Ahmadinejad invites Jonathan to visit Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a message, has invited Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to visit Iran in the near future.

The message was delivered to President Jonathan by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Thursday. 

Salehi and Jonathan discussed mutual ties between the two oil-rich countries and called for “enhancement of bilateral cooperation in political and economic fields,” IRNA reported. 

Salehi arrived in Abuja on Wednesday to attend a ministerial meeting of the Group of Eight Developing Countries (D8).

 Addressing the meeting, he lauded the growing cooperation within the D8 since the establishment of the group in Turkey in 1997, and called for a faster implementation of the group's earlier agreements. The Iranian minister urged expansion of cooperation among the D8 member states to various areas, including agriculture, energy, food security, industry and transportation.

 Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Bangladesh and Indonesia are members of D8. 
Salehi, whose country is set to take the rotating presidency of the D8 starting from 2013, said Tehran has proposed to host an expert meeting on the establishment of a joint investment fund for the group later in the month.                                                                          

KANU NWANKWO AND AIRTEL LAUNCH FOOTBALL TALENT HUNT

Telecommunication company Airtel has joined hands with Nigerian football star Kanu Nwankwo and African music icon 2face Idibia to launch a talent program called ‘Airtel Rising Stars’. The event which was held in Lagos, was attended by sport practitioners, students, youths from football academy, and journalists.

The program will focus on identifying the upcoming football talents who are under the age of seventeen in the grassroots and will unveil them on the national stage by providing a platform for them to show their skills.

The talent hunt is open to both boys and girls and will be carried out in format of regional and national tournaments and will take place in South Africa under the supervision of the Sport Science Institute of South Africa.

‘The Airtel rising stars program is designed to provide a structured platform for scouts, coaches, football authorities and other partners to tap into a vast pool of upcoming talent, courtesy of the program and build strong soccer talent feeder systems for our league and national teams’, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Deepak Srivastava says.

Some of the dignitaries at the event included the Director General of the National  Sports Commission, Dr. Patrick Ekeji, Chief Operating Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Deepak Srivastava, Presidents of the Youth Sports Federation (YSFON), Alhaji  Babatunde Ojulari, President of Nigerian School Sports Federation (NSSF), Umar  Ibrahim, and Secretary General of All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of  Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), Alhaji Laheem Saheed Olusegun.

Others included the Chief Marketing Officer of Airtel Nigeria, George Andah, Chief  Sales Officer, Airtel, Inusa Bello, Director, Public Relations & Corporate Social  Responsibility (CSR) and the Education Secretary of Ajeromi Ifelodun Local  Government, Ajegunle, Lagos.

The registration forms will be available from Airtel offices in the several cities and towns.

VEHICLES BOUGHT FROM UNAUTHORIZED DEALERS WON'T BE REGISTERED IN LAGOS

The Lagos State Government on Thursday said that vehicles brought into the state through illegal routes and those bought from individuals would henceforth not be registered in the state. The government said that a tripartite arrangement in the state only allowed individuals to sell their vehicles to members of the public through registered motor vehicle dealers. It added that any vehicle sold outside this arrangement would not be issued the change of ownership title at the Motor Licensing Offices.

The Permanent Secretary of Motor Vehicle Administration Agency Mr. Akin Hanson, who made the government position known to journalists, said only vehicles bought from registered auto dealers would henceforth be attended to. “Unregistered individuals willing to sell either registered or fairly used imported vehicle to go through registered dealers as direct sales transaction is unlawful in the state,” he said.

Mr Hanson also expressed dismay over what he called ‘indiscriminate’ display of vehicles for sale in the state, adding that the agency would soon begin a crackdown on defaulters. The Permanent Secretary said that the way individuals and auto dealers displayed vehicles for sale at unregistered premises was becoming worrisome. He observed that the act negated the law regulating the activities of motor vehicle and spare parts dealers in the state.

Mr Hanson pointed accusing fingers at fuel stations and eateries, which he accused of allowing such display in their premises, describing them as chief culprits. He said, “There are some individual who display vehicles on the roadsides illegally. This attitude constitutes a nuisance to the environment, impedes the movement of pedestrians and free flow of the traffic.

“Before we act, we will embark on a campaign to enlighten the dealers on the law regulating sales of motor vehicle and spare parts in the state, which we have been discussing at our regular stakeholders’ meetings. It would be a sheer pretence for any auto or spare part dealer to feign ignorance of the law regulating the business.”

The Permanent Secretary warned the auto dealers not to take the ‘humane’ approach of the government in enforcing the law regulating auto business for granted and warned that the government had the capacity to enforce the law to the letter. He said that the agency would soon publish names of defaulting dealers in the national dailies and then go ahead to prosecute them.