Month: October 2023

The immediate past President of Defence and Police Officers Wives Association (DEPOWA), Mrs Vickie Irabor, has urged her successor, Mrs Oghogho Musa, to ensure timely completion of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Centre initiated by the association.

Irabor made the call during a dinner and send-off ceremony organised in her honour by DEPOWA on Monday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, in October 2022 laid the foundation for the construction of the centre at Muhammadu Buhari Cantonment in Giri, Abuja.

The centre was designed to care for the mental health of military and police personnel and their families who were involved in security operations.

Mrs Irabor said that the centre was a pioneering effort in Africa, and will benefit the military community for generations to come.

“The past CDS and service chiefs sponsored the project 100 per cent from beginning to where it was when I handed over to my successor, Mrs Musa.

“It is my prayer that God will give Mrs Musa the grace to complete this project so that we can all come for the commissioning and begin to access the facility for healthy mental health of the military family,” she said.

Mrs Irabor said her journey as wife of a military officer and DEPOWA leader had its challenges, accolades, and trials, adding that each obstacle she faced came with opportunity to create positive changes, especially for the vulnerable in the society.

She said her tenure included bringing succour to widows and orphans of fallen heroes, with over 300 widows and orphans trained at the DEPOWA Skills Acquisition Centre.

Mrs Irabor added that she also undertook several infrastructural projects across military barracks, as well as many humanitarian interventions.

According to her, she also wrote a book, “The Journey of a Military Wife”, to document her experiences and inspire women.

Earlier, the President of DEPOWA, Mrs Musa, said the event was to celebrate Mrs Irabor as ”a true pillar” of the association, who sustained the legacies of past DEPOWA Presidents.

She said that Mrs Irabor’s steadfastness, commitment and unwavering dedication helped to nurture a culture of collaboration, innovation and “unforgettable and remarkable successes” in the association.

She added that Mrs Irabor’s tenure ensured very supportive environment that uplifted the lives of women, youth and the vulnerable in the society.

Mrs Musa also commended all past presidents of the association for their invaluable contributions to the growth and development of the association, which positively impacted humanity.

She promised to do her best to add value to all as she steers the affairs of DEPOWA.

NAN reports that the event was attended by some past DEPOWA presidents, including Mrs Fatima Ogohi, Mrs Aliero Azazi, and Mrs Mary Bade, among others.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, has called for a robust, and inclusive national statistical system in Nigeria.

Bagudu said this at the National Stakeholders’ Workshop on the Production of National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) Phase III 2024-2028 in Abuja on Tuesday.

Bagudu, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Neboolisa Anako, said the new NSDS would bridge existing gaps and challenges in the statistical system.

“This will set the stage for a unified, integrated, and comprehensive data production system that accurately reflects our current realities.

“It is our collective endeavour to ensure that the new NSDS not only addresses the strategic issues of the past five years but also anticipates and adapts to the evolving statistical landscape.”

He said statistics would play a vital role in assessing the implementation of the Federal Government’s Eight-Point Agenda of President Bola Tinubu led administration.

“Hence, strengthening the statistical system is paramount to evaluating the current position and subsequent progress of the current administration.”

The minister said collaboration among stakeholders could not be overemphasised in the successful implementation of the 2024-2028 NSDS.

“I would like to express my profound gratitude to all stakeholders, Development Partners, and other participants who have joined us in this endeavour.

“I look forward to witnessing the transformative impact of the NSDS Phase III on our statistical system and its vital role in Nigeria’s development, ” he said.

The Statistician-General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, said the 2024-2028 NSDS would serve as a guiding light to steer the country towards a modernised and transformed statistical system.

Adeniran said some key principles were to be considered during the process of developing the new strategy.

He said the new strategy must be inclusive, catering to the needs of all segments of the society, leaving no one behind.

“This means addressing data gaps related to marginalised groups, regions, and sectors. This includes issues pertaining to gender, persons with disability and those at the local government level.”

Adeniran said another key principle was to ensure quality and accuracy of the nation’s statistical system by continuously striving for excellence in data collection, analysis, and dissemination to maintain the trust of users.

“Hence the importance of the quality of the output, soundness of the methodology and processes, and the robustness of our data sources, cannot be understated, they are extremely vital, and due attention must be paid to it.”

He said another principle of innovation and technology must be crafted in the new strategy by embracing the latest technological advancements to streamline data collection, analysis, reporting, and dissemination processes.

Adeniran said sustained investment in the development of human capital resources and partnerships with international organisations, academia, and the private sector should be at the heart of the new strategy.

“The continuous training and re-training of personnel of the statistical system, as well as opportunities for exposure and exchanges and interactions with colleagues from other statistical systems is not only desirable but should be an essential element to strategy.

“We cannot and should not continue to operate in silence, our best results and output are realised when we collaborate and partner with each other.

“So we need to be more intentional and deliberate about it, and this should form a pivotal part of the strategy in the next five years.

” I believe if we imbibe these five principles in making our contributions toward the drafting of the new NSDS, we will be doing a great service to the development of the statistical system, and to our nation.”

Utz Pape, the Lead Economist and Lead Poverty Team at the World Bank, reiterated that the bank was funding statistics to encourage all stakeholders to actually use the data.

Pape said it was important to look at the national statistical system in an integrated way.

He said the World bank not only engaged with the NBS but other Ministries, Departments and Agencies that were data players in the system, like the Ministry of Health and Education.

Pape said that it was important not to stop at the federal level but move vertically to the state level to have an integrated statistical system.

“This is why it is really important to not just think at the federal level but think about the states and how this can really become an inclusive and integrated national statistical system based on data.”

He said to ensure that data was used properly, there must be a national data system.

“A unified platform in which all the different data producers can feed in data, where different users can access the data, of course,while observing the privacy of any respondents. ”

Sen. Yahaya Abdullahi, Chairman, Senate Committee on National Planning and Economic Affairs, called on the Statistician-General not to depend on the old order, but depend on a system in line with current realities.

“We must chart a way that is inclusive and come up with a more resilient and responsive statistical system that adapts to the evolving needs of our nation.

Abdullahi represented by the Deputy Committe Chairman, Sen. Kenneth Nze, said all stakeholders had a role to play in these critical economic times in order to make a change.

Rep. Ibrahim Isiaka, House Committee Chairman on National Planning and Economic Development, said it was imperative to capture the informal sectors within the economy of Nigeria in the new strategy.

Isiaka said the house was admonishing the NBS to further extend its tentacles on data on goods and products that Nigeria has comparative advantages.

He assured the NBS that the National Assembly will amend its laws to grant the bureau autonomy.

“I assure you by the special grace of God that if you want that autonomy we are going to amend that Act with the speed of light.”

There were goodwill messages from other stakeholders including Sen. Sani Shehu.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has unveiled the Nigeria Food Security Simulator (FSS Nigeria) tool to address food and income shortage in Nigeria.

The initiative was inaugurated on Tuesday in Abuja in partnership with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

Dr Kwaw Andam, Country Programme Leader, IFPRI Nigeria, said the tool was an innovative and easy-to-use, MS-Excel-based tool for assessing the potential short-term impacts of food price or household income shocks on food security and people’s diets.

Andam, who is also the Initiative Lead, National Policies and Strategies (NPS), said the simulator was an ideal tool for forward-looking evaluation of direct, household-level outcomes of economic crises and policy responses in a timely manner.

He said the FSS Nigeria underscored government’s ambition towards making food security a priority which as part of the president’s eight point agenda.

According to him, the tool will help analysts estimate the impact of changes in food prices, and other factors on food consumption.

“This tool will allow users to enter positive and negative price in percentage terms and provide simulated changes for a diverse set of food-consumption- and diet-quality-related indicators.

“In addition to detailed tabular presentations of all simulation results by household income and residential area, key indicator results are summarised in concise overview tables and visualised in graphs for easy export and use in reports.

“The underlying data include estimates from representative household survey data and rigorous, sophisticated food demand models to capture consumer behavior,’’ he said.

Dr Oliver Ecker, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI, in his presentation, said FSS Nigeria would help unlock the insights of household data and enhance analysis and understand the concept of food security in the country.

He said the tool would help the policymakers and the policy analysts in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food security as well as the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs in their decision making.

IFPRI has been working in Nigeria since 2007 implementing the Nigeria Strategy Support Program (NSSP) and the USAID Feed the Future Nigeria Agriculture Policy Activity, in partnership with Michigan State University.

It is also supporting the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and other partners in the implementation of Nigeria’s national development plans.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

omen for Women International-Nigeria (WfWi-N) has organised a training on gender mainstreaming transformative approaches for district heads from Pankshin, Riyom and Jos East Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Plateau.

