The University of Lagos, Akoka (Unilag) says the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised its institution as being compliant with its malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) batch testing standard operating procedures.
University of Lagos, Akoka
The Director, Research and Innovation of the university, Prof. Wellington Oyibo, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, December 30, 2017 in Lagos.
According to him, the WHO had in a cicular made available to the institution, recognised the university’s “African Network for Drug and Diagnostic Initiative” Centre of Excellence for Malaria Diagnosis, alongside that of the National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), New Delhi, India.
He said that the laboratories of these two institutions had been adjudged compliant with the WHO malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) lot (batch) testing standard operating procedures.
“The circular mentioned that these laboratories will be conducting lot (batch) verification for RDT batches imported into their respective countries, which are Nigeria and India.
“I just want to say we are happy with this development because it goes to show that we can make it happen, given the much needed support, in the area of research.
“We must all begin to see our universities as centres for solutions, as we are all aware that it is beyond just teaching and learning for the acquisition of certificates or degrees.
“With this recognition of the Unilag platform also, malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT), that are used for the diagnosis of malaria can now be easily tracked.
“It can also be monitored for quality, till the expiration date of the kits,’’ Oyibo said.
The professor of Medical Parasitology explained that monitoring can now be done on such kits quickly, upon their arrival in the country.
According to him, those with defects would be not be deployed to the country’s facilities.
“In fact, they will be stopped from entering the country thus, ensuring that high quality malaria rapid tests are available for effective malaria case management,’’ he said.
Oyibo noted that for over nine years, the WHO had coordinated an independent global quality assessment programme for malaria rapid diagnostic test batches.
According to him, a circular made available to the institution has noted that from 2007 through 2016, the WHO global batch testing programme had tested more than 5000 RDT batches.
He added that the circular also stated that since 2011, batch or lot testing had been mandatory for all global fund grant recipients and had been adopted by all other major RDT procurers.
Chairman, Osun State Chapter of Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN), Mr Moses Oladipupo, has decried the poor production of cocoa in the state, attributing it to bad weather.
Harvesting cocoa
Oladipupo, during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo on Saturday, December 30, 2017 said only 30 per cent of expected cocoa production was achieved by farmers in the state in 2017.
He attributed the major factor responsible for the low production to inadequate support from government in 2017, adding that farmers had to struggle on their own.
“We faced the challenges of unfavourable weather, fake chemicals sold in the market, and lack of fund and financial support from the government.
“Majority of our farmers lack funds and as such could not pay labourers employed to work on their farms, and this often resulted to police cases.
“In fact, we had a lot of our members arrested because they were reported to the police for not paying the labourers they employed.
“It is not entirely the fault of farmers not being able to pay their employed labour, but what they get from their harvest is not up to what they have invested on production.” he said
He said though the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, had been providing chemicals to cocoa farmers at 50 per cent subsidised rate, the farmers still need more support and assistance from them.
He said farmers in the state were not really feeling the Federal Government’s impact on agricultural programmes and policies because the states governments that were supposed to be implementing them were not doing so.
He said the target of government in terms of cocoa production was 300,000 metric tons, but said they would get less than 200,000 metric tons this year due to the challenges farmers faced this year.
He, however, called for more commitment from the government toward cocoa production and to equip farmers through training, funding as well as provide extension workers to assist and monitor farmers operations.
According to him, if government can provide the needed tools and materials cocoa farmers need to operate, it will encourage farmers’ production and cultivation of cocoa on a large scale.
The Chief Executive Officer, Raymos Guanah Farms, Mr Raymos Guanah says that Nigeria can achieve self-sufficiency in rice production if the present trend is sustained.
Rice farming
Guanah said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, December 30, 2017 in Asaba, the capital of Delta State.
While commending the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Anchor Borrowers Programme, he advised government at all levels to create the enabling environment for sustained rice production in the country.
Guanah also called for the introduction of modern milling machines which should be accessible to mechanised rice farmers in the country.
“Creating the needed environment as well as introduction of modern milling machines will help to boost and sustain production of rice in the country,’’ he said.
Guanah, a former commissioner in Delta, also called for the training of rice farmers in the country in order to boost their entrepreneurial skills.
On the quality of locally produced rice, he noted that it was good, but there was still room for improvement with the provision of modern milling machines.
