Nigerian airline operator Air Peace will commence its Abuja-London route very soon.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, on Thursday.

Featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, the minister said he has given the approval for Air Peace to add Abuja to its London route.

Air Peace recently commenced its Lagos-Gatwick flights, gathering commendation from many Nigerians.

Following the commencement of the Lagos-London route, other airlines crashed their prices, a situation that led to the owner of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, alleging an international conspiracy.

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday said Nigeria’s high-grade lithium deposits can power the clean energy future of Europe and the world.

He also described Nigeria’s youthful demography with about 200 million population as “a massive market” for Dutch investors, advocating partnership between both nations to stem irregular migration.

“There is a tremendous opportunity between us across trade spheres but especially in solid minerals, where we have high-grade lithium deposits that we know can power the clean energy future of the world,” Tinubu said when he met Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands at his official residence, The Catshuis, in The Hague.

The President’s Spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, revealed this in a statement he signed Thursday titled ‘President Tinubu meets with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of Netherlands, details roadmap for enhanced trade opportunities across sectors.’

Tinubu said Nigeria offers immense opportunities across several sectors and that his administration is deepening reforms to enhance the investment climate.

Therefore, the country seeks robust, balanced and mutually beneficial partnerships to add value in areas such as solid minerals.

“There is excellent value-additive opportunity in Nigeria. The world knows us for oil. They will soon know us for greater innovative exploits in other areas,” Tinubu said.

He told Rutte that Nigeria is blessed with an “extremely dynamic youth population” as 70 per cent of her people are under 30.”

More so, its “200 million plus citizens…represents both a massive workforce and a massive market for Dutch and other international investors,” the President affirmed.

Tinubu also noted that such demographic advantage can transform into an incredible talent pool that need not leave the shores of their country to attain success.

He proposed, “If our young people know they can achieve a promising future in Nigeria, they will stay home and build our nation to greatness.

“Lawful migration of trained Nigerian minds and hands will benefit Europe, and irregular migration will no longer be a source of fear in Europe if we partner effectively. This is what we want.”

The President said this explains why his administration is “adamant” about providing student loans and new credit opportunities to not only enhance the skills of Nigerians but also to ensure they can access a higher quality of life within their legitimate incomes.

“We will transform our economy, and our young people will be the reason why,” Tinubu stated.

He also asserted that Nigerians have tremendous confidence in themselves and that his confidence in the Nigerian people gave him the courage to make difficult decisions on their behalf, given his full awareness of the need to provide Nigerians with the long-term tools they need to succeed.

Tinubu asserted, “I am a determined leader of my people. I have and will continue making difficult decisions that benefit our people, even if there is short-term pain. We have gone through the worst of the storms.

“I am unafraid of the consequences once I know that my actions are in the best long-term interests of all Nigerians. The Nigerian Naira is one of the world’s best-performing currencies today.

“We took the necessary risk, and all resilient Nigerians kept faith with us. They will be rewarded, and the reward will only be greater as we partner effectively with you on new development opportunities. As leaders, we must make decisions for the benefit of our nations, and we cannot shy away from that.”

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands revealed that President Tinubu’s economic reforms have engendered greater confidence in the Nigerian economy from international investors.

According to Rutte, Dutch investors have activated another set of $250m worth of new investments over the next few months, including a $100m investment in a waste-to-wealth industrial facility in Lagos State.

He told Tinubu, “You are promoting democratic governance and the solutions it can bring in dealing with problems of development.

The United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF), says about 75.2 per cent of children in Katsina State are multidimensionally poor, and are experiencing deprivation in at least three dimensions of wellbeing.

The UNlCEF at the same time said the children were experiencing deprivation across nutrition, health, education, water, sanitation, housing and information.

Fatimah Musa, Social Policy Specialist with UNICEF, Kano Field Office, disclosed this in a presentation titled: “Investing in Katsina Children” at the onset of a 4-day engagement with Katsina House of Assembly on Thursday.

The workshop was to strengthen the roles of the lawmakers around budgeting systems, across the State Development Plan (SDP), Medium Term Expenditure Framework, Fiscal Strategy Paper amongst others.

According to the UNICEF social policy specialist, no fewer than 61.2 per cent of children are also financially poor and live in poor households.

“There’s the need to invest in children because it is a right of every child that state parties are obligated to provide resources to the maximum of their possibilities.

“And also to progressively promote, fulfill and protect all rights for all children,” she said.

According to her, UNICEF focuses on strengthening government budget systems to ensure that public resources reach children most in need.

“Reducing the quality or accessibility of health care, education and other services for children, and also the lack of detailed assessment of how much the government is spending on children.

“Annual budgets are not aligning with state planning tools, such as MTEF and State Development Plans (SDP),“ she said.

She further explained that public policy should be accounted for in the budget, to ensure financial resources are leveraged on to make a difference for children.

According to her, effective public financial management is therefore critical to achieving sustained improvements in sector service delivery performance.

“UNICEF’s support to the government is to analyse the efficiency, equity, and sufficiency of investment in children.

“Strengthen institutions to invest in children and support the government to develop instruments that will determine the level of investment in children,” she revealed.