So, How Was Caraway's Trip to Nigeria?

By Robert Wilonsky Thu., Jun. 2 2011 at 8:22 AM

Categories: City Hall

Pin It

Via.

President Goodluck Jonathan will miss you, Mayor Dwaine Caraway.

I hope Mayor-For-Now Dwaine Caraway brought back pictures from his trip to Nigeria, where he's been for the past eight days to attend the swearing-in of President Goodluck Jonathan and tend to some business. He's back this evening, and in advance of his return sends word that, why, matter of fact he was "the highest ranking elected official from the United States to attend the event," which is only good news for Dwaine and Dallas. "Because we have been one of the first out of the gate in reaching out to Nigeria," he says, "we have laid the foundation for a strong partnership for Dallas in the future."

Meaning what, exactly? Well, for starters, Caraway says he discussed "holding major soccer matches in the Cotton Bowl between U.S., Nigerian and other African teams," bringing some Nigerian police officers to train at the Dallas Police Academy, finding Nigerian moneymen to exchange dollars for visas through the city's Regional Center, and getting an airline to establish direct flights between Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Lagos or Abuja. Also on the to-do list: "helping to connect Nigerian and Dallas-based energy firms to the Nigerian energy infrastructure, notorious for its rolling blackouts." As opposed to our top-notch 19th-century technology.

I haven't seen many mentions of Caraway's visit in the Nigerian papers, but here's one: Says he attended the Children's Day Celebration and "doled out five scholarship to five Nigerian children for one week training in USA." Caraway says he also visited the British Nigerian International School and found the library's bookshelves barren. "This is an area that I know Dallas can step up to help," Caraway says in his official release. "If we can launch a book drive and get this material back here to this school, I know this would make a tremendous difference for these kids."

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

Write Comment

Email to Friend

Print Article

Related Content

Some of you people must smoke crack.Mayor Caraway has been in office two months and you all have said more about him than you did about that always on a trip Tom Leppert.What the F--- is wrong with you,Obama can't do anything right and now you're on Caraway like Dallas is on fire while that dam fool from AM is taking this State straight to Hell fast. Every one in Mayor Caraways District is not economically depressed that speech is for Federal Funds so you 30,000.00 millionaires can live high on the hog in HUD made for the poor housing in Uptown,North Dallas and Frisco.You all receive more welfare than any group in Southern Dallas.Look the information up on your iPod.No commas for you to count.
Hakeem Olajuwon played basketball which is not quite the same as playing with baskets. And before anyone asks, no, Fela Kuti played a lot of instruments but not the basket.
Too bad it wasn't a silly one-way trip.
I thought Tom "See Ya" Leppert would have drained that account before he left.
Too bad Dwayne has already returned. I was wondering if we could talk Nigeria into keeping him and sending Goodluck Jonathan back in his place. I have the feeling he would be more honest than our current Dallas city government.
I don't hold a "KITAS" (non-citizen residency card), but I have quite a few Indonesian friends and spend time there on a regular basis. Although Indonesians go through a separate line, it's easily visible from the non-resident line (and sometimes I watch closely, just to see if I can spot money going inside passports, changing hands, etc.)-- sure, it happens sometimes, but it's not even close to being usual and customary. With respect to boarding passes, these all issued by privately run airlines-- (i.e. SIngapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, Garuda, AirAsia, etc., etc.). I haven't heard of someone having to pay the counter people for boarding passes in years--- sure, it might happen every now and then--- but generally speaking, these multinational airlines keep pretty tight reign on their employees. There is an airport tax that has to be paid in cash to obtain the boarding pass, but you get a stamp for it in the same amount as you pay-- maybe that's what you're thinking about.
Does Carraway's goodwill to Nigeria mean that there'll be job creation there for US citizens if we say, "We're from Dallas." Because, I've got a nice, round head for carrying baskets and strong arms. Just never thought of puting that on my resume. 'Til now.
http://hdrstats.undp.org/images/explanations/NGA.pdf Well, Nigeria certainly has resources sufficient to not be a poor country, but for the majority of its citizens, it is still a poor country. It's better off than it was under the era of General Abacha, the killer of Ken Sara Wiwa.
Have you been hacking my email? I got that message last week!
No, it would have made exactly as much sense. That is to say, none at all.
Third-time Mayoral candidate Ed Okpa is from Nigeria. Wouldn't it have made more sense for him to go?
well ,Nigeria is not a poor country and is not begging any countryto exploit rather friendship.Alhough some aficans countries and few Nigerians who want cheap way of making money without hard work usually they had those exprience from the USA and middle East go around send scam mail to desparete colloborator who want cheap money.But Mayor caraway was good and humble Nigerian during his visit.
What a silly little trip
I'm assuming you're speaking as a visitor to Indonesia and not as a resident. There's a big difference. Immigration and Customs officials know who is a resident by the VBS stamped in your passport. You stay, you pay.
What/who gave him the authority to act on behalf of the city of Dallas in Nigeria?!?!
If Caraway wants an airline to establish service between DFW and Lagos or Abuja, he should understand that the ONLY logical airline that would be capable of operating such a service economically would be American Airlines--- they are based in Ft. Worth, just a few miles to the west and he should feel free to make an appointment. Alternative, he can ask his American Airlines' "handler/overseer" to arrange a meeting.
You should revisit Indonesia--- it's not nearly that bad these days. At least the stuff about passport stamping and boarding pass getting.
This is a sore point with me.... these trips are paid for "out of a special fund of the World Affairs Council" of DFW. Now, that all sounds well and good--- but here's the problem: the ultimate source of funds for these trips frequently appears to be American Airlines (one of the largest financial backers of the World Affairs Council); to the extent it's not them, it's other large corporate interests, whose affairs are affected mightily by the City of Dallas. In this case, I strongly suspect (but can not prove), that this trip was a "reward" to Caraway for publicly calling for the expedited ouster of AirTran from DFW Airport following the company's acquisition by Southwest. The reason I say this is that there is absolutely zero justifiable cause for Caraway making such a statement--- AirTran's expedited departure from DFW Airport will harm: the airport (via reduced landing fees, parking, etc.); consumers (as they have to pay to rebook cancelled flights, etc. and face fewer travel options); and Southwest Airlines (one of the city's largest employers and taxpayers). The World Affairs Council also paid for Leppert's luxurious trips to Hong Kong, Spain, etc.--- essentially large corporate donors are able to "launder" contributions to City of Dallas politicians via the World Affairs Council. Maybe I'm cynical, but I don't believe that American Airlines, Billingsley and Hunt provide all this money to the World Affairs Council without expecting something in return. American Airlines, especially, is a perennially money-losing company that has to justify expenditures to a board of directors. Hard to see why they would fork over all this cash just because it feels good.
It's no secret that Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. We lived in Indonesia for many years and the Indonesians are well-known for for THEIR high levels of corruption. For example, residents have to pay bribes to get their passports stamped at airports. Or to get a driver's license. Or to have the electricity in the house hooked up. Or to get a boarding pass for a confirmed seat on an airplane. Or to get an appointment with a dentist. And, with all this, our Indonesian friends who visited Nigeria on business complained about the corruption THERE. When Indonesians complain about corruption in Nigeria, you know it's bad! If Dallas does any business with Nigeria, it will COST us. Please trust me on this. Finally, Caraway needs to visit a few school libraries here in Oak Cliff: he'll find plenty of bare bookshelves.
DEAR SIR, URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL I AM MARIAM ABACHA, WIDOW OF THE LATE NIGERIAN HEAD OF STATE, GEN. SANI ABACHA. AFTER HE DEATH OF MY HUSBAND WHO DIED MYSTERIOUSLY AS A RESULT OF CARDIAC ARREST, I WAS INFORMED BY OUR LAWYER, BELLO GAMBARI THAT, MY HUSBAND WHO AT THAT TIME WAS THE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA, CALLED HIM AND CONDUCTED HIM ROUND HIS APARTMENT AND SHOWED HIM FOUR METAL BOXES CONTAINING MONEY ALL IN FOREIGN EXCHANGE AND HE EQUALLY MADE HIM BELIEVE THAT THOSE BOXES ARE FOR ONWARD TRANSFER TO HIS OVERSEAS COUNTERPART FOR PERSONAL INVESTMENT. PLEASE FORWARD TO ME ONLY THE NAMES AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS OF ALL YOUR DALLAS CITIZENS SO WE MAY COMPLETE THIS TRANSACTION. THANKS AND BEST REGARD MRS. MARIAM ABACHA
I am glad after all these years that barristers from Nigeria have been reaching out to us via email, that we sent Nigeria a worse scam to represent us.
According to City Hall on May 22: "Mayor Caraway's travel costs will be paid out of a special fund at the World Affairs Council. Each year, private contributions are raised to cover the travel expenses for the Mayor and other elected officials to promote international trade and cultural ties. Caraway will return to Dallas on June 1st."
He didn't say he was coming back with $20 million to help DISD. Greedy politician is keeping it all for himself.
He probably wanted to send Arthur and Archie as exchange students to learn the deposed Mayor e-mail scam.
Maybe we can give them the books from our libraries that we can't afford to keep open.
I would assume city council member from economically depressed district would have still made him the highest ranking elected official from the US to attend.
Two questions that must be answered: (1) Did he hand out any keys to the city? and (2) did he send his spouse, State Rep. Barb "Blade" Mallory-Caraway a postcard with the message, "Having wonderful time. Wish you were here."?
Did he make this trip on the citys dime? Nice that he's worried about helping the sweet little Nigerian school kids when Dallas is about to lay off a chuck of it's teachers.
When was he elected mayor?
"the highest ranking elected official from the United States to attend the event," That's not a good thing Dwayne, it means you were the only one dumb enough to fall for this, I hope you didn't travel with the city's banking information.