs were paid N50 billion but they (chairmen, committees of both chambers) cut it to N49 billion each. They want us out to put people they can control.”

Tense session

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The Senate and House of Representatives are probing an allegation the NDDC interim committee ‘squandered’ N40 billion within three months. They also seek account for other financial transactions within this period.

At the investigative hearing on Thursday, the lawmakers grilled members of the board who appeared before the committee over alleged discrepancies in the budget submitted by the commission, the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

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The chairman of the committee, Olubunmi Adetunmbi, pointed out that while the commission said it spent N81.5 billion, the AGF submitted N82 billion and CBN submitted N92.2 billion between October 2019 and May 2020.

The committee sought explanations as to how other allocations in the budget were implemented. They include:

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Condolences – N122 million, Consultancy – N83.3 million, N3.14 billion – COVID-19, N486 million – Duty Tour Allowance (out of which the current EIMC spent N305.3 million between February and May 2020).

Others are N1.9 billion – Lassa fever intervention spent by both IMCs, N900 million – Legal Services, N61 million – Logistics, N2.6 billion – medicals.

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Defence

Although there was no tangible explanation for the differences in the budgets submitted by the commission, the AGF and CBN, the Acting Managing Director, Kemebradikumo Daniel Pondei, however, said the EIMC ”inherited so much debt that needed to be cleared upon assumption of office.”

He also said allowances like duty tours were not paid to staff for years hence the need for such allocations.

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He further said the NDDC has not awarded any contract apart from the COVID-19 contract awarded by the president.

“We refused to do so, so as not to add to the confusion. The major interventions for COVID-19 were medical, palliatives, publicity,” he said.

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Mr Ojougboh also denied allegations that the commission sacked some of its staff.

“Anyone who has said they have been sacked or suspended let him bring the letter. We have not sacked or suspended anyone. No one is being witch-hunted. Staff on leave are receiving full salaries,” he said.

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Earlier, a representative from the Office of the Accountant General, Slyvia Okolie, said the OAGF submitted the NDDC’s audit report from 2016 to May, 2020 to the committee.

He said in 2017 – N64 billion, 2018 – N71 billion, 2019 – N71 billion, January – May 2020 – N34 billion has been released to NDDC.

Quarterly releases were suspended since June pending the outcome of the investigation, he said.

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The investigative hearing will continue on Friday, the chairman said. All invitees are expected to be present – including the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, who failed to show up.

This is not the first time the lawmakers would be having a faceoff with another government official over the activities of an agency or ministry.

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PREMIUM TIMES reported how the minister of labour, (state), Festus Keyamo, accused lawmakers of trying to manipulate a recruitment process to their advantage.

[upshotre]

Independence Day Speech by President Buhari on occasion of 59th anniversary of Nigeria

Dear Compatriots, 1st October each year is an opportunity for us to reflect and thank God for his endless blessings on our country. It is also a time for us, collectively, to: Remember the sacrifices made by our Founders and great leaders past; by soldiers, by distinguished public servants; by traditional leaders, by our workers ---- sacrifices on which Nigeria has been built over the 59 years since Independence in 1960; and Rededicate ourselves to attaining the goals which we have set for ourselves: a united, prosperous and purposeful nation in the face of 21st century opportunities and challenges. In the past four years, the majority of Nigerians have committed to Change for the Better. Indeed, this Administration was re-elected by Nigerians on a mandate to deliver positive and enduring Change – through maintaining our National Security; restoring sustainable and inclusive Economic Growth and Development; and fighting Corruption against all internal and external threats. This Change can only be delivered if we are united in purpose, as individuals and as a nation. We must all remain committed to achieving this positive and enduring Change. As I stated four years ago, “Change does not just happen… We must change our lawless habits, our attitude to public office and public trust… simply put, to bring about change, we must change ourselves by being law-abiding citizens.” SECURITY: Good Governance and Economic Development cannot be sustained without an enabling environment of peace and security. In the last four years, we have combatted the terrorist scourge of Boko Haram. We owe a debt of gratitude to our gallant men and women in arms, through whose efforts we have been able to achieve the present results. We are also grateful to our neighbours and allies – within the region and across the world – who have supported us on this front. The capacity of our armed forces to defend our territorial integrity continues to be enhanced by the acquisition of military hardware as well as continued improvements in the working conditions of our service men and women. The Ministry of Police Affairs has been resuscitated to oversee the development and implementation of strategies to enhance internal security. My recent assent to the Nigerian Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Act has created a legal framework to support our Police with increased fiscal resources to enhance their law enforcement capabilities. These initiatives are being complemented by the ongoing recruitment of 10,000 constables into the Nigeria Police Force. This clearly demonstrates our commitment to arrest the incidence of armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes across our nation. We remain equally resolute in our efforts to combat militant attacks on our oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta and accelerate the Ogoni Clean-up to address long-standing environmental challenges in that region. The recent redeployment of the Niger Delta Development Commission from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs underscores our commitment to enhance the living standards of our communities in the Niger Delta, through coordinated and appropriate programmes. Our attention is increasingly being focused on cyber-crimes and the abuse of technology through hate speech and other divisive material being propagated on social media. Whilst we uphold the Constitutional rights of our people to freedom of expression and association, where the purported exercise of these rights infringes on the rights of other citizens or threatens to undermine our National Security, we will take firm and decisive action. In this regard, I reiterate my call for all to exercise restraint, tolerance and mutual respect in airing their grievances and frustrations. Whilst the ongoing national discourse on various political and religious issues is healthy and welcome, we must not forget the lessons of our past – lessons that are most relevant on a day such as this. . The path of hatred and distrust only leads to hostility and destruction. I believe that the vast majority of Nigerians would rather tread the path of peace and prosperity, as we continue to uphold and cherish our unity. ACCELERATING SUSTAINABLE AND INCLUSIVE ECONOMY GROWTH This Administration inherited a skewed economy, where the Oil Sector comprised only 8% of Gross Domestic Product but contributed 70% of government revenue and 90% foreign exchange earnings over the years. Past periods of relatively high economic growth were driven by our reliance on Oil Sector revenues to finance our demand for imported goods and services. Regrettably, previous governments abandoned the residual Investment-driven Non-Oil Sector, which constituted 40% of Gross Domestic Product and comprised agriculture, livestock, agro-processing, arts, entertainment, mining and manufacturing activities that provide millions of jobs for able-bodied Nigerians and utilize locally available raw materials and labour for production. To address this imbalance, our commitment to achieving economic diversification has been at the heart of our economic strategies under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, which I launched on the 5th of April, 2017. This medium-term development plan charted the trajectory for our economy to exit from recession and return to the path of sustainable, diversified and inclusive growth for Nigerians. Pursuant to these reforms, the economy has recovered and we have had 9 successive quarters of growth since our exit from recession. The exchange rate in the last 3 years has remained stable, with robust reserves of US$42.5 billion, up from US$23 billion in October 2016. Learning from the mistakes of the past, this Administration is committed to responsibly managing our oil wealth endowments. We will continue to prudently save our oil income and invest more in the non-oil job-creating sectors. In this regard, we are significantly increasing investments in critical infrastructure. Last year, capital releases only commenced with the approval of the Budget in June 2018. However, as at 20th June this year, up to N1.74 trillion had been released for capital projects in the 2018 fiscal year. Implementation of the 2019 Capital Budget, which was only approved in June 2019, will be accelerated to ensure that critical priority projects are completed or substantially addressed. The Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning has been directed to release N600 billion for Capital Expenditure in the next 3 months.   To maximise impact, we shall continue to increasingly welcome and encourage private capital for infrastructural development through Public Private Partnerships. Through the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, which I initiated in January this year, we are giving incentives to private sector inflow of over N205 billion in 19 Nigerian roads and bridges of 794.4km across in 11 States of the Federation. As we push to diversify the economy, we still remain focused on optimizing the revenues generated from the oil and gas sector. We will, working with the Legislature, soon pass the Petroleum Industry Bill and amendments to the Deep Offshore Act and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act into law, to ensure Government obtains a fair share of oil revenues, whilst encouraging private sector investment. We will also continue our fight against illegal bunkering of crude oil and the smuggling of refined petroleum products across our borders, including the diligent prosecution and conviction of offenders found guilty of these acts. Whilst Nigeria remains committed to free and fair continental and international trade, we will not hesitate to take all necessary steps to tackle illegal smuggling, transshipment and other predatory trade practices that destroy jobs in our country. We are resolute in reforming the power sector. In August this year, we launched the Presidential Power Initiative to modernize the National Grid in 3 phases: starting from 5 Gigawatts to 7 Gigawatts, then to 11 Gigawatts by 2023, and finally 25 Gigawatts afterwards. This programme, in partnership with the German Government and Siemens, will provide end-to-end electrification solutions that will resolve our transmission and distribution challenges. The programme will also look to localize the development and assembly of smart meters as well as the operations and maintenance capabilities of transmission and distribution infrastructure. I am pleased with the improved inter-agency collaboration between the Ministry of Power and the regulators in the banking and power sectors to ensure that electricity sales, billings and collections are automated and become cashless. These initiatives are important to ensure that the technical and collection losses in the sector are substantially reduced. I remain confident that Nigerians will have affordable and uninterrupted electricity supply in the not too distant future. Our efforts to improve the power sector will complement other infrastructure investments projects under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund, which is investing in the Mambilla Power Plant project, as well as key economic road infrastructure such as the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge and Abuja-Kano Expressway. The first set of these projects remain on track to be completed by 2022. Our journey to food security and self-sufficiency is well underway. We have made remarkable progress in almost all segments of the agriculture value chain, from fertilizers to rice, to animal feed production. We shall sustain these policies to ensure additional investments are channeled, thereby creating more jobs in the sector. We must not go back to the days of importing food and thereby exporting jobs. Our commitment to achieving macroeconomic stability and economic diversification, has been underscored by the merger of the Ministry of Finance with the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. This combined Ministry has the important mandate to enhance the management of domestic and global fiscal risks; coordinate policies with the trade and monetary authorities; raise and deploy revenues to fund budgeted expenditure; and integrate annual budgets and medium-term fiscal strategies. With this, our revenue-generating and reporting agencies will come under much greater scrutiny, going forward, as the new performance management framework will reward exceptional revenue performance, while severe consequences will attend failures to achieve agreed revenue targets. I recently constituted an Economic Advisory Council to advise me on inclusive and sustainable macroeconomic, fiscal and monetary policies. This independent body will work with relevant Cabinet members and the heads of key monetary, fiscal and trade agencies to ensure we remain on track as we strive for collective prosperity. However, we are also committed to ensure that the inconvenience associated with any painful policy adjustments, is moderated, such that the poor and the vulnerable, who are most at risk, do not bear the brunt. Our ongoing N500 billion Special Intervention Programme continues to target these vulnerable groups, through the Home-grown School Feeding Programme, Government Economic Empowerment Programme, N-Power Job Creation Programme, loans for traders and artisans, Conditional Cash Transfers to the poorest families and social housing scheme. To institutionalize these impactful programmes, we created the Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development which shall consolidate and build on our achievements to date. To the beneficiaries of these programmes, I want to reassure you that our commitment to social inclusion will only increase. Our population growth rate remains amongst the highest in the world, presenting both challenges as well as opportunities. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that we provide adequate resources to meet the basic needs of our teeming youth. Accordingly, we shall continue to invest in education, health, water and sanitation, as well as food security, to ensure that their basic needs are met, while providing them with every opportunity to live peaceful, prosperous and productive lives. FIGHTING CORRUPTION AND RESTORING GOOD GOVERNANCE: On fighting corruption, our institutional reforms to enforce the Treasury Single Account policy, introduce the Whistle-blowers’ Initiative, expand the coverage of the Integrated Payroll Personnel and Information System as well as the Government Integrated Management Information System have saved billions of Naira over the last four years, and deterred the rampant theft and mismanagement of public funds that have plagued our public service.   The Ministry of Justice, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will continue to address this menace. We are determined to ensure that transparency and good governance are institutionalized in public service.   We must commit to installing a culture of Good Governance in all we do. This Administration has fought against corruption, by investigating and prosecuting those accused of embezzlement and the misuse of public resources. We have empowered teams of prosecutors, assembled detailed databases of evidence, traced the proceeds of crimes and accelerated the recovery of stolen funds.   Furthermore, we partnered with our friends abroad to combat tax evasion, smuggling, terrorism and illicit financial flows. In June 2018, I assented to the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, to provide a domestic legal framework for obtaining international assistance in criminal matters. This measure has already strengthened our law enforcement agencies in obtaining evidence, investigating suspects and facilitating the recovery, forfeiture and confiscation of property implicated as proceeds of crime. An example is the US$300 million recently identified as part of the Abacha money-laundering case, working closely with the Government of the United States of America. The Federal Ministry of Justice is working with the US Department of Justice to conclude a Memorandum of Understanding to expedite the repatriation of these funds. The P & ID Arbitral Award has underscored the manner in which significant economic damage has been caused by the past activities of a few corrupt and unpatriotic Nigerians. The policies that we are putting in place today are to ensure such criminal and unpatriotic acts do not go without consequences. Our renewed partnership with the 9th National Assembly will facilitate the swift passage of enabling laws that will institutionalize these anti-corruption efforts in our criminal justice system. In this connection, I call upon our States to intensify their own efforts to instill greater fiscal transparency and accountability. And to ensure greater fiscal efficiency and optimum use of our very scarce resources. The blight of Corruption is fighting back. Nevertheless, this is a battle that we shall see through and this is a war, which we shall win by the Grace of God. I will also call upon all Nigerians, from every walk of life, to combat Corruption at every turn. By choosing to question and confront corrupt practices, by reporting unethical practices or through whistleblowing. Together, we can overcome corruption and will no longer be a country defined by corruption. Fellow Nigerians, let me reiterate my call for unity across our dear nation. Nigeria will emerge from our present challenges stronger and more resilient than ever – but only if all of us join hands to entrench Good Governance, foster Inclusive Economic Development, and defend and protect our Nation from all those who would wish us ill. I thank you most sincerely and wish you a Happy Independence Anniversary. May God bless you all, and may He continue to bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Read the full article

[xiaoquebanxiaoqueban]

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Algeria is one of the top resources. If it is fully utilized, our energy landscape will be greatly improved. On the 5th, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the '2016 Status Bulletin'. Departments at all levels have always tightened the string of eco-environmental protection, so as to make changes while supervising and 'leaving away' (no problems that have not been identified, and those that have unclear rectification measures, and accelerate the promotion of the 'Autonomous Region Committee Office The Notice of the General Office on Printing and Distributing the Implementation Plan for Comprehensive Air Pollution Control of Yinchuan and Surrounding Areas (20162018) was implemented. The northwest abandoned wind and abandoned light are mainly concentrated in Gansu and the two provinces and regions. Whether developed or developed, they are very concerned about Siemens. The development of the source. The power of the whole district is fulfilled to fulfill the environmental protection 'beautiful promise'-the maintenance of surface water, the overall improvement of urban air, the effective consolidation of nuclear and radiation and soil, Editor in charge: Chen Zhiyong Shanghai June 1 (Chen Jing) Shanghai Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, on the 10th of this month, the Shanghai Environmental Protection Department will no longer issue the motor vehicle environmental inspection qualification mark (hereinafter referred to as the 'environmental protection mark'), nationality, Han nationality, no overseas residence, majoring in Shanghai University of Finance and Economics A major in finance, a graduate student, has obtained the 'Secretary of the Board of Directors' issued by Shenzhen. It is important that the US team will ensure that employment, innovation and energy are in a prominent position in the ministerial meeting of clean energy and innovation missions.

Bavi declined to comment on whether there was motivation in the case. Because the position of the bird's nest was right on the hanger, Hu Yuanhong shot a big gray bird crawling quietly in the nest with his mobile phone. The car arrived at the back door of the performing arts hall at about 2:30. At that time, he walked directly into the hall and did not fight the crowd, but the people still insisted on walking to the main entrance to express their demands. 'Isn't it enough to give the producer a lesson.' It will link three famous products, famous stores and famous streets to promote brand consumption and consumption upgrade.

In terms of aspects, the dynamics are timely and accurate, the interpretation angle is unique, and the manuscripts are reproduced in large quantities by the media. Yesterday, the relevant situation was reported to the Haikou City Fire Detachment. Since its operation, the Finance Bureau of the Logistics Support Department has fully utilized its off-site advantages, established a complete log and weekly reporting system, and verified transaction information such as units, capital flows, and official card expenditures. In terms of aspects, it is timely, accurate, and has a unique explanatory perspective. The manuscript was reproduced in large quantities by the media. In terms of aspects, the dynamics are timely and accurate, the interpretation angle is unique, and the manuscripts are reproduced in large quantities by the media.

'Currently, logistics cost reduction and efficiency gains have achieved significant results, but key indicators such as total social logistics expenses and enterprise logistics expense ratios are still significantly higher than those in developed countries in Europe and America. The logistics industry still has a large but not strong and insufficient support for the development of the real economy. Strong issues. 'Li Cong, director of the Transportation and Logistics Division of the Economic Operation and Regulation Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the' 2018 Smart Logistics Innovation Partners Conference 'a few days ago.

'Economic Reference News' was informed that in order to further promote logistics cost reduction and efficiency, many companies have accelerated the deployment of smart logistics construction, 2020 is expected to achieve the end of the distribution of automated driving technology popularization and mass production of unmanned delivery vehicles.

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It is worth mentioning that in 2018, as the first year of innovative supply chain applications, supply chain applications became the core content of logistics. Regarding the supply chain system, the Ministry of Commerce will also work with relevant departments this year to focus on improving the intelligence and intelligence of the supply chain in the short-board areas such as agricultural products, household appliances, clothing and furniture, and catering.

Smart logistics has huge room to reduce costs and increase efficiency

The cost reduction and efficiency increase of logistics have achieved remarkable results. From a macro perspective, from 2012 to 2017, the ratio of total social logistics expenses to GDP dropped from 18% to 14.6%; from a micro perspective, the enterprise logistics expense ratio also gradually declined. However, Li Cong also pointed out that the logistics industry still has a problem that the size of the industry does not match the development quality and efficiency. The key indicators such as total social logistics costs and enterprise logistics expense ratios are still significantly higher than those in developed countries in Europe and America. space.

Among them, in terms of social logistics organizations, the road freight industry is narrow, the utilization rate of transport vehicles is low, and the problem of multimodal transport is not connected or not good. The ratio of sea and rail transport is much lower than that of developed countries in the west, and the logistics information sharing is not open enough The phenomenon of 'information chimneys' and 'information islands' is still very prominent.

In terms of enterprise logistics management, most enterprises still lack the concept of supply chain management, lack of coordination between upstream and downstream, and manufacturing companies generally do not establish a standardized logistics cost accounting method. The cost reduction of enterprises is often to lower the price of logistics services, while neglecting the logistics. Hidden costs.

In terms of the logistics development environment, the cost of factors such as land, labor, transportation, and capital has increased rapidly in recent years, the transportation structure is unreasonable, the main advantages of railway water transportation have not been brought into play, the market is not standardized, and the market transaction cost is relatively high.

'Smart logistics, as an important direction for the development of modern logistics, is of great significance to promote the cost reduction and efficiency of logistics, and promote the development of high-quality logistics.' Li Cong said.

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Wang Xifu, director of the Department of Logistics Engineering at Jiaotong University ’s School of Transportation, believes that the goal of smart logistics is to reduce costs and increase rates. 'After the rise of third-party <a href="https://www.jindieli.com/special-box-single-essential-oil-packaging-box-jdl-1.html"></a> logistics, logistics costs have been reduced by 5%. After optimization of the process, logistics costs have been reduced by 5% and 10%. Through the application of innovative technologies, logistics costs may be reduced by 10% and 20%. With the application of smart logistics, Cost reduction will be better. '

In the view of Cai Jin, vice president of the Logistics and Purchasing Federation, with the help of smart logistics, the space, strength and pertinence of cost reduction will increase. 'The core goal of smart logistics and smart supply chain is to reduce costs. Only by reducing costs can we meet the requirements of <a href="https://www.jindieli.com/watch-box.html"></a> the current economic transformation and upgrading for logistics, and the entire social and economic efficiency space and profit space can be greatly improved.'

2020 or popularize end-of-line delivery autonomous driving technology

Relevant reports show that the scale of the smart logistics market is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan in 2018, and the average annual growth rate will reach 20% in the next few years. Based on the huge space for smart logistics to reduce costs and increase efficiency, many Internet giants are accelerating their layout. On July 4, Baidu announced that it will carry out in-depth cooperation with the large commercial vehicle intelligent service platform-Lion Bridge, and at the same time, it will cooperate with developers from all walks of life and OEMs to develop intelligent driving trucks and jointly build trunk logistics operation solutions.

On the same day, Suning Logistics and Baidu Autonomous Driving Division jointly announced that they will accelerate the automated logistics technology of landing logistics, and realize the popularization of terminal driving autonomous driving technology and the mass production of unmanned delivery vehicles in 2020. According to Lu Junfeng, vice president of Suning Logistics, in smart communities (unmanned delivery trolley + self-lifting cabinet), local life instant delivery (suning store + unmanned delivery trolley), mobile distribution (unmanned distribution vehicle + fixed line) In the three smart logistics scenarios, it will be easier to realize the popularization of autonomous driving technology and the mass production of unmanned vehicles.

On July 6th, JD.com and Debon Express held a cooperation signing ceremony. Debon Express will rely on JD.com's smart procurement system to launch a series of cooperation on low-value consumables procurement, customized centralized procurement, etc. By introducing JD's infrastructure management experience And technology and services to achieve the 'cost reduction and efficiency' of Debon Express. Earlier, the board of directors and CEO of JD.com announced that JD.com ’s independently developed heavy-duty drone, JD.com ’s “Jinghong” large cargo drone, was officially off the assembly line. Drone.

In addition, Cainiao has also continuously launched a series of smart black technologies including rookie unmanned vehicles, drones, rookie express towers, rookie station smart cabinets, rookie small boxes, etc., providing solutions from the rear 1000 meters to the rear 0 meters. SF Technology is building a future smart logistics map based on GIS technology and facing AI. In terms of car-free carriers, Yunman fully put forward that the core strategy for the next period of time is 'car-free, nobody is everywhere'. At present, the company is investing heavily in the layout of artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing, and has set up its own laboratory in Silicon Valley. .

Many shortcomings such as 'burning subsidies' still exist

However, the current development of smart logistics also faces some outstanding problems. 'Burning subsidies' is one of them. Zhu Guanghui, chairman of Jiangsu Wurun Shipping Network Co., Ltd., pointed out at the meeting that the Chinese team of smart logistics, including rookie, full shipping, and cargo pull, appeared in the form of a platform and was capital-intensive; the second party team had a large number of Parks and fleets have relatively heavy assets; some of them belong to solution providers and belong to typical third-party logistics. In general, whether it is an Internet platform or offline third-party logistics, the competition is very fierce, and it can be said that it has entered an era of 'making money without making money'. The constant war of burning money and subsidies is not conducive to the formation of a benign and reasonable competitive ecology.

The post office group and director Ma Sheng pointed out in a signed article that the postal industry is currently facing growth challenges such as large but not strong, single and incompetent, unspecified division of labor, poor structure, and extensive development. 1. Unification, the phenomenon of 'price reduction and volume expansion' and 'vicious competition' have occurred from time to time. SMEs and grass-roots outlets are overburdened and the market is diverging.

For car-free carriers, they face the problem of lagging standards and credit. Tan Yuanjiang, vice president of Yunmanman and general manager of the business department, admitted that although the information was moved from the 'small blackboard' to online, it still relies on offline payment, and all abnormal issues must also be handled offline. Issues of credibility and standards in the transaction process still lag behind the development of information and need to be further resolved. 'For example, offline paper vouchers, including fuel cards, road tolls, and even offline witness agreements, etc., indicate that the entire industry still has a large degree of inefficiency.'

'The future trend of the unmanned carrier platform is openness, information sharing and management, and the other is to reduce intermediate links in the market and establish a credibility system.' Wang Xifu said.

A large number of smart supply chain platforms will be born

From the perspective of experts and industry insiders, the trend of smart logistics in the future will show the overall interconnection of all elements of the supply chain, the reconstruction of platform business processes and business models, and the upgrade of the supply chain.

Cai Jin believes that smart supply chain or smart logistics should realize new value creation in the future, including the development of drone and robot industries, big data resources, and highly organized and coordinated supply chains.

Ma Sheng pointed out that in particular, it is necessary to accelerate the development of key common technology applications in industries such as big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things, and intelligent sorting, to achieve the coordinated development of industry and upstream and downstream, and the coordinated development of technological and financial talents, and the society. The friendly development of resources and environment promotes the transfer of production factors from inefficient areas to areas, and continuously improves the efficiency of resource allocation. Ma Sheng also pointed out that it is necessary to promote the wide application and seamless connection of high-tech industries such as drones, unmanned vehicles, unmanned warehouses and intelligent distribution stations.

