Day: May 7, 2024

Mr Kingsley Ezejiaku, Chief Executive Officer, Dumena Education, has urged school owners to introduce and integrate digital literacy courses into their school curricula to enable children to learn technology with ease.

Ezejiaku made this advocacy on Tuesday in Abuja at the Classroom of the Future Workshop, with the theme ‘Global Trend in Tech Education.’

The workshop was organised by Dumena Education.

Digital literacy is an individual’s ability to find, evaluate, and communicate information using typing or digital media platforms.

Ezejiaku said that Dumena Education is a platform that creates concepts to make it easy for children in primary and secondary schools to learn technology.

‘I think it is time we begin to have digital literacy in our curriculum in both primary and secondary schools.

So, this workshop is designed to show schools how they will be able to integrate technology and digital literacy into their curriculum.”

According to him, children learning mathematics, English and Physics can als
o learn how to build websites, programmes and robotics from their classroom.

Ezejiaku said that digital literacy helped children learn to build things at a very young age and provide digital solutions to problems that were peculiar to the people.

He said the initiative was aligned the ‘National Digital Literacy Framework’ that was unveiled by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in July, 2023.

He said that organisation’s goal was to see that children were learning how to build websites as part of their programmess.

He said that the workshop would be replicated across the 36 states of the nation and FCT.

‘I think the government needs to identify organisations like ours who are already aligning with their policies and provide support to organisations that are on ground to implement government policies and directions,’ he said.

On her part, Mrs Ngozi Amanfo, Head of School, Oaks and Acorns Montessori School, Abuja, said the programme was a good one because it enabled teachers to follo
w up with what the children were studying about technology in schools and at home.

‘In the world that we are in, it is difficult to follow up with what the children are doing in their ICT, robotics classes, coding classes.

‘So with the programme, I think it will be really interesting to follow through with the children both at home and in school,” she said.

She further expressed that the programme would help build the children to create technology innovations that could be used to solve problems in future.

Director of Bankys Private School, Olusola Bankole, said this programme was a very fascinating one; coming from Nigeria and structured to help children dive into digital literacy

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW), says it has produced 45 million assorted tree seedlings for its afforestation programme across the country.

Dr Yusuf Bukar, the Director-General, NAGGW, said this at an interaction with members of the House of Representatives Committee on Ecological Fund in Abuja on Tuesday.

Bukar said that the agency had already distributed 10.8 million of the seedlings to farmers for planting as trees on farms to promote agroforestry.

He said that the agency had also rehabilitated 14,118 degraded landscape in different parts of the country.

‘About 4,455 units of solar home lightening systems have been procured and distributed across the country, ‘ he said.

Bukar said that 3,102 units of solar street lights had also been procured and installed in rural markets, as well as boreholes and plant nursery sites.

He said the agency had also procured and distributed 6,300 units of super saver wooden stoves to families and inhabitants of rural communities to discourage indis
criminate tree logging for domestic purposes.

The director general also said that 128 units of solar powered pumps with trolley had been procured and installed for irrigation purposes across the 11 frontline states across the country.

‘Forty-three units of solar powered boreholes and motorised boreholes have been constructed with complete accessories by the agency.

‘We have constructed and equipped for off land training, five units of skill acquisition centres and 71 community plant nurseries, established for seedlings production.

‘We have constructed a 14.6 km of rural feeder roads for ease of access and 110 tube wells have been constructed for irrigation purposes,’ he said.

Bukar said that the agency had also trained 1,397 youths and engaged them as forest guards to protect the agency’s investments.

About 85 units of motorcycles have been procured and distributed for the forest guards patrolling the agency’s investments so as to prevent indiscriminate tree felling,’ he said.

He said that in the bid t
o empower women and youths, 205 units of grinding machines were procured and distributed to them.

‘About 210,709 youths were engaged in direct tree planting and other related activities, 2,283 rural community members (women and youth) have been trained in off land livelihood activities.

‘275 farmers have been trained on climate smart agriculture in dry land region,’ he said.

Bukar said that the agency had established two Automatic Weather Stations for field data collection as well as an effective monitoring and evaluation system.

Earlier, the Chairman of the committee, Rep. Sani Jaji (APC-Zamfara) said the roundtable was to educate the lawmakers on the functions of the agency to ensure effective oversight.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, on Monday emphasised the need to continue to properly harness information to address and improve the current situation in the country.

The Emir, while receiving the Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Malam Ali Muhammad Ali during a courtesy visit to his palace, noted that information was very important.

He added however, that reporting activities was not an easy task and should therefore not be taken with levity.

‘Our prayer is that Almighty Allah should continue to guide us, have mercy on us and make Nigeria continue to live in unity,’ Sulu-Gambari said.

He noted that NAN has shown the capacity to help the country in the area of utilising information to further develop the nation.

‘NAN has been doing well in this regard, and I am sure that is due to the pedigree of you the Managing Director, especially with what you have done in the media industry so far.

‘I am sure the agency will go a long way in helping the country get better,’ the Emi
r said, praying for more success and breakthrough for the agency.

Speaking on the country Nigeria, Sulu-Gambari noted that a lot of the situation in the country in recent times have been improving.

‘We now have many of our sons and daughters around the country, already married to those of other tribes, while some have settled for the sake of business and job transfers.

‘Nigeria is our father’s land that has come to stay and will not be divided by the special grace of Almighty Allah,’ he said.

The NAN Managing Director, while speaking earlier, had said the ongoing upgrading of the agency’s services would boost their operations and enhance productivity.

He said his major reason for visiting Kwara was to further assess the agency’s facilities.

