Month: May 2024

The Vice-Chancellor of Bingham University, Karu, Nasarawa State, Prof. Kuje Ayuba, said the church has important roles to play in the development and transformation of lives.

Ayuba said this at a public lecture with the theme ‘Empowering The Church for Greater Societal Impact’.

The Vice-Chancellor said that there was no better time to discuss the topic than now.

‘The church is expected to play an important role in the transformation of social, political, economic lives of the citizens.

‘It is also expected to put society in a holistic growth and development oriented direction,’ he said.

Ayuba, while referring to the church as not just the building, but individuals, said he believed that the solution to the national and global crisis was in the church.

The guest speaker, Prof. John Kennedy Opara, while delivering a lecture, said the church held immense potential for catalysing positive change and fostering societal impact.

Opara, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CSS Group, one of the largest farms
in Karu, said the church plays a multifaceted and pivotal role in the society.

According to him, the church as individuals (citizens), helps in encompassing spiritual, social and humanitarian dimensions of citizens.

‘The church is vital for community engagement and support in contemporary society.

‘One of its fundamental roles is to promote social cohesion and unity.

‘The present church must be equipped so as to give life a meaning,’ Opara said.

He said that understanding societal challenges comes in different approaches.

According to him, they include; identifying key societal issues, analysing root causes, engage stakeholders and partnerships among others.

He admonished the church to build up men and women of compassion, generosity that would work with dignity.

‘The church must encourage its members to engage in productive work that contribute to personal well being and the common good of the society.

‘The church should engage in continuous training of members through job entrepreneurship, and job
skill training for empowerment of their future.

‘It must also introduce microfinance and small business support which in time, people will stand on their own rather than depending on their certificate for job,’ Opara added.

Opara said that the church could offer technical assistance to people to help them stand on their feet.

‘When you keep mentoring people and some of them get into what you are doing, the story will be a different thing entirely,’ Opara said.

Making reference to Israel with strong economy, due to investment on food sustainability, Opara said Nigeria equally needed strong economy by empowering individuals to do same.

‘vision is superior to strength and when God put something in our hand, He expect us to use it, as such, the church must never relent in training.

He advised the church to always pray and engage in the word of God.

A staff of the university, Mrs Helen Solomon, who spoke with NAN said the lecture was inspiring.

Solomon appreciated the VC for bringing such an idea, saying t
hat she has been impacted by the lecture.

She said she has already started considering getting into farming rather than waiting and depending on salary always.

Miss Anna Ari, a Law student of the institution said she now understood that vision was a big force that drives an individual.

Ari said that the lecture also taught her that praying for God’s guidance was needed in the pursuit and execution of ones vision.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has commended President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to developing Nigeria’s infrastructure, agricultural sector and enhanced security since his assumption of office.

The National President of MACBAN, Alhaji Baba Othman-Ngelzarma, made the commendation in a congratulatory letter to Tinubu, which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)on Friday in Abuja.

‘ Congratulations to Mr President and Commander-In-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Bola Tinubu on your one year in office.

‘ On behalf of the over six million pastoral communities in Nigeria, the Chairman, Board of Trustees, the National Executive, Management and staff of MACBAN, I wish to congratulate you on your successful one year anniversary in office.

‘ Your one year in office, though tumultuous but stands you as a man of courage, conviction and vision with Renewed Hope to make Nigeria great.

‘ Your commitment to developing Nigeria’s infrastructure, agricultura
l development and enhanced security is a testimony that you are not only up to the task but to deliver dividends of democracy to the larger Nigerians populace.’

Othman-Ngelzarma noted that the Renewed Hope agenda on agriculture which intends to make Nigeria self-sufficient in its food security entails massive investment in both agronomy and livestock production.

‘ In view of this, MACBAN looks forward to your promise of creating a Ministry for Livestock to handle the N15 trillion Industry and its value chain.

‘ The industry stands to provide millions of quality jobs to Nigerian youth wallowing in unemployment and abject poverty which is a threat to National Cohesion and the security in the country.

‘ To achieve this objective, there is the need for immediate establishment and inauguration of the livestock implementation committee which you promised during the report presentation.’

Othman-Ngelzarma also appealed to Tinubu to allow for the stand-alone existence of the National Commission for Nomadic Educat
ion for the continued well-being of Nigerian nomads.

‘ We appreciate the efforts of security agencies in the country in combating crime but we express concern with the way and manner in which innocent pastoralists are being profiled and extorted.

‘ Yours Excellency, the hope you exude should be made a reality to strengthen the faith of ordinary Nigerians on your renewed hope agenda.

‘ We will continue to support you in your quest to strengthen institutional frameworks to make Nigeria and Nigerians the pride of Africa in innovation and productivity.’

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Mr Gabriel Aduda, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Women Affairs, has emphasised that Civil Society Organisations and development partners are essential for achieving self-actualisation for women and children.

