The World Bank appears to be turning full circle. Its seeming new mantra is, for a better future, invest in people today. Interestingly, the Bank is boasting that at the core of its mission is putting people at the centre of development, and protecting lives and livelihoods. Undoubtedly, human capital, the knowledge, skills, and health that people need to achieve their potential – is a powerful force propelling economies and societies around the world. To make the most of their fiscal resources and the power of their people, the World Bank is saying that governments need to invest better and…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
Unrestrained outbursts by some Northern groups are currently threatening to rupture the aged long political alliance between the North and Eastern Nigeria. A coalition of Northern Groups has even filed a case asking the court to compel Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, to hasten the exit of the Igbo region out of Nigeria. They pleaded that this should be done before the conclusion of the ongoing amendment to Nigeria’s constitution. The secession request was contained in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/538/2021 instituted by the group of elders and politicians from the North led…
The row between France and Turkey over Turkey’s military presence in Libya is taking a turn for the worse. Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, says France’s President, Emmanuel Macron’s demand that all Turkish formal and informal forces should withdraw was ‘’disrespectful to the sovereignty of Turkey and Libya.’’ Menas Associates, a political risk consultancy says he justified Ankara’s military presence by correctly insisting that its forces are in Libya at the invitation of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). In its latest Libya Politics and Security, a weekly intelligence report on Libya, the political risk consultancy said Macron reiterated these…
With less than one month left for Libya’s delicate and critical elections, there are growing fears of armed confrontation. Tensions are also rising over the eligibility of some high-profile presidential candidates. United Nations Special Envoy, Ján Kubiš, has already briefed the Security Council that it is important the international community remains united in support of the process. He reported that the political climate remains “heavily polarised” ahead of the presidential and parliamentary polls, which are being held in line with a roadmap adopted last year following a historic ceasefire and the establishment of an interim government. Even though Libyans are…
Biafra agitating mass movement, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has said that those interested in unravelling the truth about the mayhem that took place at the Awo-Mmamma axis of the troubled Imo State should look at the direction of the armed security forces. IPOB is blaming the setting ablaze of valuable properties belonging to the citizens of the Awo-Mmamma community on suspected security officers who allegedly invaded the community for revenge. The Biafra group laid the blame on suspected security officers on Friday, while denying the involvement of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), in the setting ablaze of houses, shops,…
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a UN refugee agency, says 20 per cent of refugee or internally displaced women have faced sexual violence, and the situation continues to worsen globally. The amount of forcibly displaced people has reached a staggering number—nearly 80 million according to UNHCR—and the number only continues to increase. Women refugees and internally displaced women suffer from marginalisation, sexual and gender-based violence, and child marriage. Some experience sexual and gender-based violence as they flee conflict. In camps or due to poverty, some women and girls may be kidnapped, trafficked, or forced into marriage. In fact, nine out of 10 continues…
Going by the latest global estimates, nearly one-in-three women aged 15 and older have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate or non-sexual partner or both at least once in their lifetime. These numbers have remained largely unchanged over the last decade, and do not reflect the impact of COVID-19. Since the pandemic outbreak, however, emerging data has revealed that all types of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), particularly domestic violence, have intensified – with the world unprepared to respond to its rapid escalation. And this does not include the full continuum of violence, including sexual harassment, violence in digital contexts, harmful practices and sexual exploitation across different contexts and geographic locations. In a virtual event to…
For Hartwig Schafer, who became the World Bank’s Vice President for the South-Asia Region on July 1, 2018, to reduce poverty in South Asia’s poorest countries, empowering women is essential. In managing the World Bank’s engagement in South Asia to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity, Schafer leads relations with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. He manages a portfolio of financial support worth more than $50 billion. Before joining the region, Schafer served as the Vice President for Global Themes where he oversaw the World Bank Group’s engagement in corporate priority areas of Fragility, Conflict and…
On average, 400,000 Central Americans are being pushed into the United States annually by poverty, food insecurity, climate shocks and violence since 2017. The revelation is contained in a new report by the United Nations food relief agency. A joint report published by the World Food Programme (WFP), Migration Policy Institute (MPI), and Civic Data Design Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is also showing that a high price is being paid in human and economic costs, including an annual $2.2 billion on regular and irregular travel. The publication draws from a unique survey of thousands of Central American households in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The report revealed that in just two years, the…
The fate of another one billion people racing to join the ranks of three billion that cannot afford a healthy diet, will depend on how the world urgently respond to the latest recommendations of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). For the United Nations agriculture agency, supporting the development of small and medium agrifood enterprises and cooperatives will help to maintain diversity in domestic value chains. Another key factor according to it, is connectivity. ‘’Well-connected networks overcome disruptions faster by shifting sources of supply and channels for transport, marketing, inputs and labour’’, FAO says. The three billion people, representing around 40 per cent of the world’s…