According to him, local rice is richer and better, compared to imported rice because of the freshness and high nutritional value.
Guanah identified flooding as one of the challenges of the agriculture sector and expressed the hope that it could achieve more in 2018
On the involvement of more youths in agriculture, Guanah noted that if agriculture was mechanised, more youths would embrace it.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted dust haze weather conditions with horizontal visibility range of about three to five kilometres over the central states of the county on Saturday, December 30, 2017.
Dust haze weather
NiMet’s Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office in Abuja on Friday also predicted day and night temperatures in the range of 26 to 36 and 11 to 20 degrees celsius.
The agency predicted that the Southern States would experience hazy conditions over the inland cities with day and night temperatures in the range of 33 to 37 and 18 to 26 degrees celsius.
It also predicted partly cloudy skies over the coastal cities throughout the forecast period.
According to NiMet, Northern States will experience slight dust haze throughout the forecast period with day and night temperatures in the range of 28 to 34 and 12 to 19 degrees celsius.
“Slight dust is expected to be raised which should leave the northern part of the country in slight dust haze.
“The central states are expected to be in dust haze condition with horizontal visibility range of about three to five kilometres.
“Conversely, partly cloudy conditions are expected over the southern cities in the next 24 hours,” NiMet predicted.
Ban on ivory sales in China, the world’s largest importer and end user of elephant tusks, takes effect on Sunday, December 31, 2017 with wildlife activists calling it a vital step to reducing the slaughter of the endangered animals.
China has made a big push to eradicate ivory sales and demand has fallen since early 2014 because of a crackdown on corruption and slower economic growth.
Public awareness campaigns featuring celebrities have helped boost awareness of the bloody cost of ivory. Wildlife groups estimate 30,000 elephants are killed by poachers in Africa every year.
“It is the greatest single step toward reducing elephant poaching,” said Peter Knights, chief executive of the group WildAid.
China has allowed the sale of pre-convention ivory, which refers to products such as carvings and crafts acquired before the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as long as it is accompanied by certificates.
The trade in pre-convention ivory has been legally thriving in China and Hong Kong since 1975, and environmental activists have long asserted that it has spurred demand for all ivory.
The ban on all ivory sales has already led to an 80 percent decline in seizures of illegal ivory entering China as well as a 65 percent decline in raw ivory prices, said conservation group WildAid.
Under the ban, China’s 172 ivory-carving factories and retail outlets will also close. Some factories and shops started closing in March.
Illegal ivory supplies have also been rife in unlicensed shops and online across China.
This year, ivory prices in China were about 65 percent lower than 2014 levels, said WildAid, with retailers in some places trying to sell off stocks and offering heavy discounts before the ban.
The Chinese ban has been hailed by activists but they warn that Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, remains a big obstacle to the eradication of elephant poaching.
China’s ban on sales do not apply in the former British colony, which has the largest retail market for ivory and has traded it for more than 150 years.
Hong Kong is a prime transit and consumption hub for ivory with more than 90 percent of consumers from mainland China.
Since 2003, Hong Kong has intercepted about 40 tonnes of illegal ivory, only about 10 percent of what is believed to have been smuggled in, WildAid said in a paper to the city’s legislature in May.
Hong Kong set a timetable for a ban on ivory trading last year, with a phase-out time of five years. A final vote on the ban is expected in the city’s legislature in early 2018.
Conservationist Zhou Fei said the Chinese ban could be a catalyst for the closure of ivory markets across Asia.
However, Kenya-based conservation group Save the Elephants said this year that neighbouring Laos had expanded its retail market more rapidly than any other country.
Beijing phased out more than 4,450 coal-fired stoves in 2017, reducing its coal consumption by almost three million tonnes, local authorities said on Friday, December 29, 2017.
Chinese coal-fired stove
“The move also reduced emission of 5,500 tonnes of smoke and 6,600 tonnes of sulphur dioxide,’’ the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said.
As part of a campaign launched in 2013, Beijing has phased out about 99.8 per cent of coal-fired stoves.
Natural gas and other forms of clean energy are used to replace coal.
An investigation shows that Beijing’s average sulphur dioxide density, a major air pollutant, was eight microgrammes per cubic metre toward the end of October 2017, compared with the annual average density of 28 microgrammes in 2013.
Small stoves in Beijing’s suburban and rural areas, not covered by the central heating system, had been blamed for worsening the city’s smog during the winter.
Beijing completed 338 projects to switch coal-fired heating to heating fuelled by natural gas in rural areas this year, involving ¥8.5 billion ($1.3 billion) of investment.
The Federal Government is targeting about 5,000 men, women and children in its free medical outreach aimed at preventing, detecting and treating victims of hydrocarbon pollution in Ogoniland, Rivers State.
Medical outreach
Dr Marvin Dekil, the Project Coordinator, Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), flagged-off the second phase of the exercise on Friday, December 29, 2017 in Kpite-Tai community, Tai Local Government Area of the state.
He said that HYPREP has concluded the exercise in Khana and would soon begin same exercise in Gokana and Eleme Local Government Areas in compliance to recommendations of UNEP Report on Ogoniland.
“The health outreach is the first step towards the implementation of the initial stage of the Health Impact Study as recommended in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on Ogoniland.
“Health impact study is one of the emergency measures taken by HYPREP to ensure that we are clear about the link between disease pathogens and oil contamination in the area.
“We are mandated to perform three tasks which are to remediate impacted sites; restore livelihood in the communities, and emergency measures – which includes health impact study and water.
“HYPREP would administer screening for various ailments – while at the end of the exercise; the report would be used to do a health record for Ogoni people,” he said.
Dekil said the screening would cover malaria, HIV, dental, eye, arm circumference; Random Blood Sugar; Fasting Blood Sugar, weight and height.
He said that pulse and vital signs of residents would also be checked with focus to early detection of diseases.
Besides, the project coordinator said the exercise would offer free surgeries and treatment to residents found with dental and eye impairment.
“Also, free correctional eye glasses would be given to those diagnosed with impairment,” he said.
Dekil said that Ministry of Environment recently signed Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Institute and Research (UNITAR) to train Ogoni youths and women on skills acquisition.
He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari was fully committed to successful implementation of the UNEP Report on Ogoniland.
The founder of Medical Women Association of Rivers State, Dr Bernadette Korubo, expressed optimism that the outreach would improve health of residents.
She said that most residents of the area suffered severe forms of arthritis, high blood pressure, stroke, eye impairment, waist pain and upper respiratory tract infection.
Korubo said: “These diseases are common here because at this age and time people are still drinking from streams and hand-dug wells especially in an area that is highly polluted.
“This is a public health emergency, and as such government at all levels should as a matter of urgency interface with the community gatekeepers to provide them with pipe borne water.
“We will continue to create awareness to enable them maintain healthy living in the midst of the health challenges caused by decades of oil pollution in Ogoni communities,” she said.
The medical practitioner urged the participants to boil their water before drinking while awaiting government intervention in their communities.
One of the beneficiaries, Mr Rapheal Obari, who was diagnosed with low blood sugar, commended HYPREP and called for a quarterly conduct of the exercise.
On Nov. 7, 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari told the National Assembly that the Federal Government would launch the first African Sovereign Green Bond in December 2017 to finance renewable energy projects.
Minister of State for Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Jibril
Buhari, while presenting the 2018 Budget Proposal, said: “I am pleased to inform this distinguished assembly that the Federal Government will be launching the first African Sovereign Green Bond in December 2017.
“The bond will be used to finance renewable energy projects. We are very excited about this development, as it will go a long way in solving many of our energy challenges, especially in the hinterland.’’
As a follow-up, the Debt Management Office (DMO) and the Federal Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with Green Bond Advisory Group, on Dec. 14 organised Nigeria Green Bond Investors Forum in Abuja and Lagos.
Stakeholders that participated in the forum include Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs), the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Inter-ministerial Committee on Climate Change and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Others are DMO, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the World Bank and Chapel Hill Denham Group as well as representatives of private sector organisations.
The Director-General of DMO, Ms. Patience Oniha, said that the forum was organised to educate prospective investors in the Green Bond programme to know the benefits of investing in green bond projects.
Oniha said that the Federal Government would soon issue N10.6 billion green bonds to finance renewable energy projects in efforts to protect the environment.
The director-general said the Federal Government acted to borrow the N10.6 billion, in line with its borrowing agenda contained in the 2017 budget.
According to her, more funds would be allocated to finance green bond projects in the subsequent budgets.
