The emir of Birnin Gwari, Malam Zubairu Jibril Mai Gwari II, has lashed out on Nigerian politicians whom he described as greedy opportunists. The monarch made the comment in Kaduna during the North-West Conference on the State of the Nation and contemporary challenges in Nigeria organised by Arewa Research and Development Project ARDP and Savanah Center. He said some politicians have capitalised on illiteracy and poverty among the people to attain power. “I have said it on so many occasions and so it’s easy for me now to repeat what I have said before. Why do we have failure in politicians running state, local and federal governments? I traced the problem to who we consider as politicians in our localities. “If you go to every part of the country those who call themselves politicians, stak...
U.S. warns Pacific islands about Chinese bid for undersea cable project
The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company’s cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region. Huawei Marine, which was recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and is now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids along with French-headquartered Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Finland’s Nokia, and Japan’s NEC, for the $72.6 million project backed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sources with direct knowledge of the project details said. The project is designed to improve communications to the island nations of Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Kiribati. Washington sent a diploma...