Month: June 2024

The National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) says no fewer than 600 PwDs have benefitted from the pilot programme of its health Insurance package.

James Lalu, the Executive Secretary of the commission gave the figure on Sunday, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Lalu also told NAN that the commission was working with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency in the training of over 3000 health workers that would specialise in handling disability related illness.

According to him, the training would come in the second phase of the health insurance intervention programme.

‘We have provided health insurance coverage for PwDs in the last two years. We started with 600 beneficiaries.

‘We are currently working with the Federal Ministry of Health to improve access to healthcare facilities for PwDs across the federation and we have started the pilot programme with the Maitama district hospital in Abuja.

‘We have signed an MoU for the hospital to become a re
ferral centre for PwDs,’ he said

Lalu added ”Our intention is to have, at least, one tertiary hospital in each state of the federation as referral for PwDs,

‘We are providing training for the healthcare workers in the hospital on how to handle disability issues and make sure they are disability friendly.

‘The training is ongoing at the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency and over 3000 health workers have already passed through the training at the moment.

‘We are creating awareness on access to healthcare facilities for PwDs’.

On income security for PwDs Lalu said, no fewer than 150 Point of Sale (POS) machines and grants of N100,000 each were distributed to PwDs.

‘We have also supported various Associations of PwDs on annual basis with grants to support their advocacy efforts

‘We also provided assistive devices to three Nigerian Universities and the Sultanate Council in efforts to use the traditional institutions to create awareness on compliance with accessibility regulations for PwDs.

‘T
he programme is expected to reduce hardship and and improve the health, sanitary conditions of the disability environment,’ he said.

Lalu said the programmes were also some of the commitments of the commission to ensure access to public services for PwDs in Nigeria.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Sustainable Environment and Fisheries Foundation (SEFFA), an NGO, says it has empowered communities in Jos and environs for environmental sustainability.

Mrs Ololade Adegoke, Chief Executive Officer, SEFFA, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

She said that SEFFA, a Jos-based NGO, is dedicated to promoting sustainable agricultural practices and environmental protection as well as empowering young girls in the fight against climate change.

‘Since its inception in 2008, SEFFA has been a pivotal force in empowering communities, especially women, to improve their livelihoods and contribute to environmental sustainability

‘The organisation continues to complement the efforts of government and development partners in promoting climate-friendly actions and ensuring a sustainable environment for humans, livestock, and plants.”

According to her, the foundation welcomes partnerships with development organisations and government bodies to further their mission of
advocacies, actions and sustainable practices.

The chief executive officer emphasised the importance of raising awareness about climate-smart agriculture and sustainable practices.

According to her, by providing education and resources, SEFFA aims to create a new generation of ‘climate smart ambassadors’ who can drive change in their communities.

‘By educating young girls about climate change and its impacts, we prepare them to ask the right questions and take meaningful actions to address these challenges.”

She said SEFFA recently conducted a three-day training programme from May 16 to May 19 in Jos with the theme ‘Building Life Resilience for Climate Change in Jos, Plateau.”

Adegoke said that the young girls who participated in the training would not only serve as ambassadors but also become influential voices for change in their communities and beyond.

‘The involvement of future leaders in climate advocacy is crucial.”

She said that SEFFA also recently concluded a programme in collaboration with
United Nations Development Programme/ Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator (AFCIA).

Adegoke said that the collaboration brought together 48 young girls from selected secondary schools and communities in Jos South and Jos North Local Government Areas.

‘During the training, participants engaged in sessions such as: Introduction to Climate Change and Climate-Smart Agriculture Practices, Financial Literacy for Young Farmers Building Synergy through Cooperatives and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene(WASH).

‘Others are General Hygiene Practices for Girls and the Introduction to Solar Charging Point Business.

‘SEFFA has a series of climate-smart activities planned for July, which will expand their outreach to more communities,’ she said.

On his part, Newton Akpona, acting Chairman of the National Sector Skills Council for Agriculture and Agri-processing, highlighted the significance of creating awareness among young farmers.

He said that fostering a positive mindset and adopting climate-smart practices
were essential steps in mitigating the effects of climate disasters.