It is worth mentioning that in 2018, as the first year of innovative supply chain applications, supply chain applications became the core content of logistics. 'With the continuous emergence of smart logistics innovation technologies, a large number of smart supply chain platforms will be born since 2018, and the development of smart logistics will also enter a new and more advanced stage.' Wang Xifu said.

Zhang Xiang, deputy director of the Department of Circulation and Development of the Ministry of Commerce, also revealed at the meeting that this year the Ministry of Commerce will work with relevant departments to select 18 cities including Beijing, Shijiazhuang, Shaanxi Nantong, Shandong Yantai and Weifang, Yunnan Nantong, focusing on agricultural , Household appliances, clothing and furniture, catering and other shortcomings, key points, hot spots and people's livelihood, explore the path and method of building a supply chain system, and focus on supporting the improvement of the supply chain's intelligence and intelligence. This block is very thick, and there is no place to put things. How can I quickly remove these? Let these thick moments disappear?

Recognize professional qualifications for a total of 16 job types in Hong Kong and Macau

Successfully held the 2018 Maritime Fair. According to statistics, the conference attracted nearly 05,740 overseas talents from more than 30 countries and regions, brought more than 2,000 scientific and technological development projects, reached 1,687 intent projects, 948 cooperative projects, and signed 474.

Employment is the foundation of people's livelihood, and entrepreneurship is the source of vitality. Employment and entrepreneurship is not only an important topic that residents of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao are eagerly concerned about, but also the meaning of building a livable, industry and travel quality living circle. According to the planning outline, we must actively expand the employment and entrepreneurial space in the Greater Bay Area. Focusing on expanding the employment and entrepreneurship space for Hong Kong and Macao residents, establishing a pilot zone for entrepreneurship and employment in Hong Kong and Macao in Hengqin, supporting the development of Hong Kong and Macao youth and small, medium and micro enterprises in the Mainland, improving the regional public employment service system, and improving Hong Kong and Macao in favor of Hong Kong and Macao residents, especially schools in the Mainland Policy measures for students to live and work in nine cities in the Pearl River Delta

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Bad News for Germany’s Economy Might Be Good News for the Far Right

BERLIN — Despite Germany’s 10-year economic boom, a far-right party has managed to become Germany’s main opposition in Parliament, enter every state legislature in the country and vie for first place in elections in the former Communist East next month.

And now the economy is slowing.

At a moment when populism is riding high in various corners of Europe, often against the backdrop of economic distress and high unemployment, a downturn in the Continent’s richest and most stable liberal democracy could add fuel to the fire and strengthen the nationalist Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, analysts said.

“Economic crises fuel a fear of the future, a sense of decline and the sense that the elite is failing the people,” said Yascha Mounk, an expert on populism and author of “The People Vs. Democracy.” “That’s fertile ground for populists.”

Marcel Fratzscher, a respected German political economist and professor at Humboldt University in Berlin, put it more directly: “The economic slowdown should rather help the AfD.”

Professor Fratzscher, who also heads the German Institute for Economic Research, pointed to a forthcoming study from his institute which will show that the AfD is much stronger in economically and structurally weak regions.

“This regional inequality and polarization is a threat to democracy,” he said, adding that “with the economic slowdown, structurally weaker regions will be hit harder, which will increase regional inequalities and accelerate the polarization.”

That is as true for Europe broadly as it is for Germany in particular. Signs that a period of exceptional economic growth may come to an end in Europe’s biggest economy sent shivers through global markets this week.

But beyond the economics, the political implications of the slowdown are just as disconcerting.

A weaker German economy not only threatens to open a broader path for the AfD. It may also further reduce the influence of Berlin and its lame-duck chancellor, Angela Merkel, precisely at a moment when German leadership is needed to address the European Union’s manifold problems, including Britain’s scheduled departure on Oct. 31, as well as global trade issues.

“It would strengthen the case for German leadership, but it could also weaken its negotiating position,’’ said Guntram Wolff, a German economist who is the director of the Bruegel research institute in Brussels. ‘‘Whenever you get economically weaker, you have a weaker negotiating position.”

The AfD, which won less than 13 percent in the last national election, is weaker than far-right nationalists in neighboring countries like France or Italy, where wages are stagnant and youth unemployment has been in the double digits for years.

But that may change — if the current slowdown turns out to be prolonged. That’s still a big if, some point out.

Steffen Kampeter, head of the BDA, Germany’s employers’ federation, dismisses gloomy comparisons with the 1920s, when mass unemployment and hyperinflation boosted the Nazis.

“I don’t see mass unemployment coming our way any time soon,” said Mr. Kampeter, a conservative who was once a junior minister in the Finance Ministry. “I don’t share the markets’ hysteria. Germany is an economically stable country.”

But as the trade war between the United States and China heats up, businesses may soon begin to feel the pinch, economists say.

The German economy shrank 0.1 percent from April through June and may shrink again this quarter, meeting the technical definition of a recession, as President Trump’s trade tariffs began to bite. The government now expects the economy to expand by only 0.5 percent this year, compared to 1.5 percent last year.

In an ominous coincidence, a high-profile survey also released this week showed that a majority of Germans are now dissastified with democracy.

“The current numbers are a wake-up call and a warning,” said Peter Altmaier, the conservative economy minister in Ms. Merkel’s governing coalition.

Germany is the world’s third-largest exporter and particularly vulnerable to the uncertainties weighing on international trade because of Mr. Trump’s tariffs but also the prospect of a disorderly departure of Britain from the European Union this fall. According to a leaked report by the German Finance Ministry, Berlin now considers a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31 “highly likely.”

“We have a whole cocktail of international problems,” said Klaus Deutsch, chief economist at the Federation of German Industries, warning that this could hand another argument to the far right.

“They will say: ‘Nothing works, big industry is firing employees, globalization is creating problems,’ ” he said.

One reason Germany proved more resistant to the tide of populism after the 2008 financial crisis is that the economy held up so well, said Mr. Mounk, the author.

The AfD was created in 2013 as an anti-euro party in the wake of the Greek debt crisis. It then got its big break after Ms. Merkel welcomed over a million migrants into the country in 2015 and 2016.

Fanning fears about migrants, crime and a loss of control on the part of the German authorities, the AfD became the first far-right party since World War II to enter the national Parliament in 2017 and has since become a fixture of the political landscape at the local and regional level, too.

But with migration receding in the news, the party has been looking for a new crisis to latch on to.

“The refugee issue has driven voter numbers for the AfD so far but that issue is receding,” Mr. Mounk said. “A slowdown could be a welcome next thing.”

Some observers say that the economy will be harder to exploit as an issue for the AfD because unlike with migration, it does not have a radical policy response to offer voters that sets it apart from traditional parties.

“On economic policy the AfD does not really have a clear profile,” Professor Fratzscher said.

Others observe that in recent years economic hardship has tended to help leftist populists — Syriza in Greece, or the Five Star Movement in Italy — more than far-right ones in Europe.

Far-right populism, by contrast, “has often thrived in a situation of solid economic growth,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank. “Think Trump or Brexit.”

A more meaningful variable than aggregate economic growth in trying to understand the rise of nationalism and far-right populism is economic inequality — and the growing regional polarization between the relative winners and losers of economic growth, Professor Fratzscher of Humboldt University said.

“There are many parallels with the U.S.,” he said.

In rural areas of northern and eastern Germany, where shrinking towns and villages have lost important infrastructure like shops, schools and regular train or bus services, people’s absolute income levels may not necessarily be that low.

But they feel left behind by a politicians who appear unwilling or unable to address their grievances.

One in three German municipalities is now so indebted that it’s unable to maintain public buildings like schools, Professor Fratzscher said. The risk is that an economic slowdown will intensify regional inequalities as tax revenues decline and even more people flock to find work in urban areas, perpetuating the decline.

The prospect of an export-led slowdown has fanned a debate about whether Germany needs to do more to increase public and private investment at home — and loosen its fetish-like commitment to balance its budget.

Many in Ms. Merkel’s conservative party favor tax cuts to boost spending. Their coalition partners, the Social Democrats, want to boost pensions and the education budget. The Greens, now the second-strongest party in opinion polls, demand major investment in measures to combat climate change.

But if politicians want to stabilize not just Germany’s economy but also its democracy, they should start investing serious sums in rural areas to shore up rail services, schools and tackle the notoriously bad broadband coverage, Professor Fratzscher said.

“The government has been doing nothing to fight regional inequalities,” he said. “Now would be a good time to start.”

Those regional inequalities have become a major theme in critical, Sept. 1 elections in the state of Saxony in the east, where the AfD is strongest.

“Already, there are a lot of companies that have recruitment problems because of the AfD,” said Mr. Deutsch of the Federation of German Industries. “The rise of the AfD threatens the image of Germany in the world.”

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‘The enigma of the entire Mueller probe’: Focus on origins of Russian investigation puts spotlight on Maltese professor

https://wapo.st/31XQgvj

‘The enigma of the entire Mueller probe’: Focus on origins of Russian investigation puts spotlight on Maltese professor

By Rosalind S. Helderman, Shane Harris and Ellen NAKASHIMA | Published June 30 at 6:07 PM ET | Washington Post |

Posted July 1, 2019 |

Shortly after Joseph Mifsud’s efforts to help connect a Trump adviser with the Kremlin were detailed in court filings, an Italian reporter found him at a university in Rome, where he was serving as a visiting professor.

“I never got any money from the Russians: my conscience is clear,” Mifsud told La Repubblica. “I am not a secret agent.”

Then Mifsud disappeared.

The Maltese-born academic has not surfaced publicly since that October 2017 interview, days after Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about details of their interactions. Among them, Papadopoulos told investigators, was an April 2016 meeting in which Mifsud alerted him that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.”

The conversation between Mifsud and Papadopoulos, eventually relayed by an Australian diplomat to U.S. government officials, was cited by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III as the event that set in motion the FBI probe into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

With Attorney General William P. Barr’s review of the counterintelligence investigation underway, the origins of the inquiry itself are now in the spotlight — and with them, the role of Mifsud, a little-known figure. 

In Mifsud’s absence, a number of President Trump’s allies and advisers have been floating a provocative theory: that the Maltese professor was a Western intelligence plant.

Seizing on the vacuum of information about him, they have promoted the idea that he was working for the FBI, CIA or possibly British or Italian intelligence, citing exaggerated and at times distorted details about his life.

Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani told Fox News in April that Mifsud was a “counterintelligence operative, either Maltese or Italian,” who took part in what sounded to him like a “counterintelligence trap” against Papadopoulos. 

Spokeswomen for the FBI, Justice Department and CIA declined to comment, as did a spokesman for Italy’s Security Intelligence Department. 

Such a notion runs counter to the description of Mifsud in the Mueller report, which states Mifsud “had connections to Russia” and “maintained various Russian contacts,” including a former employee of the Internet Research Agency, the Russian organization that carried out a social media disinformation campaign in 2016.

Former FBI director James B. Comey, in an opinion column for The Washington Post in May, described Mifsud bluntly as “a Russian agent.” 

Mifsud did not respond to requests for comment made through Stephan Roh, a Swiss lawyer who says he represents the professor. Roh said suggestions that the professor had ties to Russian intelligence are “defamatory accusations.”

Mueller’s report is silent on whether Mifsud’s interactions with Papadopoulos were part of the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the presidential campaign and boost Trump. 

Officials familiar with U.S. intelligence reports told The Post that Mifsud had been identified by intelligence agencies as a potential Russian agent before he met Papadopoulos, an assessment drawn from reporting collected over several years.

An examination of Mifsud’s activities also shows that he began forging ties in Russia years earlier — and that he was working to expand his network in that country around the same time he met Papadopoulos in 2016, including by trying to broker new academic deals with a powerful Russian state university. 

Mifsud visited Moscow just weeks before the U.S. presidential election to mark the signing of the deal, according to Russian media reports at the time. In a previously unreported episode, he welcomed a Kremlin-linked academic to speak at Rome’s Link Campus University in December 2016, shortly after Trump’s election.

A video of the event shows Mifsud announcing that he hoped the visit by Alexey Klishin, who teaches at an elite institute run by Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has done legal work for the Kremlin, would not be a “one-off thing.”

“Friendship is very important,” Mifsud said.

The idea that Mifsud was working for the West has been pushed by Roh, who wrote a book called “The Faking of Russia-Gate: The Papadopoulos Case.” 

In an email to The Post, Roh said Mifsud was a “Western intelligence element to be protected,” saying that is why the professor felt the need to hide for the past two years.

He said Mifsud has been living “mainly in Rome but moving in Europe.” He also claimed, without providing evidence, that Mifsud cooperated with Mueller in 2018 and was interviewed by “U.S. investigators” this year.

Asked to specify the Western intelligence agency for whom Mifsud worked and in what capacity, Roh said only that “this will be a matter of the upcoming declassification,” an apparent reference to the review ordered by Barr. Roh, who has business connections in Russia of his own, did not respond to follow-up questions.

Once a fringe idea, the theory that Mifsud was a Western operative has now been adopted and amplified by mainstream voices in Trump’s world and received significant airtime on Fox News’s prime-time shows.

“When you look into Mifsud closer, you realize he’s connected with all kinds of intelligence agencies, including our own FBI,” Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox in May. “If he is in fact a Russian agent, this would be one of the biggest intelligence scandals for the United States and our allies.”

Nunes declined to comment further. 

Giuliani told The Post that “Mifsud is a mystery to be explored,” adding that the Papadopoulos episode “looks like a rogue counterintel operation.”

Papadopoulos, too, has adopted the theory, tweeting recently that Mifsud was “an Italian intelligence asset who the CIA weaponized” against him to drop “fake Russia” information into his lap as part of a broader plot.

“He is the enigma of the entire Mueller probe,” Papadopoulos said in an interview, insisting he wants the truth to come out about Mifsud, regardless of what it entails. But, he added, “whatever remnant of my reputation that I have left, I would bet it all that he was a Western intelligence operative.” 

Multiple former intelligence officials in the United States and the United Kingdom said that theory does not make sense. 

John Sipher, a former CIA officer who once ran the agency’s Russia operations, called the idea that Mifsud was a CIA asset who set up Papadopoulos “nonsense,” noting that the CIA is not allowed to target Americans. 

Steve Hall, who retired in 2015 after 30 years running and managing Russian operations for the CIA, said that in counterintelligence, “you can almost never rule anything out completely.” 

But he added that Mifsud’s known activities closely parallel long-standing Russian techniques of targeting academic institutions to spot possible recruits and gather information, making it more likely that Mifsud was working with the Russians than a Western intelligence agency.

“Oftentimes, you can cut through a lot of BS by saying, what makes the most sense here?” he said.

A GLOBAL NETWORKER

Born in Malta and educated in Italy and Northern Ireland, Mifsud cycled through European academic institutions, traveling to conferences, networking and pitching partnerships between schools in various cities, according to people who encountered him at the time. 

Multilingual, urbane and well traveled, Mifsud was an inveterate networker and name-dropper, according to people who met him. They said he floated ambitious dreams of creating international academic institutions that would share professors and students. 

Mifsud has said that he spent several years as a diplomat for the Maltese government. Based on that credential, Mifsud in 2010 was named director of the London Academy of Diplomacy, a small graduate school catering to embassy officials living in the U.K.

The program provided Mifsud with access to London’s diplomatic set, including the Russian Embassy, where photographs posted online show he met with the ambassador in 2014. 

“He was in­cred­ibly well connected with various people in embassies and that world in London,” said Douglas Brodie, who was then a dean at the University of Stirling in Scotland, which partnered with Mifsud’s school to ensure Mifsud’s students could receive British degrees. 

Brodie, who said he liked Mifsud and found him good company, said the Maltese professor appeared to be a genuine academic — though one with little interest in the administrative details of the school. “He was far more interested in trying to bring in highflying guest speakers and much more interested in working the embassy drink circuit than the nuts-and-bolts stuff,” Brodie said, adding: “He loved all of that.”

Mifsud would later claim that in this time, he became a “member” of the Clinton Foundation. A person familiar with the foundation said the organization has received just two donations from people named “Joseph Mifsud” — a series of small donations from a Michigan man totaling $30 between 2000 and 2002 and one for $50 from a London resident in 2015.

Beginning at least around 2010, Mifsud made multiple trips to Russia, attending conferences and academic conferences, according to Russian media accounts and university news releases.  

In 2012, Mifsud’s London Academy of Diplomacy formed a partnership to exchange students and conduct joint research with Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Faculty of Global Processes, which an official advertised in a promotional video as a steppingstone for graduates to work “in the Russian government, the presidential administration, federal ministries and agencies, the special services.”

About once a year between 2013 and 2017, Mifsud attended events at the university, where he delivered lectures and appeared in university photos.

“He was famous to us within the sphere of diplomats and those working on diplomacy,” said Yury Sayamov, a professor at the school who said he met Mifsud after he delivered a lecture on diplomacy in Moscow in 2015, adding: “Many people in academia know him — in Russia and in other countries.” 

Mifsud’s former assistant, Natalia ­Kutepova-Jamom, told The Post in 2017 that Mifsud accelerated his efforts to build high-level contacts in Russia around 2014, claiming at one point to have secured a brief meeting with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin.

A Kremlin spokesman denied that Mifsud and Putin met.

In emails to The Post sent in August 2017, Mifsud wrote that his Russia “contacts and interest [were] academic.” He said he was a visiting professor at Moscow State University but said it was “an unpaid honorary position, similar to those I have with other institutions and think tanks globally.”

“I am an academic, I do not even speak Russian,” he wrote. He told The Post then that he had “absolutely no contact with the Russian Government.”

When interviewed by the Italian reporter in Rome two months later, he offered a different account. He told La Repubblica that he had discussed the possibility that the election would result in a change to U.S.-Russian relations with various people in Europe and Moscow, including Russian government figures. 

OFFER OF RUSSIAN CONNECTIONS

Papadopoulos and Mifsud met in the spring of 2016 as Trump was rising in the polls.

At the time, Papadopoulos, a young energy consultant from Chicago, was working for a start-up think tank called the London Center for International Law Practice and had just been drafted to be an unpaid foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign.  

On the day after he agreed to join the campaign, Papadopoulos said his boss at the London think tank offered to introduce him to “a very important person” who would be “very useful” in his new position. 

This VIP, Papadopoulos wrote in his book “Deep State Target,” was Mifsud. 

Papadopoulos said he was told by Nagi Idris, the director of the London Center for International Law Practice, that a London attorney affiliated with the think tank named Arvinder Sambei would be setting up a meeting for Papadopoulos and Mifsud at an upcoming conference to be held at Link Campus University in Rome, a private university that was formerly affiliated with the University of Malta.

Sambei is a former government prosecutor in the United Kingdom who had for a time served as a liaison with the U.S. Justice Department on American extradition requests.   

Trump allies have seized on her connection to the think tank where Papadopoulos worked as evidence that Mifsud was working with the British government. 

But in an interview, Sambei said she played no role in Papadopoulos’s introduction to Mifsud. She said that by the time she became affiliated with the London think tank, she was in private practice and had had no affiliation with the British government for 11 years. She did not attend the meeting in Italy and said her only brief encounter with Papadopoulos came in the coffee break room, shortly before he left London.

“It’s baffling to me where this is coming from,” Sambei said. “I don’t even know George. I’ve never even been formally introduced to him.”

In an interview, Papadopoulos maintained that he was told Sambei arranged his introduction to Mifsud. 

Idris did not respond to requests for comment.

That March, Papadopoulos said he traveled to Rome with Idris, who introduced him to Mifsud. Over dinner at a restaurant near the Trevi Fountain, Papadopoulos wrote that Mifsud dropped a “lure,” bringing up Russia and promising to be Papadopoulos’s “middleman around the world.”

“ ‘I’m going to introduce you to everyone and set up a meeting between Trump and Putin,’ ” Mifsud told him, according to Papadopoulos’s book.

According to the Mueller report, Mifsud contacted Papadopoulos after both men returned to London, beginning a courtship that would lead to the opening of the Russia investigation. 

Mifsud introduced Papadopoulos to a Russian graduate student who Papadopoulos believed was Putin’s niece, according to Mueller’s report. Before disappearing, Mifsud said the woman was a Russian graduate student and denied telling Papadopoulos she had Putin links.

Mifsud also connected Papadopoulos to a Russian think tank director with ties to the Russian Foreign Ministry and promised to help set up a meeting with the Russian ambassador, according to the special counsel’s report.

Papadopoulos has said that, at the time, he hoped that Mifsud would provide introductions he could use to ingratiate himself with Trump campaign officials, who he believed were looking for ways to better American relations with Russia.

The conversation that kicked off the Russia investigation occurred on April 26, 2016 — the day after Mifsud returned to London from a trip to speak at the Russian government-linked Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Moscow, according to Mueller’s report.

On his return, Mifsud met Papadopoulos at the Andaz Hotel in London, and over breakfast, told him that he had just met with high-level Russian government officials, Papadopoulos later told investigators. 

The Russians, Mifsud said, had “dirt” on Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” according to the Mueller report. 

Mifsud has denied ever telling Papadopoulos that the Russians had Clinton emails.

In a lengthy response to written questions from The Post, Roh suggested that Papadopoulos was “directed and used” by the FBI — perhaps unwittingly — to get in contact with Russians in a failed effort to locate emails that Clinton had deleted from her private server. Mifsud, he wrote, was “operating on behalf of Western intelligence agencies when they met” and Papadopoulos’s interaction with him “was surveilled.” 

Roh provided a power-of-attorney letter that appeared to be signed by Mifsud in May 2018 to show that he is authorized to speak on the professor’s behalf, but he did not provide any evidence of recent contact with the professor.

The Swiss attorney has his own Russian ties. In addition to his law practice, he leads an investment firm and a consulting business with Moscow offices, according to their websites. Photos show he appeared with Mifsud at the Valdai panel discussion in Moscow in 2016.

Last year, Roh changed the name of a company he registered in London to “The No Vichok Ltd.,” an apparent reference to the poisoning of a former Russian spy in the United Kingdom with the nerve agent Novichok. British authorities have presented significant evidence that the attack was undertaken by Russian intelligence officers, and senior U.S. intelligence officials have concurred with that assessment.

Roh told BuzzFeed, which first reported the registration, that the company would conduct research about the attack, which he suggested was in fact a plot by Western intelligence. He did not respond to a question from The Post about the company. He said he had “no business interests in Russia” and noted he is not licensed to practice law there.

A UNIVERSITY IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The Rome university where Papadopoulos met Mifsud has been cited repeatedly by Trump supporters as evidence that Mifsud was working for Western intelligence.

In his book, Papadopoulos calls Link Campus University “Spook University” and claims it is “a training school for Western-allied spies, including CIA, FBI, and MI6,” the British Secret Intelligence Service. 

He and others have seized on a 2004 CIA-sponsored conference that was loosely affiliated with Link. 

The unclassified event, titled “New Frontiers of Intelligence Analysis,” was attended by analysts from more than 30 countries, according to people with knowledge of the gathering and conference materials reviewed by The Post, some of which were published online.

The CIA’s Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis organized the conference with the Gino Germani Institute, an Italian social sciences and strategic studies think tank, which was affiliated at the time with Link. But the university didn’t plan the content, and the conference wasn’t held on its campus.

The speakers included historians and government officials, including some who were widely quoted in the press at the time about a variety of security topics. Post columnist David Ignatius was invited and wrote about the panels and speakers. 

In an interview, Link President Vincenzo Scotti scoffed at the notion that the school is a front for the CIA or other intelligence services. “People say such stupid things,” said Scotti, an Italian politician who served as minister of interior affairs for two years in the early 1990s. “We have no relationships with the CIA.” 

Founded in 1999 as a branch of the University of Malta, the campus went private in 2011.

Roberto Di Nunzio, a businessman who previously taught at Link, said it was one of the first private universities in Italy to offer a master’s degree program about intelligence and security. But he said the goal from the start was to cater to private industry and not government intelligence services, which have their own training schools.

Scotti played down Mifsud’s connections with the Roman university. He said Mifsud began visiting when Link was affiliated with the University of Malta in 2000 and would attend events and seminars there periodically over the subsequent years. Mifsud formally served as a visiting professor for just one semester, in 2017, he said.

But a former employee of the school who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal matters said Mifsud played a key role at the school in developing academic partnerships between Link and universities in other countries, including Russia. 

During the same months in 2016 when Mifsud was wooing Papadopoulos, Link was negotiating a new deal to exchange students and professors and host joint events with Moscow State University — the same Russian state school that Mifsud was visiting annually.  

In a 2017 article about the arrangement in a Russian international affairs journal, Sayamov, the Russian professor, wrote that Mifsud had been the first to suggest the idea. Roh too told The Post that Mifsud was “instrumental in negotiating and building that partnership like he was instrumental in negotiating and building partnerships with other universities.” 

Mifsud can be seen in a video of the Oct. 8, 2016, signing ceremony for the deal, which aired on Russian television.

Scotti, however, disputed the characterization of Mifsud as a key player in the partnership with the Russian university. 

