Sophia Ogezi

Sophia Ogezi

Occupation: Broadcasting, Presentation,programming, Packaging of documentary and more. 

Hobbies: Traveling, Experience on the job:2000 till date and the experience has been rewarding and highly impact full.

Schools attended: Federal Polytechnic Kaduna, (KadPoly). 

 UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, has expressed serious concerns about the negative impact that a new tourism tax on air passengers and hotel guests in Africa, currently being discussed among members of the African Union, would have on Africa´s tourism sector. Tourism is one of the main contributors to Africa’s balance of payments, a source of livelihood for millions in the continent and one of the sectors where the region has a major competitive advantage in international markets.

Mr Rifai alerted that “A tourism tax in Africa is a threat to the competitiveness of the region and to all African economies which increasingly have

tourism as a key pillar to their development. Any decision on the possible imposition of a tourism tax in Africa should be carefully evaluated as to the negative impact it will have on tourism demand, economic growth and jobs”. This concern was echoed by the Ministers of Tourism of the region attending the 56th Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Africa, held in Angola last month. Participants identified increased taxation as one of the main obstacles to the sustainable development of tourism and aviation in the region. Connectivity is one of the major barriers to Africa´s tourism growth and a further increase in the cost of air travel to the continent would jeopardize the need to increase intra and interregional air access across Africa.

Following recent rebasing of Nigeria's GDP and her becoming the largest economy in Africa, two-times bigger than former largest, South Africa's economy! An influential arm of the World Bank has just announced and moved to implement specialised investment in Nigeria's critical, and most lucrative, sector Oil, Gas and Energy. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political risk insurance and credit enhancement arm of the World Bank Group, would provide over $1 billion investment guarantees to support infrastructure development in Nigeria. Announcing this on Wednesday in Abuja, Michel Wormser, vice president and chief operating officer of MIGA, said the guarantees would primarily come into Nigeria’s expanding energy sector, manufacturing and also help the private sector, especially the banks expand their businesses outside the country. Womser who was visiting Nigeria to find out critical investment options has held talks with the banks and would also discuss with the government on specific areas of interests that would bring the best values to the country“Over the next couple of years, I expect that MIGA will provide guarantees above one billion dollars in Nigeria. This is primarily going to be in the energy sector. “And the discussions that we are going to have today is to precisely identify with the governments and agencies where they would see the highest value from MIGA involvement,

A Federal High Court in Lagos Thursday granted Enough is Enough (EiE) Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation, leave to apply to the court to compel the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) and Coscharis Motors Limited to disclose the information requested by the organisation on the purchase of two bulletproof cars for the former Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah. The presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Yunusa, granted the group the leave to pursue three separate suits filed on behalf of the organisation by Media Rights Agenda’s legal officer, Ms. Omolola Adeoya. In the first suit against the NCAA, EiE is seeking a declaration that  the  failure  and/or refusal of NCAA to grant access to or make available to EiE the information it requested by its letter dated October 30, 2013 was a violation of EiE Nigeria's right  of access to information established and guaranteed by Section 1(1) and Section 4(a) of the  Freedom  of Information Act, 2011.

It sought a declaration that the failure and/or refusal by NCAA to give EiE a written notice that access to all or part of the  information requested would not be granted and stating reasons for the denial and the section of the  FoI Act upon which NCAA relied to deny EiE access to

Friday, 21 February 2014 00:00

Obama to Host African Summit in 2014

The White House Spokesman, Jay Carney, on Wednesday in Washington said the  U.S.  President Barack Obama, would host an African Summit in Washington between Aug. 5 and 6. He said the summit would strengthen trade and investment between the U.S. and the continent and also highlight the U.S. commitment to security and democracy in Africa. PANA reports that the summit would build on the progress made since the President's trip to Africa last summer. It would also advance the administration's focus on trade and investment in Africa, and highlight America's commitment to Africa's security, its democratic

Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday resolved to amend the state’s Transportation Law, 2000 to prohibit any company from using an articulated vehicle to convey its workers. At a plenary session of the House, Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji directed a joint committee to look into the issue, and report to the House in January. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the joint committee includes the assembly’s Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Public Petitions, and that of Transportation, Commerce and Industry. NAN reports that the proposed amendment resulted from a motion moved by Mr Abiodun Tobun, who represents Epe I Constituency on the platform of APC. Tobun drew the attention of the lawmakers to the use of articulated vehicles by some construction companies to convey their workers to sites. “Recently, there was an accident which occurred

Friday, 20 December 2013 00:00

PROMOTING THE WELFARE OF NIGERIANS ABROAD

Promoting the welfare of Nigerians abroad

A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru ,once said that one of the major challenges facing Nigerian´s foreign policy is the plight of Nigerians in various prisons abroad. Nigeria has more than eight million of her citizens resident abroad, most of them living in the U.S. and UK. Many of the Nigerians living abroad are contributing to the socio-economic development of their host countries. For instance, in 2012, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, said Nigerians living abroad remitted 21 billion dollars  in 2012 alone, said to be the highest in Africa. ``Nigerians in the Diaspora are excelling in various fields of human endeavour and have continued to make great contributions to national development, particularly in education and health sectors,’’ Anyim said. Regrettably, not many Nigerians fit into this description by the former Senate President as there are indeed exceptions. As at July 2013, available records from the Ministry

Recently, the Federal Government through the minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, directed the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to fully take over the destination inspection (DI) process formerly handled by the service providers over the past seven years. The implication of this is that NCS will be in charge of import and export procedures in Nigerian seaports, airports and land borders. Customs has demonstrated some measure of readiness to assume this important responsibility. This can be seen in the number of trainings that officers of the service have undergone over the years in preparation for this day. NCS will be charged with managing all areas of the inspection processes. These include processing of the electronic Form M; issuance of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) to replace the Risk Assessment Report (RAR); control of scanning equipment and operations in all the scanning sites in Nigeria; and deployment of risk management system developed by Customs in consultation with partner agencies.To successfully achieve this, NCS management introduced PAAR regime to replace RAR that was formerly issued by the service providers and a trade information portal known as ‘Nigerian Trade Hub’ that puts

The Lagos State government on Thursday said that it had not abandoned its plan to construct a seaport in the ancient town of Badagry. Governor Babatunde Fashola gave the assurance while inaugurating the Phase II Market Street in the Badagry Local Government Area. Fashola said that the government kept the seaport project on the “front burner”. He said that the government was aware of the needs of the ancient city, and would attend to them one after the other. Fashola said that his administration would inaugurate more facilities in Badagry, including a court complex and a housing estate. Fashola, however, warned the market men and women against trading on the roadsides, noting that roadside trading was an offence in the state. “This road is supposed to aid easy access to your market; don’t trade on the road. “Customers are supposed to meet you in your

Monday, 09 December 2013 00:00

Nigeria: New Import Guidelines

Determined to ensure seamless transfer of destination inspection (DI) scheme from scanning service providers (SSPs) to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Federal Government has introduced new importation guidelines, procedures and documentation to be followed by banks, Customs, operators and other agencies involved cargo clearance. According to the new import guideline issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance and sent to Abdullahi Dikko Inde, the comptroller-general of Customs, the new import guideline is expected to apply to all import transactions with effect from December 1, 2013. The guideline specified that an importer must obtain and process e-Form ‘M’ with initial validity period of 180 days for general merchandise and 365 days for capital goods through an authorised dealer bank irrespective of the value and payment form of the cargo. Though, the validity days could be extended for another 180 days and 365 days, respectively.

“Payments for goods exempted from DI would not be carried out in the foreign exchange market without a prior approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The list of goods exempted from DI shall only be approved by the minister of finance as a

Wednesday, 27 November 2013 00:00

Akwa Ibom wins 2013 Abuja National Carnival

Akwa Ibom has been declared the overall winner of the 2013 edition of the Abuja National Carnival. In the result announced in Abuja on Tuesday, Kogi clinched the second position while Niger came third. The FCT and Rivers jointly clinched the fourth position. Akwa Ibom also came first in the masquerade fiesta and adjudged the `best decorated’ carnival state. Kogi came first in the Children fiesta event and the best carnival queen, while Ebony came first in the cultural night and the food fair event. Yobe came first in Durbar, Kaduna State and Niger came second and third, respectively, while Bayelsa came first in the boat regatta event followed by Rivers and Kogi. In the music and dance display for FCT schools, Pilot Science Primary School, Wuse, came first while Army Day Secondary School, Maitama, came first in the primary and secondary school categories.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who declared the ninth edition of the carnival closed, solicited the collaboration of stakeholders to upgrade the country’s culture and tourism sector for wealth creation. Represented by Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Jonathan said the carnival would contribute to the development of the nation’s economy. ``It is heartwarming that the carnival is now a

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