Speaking at the event on Tuesday in Jos, Bukola Onyishi, the Country Director of WfWi-N, said that the training was funded by the Ford Foundation.

Represented by Monica Agene, the People’s Capability and Culture/Administrative Manager of the organisation, Onyishi explained that the exercise was under its project, ”Mobilising Community-Led Solutions for Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Northern Nigeria.”

She said that the exercise aimed at equipping the participants with requisite knowledge toward mitigating violence against women in communities.

Onyishi noted that the project was currently being implemented in five communities across Pankshin, Riyom and Jos East LGAs

”This training intends to equip traditional and community stakeholders to adopt more targeted interventions for addressing the various forms of violence experienced by women in communities.

”As custodians of people’s culture, traditional leaders play a pivotal role and serve as an entry point that can be leveraged to transform traditional norms.

”Therefore, it has become imperative to conduct this training.

”The overall objective of this project is to transform the social norms that trigger and drive gender-based violence by better understanding of the causes of violence against women in communities.

”So, I implore you to approach this training with utmost seriousness, to collectively take action to transform gender norms and create gender-sensitive traditional councils,” she said.

Onyishi said that WfWi-N focuses on prevention, specifically in creating a culture that supports women’s rights to exist free from violence.

She explained that its ”Stronger Women Stronger Nations” programme provides training and resources to marginalised women, rekindles their hope and helps them to discover their sense of purpose in life.

”Through this empowerment, they become better equipped to provide for themselves, their families and communities, and by extension contributing to the well-being and progress of the society as a whole.

”At the same time, our men’s engagement programme engages men in supporting the efforts of these women and in shifting knowledge, behaviours and ultimately, attitudes toward gender equality and the prevention of violence against women.

”Our ‘Change Agent’ and community engagement work to ensure community buy-in and support, which is crucial for preventing violence against women,” she explained.

Mr Gyang Dalyop, the facilitator of the training, described the exercise as ‘apt’, adding that it would serve as an eye opener to the traditional institution toward promoting the rights of women in communities.

Dalyop decried the existence of some norms that seemed to be at variance with the development of women.

He maintained that the training would enable the participants to have a better understanding of their roles in mitigating violence against women.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Experts and stakeholders have deliberated on ways of developing circular economy initiative with a view to giving it a strong government policy backing in the country.

They made the call at the Circular Economy Roundtable organised by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) on Tuesday in Abuja.

The event with the theme, ‘Harmonisation and Policy Development for the Nigeria Circular Economy, aims to deliberate on policy by the Nigerian government to utilise waste in the country for reusable for other purposes.

Mr Adetokunbo Kayode, the President, Nigeria Private Sector Alliance, said the roundtable would assist the government and stakeholders in setting clear agenda to develop the policy and the circular economy.

Kayode, a former Minister of Justice, said the meeting was critical to national development, considering the volume of waste produced in Nigeria and the fresh opportunities to convert the waste to national wealth.

“We generate a lot of waste with the population of more than two hundred and ten million (210, 000, 000). Nigeria is one of the six or seven largest waste generators in the world.

“Some people call it polluters, but that is not so, you must generate so far what you consume, the more consumption, the more things you use, the more waste you generate.

“The whole essence of circular economy is to utilise this waste as a source of raw materials and as a fresh opportunity to reuse for a purpose, whatever we called waste.

“The purpose of this roundtable is to help us assist both government and ourselves in setting a clear agenda for the development of the policy as well as the economy itself, ” he said.

He said in the world today, there were four new economies namely digital, green, creative and circular economy.

According to him, these are new fields of opportunities capable of producing a lot of values and wealth, hence the need for Nigeria government to key into the initiative.

“Government needs to immediately endorse, recognise, accept the circular economy. Circular economy is multi-sectoral with principally around the environmental economy, ” he said.

Also, Mr Collins Opigo, the representative of the Ministry of Environment said achieving such initiative required a lot of things.

He said that the ministry had recognised the initiative which could boost the nation’s economy.

“Other developed countries had gone far with the economy. In Nigeria as well, a lot of things have to be done. Nevertheless, a lot of programmes are already ongoing in that regard.

“There are basic documents that have promoted circular economy concept before. But specifically in terms of capturing the word circular economy and enthroning its enabling activities is very much underway.

“And we have been talking about roadmap that the ministry is trying to develop and of course it needs more consultations,” he said.

Similarly, Mr Chukwudi Nwabuisiaku, a representative from the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), said the agency had a vision for a cleaner and healthier Nigeria.

The mission of the agency according to him, is to inspire personal and collective responsibility towards building an environmentally conscious society.

“And that. Is why we are here because wherever it has to do with public engagement, we always like to participate because the agency cannot do it alone.

“And we want to create that environmental consciousness that everyone of us should be aware of our environmental protection,”Nwabuisiaku said.

He said NESREA was in deep partnership with circular economy project which the agency had in the year 2012 to 2014, started conversation about the circular economy initiative.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the forum drew experts and stakeholders from ministries, agencies, organised private sector to deliberate on the initiative which according to them, is critical to national development.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The International Livestock Research and Training Institute (ILRTI), has commenced engagement with critical stakeholders to revolutionise livestock production in Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the stakeholders included the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Fulbe Global Development and Right Initiatives (FGDRI).

The Executive Director and Chairman, Governing Board of the institute, Dr Kabir Dasuki, said on Tuesday in Abuja that the aim was also to address the challenges in livestock production.

Dasuki who met with officials of MACBAN and FGDRI, said that livestock production constituted a major part of the 27.35 per cent of Nigeria’s total agricultural GDP, and contributed significantly to employment generation.

He said recent estimates put Nigeria’s herd population to about 21.16 million cattle, 43.4 million sheep, 76 million goats, 900,000 donkeys and 180 million poultry.

According to him, the herd population can be improved beyond the present level if there is appropriate capacity building and the right environment.

Dasuki said the institute would improve the capacity of stakeholders and help in upscaling food nutrition and security which were necessary to reduce poverty, improve health care and create jobs.

According to him, the institute will also provide the necessary inputs for Nigeria to harness the potential of the livestock sector to earn foreign exchange.

The Executive Director said that the institute offered opportunities for stakeholders to acquire skills and knowledge on various aspects of livestock.

“ We currently have some students undergoing training in the techniques of modern livestock breeding and the application of mini ranches, high yielding grass with less water usage at our main campus in Sokoto.

“ This will enable herders to breed cattle without necessarily moving from location to location during lactation, and get higher milk yield in excess of 55 litres per day.

“ Our other in-house training techniques holistically centres on peace, and counterterrorism, which are major ingredients in nation building and rapid community development.

“ We are happy to report that we have championed and activated six Peace Ambassadors groups in the north central states of Benue and Nasarawa with two more states to be captured before the third quarter of 2024,” he said.

Dasuki said the institute currently had improved livestock breeds in its stables at Sokoto Gudali.

He added that sustained effort was being made to set up a research department for the cross breeding of the popular Brazilian Zebu type breeds with local breeds.

” This is with a view to improving yield, disease resistance, and higher beef production.”

He said that the institute was determined to transform Africa’s livestock future through training, research and innovation, advocacy and policies.

“ We are currently working at securing and preparing farmlands for forage in 15 states of the federation as well as the FCT and in building mini ranches for our graduates at a very minimal cost.

“Currently, we are in advance discussion with investors in Ekiti State for both forage and a mini learning campus.

“ We aid in resource mobilisation through partnership with Development Banks especially in the Middle East and other global developmental financial institutions,” he said.

This, he said, included an MoU with the Africa Islamic Economic Foundation (AFRIEF) for capital investment of 100 million dollars, interest free.

Dasuki said the dialogue with MACBAN and others was about working with groups and strategic stakeholders whose natural habitat and DNA flows with livestock.

He said the institute believed that the presumed vices in the people could be turned to strength in an encompassing manner where no one or tribe is left behind and be embraced in love with respect and dignity.

Responding, the National President of MACBAN, Alhaji Baba Ngelzarma, commended the institute for the initiative, promising to study its objectives to be able to make informed decision.

Ngelzarma said the association was willing to embrace initiatives that would enhance the productivity of herders and guarantee their interest for the overall development of the nation.

On his part, the President General of FGDRI, Dr Salim Umar, said it was the first time that a non-governmental organisation would come up with such initiative, and pledged to key in with an open mind.

According to him, various initiatives by government to address the challenge of livestock production in Nigeria were not allowed to succeed because of extraneous factors.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria