Day: June 24, 2023

The Helpline Foundation for the Needy, has reiterated its commitment to improve the lives of widows in Nigeria by supporting and raising more awareness about their plights.

Dr Jumai Ahmadu, Founder of the foundation, said this at an event to commemorate the 2023 International Widows Days and the 20th anniversary of the foundation, in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the International Widows Days is celebrated annually on June 23 and the day aims to raise awareness about the challenging circumstances faced by widows.

The theme for this year’s celebration is “Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”.

Ahmadu said that the foundation remained resolute in supporting vulnerable women and widows, who most often suffer several forms of abuses, resulting into poverty.

She said it was important to raise awareness on the plights of widows who face all sorts of injustices, ranging from discrimination, cultural, political and social segregation.

“Surely, widows deserve more from us, corporate organisations, the international community and the governments.

“Through our work at the Helpline Foundation for the Needy, we have so far committed 20 years to empowering the less privileged.

“We continue to empower widows by providing them access to skills and acquisition training, non-profit loans and economic opportunities.

“We are of the firm conviction that by leveraging innovation and technology, we will not only uplift the widows but also bridge the gender gap, thus creating a much more inclusive society for widows, women and girls,” she said.

Ahmadu added that it is necessary to rebuild the lives of widows in the country, help them regain their confidence and break free from the cycle of poverty.

“Do not forget that every positive action we take, no matter how small, has the power to create a positive change in the lives of widows and vulnerable women,” she added.

NAN reports that the event featured the launch of the book, titled “Rise from the Ashes” and the premier of the documentary, “Ajadu”, with both telling the stories of the plights of widows.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Centre for Ethical Rebirth Among Nigerian Youths (CERANY), a Civil Society Organisation, has decried the neglect of non-state actors, also known as stakeholders, in the 2021-2025 National Control Master Plan against drug abuse.

Mr Chuks Akamadu, President of the CSO, revealed this position at a news conference in Abuja on Friday to commemorate the 2023 International Day against drug abuse, celebrated annually on June 26.

He said that for a remarkable progress to be made in the war against drug abuse, non-state actors should be mainstreamed in the control plan, and should be given a particular role to play in the process of the fight.

He called on the government to see

non-state actors as partners in progress that would contribute meaningfully in the process of winning the war against drug abuse in the country.

Akamadu called on President Bola Tinubu to commission a review of the report of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA).

He said that when non-state actors are mainstreamed into the war against drug abuse, they will be able to identify gaps in the whole process, and find solutions altogether.

The President of CERANY further urged the Federal Government to seek active collaboration of other tiers of government, particularly the judiciary, to pave the way for early dispensation of justice in drug related cases.

“If we have the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) manning the enforcement wing of the battle, times demand that we also have another agency to deal with public enlightenment, advocacy and sensitisation.

“This, in our view, would be a most functional way of commemorating this year’s International Day against drug abuse and Illicit trafficking.

“I urge us to prevent our youths, by all means possible, from experimenting with drugs. It is cheaper to prevent than to treat, and the cost of care is even much more prohibitive,” he stressed.

The NDLEA Chairman, Retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, who was represented by Mr Chidi Ndukwu, Deputy Commander, Narcotics, gave a summary of the progress made by the NDLEA between Jan. 2021 and May 2023.

Marwa said that, over the period under review, the agency had made 31,675 arrests, 6,252,924kg seizures, 5,147 convictions, 852,142 hecteres of farmland destroyed and had counselled and rehabilitated 23,725 persons respectively.

A Retired Pilot, Capt. Paul Nwachukwu, urged the NDLEA to carry civil society organisations, like CERANY, along in championing the campaign against drug abuse.

He suggested that the NDLEA alone may not be able to handle the deluge of drug cases in the country.

Mr Ojobo Tochukwu, Director of Welfare, National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), Joint Campus Committee, FCT Chapter, called on NDLEA to set up a special committee against drug abuse.