Represented by the Director of Child Development, Mr Ali Madugu, Aduda said this on Thursday in Abuja during the Critical Stakeholders Strategic Meeting of the Community and Social Intervention Department of the Ministry of Women Affairs.

He stated that the meeting aimed to develop a road map for the department’s strategic objectives.

‘While the government has the ultimate responsibility in ensuring protection of women and children’s rights, but this cannot be fulfilled without the involvement of CSOs, NGOs and development partners.

‘I, therefore, call on all stakeholders and well-meaning individuals to work closely with new department toward the protection and promotion of our women and children.

‘This is for self actualisation and effective contribution to sustainable national developm
ent,’ he said.

Mr Kunle Yusuf, the Director-General , Community Enhancement and Humanitarian Development Institute (CSCHEI) said the collaboration of CSOs was key.

‘For the department to achieve it’s mandate it needs to work with CSOs,’ he said, adding that they will help in achieving the department’s mandate in five ways.

‘There are development agents to ask the masses what there needs are; for you to articulate it, they advice appropriately adequately based on the facts, figures and data analysis on ground.

‘They assist you in implementing your policy at the grassroot level, they also give national assessment on how far you have gone, what is needed to be done and how best to go about it,’ he said.

Yusuf advised the department not to allow bureaucracy to hinder its activities.

He urged the UN and other development partners to also invest in other zones of the country that need support.

Speaking on the objectives of the meeting, Mr Lugard Okorobo, the Director-General, Nigerian Women Economic Developm
ent (NigWED) a CSO and organisers of the meeting said It was aimed at bringing stakeholders in the sector together.

‘NigWED focuses on social intervention programmes, financial inclusion, economic empowerment, political participation for women and girls.

‘Some people are already working at the community level so together we make informed decision that will help the department achieve it’s objective for the overall goal and benefit of women and children,’ Okorobo said.

Also speaking, a director at the ministry, Mrs Christiana Oliko, said the department would promote greater synergy with critical stakeholders and give visibility to issues concerning women and children.

‘We are foreseeing a situation where we bring in our contribution that will at the long run enhance the quality of lives of our people in nutrition, poverty reduction through skills development trainings.

‘Basically, we’ll try to harness our strength as there are some that will provide technical support, some will provide finances, grants an
d that will aid implementation of programmes and projects,’ she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the department was created in November 2023 to deal with community development and social welfare issues with respect to women, children and venerable groups.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Federal Consumer and Competition Protection Commission (FCCPC) says it has concluded plans to begin a Television (TV) series to advocate against youths and underage smoking.

Dr Adamu Abdullahi, acting Executive Chairman of the commission, disclosed this when Dr Hope Omeiza, Executive Director, Vanguard Against Drug Abuse Rehabilitation Centre, visited him in Abuja on Thursday.

‘Let me announce here that on June 1, we will commence a TV series on advocacy against youths and underage smoking.

‘The TV series will run for a year on DSTV,’ Abdullahi said.

He added that the commission was doing a lot to ensure that the future of Nigerians youths and children were secured.

He explained that substance abuse was beyond drugs, adding that it included alcohol and tobacco, which he described as dangerous to health.

Abdullahi added that the commission’s advocacy campaign against smoking tagged, ‘They Don’t Ban Their Future’, had won international recognition as an impactful behavioural change strategy.

He frow
ned at adults who send children to buy cigarettes for them and smoke it before them, ‘you are making a very big mistake because children learn from the elders.

‘When they see you doing something, they believe it is something that is good. So, they go ahead and indulge in it.

‘This is a very bad habit,’ he said.

The FCCPC boss said that a similar campaign would be organised specifically for tertiary institutions, secondary schools, and marketplaces among others.

He pointed out that the government spends a lot of money taking care of people with lung ailments caused by smoking, including second-hand smoking.

‘We have a duty to enlighten people to know that such behaviour is dangerous to their health and wellbeing,’ he said.

He also said that the commission would soon roll out telephone lines for smokers to call, talk to experts for advice on how to stop smoking.

Earlier, Omeiza commended FCCPC for the initiative, which he said would help significantly in tackling the menace of tobacco smoking and other i
llicit substance abuse.

He said that the initiative would open the eyes of youths and children on the dangers of consumption of tobacco and other illicit substances.

He assured the commission of the centre’s support in eradicating smoking among youths and underage children.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, says the agency will train 10,000 civil servants on data management.

Tijani made this known at the DevsinGovernment programme organised for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government on Friday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the programme is tagged ‘Responsible Data Management in the Public Sector.’

NAN also reports that the ministry recently inaugurated a free online data management course for public servants.

Tijani said the course was to equip them with the fundamentals of ethical data management that bridged the theoretical aspects of the Nigerian Data Protection Act, 2003.

‘We launched a new data management course; the idea is not to enforce or ask people to do what they have no idea of.

