The focal person of UNICEF in Nasarawa State, Mr Adikwu Moses, made this known in an interview with newsmen after a two-day workshop held in Karu Local Government Area of the state.
The training was designed for various religious leaders from seven local government areas of the state on essential family practices.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that six religious leaders each representing Awe, Kokona, Doma, Keffi, Wamba, Nasarawa and Karu local government areas were drawn from Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Jama’atul Nasir Islam (JNI).
Others are Women Wing of Christian Association of Nigeria (WOWICAN) and Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN).
Moses said UNICEF’s concern about the welfare of children is because they were the most vulnerable in the society, hence the workshop to train and encourage them to sensitise their followers on prioritising the nutrition of children.
“UNICEF is about the children and the women who are vulnerable to certain situations. So how do we do promote these issues that are very key to their welfare especially issues that deal with essential family practices?
“These issues include promotion of infant and young child feeding because the child must be properly fed to get the required nutrition and nutrition is supreme to human life. This is what UNICEF is concerned about and the reason for this training,” he said.
He added that UNICEF in collaboration with National Orientation Agency (NOA) chose religious leaders because of the respect they command amongst their followers, their closeness to the people and their wide reach.
“That is why we brought in religious leaders. These religious leaders are close to the people and their words are authority because they have seen from the holy books areas that God in his own scriptures has given to man what it means to give nutrition. These things are there.
“As men of God, they can bring out research on nutrition from the holy books and talk to their followers so that they can have a change of attitude and knowledge. Once they talk to their followers, the society will be promoted and everybody will do what is expected for our children and mothers,” he said.
He said the expectation of UNICEF after the training is for the religious leaders to go back home to their various communities to ensure that their followers get the message of proper nutrition for Nigerian children.
“That is why they need to develop key messages that the people will understand. It is going to be a duty on them to continuously ensure that members of the society are informed on what they are supposed to do with regards to nutrition,” he said.
He also appealed to parents and followers to key into the messages the religious leaders would be disseminating on the nutrition of the children in the society as according to him, the effort is for the interest of the mother and child.
“The concern is to encourage parents to do all that is necessary so that children they give birth to will look healthy.
“A healthy child makes a healthy family. A healthy family makes a society to be healthy and a healthy society makes the country to be a healthy nation,” he said.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, November 3, 2017 approved legislation to continue a federal insurance programme for millions of lower-income children and pregnant women.
Donald Trump, US president
But, with an ongoing funding battle, it could be weeks before the programme gets more money.
The House Republican measure was approved by 242-174 votes largely along party lines.
It would continue the Children’s Health Insurance Programme (CHIP) for five years.
But Democrats warned that the partisan House approach would not fly in the Senate, further delaying cash for the programme that expired over a month ago.
“This bill is going nowhere … the Senate will not take it up, and we will be waiting around until Christmas” to get funding, Democratic Representative, Frank Pallone, warned.
Republicans control 52 of the Senate’s 100 seats, and 60 votes are needed for passage there.
CHIP, which provides health insurance to about nine million children, has been a bipartisan programme since its creation 20 years ago and reauthorising funding has not been contentious – until now.
Under President Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress, healthcare issues have become highly politicised as Republicans have repeatedly failed to repeal and replace Obamacare, a top Trump campaign promise.
The programme’s funding lapsed on Sept. 30, but most states have enough money to continue it past 2017.
Still, 11 states, including Colorado, California, Utah, Ohio and Pennsylvania expect to exhaust their funding by the end of the year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Another 21 states anticipate running out of money by the end of March 2018.
The House bill extends the programme for five years, and continues funding of community health centres for two years.
It also includes one billion dollars for Medicaid programmes in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, hard hit by recent hurricanes.
The bill became controversial after Republicans added provisions that would affect the Affordable Care Act, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement.
They include slashing funding from the law’s Prevention and Public Health Fund, which among other things helps fight the opioid epidemic, and making it easier to kick people off Obamacare plans for non-payment of premiums.
However, Republican Representative, Greg Walden, pointed out the bill would block for two years the Medicaid cuts for hospitals that would otherwise occur under Obamacare.
Democrats criticised the legislation for asking Medicare’s wealthiest one per cent of beneficiaries, those, who make more than $40,000 each month, to pay more to help fund health insurance for low-income children.
UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) have appealed to the government at all levels to increase humanitarian interventions in the North East by supporting agricultural production.
Suffyan Koroma, FAO Country Representative
They made call in Abuja on Friday, November 3, 2017 via recommendations at a stakeholders meeting to examine the results of the Cadre Harmonise analysis of food and nutrition insecurity in Nigeria.
Mr Suffyan Koroma, the FAO Country Representative, said that immediate actions on the implementation of the recommendation would help to strengthen food and nutrition security among vulnerable populations in the area.
Koroma, who was represented by Mr Patrick David, the Programme Liaison Officer, FAO Nigeria, said that increased humanitarian interventions would also aid efforts to save lives and protect livelihoods in the region.
Ms Myrta Kaulard, the Country Director and Representative WFP in Nigeria, said that no fewer than 300 data collectors drawn from the Federal Ministries of Budget and National Planning and Agriculture collated the data for the analysis.
She said that the Cadre Harmonise programme was aimed at reaching over 22,000 households in 16 states and the FCT.
Kaulard pledged WFP’s commitment to efforts to achieve food and nutrition security in Nigeria, particularly in the northeast.
Dr Bukar Hassan, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the harmonisation process was to guide the government in decision making, especially in the area of food and nutrition.
Hassan, who was represented by Alhaji Auwal Maidabino, the Director of Planning and Policy Coordination in the ministry, said that the Federal Government, through the ministry, had been part of interventions aimed at improving household and food security in the North East.
He said that the Federal Government would take appropriate actions on the implementation of the recommendations and the outcome of the analysis so as to ensure improved food security in the region.
“Our gathering here today is essentially to listen to the presentation of the outcome of the Cadre Harmonise process, with a view to taking appropriate actions and interventions.
“The efforts of partners in developing and financing the Cadre Harmonise processes are highly commendable,’’ he said.
Mr Kevin Tekpat, the Director of the National Programme on Food Security (NPFS), said the meeting was to consolidate and analyse the outcome to assist governments at all levels in decision making.
He said that judging from the analysis, most states were under food pressure but no state was experiencing famine in the North East.
“We want to make the analysis palatable for decision makers to utilise; we are looking at the categories of food insecurity in the country,’’ Tekpat said.
Some of the state Cadre Harmonise Coordinators, who spoke at the meeting, described the food and nutrition security situation in their states as “fair’’.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Cadre Harmonise is the current regional framework for consensual analysis of acute food insecurity situations in 16 states and the FCT.
It aims at using the results of the food insecurity analysis to prevent food crisis by identifying affected areas and populations, while proffering appropriate measures to improve their food and nutrition security.
The benefitting states are Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara and the FCT.
Cadre Harmonise is supported by the Federal Government, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), WFP and the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), among others.
NAN reports that the analysis showed that 13 out of 16 states and FCT were in the minimal phase of food insecurity, while Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states were facing nutritional challenges.
The UN says three million people worldwide are stateless, most of them minorities, a status that deprives them of an identity, rights, and often jobs.
UN Secretary-General, António Guterres. Photo credit: UN /Mark Garten
The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in a report on Friday, November 3, 2017 said, muslim Rohingyas in Buddhist-majority Myanmar form the world’s biggest stateless minority, with some 600,000 having fled violence and repression since late August and taken refuge in Bangladesh.
In the report, ”This is Our Home“ – Stateless Minorities and their Search for Citizenship”, the UNHCR called on governments to end the discriminatory practice by 2024.
“If you live in this world without a nationality, you are without an identity, you are without documentation, without the rights and entitlements that we take for granted … having a job, having education, knowing that your child belongs somewhere,” Carol Batchelor, director of UNHCR’s division of international protection, told a news conference.
UNHCR said governments should give nationality to people born on their territory if they would otherwise be stateless, and facilitate naturalisation for longtime stateless residents.
The UNHCR said other stateless groups, many of whom have lived for generations in their homelands, include many Syrian Kurds, the Karana of Madagascar, Roma in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and the Pemba of Kenya.
“We can concretely say there are over three million identified stateless persons, but that would certainly not be the scope in totality,” Batchelor said.
“We need to ensure that there is not a deliberate, arbitrary exclusion or deprivation of nationality.”
Asked whether Rohingya fell into the category of those deliberately excluded and deprived of nationality, Batchelor said: “We can only look at the result …
“Myanmar has a nationality law. It outlines categories of persons that are considered to be citizens of Myanmar. The Rohingya are not on that list.”
The office said some 30,000 stateless people in Thailand have acquired nationality since 2012 and the Makonde, a community of 4,000, became Kenya’s 43rd officially recognised tribe in 2016.
“We are seeing reductions in Thailand, in central Asia, in Russia, in Western Africa.
“The numbers are not nearly as substantial as they would need to be for us to end statelessness by 2024,” said Melanie Khanna, head of UNHCR’s statelessness section.
A visit to Kiokio in Isolo-Ajegunle along Ikorodu Road in Lagos, the area is situated approximately 36 kilometre to the North of Lagos. Ikorodu is bounded to the South by the Lagos Lagoon, to the North by a boundary with Ogun State, and to the East by a boundary with Agbowa-Ikosi, a town in Epe Division of Lagos State.
The sight of buildings that have either been abandoned or taken over by water from the nearby Ogun River welcomes you.
Kiokio is situated approximately 36 kilometres to the North of Lagos.
The people living here belong to Ilaje, Igbo and the Yoruba communities in Nigeria, which are regarded as the most populous.
Residents fetch water for domestic use from Ogun River, which drains its water into Ogun Dam.
A wetland community
Fishermen also eke out a living here, by diving into deep waters in search of fish, which they sell to locals as well as to nearby markets for income.
But these locals have to contend with a worrying trend. Every three years, the Ogun Dam bursts its banks, unleashing untold suffering in its wake. Because of the heavy flooding, several residents have to pack up on short notice and vacate their homes to safety.
A walk around Kiokio with Mr. Mauho Dosu, a resident, who took our reporter around the flooded and paths constructed with woods. “The flood is always much, pointing to the water “And as you can see some houses have been abandoned, while some of us that are here paddle canoe along the streets, which are usually dry when there is no flood,” he lamented.
Rapid urbanisation and increasing population are piling pressure on the infrastructural base of Lagos, Nigeria’s famed megacity.
A megacity is a metropolitan area with a total population in excess of ten million people.
A megacity can be a single metropolitan area or two or more metropolitan areas that converge.
In Kiokio, many homes are built on the water axis, as the demand for homes continues to rise.
It is due to this rising demand created by more people against less land, that is pushing people to build on water ways, igniting the ripple effect.
The demand for property development in Lagos State, which has a population of more than 20 million people, is drastically impacting the natural drainage in the city.
Lagos State is located in the South-Western part of the Nigerian Federation, on the North and East it is bounded by Ogun State; in the West, it shares boundaries with the Republic of Benin.
Behind its southern borders, lies the Atlantic Ocean, 22% of its 3,577 kilometre square are lagoons and creeks, with 1,381 square metre. Some of the areas that have been encroached serve as channels for excess water during flooding.
This means that conservation is being undermined as wetlands are gradually being reclaimed and used for property development.
Residents, especially fishermen and women in Kiokio are the worst hit, they now have to struggle to get species of fish.
A fisherwoman, Madam Asake Mowen, explained that they have to relocate to areas where they can have a good catch. “We have to move up into the river to get good catch, most houses around have blocked the waterway,” she said.
Another fisherman who simply gave his name as Jemade said, that urbanisation has taken over areas where they set their nets. “We are good in our job as fishermen, but we experience low catches and do not get all species of fish we want as mist have relocated or dead, it is not a good one for us at all but we have to survive.”
Other communities along Ikorodu Road in Lagos have also suffered a similar fate as they have to abandon their houses for safer ground where they can earn a living without fear.
A member of the Community Development Association (CDA) in the area Elder Sesan Ogunbiyi said the community needs good boundaries and removal of houses blocking waterways.
“All we need is good road leading to our area, we are close to the Lagoon, once we have a boundary, we will enjoy staying in our houses, once there is rain or the dam is opened, it is not a good time for us,” he said.
Mrs. Ojuolape Ajewole has been living in Kiokio for several years. Relocating from Kiokio, which she considers “safe haven”, is not an option for her.
“We cannot go anywhere, I gave birth to my children here and they all are grown-ups, government should help us resolve this problem, if we are given an alternative, we will happy,” she said.
An environmentalist, Mrs. Temitope Okunnu, describes the negative impact of urbanisation on the ecosystem, which is threatening the lives of residents as well as the survival of species.
“Wetlands degradation is caused by we, humans, as government has continue to build for the teeming population, Oworonsoki and Lekki Peninsula area are good examples and the most recent one,” she said.
“Whenever government moves to fill a particular wetland area, most species move away while some others die in the process of trying to survive, as they have no place to survive.
Mrs. Okunnu is urging concerned authorities to save the ecosystem as the value bestowed on Lagos wetlands is enormous.
Fish biologist at the Nigerian Institute of Fisheries, Niger State, Dr. Babatunde Olaosebikan, described the symbiotic relationships occurring in wetlands, noting that this is the more reason their conservation needs to be prioritised.
“It is good to know how to properly manage wetlands, though we are competing for space with major economic activities in and around wetlands in Lagos.
“Wetland maintenance can create employment for all especially the youths, wetland serves as habitats for some species too,” Dr. Olaosebikan stated.
Laws to protect wetlands as stated in the Nigeria constitution should be complemented by policy guidelines, yet there are none.
Wetlands are among the most biologically rich ecosystems as sources of water, food, medicine, handcrafts and shelter, and also serve as refuge for animals.
Despite these benefits, current global and local trends have shown that wetlands are being degraded at an alarming rate.
A study carried out by Nigeria Environment Study Action Team (NEST) in 2011 shows that 91% of wetlands in Lagos have been taken over by various man-made factors. NEST was founded in 1987 following a conference convened to mop up action for dealing with environmental challenges, most of which the conference participants linked to poverty. Among the environmental stresses include deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, air and water pollution, water scarcity, floods, solid waste, industrial pollution especially from petroleum production and use and loss of biodiversity.
The relatively small land area available in Lagos and the need to provide shelter for the growing population is not promising, a situation further compounded by the fact that Nigeria lacks a policy on wetlands.
The project adviser at the International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development (ICEED), Mr. Adedamola Ogunsesan, says it behooves the government to develop a participatory process to conserve wetlands in areas like Makoko, Ajegunle, Otodo Gbame and Epe, including those residing in coastal areas, through training communities.
Lagos State recently enacted a draft policy document which had gone through different levels of considerations.
It was presented for review at a one-day “Stakeholders’ Meeting on Policy Formulation on Wetland Conservation and Management in Lagos State.
The existing legislation gives little attention to wetland management.
This is coupled by weak enforcement of the existing law or policy on wetland degradation on the part of the Federal Government.
NEST became formally registered in 1989, under the Land (Perpetual Succession) Act (cap 98), as a non-governmental, not-for-profit, non-partisan, research, education, and advocacy organisation.
NEST arose out of the observation that the past decades had witnessed numerous negative impacts of human activities on the environment, the adverse effects of such degraded environments on Nigerians, linking environmental degradation tightly to poverty, and the uncomfortable adjustments that many people have had to make in the attempt to survive.
Professor Dele Olowokudejo of the Department of Botany, University of Lagos, said government should recognise that wetland resources are being adversely affected by the process of urban development, owing to the rapid expansion of Lagos State, hence, speed up enactment of the policy.
An urban planner, Mr. Abdulfatai Ogunsiji, gives a graphical explanation of areas that have been encroached in the name of urbanisation.
“As seen on the map, wetlands around Lagos lagoons have been encroached upon, many do not know that Apapa is a wetland as urbanisation has taken over, the area witness flood whenever there is a downpour,” he stated.
Mr. Ogunsiji stated that over 50 per cent of the wetlands were indiscriminately encroached on due to urbanisation, as the topography of Lagos State harboured about 78 per cent water bodies of various sizes such as lagoon, lakes, streams, and wetlands.
A littered wetland
The Commissioner for Urban Planning & Physical Development, Mr. Anifowose Wasiu, disclosed that plans are being reviewed to change the face of Lagos to become a mega city in reality, not just on paper.
“The state government will act soon once the policy on wetlands is regulated; we intend to achieve a lot as the state is facing challenge in the area of provision of houses for the teeming populace,” said Anifowose.
The Ministry, in which pocket urban development falls, says there is need to devise and implement the state policies on Physical Planning and Urban Development, as it is now time to prevent water habitats in Lagos from extinction.
Mr Ibrahim Alkali, Project Desk Officer, FADAMA III Additional Financing (AFII) project, says states in the North East need more intervention programmes to restore agricultural production in the region.
Farmers on the FADAMA project
Alkali said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, November 1, 2017.
He said that the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North East needed more interventions, which the FADAMA AF II programme alone could not provide.
He said that the programme only targeted 24,000 persons, out of the millions of people who were displaced due to the insurgency.
“This figure, 24,000, is just a small portion. The demand is high; we are hoping that the Federal Government will reach out to the World Bank to provide more funds to restore the livelihoods of the IDPs.
“Looking at the North East generally, their main source of livelihood is agriculture but the people have been devastated because of the insurgency; they have lost all their belongings.
“Some have returned home and some still live in camps; they are helpless. I think it very important for the government to reach out to donor agencies to seek more funds for the people’s rehabilitation,’’ he said.
Alkali, however, noted that in the area of agricultural intervention, the FADAMA programme had performed creditably in the country.
“We have advantages because the FADAMA programme has existed for some decades; our experience and structures, from national to community levels, have been beneficial in the project implementation across the country,’’ he said.
Alkali said that the FADAMA III AF II package, which was specifically designed for the North East, was a complete package that covered all aspects, including livelihoods restoration, training, advisory services and environmental concerns.
“We provide food assistance for the people so as to make them to maintain the agriculture support given to them because you cannot support them without providing the food they can eat for them.
“We also provide social amenities for some of the communities in order to make life easier for them and make the project implementation more effective,’’ he said.
Alkali said that the National FADAMA Programme Office had just signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the World Food Programme (WFP) to boost food production and people’s livelihoods in Borno.
“This is the first time that FADAMA is intervening in an emergency situation; the WFP has been in that sector for long and has recorded great results.
“For us to be fulfilled, we need an international agency to assess our performance.
“The one-million-dollar pilot project would be executed in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) and Jere Local Government Area; and its target is to reach 7,500 households,’’ he said.
Alkali said that the main objective of the project was to enhance income generating businesses in the neighbourhoods via the provision of start-up capital and skills strengthening schemes.
“I believe that the collaboration will also improve the beneficiaries’ access to food and community assets, with a positive impact on food security and nutrition.
“We are doing that purposely to work with experts; the project will also serve as a training opportunity for our staff, as they would be able to gain experience and learn from the approach of WFP to such interventions,’’ he said.
Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group has said that the United Nations climate change conference (COP23) holding in Bonn, Germany, from November 6 to 17, 2017 should be a summit of finance and support.
Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group, Gebru Jember Endalew
Gebru Jember Endalew, Chair of the LDC Group, said: “COP23 is a vital step on our journey to setting out a clear rulebook that will fully implement the vision laid out at Paris. This is the last COP before the work programme of the Paris Agreement is to be finalised, so we hope to leave Bonn with a draft negotiating text, that can be fleshed out over the coming year.”
The impacts of rising global temperatures continue to worsen. In the lead up to COP23, we saw historic monsoon flooding, resulting in over a thousand lives lost and the displacement of over two million people in South Asia; the impact of consecutive seasons of drought in Africa; historic rainfall (with Hurricane Harvey setting a single-storm rainfall record in the United States, causing tens of billions of dollars in damage); and historic windspeeds laying waste to many Caribbean island territories (with Hurricane Irma recording the highest windspeed on record for the open Atlantic Ocean).
The catastrophic impacts of these extreme weather events underlie the urgency of substantive progress and action here in Bonn at COP23. LDCs will be pushing to deliver a Paris rulebook that catalyses greater ambition to correct our current trajectory and put the world on track to keep warming below 1.5°C. This means robust frameworks for reporting, implementation and compliance, and gauging progress across all facets of the Paris Agreement and climate Convention.”
“COP23 is also an important opportunity to bridge the widening finance gap, a serious barrier to ambitious climate action worldwide. The Paris Agreement set a vision for an ambitious global response to climate change that will keep warming below 1.5°C, in a fair and equitable manner that promotes sustainable development. Not only do existing climate pledges fall far short of this goal, but the finance mobilised by developed countries is also inadequate to help developing countries meet their climate goals and adaptation needs while important sources of support such as the Least Developed Countries Fund sit empty. LDCs and other developing countries cannot take ambitious action to address climate change or protect themselves against its impacts unless all countries fulfil and outdo the pledges they have made.”
