Day: July 17, 2024

The Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Department (FEMD) has raised alarm over increased incidences of building collapse, fire outbreak and flood in the territory.

The acting Director-General (D-G) of the department, Mrs Florence Wenegieme, raised the alarm during a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

Wenegieme said that the department had responded to seven emergencies between June 24 and July 13, out of which four were building collapses, flood incident, fire outbreak and attempted suicide.

She said that a flash flood occurred at Trademore Estate, Lugbe, on June 24 and a fire incident at old Karu Market on June 28.

She also said that the four building collapses included an incident on June 28 at Guzape District and another at Prince and Princess Estate, on June 28, followed by the incident at Nkwere Street, Garki on July 1.

She added that the recent building collapse was the incident at Kubwa Phase II on July 13, while a suicide attempt was averted at Aso TV/Radio Mast, Katampe on July
8.

The acting D-G blamed the developments on residents’ attitude of dumping waste on water ways, non-adherence to Fire Safety and Building Codes, use of substandard electrical materials and illegal electrical connections.

Other factors, she added, include storage of volatile substances in markets and homes, high use of combustible materials in building construction, activities of quacks in building construction, and use of sub-standard construction materials.

She further identified contributing factors as violation of building approval, carrying out maintenance work without regulatory approvals, and non-conduct of Environmental Impact Assessment before building construction among others.

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On ways forward, Wenegieme called for the review of existing laws in the building industry to tackle the rising trend of building collapse like stiffer punishment for violators, especially when lives were lost.

She also called for th
e review of the Fire Safety Code to mandate the use of non-combustible materials in building construction to reduce risk of fire outbreaks.

‘All developers should provide insurance cover to construction workers on site throughout the duration of the project.

‘All buildings should be inspected by relevant authorities on completion to see if they meet minimum safety standards before they are certified for human habitation and other purposes.

‘Responsible agencies should also make it mandatory for developers to submit professional certification of site engineers as part of securing building approval to eliminate the activities of quacks,’ she said.

To discourage citizens against suicide, the acting D-G urged the National Orientation Agency to intensify campaign on civic responsibility to stimulate positive behavior and sense of patriotism among citizens.

She said that as part of disaster risk reduction, the department had been going round the city to ensure that structures removed for standing on waterways
were not rebuilt.

She added that multi-disaster risk sensitisation and awareness campaigns were also ongoing, including jingles in TV and radio stations in different languages on issues of flood, fire outbreaks, building collapse and other potential emergencies.

‘We have also temporarily closed the collapsed Dogon Gada box culvert and a Slip Road by Galadimawa roundabout to avoid loss of lives when it rains. These are flood-prone locations when it rains.

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‘We equally mounted flood warning signboards in flood prone locations and held strategic stakeholders meetings for prevention, mitigation and effective response to flood, building collapse, fire outbreaks, epidemics and other emergencies in the FCT.

‘The department has also established local divers, disaster vanguards, town criers and disaster marshals and built their capacities for effective disaster response in their communities,’ she said.

Wenegieme thanked the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, Coordinator o
f Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, Mr Felix Obuah and other stakeholders for their support to strengthen emergency response in the FCT.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar has underscored the need for Nigeria to continually play key role towards sustainable peace, security and stability in the Sahel region.

Tuggar stated this while delivering a lecture titled: ‘Pathways to peace, security and stability in the Sahel: What Role for Nigeria?’, at the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to him, the pathways to peace, security and stability in the Sahel are intertwined and interdependent.

Tuggar said: ‘We cannot have one without the other; no peace without security or stability, no security without peace or security and no stability without peace or security.

‘The following is a precis of what I feel Nigeria should be doing to ensure a relatively safe and secure Sahel to its North and I say relative.

‘By its very nature, history and etymology, the Sahel is a very dynamic region prone to fluidity that is often in conflict with centralised state systems.’

The minister explained the word Sahel as originated from
the Arabic Al-Sahil to mean coast or shore of the Sahara.

He said that movement of people, goods, services and ideas within the Sahel and with the outside world led to the creation of a number of states and even empire.

He identified such states to include Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Borno and Sokoto among others.

‘There are lessons to learn from the rise and fall of these Sahelian States, in identifying role Nigeria should play in charting pathway to peace, security and stability in the Sahel.

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‘Nigeria must lead the way in relying on empiricism when analysing the Sahel. We must do away with certain exogenous and erroneous perceptions about the Sahel.