He said that the committee would be responsible for going round the street to monitor the prevalence of drug use among the youth, and will come back with a feedback.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that among those who were at the news conference was a former Nigerian High Commissioner to Singapore, Amb. Timloh Nkem.

NAN also reports that the theme for the 2023 International Day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking is “People First: Stop stigma and discrimination, strengthen prevention.”

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP),Nigeria has sought partnership with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution(IPCR), for sustainable peace building across Nigeria.

Dr Chris Kwaja, Interim USIP Country Director Nigeria,said this when he led a team on a visit to the Director-General of IPCR on Friday in Abuja.

Kwaja said that the visit was with the hope to building a partnership on the basis of shared understanding and knowledge on peace building in make Nigeria a more peaceful place.

“The visit by USIP Nigeria, which I led is to first congratulate the D-G of IPCR over his appointment as somebody who is a professional in the area of peace building.

“We feel it is a welcome development for such an individual who has a sound knowledge of the peace building landscape, this is with a view to boosing the peace landscape.

“What we see right now is that the management of diversity is one important issue that should define leadership in Nigeria at this critical point in our history.

“The IPCR as an institution of the Federal Government is well positioned to do that and it should be supported, from our perspective as USIP.

”We believe that such kind of strategic partnership and support is something that we can work with,”he said

Kwaja said that there were other actors and partners within the peace building space that USIP would be engaging to ensure that IPCR was given the maximum support that it deserved.

He said that the visit was also an opportunity to give insight into USIP’s work which included work with facilitators , men and women within Nigeria supported by USIP.

According to Kwaja, this is to to respond to more localised conflict at the community level.

This, he said, was because USIP believed that when actors at the community level were supported with training and other skills required for mediation and dialogue.

He said: ”Then a community of people who would be able to manage differences in a non violent way would be built.”

Kwaja said that the second pillar of USIP’s work was with the working group on peace building and governance made up of eminent citizens in the country.

Kwaja said USIP supports the group’s work in the area of policy advocacy and engagement at the strategic leadership level .

He said that the third pillar of USIP’s work has to do with support to state-level peace building institutions .

Kwaja said that so far, the institute had worked with Plateau and Kaduna States among others, to respond to some of the needs of the states on issues around conflict management and peace building.

He said: “We also believe that knowledge production is one of the central pillars of public policy and USIP has been quit active in this and launched the State of Peace in Nigeria Report.

“The report basically seeks to understand and draw attention and show how communities have been able to respond to some of the peace building needs.

”This is something that needs to be appreciated and taken note of by government, international partners and stakeholders.”

Dr Joseph Ochugwu, Director-General of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), reiterated his commitment to partner with USIP for lasting peace in across Nigeria.

Ochogwu stressed the importance of working together to entrench using non-kinetic approaches to tackle the various root causes of conflicts in the country.

He assured that his institute’s doors were open for strategic and sustainable collaboration with USIP on any matter relating to peace building and conflict resolution to help Nigeria surmount her present challenges.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has appealed to the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), to quickly intervene in fresh crude oil spill in Rivers State.

The appeal also goes to the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

The Executive-Director of YEAC, Mr Fyneface Dumnamene, who said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja on Friday, also urged other relevant stakeholders to intervene.

Dumnamene said that the intervention by the stakeholders would help to detect the cause of the oil spill and introduce the necessary measures to curb the menace.

He said the YEAC, through its One Million Youth Volunteers Network of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters in Niger Delta and Crude Oil Spill Alert System (COSAS), received information of the new crude oil spill.

He explained that the fresh oil spillage occurred in Eleme Local Government Area, in Ogoni area of the state.

According to him, NOSDRA should immediately lead a delegation of oil operators to intervene and be able to detect the cause of the fresh oil spill in the area.

“The intervention is to take strong steps to clamp the spill point to forestall further devastation of the ecosystem,” he said.

Dumnamene recalled that the spill was reported in Eteo Community.

He explained that about two weeks after, a similar oil spill that had not yet been properly contained was reported in Aleto Community, Okulu River, also in Eleme on June 13, 2023.

He said that another spill was also noticed on June 18, 2023, in Oke-Olebo Stream and had polluted the indigenous community’s fresh water.

He said that the spill had also destroyed the environment and continued to spread to more areas, adding that it was flowing with the water in its bank and channel.

The executive director said that the pipeline was not close to the area where the spill was discovered.

“There are Shell pipelines in the community which the people are also currently working on.

He said that in 2018 and 2022 there was oil spill in Eteo community.

According to him, crude oil can be seen oozing from the ground and flowing freely under fresh water environment vegetation with some of the flora already withering away.

He said that the organisation had been working with those communities involved, creating awareness and sensitising the people on necessary measures to control the situation.

According to him, “I always advise the crude oil spill impacted communities to be calm and patient as steps are being taken to draw the attention of relevant authorities.

“The authorities and other stakeholders will join in thorough investigation visit to the communities to determine the cause of the spill.

“If confirmed to be equipment failure as being alleged, a clean-up will be carried out and adequate compensation paid by the polluter company.

“My organisation will continue to support and stand by the affected communities to give them a voice and guide them to get justice over the oil spill incident.”

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Mr Victor Muruako, the Chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), says the culture of financial impunity is gradually becoming a thing of the past in the country.

Muruako made this known during a courtesy visit by the Nigerian Economics Students’ Association (NESA), University of Nigeria, Nsukka to the commission on Friday in Abuja.

He said the commission which was set up by the Fiscal Responsibility Act No. 31 of 2007 and started operations in 2009, had made alot of giant strides since its inception.

“We have indeed made some landmark achievements from when we first began as a commission to where we are today.

“First and foremost, the culture of impunity is definitely disappearing and people are becoming more responsible.

“Although, corruption cannot just evaporate like that but you can see today that unlike before people are now being held accountable for whatever they do,” he said.

According to him, that in terms of budget implementation, the situation was far better than what was obtained before now.

“In the past Mr President would just release his budget speech few days to the end of the year and that is it.

“But now, with the Act and the commission as well as our engagements with the relevant stakeholders, including Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning, we now have series of activities that will definitely lead to the national appropriation.

“Like the engagement with Civil Society Groups, the Medium term expenditure framework, the public hearings that are carried out and alot of other processes,” he said.

The chairman said that all these were definite steps towards planning in such a way that national budget was no longer the way it used to be which has led to gains.

“There must be absolute planning because if you fail to plan, then you have already planned to fail,” he said.

The FRC boss said that the commission had also made alot of giant strides in the aspect of revenue generation.

He explained that the ability of the commission to come up with the template for the calculation of operating surplus that was quite acceptable, had really yielded lots of revenue.

“Earnings to the consolidated revenue funds of the Federal Government have greatly increased. I can tell you that year upon year, we have continued to improve in that area.

“We have been working in collaboration with other stakeholders, particularly the National Assembly, the Office of the Budget of the Federation, Ministry of Finance and Accountant General of the Federation.

“So if you check the quantum. For the first time in 2021, the independent revenue of the Federal Government was able to hit the trillion mark.

“This can obviously be traced to alot of activities by the commission and we are still counting,” he said.

He said that there was need to continuously embark on youth sensitization to help in instilling the culture of fiscal discipline in the lives of young citizens.

“This is because one of the problems we identified with issues of instilling fiscal discipline in public officials is that it is very difficult to change adults as bad habits die very hard.

“So, we at the commission felt that one of our key strategies is to reach out to the leaders of tomorrow who are the public-officials-to-be.

“We want to catch them young while they are still at that early stage and we started this by setting up what we call ‘Army of Fiscal Responsibility Enthusiasts’,” he said.

Godspromise Ngadi, the President of NESA, University of Nigeria, Nsukka said the association was privileged to have been impacted with so much knowledge about the activities of the commission.

“We have come to understand that one of the primary responsibility of the FRC is to harness the country’s resources, promote efficiency as well as dynamism and economic development.

“We have also been charged as fiscal responsibility enthusiasts to be disciples of fiscal accountability.

“We will cascade this message to our various institutions, homes and the society and ensure our impact is felt in the country at large,” he assured.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Outgoing Chairperson of the SADC Chiefs of Police Sub-Committee and Inspector General of the Namibian Police Force, Lieutenant General Joseph Shikongo, recommended that member states lagging behind in securing their communication systems should consult other states.

Shikongo made the call at the opening of the 28th Annual General Meeting of the SADC Sub-Committee Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO) in Swakopmund on Thursday.

He emphasised that it is only through consultations and constant engagements that member states can find ways to improve on their level of cooperation, as well as exchanging good practices, in efforts to combat Transnational Organised Crimes (TOCs), for the benefit of safety and security in the region and beyond.

“Cooperation and joint engagements undoubtedly provide the necessary ingredients needed, for the growth of knowledge and skills required to facilitate the formulation and development of effective interventions to combat transnational and cross-border crimes,” Shikongo explained.

The police chief highlighted SARPCCO’s achievements, noting that it has made significant headways towards strengthening cooperation and fostering joint strategies, for the management of all forms of transnational and related crimes, which have regional implications.

Incoming SARPCCO Chairperson IG of the Zambian Police Services, Graphael Musamba, in his acceptance speech congratulated Namibia’s chairpersonship during the one-year tenure, while appreciating the SADC INTERPOL department for the support constantly offered to SARPCCO to ensure its success.

He further emphasised the need to equip law enforcers with the right tools to enable them to fight transnational crime within the region.

“We are mindful that crime and the methods of committing it has tremendously evolved over the past years, the advent of social media and the ability to utilise it across the continent, has not only eased the ways in conducting business but has also opened up many avenues for the perpetrators of crime.

Therefore, our collective responsibilities as law enforcers is to ensure that we put our decisions into action to combat these crimes,” Musamba emphasised.

Namibia took over the Chairmanship during the 27th SARPCCO annual general meeting held in South Africa in June 2022.

Source: NAMPA

The Oshikoto regional council has spent N.dollars 40 million on infrastructure development for the 2022/23 financial year.

This was revealed by Oshikoto Governor, Penda Ya Ndakolo during his state of the regional address at Omuthiya on Wednesday.

He said the regional council budgeted a total of N.dollars 46 million towards infrastructure development, of which N.dollars 40 million was spent, accounting for a 88 per cent execution rate.

Ya Ndakolo said the development focused on the provision of clean drinking water, electrification of rural areas, settlements and growth centres, surveying of settlements, implementation of the sanitation programs, and the construction of roads and offices.

He further highlighted that during the year under-review, the region budgeted for 17 areas to be electrified, of which seven were fully electrified with medium and low voltage networks, noting the other ten are in progress and the majority of them are above 80 per cent progress rate.

“Infrastructure development is important as it does not only ensure the provision of critical goods and services to the communities, but it also provides the much needed employment through tenders awarded, especially to private companies,” he noted.

Ya Ndakolo noted that the region continues to face water scarcity challenges, especially in the deep rural areas, where water pressure is low or salty. However, despite those challenges, the regional leadership is fully conscious of the responsibility they bear to mitigate them.

He indicated that the division of rural water supply conducted experimental interventions towards the water challenge by digging five deep boreholes at an amount of N.dollars 4 million in the rural constituencies which are historically prone to saline underground water, however, it was found that none of the five boreholes were safe for human and animal consumption.

“In order to cleanse the water and make it suitable for consumption, the division is currently busy implementing the desalination process,” he noted.

He revealed that the Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) is working on the environmental impact assessment study for the Ondangwa Omutsegwonime water-pipeline replacement phase-one, which is budgeted at N.dollars 80 million as well as the Oshivelo-Omutswgonime water supply scheme, which is at the initiation phase and budgeted at N.dollars 27 million.

Source: NAMPA