A Nigerian democracy activist, Josephine Odumakin, is to be honoured, alongside nine other women around the world, with the United States Government's prestigious Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award. The U.S. First Lady, Michelle Obama, will join Secretary of States, John Kerry, to honour the 10 women at an event marking the International Women's Day on Friday, the State Department said on Monday. "First Lady Michelle Obama will join Secretary Kerry and the awardees as a special guest at the 3 p.m. ceremony in the Dean Acheson Auditorium of the U.S. Department of State," the department said in a statement. The Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award annually recognizes women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women's rights and empowerment, often at great personal risk. Since the inception of this award in 2007, 67 women from 45 different countries have been honoured. The 2013 awardees include Mrs. Odumakin, who is the president, Campaign for Democracy; Malalai Bahaduri, First Sergeant, Afghan National Interdiction Unit (Afghanistan); Samira Ibrahim, Coordinator, Know Your Rights (Egypt); Julieta Castellanos, Rector, National Autonomous University of Honduras (Honduras); and Elena Milashina, journalist, human rights activist (Russia). Others include Fartuun Adan, Executive Director, Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre (Somalia); Tsering Woeser (Wei Se), Tibetan author, poet, blogger (China); Razan Zeitunah, human rights lawyer and founder, Local Coordination Committees (Syria); Ta Phong Tan, blogger (Vietnam); and Nirbhaya "Fearless," champion for justice (India). The honorees were expected to begin their visit to the United States in Pittsburgh, where they would participate in an open to the press forum at Chatham University on March 4, as well as in meetings with organizations such as the Women and Girls Foundation and Gwen's Girls, the state department said. They will arrive in Washington on Wednesday for meetings with Department of State and White House officials, members of Congress, and leaders of Non-Governmental Organizations. After the ceremony, the honorees will travel separately to cities across the United States to engage with the American people through an International Visitor Leadership Program. They will visit Indianapolis, Jackson Hole, Portland, San Francisco, and Tampa. The women will reconvene in San Diego to reflect on their visit and discuss ways to work together to improve the lives of women and girls around the world. Mrs. Odumakin has over 25 years experience in human rights activism in Nigeria, starting with her role as the Secretary of Women in Nigeria (WIN), Kwara State, in 1988. She campaigned against the Ibrahim Babangida military dictatorship, and was repeatedly arrested and detained. She is married to another politician and activist, Yinka Odumakin, who is the spokesperson of the Save Nigeria Group. She has received several awards, the latest being the Eminent International Gold Award she received in January 2013.

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts, Wednesday, threatened the former Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili, with arrest and prosecution should she

fail to return vehicles belonging to the ministry in her possession within one week.

Also to return government vehicles or face similar treatment are a former Minister of State in the Ministry, Alhaji Ikra Bilbis, and the Permanent Secretary, Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Engr Anthony Ozodinobi. The vehicles were said to have been attached to them while they held forte in the ministry.
The vehicles in question are four Toyota Hillux Double Cabin pick-up vans.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Adeola Solomon Olamilekan, who handed down the order after hearing the submission of the officials of the Ministry led by its Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Kehinde Ajoni, who appeared before the Committee over the queries raised against the Ministry by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, said all efforts to retrieve the vehicles from the former officials since 2010 had proved abortive.
The Committee therefore threatened that failure on the part of any of them to comply with the directive would lead to their being dragged before the court and charged for stealing of government properties in accordance with the law of the land.
"This is unacceptable, they should all return the vehicles in question within one week; failure of which they will be charged to court for stealing. The secretariat should write the three of them immediately to convey the decision of this Committee to them. The evidence before us showed that several letters had been written to them on the need for them to return the vehicles which they ignored," Olamilekan said.
Permanent Secretary, Ajoni, had told the Committee that the ministry had made spirited efforts to recover the vehicles but Akunyili only returned one out of the two in her possession, while Bilbis and Ozodinobi held on to the ones in their possession.
She disclosed that the vehicles in question were for the National Telephony Project and they belong to the Ministry. The vehicles were said to have been attached to the affected ex-officials and the auditors discovered that they were missing during auditor routine checks.