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Twenty Nigerian investors were last evening hosted to a dinner at Kigali Serena by officials of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and Private Sector Federation (PSF).

The dinner served as a welcome ceremony for the Nigerian delegation which arrived on February 29th and will leave the country on March 5th. During their stay in Rwanda, they will be toured round the country while being shown investment opportunities.

Rwanda’s Envoy to Nigeria Joseph Habineza, brought the Delegation who are part of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG). The aim was to encourage investments between both countries.

“I have always encouraged Nigerians to visit Rwanda and explore opportunities in here and recently I was impressed when I checked our embassy’s record and I realized that for the past six months we had issued visas to more than 1000 Nigerians,” he said.

He encouraged that Nigerians would do better in the country’s hospitality sector known to be lagging behind, the methane power plant was another area the ambassador recommended for investments.

Philips Foluso the chairman of NESG, commended Rwanda’s progress especially in doing business, a fact he says has given comfort to investors who want to open business in the country.

“On the other hand there is need for joint effort that’s why we need to interact more, visit each other, exchange ideas and become great business partners,” he advised.

Macdonald James Obi, the managing director of SONARWA insurance company, advised that Rwanda has potential businesses and it is time for Nigerians to exploit the chance , since the country landlocked for instance.

“let me give you a good example, if you import a cabin of a lorry from Nigeria it would cost Frw 35 million yet the ones sold in Rwanda cost more than Frw 50 million, you see the difference is big that’s why we should open business in Rwanda and sell big.”

Prisoners that have successfully completed their sentences must be released without fail otherwise such prison authorities shall be prosecuted.

This was mentioned by the Internal Security Minister Sheih Moussa Fazil Harerimana.

The Minister also warned Prison authorities against imprisoning anybody without court directives.

This was announced during a Thursday national meeting which involved officials of Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS) and chaired by Minister Sheih Harerimana.

RCS was hailed for the achievements made since it was established in July last year. The minister urged the prisons authorities to observe the laws.

Rwanda Correctional Services RCS is a merger of the National Prisons Service and Travaux pour d’Interets Generale, (TIG) – Community work carried out by convicts of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Today morning at Kacyiru, a woman discovered a young boy she had denied shelter three days ago hidden in the kitchen store of their home.

The housemaid of the residence was secretly hiding him in the store till he could save up enough cash to take the boy to his home at gisozi where the boy would live with him and his wife.

The boy indentified as Mukahirwa Janvier was found in the storeroom of a family home early this morning.

Nizeyimana Celestin the housemaid who secretly hid Mukahirwa in the kitchen store for three days, had forgotten to lock the store room when the house owner entered the store to pick something only to find the boy sleeping on the floor.

Mukahirwa was recognised by the master as the boy she recently denied shelter. She presumed he was a thief and threatened to call the police.

However, Nizeyimana defended himself explaining why he had hidden the boy, after begging the woman for forgiveness he promised to take the boy to his home today after he has finished his daily chores.

Nizeyimana claims to have found Mukahirwa crying outside a resident’s house where he had spent the previous evening begging the owners to give him shelter.

The housemaid Nizeyimana who was sheltering the boy said he found the boy sleeping outside the gate as he was exiting the house to go buy groceries and found the boy crying and shivering.

Mukahirwa 11 is an orphan who recently lost his parents and has never been to school.

His father was a seamstress at the local market in the Kacyiru district and his mother was a vendor whom worked in various districts, he’s parents had been sick for quite a while until he found his mother dead and his father dead only a week later.

Mukahirwa had been told by the landlord to go to the police where they will tell him where to go but refused him to stay, the landlord took all the belonging telling Mukahirwa that was what they would use as payment for the rent money his parents had not paid for over the last two months.

Muhirwa told Nizeimana that he had walked around the whole of Kacyiru asking for help from the people his father knew but everyone turned him away and he started begging from local residents until he ended up on Nizeimana’s door step.

Nizeimana said the reason he had taken pity on the boy is because he had experienced a similar situation when he was a boy and he knew he had to help this boy. When Muhirwa told Nizeimana that his bosses had refused to let him in, Nizeimana decided to sneak the boy in while his bosses were sleeping.

He created a small bed of blankets where Muhirwa would sleep on at night and lock him in till morning after the bosses left. while he saved up the money to send the boy to his wife in Gismos where the boy would be adopted by him and his wife whom have no children of their own.

Nizeimana says he will take the boy tonight where he knows his wife will welcome the boy with open arms; the boy will be treated as though he was their own flesh and blood.

The British monarch announced that the Queen will open both the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics this summer. It will be the first time the queen has opened the Paralympic Games.

The queen had often honoured Paralympians for their achievements in the past.
Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, will perform the ceremonial role at the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium when the Olympic games begin on July 27.

The queen is following in the footsteps of her father, the late King George VI, who opened the 1948 London Olympics, Queen Elizabeth also opened the 1976 Games in Canada, and the queen will send her children and grandchildren on official visits to many Commonwealth countries rather than undertake the strenuous voyages herself.

The queen marks her 60 years on the throne this year.

The monarch, 85, and Philip, 90, are planning an extensive tour of the United Kingdom during the celebrations, including visits to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Philip is planning to stick to the schedule despite his December heart scare, which required the insertion of a stent to keep his coronary arteries open.

Celebrations will include a gala concert in front of Buckingham Palace with performances by Paul McCartney and Elton John and a carriage procession through the streets of London following a service of thanksgiving.

Elizabeth will open Buckingham Palace to visitors from June 30-July 8 to accommodate Olympic activities. The palace then will close for a few weeks before opening to the public as is the monarch’s usual summer practice.

Some 4,200 athletes will take part in the Paralympics Games from August 29 to September 9. The event marks the return of the games.

The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Rwanda (ICPAR) yesterday trained over 40 SACCO workers and their leaders including others from auditing firms on financial reporting.

The training was held at Golden Hills Hotel in Kigali.

(ICPAR) is a Professional Accountancy Organization (PAO) mandated by law to regulate the Accounting profession in the republic of Rwanda.

Peter Rutaremara president of ICPA Rwanda explained to the press that the workshop was meant to create awareness to the participants on corporate laws and financial report framework among others to institutions in order to become better accounting members.

“We also meant to impart them with skills that can help them do their work in a polite manner,” Rutaremara added.

He also said that the institution signed a MoU with Auditors in Micro Finance Institutions intending to uplift their skills to reach the international standards.

Among other trainees, Emmy Manzi heading Munyiginya SACCO based in Rwamagana district Eastern Province said that the people in the area still lacked proper information to create awareness adding that at the end of the workshop he will be able to get a solution on how to create awareness about SACCO in his area of work in order to attract many people.

Joan Nyanzi of Garry White Knight (Auditors) based in Uganda but has a branch in Rwanda said, “The ICPAR workshops I have attended yet have helped me to know how to follow laws in Rwanda and I have leant standards and knowledge of operating in this country.”

Nyanzi also quoted, “when the company is not following laws properly, there are high risks of affecting Auditors during auditing.” She added that such trainings help them to overcome such kind obstacles during auditing.

A group of climate change scientists from East and Central Africa have urged governments and donors to establish a regional platform aimed at addressing climate-related disasters.

Scientists want an early warning system to help local communities prepare for drought and other climate-related disasters in the region.

The meeting also focused on exploring options to produce a product tailored to local conditions, including parts of the region that were devastated by a severe drought between 2010 and 2011.

Researchers visited a weather centre in Rwanda for an overview of techniques used by Rwanda for weather forecasting and dissemination.

“This project (in Rwanda) shows how a small initial investment in the weather can make a major difference in providing accurate information to prevent another catastrophe,” said John Ntaganda, the president of meteorological services in Rwanda.

Scientists included those from; Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya and Rwanda.

“It was wonderful to come to Rwanda and see how the government deals with the problem, assuming a leadership role and developing clear strategies for mitigation of climate change,” said Mr. Laban Ogallo.

Mr. Ogallo is the Chief of the Forecast Climate and Applications with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in the regional bloc.

The scientists also stressed the need to increase food production in the region to meet the needs of the growing population of Africa.

Students in their final academic year at School of Finance and Banking(SFB) long dispute continues as they are accusing the Vice Rector in charge of academics Dr Papius Musafiri.

The students accuse Musafiri for blocking them from sitting for suplimentary papers after failing the exams saying it is a common practice in many universities around the world more especially in common wealth countries of which Rwanda joined recently.

Over 200 of the 500 students largely from Finance and Accounting Departments supposed to graduate June this year now face missing their graduation due to failed exams and not allowed to sit for supplementary.

“We petitioned the administration but the Vice-Rector in charge of academics says that their policy prohibits supplementary examinations,” Steven Nankunda who is also the Guild president said.

The policy seems to be hinged on only business interests as students are asked to pay Rwf 80,000 in order to retake one examination even when they have to repeat the class.

The students continue pointing an accusing finger to Vice Rector Musafiri as a more complicated and don’t mind about the problems of the students claiming that their education environment does not favour them.

They claim that facilities at the institution were stretched and lecturer rooms are overcrowded that even can’t hear the lectures giving examples of also the library and computer laboratory.

Other students complained that lecturers at times refuse to assist them complete their studies.

“We have students who do a lot of work on their project proposals because some supervisors do not respond to their queries. Sometimes they even refuse to pick up calls from students,” claimed Livingstone Byakatonda, one of the affected students from the Department of Finance.

The accused Vice Rector Dr Papius Musafiri question the claims of the students yet they have failed examinations however saying the final list of those to graduate is yet to be released.

Musafiri says the objective of the graduation should not be the number of graduates, but the quality of students that the institution is discharging into the labour market.

Professor Geoffrey Rugege, the Executive Director of the National Council for Higher Education has backed the SFB for its “tough stand”.

“Institutions of higher learning have the full freedom and autonomy to change their academic regulations to adopt what they consider the best practices,” he said.

He added that all academic regulations are under review with the aim of making all universities adopt uniform standards by September this year.

Unlike the SFB, other universities in Rwanda are yet to abolish supplementary examinations.

Contrary however the celebrated professor Silas Lwakabamba the Rector of National University of Rwanda (NUR) says “Its part and parcel of our regulations that students should be given another chance once they fail an examination,”

SFB has vowed to produce quality students for Rwanda’s labour market with skills in Finance, accounting mostly to bridge the gap of incompetence in finance, procurement and accounting sectors.

ENDS

Police in Kirehe District has arrested a suspected murderer while on the run to Rusumo after killing his parents in Rwamagana District.

The suspect identified as Sindayigaya Gilbert 24 reportedly beheaded his 75year-old father and consequently strangled his own mother aged 65 years.

The murder incidence occurred at Munayinga sector in Rwamagana district.

Sindayigaya decision to murder his elderly parents resulted from a property dispute.

About 250 Investors have convened in Kigali for an Energy Investment conference.

Officiating at the opening of the conference, Prime Minister Dr.Pierre Damien HABUMUREMYI encouraged private sector to consider investing in the Energy sector saying the government policy supports such a move.

The conference is organized by Rwanda Development board in partnership with the World Bank, the ministry of infrastructure and national energy agency EWSA.

The Minister of State for Water and Energy Ms. Emma Francoise ISUMBINGABO said Rwanda has a plan to generate over 1000 Mega watts of Electricity but currently the total output stands at 100Mega watts.

She thus emphasized that this target cannot be attained without the collaboration with the private sector.

Government also projects that by 2017 about 70% of Rwandan homes shall be connected to the national electricity grid.

Rwanda Development Board’s Deputy CEO in charge of Business Operations Claire Akamanzi said energy production increase is needed to for the current and future economic development.