Subject to the approval of the management of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), 1,000 repentant Niger Delta militants are billed to begin training at the cassava processing facility in Bayelsa State in the first quarter of 2022. Project Management Consultant for the 60-daily-metric-ton Bayelsa Cassava Processing Factory, Adebowale Ayoade, says the training is also open to delegates of PAP. Ayoade described the facility as the biggest industrial starch plant in Nigeria and the second largest in Sub-Saharan Africa, pointing out that delegates will receive theoretical and practical training on cassava cultivation, starch processing and management. Interim Administrator of PAP, Miland…
Despite the sacrifices of Nigerian soldiers to contain terrorism in the country particularly in the Boko Haram axis of evil, bombs are still exploding and people are being killed by the Boko Haramists, and their equally dangerous brothers, the bandits. It seems the unceasing bloodletting, is motivated by religious and political claims. Though it is taking place in religiously affected Northern Nigeria, unfortunately, everywhere in Nigeria today is battlefront. While religion is the main cause of Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorism, the terrorism of bandits and the herdsmen tend to arise because of leaders who brainwash them to kill under the banner…
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a global organisation dedicated to saving lives and protecting the rights of refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people says urgent action is needed to avoid a repeat of tragedies like this week’s drowning of not less than 27 people in the English Channel. The incident amounted to the largest single loss of life in the English Channel since the UN migration agency, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), started recording data in 2014. Another 106 migrants were rescued in French waters on Wednesday alone. Ever-increasing numbers of people are attempting the journey in small,…
Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, has called for the probe of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami, appears to be stepping out these days with the wrong foot. Most of his actions are becoming unnecessarily controversial. Now, an anti-graft civic group, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), is calling for the probe of the minister for allegedly stalling of the recovery of $60billion stashed in the United States. This is even as the current move by the Red Chamber of the National Assembly to unravel the mystery…
Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has warned that there can be no sustainable development in the oil and gas state. He was speaking during the inauguration of the National Executive Committee of Maintain Peace Movement (MPM), a political campaign platform which was held in Uyo, the state capital. While Udom was harping on the need for sustainable peace which he said the movement will achieve, EL-Kanis, a technology firm, was launching an electronic platform to disseminate information to farmers to boost food production in the state. MPM has been launched in all the 31 local government areas of the…
Fairtrade International that changes the way trade works through better prices, decent working conditions and a fairer deal for farmers and workers in developing countries says nearly 750 million kilos of its bananas were sold in 2020. The first container load of Fairtrade bananas were sold under the Oké brand in Dutch supermarkets in November 1996. They were imported by Agrofair, a company set up by the NGO Solidaridad, and grown by VREL in Ghana – who are still Fairtrade certified today. Looking back on the early days of Fairtrade, and the impact on farmers and workers, two of the first…
Soldiers are being blamed for the mayhem that is shattering the relative peace in the Imo State axis of Eastern Nigeria. A rights group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) is smoking that in a reprisal, military men regrouped, stormed Awo Mmamma in the Oru East Local Government Area of the state, and allegedly burnt a hotel, cars, houses and shops. According to the group, the action of “soldiers shows a pattern of apartheid styled vicious attacks against Igbo by the Nigeria Army largely commanded by Generals who are Muslims and Hausa/Fulani”, pointing out that when Fulani terrorists shot…
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a reproductive health rights agency, will be scaling-up its commitment to end violence everywhere women and girls are, at this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women holding this November 25. It is one of UNFPA’s three transformative results. In 2020, UNFPA delivered services to more than 930,000 gender-based violence survivors, from medical care to psychosocial support to legal service referrals to safe spaces to vocational and life-skills training. For it, there is no distinction between online and offline spaces – it is a fundamental human right of women and girls to feel safe…
Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) resolve to carry out part of the voter’s registration exercise online has received the support of Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), a civic group. The group has also commended the ruling of a High Court in Akwa-Ibom State, which sentenced a Nigerian professor, Peter Ogban, to three years in prison, for election fraud. Akwa Ibom State High Court 2 sitting in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area sentenced Professor Peter Ogban of the University of Calabar in Cross River State, to three years imprisonment for the electoral fraud he committed during the 2019 elections…
Cultural Survival, a global group that advocates for Indigenous Peoples’ rights and supports Indigenous communities’ self-determination, cultures and political resilience, since 1972, has reflected on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP 26) that took place in Glasgow, Scotland from October 31 to November 12, 2021. As it reflected on the outcomes of COP26, it didn’t help but feel that despite the tremendous efforts brought forth by Indigenous Peoples and its delegations from across the world, global leaders failed to act on the urgency of the climate crisis. According to them, ‘’global leaders failed to empathize with…
For signing the Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission Bill 2021 into law, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has received a standing ovation from Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL). CACOL’s Chairman, Debo Adeniran, says the group observed with keen interest the fulfillment of one of the promises Sanwo-Olu made to the good people of the state during his inauguration as governor, whereby he insisted his administration will be accountable and responsible for the appropriation of the state’s resources. To make good his promise, the governor signed a law creating the new anti graft body on Monday, several days…
Former President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Nnia Nwodo, does not seem to be pleased with the Buhari administration. He is accusing the administration of treating the Igbo race as second class citizens. Nwodo’s weighty allegation came as the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) which represents rights and civil organisations in Northern Nigeria is calling on President Muhammadu Buhari not to attempt freeing the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu. CNG Spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, expressed concern in Kano over the body language of President Buhari when an interest group from Eastern Nigeria paid him a courtesy call demanding the…
Oil and gas companies operating in the Niger Delta that will seek to subvert the Petroleum Industry Act by not dealing with host communities individually will have to pay for their actions the hard way. Bayan-Men, a nascent militant group in Nigeria’s vastly polluted oil and gas region, has taken on an Italian oil major’s subsidiary, Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), and blew up its oil facility in Ogba-Egbema-Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State as a warning signal to oil firms that are underrating them. This is coming as Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production is seeking foreign technical expertise…
Despite being stampeded to back down from the 2023 presidential race, forces against the Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Godswill Akpabio, are not yet ready to let him be. Movement for the Survival of the Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND), currently wants him to quit as a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet for alleged lack of performance. Akpabio last October took a swipe at Channels television for listing him as one of those eyeing the Presidential seat in 2023. The minister who berated the TV station for not respecting his request not to be linked with ambition for the…
For the over 700 children under age five who die every day from diarrhoea linked to unsafe water, sanitation and poor hygiene, toilet is yet to be a lifesaver. And, for more than half of the global population, 4.5 billion people are still lacking safe sanitation. This is a matter of serious concern to a civic group in Nigeria, Centre for Water and Environment Development (CWED). Its Programme Manager, Doris Zakama, says the world is not on track to reach Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 if we don’t ensure availability and sustainable management of sanitation and water for all by 2030. According…
Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), a civic group, says the House of Representatives has passed a bill for the establishment of South-South Development Commission. This, according to the group, is coming as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) appears to be the table where states are now scrambling for a seat. Though presently NDDC is comprised of nine states, three more states are jostling to be included as part of the interventionist agency. A bill in the Senate seeks to amend the NDDC Act 2000, to include Lagos, Ogun and Bauchi states. It is sponsored by Senator Olamilekan Adeola…
Next year, the number of people across Somalia who will need assistance and protection is forecast to rise by 30 per cent, from 5.9 million to around 7.7 million. Currently, over 70 per cent of all Somalis live below the poverty line. With about 2.3 million people already suffering with serious water, food and pasture shortages in the troubled country, a rapidly worsening drought could lead to an “extreme situation” by April next year. The warning comes from the United Nations and the Somali Government. Climate projections show that the country is facing a fourth consecutive failed rainfall season. In a joint statement at the weekend, the organisations said it is imperative…
President Muhammadu Buhari might be spending his retirement from office in 2023, battling hard to defend some of his administration’s anti-people policies and to save himself from being jailed by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Former presidential aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, is already galvanizing a broad-based petition against President Buhari on the alleged massacre of EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Tollgate during the October 20, 2020, protest. In the meantime, Alloy Ejimakor, a special counsel to the detained Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, says contrary to claims by Attorney General of the Federation and…
Africa’s Catholic bishops have expressed serious concern about the evil of land grabbing in the continent, saying it is pushing people off the land, fueling conflicts and provoking displacement. According to them, ‘’the impunity of corporate and elite capture of African land and natural resources and the damage this is doing to Africa’s food systems, to our environment, our soils, lands and water, our biodiversity, our nutrition and health is a major concern.’’ They therefore strongly criticised the appropriation of land, natural resources and other economic assets by private companies and called on national governments to show greater concern for…
Maritime researchers of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Denys Reva, and David Willima, have lashed out at large-scale industrial fisheries operators, pointing out that they damage the ecosystems and the environment the most. This is coming as the United Nations Climate Change Conference’s (COP26) inclusion of the necessity for healthy oceans is being welcomed. But, despite some notable calls for action before and during the event, insufficient emphasis was placed on the importance of conserving fish, fisheries and marine ecosystems. In ISS Today, a newsletter of the Institute, the researchers said the 2019 Africa Blue Economy Strategy lists fisheries and aquaculture…
