Day: July 20, 2023

The Federal Government and the United Nations have called for a holistic approach to achieving sustainable food chain in Nigeria.

The call was made at the Pre-food systems stock-taking moments media engagement on Wednesday in Abuja.

The event was jointly organised by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (FMFBNP), and the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC).

Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Nebeolisa Anako, in an address described food system as the most complicated stomach infrastructure with issues.

He said a food system entailed complex networks that include input and output of food production processes and consumption.

According to him, food system is also about the food value chain.

Anako said, “this is because the food produced through farming needed to pass through some stages before it goes to the stomach.

“The food system problem has been on transportation of food from the farm, getting the seedlings to plant, to the time we plant.

“Down to the table to managing the waste; our effort is to reduce hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.

“When you lack food you cannot leave nutrition aside of food, it is about eating healthy food that will give human capita and healthy population.

“We want to drastically reduce food importation and promote sustainable food trade as a country and we are getting there, this is a project that concerns all of us.”

Also Speaking, Mr Ernest Umakhihe, Permanent-Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), said the call became important for stakeholders in Africa to ensure food security.

Umakhihe who was represented by Mrs Sugrah Mahmood, Director in-charge of Nutrition and Food Safety in the ministry, spoke on: “Ensuring sustainable food system in Nigeria, challenges and prospects.”

Umakhihe said: “As we are all aware, our country is facing severe crisis in line with the recent declaration on state of emergency on food security and water by President Bola Tinubu.

“The declaration demands our utmost intention and collective efforts to address the perceived challenges, and explore the prospects of sustainable food security in Nigeria.

“Nigeria is blessed with vast agricultural resources, yet we grapple with persistent food insecurity, malnutrition and hunger.

“The challenges we face are multifaceted, but by identifying and addressing these issues we can pave the way for a most sustainable food future.”

In his remark, the Director of UNIC, Ronald Kayanja, who spoke on: “Expectations on Food System Stock-taking Moments” commended Nigeria’s efforts toward ensuring food security.

He described Nigeria as a very important country in the world and Africa.

According to him, it is the biggest country in the continent, in terms of population.

He said it was in everybody’s interest to have a vibrant Nigeria and agriculture is the core of the economy.

“Everybody in Nigeria needs to mobilise to ensure food security after the president’s declaration of emergency in the food sector.

“The progress and success in Nigeria is immeasurable on what can be done, but there are challenges that must be tackled, irrespective of the land size,” Kayanja said.

Highpoint of the event was overview of Nigeria’s implementation and preparation for stock-taking moment, remarks by UN bodies, as well as questions and answer sessions.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The National Population Commission (NPC) has assured households that all their personal information which they would give to enumerators during the forthcoming population and housing census would be strictly confidential.

The Federal Commissioner representing Katsina State, Mr Bala Almu-Banye, made the disclosure at a meeting with media executives in the state, on Wednesday in Katsina.

Almu-Banye said that the purpose of the meeting was to update them on the status of the preparations for the 2023 Census and the next steps forward.

He said that the commission had recruited adequate ad hoc staff for effective coverage of all the nooks and crannies of the entire state during the exercise.

According to him, the ad hoc staff are to work in their local governments of residence in order to achieve the set targets.

The Federal Commissioner, therefore, urged residents to cooperate with the enumerators and provide answers to the questions raised.

“The information will be treated as confidential and only for the purpose of the exercise.

“We were all sworn not to reveal people’s secrets, likewise, all the enumerators and supervisors will take oath before they start the exercise,” he said.

He further said that the information given to the enumerators would be digitally transmitted directly to the commission’s server through the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), which is a machine like a mobile phone.

Almu-Banye further said that the NPC would work with traditional and community leaders to ensure that people who reside in hard-to-reach areas were counted.

He explained that such leaders would provide guides who would assist enumerators in reaching people in remote communities.

Responding on behalf of the media executives, the General Manager, Gram FM, Alhaji Bashir Ahmed, thanked the commission for carrying them along in the exercise.

Ahmed assured that the media would continue to enlighten people on the importance of the exercise so as to achieve the desired objective.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

George Aluo, newly appointed Chairman, Nigeria National League (NNL), has pledged to reposition the league with focus on improved officiating, professionalism and qualified coaches for clubs.

Aluo said this at the inaugural news conference of the NNL board on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said the new board was ready to hit the ground running and at the same time take the league to the next level in line with international best practices.

“As a board, we are already working on how to make the league more professional and take care of the indemnities of the referees.

“We all know that the greatest challenge facing the league is officiating, so we need to change that.

“The moment we get officiating right, security at match venues, coaching and professionalism right, then we are good to go,” he said.

The veteran sports journalist said that a framework would be put in place to ensure that only coaches with the mandatory minimum professional qualification of CAF ‘B’ certificate would be allowed to coach in the league.

Aluo also said that club registration and licensing would now be done online, as the league’s website and registration portal would be reconstructed to reposition the league.

The NNL boss said that the board had on Tuesday held its inaugural board meeting, with a communiqué issued on the way forward for the league.

“The Board approved the composition of a five-man Rules and Regulation/Club Licensing Committee that will review the entire NNL framework in order to enhance the operations of the League.

“The Board charged the Chief Executive Officer to embark on aggressive sponsorship drive to secure credible sponsors for the League,” the communiqué read in parts.

Aluo, subsequently appealed to the media to support the NNL and give it all the publicity it needed to become the most important league in the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was graced by board members of the NNL and some football stakeholders.

Ibrahim Gusau, President, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), had on Monday in Abuja inaugurated the boards of NNL, Nation-Wide League one (NLO) and Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL), with a charge to reposition the leagues.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

An NGO, Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and Ondo State Agency Against Gender-Based Violence (OSAA-GBV) have partnered to train magistrates and prosecutors on handling of gender-based violence cases.

Speaking at the training in Akure on Wednesday, WFD Country Director, Mr Adebowale Olorunmola, said the GBV law would not be effective if those who were supposed to prosecute and pass judgment on related cases had no idea of the content.

Olorunmola said that his foundation would always support inclusiveness in any process it was involved in.

He said that the foundation had been supporting the state government from formulation of the bill to becoming a law as well as at implementation stage, which was very key to its overall success.

Olorunmola commended the state government for the seriousness it had attached to eliminating GBV, adding that many states indeed passed the law and celebrated it but were not implementing it.

“We need to see that prosecution is done diligently. We want people to know about the implementation of the law and that is why we have invited you (prosecutors and magistrates) here.

“We started the implementation 10 months ago and it has been a success. All we are going to do is to brainstorm, make do with implementation of VAPP Law and make it more efficient,” he said.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of OSSA-GBV, Bolanle Afolabi, said that the impact of GBV was always on the survivors, family members and the government.

Afolabi, who reminded the participants about the huge funds being committed by government on the prosecution of offenders, urged them to disclose their challenges in order to move forward.

Also, a member of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Oluwumi Fayemi, shared some GBV cases she had come across and gave assurance that she would be an advocate at the plenary.

Fayemi, representing Ilaje Constituency II, however, pointed out that the cases were not peculiar to women but also men, urging all to support and ensure that GBV was eliminated in the state.

Also, a Political Scientist and Gender Expert, Prof. Bukola Osunyikanmi, described GBV as a global problem and not peculiar to the state and Nigeria.

Osunyikanmi noted that the most important aspect of getting justice for survivors was speaking out, adding that every case must be addressed anytime a victim spoke out.

“There should be justice and nothing like people saying event has overtaken reported cases of gender-based violence,” she said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria