NaijaWire

Archive for the ‘USA’ Category

USA- Willbros, a US-owned oil and gas industry services firm based in Panama and with offices in Houston, TX,  has agreed to pay over $32 million in fines and forfeitures to settle allegations of bribery, according to documents made available by the United States Justice Department.

The company was accused of bribing Nigerian and Ecuadoran officials, thus violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which prohibits American citizens or companies from bribing officials in order to get business deals, the Justice Department said. Willbros employees agreed to make “corrupt” payments of over $6.3 million to Nigerian government officials to get a $387 million contract in a major natural gas pipeline project, court papers reveal.

USA - United States of America has launched a comprehensive probe of the Nigerian oil industry over an alleged bribery scandal involving  a former Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg Brown and Root, (KBR) and some unnamed Nigerian officials during negotiation for its work on a key Royal Dutch Shell project in Nigeria. The probe is to cover a period of 20 years.

Halliburton’s Nigerian scandal widened from accusations of bribery to accusations of embezzlement by senior executives. The company recently dismissed two of its most senior executives, Robert Stanley and William Chaudin, on suspicion of embezzling $5 million from a Nigerian energy project. The KBR is a leading global engineering, construction and services company supporting the energy, petrochemicals, government services and civil infrastructure sectors.

Abuja - Nigeria national carrier, Virgin Nigeria Airways, has finally secured the much awaited approval by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) to commence direct commercial flights from Lagos to various destinations in America.

The airline is the first among the three Nigerian carriers, approved by the Federal Government to fly to the United States, to secure such approval. The other airlines are Arik Air and Bellview Airlines.

According to a statement made available by Virgin Nigeria, the approval was signed by the director, Office of International Aviation, Mr. Paul Gretch. The approval confirms that Virgin Nigeria Airways Limited (Virgin Nigeria) has formally been granted the foreign air carrier permit and is financially and operationally qualified to perform the services authorized”, the statement noted.

California (USA) - Nigerian-born Justin Onwordi, who fought on the side of America and was killed in Iraq was among over 100 foreign-born American soldiers who earned post-humus American citizenship for dying in Iraq.

Onwordi died when his vehicle was blown up in Baghdad on August 2, 2004. He left behind a wife and baby boy.

Onwordi, who came to the US from Nigeria in July 2000, started his military training six months later. The 6-foot-4 Nigerian was later assigned to the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 12th Armoured Calvary Regiment, 1st Calvary Division, and was stationed at Ford Hood Texas.

Los Angeles - The professional football career of former Super Eagles defender Celestine Babayaro appeared to hit rock bottom when U.S Major League Soccer (MLS) side, LA Galaxy offloaded him.

Babayaro, who only joined the club of England super star David Beckham last month after being released by struggling Premiership side Newcastle United, had only played one game for the Galaxy before being asked to leave. In fact the former Chelsea star had followed the Galaxy on their pre-season promotional tour of the Far East where he had played a solitary game before news broke yesterday morning on SkySports that the one time Nigerian international had been told his services were no longer needed.