Month: September 2023

The Vice President, Kashim Shettima, says Nigeria requires N21 trillion to effectively bridge housing deficit, despite efforts across the three tiers governments.

The vice president stated this on Sunday in Sokoto at the groundbreaking for the construction of a 500-unit housing estate by the State government.

Shettima, who commended Gov. Ahmed Aliyu for his efforts to address the housing needs of his people, noted that the housing deficit in Nigeria remained a huge challenge.

” Nigeria has a deficit of 28 million houses and we will need N21 trillion to meet our housing needs. This step taken by the Governor is highly commendable and worthy of emulation by other State governments.

” The governor has started well by completing the roads and flyovers he inherited,” he added.

Earlier, the governor explained that the housing estate would be for civil servants and would be sold to them when completed on an owner-occupier basis.

Aliyu said: “This is a project that was initiated by the former Governor of the State, Aliyu Wamakko but was later abandoned by the immediate past administration.

“But, we are determined to complete it for the benefit of our workers and the general public.”

Aliyu disclosed that the project located at Wamakko Local Government Area of the State will cost the State government N7.3 billion to complete.

The event, which was to mark the first 100 days in office by the administration was attended by Sen. Aliyu Wamakko and the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari.

Others were the Minister of State, Water Resources and Sanitation, Alhaji Bello Goronyo and former Deputy Governors of Sokoto, Mukhtari Shagari and Chiso Abdullahi-Dattijo, among others.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Director-General, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Joseph Ari said the fund was equipping all its libraries with the requisite personnel and materials to boost staff and clients’ capacities.

Ari who was represented by Director of Field Services, Mrs Adetola Aje, stated this at the opening of ITF 16TH Library Week on Monday in Jos.

He said that libraries served as knowledge hubs and provided access to a wealth of educational and training resources.

According to him, the aim of equipping the libraries is to build staff capacities and clients’ interests in reading as technology advances at speedy rate.

Ari added that repositories of books, research materials and digital content, empowered the workforce to expand their learning horizons, enhance skills development initiatives, and foster a culture of continuous improvement in the workforce.

“Indeed, in an increasingly globalised world, libraries had become more important and integral to the activities as individuals and as a corporate entity.

“We want the staff of ITF and our clients to be at pace with the globalised world we are living in. We expect everybody to read more by taking advantage of recent books in our libraries.

“Let me use this opportunity to remind you that the ITF Community Readers Development Service Programme is coming in a few days’ time.

“Through this programme, the fund has over the years, taken practical steps to promote the reading culture among learners at both primary and secondary school levels.

“Educational materials are usually donated to participating students and pupils by ITF during the programme, by way of encouragement.

“This service is rendered to our immediate and surrounding communities as part of our social responsibilities,” he stated.

The D-G commended the Research and Curriculum Development Department (R&CDD) for their farsightedness in coming up with: “The Dialectics of knowledge management in a hlobalised age,” as the theme for the week.

According to him, in an era where information flows freely across borders and technology connects people like never before, the management of knowledge has become a critical factor in the success and sustainability of organizations, communities, and nations.

He described knowledge, as a powerful asset that was key to innovation, growth, and competitiveness.

Mr Faruk Wase, Director, Research and Curriculum Development Department in his remarks, said that the fund consistently organised the week because ITF was a citadel of learning.

“We are in the business of human capital development and capacity building and we cannot drive this without knowledge background.

“And the library week is one of the focal points we try to reiterate the need for people to try to harness their knowledge assets.

“We do it annually for people to be able to revamp their reading habits, reading attitudes and also to have access to new books and publications which we have been able to accumulate annually,” he added.

Prof. Victoria Lawal of University of Jos, in a presentation, said it centred on how organisations were supposed to work towards harnessing their tacit and explicit knowledge.

Lawal stated that organisations should work towards harnessing their knowledge for the purpose of remaining relevant, competitive and progressive in terms of their activities.

The academic said knowledge management was very important as society was growing to a level of technology where information sources were increasing.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that goodwill messages were received from librarians of NTA TV College Jos and Nigerian Film Institute Jos.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The age long tradition of preserving food with fresh leaves is fast going into extinction, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) survey reports.

The survey conducted by NAN on Sunday in Abuja revealed that most young people have no knowledge of this traditions which have enormous benefits.

