Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will be launching a new response programme to address COVID-19 during a high-level event on Tuesday week (July 14) based on seven areas of work identified as priorities. FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, is already presenting his vision on how to address future challenges involving food and agriculture, particularly on the need to transform current food systems and make them more sustainable. According to him, “food for all is our aspiration. But our thinking and acting needs to go beyond the mere production of food and include food consumption, food quality, food culture and other aspects.” …
Author: Akanimo Sampson
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has named the former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development), of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Lateef Oladimeji Sanni, as the Leader of the second phase of the project Building Economically Sustainable and Integrated Cassava Seed System (BASICS II). The project will last for a period of five years. The BASICS project was first launched in November 2015 to serve as a channel for delivering better quality and more productive cassava varieties to farmers. It is leading to improved productivity and food security, increasing the income of cassava farmers and village seed entrepreneurs…
A new research published in the Journal of Physiology shows that 12 weeks of easy-to-administer passive stretching helps improve blood flow by making it easier for your arteries to dilate and decreasing their stiffness. Passive stretching differs from active stretching in that the former involves an external force (another person or gravity) stretching you, whereas active stretching is performed on your own. The changes they observed in blood vessels could have implications for diseases, including the number one global killer, heart disease. This is coming as scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine have found types of cells in the brain that are most susceptible to inherited…
In G20 countries, the COVID-19 pandemic has ignited a trend towards policies designed to safeguard national security interests against threats associated with international investment. This fact is contained in a joint report launched by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) last month-end. It is the twenty-third edition in its series and outlines the investment measures implemented by G20 members from mid-October 2019 to mid-May 2020. The report was delivered against the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis, which has already resulted in the deepest…
At this year’s Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region conference on June 30, concerned rights activists were busy pressing international donors and humanitarian agencies to work with Jordan and other countries hosting Syrian refugees. Majority of Syrian refugee children in Jordan do not have the chance to go to secondary school, close to a decade after they arrived in the country. A global rights group, Human Rights Watch says in a report that Jordan should urgently improve access to quality, secondary education for Syrian refugee children. The 61-page report, “‘I Want to Continue to Study’: Barriers to Secondary…
In a new report, a trade and development agency of the United Nations estimates that the world’s tourism sector could lose at least $1.2 trillion, or 1.5% of the global gross domestic product (GDP). The sector has been placed at a standstill for nearly four months due to the rampaging coronavirus pandemic. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in the report warns that the loss could rise to $2.2 trillion or 2.8% of the world’s GDP if the break-in international tourism lasts for eight months, in line with the expected decline in tourism as projected by the…
Medical doctors in Cross River State are accusing Governor Ben Ayade, and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) of compromising on COVID-19 in the state. Apparently irked by the alleged compromise, the state branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), says it is withdrawing its services from all medical facilities in the state because of hidden COVID-19 cases. The accusation is coming as NCDC reports 544 new confirmed cases of the unyielding virus on Sunday which brings the country’s tally to 28, 711 in the last 24 hours. While NCDC also announces 11 new deaths with the fatality figure…
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says it has begun an online course on COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control. This is coming as 812 healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses have been infected with the rampaging virus across the country. NCDC says the country on Saturday logged additional 603 new cases of the virus which automatically shut up the national tally to 28,167 confirmed coronavirus cases. Six deaths were also recorded in the last 24 hours thus bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 634 in 35 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The disease…
Adouia Brema, a Chadian mother of eight children who were once forced to leave school as a child bride is today giving her community the gift of light. Her journey, from a vulnerable teen mother to a solar cell electrician shows the remarkable feats that marginalised women and girls can achieve when they are empowered with information and economic opportunities. Recalling her early days, Ms. Brema says, “I was only 13 years old when I got married. The day I got married, I was in sixth grade. “At first, they let me continue going to school. Then I gave birth…
Human Rights Watch, a global rights group has called on the Russian authorities to immediately free Dennis Christensen, and stop wasting time and resources on his prosecution. Christensen is being prosecuted on charges of “extremism” because of the way he allegedly practices religion as a Jehovah’s Witness. Christensen’s lawyer, Anton Bogdanov, last week confirmed to Human Rights Watch that the prosecutor’s office has appealed the grant of parole, arguing Christensen allegedly violated prison rules. Everything seemed to be in place for Christensen to leave a Russian prison in early July. A judge on June 23, paroled him, after he served…
Ethiopia is currently immersed in a renewed uprising, and it is obvious that issues about the communal violence that rocked the troubled country last year are still not being addressed. Protests erupted in several towns across the country in response to the June 29 killing of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular Oromo singer whose songs captured the struggles and frustrations of the Oromo people during the 2014-2018 anti-government protest movement. And, cutting of internet services across the country on Tuesday morning by the government, has amplified concerns that people are still being silenced and human rights abuses worsening. Unidentified gunmen allegedly shot Hundessa dead…
The flower sector of Kenya’s economy is losing $300,000 a day due to the strangulating economic impact of COVID-19. Trade Development Officer in the country, Magdaline Morijoi, says “workers have been sent home due to downsizing and closure of businesses. Women have been affected the most as they comprise a large number of workers in this sector.” Recently, Stacey Pinto, started working as a trade adviser at the British High Commission in Namibia after years in the private sector. She has a renewed drive to help the country craft policy solutions to problems that preclude women from fully contributing to…
Programmes designed to end child marriage and female genital mutilation(FGM) are facing serious delays in implementation as a result of the raging COVID-19 pandemic. Secondly, pandemic-related economic disruptions are increasing the vulnerability of girls to harmful coping mechanisms, including these harmful practices There is little data however, on how the ongoing pandemic is affecting the exercise of harmful practices around the world. An analysis by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Avenir Health, Johns Hopkins University (USA) and Victoria University (Australia) looked at the potential consequences of pandemic-related disruptions on both harmful practices. If the pandemic causes a two-year delay…
A weekly intelligence report on Nigeria Politics and Security says a silent crisis is rocking the country’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The report by Menas Associates, a political risk consultancy also says All Progressives Congress (APC) governors have had their way with the dissolution of their party’s National Working Committee (NWC) which, under Adams Oshiomhole, had become a threat to their bid to control the party’s structure. According to excerpts from the report, President Muhammadu Buhari helped in pulling his ruling party back from the edge of descending into total chaos after he backed a faction…
More than 130 members of National Trade Facilitation Committees (NTFCs) from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have completed a nine-week online training programme. The online training is one of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) contributions to the coordinated United Nations response to COVID-19. It took a traffic jam of a couple thousand trucks at the Malaba border between Kenya and Uganda to fully visualise both the health and trade issues at stake when borders operate at optimum. The COVID-19 crisis has revealed both hairline fractures along borders in East Africa and the potential to solve…
Ahead of 2023 elections, the leading lights of pro-democracy in Nigeria have regrouped to redefine the meaning of democratic engagement in a country where the elite behaviour is characterised by a seeming endemic corruption and a flagrant assault on human dignity. This time, they are being joined by leaders of active social formations in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s vastly polluted oil and gas region. Dr Chris Ekiyor, a trained dental surgeon, and President Emeritus of the Ijaw Youth Council as well as the founder of RAHI Medical Outreach, an NGO that meets the health needs of rural Africa with a…
Some armed rebels of the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s main oil and gas region, are currently threatening to rupture the relative peace in the area, and stall oil production activities. Their angst is being fueled by the alleged massive fraud in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), a supposed interventionist agency currently under the watch of Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Godswill Akpabio. A renewed armed conflict in the vastly polluted oil region will adversely affect the country’s economy which depends on oil revenue. Already, Nigeria’s crude oil production was recorded at 1,592.000 barrels per day last May. The May production record…
Two rights groups: Minority Rights Group International and Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights are currently broadening battlefronts for Iran. They are accusing the Iranian government of committing ‘’grave and widespread’’ human rights violations The Islamic Republic of Iran has been facing real national security challenges, both externally from the US and other states, and internally, from armed militants, terrorism and the trade in narcotics. The authorities have been applying national security laws to almost every aspect of Iranian cultural and social life. According to the two groups, ‘’the conduct of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in pursuit of Iran’s national…
The seasonal menace of erosion has returned in Akwa Ibom State, this time with serious threats to communities lying on its way. The obviously shaken Udom Emmanuel administration has directed residents of flood-prone locations in the state to vacate to safer areas immediately.Effiong Ibanga, of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the state Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua, says Akwa Ibom is one of the littoral states within the Niger Delta with a litany of environmental problems across its 31 local government areas. Among these, according to him, include gully and coastal erosions, flooding, oil spillage, deforestation and pollution. However,…
Former Economic Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo, Prof. Osita Ogbu, is currently heading a 50-man economic team to transform Eastern Nigeria into another Catalonia in Spain and Bayern in Germany. While Ogbu a renowned economist and development expert, his panel has as its Secretary, Anyim Ude. Governors of Eastern Nigeria, in conjunction with Ohanaeze Ndigbo, agreed to set up the Ogbu panel as a driving force for the development of Igbo land, tagged Alaigbo Stabilisation Fund. The Fund is intended to develop Igbo land to the status of Catalonia in Spain and Bayern in Germany. Just like Igbo land was…
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned of continuing large scale job losses in this second half of 2020. According to ILO, the number of working hours lost across the world in the first half of the year was ‘’significantly worse’’ than previously estimated. It pointed out that even in the best scenario, recovery in the second half of the year is ‘’highly uncertain’’, and will not be enough to go back to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. According to the ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the world of work: 5th Edition, there was a 14 per cent drop in global working hours during…
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is partnering Mastercard Foundation in Nigeria to implement a robust Young Africa Works strategy. The Youth in Agribusiness office of IITA that made this collaborative effort public says the partnership aims to enable 242,724 young Nigerian women and men to build skills and secure dignified and fulfilling work opportunities in the agrifood value chain over the next five years. The IITA Agripreneur initiative is a youth in the agribusiness model that was established to address the issue of widespread youth unemployment and to provide a platform that propels youth toward self-employment in agriculture. The…
The flagship 2020 State of World Population report, by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has painted an ugly picture of hard done to young women around the world. The report says every day, hundreds of thousands of girls around the world are harmed physically or psychologically, with the full knowledge and consent of their families, friends and communities. Adding, it said, ‘’without urgent action, the situation is likely to worsen.’’ The report examines the origin and extent of harmful practices around the world, and what must be done to stop them. It identifies 19 harmful practices – ranging from breast…
According to medical scientists, coronaviruses, are common in certain species of animals, such as cattle and camels. Although transmission from animals to humans is rare, this new strain likely came from bats, though one study suggests pangolins may be the origin. They are said to be a group of viruses that can cause disease in both animals and humans. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus strain known as SARS-CoV is an example of a coronavirus. SARS spread rapidly in 2002–2003. The new strain of coronavirus is called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus causes coronavirus disease 19…
Senate Committee Chairman on Petroleum Upstream, Senator Bassey Akpan, says the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline project remains key to the economic growth of Nigeria. Akpan said the financing pattern of the project made it possible to come up immediately. The senator was speaking as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, disclosed that the gas pipeline project will inject 2.2 billion standard cubic feet per day of gas to the domestic market. Akpan and Kyari were speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the project on Tuesday in Ajaokuta, Kogi State. “Upon completion, the project will…
President Muhammadu Buhari has indicated that the Ajakuota-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline project is a star mandate programme of his administration. Buhari who was speaking at the virtual flag-off ceremony of the project at the Ajaokuta, Kogi State and Rigachikun, Kaduna State campsites simultaneously, said the project will be completed within budgetary allocation and specifications in 24 months. The Nigerian leader says the project is very dear to the citizenry and as such, must succeed. Accordingly, he has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and partners to remain focused, noting that the gas pipeline project was part of the delivery…
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is pressing on with the gas infrastructure blueprint of the widely despised Jonathan administration by his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). The administration of Goodluck Jonathan conceptualised Nigerian Gas Master Plan (NGMC) as a gas infrastructure blueprint and was approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2008. The Jonathan administration was aligning the Nigerian gas to maximise the oil and gas sector value to the economy and transit from the oil industry to an integrated robust oil and gas industry. The initiative was geared towards boosting the domestic market and realise maximum revenue…
The Nigerian government has identified 18 Local Government Areas in the country that account for 60% of its surging COVID-19 cases. The government is consequently moving to put the identified 18 council areas under what it described as ‘’precision lockdown’’. With the development, the government has also lifted the ban placed on interstate travels with effect from July 1, provided such journeys are made outside curfew hours. Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, disclosed these at the daily briefing of the task force in Abuja on Monday.…
In Ofunama, an Ijaw community in Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State, seven-year Josephine, does not appear to have a bright future. Not because she is the daughter of a fisherman father. Ofunama is still a rustic Ijaw community, detached from the trappings of modernity. There are neither well-equipped schools nor health facilities. The community is part of the Egbema Kingdom. As a matter of fact, it is the cradle of the kingdom in Edo and Delta states. This Ijaw people (Egbema) live to the east and west of the Benin River in Southern Delta State Delta. The Kingdom…
Eight years after being declared as an oil-producing state, oil-bearing communities in Anambra are yearning to join the recognised oil states in Nigeria. By the membership of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), there are nine oil-producing states in Nigeria. The states are: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, and Rivers. President of the Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas (HOSCON), Dr Mike Emuh, says the group is worried that since August 2012 when Abuja allegedly pronounced Anambra an oil-producing state, it has not yet been benefiting from the 13 per cent derivation like…