‘We need to know the challenges and how to provide the necessary equipment to boost production.

‘We will then see how to cover the activities of the state and the Emirate.

‘I am from Kano and we share the same way of life with Ilorin. That is why I have come to fir
st pay my respect to the traditional leader.

‘You are closer to the people and as a great leader and Chairman of traditional rulers in the state, you know more about the activities in the state,’ Ali said.

He then solicited the support of the Emir and assured that the agency would continue to work assiduously in order to supply reliable and current information to the public.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Eskom says it will approach the courts in a bid to have City Power pay its R1 billion debt to the national power utility.

City Power is a company wholly owned by the City of Johannesburg which purchases, distributes and sells electricity within the city coupled with maintaining and installing electrical infrastructure.

The power utility said City Power’s debt stood at some R1.073 billion at the end of March this year.

‘The escalating City Power debt…has left Eskom with no choice but to apply to the High Court in Johannesburg for a declaratory order to force City Power to pay what is due to Eskom. The case has been enrolled for hearing on 4 June 2024. The power utility started to default on its payments from October 2023 and no payment was received for the March 2024 invoice.

‘The debt owed by City Power has reached unprecedented levels, exacerbating Eskom’s already strained financial situation. This dire situation not only undermines Eskom’s financial sustainability but also threatens its ability to maint
ain essential infrastructure, invest in new technologies and meet the growing energy demands of the province,’ Eskom said.

According to the national power utility, City Power has ‘declared a dispute regarding potential overbilling on bulk purchase invoices dating back to 2021’.

‘Eskom denies the claims made by City Power and will prove its position through the arbitration process.

‘In terms of the electricity supply agreements sanctioned by the Electricity Regulation Act of 2006, if a municipality raises a dispute with Eskom, it must still pay. The dispute does not absolve it of its legal obligations to pay Eskom for the bulk electricity it has received.

‘Eskom remains committed to fulfilling its mandate of providing reliable and sustainable electricity to assist in growing the economy of Gauteng, making the province an investment destination of choice,’ Eskom said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Dr Richard Montgomery, the British High Commissioner in Nigeria, on Sunday said trade relations between Nigeria and the United Kingdom (UK) currently stands at about seven billion pounds sterling.

Montgomery told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that Nigeria and the UK signed a new agreement on enhanced trade and investment partnership and agreed to work on a range of sectors.

He identified the sectors as agriculture, the creative industry, legal, financial services, and education.

Montgomery stated that trade between the UK and Nigeria is balanced.

‘Trading by both countries is relatively balanced because the UK exports about four billion pounds sterling worth of goods and services to Nigeria while Nigeria exports to the UK about three billion pounds worth of goods .

‘We need to do more because if you look at last year’s figure compared to the penultimate, there was not much of an increase in trade volume.

‘It was an increase of about two per cent. So trade in the last few years has changed.

‘And the aim of our enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership is to boost trade and investment between both countries and also to raise these numbers.

‘Nigeria can benefit and take advantage of a new post-Brexit trading agreement that the UK has put in place that is called the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS).

‘This scheme called the DCTS is one of the most generous schemes in the world in the sense that it removes tariffs on thousands of products from across the world to make free trade easier,’ he said.

The envoy said that having visited many parts of Nigeria, the UK realised that Nigeria had at least 3,000, tariff-free products that it could export to the UK.

According to him, the enhanced trade investment partnership signed between the two countries in February is aimed at attracting more investment to the agric sector.

He said Nigeria could boost trade with UK by exporting more of its agric products.

‘In agricultural exports, Nigeria can export cashew, cotton, or cocoa from the middle bel
t.

‘There are lots of commercial farmers involved in vegetables, which can be processed, and there is also timber.

‘And we think that there’s a big potential for commercial agriculture in the future in Nigeria. You have the land you have the people.

‘The new trading scheme should be an opportunity for Nigeria. We can do more in financial and legal services,’ he said.

He said that there were new technologies coming into the financial services sector which will greatly enhance the sector.

He added that Nigeria has a huge creative industry which the UK recognises and is interested in.

‘London is a good place for partnerships in the creative industry. So we are hoping to promote those areas through partnership,’ he said.

He said that two challenges of doing business in the UK that foreigners needed to take cognizance of were lack of knowledge on how to do business and also the standards (non tariff barriers to trade).

He stated that a facility called the growth gateway run by the Department of Business an
d Trade was provided as a source of advice for anyone that intends to export to the UK.

‘When you go onto the internet and search for UK Department for Business and Trade, you will access the growth gateway page where you will get information on trade, depending on what sector you are in. There’s even a page for Nigeria.

‘In the area of standards , if you want to sell some products in the UK, there are safety standards you have to meet, and you will have a certification. Nigeria has its own certification.

‘And Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is working with UK standards organisation to reconcile standards or enable them to certify for the UK market to help ease trade,’ he said .

Montgomery added that he was optimistic that the UK would do more trade in Nigeria because of the bold reforms by the Nigerian government.

He applauded the removal of the ‘crippling fuel subsidy’, tackling oil theft, getting oil revenues that manage the budget better, and also the foreign exchange reforms.

He said that t
hose were critical in encouraging UK investors and banks to come back into the Nigerian market and do more trade, noting that the foreign exchange reforms were absolutely critical in this sense.

‘You all know that the foreign exchange system in the past chased away investors because it is difficult to get your exchange done and you do not know whether you will be able to move money across borders.

‘ But the new exchange rates policy under this government and the very impressive Central Bank of Nigeria leadership team is making investors to say they can come back and invest in the country,’ he said

Source: News Agency of Nigeria