Mrs Ibironke Olubamise, the National Coordinator, Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme, urged parents to train their children on the art and skills of using wrapping leaves at homes.

NAN reports that wrapping leaves known as Thaumatococus danielli grow and spread naturally under planted tree plantations.

Thaumatococcus daniellii is a plant species from Africa, known for being the natural source of thaumatin an intensely sweet protein which is of interest in the development of sweeteners.

The leaves are harvested and packed into large bundles, transported to small and large markets for retailing in small units. It is used to wrap hot food such as bean cake, corn meal, pounded yam and rice.

Olubamise said the skill gap in the arts of packaging food with wrapping leaves made many young ladies to prefer other packaging materials such as plastics and nylon and containers.

According to her, relegation and breakdown of our healthy cultural and societal values and our nutritional management and home economics are matters of concern.

“These are responsible for the difficulty encountered by younger women to learn the use of leaves and the kitchen techniques for wrapping local hot food with leaves.

“Findings obtained through food preparation workshop and exhibitions revealed that some parents have not made it a habit to train their daughters on the art and skills of using naturally available products such as wrapping leaves at home.

“The gap in knowledge transfer has affected many families making many younger women not ready to learn the skills even when they reach matured ages.

“The skill gap in arts of food preparation makes many young ladies to prefer other packaging materials such as plastics and nylon and containers.

“These unhealthy cultural, societal and environmental damaging habits are seen as modern approaches, but the trend is going down based on the popularity of the wrapping leaves and its preference by many people in the society.’’

According to her, nylon and plastics are damaging to the environment when not well managed.

“The first problem of nylon is that it is not biodegradable. It continues to sit on landfills for decades and not easily broken-down, constituting menace of solid waste in rural and urban management areas of the world.

“Nylon is a product of non-renewable resource (oil) and it contains micro plastic fibres which end up in waterways and oceans when it is washed off,’’ Olubamise said.

Also, Mr Alade Adeleke, the Director in charge of GEF Wrapping Leaf Project, stressed the need for relevant authorities to partner with farmers in the cocoa production systems to produce more wrapping leaves.

Adeleke said that this would ensure availability of the leaves and expand the economic opportunities for rural population, most especially women.

“Market survey done in 2017 suggests that a pack of 20 pieces of leaves cost an average of N150 which is equivalent to 0.35 dollar then.

“Today, a pack of 20 leaves in major city market is as high as N500 which is an equivalent of 0.60 dollar.

“Cost of transportation is higher and cost of collection from the very forest areas is also almost double, but nylon is more affordable and available,’’ he said.

Adeleke added that the trade in wrapping leaves sales provided occupation for over 500,000 people in different communities in south west of the country.

According to him, the trade has been around for centuries and continue to be a generation to generation enterprise that supports low income families in south west Nigeria.

Also speaking, Dr Emmanuel Beckley said wrapping leaves known as thaumatococcus Daniellii are much safer than nylon, plastic and containers.

“Food like bean cake and moi-moi package with wrapping leaves are much safer because when nylon is heated, it releases chemicals which can be carcinogenic to human health.

‘`The heated nylons are highly toxic and can cause reproductive problems, damages to the immune system and also interfere with the hormones thereby resulting to cancer.

“In nutshell, the leaves are beneficial in diverse ways such as helping in the management of diabetes and good functions of the organs in the body.”

According to Mrs Esther Monday, wrapping leaf is good but it is difficult to use to prepare food.

Mr Godwin Ezekiel said when he was still young in his village, his mother used wrapping leaves to prepare food but now his wife used nylon because she did not have the skill to use the wrapping leaves.

Mrs Hajara Ladi, a business woman, said that she preferred to eat moi-moi packaged with wrapping leaves but she found it difficult to get the leaves.

‘`I love moi-moi packaged with wrapping leaves; although I eat moi-moi that is made with nylon and tins due to scarcity of wrapping leaves”

‘`Moi-moi made with nylon needs a lot of ingredients to make it sweet and eatable because there is no special taste that comes with nylon,” Ladi said.

She said when she did not have money to buy nylon to package moi-moi, she used tin even though milk tin is stressful and easily hurts her hands when washing it.

“But all in all, “I love and prefer moi-moi packaged with wrapping leaves any day any time,” she said.

According to Mrs Abigail Adams, who sells food in new Nyanya market, Nasarawa state, the moi-moi packaged with wrapping leaf is very good because it is100 per cent natural and even adds flavour to the moi-moi.

Mr John Ndubuisi, a pharmacist in New Nyanya, Nasarawa State, said that the leaf is better than nylon because nylon is harmful to human body.

Ndubuisi warned people against cooking moi-moi and other foods in nylons, saying that it produced dioxins, a toxic substance that caused cancer.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will launch, on Tuesday in Abuja, the Joint Platform for the Advancement of Cybersecurity in West Africa.

According to a statement posted on its website on Monday, the platform will focus on regional cyber diplomacy, the protection of critical infrastructures, the fight against cybercrime, and data sovereignty.

The event, it said, is organised in collaboration with its esteemed partners, and will serve as an official starting point for the joint implementation of the ECOWAS Action Plan to increase regional capacity and cybersecurity resilience.

The launch will take place on Sept. 12 followed by a two-day workshop on confidence-building measures (CBM) for regional cooperation.

The workshop will focus on the value of developing CBMs as a tool for increasing cyber resilience in the region.

The Joint platform for advancing Cyber Security in ECOWAS was initiated under Germany’s G7 presidency with an endorsed Action Plan (2022 – 2025) focusing on building regional cyber diplomacy, combatting cybercrime, ensuring data sovereignty, and protecting critical infrastructure.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The RYTHM Foundation, QI Group’s social impact initiative says it would be partnering with the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation to empower 400 disadvantaged women in the Northern part of Nigeria.

The Head of RYTHM Foundation, Santhi Periasamy, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Malaysia on Monday that it was necessary to train these women to make them useful to their communities.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that QI Group is a diversified multinational entity catering to various business lines in lifestyle, leisure, luxury, training, education, property development, management, logistics and e-commerce.

According to her, giving women greater economic empowerment means enabling them to increase their right to economic resources and their control over meaningful decisions that will benefit them.

Periasamy said that women’s economic empowerment also included women’s ability to participate equally in existing markets.

She added that these women needed access to decent work, and control over their own time, lives and bodies.

According to her, giving these women and girls access to education and trainings can also inspire their husbands to work harder.

She explained that education was one of the most powerful means available for providing women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence needed to participate equally in society.

According to Periasamy, the foundation will be working in four locations in the North with their future partner, the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation.

She said that two of the locations would be in the North-Central, while the remaining two would both be in the North-Eastern and North-Western communities respectfully.

Periasamy said that it would select 100 girls and women in each of the location, bringing the total number of the people it would empower to 400.

“Before providing any form of empowerment, the four communities must have a common need for same intervention but it may, however, be heterogenous with specific needs that may not be critical in other communities.

“So, we have asked our future partner, the Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, to start up a comprehensive ground research, in order to do an assessment and advise RYTHM Foundation on the next steps to take.

“On this project, we will teach the women basic skills, by looking at the resources they have in their geographical locations, as these will determine what kind of training they will get.

“Once we embark on this project, our working partners will expose the women to financial literacy, how to run small businesses such as soap making, farming, textiles, bag making and other crafts skills, “she said.

Periasamy said that as the foundation engaged in transformative projects in Africa, it would extend its reach to various corners of the globe, touching lives and making a difference in diverse communities.

According to her, the main focus of the foundation remains resolute in advancing education, nurturing sustainable development, promoting social inclusivity, and fostering positive change

She said that by the time the project ends in three years, the women would have had enough money to run and sustain their businesses. (NAN)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

An Abuja-based human rights and constitutional lawyer, Emmanuel Ekpenyong, has dragged the Federal Government to Court of Appeal, Abuja over alleged increasing cases of extra-judicial killings in the country.

Ekpenyong, in a notice of appeal, specifically sought for the determination of the extent of his fundamental right to life guaranteed under Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution.

He filed the appeal after a Federal High Court, Abuja, presided over by Justice Nkeonye Maha, dismissed his fundamental enforcement rights suit for lack of locus standi (legal right) to institute the matter.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the lawyer alleged that the wanton loss of lives in Nigeria in recent times had put him in reasonable apprehension that his right to life, which the defendants in the suit were mandated to protect under Chapter VI of the Constitution, was likely to be contravened.

He had sued the president of Nigeria and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice as 1st and 2nd defendants in the matter.

In his originating summons dated and filed on July 10, 2020, the plaintiff submitted six questions for determination.

These included whether his “right to life as enshrined in Section 33(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) means the protection of his life beyond mere physical and animal existence and extends to the right to live a meaningful, complete and dignified life.

“Whether the plaintiff’s right to life enshrined in Section 33(1) of the 1999 Constitution prohibits any unlawful acts of omission or commission by the Nigerian state, Nigerian police, other law enforcement agents and private individuals which are capable of terminating his life.”

Ekpenyong sought an order of mandatory injunction compelling the defendants to take immediate steps to overhaul and reform the Nigerian police and other law enforcement agencies.

He also sought for an order for the police to incorporate forensic science in their criminal investigations and ensure that every unlawful death committed are thoroughly investigated and the culprit arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction.”

He also sought an order of mandatory injunction compelling the defendants to take immediate steps to improve the remuneration and welfare package of the Nigerian police and other law enforcement agencies.

In response to the suit, the defendants jointly filed a counter-affidavit and written address, contending that Ekpenyong’s supporting affidavit offended the provisions of Section 115(2) of the Evidence Act, 2011.

They argued that the lawyer had no locus standi to file the suit and had not made out a case to be granted the reliefs sought.

Justice Maha, who dismissed the suit, on May 6, 2022, awarded a N100, 000 cost against the lawyer.

But Ekpenyong in a notice of appeal dated and filed on July 22, 2022, appealed against the judgment.

In an appellant’s brief with appeal number: CA/ABJ/CV/1200/2022 dated Dec. 22, 2022, Ekpenyong urged the court to hold that the trial court’s judgment amounted to a miscarriage of justice.

The trial court had held that some paragraphs of his affidavit were incompetent and failed to determine the germane questions of law on the extent of his right to life under Section 33 of the Constitution.

The appellant urged the court to hold that he has locus standi to institute the suit before the trial court.

He also prayed the appellate court to hold that he has disclosed a reasonable cause of action against the respondents under Section 46 (1) of the constitution which entitles him to the reliefs sought.

The lawyer contended that his suit at the trial court was for the court to determine the extent of his right to life to enable him take proactive steps to protect it now that he is alive.

Ekpenyong, who urged the upper court to vacate the N100, 000 cost awarded against him, prayed the court to set aside the lower court’s judgment, allow his appeal and grant the reliefs sought in the originating summons.

The respondents, in their brief filed on July 18 by their counsel, O. A. Oloruntogbe in the Civil Appeals Department of the Federal Ministry of Justice, argued that the trial court held rightly in striking down part of the paragraphs in Ekpenyong’s affidavit for offending the rules of the Evidence Act, 2011, in Section 115 (2).

They argued that the identified offensive paragraphs are mostly opinions, prayers, legal arguments and conclusions, which are not allowed to be in affidavit evidence, mostly drawn from the lawyer’s imagination and devoid of any factual basis.

“We submit, therefore, that the learned trial court was correct in striking out the offending paragraphs and urge my lords to so hold,” they told the appeal court.

In his appellant’s reply brief dated and filed on Sept. 1, Ekpenyong said there was a clear distinction between legal arguments and legal facts (juridical facts) under Section 115(3) of Evidence Act.

According to him, while legal arguments affect the competence of an affidavit, the law allows for juridical facts to be stated in an affidavit because they are facts within the meaning of Section 115(3) of the Evidence Act.

“Facts are statements of something which actually exists. This means a statement that Section 33(1) of the 1999 Constitution provides for the appellant’s right to life is indeed a fact.

“It is settled law that a deponent is to depose to facts that are either of his own personal knowledge or state a source from which he believes the facts derived therefrom is true,” he argued.

Ekpenyong further argued that the need to protect the sanctity of the constitution and maintain the sacredness of fundamental human rights in Nigeria has made Nigerian courts to abandon the narrow view on locus standi in constitutional matters.

NAN reports that the appeal, which is ripe for hearing, has the president of Nigeria and the AGF as 1st and 2nd respondents.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria