Day: August 2, 2024

The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Yushau’ Ahmed, has reaffirmed his administration’s dedication to staff capacity building, citing it as a crucial strategy for enhanced performance.

During a courtesy visit from Major General Garba Wahab, the Director-General of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, at his Abuja office, General Ahmed highlighted the long-standing synergy between NYSC and the Army Centre, which has yielded significant benefits for both parties.

He assured his host that more NYSC staff would participate in future training programs at the centre to ensure improved corporate performance.

Earlier, Major General Wahab explained that the resource centre focuses on critical areas such as security, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and leadership training, which greatly benefit government and non-governmental organizations, the civil populace, and other sectors of society.

He pledged to strengthen collaboration with the NYSC.

The National Yout
h Service Corps (NYSC), established in 1973, is a one year mandatory service for Nigerian graduates.

In an effort to leverage the talent and skills of graduates born in Nigeria and those born abroad to Nigerian Parents in the Diaspora, the NYSC service emphasizes the spirit of oneness and brotherhood of all Nigerians irrespective of cultural, religious and social background.

Source :News Agency of Nigeria

Paul of the popular music duo Psquare has announced his breakup with his brother and long-time counterpart, Peter. He affirmed this at an interview where he expressed his interest in discontinuing the group.

Although he was reluctant to share the details of the disagreement, he saw that the duo had a lot of creative differences in making music. The legendary duo split earlier in 2017, followed by a solo career where they adopted the names Mr. P (Peter) and Rudeboy (Paul). They reunited in 2021 and announced with a concert which they held in Lagos.

‘I just want to resume my career as Rudeboy. I have over 200 songs just lying there,’ Paul mentioned on reactivating his solo career while revealing that he wrote 99% of their songs as P-Square.

Since the reunion, the iconic duo, P-Square released the tracks ‘Jaiye’ and ‘Find Somebody’ ahead of a highly anticipated new album. P-Square is a Nigerian music duo composed of the twin brothers Peter Okoye and Paul Okoye, who co-write and co-produce most of their songs

Source :News Agency of Nigeria

The Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa has appreciated the good people of the State for their peaceful disposition in the nationwide protests.

As the protest enters day two, the people of Ondo State carried out their civic and economic activities with the usual orderliness without any security threats in any part of the State.

The Governor, in his message to the people, thanked them for heeding to his pleas for understanding, calm and restraints during the nationwide protests.

He said: ‘I want to thank the good people of Ondo State for maintaining peace and not joining the nationwide protests. Even when we, as government, have acknowledged the economic challenges facing our nation and our people, we thank them for heeding our call for peace.

‘I want to thank our students and youths, women, artisans and public servants, as well as Civil Society Organisations for fulfilling their promise to maintain the peace.

‘I also thank our traditional rulers, religious leaders, labour leaders and all the security a
gencies in the State for their invaluable roles in making our State a peaceful one at these times.’

‘Our administration will not relent in its efforts to provide reliefs for our people as we strive to cushion the effects of the economic challenges in the country.

‘In weeks and months to come, various policies, initiatives and projects across sectors aimed at making life better for our people will begin to make the much needed impacts.’ the Governor added.

These were stated in statement released by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Ondo State, Prince Ebenezer Adeniyan.

Source :News Agency of Nigeria

The Federal Government in collaboration with other stakeholders have solicited for more support to promote breastfeeding in the country.

Prof. Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, made the call at the 2024 World breastfeeding week event on Thursday in Abuja.

The world breastfeeding week event is themed, ‘Closing the Gap, Breastfeeding Support for All’.

Pate, who was represented by Mrs Daju Kachollom, Permanent Secretary, stressed the importance of breastfeeding, especially in the first hour of childbirth for the nutritional value of the baby and development.

‘We are not only here in the FCT we are across the 36 states of the federation and we are trying to break a world record to support breastfeeding for women.

‘We all know the importance of breastfeeding for children for the first six months, exclusive breastfeeding to their growth and development.

‘The responsibility of breastfeeding is not solely on the women, but the men and other stakeholders to support in ensuring babies
are exclusively breastfeed,’ he said.

The minister also emphasised the role breastfeeding plays in averting diseases, during emergencies, as it contained antibodies, and could fight infection.

Ms Cristian Munduate, Country Representative, UNICEF, said: ‘we are gathered, not just, to break a world record, but we are here to make history and send a powerful message to the world about the importance of breastfeeding.

‘I want to reiterate UNICEF’s steadfast commitment to supporting Nigeria in its journey towards better child health and nutrition.

‘Let today be a milestone in our collective efforts to ensure that every child has the best start in life,’ she said.

Also, Dr Goodness Anyanwu, Programme Manager, Civil Society-Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), reiterated their supports towards improving access to food and nutrition security.

The mothers across the six area councils in the FCT were represented at the event.

According to the National Demographic and Health Survey 2018 (NDHS 2018), Nigeria
‘s exclusive breastfeeding rate is 29 per cent, indicating that only a percentage of infants aged 0-6 months are exclusively breastfed.

Source :News Agency of Nigeria

President Bola Tinubu says his administration is currently making bold economic policies to propel Nigeria’s economy out of the downturns occasioned by multiple shocks in the global economy.

He has therefore, called for global cooperation among African countries to tackle their shared economic challenges and take advantage of opportunities.

The President who spoke on Friday when he declared open the 2024 African Caucus Meeting held in Abuja, noted that although Africa is grappling with numerous challenges, the continent must take necessary measures to translate opportunities in natural resources and human capital into growth, innovation and collaboration.

President Tinubu, who was represented at the event by Vice President Kashim Shettima, said the African Caucus Meeting is an opportunity to brainstorm on the major challenges and strategies for fostering inclusive growth and sustainable development in Africa.

Established in 1963 to strengthen the voice of African Governors in the Bretton Woods Institution
s (BWIs), the African Caucus chaired by Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun, meets twice annually; first, in the host country of the Chairperson of the Caucus and secondly, at the venue of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG.)

The theme of this year’s meeting, ‘Facilitating Intra-African Trade: Catalyst for Sustainable Economic Growth in Africa,’ reflects the collective commitment of member countries to moving the continent forward economically.

Ongoing Efforts

Delivering his address titled, ‘A Shared Vision for Africa’s Growth,’ President Tinubu outlined ongoing efforts by his administration in Nigeria to address the global economic challenges.

He urged African countries to improve the quality of life for people across the continent by ensuring that democracy, good governance, and economic institutions work together.

The President said, ‘As a government, we have initiated bold economic reforms aimed at steering our economy away from the dow
nturns caused by multiple shocks in the global economy toward a path of recovery and resilience through significant economic transformation.

‘Our reform efforts have been strategically focused on fostering fiscal and monetary efficiency, driving sustained long-term economic growth, and catalysing job creation in alignment with the SDGs’ priorities.

‘We remain committed to optimizing our economic potential, delivering favourable outcomes for our citizens, and ensuring the overall sustainable development of the regional economy. Our efforts are yielding positive results, with improved macroeconomic stability and increased investment.’

Tax Cooperation

President Tinubu further drew attention to the need to enhance international tax cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and ensure multinationals contribute fairly to economies on the continent.

Seeking global cooperation in this regard, he said, ‘We need enhanced international tax cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and ensure that multinatio
nals contribute fairly to our economies. We must also foster global economic cooperation to tackle shared challenges and leverage opportunities.

‘However, we must also acknowledge the need to take responsibility for our own development by undertaking the difficult structural and fiscal reforms required to boost long-term growth and enable reinvestment into our economies through infrastructure and effective social spending.’

President Tinubu described the caucus meeting as a vital platform to share experiences, forge partnerships, and chart a collective path forward.

‘Africa’s story is one of resilience, creativity, and hope. Indeed, we have made significant strides in recent years, with many of our nations achieving remarkable economic growth, social progress, and political stability.

‘Yet, obstacles such as increasing poverty, rising debt across many countries, inequality, and conflicts continue to widen the gap between our continent and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. This is a matter
of serious concern,’ he added.

Source :News Agency of Nigeria

The Nasarawa State Government says it has activated a provider-initiated testing approach to increase access to screening services and integrated Hepatitis B and C diagnosis in the state.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Gaza Gwamna, stated this at a press conference to commemorate the 2024 World Hepatitis Day in Lafia.

The government, however, expressed concern over the rising cases of viral Hepatitis B in the state and urged residents to ensure they get tested and vaccinated.

He said the prevalent rate of viral hepatitis in the state was above the national rate, hence it had become a serious concern to the state government.

He said the prevalent rate for Hepatitis B was about 17 per cent in the state, while that of Hepatitis C was 13.2 per cent, more than the national prevalent rate of 8.1 per cent for Hepatitis B and 1.1 for Hepatitis C.

The commissioner said already, the state government had screened more than 220,000 people and provided treatment for 3,000 residents across the 13 local government are
as of the state.

‘The state has a five-year strategic plan to eliminate Hepatitis C with a target to screen 2.4 million and treat 124,000 people by the year 2030. We have established a state viral hepatitis desk to localise the national guidelines and ensure swift access to services.

‘We have also decentralised the care for viral hepatitis from solely the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia to Secondary and Primary Healthcare Centres via a public health approach.

‘Also, we have activated a provider-initiated testing approach to increase access to screening services and integrated Hepatitis B and C diagnosis.

‘So, we are urging all the residents to take the issue of vaccination very seriously, to enable us to reduce the spread of hepatitis in the state,’ he added.

The commissioner further stated that the ministry had negotiated for a substantial reduction in the cost of drugs for the treatment of the disease in the state, to make them more accessible and affordable.

Gwamna also said the government ha
d deployed a medical team to carry out free hepatitis outreach across the 13 LGAs of the state, adding that the team was covering Doma, Karu, Wamba, and Obi LGAs where the prevalent rate was high and worrisome.

Source :News Agency of Nigeria