“He played no role in the arrangement — no principal role,” Scotti told The Post. The idea that Mifsud brokered the agreement, he said, is “categorically” false.

As the deal with the Russian university was being negotiated, Link officials vetoed proposals by faculty members to co-sponsor conferences that would highlight the security challenges Russia posed to Europe, according to the former employee. 

“They said, we can’t do this, because we’re in negotiations with the Russians and they’re suspicious of us, because they think we’re linked to the Americans and we have to reassure them that we’re not,” said the former employee.

Scotti denied that academic events that could offend Russia were torpedoed, noting that Link hosted a conference on cybersecurity in January 2015. “The allegations against Link University are fake news, since [the university] was actually issuing a warning against Russian misinformation,” he said.

The former employee said Link merely provided a hall for the conference and did not organize the event, which was not focused solely on Russia and predated Link’s negotiations in Moscow.

Di Nunzio said similar events after 2015 omitted references to Russian disinformation.  He added that at Link, “there were people who felt unnerved” about the agreement with the Russian university, adding that it “did indeed raise some eyebrows.”

Roh said the university severed ties with Mifsud after his conversation with Papadopoulos about Clinton’s emails was made public in court filings. 

“I can’t afford to have the university embroiled in shady situations,” Scotti said. “As long as I have no reason to suspect anyone of a problem, they will have the utmost freedom to pursue their work. But as soon as I see a sign of a problem, that’s it. The relationship ends.”

A VISIT TO ROME

About two months after Link brokered its partnership with Moscow State University, a top Russian academic from a different university paid a visit to Rome.

Klishin held a formal role as a professor and a department head at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, an elite campus with decades of history training future diplomats. The school is run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose current chief, Sergei Lavrov, is a graduate. 

Klishin, who did not respond to requests for comment, was also a former member of the upper house of the Russian parliament and had performed legal work for the Kremlin, according to his official biography. 

During Klishin’s visit to the Link campus, Mifsud told a group assembled around a large conference table that he hoped it would be one of “many, many more,” according to a video of the event. 

Klishin began his remarks by “personally” thanking Mifsud and Roh, who was also in attendance.

Scotti said that the event was arranged by Mifsud and that he had no reason to question Klishin, who had spoken at universities around the world, including in the United States. “I can’t tell you anything about that individual’s activities, as he was, and still remains, totally foreign to me,” he said.

By February 2017, Mifsud was in the United States, where he spoke on a panel held at the visitor’s center of the U.S. Capitol at a meeting hosted by the nonprofit group Global Ties U.S., which helps organize foreign exchange programs in the United States. 

His invitation from the group, which receives State Department funding for some of its programs, has been cited by Trump allies as evidence that Mifsud was trusted by the U.S. government. 

However, in a statement, the organization said the event at which Mifsud spoke was privately funded and not affiliated with the State Department. Mifsud was invited to provide a “European perspective” about the future of public diplomacy, the group said.

While he was in Washington, the FBI approached Mifsud in the lobby of his hotel and questioned him about his interactions with Papadopoulos, prosecutors have said. Mueller wrote in his report that the Maltese professor made various inaccurate statements but that lies Papadopoulos had told the FBI about his interactions with Mifsud when he was interviewed 12 days earlier “undermined investigators’ ability to challenge Mifsud.”

Mifsud was allowed to leave the country. Mueller’s report does not say whether U.S. investigators ever located him again.

Papadopoulos said he is more eager than anyone for the Maltese professor to be found.

“Some of the other strange characters in my story have gone public,” he said. “Mifsud is the only one who has not come up for air — and I don’t know why.”

Anton Troianovski and Amie Ferris-Rotman in Moscow; Stefano Pitrelli and Chico Harlan in Rome; and Matt Zapotosky, Carol D. Leonnig and Alice Crites in Washington contributed to this report.

[thetens-blog1]

Ibis Lagos Airport Hotel recruitment for an Assistant Accountant, June 2017

Ibis Lagos Airport Hotel recruitment for an Assistant Accountant, June 2017

Ibis Lagos Airport Hotel recruitment for an Assistant Accountant, June 2017 Ibis Lagos Airport Hotel is located at 35/37 Muritala Mohamed Intl Airport Road, Ikeja Lagos. The hotel is one of the best hotels in Ajao Estate and it is easy to locate from the airport. The hotel is located 5 minutes away from the International Airport.We are recruiting to fill the position below: Job Title: Assistant…

[wavenetinfo]

John Calipari would prefer to focus on the players he wants and the offense he’ll run.

This time, there are other concerns.

When he leads the U.S. basketball team into the Under-19 World Cup for men, they will travel to Egypt, home to enough violence lately that the Americans questioned whether it was safe enough to even go defend their title.

Calipari spoke to parents seeking answers he didn’t even have for himself, but he knew where he could get them. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is now USA Basketball’s chairman, and a conversation a few weeks ago that detailed the Americans’ security plans and procedures put Calipari’s mind at ease.

“I’m trying to figure out basketball, let alone trying to figure out security and so all I can say to the parents is I’m comfortable making this trip,” the Kentucky coach said. “And believe me, three or four weeks ago I was like, ‘Come on now, talk to me, how are we going to do this?’ And from that point when I was on the phone with Gen. Dempsey, I knew at the end of the day either he was going to feel real comfortable with what was going on or we wouldn’t go.”

USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley said the U.S. and other federations raised concerns with basketball’s governing body a year ago when it selected Cairo to host the July 1-9 event. Any fears only heightened in recent months when more than 100 people were killed since December in four separate attacks targeting Christians claimed by the Islamic State group.

But Dempsey stressed that most of the danger is beyond Cairo, while the capital city is well protected. And Tooley said that during a recent discussion with FIBA it was revealed that security for the event had now fallen under the control of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, rather than the office of sports ministry.

“So while we are very much aware of the challenges of security in Egypt, we have concluded that the venue — that is to say where the games will be played, the hotel, the transit zones — will be secured adequately and gives us confidence to send a team over there,” Dempsey said.

USA Basketball took the unusual step of deciding that the U-19 team would be given the same level of security as an Olympic team, with more staff on the ground and greater intelligence shared. The Americans have been criticized for the lengths they go to comfort their millionaire players, such as staying on a cruise ship rather than the athletes’ village in Rio, but NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant said he’s always felt safe while winning two Olympic golds and a world title with the Americans.

“I’m sure they’ve been doing their work for years in advance on this thing and trying to make sure it’s perfect for the players, so I have no concerns that USA Basketball won’t get it done,” Durant said. “So hopefully everybody’s comfortable going and have a great time and win a gold.”

Though the Americans have won two straight golds in the 16-nation tournament, fielding a team is challenging. Many college coaches would prefer their incoming recruits on campus in summer school, and with the security concerns this time, Tooley figures some players Calipari may have wanted passed on invites to training camp next week.

But Chuma Okeke of Atlanta, who will be a freshman next season at Auburn, will be among the 28 players in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His mother, Renee, reached out to a USA Basketball official with some questions, but ultimately decided to let her son attend after getting the answers and doing enough research on her own into the situation in Egypt that she said she’d even feel comfortable going.

“It was explained to me that the USA Basketball security team is really experienced in that area so I really don’t have any worries,” she said. “They reassured me that my young man will be safe so I’m OK with it. And you know what, even if I wasn’t, I could not stop Chuma from going. I could not. He understands what the climate is but he still wants to go.”

And Dempsey feels the Americans should, not only to give their younger players experience with the international game, but to show FIBA they’re a good partner. With their precautions in place, Dempsey said the Americans have done everything they can to be prepared — and now it’s Calipari’s turn.

“I said, ‘OK Cal, now that we’ve got this behind us, how about you stop worrying about that?'” Dempsey said. “‘We’ll keep worrying about that, you go win us a gold medal.'”

14 June 2017 | 6:17 am

Source : ABC News

>>>Click Here To View Original Press Release>>>

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[teritcrawfordca]

List of N-Power Programme | N Power Jobs For Graduates

Previously, we publicized that N-Power registration has commenced and we thought it will be okay if we add the list of N Power programmes available.

Note that this Federal Government programme is available only for graduates. By the word “GRADUATES”, we mean anyone with BSc, HND or and OND can apply.

The N-Power Volunteer Corps is the post-tertiary engagement initiative for Nigerians. The age range for this engagement is within the age bracket of 18 and 35.

Also note that the duration is 2 years and you definitely be paid throughout this time frame.

Applicants will have to bear in mind that they will have to undertake their primary tasks in identified public services within their rural communities.

Additionally, all N-Power Volunteers are entitled to computing devices that will contain information necessary for their specific engagement, as well as information for their continuous training and development.

Key terms: npower jobs, npower recruitment, n power teach, npower registration, latest federal government job in nigeria,

In 2016, statistics shows that the Federal Government were able to engage 200,000 N-Power Volunteers. Fortunately, In 2017, the Federal Government is enlisting 300,000 vacancies.

The June 2017 Application for N-Power Volunteers is now open for all aspirants.

Note: There will be a test during your registration.

  The following are the various areas of N-Power programme;

AVAILABLE N-POWER PROGRAMME

N-POWER AGRO

N-POWER VAIDS

N-POWER BUILD

N-POWER CREATIVE

N-POWER HEALTH

N-POWER TEACH

N-POWER TECH HARDWARE

N-POWER TECH SOFTWARE

N-POWER AGRO (N-Power Programme)

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT N-POWER AGRO

N-Power Agro Volunteers will provide advisory services to farmers across the country. They will disseminate the knowledge that has been aggregated by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the area of extension services. They will also gather data of Nigeria’s agriculture assets.

SELECTION PREFERENCE

Selection Preference: Bachelor’s degree, HND or OND in Nutrition, Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Economics, Agronomy, Animal Science, Crop Science, Food Science & Technology, and other agro related disciplines.

DURATION: 2 Years

*Participants will undergo an initial induction training prior to deployment

JOB

Ultimately, N-Power Agro members can aspire to a life-long career in agriculture and other allied fields. Possible destinations include:

Agriculture Extension Services Consultant

Seed fertilizer and other input aggregators

Farm managers

Public sector jobs in agriculture

Farming co-operatives management

Agro-entrepreneurship

N-POWER HEALTH (N Power Programme)

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

N-Power Health Volunteers will help improve and promote preventive healthcare in their communities to vulnerable members of the society including pregnant women and children and to families and individuals.

SELECTION PREFERENCE

Preference will be given to holders of Bachelor’s degree, HND, OND, in health sciences such as Medicine, Microbiology, Nursing, Public Health, Botany, Midwifery, Psychology or other allied disciplines in the sciences.

A. DISCIPLINE REQUIREMENTS

1. Community Health Extension (JCHEW & SCHEW)

2. Nursing

3. Midwifery

4. Medical Laboratory Technology

5. Pharmacy Technology

6. Medical Records

7. Health Education

8. Environmental Health Technology

9. Microbiology

10. Biochemistry

11. Biology

12. Agricultural Science and other allied disciplines.

B. QUALIFICATIONS

JCHEW

SCHEW

NABTEB

OND

HND

RN

RM

B. Tech

B. Sc

C. QUALIFYING INSTITUTIONS (N-POWER PROGRAMME)

1. Schools of Health Technology

2. Nursing Schools

3. Midwifery Schools

4. Polytechnics

5. Universities

DURATION: 2 Years

* Participants will undergo an initial induction training prior to deployment

JOB

Good enough, N-Power Health volunteers can expect to have a life-long career in public health and other allied fields. Possible destinations include the following:

Health Education Specialist

Health Promotion Coordinator

Public Relations Manager

Breastfeeding Support Coordinator

Health Office Administrator

Health Research Analyst

Social Worker & Counselor

Health Services Manager

Health Department Administrator

Government Policy Analyst

Displaced Persons Coordinator

HIV/AIDS Educator

Project Manager in Public Health

Field Investigator

Research Analyst

Community Health Worker

N-POWER TEACH  (N-Power Teaching Programme)

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW N POWER TEACH!!

N-Power Teach Volunteers is aimed at helping in the improvement of basic education delivery in Nigeria. N-Power Teach Volunteers will be deployed as teacher assistants across primary schools Nationwide.

They are not replacements to the current teachers, but will work as support teachers by assisting with teaching, school management and other school functions within the schools. Where possible, N-Power Teach programme will deploy volunteers to assist in taking basic education to children in marginalized communities.

SELECTION PREFERENCE FOR N-POWER TEACH JOBS

All post-tertiary graduates from all disciplines inclusive of OND and NCE qualifications.

DURATION: 2 Years

* Participants will undergo an initial induction training prior to deployment

JOB

Ultimately, N-Power Teach volunteers can aspire to a life-long career in teaching or allied fields. Possible destinations include:

Professional Teaching

Researcher, Research Associate, Senior Research Analyst

Education Consultant, Associate,

Strategy Consultant

Education Services Manager

Project Manager

Project Supervisor

Social services analyst

N POWER PROGRAMME: N-POWER VAIDS

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT N POWER VAIDS

OVERVIEW:

The Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) seeks to encourage non-compliant and partially compliant taxpayers to voluntarily declare their correct income and assets and pay the appropriate tax due to the government. A minimum of 3,700 N-Power VAIDS volunteers will be selected to assist in attaining the objectives of VAIDS, working with the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Joint Tax Board. The N-Power VAIDS volunteers will function as community tax liaison officers and will have the following key responsibilities which will include tax promotion, document review, record keeping, answering online inquiries, customer management, report writing, amongst others.

SELECTION PREFERENCE

Unemployed graduates or non graduates

Currently Unemployed

Must be a graduate (Bachelors or Higher National Diploma)

Must have completed the mandatory National Youth Service Corps Programme

Aged 18-35

Selection Preference Disciplines: Bachelor’s degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) in Economics, Law, Finance, Psychology and other allied disciplines in the social sciences.

Knowledge and experience: Essential

Good knowledge of Microsoft office tools

Good written and spoken English

Good phone etiquette

Excellent Analytical and Diagnostic aptitude

Desirable: knowledge of tax laws and administration in Nigeria

DURATION

→ 9 Months

JOB

N-Power VAIDS volunteers can aspire as well aspire for a life-long career in finance or allied fields. Possible destinations include:

Tax Assessor/ Collector.

Financial Analyst

Tax Auditor

Legal and Compliance Manager

Accountant

N-POWER BUILD PROGRAMME

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT N POWER BUILD PROGRAMME

OVERVIEW:

N-Power Build is an accelerated training and certification programme that is aimed to engage and train 75,000 young unemployed Nigerians in order to build a new crop of skilled and highly competent workforce of technicians, artisans and service professionals.

Below are the focus industries of N-Power Build;

The focus industries include:

Building Services

Construction

Built Environment Services

Utilities

Automotive

Aluminium and Gas

SELECTION PREFERENCE

Currently Unemployed

No degree or diploma Selection preferences

Aged between 18-35

Interest in fixing, building and creating things

DURATION: 3 Months

JOB

N-Power Build members can aspire to a career in construction, works and housing. Possible destinations include:

Building/Construction Project Management

Furniture Making and Design

Electrical Maintenance and Repairs Services

Building and Construction services

Plumbing

Welding

N-POWER CREATIVE

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: OVERVIEW

The N-Power Creative programme will train and develop 5,000 young creative talents. The strategy is to put our creative industry on the global radar as exporters of world-class services and content. Training will last 3 months, made up of 1-month in-class and a 2-month hands-on group project, across selected Nigerian cities. The participants will be trained and certified in one of the following courses:

Animation | Graphic Design | Post-production | Script Writing

At the end of the training, some participants will get local and international internship opportunities while others will be linked to job and market opportunities. In addition, all participants will receive computing devices that will ensure that they master their skills during and after the training.

SELECTION PREFERENCE

Unemployed graduates or non graduates

Must be between 18-35 years old

Basic illustration skills will be an advantage for animation and graphic arts

For Script Writing, creative writing skills and analytical writing skills will be an advantage

Problem solving skills

Ability to undertake self-tutorship

Detail-oriented

Analytical

DURATION: 3 Months

JOB

Building/Construction Project Management

Script Writer

 Visual Effects Artist

 Illustrator

 Graphics Designer

 Film Editor

 Game Design

 Desktop Publishing

 Sound Editor

 Digital Media Publishing

Animator

 Educational/Training Content Production

N-POWER TEACH HARDWARE PROGRAMME

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW OVERVIEW

N-Power Teach Volunteers will help improve basic education delivery in Nigeria. N-Power Teach Volunteers will be deployed as teacher assistants in primary schools around Nigeria. They will not replace the current teachers, but will work as support teachers across Nigeria, assisting with teaching, school management and other functions within the schools. Where possible, they will also assist in taking basic education to children in marginalised communities.

SELECTION PREFERENCE

All post-tertiary graduates from all disciplines inclusive of OND and NCE qualifications.

DURATION: 2 Years

* Participants will undergo an initial induction training prior to deployment

JOB

Ultimately, N-Power Teach volunteers can aspire to a life-long career in teaching or allied fields. Possible destinations include:

Professional Teaching

 Researcher, Research Associate, Senior Research Analyst

 Education Consultant, Associate,

 Strategy Consultant

 Education Services Manager

 Project Manager

 Project Supervisor

 Social services analyst

N-POWER TECH HARDWARE PROGRAMME

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: OVERVIEW

To empower at least 10,000 computer device technicians into the ICT Industry. The N-Power Tech. for device technicians program will train and facilitate tooling for at least 10,000 technicians to boost the device servicing and manufacturing industry. The output of this program will serve as a critical catalyst for the expansion of local capacity to service and produce mobile phones, tablets, computers and other relevant devices to serve the local and international market.

Participants will undergo a hands-on training experience wherein they will be exposed to practical processes and tools to assemble and repair devices of varying specifications. At the end often program, participants will be armed with the requisite technical skills to service devices in there local communities as well as work in a device assembly plant. The program will take 3 months of training and 1 month of assessment , graduation and setup. Participants will be advised on opportunities to acquire tools to practice.

SELECTION PREFERENCE

Unemployed graduates or non graduates

 Problem solving skills

 Must be between 18-35 years old

 Ability to undertake self-tutorship

DURATION:3 Months

JOBS

Assembly Plant Technician

 Trainer

 Device maintenance

 Device network technician

 Device Technician

N-POWER TECH SOFTWARE PROGRAMME

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT N-POWER TECH SOFTWARE PROGRAMME

OVERVIEW:

N-Power Tech for Developers

The aim of N-Power Tech is to ensure that 10,000 Software Developers are recruited into the ICT Industry.

The N-Power Tech for developers programme will train, tool and position 10,000 hands-on software developers for the local and international software development market.

Participants will be undertake a project based model to training wherein they will be exposed to foundational software development tools as well as resources to thrive as a modern day software developer entrepreneur.

The programme will seek to establish the foundation knowledge, tools and platform upon which participants can pursue a career as software development entrepreneurs. Training will last 11 weeks and culminate with job fairs to link participants with placement opportunities within their respective localities. The programme will also offer a continuity platform to support participants with learning and engagement opportunities on a continuous basis. Participants will also be enabled with a device to continue the practice and exploration of opportunities after training is over.

SELECTION PREFERENCE

Unemployed graduates or non graduates

Must be between 18-35 years old

Ability to undertake self-tutorship

Problem solving skills

Detail-oriented

Analytical

DURATION: 3 Months

JOB

App Developer

Game Developer

Web Developer

Computer System Analyst

Systems Software Developer

Software Tester

Trainer

  We’ve taken time to highlight all available N-Power Programme for you to choose from. Now it’s up to you to decide if this information is worth sharing with your friends and advise them to enroll in the programme.

Click here to see more on N-Power Login.

The post List of N-Power Programme | N Power Jobs For Graduates appeared first on JEELDA.

from Teri Crawford Business Tips https://www.jeelda.com/list-n-power-programme-n-power-jobs-graduates/

[upshotre]

Budget: Buhari plans massive development, works gets lion’s share

By Tony Ademiluyi President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday proposed the highest allocation of N262bn to the Ministry of Works and Housing, just as Power, Transportation and Defence followed with N123bn, N112bn and N100bn, respectively in the 2020 budget estimates presented to the National Assembly. These are some of the details of N10.33tn budget for the 2020 which is N1.4tn higher than the N8.9tn approved by the National Assembly for the 2019 fiscal year. The President in the speech, tagged ‘Budget of Sustaining Growth and Job Creation’, which he delivered to the joint session of the federal parliament, said the expenditure estimates included statutory transfers of N556.7bn. Recurrent expenditure, N2.14tn; capital expenditure, N4.88tn At the presentation attended by members of the Federal Executive Council, Buhari announced the non-debt recurrent expenditure of N4.88tn and N2.14tn capital expenditure (excluding the capital component of statutory transfers). The National Assembly had while approving the 2020 – 2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper last week proposed N10.729.4 as total expenditure for the 2020 budget. Buhari also said debt service was estimated at N2.45tn, and that a provision of N296bn was made for the Sinking Fund to retire maturing bonds issued to local contractors. National Assembly leads statutory transfers with N125bn On statutory transfers, Buhari said N125bn was proposed for the National Assembly and N110bn for the Judiciary. Other details of the estimates are N44.5bn for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund; N111.79bn for the Universal Basic Education Commission; and N80.88bn for the Niger Delta Development Commission, now under the supervision of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. Education gets N48bn, Health N46bn Others key capital spending allocations in the 2020 budget as announced by the President are Agriculture and Rural Development, N83bn; Water Resources, N82bn; Niger Delta Development Commission, N81bn; Education N48bn; and Health, N46bn. Industry, Trade and Investment got N40bn; North-East Development Commission, N38bn; Interior, N35bn; Federal Capital Territory, N28bn; and Niger Delta Affairs Ministry, N24bn. He added that the budgetary allocation to the National Human Rights Commission had been increased from N1.5bn to N2.5bn to enable the commission to perform its functions more effectively. Buhari said all agencies must obtain necessary approvals before embarking on fresh recruitment. He said N8.155tn had been estimated as the total Federal Government’s revenue in 2020 comprising oil revenue (N2.64tn), non-oil tax revenues (N1.81tn) and other revenues (N3.7tn). He said the projections were seven per cent higher than the 2019 comparative estimate of N7.594tn inclusive of the government-owned enterprises. He said, “The increasing share of non-oil revenues underscores our confidence in our revenue diversification strategies, going forward.” Buhari also explained that overhead cost was projected at N426.6bn in the 2020 budget while additional provisions were made only for the newly created ministries. He said, “The respective heads of the MDAs must ensure strict adherence to government regulations regarding expenditure control measures. “The proliferation of zonal, state and liaison offices by federal ministries, departments and agencies with attendant avoidable increase in public expenditure, will no longer be tolerated.” Speaking further on capital expenditure, Buhari said, “Investing in critical infrastructure is a key component of our fiscal strategy under the 2020 budget proposals.” He also said, “An aggregate sum of N2.46tn (inclusive of N318.06bn in statutory transfers) is proposed for capital projects in 2020. “Although the 2020 capital budget is N721.33bn (or 23 per cent) lower than the 2019 budget provision of N3.18tn, it is still higher than the actual and projected capital expenditure outturns for both the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years, respectively.” According to him, at 24 per cent of aggregate projected expenditure, the 2020 provision falls short of the 30 per cent target in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017-2020. He said, “The main emphasis will be the completion of as many ongoing projects as possible, rather than commencing new ones. The MDAs have not been allowed to admit new projects into their capital budget for 2020, unless adequate provision has been made for the completion of all ongoing projects.” He said, “Although government’s actual spending has reduced, our plans to leverage private sector funding through our tax credit schemes will ensure our capital programmes are sustained. “For example, we launched the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, pursuant to which I have approved the construction and rehabilitation of 19 roads and bridges of 794.4km across 11 states.  Indeed, the scheme has attracted private investment of over N205bn and the first set of tax credits are being processed by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning. “Under the Presidential Power Initiative, we will modernise the national grid in three phases; starting from five gigawatts to 7GW, then to 11GW by 2023, and finally 25GW afterwards in collaboration with the German Government and Siemens.” Buhari said budget deficit was projected to be N2.18tn in 2020 including drawdown on project-tied loans and the related capital expenditure. He said the figure represented 1.52 per cent of estimated Gross Domestic Product,  well below the three per cent threshold set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007, and in line with the ERDP target of 1.96 per cent. He said the deficit would be financed by new foreign and domestic borrowings, privatisation proceeds, signature bonuses and drawdowns on the loans secured for specific development projects. On debt service, Buhari said  Nigeria remained committed to meeting its debt service obligations. He said, “We provided the sum of N2.45tn for debt service. Of this amount, 71 per cent is to service domestic debt which accounts for about 68 per cent of the total debt. The sum of N296bn is provided for the Sinking Fund to retire maturing bonds issued to local contractors. “I am confident that our aggressive and re-energised revenue drive will maintain debt-revenue ratio at acceptable and manageable levels. We will also continue to be innovative in our borrowings by using instruments such as Sukuk, Green Bonds and Diaspora Bonds”. Slashes SIP vote from N500bn to N30bn Buhari announced a slash in the Social Investment Programmes from the annual N500bn to N30bn. He said despite the reduction in the SIP from N500bn yearly provision since 2015 to N30bn, his government remained committed to ensuring the equitable sharing of economic prosperity. He said, “Our focus on inclusive growth and shared prosperity underscores our keen interest in catering for the poor and most vulnerable. “Accordingly, we are revamping and improving the implementation of the National Social Investment Programme through the newly created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. “The National Social Investment Programme is already creating jobs and economic opportunity for local farmers and cooks, providing funding to artisans, traders, youths, and supporting small businesses with business education and mentoring. The provision of N65bn for the Presidential Amnesty Programme has been retained in the 2020 budget.” To fast-track the rebuilding efforts in the North-East region, he  said N37.83bn had been made available for the North East Development Commission. He also said the government had sustained “accretion to our external reserves, which have risen from $23bn in October 2016 to about US$42.5 bn by August 2019,” adding that the increase was due to favourable prices of crude oil in the international market. Buhari noted that the 2019 ‘Budget of Continuity’ was based on a benchmark oil price of $60 per barrel, oil production of 2.3mbpd, and an exchange rate of N305 to $1. Based on the parameters, he said his government projected a deficit of N1.918tn or 1.37 per cent of the GDP. He said, “This revenue performance is only 58 per cent of the 2019 budget’s target due to the underperformance of both oil and non-oil revenue sources. “Specifically, oil revenues were below target by 49 per cent as at June 2019. This reflects the lower-than-projected oil production, deductions for cost under-recovery on supply of Premium Motor Spirit, as well as higher expenditures on pipeline security/maintenance and Frontier exploration. “Daily oil production averaged 1.86 mbpd as at June 2019, as against the estimated 2.3 mbpd that was assumed. This shortfall was partly offset as the market price of Bonny Light crude oil averaged $67.20 per barrel which was higher than the benchmark price of $60.”  2020 budget based on N7.5% VAT Speaking on the draft Finance Bill, Buhari said the legislation “proposes an increase of the VAT rate from five per cent to 7.5 per cent. “As such, the 2020 Appropriation Bill is based on this new VAT rate. The additional revenues will be used to fund health, education and infrastructure programmes. As the states and local governments are allocated 85 per cent of all VAT revenues, we expect to see greater quality and efficiency in their spending in these areas as well. “The VAT Act already exempts pharmaceuticals, educational items, and basic commodities, which exemptions we are expanding under the Finance Bill, 2019.” He listed items exempted by Section 46 of the Finance Bill  as the Brown and white bread; Cereals including maize, rice, wheat, millet, barley and sorghum; Fish of all kinds; Flour and starch meals; Fruits, nuts, pulses and vegetables of various kinds Others are roots such as yam, cocoyam, sweet and Irish potatoes; Meat and poultry products such as eggs, milk, salt and herbs of various kinds and natural water and table water. He said, “Additionally, our proposals also raise the threshold for VAT registration to N25m in turnover per annum, such that the revenue authorities can focus their compliance efforts on larger businesses thereby bringing relief for our Micro, Small and Medium-sized businesses. “It is absolutely essential to intensify our revenue generation efforts. “That said, this administration remains committed to ensuring that the inconvenience associated with any fiscal policy adjustments, is moderated, such that the poor and the vulnerable, who are most at risk, do not bear the brunt of these reforms.”

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[gbenro]

ICT4D Consultants for the CAT Strategy (Global Fund Malaria Grant) #Vacancy

1 Call for Expression of Interest – ICT4D Consultants for the CAT Strategy (Global Fund Malaria Grant) 1. BACKGROUND Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international non-governmental organization supporting relief and development work in over 100 countries. CRS programs assist persons on the basis of need, regardless of creed, ethnicity, or nationality. As CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs, strengthening and building the capacity of partner organizations is fundamental to the work of CRS. CRS re-established presence in Nigeria in 2000 and currently focuses on health, vulnerable children, agriculture, extractives and governance, and peace building programming. CRS has a long and rich history of collaboration with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). Since 2003, CRS has been awarded over $290 million in Global Fund resources to implement programs in 27 countries. In Nigeria, CRS is a sub-recipient (SR) on the Global Fund HIV and Malaria grants and has assumed the role of principal recipient (PR) for the Global Fund Malaria grant in January 2017. As PR, CRS will partner with the National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP), various state governments and malaria partners and stakeholders to coordinate the 2017 long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLIN) mass campaigns in Kwara State. CRS will deploy ICT4D devices and the Red Rose technology for use during the mass campaigns. 2. OBJECTIVES OF THIS CONSULTANCY  To ensure effective knowledge dissemination on the use of the Cash and Asset transfer Strategy through trainings of LLIN mass campaign implementers in Kwara, Imo and Ondo States;  To monitor the use of digital android devices, fingerprint scanners, and Net card tracking system to carryout household/beneficiary registration, Net card and LLIN distribution at the various designated locations;  To provide technical support to all campaign implementers on the use of all ICT4D tools required. 3. SPECIFIC TASKS Technical Support  Provide tier 1 level real time support on android devices during trainings and activities on request using the help button on the android app.  Ensure resolution and closure of all LLIN Mass campaign is reported using RedMine and other support and communication application.  Interpret GIS Data to ward supervisors and monitors to ensure 100% universal coverage  Collect Biometric Time Attendance Tracking of campaign personnel during trainings  Tracking changes of campaign personnel to ensure capturing of update on the CAT platform to ensure printing and delivery of badges for training and activity authentication.  Provide monitoring and supervision guidance on Missed or un-scanned net cards.  Provide daily coverage details from the CAT platform to inform monitors and ward supervisors on mobilization coverage rate and net card redemption rate during household mobilization and distribution; 2  Provide effective compliance with the CAT Strategy business processes  To provide required technical guidance to ward supervisors Household Mobilizers and distribution team on the use of the android devices, solar Chargers and the RR application  Fraud detection of net cards distribution and redemption using real time monitoring of the dashboard as per coverage area of assignment  Data management – Daily identification of data discrepancies for resolution using RR Collect  Ensure daily review of campaign processes from the CAT dashboard to LGA and State teams Capacity Building:  To ensure effective knowledge sharing amongst ward supervisors, Household mobilizers and distribution teams and serve as technical resource personnel for the CAT Strategy  Collaborate with CRS ICT4D staff, State and LGA Team to ensure effective roll out of the electronic tools for LLIN Mass campaign  Engage in weekly online LLIN ICT4D Community of practice meeting to identify learnings and provide updates. Device Provision, Distribution and Inventory:  Ensure distribution of ICT4D tools to identified ward supervisors, Household mobilizers and distribution teams as per selection criteria  Update device distribution inventory database upon distribution of devices to ward supervisors, Household mobilizers and distribution teams  Ensure submission and signing of device security, safety and management document by ward supervisors, Household mobilizers and distribution teams before collection of ICT4D tools  Ensure provisioning and delivery of Buffer Devices in a case of theft, loss or damage to campaign personnel Training:  To provide required training to Ward Supervisors, Household mobilizers and Distribution teams on the following: o Red Rose technology for LLIN Mass Campaign o Data collection procedure for LLIN Mass Campaign o Android Device Configuration and setup for LLIN Mass Campaign o Setup and Configuration of Finger print scanners o Device power management, safety and security. o Data Entry Dynamics o Peer to peer and mobile data syncing o Collecting geo coordinates and Location services o Net distribution Voucher arithmetic and voucher tracking o Updating voucher details o Household marking co-relation with digital data Capacity Building:  To ensure effective knowledge sharing amongst Ward Supervisors, Household mobilizers, distribution teams and serve as technical resource personnel for the Red Rose ICT4D technology;  To engage in weekly online LLIN ICT4D Community of practice meeting;  To collaborate with CRS ICT4D staffs, Red Rose Support Technicians and mass campaign coordination team to ensure effective roll out of the electronic tools for LLIN Mas campaign 3 Device Distribution and Inventory:  Ensure distribution of ICT4D tools to ward supervisors, Household mobilizers and distribution teams  Update device distribution status on inventory database upon distribution of devices to ward supervisors, Household mobilizers and distribution teams  Ensure submission and signing of device security, safety and management document by ward supervisors, Household mobilizers and distribution teams before collection of ICT4D tools. 4. LOCATION OF CONSULTANCY SERVICE Kwara, Imo and Ondo States. 5. QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE  Graduates with B.Sc., HND or its equivalent in Computer Science or related field highly preferred;  Experience in mobile data collection application such as software applications: Red Rose collect, Iform, Commcare, ODK, ONA, Survey 123 and any other electronic data gathering tools is desirable  Prior experience in training/capacity building in ICT related fields  Demonstrable skill in technical manipulation, configuring and troubleshooting a wide range of android mobile devices, tablets, digital data tools and databases management information systems (DMIS)  Excellent knowledge of computer software – MS Office and Excel especially and or other statistical analysis software  Good grasp of M&E, Digital Data tools and malaria programming is highly desirable  Experience in data collecting techniques  Experience in GIS  Must be willing to work in any of the selected LGAs in Kwara, Imo and Ondo States.  Prior experience working with an NGO.  Proven ability of maintaining targets and deadlines.  Demonstrate excellent written and oral Communication skills  Strong attention to details and ability to identify gaps.  Must have an android device and a functional Laptop computer. 6. TIMELINES The ICT4D Consultants will be trained for 5 days and afterwards be deployed to designated LGA of assignment in Kwara, Imo and Ondo states 7. REPORTING The ICT4D Consultants will report to the ICT4D Officer in-charge of the state with support of the CRS Program Manager of each State. Overall coordination and technical oversight will be provided by the CRS ICT4D Specialist. 8. KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS CRS ICT4D Officers, State Ministries of Health (SMoH) staff, LGA teams, Ward Supervisors, Household mobilizers, Distribution teams, CRS Global Fund Malaria Nigeria Program Team, National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP) staff, CRS ICT4D Specialist and RedRose Team. 4 9. PAYMENT SCHEDULE Payment will be disbursed as per schedule of timely deliverables and the consultants will be paid for each level of effort for the completion of agreed deliverable. The consultant is expected to make a formal presentation of the report to the project team. Please note that CRS will deduct and remit to the Federal Inland Revenue (FIR) a 5% withholding Tax from the total consultancy fees in accordance with the Nigerian Tax Law. How to Apply: Interested consultants should send their expression of interest (EOI) along with a detailed resume as attached MS word documents to tenders.ngr@crs.org . The title of the consultancy should be stated as the subject of your email quoting CATS260517. The resume should include but not limited to the following: expected daily rate, personal profile, skills, competencies and suitability for the assignment as well as readiness for immediate short-term consultancy plus a copy of such previous work. Applications should reach us by COB Thursday, June 08, 2017. Only qualified persons will be contacted and invited for screening. Equal Opportunity: “CRS is an equal –opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, etc. Qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply”. Statement of Commitment to Protection: ‘’CRS’ recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

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By Russ Read

More than 500 million users were affected by the Yahoo hack in 2014, but this massive heist wasn’t perpetrated by a team of cyber warriors. It was the brainchild of a couple Russian intelligence agents and their two hacker recruits.

The hack was one of the largest data breaches in world history, and the subsequent indictments associated with it mark the first time the U.S. has charged Russian intelligence officers for a cyber crime.

“The involvement and direction of FSB officers with law enforcement responsibilities make this conduct that much more egregious,” said Acting Assistant Attorney Gen. Mary McCord in a statement Wednesday. “There are no free passes for foreign state-sponsored criminal behavior.”

Dmitry Dokuchaev (also known as Patrick Nagel), a 33-year-old Russian FSB agent, was the mastermind behind the hack. He was overseen by Igor Sushchin, 43, also an FSB agent and a former information security head of a Russian financial company, where he reportedly provided information on the company’s employees to the FSB.

FSB Agent Dmitry Dokuchaev, the primary handler of the hackers involved in the Yahoo hack. Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation

Both men worked for the agency’s “Center 18,” the FSB’s center for information security. Sushchin was the senior FSB official at the Center during the Yahoo hack and oversaw the younger Dokuchaev, according to the Department of Justice indictment.

FSB agent Igor Sushchin oversaw the Yahoo hacker group. Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation

While Dokuchaev played an active role in the Yahoo operation, he was not the main hacker behind the breach. He tapped notorious Russian hacker Alexsey Belan, AKA “Magg,” to act as the primary hacker. Belan came into the operation with quite the resume, having racked up two prior indictments in the U.S. for hacking e-commerce companies in September 2012 and June 2013.