‘The Sahel is not an empty ungoverned quarter, a terra nullius. Contrary to that, it has one of the fastest growing populations in the world. Niger currently has population of 24.2 million and is going to have 65 million by 2050.

‘A large part of the Sahelian
populace is Nomadic, which constitutes even more challenges in identifying and pathways to peace, security and stability in the region.

‘There is often an over-simplification that goes thus: the Sahel is sparsely populated by nomadic groups Tuaregs, Bororo, Zaghawa, and many of them tend towards terrorism, and criminal activities.’

He reiterated that Nigeria must as hegemon in the region lead in providing more accurate and factual analyses, and interpretation of events in the Sahel.

He urged the NIA to pave way through its information collection process with more accurate taxonomy and labelling of conflict groups.

He said that not every act of crime, kidnapping for ransom, attack on community, and smuggling of weapons must be ascribed to stand-alone Jihadi or tribal group.

‘We must develop our own insights to what is happening in our neighbourhood instead of relying on those of outsiders, to find pathways to peace, security and stability in the Sahel.

‘Nigeria must lead the way in establishing the guard
rails and we have seen the disastrous outcomes of allowing others frame the narratives in the Sahel.’

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja has inaugurated a 70,000 litre solar-powered water project at Alesi in Ikom Local Government Area of Cross River.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the project is a Special Intervention Civil-Military Cooperation scheme, initiated by the COAS and implemented by Maj.-Gen. Hilary Nzan, the Commander, Four Special Forces Command, Doma, Nasarawa.

NAN also reports that the strategic initiative is aimed at fostering improved relationship between the army and communities through the implementation of people-oriented projects.

The Nigerian Army had earlier provided solar-powered street lights in the community.

Represented by Maj.-Gen. Hassan Dada, the General Officer Commanding, 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu, the COAS said the project was designed to complement the existing infrastructure provided by the government and other stakeholders.

He said the water project would provide a sustainable source of clean water for the people of Alesi and
its environs..

‘This project will help to improve the people’s health, sanitation and overall quality of life,’ he said.

Lagbaja said the army had implemented a number of people-oriented projects across the country to support the wellbeing of the communities.

He listed some of the projects to include construction and rehabilitation of hospitals, schools and laboratories, roads, town halls, water facilities, among others.

He pledged the commitment of the army to sustain initiatives capable of promoting the security of the nation and the wellbeing of the people.

Earlier, Nzan, said the army chose to implement a water project after consultation with the community.

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He urged members of the community to ensure good maintenance culture while using the project to enable it to serve them better

Speaking on behalf of Alesi Community, Dr Odigha Odigha, a Community Leader, described the project as a good omen to the community.

He commende
d the army for the initiative and said that the water project would impact positively on the wellbeing of the people.

‘This project is a huge relief to the community, it would help in the reduction of waterborne diseases such as cholera. It will also reduce the burden of long treks to the stream.

‘We commend the Nigerian Army for its visionary interventions in the community, this has truly enhanced the relationship between the people of the community and the force,’ he said

NAN reports that the inauguration ceremony was greeted with traditional dances and the conferment of the traditional title: ‘The Leader of People ‘ on the COAS.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has advocated for digital birth registration for children in Nigeria.

Celine Lafoucriere, Chief of UNICEF Field Office for South-West, said this at a two-day media dialogue on e-birth registration on Tuesday in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the media dialogue was organised by UNICEF in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development and National Population Commission (NPC), Lagos Office.

The event has as its theme: ‘A media dialogue to drive E-birth registration in South-West Nigeria’.

Lafoucriere said that e-birth registration was important to give every child the right to have an identity that he or she deserve.

According to Lafoucriere, e-birth registration is very important to national planning and development, adding that it should be a right of every child from birth.

She said that once the target of e-registration was met, it would be a game changer for Nigeria and help government to generate valid statis
tics for planning.

‘It is important to give every child an identity and this can be achieved through the registration.

‘E-registration is important to generate statistics for effective planning. If adequate statistics is not available, government might not be able to adequately plan for children,’ she said.

In his presentation, Denis Onoise, UNICEF Child Protection Specialist, said that NPC was targeting more than nine million birth registrations for children under five years and four million registrations for children under one year.

Onoise said that to achieve proper e-registration for children in the country, there was the need to partner with primary health centres.

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The UNICEF Child Protection Specialist, however, said the available statistics shows that people in the rural areas registered their children during birth with 78.90 per centu than those in the urban areas with 44.8 per cent.

Onoise said the integration of birth registration with the National Iden
tification Number (NIN ) would go a long way in providing adequate data in the country.

According to him, there are 4,000 registration centres across the 774 local government areas of the country.

In his remarks, Mr Bamidele Sadiku, NPC, Lagos State Director, said that e-birth registration platform would provide better lives for Nigerians and prevent double birth and death registrations in the country.

The NPC boss also said that the commission was planning to partner with National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to link both registrations with the NIN.

‘From time to time, we receive complaint from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other security agencies on the issue of birth registration.

‘But e-registration, will solve multiple birth and death registration, because it will be linked with NIN. This will give identity to every child that is born in the country.

‘The synergy with NIN is there already. It is good and it will help us to have a common database.

‘We need the media to g
ive us the support to send this message across Nigeria,’ he said.

Also, Mrs Toyin Oke, Permanent Secretary, Lagos Ministry of Youth and Social Development, said the state government was doing everything possible to secure the future of the children with e-birth registration.

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Represented by Mrs Adeola Olabisi, the Director of Public Finance in the ministry, Oke said the media was very important in the drive for e-birth registration in the country.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN) on Tuesday engaged no fewer than 51 artistes and members of staff in capacity building to improve productivity and standard of theatrical performance in the country.

Hajia Kaltume Bulama-Gana, Artistic Director of NTN, during the opening ceremony of the three-day training and orientation exercise in Lagos, said this was also to improve staff output generally.

‘Equipping new staff and artistes with the necessary knowledge and skills is essential for their success and the overall well-being of the national troupe.

‘This workshop serves several key purposes like achieving smooth transition, enhanced skills, improvment in civil service knowledge and increased confidence for all staff.

‘To the trainees, I want to emphasise that this is the best opportunity you have to learn most of all the basics of the public service, and your professional discipline. Pay attention and ensure you ask questions.

‘I trust the credibility of our resource persons to respond to you. And to my
other members of staff please note that I have instructed heads of departments to prepare a training schedule.

‘As our funding continue to improve, we will send as many as we can to various training that will improve your capacity to strengthen our organisation,’ she said.

One of the resource persons, Dr Benjamin Udoka, Senior Lecturer, Department of Theatre and Media Studies, University of Calabar, said during the course of the training, he would take participants on the importance of dance to nation building.

Udoka said they would be exposed to the function of dance in relation to the unity of Nigeria.

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‘I will be taking you on how to use your bodies as instruments for the art, which is in dance. You are all cultural ambassadors, you owe this nation huge responsibility.

‘So, considering this short time, I want you all to give me your bodies and minds to make this training worth the while,’ he said.

Also, professional
drummer and dancer, Isioma Williams, said participants would be taught the traditional aspect of Nigerian culture with little of the western culture.

Williams, the Chief Executive Officer of Drumsview Concept, advised the management of NTN to organise more training programmes to further enlighten the artistes.

Renowned Nollywood veteran actor, Norbert Young, lectured the participants on dynamics of the stage and how to maximise its use.

The actor said he would also let them know how to project their voices while on stage, regardless of how large an auditorium might be, even without the use of the microphone.

‘As a properly trained theatre artiste in various nuances of the stage, I will be taking you on the dynamics of the stage. I encourage the management of NTN to build up on this training, organise refresher courses,’ he said. (NAN)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Popular reality TV show, Big Brother Naija, is back for season nine as the winner for this year’s edition will walk away with a grand prize of N100 million and a new SUV.

Busola Tejumola, Executive Head, Content and West Africa Channels, MultiChoice, disclosed at a news conference on Tuesday in Lagos that the show would begin July 28.

According to Tejumola, this year’s edition which will run for 71 days promises to be exciting and drama filled.

‘The ninth season of the Big Brother Naija show will be going beyond drama, we will be bringing in different blends of unique entertainment.

‘The show will run from July 28 to Oct. 6.

‘The challenging aspect of the show will be that the housemates will be going into the house in pairs and doing some of the house challenges in pairs.

‘Everyone curious for the theme should watch out for the premiere on Sunday, July 28. The show holds lots of fun, vibes, emotion, drama, dynamics and intriguing twists,’ she said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria