Some prominent residents of Mbakyoondu in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State have said that the Anti-Open Grazing Prohibition Law enacted in the state will guarantee security.
Flashback: Governor Ortom signs anti-grazing bill into law as Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, Terkimbi Ikyange, lends a hand
The residents made the observation when Mr Terver Wever, Group Head, Real Estate and Infrastructure Development of Benue Investment and Property Company, hosted them on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 as part of activities to mark the end of 2017.
According to them, the law, enacted by Gov. Samuel Ortom recently, would prevent further clashes among herdsmen and farmers.
They described the law as the best thing that had happened to the state to stem the wave of insecurity across the state.
Mrs Nancy Yeke, a councilor in the ward, expressed joy, noting that the enactment of the law was a landmark achievement of the Ortom’s administration.
Another resident, Mama Mwarga Chia, a widow, appreciated Wever’s decision to help the needy during the New Year’s celebration, asking the community members to pray for him.
In his comments, Wever highlighted some of the achievements of Ortom’s administration that had direct bearing on the people.
He said the administration had introduced unified sacks as standard of measurement for farm produce to discourage traders from exploiting farmers.
He also urged the youth in the community to acquire skills to be self-reliant and boost the state’s economy.
The high points of the occasion included cash donations, bags of rice, a cow and cloths, among other food items.
For a very long time, agriculture was the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. As a matter of fact, a lot of countries across the world depend solely on agriculture for their survival and sustenance.
Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh
The importance of agriculture in Nigeria can never be over-emphasised, as agriculture still provides livelihoods for a larger percentage of the citizens.
The determination of the ECOWAS member nations to fast-track regional development through economic integration was the raison d’être behind the decision of the heads of ECOWAS member states to enact and adopt the ECOWAS Free Movement treaty in May 1979.
The treaty aims at strengthening sub-regional economic integration via progressive freer movement of goods, capital and people, while consolidating the efforts of the member states to maintain peace, stability and security.
The ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of People and Goods ensures free mobility of the citizens of member states.
It confers on the people of the region, the right to enter and reside in the territory of any member state, provided they have valid travel documents and international health certificate.
Although the main aim of the treaty is to boost economic activities, including agriculture, concerned observers note that some citizens of member countries have been abusing this entry privilege, to the detriment of other member nations.
The member nations of ECOWAS are Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
In the case of Nigeria, some agriculturalists moan that the constant abuse of the treaty, owing to the porous nature of Nigerian borders, has contributed to some challenges facing the country’s agricultural sector.
They believe that implementation of the treaty in the region is somewhat an impediment to the realisation of the Federal Government’s plans to make agriculture the mainstay of the country’s economy.
They insist that the free movement of persons and goods within the region is a contributory factor to the rising cases of insecurity of lives and property, smuggling of agricultural produce, farmers-herdsmen crisis and transference of some animal diseases in the region.
Speaking on the impact of the treaty on agriculture, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, while analysing the achievements of the Buhari-administration in the agricultural sector, said that some ECOWAS citizens were abusing the treaty.
He said that the abuse of the treaty had promoted smuggling of agricultural products, particularly grains; thereby sabotaging the Federal Government’s plans to ensure Nigeria’s attainment of self-sufficiency in the production of rice and other produce.
“We will like to advise our neighbours who believe that the ECOWAS treaty means that Nigeria is a volunteer nation for economic suicide.
“We have no such plans; we cannot destroy our own economy to make any neighbour happy.
“The ECOWAS treaty does not suggest that any country can be an avenue of smuggling foreign goods, which are not produced in that country, for dumping in a neighbouring territory.
“If that practice persists, I do not think that government is far away from considering permanently closing certain borders very near us; and when we do, nothing will make us change our minds on the issue, ECOWAS treaty or not,’’ Ogbeh warned.
Reinforcing the minister’s viewpoint, Mr Lamina Rasheed, the National Chairman, Association of Indigenous Sea Food Stakeholders, said that Nigeria lost N9 billion revenue annually to illegal fish importation and smuggling through the land borders.
He frowned at the development, saying that it had negatively affected the business of many genuine importers and local fish farmers across the country.
Rasheed said that illegal fish importation was still ongoing through the land borders, adding that the establishment of a monitoring and prosecution task force would be helpful in efforts to curb the menace.
He appealed to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to step up efforts to curtail the activities of smugglers.
Also speaking, Alhaji Baba Ngelzarma, the National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), said that some pastoralists who engaged in conflicts with farmers were foreigners.
Ngelzarma, who bemoaned the excesses of some foreign herdsmen, urged security agencies to increase their surveillance on foreign herdsmen coming into the country in order to monitor their activities.
“If you look at the international routes that allow the international pastoralists to enter into the country, those routes are not monitored by any security outfit in the country.
“What we discovered in Niger is that before they allow their pastoralists come into Nigeria, they have to give them permits, know where they are going to and the number of cows that they are taking out before allowing them to go.
“And if the number of their cows increases when they are coming back, they would be questioned. However, that system of check is what is absent in Nigeria,’’ he said.
Ngelzarma also called for a synergy between the governments of those states in the border areas and the neighbouring countries in efforts to curtail the excesses of some international pastoralists.
“Niger Republic usually allows all their international pastorialists to come into Nigeria around December because by December, they must have gathered their farm produce but in Nigeria, our harvest period is not the same.
“The time they release their pastoralists to come to Nigeria is the time when our farmers are still busy with their cultivation in farms.
“There is no synergy between our country and the neighbouring countries; we have to work together and if this is done, the incessant farmers-herdsmen crises will reduce significantly,’’ he said.
Nevertheless, Mr Ernest Aubee, the Head of Agriculture Division, ECOWAS Commission, Abuja, emphasised that the ECOWAS protocol did not promote illegality.
He said that the citizens of member countries, who were fond of hiding under the guise of the protocol to perpetrate evils, were criminals flouting national laws.
Aubee, nonetheless, stressed that the abuse of the treaty by some citizens of member states was totally “unacceptable’’.
“No one should trade in commodities that are going to be detrimental to any member state.
“You cannot take something that is sub-standard – something that is bad – and then move it from country A to country B, just to make money.
“It is unacceptable for anybody to try to dump substandard foods in any ECOWAs member states.
“It is also unacceptable if you decide to violate, not just the regional laws but also the national laws of a country, when it comes to food quality and food safety issues.
“My appeal to all business people, especially those involved in the trade of agricultural commodities, is that they should respect the regulations and the protocols on free movement of peoples, goods and services.
“They should also respect other protocols dealing with the marketing products from one place to another,’’ he said.
Perceptive analysts acknowledge that no region of the world that is totally free from the incidence of trans-border wrongdoings in the agricultural sector but they insist that pragmatic efforts should be made to address the perceptible challenges facing Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
They add that the challenges that have somewhat resulted in poverty, inequality, hunger, unemployment and corruption in the country.
The analysts insist that if the Federal Government must succeed in its efforts to diversify the country’s economy through agriculture, it must initiate decisive strategies to combat all the barriers inhibiting the growth of the agricultural sector.
The price of dust mask has increased in Kano State following intense cold, harmattan dust and hazy conditions, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
Dust haze weather
A NAN correspondent who went round some markets in Kano, the state capital, on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 found that a pack of 50 dust masks that cost between N450 and N500 before the harmattan was now being sold at between N600 and N700 at wholesale price.
NAN also learnt that most of the mask sellers increased the price of the product due to the harmattan, as people were seen trooping to Igbo Road Market and Sabon Gari Market to purchase the commodity.
One of the mask hawkers at Igbo Road Market, Abubakar Sani, said both men and women buy and use the commodity.
He added that “business is moving smoothly: in a day, I sell between three and four
packs of the mask, as well as other items such as hand gloves.
“Few months ago, a piece of the mask was sold at N20 but it now cost N40.”
Another seller, Najib Mustapha, said people patronise him on daily basis and the prices vary.
Malama Fatima Isa, who was seen wearing the mask, said she used it to protect herself from dust because she had asthma.
Another person wearing the mask, Malam Isa Bala, said the weather condition was harsh and the dust was overwhelming “so I have to protect myself.”
Meanwhile, the number of hawkers of the mask had increased in the city.
A total of 21 new amphibian and reptile species as well as two new subspecies were discovered in China in 2017, according to a recent academic report.
A new amphibian species of the genus Leptolalax, commonly known as the Asian litter frog, found in Tengchong, southwest China’s Yunnan
Amphibian is a cold-blooded vertebrate animal of a class that comprises the frogs, toads, newts, salamanders, and caecilians while reptile is vertebrate animal of a class that includes snakes, lizards, crocodiles, turtles, and tortoises.
The new species and subspecies belong to 16 genuses in 10 families, four orders, the report said.
Unlike in 2016, when most newly-discovered species were from southwest China’s Yunnan Province and Tibet Autonomous Region.
The new species found in 2017 had a vast distribution, stretching more than 10 municipalities and provinces, according to Wang Kai, Author of the report and Researcher with the Kunming Institute of Zoology.
Kai said researchers also spotted a further two amphibian and reptile species that were never before seen in China.
China was home to 465 amphibians and 481 reptiles at the end of 2017, Wang said.
The Zambian Government on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 said schools in areas where there was a cholera outbreak in Lusaka, the country’s capital, would not reopen to avoid cross-contamination.
Lusaka, Zambia
Minister of Health, Chitalu Chilufya, stated this at a news conference in Lusaka.
He said schools in all the areas cited as epicentres of the waterborne disease in the city would remain closed until when the ministry had conducted a thorough assessment of the situation.
Public schools were expected to reopen on Jan. 15.
He said that the number of cholera cases had continued to increase and almost reaching 2,000 with 48 deaths recorded and that the ban on public gatherings in the city applies to even schools.
The minister said the ministry had liaised with the ministry of general education to ensure safety of pupils in all the schools.
Chilufya added that inspectors had since been dispatched to check on the conditions at the schools by sampling the water as well as sanitary conditions in the affected areas.
The government has banned public gatherings of more than five people in order to contain cholera which has continued escalating since October 2017.
On Dec. 30, President Edgar Lungu ordered soldiers to get involved in fighting the cholera outbreak.
The African Development Fund (ADF) has signed a significant concessional donor loan agreement with the Government of France to the tune of $253 million as support for the 14th replenishment of the Fund.
Acting Vice-President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer at the AfDB, Hassatou N’Sele
Established in 1972, the ADF represents an enduring development partnership between African countries and donors. The Fund is part of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and helps to improve the lives of millions of people across Africa through loans and grants to projects and programmes.
Its resources are replenished by donors every three years. The 14th replenishment is intended to mobilise the funds necessary for the period 2017 to 2019.
The acting Vice-President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer at the AfDB, Hassatou N’Sele, signed the ADF concessional donor loan agreement with the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Agence française de Développement (AFD), Jean-Pierre Marcelli, in Paris.
The Agence française de Developpement negotiated and signed the loan agreement on behalf of the French Treasury as part of the contributions of France to the Fourteenth Replenishment of the Resources of the African Development Fund (ADF-14).
The move by France is the first time a donor country would sign a concessional donor loan agreement for the ADF since the Fund management and donors agreed in November 2016 to include a loan component within its financing framework.
Global support for the ADF 14 cycle will help the AfDB to continue to deliver very concrete developmental impacts across each of the High 5 areas (Light up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa).
Two other countries have also agreed to provide similar loan supports for ADF 14: Japan ($700 million) and India ($15 million).
The signature of the loan agreements with Japan and India takes place early in 2018, N’Sele said.
The loan component of ADF will enable donor countries to circumvent the fiscal pressure most of them are facing and to provide additional support to ADF-14 through reimbursable funds. Without these innovative instruments, ADF-14 would have been one-third lower than ADF-13.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted thick dust haze conditions over the central states of the county on Tuesday, January 2, 2017.
Dust haze weather
NiMet’s Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office in Abuja on Monday also predicted in the range of 26 to 34 and 11 to 21 degrees Celsius respectively.
The agency predicted that the Southern States would experience dust haze conditions over the inland cities with localised visibility range of two to three kilometres during the forecast period.
It also predicted hazy morning with partly cloudy and localised rain showers over Port-Harcourt, Calabar and Uyo in the afternoon and evening hours with day and night temperatures of 32 to 35 and 19 to 23 degrees Celsius respectively.
According to NiMet, Northern States will experience thick dust haze conditions during the forecast period with day and night temperatures in the range of 26 to 33 and 10 to 15 degrees Celsius respectively.
“Deterioration in visibility is expected over the country due to the fresh dust that was raised over the source region.
“Therefore, thick dust haze is anticipated over the northern and central cities. Dust haze condition is expected to prevail over the inland cities with localised visibility range of two to three kilometres.
“Hazy condition is not unlikely over some coastal cities with prospect of localised rain shower during the afternoon and evening period within the next 24 hours,” NiMet predicted.
This is 2018, a year that promises goodies to the environment. Aside the World Environment Day that comes up on June 5, there are other events environmentalists should look out for. One of them is Sustainability Strategy 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The situation looks grim for this sad looking woman, one of the over 30,000 people forcefully evicted by the state government from Otodo Gbame community in Lagos
Surprised that the world football federation is environment-friendly also? Wait for Russia 2018, which Nigeria is among the teams.
Anyway, that is story for another day. But let us recap some of the events that EnviroNews took interest in the past year.
One of the issues that came up is mercury. On February 14, at Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Ikeja, Lagos, the United Nations (UN) and its agencies entered into partnership with the media and non-governmental organisations to save the environment and humans from the dangers posed by the use of mercury via an awareness-raising workshop. In attendance were journalists from the print and electronic media, NGO executives, Federal Ministry of Environment (FMENV) staff and other stakeholders.
The campaign did not stop there, as other NGOs like Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADev Nigeria) picked it up from there.
The campaigns were part of efforts to implement the Minimata Convention on mercury phase-out.
There was the issue of renewable energy. One forum that discussed that was organised by Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) and Shangix Development Limited (SDL) at Lekki, Lagos in February.
The briefing was part of activities for the 2017 Energy Week with the theme, “Energy: Make it Nature-friendly”.
NCF and Shangix put up an essay competition for junior and senior secondary school students in District 3, Lagos.
Then the New Lagos Environment Bill, which is still lingering, came to the fore. At the vanguard of the campaign against it were Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth (ERA/FoEN) and other civil society organisations (CSOs) who vowed to mobilise Lagosians to ensure that Governor Ambode was stopped from signing the “obnoxious” bill into law.
To mark the World Water Day, on March 22, they challenged the Lagos government with a protest march from Ikeja Local Government Secretariat, near Computer Village, to Alausa, the seat of Lagos government.
The New Lagos Environmental Law was eventually signed into law by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, with three “controversial” foreign firms contracted to handle Lagos water. That brewed another issue, as ‘Our water Our Right Coalition’ maintained that the only model that could solve the Lagos water problem was what they called public-public partnerships (PUPs).
The managing director of Lagos Water Corporation (LWC), Mumuni Badmus, they said, had gone on radio “to give unsuspecting Lagosians, in a well-polished language, a list of companies that will be managing water – our common patrimony. Alas, shortlisted companies included Abengoa, Veolia and Metito.”
The coalition insisted that the three firms could not be trusted with Lagos water.
The alarm was raised also on toxic waste dumped in Koko community in Warri North Local Government Area, Delta State.
ERA/FoEN at a press briefing in Lagos, asked the Delta State government and the National Environmental Standard and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA) to immediately set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the development.
The company linked to the dumping of the toxic waste in Koko for over three months was identified as Ebenco Global Link Limited.
In a related development, after over five years that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recommended that Ogoniland be cleaned of the last drop of oil spill, it was reported that no drop had been cleaned. ERA disclosed this at a press briefing on April 4, in Lagos.
Similarly, Agip/ENI and its subsidiary, which had reportedly evaded justice for long on the suit against it by Ikebiri Community, incurred the wrath of ERA/FoEN.
The Ikebiri community comprises several villages in Bayelsa State. Its main economic activities include palm-wine tapping, canoe carving, fishing, farming, animal trapping and traditional medical practices.
In Lagos, Makoko residents lamented water pollution, dredging and called on both the state and federal governments to assist them in their major occupation of fishing.
The event, with the theme Fish Not Oil, was organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF).
Nigeria was among the first group of A5 countries that wanted to replace Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) with ozone-friendly hydrocarbons, according to the Montreal Protocol. At a workshop in Lagos, stakeholders gave their nod to the Kigali Amendment on Montreal Protocol.
The workshop that took place on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 at GolfView Hotel, Ikeja, was attended by about 150 participants from Ministries Departments and Agencies (both federal and states), United Nations bodies, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Services (RACS) industrialists and the media.
The HCFC Phase-out Management Plan, or HPMP, for Nigeria was approved at the 62nd meeting of the Executive Committee (ExCom) of the Multilateral Fund (MLF) for the implementation of the Montreal Protocol, which will result in the complete phase-out of 407.7 ODP tonnes of HCFC in the country by January 1, 2040. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the lead Implementing Agency (IA) while UNIDO is the Cooperating Agency (CA).