NAN recalls that on May 14, 2024 SEFFA also distributed farm inputs to communities in Gurapwana, Dahwol-Bob, and Vom in Jos South Local Government Area.

SEFFA is collaborating with the Federal College of Veterinary Research and Medical Laboratory Technology, Vom, to build a greenhouse facility and to support individuals, families, and societies in adopting smart agricultural practices.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) on Saturday declared Latin America host for its 2025 global workshop on nuclear-test ban.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral agreement which opened for signature in September 1996 and has since been signed by 187 nations and ratified by 178 to prohibit any nuclear weapon test anywhere in the world by anyone.

The Executive Secretary of CTBTO, Dr Robert Floyd, disclosed this at the closing of a two-day regional workshop organised by CTBTO for African States Signatories on Saturday in Banjul, The Gambia.

The workshop held from May 31 to June 1.

Floyd said, ‘The workshop was experimental: it is the first time we have conducted workshop on nuclear-test ban outside of Vienna and The Gambia in Africa is the first ever host.

‘The workshop has been a success. It is not a global community that gathered, but a continent that gathered. It is wonderful that we can have focus on Africa.

‘The next experiment is likely to be
in the Latin America, in the Caribbean or the Pacific region.

‘We started with pictures about the treaty and we have come so far to discover the treaty has so much to deliver, to every member state signatory to it.

‘There is benefit for all member states signatory to the treaty through capacity building, especially seeing people thread on the path of dialogue against nuclear weapon testing.’

The executive secretary identified benefits of the treaty to include ensuring safety and protection of environment from nuclear weapons, disaster management and other scientific purposes.

‘We must establish a world without nuclear-test, put barriers against further development and proliferation of nuclear weapons.

‘It is an essential step towards shared future of eradicating nuclear weapons in our environment,’ he added.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports out of 52 States in Africa that signed the Treaty, 50 have so far ratified it.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Still Waters Foundation has distributed food items and clothing to over 250 vulnerable widows in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to support their efforts in catering for the family.

Speaking during the event in Abuja, the founder, Dr Femi Lanre-Oke, said that the theme of the event tagged, ‘Renewed hope’, was timely due to the present economic situation of the country.

Lanre-Oke said that the basis for diligently driving the foundation was derived from the passion and need to impact lives.

He emphasised the importance of food in the lives of people especially the underprivileged widows who were facing series of societal challenges and had gone through pain, discrimination and neglect.

Lanre-Oke said that the foundation was not just about helping the widows and the less privileged, but also discovering and empowering the youths to become ambassadors of peace.

‘This is because the first thing about a widow was that you see a person whose joy has been taken away.

‘The husband is no more and more likely
to be the strength of that family. So, when you identify with people like that, you are fulfilling the covenant of God In Isaiah 58, ‘ he said.

According to him, when you see a widow, you see somebody whose joy was stolen, whose strength failed, and who is now alone.

‘So, when you identify with that, you bring encouragement to them, you bring support to them, you are bringing strength to them. That is the major thing, ‘ he said.

Lanre-Oke, who is also the Lead Pastor, Jesus Praise Evangelical Ministries International (JPEMI), urged government to identify with the windows and their children for the growth of the society.

He also urged government at all levels to make life easy and convenient for widows, adding that granting them access to soft loan for a business would go along way.

‘If these widows are strengthened number one, they take care of their children.

‘If they are encouraged and supported, they make provisions for them, make assistance for them, ‘ he said.

He reiterated the commitment of the f
oundation to continue to impact the lives of the less privileged people in the society and other vulnerable.

In their separate remarks, some of the widows expressed gratitude to the foundation as some were seen with smiles and relief on their faces.

Some of the widows that got Tailoring/ Sewing machines, hair dressing materials among others

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that aside the food items and clothing materials donated, five widows were empowered with two hair dressing machines, two tailoring machines and one melon grinding machine.

The Foundation also promised to help the widows by paying the children’s school fees, and setup some of them with business among others in the next edition of the program.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Dr Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, says the Federal Government will deploy technology for the surveillance of mining sites across the country.

Alake said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the technology would be in addition to the 2,220 personnel of the Mining Marshal Corps drawn from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to combat illegal mining.

The corps deployed across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were also trained on modern warfare by the military to secure Nigeria’s natural resources.

‘We are introducing some technology, we are not just relying on men and materials alone.

‘The satellite surveillance gadgets we are putting in there are to enable us to see in real time in all mining sites in Nigeria.

‘So that when we notice any infraction, very quickly we can deploy the mining marshals to go there so we don’t even have to wait for any interpersonal communication.

‘That reduces t
he time of knowledge and action. Right now we depend on people passing intelligence to us but when the satellite surveillance gadget is working, we will be able to see it ourselves.

‘Which is a step forward in the right direction’, he said.

The minister said that to attract investors to the sector, especially the big players, it was necessary to put in place policies and initiatives aimed at securing their investments.

‘We needed to put in place policy measures to ensure that when these investors come, they are not just coming into the darkness that we had here before.

‘They will ask some questions, such as the security of their operating environment, their investment, personnel and the ease of doing business in Nigeria and the sector’, he said.

He said that the administration of President Bola Tinubu inherited a lot of security challenges such as banditry, kidnapping and terrorism, which were associated with the solid mineral sector.

He explained that most mining activities were in the forests, where
such crimes were being perpetrated.

He said that the administration of Tinubu was determined to sanitise the sector, and reposition it to contribute significantly to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) .

According to the minister, concerted efforts are being deployed to curb the menace with other government agencies, such as the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Army and the Police for rapid result.

‘I had a meeting with the Inspector General of Police on this issue and he is willing to give us more men to support those that we have on ground.

‘Even the EFCC is cooperating with us, they are also arresting, the army also enumerated the number of illegal miners that they have arrested, it is a holistic effort cutting across all security agencies.

‘But the mine marshals are just the face of the security apparatus that we are putting in place to combat illegal mining,’ he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development is determined to ensure that the solid minerals sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surpasses that of oil, the minister, Dr Dele Alake, has said.

Alake stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the administration of President Bola Tinubu was putting in place policies and initiatives aimed at diversifying the economy and ensuring that it generates more revenue than oil in the near future.

He said that the move was necessary, especially with the global upsurge of energy transition, which would reduce the demand of oil.

‘We have been totally dependent on oil for decades, everyone has been dependent on the free flow of petrol dollars on the economy.

‘And the critical sector of the economy such as agriculture and solid minerals was neglected.

‘Our objective is to make the solid minerals contribution to the GDP to surpass oil.

‘By the time all our policy initiatives go through the g
estation period and begin to manifest results, the revenue that will be accruing to Nigeria from this sector would be enormous.

‘We are going to recover trillions to the coffers of the Nigerian government and for the benefit of Nigerians at large’ he said.

He said that Nigeria possesses the critical minerals in commercial quantities across its states needed for energy transition, which the ministry was aggressively marketing to attract big players to invest in the sector.

‘We embarked on aggressive marketing to unlock the richness of the potential, making sure we push out information on the number of minerals that we have, the type and their demand nationally and internationally, ‘ he said.

According to him, negotiations are ongoing with an auditing firm to audit the sector aimed at sanitising it to ensure the appropriate accruals to boost the country’s GDP.

‘As we speak, we are far in our negotiations with an auditing firm to come and audit the entire sector, because we have lost a lot of money in the
past.

‘We know that operators will under-declare what they are carting away, even the payment of royalties they under pay, taxes they evade.

‘So, we are in the process of engaging an internationally recognised auditing firm that has done the same thing in other parts of the world, in more than 20 countries.

‘So that they come and help us recover lost revenue and put some measures in place going forward so that we will no longer lose revenue.

‘We are going to recover trillions to the coffers of the Nigerian government and for the benefit of Nigerians at large, ‘ he said.

NAN recalls that the minister had said that a German company, Geo Scan, conducted a preliminary survey that indicates that Nigeria has 750 billion Dollars’ worth of solid minerals underground, which had not been harnessed.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria