Medview Airlines begins airlift of Pilgrims to Saudi Arabia

Medview Airlines, one of the carriers designated to fly Muslimpilgrims to Saudi Arabia yesterday commenced airlifting of 517 pilgrims from the Lagos zone through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.
The 517 pilgrims from Osun and Ogun States, are the first batch of the over 5,500 to be air lifted by Medview Airlines from three zones namely Lagos, Ilorin and Port Harcourt allocated to the airline.

The airline said it has deployed two Boeing 747 and Boeing 767 aircraft to airports in Lagos and Ilorin  that would simultaneously fly pilgrims into Medina, in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking at a pre-departure briefing at the hajj camp axis of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, the managing director of  Medview Airlines, Alhaji Muneer Bankole said the airline will complete the  in bound air lifting of pilgrims at the designated zones this week , even as he assured that all logistics have been mobilised to ensure the seamless movement if the pilgrims.

Bankole said the airline in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of  Health and the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria ( NAHCON) to sensitive the pilgrims on how to avoid being afflicted with Coronal Virus that is prevalent in Saudi Arabia .

He said it is for such readies that children are not allowed to participate in the exercise , even as he said the airline would not board any  unmarried  female pilgrims that is not accompanied by a male guarantor .
Bankole said :" We have commenced 2013 air lifting of Muslim pilgrims from Lagos and Ilorin zones and we will be  flying 517 passenger today with the Boeing 747 aircraft to Medina in Saudi Arabia.
We are operating from three zones, Lagos , Ilorin and Port Harcourt .
The pilgrims will be flown to Medina. As an airline we will provide clothing materials and water for the males and females.
We have B747 and B767 aircraft already in place to make the flight hitch free.
All adequate arrangements has been made like we did last year  to ensure that any female that is not accompanied by a male is not allowed to board.

From the Medview Airlines point of view, We would provide some materials for the pilgrims." 

He further said : " About 5,500 pilgrims  will be airlifted from Lagos, Ilorin, and Port Harcourt.

That is the number of pilgrims allotted to us fir this year.
Besides the Boeing 747 aircraft we have in Lagos , We have deployed another Boeing 767 aircraft in Ilorin zone.

We are fully prepared for this programme, we insist that all pilgrims abide by the laws, concerning unaccompanied singles.
We would conclude  by October 19, 2013.

We have done this  Hajj thirty times, it shows we have core competence in this business.
We have collaborated with officials of Ministry of Health to sensitive the pilgrims on how to stay healthy and avoid any infection with the coronal virus that was reported in Saudi Arabia at the time.

The ministry of health and the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria has carried out sufficient enlightenment to ensure that the pilgrims are equipped with enough knowledge to avoid any contamination of coronal virus. 

That is why children are not allowed.  We would conclude by weekend  the in bound leg of the flights into Saudi Arabia  and commence the out bound airlifting from Saudi Arabia from October 19, 2013.

We have begun the airlift with pilgrims from Osun State, Ogun State, while other states in the South West will continue in the week.
We have sufficiently mobilised to ensure there is no hitch in the programme . "

Source: Alarinka agbaye blog.

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Govt plans tourism sector transformation to diversify revenue base

By Gregory Austin Nwakunor and Ajibola Amzat

THE Federal Government has restated its commitment to diversifying the nation’s revenue base, with a plan to develop the tourism sector to generate more earnings and create more jobs.
  At the tourism stakeholders forum tagged ‘Rebuilding the NTDC and Growing the Tourism Value Chain for Revenue Generation and Job Creation’, held at the Civic Centre, Lagos on Monday, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Edem Duke, said the forum gave full expression to the transformation agenda in the tourism sector.
  According to him, the ministry has President Goodluck Jonathan’s approval of the transformation agenda in the ministry which provides “a rallying point for showcasing Nigeria’s tourism assets by articulating a strategic brand positioning for Nigeria in the international arena aptly christened Fascinating Nigeria. This is imperative because the world has moved beyond traditional diplomacy into an era of brand diplomacy.”
   While stating that the ministry has entered into a strategic partnership with a Dubai-based destination marketing company to domesticate best practices from their experiences, he called on all stakeholders in the Nigerian project to support the re-energised brand positioning.
  “We urge corporate citizens and every Nigerian, indeed, to proudly start a word-of-mouth campaign in support of our media campaigns, especially on international platforms,” he said.
  The minister said his ministry is mindful of the many challenges faced by stakeholders across the Tourism value chain. “From the operator, who is confronted with multiple taxes and high cost of capital to the Nigerian citizens who are more likely to be below 35 years of age and seeking better paying job so they can have time for leisure and domestic travel.”
  Duke said, “in line with the policy of this administration to provide an enabling environment for the private sector to be the engine of economic growth and job creation, we encourage private investors to partner with the NTDC as it unveils programmes and projects.”
  The Director General of NTDC, Sally Mbanefo, while unfolding her transformation agenda, said her focus would be domestic tourism.
According to the DG, “the domestic tourism market has very high revenue and job creation potential. If we assume that a low estimate of 20 million out of 160 million Nigerians travel locally for business, leisure, culture, religion or sport yearly, and they spend only 10 per cent of Nigeria’s per capital income of $2000 yearly, we will have $4 billion domestic tourism market and hence our focus at NTDC is on developing domestic tourism as the foundation for attracting international tourists.”
  According to Mbanefo, “we cannot achieve anything without the support of all the stakeholders, home and abroad.”
 The chairman of the occasion, Mr. Andrew Alli, who is President, African Finance Corporation, described tourism as a major driver of infrastructural inv estment on the continent. He noted that financing is not a major challenge as some investors may want to believe that “if the business idea is good, accessing funding may not be difficult. Financial organisations are only looking out for key factors that can mitigate the risk,” he said.

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NIGERIA, 18 OTHERS BARRED FROM USA VISA LOTTERY

By Comfort Oseghale, The Punch

Nigeria and some other countries will no longer be eligible to participate in the America Diversity Visa lottery programme.

Information from the United States Department of State sighted on Sunday said Nigerians and citizens from few other countries were not eligible for DV-2015

The department said Nigeria was excluded since over 50,000 Nigerians had immigrated into the United States in the last five years.

The department listed other countries not eligible as Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador and Haiti.

Others are India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam

However, many African countries would continue to enjoy the programme.

Some of them are Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia and Ghana.

Others are Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles and Sierra Leone.

Diversity visas are said to be distributed among six geographic regions, while no single country could receive more than seven per cent of the available space in any year.

Already, advertsiements for the 2015 US DV lottery have started with several businesses inviting Nigerians to apply for the program.

Applications for the 2015 US DV lottery is expected to take off from October 1, 2013.

In 2012, 14,769, 658 persons were said to have qualified worldwide for the US DV lottery among the 19, 672, 269 which applied.

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