“As the 47 poorest countries in the world, the LDCs face the unique and unprecedented challenge of lifting our people out of poverty and achieving sustainable development without relying on fossil fuels. Global solidarity and the support of the international community is essential for LDCs to achieve our ambitious climate plans, and protect our people from the devastating impacts of climate change that are already taking their toll.”
“The LDCs are calling for COP23 to be a COP of finance and support.”
“At COP23 the LDC Group will call on developed countries to rapidly accelerate the delivery of climate finance, with a particular focus on public finance. Both the Least Developed Countries Fund and the Adaptation Fund need to be replenished continuously and as soon as possible”
“Clear guidelines and adequate technological and capacity building support is also vital to enable LDCs to carry out actions to adapt to climate change and cope with losses and damages that threaten the survival of poor and vulnerable LDC communities,” said Mr. Endalew.
The LDC Group convened in Bonn for preparatory meetings from October 29-30 to consolidate LDC positions and strategies ahead of the upcoming negotiations.
National and State Emergency Management Agencies are in dire need of government’s support to cope with the increasing challenges associated with management of disasters in the country, a survey by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has revealed.
A flooded neighbourhood in Lagos, Nigeria
The survey, carried out in all the six geo-political zones of the country, indicated that whereas the challenges in some of the agencies are minimal, the situation in others is so critical that the agencies have lost their relevance, thereby losing public confidence.
Few others are however receiving the required support from their respective governments, thereby enabling them to discharge their duties.
Executive Secretary of Jigawa State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Alhaji Yusuf Babura observed that most such agencies at the state level lacked enough facilities to tackle flood and fire disasters, as well as other natural calamities.
Babura advised that management of emergency situations should be a collaborative effort between the state, federal and non-governmental organisations.
“Our major challenge is lack of enough funds to buy equipment and logistics to carry out our statutory function.
“I am very optimistic that if we have the necessary support from the Federal Government and other agencies, we will discharge our duties effectively,” he said.
He however said that Jigawa government had not relented, adding that it expended about N50million in the management of fire and flood disasters from January 2017 to date.
Mr. Bashir Idris, Coordinator of NEMA in Adamawa said his office established its presence in the state since 2013, following the emergence of Boko Haram insurgency.
He said that the agency had carried out various humanitarian services in the state, including establishment of camps and the feeding of Internally Displaced Persons.
Other services included provision of medical facilities to some hospitals in the state and assisting returnee IDPs with building materials and food items.
He said the state office had standard ambulance with sophisticated medical equipment.
On the issue of quick response to emergency situations in the state, Mr. Haruna Furo, Executive Chairman, Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said the agency and NEMA were working closely.
On its part, Borno SEMA said it had established nine mobile clinics and procured 40 ambulances to enhance emergency response services in the state.
Chairman of the agency in the state, Mr Satomi Ahmad, told NAN in Maiduguri that the ambulances were equipped with modern gadgets and deployed to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps and communities liberated from insurgents.
“We have nine mobile clinics providing emergency services and routine immunization in IDP camps and liberated communities,” he said.
Satomi added that the agency, in collaboration with the Federal Government, had trained its personnel on disaster risk management, designed to expose the personnel to best practices in First Aid treatment.
Satomi also said that the agency planned to set up four fire station outlets to enhance rapid response to fire disasters.
Malam Abani Imam, Head of Operations National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in charge of Gombe and Bauchi states, said the role of his agency was only to coordinate operations of state and other agencies during emergency situations
“We in NEMA are vested with the responsibility of coordinating disaster management.
“NEMA only comes in where there is need to provide succour for the victims.
“State emergency management agencies are there to handle situations; we only come when the situation is overwhelming,” he explained.
Dr Danlami Rukuje, Executive Secretary, Gombe SEMA, said his office collaborated with relevant agencies in the state to ensure prompt response to emergencies.
He however appealed to members of the public to always inform the agency on time whenever emergency situations arose.
In the South West geo-political zone, many state governments said they were strengthening their emergency response institutions to meet current demands.
Mr Akin Makinde, the Director of Oyo State Emergency Management Agency (OYSEMA) told NAN that the agency was being adequately funded and equipped to discharge its responsibilities.
“We always collaborate with NEMA, State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and security agencies,’’ he said.