‘The free course will start with 10,000 civil servants to equip them on effective data management.

‘We live in a time when digital technology means that we are constantly collecting data and info
rmation on people; if we are careless with the data collected, we are going to put our people at risk.

‘We have to enlighten people and as we continue there will be improvement on how people handle data within the country,’ he said.

In his remarks, Dr Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), said data benefits the public through several key principles that sets the primary legal framework for its protection and privacy in Nigeria.

Olatunji was represented by Dr Tolulope Pius-Fadipe, Head, Research and Development of the NDPC. (NAN)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Stakeholders in the engineering sector, have called on the Federal Government to leverage on the Inter-Basin Water Transfer (IBWT) technology to boost food security in Nigeria.

The stakeholders said this at the 4th Engineer Umar Jibrin’s Distinguished Annual Public Lecture with the theme: `Leveraging on Inter-Basin Food Security and Enduring Rural Economics in Nigeria”.

The lecture was organised by the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers on Thursday in Abuja in honour of Umar Jibrin, a renowned engineer who had contributed immensely to the sector.

According to Prof. Abubakar Sadiq, the guest lecturer, IBWT meant the transfer of water from a surplus area to a scarcity area, like transferring water from areas that usually have flooding due to surplus water to areas like lake Chad that is drying up.

Sadiq who is also the President of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering (COREN), listed the benefits to IBWT to include: tackling flood, improved crop cultivation resulting in availability of food
among others.

‘The paper brings out the opportunity Nigeria has, to transfer excess water resources that are becoming a nuisance and resulting in flooding to shortage areas through the IBWT technologies which are being applied by other nations to solve that problem.

‘The project has been successfully done in many countries and Nigeria has started developing that concept since 1960 especially to address the issue of Lake Chad which is shrinking.

‘This has become the source of the crisis in not only Nigeria, but in the sub regions, which all of us are aware of, in terms of insecurity, biodiversity loss, desertification among others that is making people move from the north to the south.

‘Because of that, there is a crisis of resource management, insecurity, displacement of different communities and so on, so we are bringing this to the knowledge of the policymakers that we need to make sure we adopt this technology,’ he said.

Abubakar added that the technology when adopted, would be able to recharge the La
ke Chad Basin adding that ‘if we have such opportunity to put water where it’s supposed to be then we can use it to improve our food security in terms of developing the capacity to feed ourselves.”

The Keynote Speaker, Mr Inuwa Musa, called on the federal government to promote local technologies and key into IBWT technology in the interest of the nation.

‘We should look at everything from the perspective of self-interest as a nation and refuse to allow external actors to tell us what is good for Nigeria, because we are the ones who face the problem.

‘Clearly, you can see that the shrinking of lake Chad is the root cause of Boko Haram; so cannot continue to look the other way, so the IBWT is a win-win solution.

‘Since 1995, it’s been predicted that Nigeria cannot feed itself from rainfall alone. The solution is to provide water so that our farmers can continuously produce not just in rainy season.”

Musa said that was the only way out of poverty and food scarcity.

Mrs Margaret Oguntala, the Chairman of
the occasion and President of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), said the event was evidence of the commitment of engineers to advance engineering solutions to address critical issues facing Nigeria.

Oguntala, represented by the Deputy President of NSE, Mr Ali Rabiu, said the technology of water transfer would aid to advance the right value chain aimed at sustainable food security and improve the economy.

‘This couldn’t be timelier, it is a fundamental pillar of national stability and prosperity and as engineers, we must strive to address the challenges faced in achieving food security and promoting sustainable economies.”

The National Chairman of Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE), Mr Virgilus Ezugu, said the event aimed at honouring Umar Jibrin who has mentored younger professionals and inspired many engineers.

‘His professional trajectory demonstrates a robust practice that spans all the facets of the profession from technical practice, policy making and management to training and mentor
ing top class engineers who greatly impacted on national development.”

Ezugu said the lecture is usually held yearly to address major challenges in the country and the 2024 topic sought to tackle food insecurity and hunger.

He said that the application of engineering and technology in farming and agricultural practice would greatly increase yield and encourage more investment in the critical sector of socio-economic life.

He added that it would also provide the much-needed gainful employment for the teaming youths.

The awardee, Mr Umar Jibrin, a former Executive Secretary of Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), commended NICE for finding him worthy of recognition and for organising the lecture to honour him.

‘This year’s topic on IBWT and the ripple effect on agriculture, irrigation, food security among others, is the most critical topical issue that we can talk about in this country at the moment.

‘We intend that after the lecture, we will also have a technical group that will look at the adv
antages and recommendations that have been put forward.

‘We will now interface with policymakers that are unlikely to come on board to be able to take up this issue that has been thrashed, and then we will see how it can be reflected in our governmental affairs.

‘This is to make sure that it is cascaded to a level of implementation processes to help the common man,’ he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria