Nigeria Refuses To Participate At Milano Expo Due to Lack Of Money

By Ehi Ekhator, United Kingdom

Nigerian government refused to participate in the ongoing Milano Expo in Italy due to lack of fund, NAIJA CENTER NEWS learnt on Monday.

President Buhari

Expo Milano 2015 is the Universal Exhibition that Milan, is hosting from May 1 to October 31, 2015. Over 140 countries were invited to show the best of their technology that offers a concrete answer to a vital need: being able to guarantee healthy, safe and sufficient food for everyone, while respecting the Planet and its equilibrium.

The Expo also involves international organizations, and expects to welcome over 20 million visitors to its 1.1 million square meters of exhibition area.

Investigation carried out by NAIJA CENTER NEWS, revealed that Nigeria was invited but the government claimed that there was no money to participate.

A source who was privy to the arrangement but refused to be named since he is not authorised to speak on the issue said” I can assure you that Nigerian government was invited, but they said they don’t have money to participate. we heard meeting with them close to one and half years, officials from Nigeria came here, December to February this year, we couldn’t find the money.”

 

Responding to NAIJA CENTER NEWS email,Domenico Repaci  frompress office explained that it was at the discretion of the Nigeria government to participate or not.

Repaci said” Please note that during the promotional campaign of Expo Milano 2015, every country was approached at the governmental level.

“Every government decided whether to participate or not at the universal exposition. Therefore, Nigeria was invited too to participate at the exposition.”

Nigeria Refuses To Participate At Milano Expo Due to Lack Of Money

Thousands protest against unemployment in Italy

TURIN (AFP) – Scuffles broke out between police and hundreds of protesters in Turin at one of several rallies against unemployment and austerity in Italy for May Day.

Activists lobbed smoke bombs at police, who charged against demonstrators in the northern industrial city, which has been badly hit by a painful two-year recession.

A few protesters were seen being detained.

Thousands of people also took part in a peaceful demonstration called by the main trade unions in Pordenone, near Venice, where the closure of a nearby washing machine plant owned by Sweden’s Electrolux has put 1,300 jobs at risk.

“We always hear talk about cuts in Europe instead of investment in labour,” Susanna Camusso, leader of Italy’s biggest union, the CGIL, said at the rally.

Although Italy’s monthly unemployment rate went down slightly to 12.7 percent in March, from 13 percent in February, it was 0.7 of a percentage point higher than in March 2013, according to official data released Wednesday.

Italy began growing again in the fourth quarter of 2013 after its worst recession since World War II, but the government is forecasting the economy will grow by just 0.8 percent this year.

Speaking at an event in Rome, the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said there was a “labour emergency” and called for “maximum reaction in terms of reforms and public policy”.

He also paid tribute to several business owners and workers in Italy who have committed suicide in recent years because of the acute economic crisis.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis also had a May Day message.

In a tweet from his account, @pontifex, he wrote: “I ask everyone with political responsibility to remember two things: human dignity and the common good”.

 

Thousands protest against unemployment in Italy