Housing issue also got our attention. My Own Home scheme of the Federal Government, with a loan of $300 million from the World Bank, planned to make every Nigerian a homeowner.
In partnership with Nigeria Police Mortgage Bank and other eight microfinance banks, the scheme was enabled by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and supported by Nigeria Housing Finance Programme (NHFP), Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) and Mortgage Bankers Association of Nigeria (MBAN).
There was also a housing fair in Lagos where builders and building materials producers met with the market.
Agriculture, which the federal government is trying to revive, was the topic at a stakeholders’ workshop organised by West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP)-Nigeria. There, Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Oluwatoyin Suarau, said: “Agriculture remains a key sector that plays major role in poverty reduction in Lagos State and Nigeria at large, and both (Lagos and Nigeria) can contribute to climate change mitigation and achieving sustainable peace for growth and development with total commitment.”
He was represented by Oke Olumuyiwa at the event themed “Impact of Climate Change on Small Scale Farming in Lagos State” held at Regency Hotel, GRA, Ikeja.
Otodo Gbame community also last year stormed Lagos Government House at Alausa, Ikeja, demanding resettlement and compensation.
Some of the protesters, including a pregnant woman, who marched from MKO Abiola Park at Ojota, slumped at Government House. It was alleged that policemen at the Government House used tear gas on the peaceful protesters, causing some of them to slump.
The protesters, who blocked the road to Government House, some lying on the road, vowed that they would not to leave until Governor Akinwunmi Ambode addressed them.
The protest was used to mark one year since the first phase of forced eviction of over 30,000 people from Otodo Gbame community in Lagos. It was organised with the support of Justice and Empowerment Initiatives – Nigeria (JEI), Nigerian Slum/Informal Settlement Federation and Amnesty International Nigeria.
The grouse of the evictees was that “the Lagos State government was yet to implement any relief or resettlement in line with its own promises and the judgment of Hon. Justice S.A. Onigbanjo of the Lagos High Court.”
Like mercury, there was Lead Paint Elimination Campaign organised by SRADev-Nigeria, in Lagos. At the event, the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) said it was ready to ensure that Nigerian markets were rid of lead-laden products.
Climax of reports last year seems to be the issue of green bond. The Federal Government in December offered for subscription by auction N10.69 billion worth of sovereign green bonds, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said. It stated that the five-year tenor bond would mature in 2022 at a coupon rate of 13.48 per cent per annum to finance renewable energy projects.
The green bond was issued following Nigeria’s endorsement of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change of September 21, 2016, with the aim of strengthening a global response to the threat.
Forty-nine days after President Muhammadu Buhari signed the instrument of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in Abuja, Nigeria’s endorsement of the global treaty took effect on Tuesday, May 16, 2017 when the country officially presented the authorisation.
With that, Nigeria emerged the 146th country to endorse the Paris Agreement, says Mr Santiago Villalpando, Chief of the Treaty Section of the UN, at the presentation of the Climate Change Endorsement instrument by Nigeria’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande.
By presenting its endorsement to the UN, Nigeria deposited its instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the depository.
And what seemed like the anti-climax was the campaign against the sale of national assets.
This issue took us to the New Year because soon the Federal Government may have some axe to grind with Nigerians if it goes on with its proposed sale of national assets to finance budgets.
It will have to contend with different labour unions, associations and civil society organisations (CSOs) who have mapped out plan of action to stop the proposed sale of national assets like the National Theatre and the Tafawa Balewa square (TBS).
The groups, including Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Service Employees (AUPCTRE), Centre for Social Change and Citizenship Education (CENSORCHANGE) and Joint Action Front (JAF), made this known in Lagos on Tuesday, December 19, at a press conference anchored by ERA/FoEN.
This issue will serve as the first issue on matters arising this year.
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has said that the the Light Rail System, which is under construction, will reduce traffic congestion and carbon emission in line with the administration’s policy on climate change.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, March 28, 2017 in Abuja signed the instrument of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change
The president, who made the submission on Monday, January 1, 2018 in his New Year address to the nation, disclosed that the train service would stimulate economic activities in Abuja, the Federal Capital City, and provide residents with an efficient and safe transportation system. According to him, 12 railway sub-stations around the capital over a 45.2 kilometre route will serve as a catalyst and a pull factor to the economy of the area.
Nigeria appears to be quite active in terms of international climate change and sustainable development diplomacy. Upon submitting Intended Nationally Determined Contributions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the nation appended its signature to the Paris Agreement on September 22, 2016, and thereafter ratified the global accord on May 16, 2017.
Recently, the country officially issued the Sovereign Green Bond, apparently as an innovative and alternative source of projects funding that would help to reduce emissions and provide robust climate infrastructure. Such infrastructure include renewable energy, low carbon transport, water infrastructure and sustainable agriculture in line with the Paris Agreement.
The Abuja Capital Light Rail, said Mr President, has reached 98% completion, and that only test runs remain before start of operations.
But a larger, all encompassing scheme entails the Lagos-Kano Standard Gauge Railway, in respect of which construction work has already begun.
According to the president, the line should reach Ibadan from Lagos by the end of 2019 and will carry two million passengers per year and five million tons of cargo will be transported every year, giving a substantial boost to the country’s economy.
Construction of the Kano-Kaduna, he noted, segment would commence this year and reach Kaduna by the end of 2019. He stressed that, by the end of 2021, the two ends will be joined to form a standard gauge railway across the main North-South trading route.
The Abuja-Kaduna route will be boosted by additional rolling stock next Thursday and will be able to handle one million commuters annually, he announced.
His words: “At the same time I have approved and negotiations will be concluded in the first part of this year for the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri line covering Aba, Owerri, Umuahia, Enugu, Awka, Abakaliki, Makurdi, Lafia, Jos, Bauchi, Gombe, Yola and Damaturu. The Abuja to Itakpe line will go through Baro and terminate in Warri with construction of a new seaport at Warri.
“Negotiations are also advanced for the construction of other railway lines, firstly from Kano to Maradi in Niger Republic passing through Kazaure, Daura, Katsina, Jibia to Maradi. And secondly, Lagos to Calabar the ‘Coastal Rail’ through Ore, Benin, Agbor, Asaba, Onitsha, Sapele, Ughelli, Warri, Yenagoa, Otuoke, Port Harcourt, Aba, Uyo and Calabar. In the next few years, all these Nigerian cities will be linked by functional modern rail systems, giving enormous boost to the social and economic life of our people.”
At the “One Planet Summit” held recently in Paris, France to mark the two-year anniversary of the Paris Agreement, President Buhari appealed to the international community to support Nigeria’s commitment to reducing the negative effects of climate change.
He told participants that Nigeria could not implement its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) without adequate financial, technical and capacity building support from developed countries.
He added that “since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, we have been strengthening our national efforts toward implementing the accord and the Marrakech Call for Action.”
He said that the country’s NDCs to reduce emission by 20 per cent by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2030 could not be attained alone.
According to him, the country is not under illusion of the challenges it is facing, having just come out of recession.
“Climate change is moving faster than we are. Inequalities are growing. We see horrific violations of human rights. Nationalism and xenophobia are on the rise.”
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General
Those were the disturbing words of UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on Sunday, December 31, 2017 in a New Year message to the world.
In the note, wherein the world’s premier civil servant expressed reservation of a range of unsavoury developments, Guterres said: “On New Year’s Day 2018, I am not issuing an appeal. I am issuing an alert – a red alert for our world.’’
The UN chief expressed regret that, in 2017, the world went in reverse to the appeal for peace. He said that when he assumed office one year ago, he had appealed for 2017 to be a year for peace. “Conflicts have deepened and new dangers have emerged. Global anxieties about nuclear weapons are the highest since the Cold War.
As the world begins 2018, the UN chief called for global unity. Guterres added that he truly believed we could make our world more safe and secure.
“We can settle conflicts, overcome hatred and defend shared values. But we can only do that together,” he said.
The UN chief urged leaders everywhere to make this New Year’s resolution: “Narrow the gaps. Bridge the divides. Rebuild trust by bringing people together around common goals.”
Guterres, who assumed office on Jan. 1, 2017, stressed that, in 2018, “unity is the path” adding, “our future depends on it”.
“I wish you peace and health in 2018. Thank you. Shokran. Xie Xie. Merci. Spasiba. Gracias. Obrigado,” the ninth UN chief concluded.