Oniha said that the bonds would be used to finance three renewable energy projects, which were Renewable Energy Micro-Utilities Programme, Re-energising Education Programme and Afforestation Programme.
Also speaking, Alhaja Halimat Bwari, the Deputy Director, Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment, said that N142 billion was required to finance renewable energy projects in the country.
She said that the ministry decided to issue the green bonds as an alternative source of funding because of the huge capital outlay which was required to finance the nation’s renewable energy projects.
She noted that the Green Bond programme would boost the nation’s economy and protect the environment.
Besides, Bwari said that the ministry had inaugurated five low-carbon growth projects.
She listed the projects as the Rural Energy Access, the Great Green Wall Programme, the National Clean Stoves Scheme, the Clean Energy Transportation Scheme and the Nigerian Erosion and Watershed Management Project.
She said that the projects would go a long way to reduce carbon emissions in Nigeria, while facilitating the country’s efforts to meet its commitments in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
As part of efforts to promote renewable projects in the country, the Federal Government has called for public-private sector collaboration in efforts to promote the use of clean cook stoves.
The Minister of State for Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Jibril, while speaking at the 2017 Nigeria Clean Cooking Forum in Abuja, solicited the partnership to develop domestic market for made-in-Nigeria clean cook stoves.
The minister, who underscored the need to develop and expand the market, emphasised that the government and the private sector ought to work together in growing the market for made-in-Nigeria clean cook stoves.
According to him, clean cooking techniques constitute a priority area in efforts to achieve the goals of Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which aims at reducing carbon emissions in the country.
“It also aims to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases; clean cooking energy for all is not only possible but a right for our citizens,’’ he said.
The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, stressed the need to step up activities and actions that were fundamentally aimed at ensuring increased use of clean energy by households across the country.
He said that the citizens’ consumption of over 500 million kilogrammes of firewood every day was an enormous strain on the nation’s forest resources.
Besides, Saraki said that nearly 65,000 people died every year in Nigeria due to household air pollution, while more than four million people died because of household air pollution globally annually.
According to him, more than 50 per cent of these fatalities are children and women.
The Senate president, who underscored the need to increase the usage of clean cooking stoves by households, said that the stoves would save lives and help to create additional jobs for people in the country.
A stove manufacturer, Mr Biodun Olaore, who is the Country Director, Envirofit Nigeria, urged the government to create public awareness on the menace of indoor air pollution and deforestation to enable Nigerians to embrace the clean cooking technology.
Envirofit Nigeria, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Envirofit International, owns a clean cooking stove factory in Lagos.
Olaore said: “Governments should play a vital role in creating the required awareness about the hazards of indoor air pollution and deforestation.
“This will help people to actually embrace this cooking technology and they can actually see the benefit, which ultimately translates to a better environment for all.’’
He said that his company embarked on the manufacture of efficient, clean cooking stoves so as to encourage the people to engage in air pollution-free activities, adding that the stoves, which produced less smoke and cooked faster, were cost-effective.
“We manufacture the stoves to support government’s policies and efforts to reduce carbon emissions and effects of greenhouse gases.
“This technology is actually out there to reduce the consumption of fuel wood and carbon emissions, while preventing the hazards associated with cooking with biomass fuel,’’ he said.
Olaore, who said that the government had yet to subsidise the stove production, said that the stove was affordable and cost-effective, taking into cognisance the high cost of cooking fuel nowadays.
The country director said that the price of one unit of the stoves ranged between N5,500 and N15,000, depending on the fuel that was suitable for that particular stove.
“We produce these stoves to help people to live better lives; this technology is actually out there to improve the life of the common man in Nigeria,’’ he said.
However, Mr Richard Inyamkume, the Senior Programme Officer, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Initiative (CCMAI), urged the government to support low carbon growth initiatives that were executed by relevant stakeholders in the country.
He said it was imperative for government at all levels to support the low carbon growth initiatives because of their attendant benefits to the people and the environment.
“Presently, a huge number of Nigeria’s population is dependent on dirty cooking modes such as firewood and charcoal.
“While this contributes to global warming through carbon emissions, it also poses health risks to the users.
“Governments need to focus on investing in the area of clean cooking options for Nigerians, especially the citizens in the rural communities,’’ he said.
As parts of efforts to lay solid foundation for the evolution of a low carbon society, Inyamkume urged the government to mainstream climate change issues into federal, state and local government budgetary proposals.
He said that the government at all levels needed to give priority to investments in low carbon projects, particularly in the areas of cooking modes, transportation modes and clean energy options.
“To this end, private sector investments should be encouraged for the production and distribution of clean cooking technologies, low carbon travel options, such as bicycles, hybrid cars, tricycles, and other low- or zero-carbon emitting energy options.
“Nigeria has a huge economic potential as well as brilliant climatic and environmental future which cannot be left to be ravaged by the adverse impacts of climate change,’’ he said.
Inyamkume also urged the government and other relevant stakeholders to implement existing policies and strategies to achieve low carbon growth in the country.
He said that the federal, state and local governments as well as the citizens should make concerted efforts to achieve green, healthy and sustainable environment that supports food and livestock production, as well as clean energy production.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) observes that out of more than 56 million cases of abortions that take place globally each year, almost half of the cases are done through unsafe procedures.
Abortion
It notes further that. between 2010 and 2014, there were 55.7 million abortion cases every year and, out of these, 17.1 million cases were unsafe.
Similarly, some concerned citizens express concern that cases of unsafe abortions are on the increase even as women and young girls have become victims of rape, resulting in unwanted pregnancy that they may seek to abort.
Worried about the trend, medical experts have, on many occasions, warned that cases of unsafe abortions are on the increase in Nigeria because it is not legalised and has made women and girls to patronise quacks in medical profession.
They put the rate of deaths arising from unsafe abortions in Nigeria at 450 persons per 100,000 abortions, using random data from different periods.
They also expressed concern that unsafe abortions, especially among teenagers, have continued to cause life-threatening health problems and regrets, leading to deaths of many people.
A concern citizens, pleading anonymity, cites the case of one Comfort, a 16-year old girl, who got pregnant when she was sexually abused.
Confused and scared of the repercussions, she decided to get rid of the pregnancy by involving a quack doctor.
Although the abortion was done, she later developed pains which led to severe bleeding and health condition for the rest of her life.
Similarly, Kemi, a university undergraduate got pregnant but being uncomfortable with the stigma associated with it, she sought to abort the pregnancy by a quack who sold abortion pills for her.
With the resultant stomach ache and excessive bleeding, she was taken a hospital where she later died.
Considering the mindset of most girls and women on unwanted pregnancy, medical experts believe that unsafe abortion, therefore, remains a major public health problem in developing and underdeveloped countries, especially in Nigeria.
Dr Ejike Orji, Chairman, Association for the Advancement of Family Planning, said more than 1.2 million reported unsafe cases of abortion occurred in Nigeria annually.
According to him, 40 per cent of maternal deaths that occur in Nigeria were due to unsafe abortions.
He underscored the need for government to improve budget on health sector to drive change in sexual and reproductive health.
Orji said women should be informed and ought to be given opportunity to make a healthy choice in terms of sexual and reproductive health rights.
He noted that provision of family planning and post abortion for rural women by midwives would be necessary in curtailing maternal deaths arising from unsafe abortions.
Similarly, Dr Godwin Akaba, gynaecologist at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, expressed concern about the rate of deaths caused by unsafe abortions.
“Many lives are lost on a daily basis to crude abortions; many of those who survive often suffer acute complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease that could lead to secondary infertility, systemic infection and ectopic pregnancies,’’ he observed.
Akaba said 40 per cent of women involved in unsafe abortion in Nigeria experienced severe complications around the pelvic.
“If left untreated or poorly treated, pelvic infection could lead to the blockage of the fallopian tube resulting in infertility.
“Based on research, 20 per cent to 30 per cent of unsafe abortion procedures result in reproductive tract infections which lead to secondary infertility.
“Unless the tubes are unblocked via surgery, the chances of conception are very slim because the fallopian tube serves as a passage for the ovum — egg cell — from the ovary to the uterus, where it meets with the sperm for fertilisation.
“Tubal blockage is what essentially leads to infertility; even if it does not lead to complete blockage of the fallopian tube, it could make the lining of the uterus, were the foetus stays hostile, predisposing the woman to recurrent miscarriages,’’ he said.
He said it could also lead to ectopic pregnancy, where a foetus could grow outside the womb and if not detected early, the condition could lead to the death of the mother.
