Showing posts with label $6 Million. Show all posts
Showing posts with label $6 Million. Show all posts

Friday, May 6, 2011

Nigeria and UNESCO launch $6 million national literacy programme


Photo Credit: 31 Exchange


6 May 2011 18:37 Africa/Lagos


Nigeria and UNESCO launch $6 million national literacy programme

PARIS, May 6, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Efforts to achieve Education for All in Nigeria received a major boost today with the signing of an $6 million agreement between UNESCO and the Nigerian Government. Under the agreement, Nigeria will finance a project managed by UNESCO to revitalize adult and youth literacy in the country. It was signed today at UNESCO's Paris Headquarters by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and Nigeria's Federal Minister of Education Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa'i.

Although Nigeria has made considerable progress towards Education for All, illiteracy remains a major problem, with an estimated 50 million adults who cannot read or write. Furthermore, some 8.6 million Nigerian primary-age children are out-of-school.

“The importance and enormous benefits of literacy both for individual empowerment and national development are well known and documented,” said Irina Bokova, following the signing ceremony. “As the UN's specialized agency for education, UNESCO has at its disposal a huge reservoir of expertise and experience. Every effort will be made to mobilize and effectively deploy these resources for the benefit of Nigeria.”

“This is a project charged with great expectations and it is in the spirit of achieving these expectations, together, that we envisioned our cooperation (Nigeria and UNESCO) for the achievement of the important goal of this major endeavor,” said Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa'i, who currently chairs the E-9 initiative*. “It is our hope that Nigeria's successful implementation of this programme will serve as a model, not only for the E-9 countries, but also those in the Africa region and elsewhere, facing the literacy challenge. We count on UNESCO to continue to provide appropriate and adequate support for its success.”

The agreement will open the way for a vast programme to strengthen national capacities for designing, delivering, evaluating and monitoring quality literacy programmes. It will be implemented by UNESCO's office in the Nigerian federal capital, Abuja over 42 months, in close cooperation with the relevant Nigerian authorities.

This if the fourth “self-benefitting” agreement signed between Nigeria and UNESCO since 2004, when the Government in Abuja committed almost $1million for a programme to reform the Nigerian Science, Technology and Innovation System. In 2005, Nigeria provided over $3 million for a UNESCO programme to boost science and technology education in primary and secondary schools and colleges of education. In 2008, the government in Abuja committed $565,000 to support technical and vocational education in Nigeria (this programme was complemented by an additional $1.5 million implemented directly by Government services. These three programmes are all ongoing.

* The E-9 Initiative is a forum for nine high-population countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan) to discuss their experiences in education, exchange best practices and monitor progress on achieving Education for All (EFA). Since its launch in 1993, the E-9 network has also become a powerful lobby for EFA and South-South cooperation.


Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)


Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time
6 May 2011
19:25 Cote d'Ivoire / UNOCI's future role under preparation
18:55 World Bank President Supports Further Moroccan Reforms and Civic Participation
18:53 Hennessy Advisors, Inc. Announces Second Quarter Earnings of $0.06 Per Share and Declares Quarterly Dividend
18:49 Experts and Policy Makers conclude CODIST II with resounding call to invest in Science Technology Innovation
18:37 Nigeria and UNESCO launch $6 million national literacy programme
17:59 El proyecto del Lago Kivu de ContourGlobal recibe la garantía de la Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency del Banco Mundial
17:32 South African Airways Selects Expedia Affiliate Network to Power Hotel Offering
17:31 Defense Logistics Agency Warfighter Support Representatives Assist Troops in Libya, Africa
15:33 Powerful Start to 2011: BASF Remains on Growth Track
14:30 Researchers Join Forces To Cure Deadly Childhood Disease
14:00 The Female Health Company's Brazilian Distributor, Semina, Awarded Contract For Up To 20 Million FC2 Female Condoms
14:00 Smartphone Sales Will Account for 53% of Global Handset Sell-Through in 2015, Pyramid Finds
13:42 ICE Futures Europe Announces Daily Volume Records for Brent Crude and RBOB Gasoline Futures
13:30 The Female Health Company Reports Second Quarter Operating Results and Confirms Annual Guidance
13:00 Wines of South Africa Launches New Sustainability Seal and Video at Earth Day New York
13:00 InspireMD to Participate in Benchmark Company, LLC 2011 One-On-One Investor Conference
12:29 Sasol Announces Appointment of Chief Executive Designate
11:18 Canadian Pharmacy Intermediary's Top Reasons U.S. Customers Choose Canada Online Pharmacies Revealed by SaveRxCanada.com
11:02 First Quarter 2011 Earnings Release and Conference Call for Harvest Natural Resources
10:46 Slovenia National TV Renews Broadcast Relationship With Eutelsat With new 10-Year Contract at the Hot Bird(TM) Neighbourhood



Source: African Press Organization



Friday, January 29, 2010

Former Willbros International Executives Sentenced to Prison for Their Roles in $6 Million Nigerian Bribery Scandal

29 Jan 2010 00:46 Africa/Lagos


Former Willbros International Executives Sentenced to Prison for Their Roles in $6 Million Foreign Bribery Scheme

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two former executives of Willbros International Inc. (WII), a subsidiary of Houston-based Willbros Group Inc. (Willbros), were sentenced today for their roles in a conspiracy to pay more than $6 million in bribes to government officials of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and officials from a Nigerian political party, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and Acting Assistant Director in Charge John G. Perren of the FBI's Washington Field Office.


Jason Edward Steph, 40, was sentenced today to 15 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Simeon T. Lake III in Houston. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Lake ordered Steph to serve two years of supervised release following his prison term and to pay a $2,000 fine. The court acknowledged at the sentencing hearing the assistance Steph provided in ongoing investigations.


Jim Bob Brown, 48, was sentenced today to 12 months and one day in prison by Judge Lake. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Lake ordered Brown to serve two years of supervised release following his prison term and to pay a fine of $1,000 per month while Brown is on supervised release. The court acknowledged at the sentencing hearing the assistance Brown provided in ongoing investigations.


Steph and Brown both had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) before Judge Lake in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. In pleading guilty, Steph and Brown admitted that Willbros, a publicly traded company that provides construction, engineering and other services in the oil and gas industry, conducted its international operations through WII and that they were both employees of WII. Steph admitted that beginning in approximately late 2003, he conspired with others to make a series of corrupt payments totaling more than $6 million to various Nigerian officials and officials from a Nigerian political party to assist Willbros in obtaining and retaining the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS) Project, which was valued at approximately $387 million.


Steph also admitted that in early 2005, he, along with former WII executive Brown and others, arranged for the payment of approximately $1.8 million in cash to government officials in Nigeria to further the conspiracy. Steph admitted that in order to make these payments, he obtained $550,000 in cash from another co-conspirator for the purpose of paying that money to Nigerian government officials. He also admitted that he obtained approximately $350,000 from a petty cash account, which was raised over several weeks by falsely inflating petty cash funding requests transmitted to Willbros and by covering the inflated amounts with invoices from fictitious vendors representing purportedly legitimate business expenses.


Brown admitted that in early 2005, he conspired with others to pay bribes to government officials in Nigeria for the purpose of retaining the EGGS Project. Brown admitted that to further this conspiracy, he, with the assistance of others, obtained a suitcase filled with $1 million in cash from WII's German construction company partner, which Brown then paid to another co-conspirator for the purpose of forwarding that money to Nigerian government officials.


Brown also admitted that in at least 1996 and continuing through at least 2004, he conspired with others to negotiate lower federal and state tax obligations in exchange for corrupt, "under the table" payments to Nigerian revenue officials, including officials responsible for auditing and enforcing taxes, for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business and for securing an improper advantage. Brown admitted he also conspired with others to make corrupt payments to officials of the Nigerian judicial system in exchange for favorable action on pending cases, for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business and for securing an improper advantage.


Additionally, Brown admitted to making at least $300,000 in corrupt payments to Ecuadorian government officials affiliated with PetroEcuador and PetroCommercial, for the purpose of obtaining and retaining business for Willbros, WII and others, including the Proyecto Santo Domingo project. In connection with the Ecuador transaction, Brown and others agreed to pay $150,000 to the Ecuadorian officials up front and $150,000 at the project's conclusion.


To date, in addition to Steph and Brown, the prosecution in this matter also includes:


On Nov. 12, 2009, former WII consultant Paul Novak pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one substantive count of violating the FCPA, in connection with his role in paying bribes to Nigerian government officials. Novak's sentencing is currently scheduled for July 9, 2010.


On Dec. 19, 2008, an indictment was unsealed against former Willbros executive Kenneth Tillery, charging him with conspiring to make more than $6.3 million in bribe payments to Nigerian and Ecuadoran officials; two individual counts of violating the FCPA in connection with the authorization of specific corrupt payments to officials in those countries; and one count of conspiring to launder the bribe payments through purported consulting companies. He remains a fugitive.


On May 14, 2008, Willbros entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a $22 million criminal penalty, in connection with the company's payment of bribes to government officials in Nigeria and Ecuador.


This case was prosecuted by Assistant Chief Hank Bond Walther and Trial Attorney Laura N. Perkins of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office squad that specializes in investigations of FCPA violations.


Source: U.S. Department of Justice

CONTACT: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs,
+1-202-514-2007, TDD +1-202-514-1888


Web Site: http://www.justice.gov/


Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time
29 Jan 2010
00:46
Former Willbros International Executives Sentenced to Prison for Their Roles in $6 Million Foreign Bribery Scheme
28 Jan 2010
13:18
Nokia Q4 2009 Net Sales EUR 12.0 Billion, Non-IFRS EPS EUR 0.25 (Reported EPS EUR 0.26)
13:00
Bristow Group to Present at the 2010 Credit Suisse Energy Summit
02:45
Global Health Initiative Working Group Media Advisory: Experts Available for Comment on the State of the Union Address