According to him, government’s efforts are geared towards mitigation the effect and reduction of disasters, rather than distribution of relief materials.
Mr Adebakin Aremu, the Director of State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in Ogun, also said the agency had put in place, measures to ensure immediate response to disasters across the state.
He said the relationship between SEMA and NEMA had been cordial, saying that NEMA had been helpful in information dissemination to assist the state agency.
Head of Operations of NEMA in the state, Mr Saheed Akiode, said his agency was partnering with the state government in training SEMA officials on disaster management.
In Ilorin however, the Special Adviser on Emergency and Relief Services, Alhaji Duro Mohammed said the major challenge of SEMA in the state, was inadequacy of funds and personnel.
Mohammed appealed to the state government to provide speed boats for the Office of Emergency and Relief Services to enable it move to all parts of the state during emergency situation.
“We have not been able to cover all the 16 local government areas of the state, especially areas like Kwara North, because of inadequacy of personnel and other logistic requirement,’’ he said.
Mr Oluwasegun Adanri, Focal Officer of the SEMA in Ondo State, said the agency only embarked on skeletal work as the bill establishing it was yet to be signed into law, in spite of the fact that the state House of Assembly had passed it.
Adanri said that most staff of Ondo SEMA were deployed from ministries on a temporary basis.
“I believe things will change when the bill is signed into the law by the governor,” he said.
Some stakeholders in the South-East also identified poor funding, lack of equipment and dearth of manpower as major factors hindering emergency response activities in the zone.
In Owerri, NEMA Coordinator, Owerri Operations office, Mr Evans Ugoh, said lack of equipment and logistics were the major hindrance to quick response to emergency situations in the state.
He said the agency lacked modern equipment to effectively confront major challenges.
The General Manager of SEMA, Mrs Jane Ezeoyeasi, admitted that there were obstacles hindering quick response to emergency, but added that government was addressing the issues.
“What we see sometimes is lack of cooperation from the people and when we are not given the needed cooperation, it becomes a problem,” Ezeoyeasi said.
In Enugu, the NEMA Zonal Coordinator, Mr Walson Brandon, said that the agency had been proactive in discharging its duties in the state.
“We have facilities to attend to emergency cases; our major challenge is inadequacy of personnel,’’ he said.
Also, in Abakaliki, the stakeholders said responses of SEMA to emergency situations, had been impressive.
They told NAN that though there were fewer natural disasters in the state in 2017 compared to other years, SEMA’s response had been impressive.
Mr Ken Oziomaeze, SEMA’s Executive Secretary, said that both the state and Federal Government should be commended for the collaborative efforts.
In the south-south,some stakeholders in statutory government agencies as well as non-governmental organisations told NAN that government had been supportive, while others said they were sometimes ill-equipped to respond adequately to emergency situations.
Mr John Inaku, Director General, Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (CR-SEMA) said that the agency had dedicated personnel in the 18 Local Government Areas
“The government is not sleeping. We have equipment ready on ground to tackle disaster cases,” he said, adding that one of their challenges was how to gain access to areas with difficult terrain.
But Mr James Eze, the former South-South, Zonal Coordinator, NEMA, told NAN in Port Harcourt that the situation at the national level was quite different now.
He noted that lack of funding accounted for what he called ‘deplorable state of NEMA’ and called on Federal Government to come to the rescue of the agency.
The situation is also lamentable at the Plateau SEMA, where its Executive Secretary, Alhaji Alhassan Barde, complained of dearth of funds, equipment and personnel.
Barde told NAN that the Plateau government had fulfilled the critical aspect of enacting a law to back the agency, but had not addressed the key areas of equipment and personnel.
The Executive Secretary said that the agency needed both structural and miscellaneous support to perform optimally.
“The agency tries to bridge the gap by liaising with relevant government agencies and ministries like the fire service, in case of fire.
“We also rush to the Ministry of Health if the disaster requires immediate medical attention,” he said, adding that the duties of the agency had been reduced to the “minor” task of coordinating relevant agencies whenever disasters occurred.
Voicing out similar complaints, Head of NEMA in charge of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara, Alhaji Muhammad Suleiman, told NAN that the agency had no fire fighting vehicle, but had a Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance that catered for disaster victims.
Sulaiman explained that NEMA served as coordinating body to all disaster management service providers and its officials were included in all response and planning committees in the states.
An ecologist, Mr Richard Inyamkume, has called on state governments to establish forest protection agencies to enforce the extant regulations on forest management in the country.
Deforestation. Photo credit: telegraph.co.uk
Inyamkume, who is Senior Programme Officer, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Initiative (CCMAI), made the call in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday, November 2, 2017.
He, however, underscored the need for the federal and state governments to engage relevant stakeholders to strengthen existing mechanisms for forest protection and management.
“Government needs to urgently call for a policy dialogue with all stakeholders to strengthen the mechanisms for forest protection and management.
“I think it’s high time each state created a State Forest Protection Agency that will assist in enforcing specific guidelines on forest management.
“It is very sad that Nigeria is reported to have depleted its forest resources to below five per cent.
“This is against the recommended 25 per cent forest cover made by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations; this is embracing and regrettable,” he said.
Inyamkume noted that Nigeria was a developing country with an increasing urban and rural population that depended directly or indirectly on forest resources.
“Yet, the government and its citizens seem to be unenthusiastic about the conservation and management of forest resources.
“Forest ecosystems have come to be seen as the most important component of the biosphere, especially now that the impact of climate change is becoming more severe on communities across the globe,” he said.
Inyamkume said that if forests were properly managed, they had the potential of neutralising extreme atmospheric temperatures and purifying air.
According to him, good forest management will also support positive economic outcomes and create millions of jobs for citizens.
“In Nigeria, there are a substantial number of forest reserves which have been neglected by government.
“Some of the forests that have been uncared for have now become operational bases for criminals and terrorists.
“A notable example is the Sambisa forest (in Borno) that has become notorious because of terrorist activities in the North East,’’ he said.
Inyamkume stressed the need for government to make national forests safer through purposeful policies and legislation that would protect the forests.
He said that this would address abuses, misuses, illicit exploitation and maltreatment of the forest reserves.
He urged Nigerians to sign up for the ongoing advocacy for forest conservation, while engaging in tree planting projects.
“State and local governments should be able to formulate a forest recovery strategy and implement it.
“We need to invest and reinvest in forestry. There should be in place a new set of forestry targets for each state in this country.
“By 2020, Nigeria should be able to boast of at least 10 per cent forest cover and redeem our national image in the global community,” he said.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), says it is set to establish meteorological infrastructure in 34 universities in Nigeria.
Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of NiMet, Prof. Sani Marshi
The Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of NiMet, Prof. Sani Marshi, said this in a statement issued by Mr Muntari Ibrahim, the General Manager, Public Relations Unit, NiMet on Thursday, November 2, 2017 in Abuja.
Marshi said the establishment of meteorological infrastructure was in furtherance of its target to increase the network of meteorological stations and boost its data collection.
The director-general spoke when he visited the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed.
Mashi said that NiMet had embarked on an aggressive programme to massively expand the network of meteorological stations in the country to about 1,000 by December.
According to him, one of the strategies the agency will employ to achieve this is to partner with Nigerian universities.
“Part of the things we said we would do is to see how we can extend our services to the Nigerian universities.
“NiMet has carried out an independent assessment of the universities and looked at the existing meteorological stations that these universities maintain.
“One of the things that are missing is the linkage between the universities and the agency.
“NiMet has the expertise and knows what should be in place, while the universities have the capacity to teach, but may not have the technical competence to know the best equipment for the best results.
“We feel that what we need to do, we need to come up with a way to help the universities get their infrastructure upgraded,’’ he said.
Mashi said the partnership with the universities was a win-win situation, explaining that once the meteorological stations were upgraded, they would start generating data.
“This partnership according to him will expand the agency’s network of stations, because the universities’ infrastructure has been upgraded.’’
The NUC executive secretary Rasheed, assured NiMet that the commission would fully support the initiative and promised to talk to the Vice Chancellors about it.
He commended NiMet for the initiative and expressed the hope that universities in the country would be covered by 2018 as well as Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
This means that conservation is being undermined as wetlands are gradually being reclaimed and used for property development.
“All we need is good road leading to our area, we are close to the Lagoon, once we have a boundary, we will enjoy staying in our houses, once there is rain or the dam is opened, it is not a good time for us,” he said.
“Whenever government moves to fill a particular wetland area, most species move away while some others die in the process of trying to survive, as they have no place to survive.
