The department of Foreign Affairs today announced a
scholarship for the next 3 years for an African woman for a masters in business
in the Smurfit Business School UCD in honour of Catherine Mwangi the former
Kenyan Ambassador who lost her son and his fiancé in the dreadful Kenyan
massacre. It won't take the pain away or even reduce the loss but it felt like
a really touching act on the part of the department. The third Africa Ireland
Economic Forum (AIEF) will take place from the 2nd- 4th October
2013. The AIEF is organised by the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in partnership with the African
Diplomatic Corps and the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. The
Objective of the forum is to provide an opportunity for Irish business to
connect with African partners to explore opportunities for increased trade and
investment. In 2012, over 250 participants included representatives from 160
Irish companies and 23 African countries. This year over 400 participants took
part and the Africa Voice Newspaper was one of the participants at the event.
African delegations arrived on October 2nd to
begin consultations with Government and Business. The main plenary will take
place on October 3rd. Mr. Eamon Gilmore T.D., Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign
Affairs and Trade will give the Keynote Address and will be joined by other
speakers from Africa and the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School,
including Professor Tito Mboweni, former Governor of the South African Reserve
Bank. Mr. Simon Coveney T.D., Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine,
H.E. Mr. Tefera Derbew, Minister for
Agriculture, Ethiopia, Andrew Rugasira, founder of Good African Coffee, Uganda
and Francis Grogan, CEO of Zambeef, Zambia will address a special session on
agribusiness. The theme for the third Africa Ireland Economic Forum will be
‘Building Partnerships’. A special afternoon session will highlight the success
in Ireland of building partnerships through the Diasporas. In addition to an
exchange on issues related to the Diasporas, the Forum includes sessions on
telecommunications and financial services. On the 4th of October,
visits will be arranged to a number of Irish business locations for African
delegates which due to my work unable to partake.
The introductory speeches were followed by highly
informative talks and panel discussions with companies involved in business in
Africa. I could resonate with the opportunities and challenges experienced by
the panel delegates and found some of their comments truly insightful. Andrew Rugasira, founder of Good African Coffee, Uganda one of the
speakers stand out, handsome I would say, great speaker and he dazzle everyone
I believe with is presentation. Following the information overload received in
the morning session, I was greatly delighted that I was part of the forum,
looking forward to reaching the lunch break where I get the opportunity of
speaking with some of the other delegates.
My lunch partner was Sarah from café and she was there with
her brother the gorgeous man with red hair. It was fascinating to hear about
the developments in and what café is doing as regard to Africa air transport
system. I saw old faces and delighted to know that my own Country Nigeria as
the most delegate at the forum of about 20 participants from Nigeria. The lunch
break ended too quickly for my liking but I was looking forward to the next
session where delegates were broken into specific ‘interest groupings’ and
panel discussions were to be held on a smaller scale and dr. Oluwakemi
Bashorun from Trinity College originally from Nigeria is going to be
one of the speaker . I was sure which group I am attending, Diaspora and
Participation was my area of interest and there I notice Chris Maiyaki from Nigeria which is a policy representative for
University Board. I had the opportunity
of taken picture with Prof. Mary Lambkin
and Andrew Rugasira and with other participant and friends. Michael Galvin Managing Director of Galvin
Global Recruitment Limited, also stand out for me and it was nice and interesting
meeting him.
Thank you to Dr George Alabi for his support at the ”AIEF”
to Maiya Face of Afro Fashion Show Ireland 2014, on her trip to Paris
At the Galway Africa History Interactive Interview Workshop, Dr Kelvin O'Sullivan explort the story of "Holy Ghost Father and the Role the Priest play during the Biafra War. Concern. Trocaire, Irish Aid were all establish for this purpose.
the Irish missionary priest of the Holy Ghost Fathers, Fr Kevin Doheny Cssp was Ojukwu’s intelligence director. He was also reputed to be in charge of all radio communications in Biafra. According to the American secret documents, Fr Doheny a cousin of Senator Mansfield, had ties to Senator Goodell and Congressman Lowenstein who visited Biafra, and through his older brother, Fr Mike Doheny had ties to Cardinal Cushing, the Archbishop of Boston and member of National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP)and to US Speaker McCormack who passed the landmark 1964 American Civil Rights Legislation.
Father Doheny was ordained a priest on 5th of July 1953 in Dublin and arrived in Owerri Diocese in November 1954. During the Civil War, Father Doheny was successful in mobilising worldwide catholic relief support for the suffering children and women in Biafra. Doheny who travelled from Dublin to Geneva to hold talks with Clarence Clyde Ferguson, Jr., the US Special Coordinator on Relief to Victims of the Nigerian Civil War in June 1969, told the American head of mission there that the charge of genocide against the Federal troops was “highly exaggerated” but he said it as “a major factor in keeping the Biafrans fighting.” Robert Goldstein, Biafra’s public relations guru said it was necessary for the world to see the deaths and the starvation of tens of thousands refugees in Biafra. And so he helped organised regular international press trips to Biafra.
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/biafra-war-the-catholic-priest-the-hollywood-publicist-and-the-arms-dealer.html
No comments:
Post a Comment