According to him, the alarming rate of unsafe abortion is caused by Nigeria’s restrictive laws which prohibit induced abortion, except when the life of the mother is in danger.
He observed that the situation had forced many women to patronise quacks that often proved to be dangerous.
To check the rate of cases of unsafe abortion, Ipas, a non-governmental organisation that works globally to improve access to safe abortion and contraception, recommends the review of the Abortion Law in the country.
Ipas Country Director Hauwa Shekarau said the law had been in existence since 1861, describing it as outdated and restricting.
She urged the Federal Government to make the law liberal to improve the quality of services women received from health facilities.
She noted that reforming such law would help to check rate of maternal death and health indicators of women as well as enable women to exercise their sexual reproductive health rights.
“The law guiding abortion in Nigeria is found from Section 228 to Section 230 of the Criminal Code as applicable to the southern part of the country, providing for abortion only if it is to save the lives of women.
“We are not saying every woman should have an abortion but every woman’s choice should be included in the law such that if I am raped and decide to keep the pregnancy or abort it, the law should enable me to enjoy that,’’ she explained.
Early Childhood Development (ECD), from conception to pre-primary education age, has been globally recognised as foundation for adult health, productivity, learning and social cohesion.
School children
ECD includes health of mother and unborn child, nutrition, responsive care, early learning, security, safety to ensure improved care and support for growing child, thereby giving him a good head-start in life.
Analysts, therefore, note that the ultimate aim of providing ECD is to provide care for the child for further education.
According to them, failure to invest at this stage would hamper the future of the child and realisation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
They cite 2016 Lancet series on Child Development that states that 250 million children under the age of five globally are unlikely to reach their potential because their development has been stunted by stress, lack of early stimulation and poor nutrition.
They observe that Nigeria is rated among top 10 countries that contributed to the number and failure for these children to thrive would drag the country’s growth by affecting their later learning, social cohesion, productivity and health.
Leveraging on critical place of ECD in SDGs and the potential of early investments in young children is, therefore, providing a foundation for their current and future development, they note.
SDGs are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations and the goals are interrelated though each has its own targets to achieve, covering a broad range of social and economic development issues.
Mrs Swadchet Sankey, Education Specialist, United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), insists that ECD is fundamental to achieving SDGs by 2030.
She said SDGs presented an opportunity to connect ECD with efforts to create equity, productivity, prosperity and sustainable growth for a more peaceful future.
She noted that through quality ECD, all children, irrespective of background, would have access to quality care, education, nutrition and protection, among others, that ensure the realisation of their full potential.
She also expressed optimism that through improved investment in ECD, SDGs would be achieved because the health and wealth of any nation depends on the health of its population.
Sankey further noted that ECD would aid in driving transformation agenda, describing it as a cost effective strategies for poverty eradication.
“ECD is the foundation of achieving SDGs; if we do not increase investments on ECD in early years, we will have issues in achieving SDGs because all the 17 goals are tied as they all focus on the child.
“If you want to eradicate or reduce poverty, gender inequality, you need to invest in the children.
“To improve the economy, quality education, bridge inequality gap between boy and the girl child among others you need to invest in children.
“If we really want to bridge gap between us and the developed countries as enshrined in the SDGs, we have to take ECD seriously,” she noted.
Sankey urged governments and policy makers to assist parents and caregivers to build enriching environment where they could pay loving attention to their babies and young children.
According to her, any environment that is not sensitive to nutrition, health and security of children is not a complete environment for ECD.
She identified focal areas of ECD as early learning, revitalisation of routine immunisation, support for women to enable them to make decisions regarding their own health during pregnancy, high impact nutrition, sanitation service to reduce stunting and boost cognitive development.
Similarly, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria Mohamed Fall, recommended six months paid maternity leave and four weeks paid paternity leave to ensure healthy development of young children.
Fall also recommended two years pre-primary education, adding that the policies would afford parents time and resources needed to support their young children’s healthy development.
Fall, nonetheless, observes that Nigeria has the potential for comprehensive approach to ECD with an integrated multi-sectoral ECD policy.
He urged stakeholders to encourage investments on ECD by supporting caregivers, giving quality pre-primary education and good nutrition that would help to secure healthy and productive future generations.