Alexsey Balen, the primary hacker responsible for intrusions into Yahoo’s computer network. Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Belan-Dokuchaev partnership almost never happened. According to the indictment, Belan was arrested in an unnamed European country in 2013 under a provisional arrest warrant. He was slated to be extradited to the U.S. for prosecution, but was inexplicably able to escape prosecution by leaving the European country and fleeing to Russia. As a result, he was put on the FBI’s list of most wanted hackers, sanctioned by President Barack Obama and put under an Interpol “Red Notice” to be arrested and extradited.

Russia is an Interpol member, but instead of arresting Belan, the FSB decided to recruit him. The practice is not uncommon in Russia, as the security services are known to frequently catch criminal hackers and offer them employment to avoid prosecution. Dokuchaev apparently did not wait long to put Belan to work, as the indictment claimed the operation against Yahoo began in early 2014.

Belan and company’s hack into Yahoo’s computer network involved a mix of common hacker tactics and clever methods used to cover up their traces. Belan acted as the point man for the hacking itself, while his FSB handlers fed him intelligence information to help avoid detection by U.S. and other law enforcement agencies.

The group used four main tools to engage in the hack: leased servers (some of which were located in the U.S.), virtual private networks, “spear phishing” attacks and fake email accounts. Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, use encryption to provide secure access to a computer on the Internet, essentially allowing a user to hide their actions from the public eye. Spear phishing is the use of fake messages to trick a user into giving a hacker access to accounts and computers, the same tactic Russian hackers supposedly used to hack the email account of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

Belan targeted two aspects of Yahoo’s network to gain access to user information: Yahoo’s Account Management Tool (AMT) and its user database, or UDB. To put it simply, the UDB contains user information that the hackers were after, such as user names, passwords, and phone numbers, while the AMT is the tool Yahoo uses to make and log changes to user accounts. Essentially, the UDB contained the treasure trove, AMT was the key to accessing it. When Belan combined the two, he was able to potentially access information to Yahoo’s one billion users.

The hacking group also engaged in a technique known as cookie “minting” to gain access to accounts. Cookies are small files stored on a user’s computer by the computer’s web browser. When a user connects to an email server, the server can read the cookie’s data to obtain information on the user. This allows a user to continue to access their accounts without having to constantly re-enter passwords.

By “minting,” or making fake copies, of these cookies both inside and outside of Yahoo’s network, the Russian hacking collective was able to access accounts by making the company’s servers believe they already had valid access. Approximately 6,500 accounts fell victim to this technique, according to the Department of Justice.

Minted cookies also helped the hackers narrow down their targets. Most of the 500 million accounts affected by the breach had only things like usernames and passwords stolen. The hackers were able to pinpoint targets of potential intelligence value by searching recovery emails associated with a company or organization the user may have worked for. These victims included high-ranking foreign officials in countries near Russia; a Russian journalist who worked for Kommersant, a leading Russian newspaper once owned by the now-deceased Boris Berezovsky, an unabashed critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin; U.S. officials, and other targets of “intelligence interest.”

Belan not only hacked Yahoo users for intelligence purposes, he was also able to make a little money on the side. He accessed 30 million accounts, stole their address books and engaged in a huge spam email marketing scheme. He searched some the accounts for credit and gift card information, as hackers tend to do. But perhaps most fascinating was an ad scheme that involved hacking Yahoo’s search engine to show fake erectile dysfunction ads. When clicked on, the links redirected users to a cloud computing firm website and then an online pharmacy which paid Belan a “bounty” for each click.

While Belan was hacking Yahoo from 2014 through late 2016, Dokuchaev and Sushchin directed another hacker, Karim Baratov (AKA “Kay”), to concurrently hack into Google and other unnamed email providers, including an unnamed Russian provider. In some cases, the hacker group used information gained from the Yahoo hack to attack other providers.

Baratov’s hack was not as widespread as Belan’s, but it was well-targeted. His 18 victims included an assistant to the deputy chairman of the Russian Federation and an organization known as the “Bureau of Special Technical Projects,” which investigates cyber tech and child pornography cases for Department K of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. For his services, Dokuchaev paid Baratov a bounty of approximately $100 for each victimized account.

Baratov, a 22-year-old Canadian national of Kazakh background, lived a lavish lifestyle with an even flashier online persona featuring pictures of the young hacker with $100 bills and expensive sports cars. He reportedly made his first million dollars by age 15 through unknown means.

His lifestyle came to an abrupt end Wednesday, when Toronto and Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested him for his role in the Russian hacking plot. His extradition to the U.S. is pending.

Belan and his Russian handlers were more subtle in their actions, as evidenced by the careful cover-up inside Yahoo’s network. In addition to using the minted cookies to cover their tracks, Belan used what are known as “log cleaners,” small programs which hide computer logs from a server, to ensure Yahoo did not become aware of his activity.

Those careful steps only worked for so long, as U.S. law enforcement and intelligence were eventually able to gather evidence of the group’s alleged crimes. The Department of Justice did not comment on the methods used, only telling reporters that the cooperating was “lawful and legal.”

The indictment of the hacker group is a historical marker for the Department of Justice, but the likelihood of the three Russians facing prosecution on U.S. soil is low. Russia and the U.S. do not have a formal extradition treaty, and given the frosty relations between the two countries, the Kremlin will probably not be keen on handing over top intelligence agents to a major rival. Regardless, U.S. officials said they remained committed to prosecuting cyber crime wherever it happens.

“Cyber crime poses a significant threat to our nation;s security and prosperity, and this is one of the largest data breaches in history,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a statement Wednesday. “The United States will vigorously investigate and prosecute the people behind such attacks to the fullest extent of the law.”

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[96thdayofrage]

African Union Elects New Commission Chair, Criticizes Trump’s Entry Ban Directed against Muslims

Those who once enslaved the continent’s people are barring them from entry as guests and refugees

At its 28th Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the African Union (AU) has selected a new chair of its commission for the 54-member continental organization. Chadian Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat was placed in the position after a highly politicized process lasting several months, spanning over three regions of the continent.

Chad, a country whose government maintains close relations with the former colonial power of France and the United States, won the endorsement of 39 states at the Summit.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed, who was a favorite of many within the East Africa and across other regions, failed to secure enough support to prevail. The first woman AU Commission Chair, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of the Republic of South Africa, did not seek a second term after serving an additional six months due to the unsuccessful previous attempts to elect her successor.

Mahamat won in the fourth round of voting by AU member-states. Mohamed was the runner up to the position.

The Chadian foreign minister, who is 55-years-old, served as prime minister of the Central African state during 2003-2005. He has close ties with long-time President Idris Deby and belongs to the ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS).

Born in the eastern region of Chad in the town of Biltine, Mahamat has been involved in national and continental politics for many years. In 1982, he joined the Democratic Revolutionary Council led by Acheikh Ibm Oumar after going into exile in the aftermath of the ascendancy of former leader Hissen Habre on June 7, 1982. He returned to the country in 1991 after Deby had taken power.

Subsequently, he was a director-general of at least two government ministries before becoming the head of the cabinet of President Deby’s government. He would later serve as Director of the National Sugar Company from 1996-1999.

In 2001, Mahamat ran the presidential campaign of Deby and was appointed the Minister of Public Works and Transport under the government of Prime Minister Haround Kabadi.

Outgoing Dlamini-Zuma was the also the first chair to emanate from the sub-continent where the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa has maintained state power for over two decades. There is speculation in South Africa that the former commission chair will seek the leadership position in the ruling party although this has not been officially announced inside the country.

The Lack of National Security and Economic Stability

There are numerous challenging problems within the AU member-states in 2017. The African continent is facing a growing economic crisis resulting from the decline in oil, natural gas and other commodity prices on the international market. In many states, the national currencies are in rapid decline prompting inflationary pressure and a shortage of foreign exchange.

Also the role of the U.S. Africa Command looms large over the future of the continent amid uneasiness about the rise of Islamic extremism and terrorist attacks. Chad joined with the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger in a united military alliance to combat the Boko Haram group whose rebel attacks in the northeast of Nigeria have spread to border areas of these contiguous states.

Nonetheless, AFRICOM is involved with several West and Central African states under the guise of providing training and military resources ostensibly designed to enhance the security capacity of various AU member governments. A recent Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) intervention in Gambia was largely carried out by Senegal which has a joint cooperation agreement with AFRICOM and conducts annual maneuvers with the Pentagon entity in conjunction with NATO alongside numerous other military forces from throughout the region.

Although the Nigerian government announced in December that Boko Haram had been driven from its last major stronghold in the Sambisa Forest, asymmetric attacks have continued in some areas. Economic difficulties in the Lake Chad border regions have also been cited as providing a basis for recruitment by Boko Haram.

The crisis of climate change resulting in the shortages of water poses a profound challenge to the region. According to an article published by Deutsche Welle: “’Lake Chad is dying.’ President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger was peremptory in his speech at the opening of the Paris Climate Conference on Monday, November 30 (2015). He was seconded by his counterparts from Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon, all neighboring countries around Lake Chad. Once, the landlocked lake measured more than 25,000 square kilometers (9,700 square miles). Now it covers just 1,500 square kilometers (580 square miles).”

This same report continues emphasizing that: “Droughts in the 1970s and 1980s caused Lake Chad to dry up almost completely, reducing reservoirs and putting the livelihood of millions at risk. ’In Nigeria’s northeastern town of Baga there was an inn called ‘By the Harbor.’ But already in those days the harbor was three kilometers (1.9 miles) away,’ recalls Norbert Cyffer. He used to be a lecturer at the University of Maiduguri in northern Nigeria in the 70s. This allowed him to observe how the water in Lake Chad shrank to a tenth of its original volume over the years.”

In addition to the military questions and Pentagon interventions, the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Africa’s participation within it has been debated for the last four years. Kenya, an East African state targeted by the ICC, has expressed a desire to withdraw from the Rome Statue, which governs the judicial body based in the Netherlands. The Kenyan President and Vice President Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto respectively were both under investigation by the ICC. The case against Kenyatta was dismissed through lack of evidence. Ruto later had his charges vacated as well in April of 2016.

The ICC has been exclusively pre-occupied with the investigation, indictment and prosecution of African presidents and rebel leaders. At present, the ousted President of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, is imprisoned in the Netherlands facing trail by the ICC. Gbagbo was overthrown by French commandos backed up by rebel units in 2011. He was transported into exile while the government of the former International Monetary Fund (IMF) functionary, President Alassane Ouattara, was installed in the agricultural and oil producing West African country.

Kenya’s opposition to the actions of the ICC may have played a role in the failure of its foreign minister to acquire the post of commission chair. The current leaders of Kenya were not the candidates favored by the U.S. and Britain during the elections in 2013.

The North African monarchy of Morocco, which has close ties with the U.S., is seeking readmission into the AU after withdrawing from its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1984, when the body recognized the right to self-determination and independence for the people of the Western Sahara.

The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, headed by the Polisario Front, is currently recognized by the AU as the legitimate government in exile. This area of the northern Sahara has been occupied by Morocco since 1976 when Spain withdrew its claim as a colonial power over the territory.

It seems highly unlikely that the AU will reverse its position on the Western Sahara. The continental body has been committed since its inception to national independence for former colonized states and peoples.

U.S. Immigration Policy and the AU

Dlamini-Zuma during the AU Summit criticized the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump for his executive orders banning entry into America from three Africa states: Libya, Sudan and Somalia. Noting that it was the U.S. which had enslaved Africans for over two centuries is now barring its citizens from access into the country on spurious grounds. These African states along with Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Iran in the Middle East have rejected the notion that their nationals constitute a threat to U.S. security.

In light of the taking of power by Trump, Dlamini-Zuma described the situation involving U.S.-Africa relations as turbulent. “The very country to which many of our people were taken as slaves during the transatlantic slave trade has now decided to ban refugees from some of our countries,” said Dlamini-Zuma. (Independent, UK, Jan. 30)

The consistent precarious status of diplomatic, economic and military relations with the imperialist states cannot be overcome amid the ongoing dependency on the part of African governments on these former colonial and present neo-colonial powers.  Until the continent can chart its own course, Africa and its institutions will remain marginalized in regard to fostering development and exerting continental influence in world affairs.

[thetens-blog1]

IPI PowerTech Graduate Trainee recruitment, June 2017

IPI PowerTech Graduate Trainee recruitment, June 2017

IPI PowerTech Graduate Trainee recruitment, June 2017 IPI PowerTech, is a member of the IPT PowerTech group of companies that delivers specialized solutions to the power, industrial and telecom sectors in Africa, the Middle East and neighboring countries. Since our inception in 1993, we have grown into a leading power solutions company, combining power expertise with telecom infrastructure…