Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos has dismissed the “no case” submission filed by the embattled former director general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi, and others.
The Federal High Court in Lagos
The court instead held that they should go and defend themselves in the alleged N2.6 billion fraud leveled against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Akpobolokemi and five other co-defendants, Ezekiel Agaba, Ekene Nwakuche, Governor Juan and two firms, Blockz and Stonz Ltd and Al-Kenzo Logistic Ltd., are facing charges bordered on the allegations.
The judge ordered them to enter their defence on October 30.
Justice Buba said the arguments on the no-case submission by defence counsel, Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN), was without merit and upheld the argument of the EFCC through its counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, who maintained that a prima facie case had been established against the defendants.
Justice Buba held: “From the evidence of the first prosecution witness, it is well established that all the defendants have a case to answer.
“The exhibits tendered and testimonies of other witnesses have established that there is a prima facie case against the defendants. I see no merit in this application. This application lacks merit, so, it is overruled. The defendants should open their defence to prove their innocence.”
On December 4, 2015 the EFCC arraigned the defendants on a 22-count charge of diverting N2.6 billion from NIMASA coffers between December 2013 and May 2015.
The anti-graft agency claimed that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan approved the release of the funds for the implementation of a security project.
The alleged offences contravene Section 8 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.
The defendants pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution closed its case after calling 12 witnesses.
But the defendants, rather than open their defence, filed no-case submissions, claiming that the EFCC failed to link their clients with the alleged funds diversion.
“Now that we have a law in place, drought and diseases will become history as we will be able to apply modern technology backed by research for better yields,” this is the kind of excitement Joseph Katushabe, a farmer in Ibanda district in western Uganda, expressed upon hearing that Parliament passed the National Biotechnology and Biosafety (NBB) Bill, 2012.
Farmer Joseph Katushabe attending to his tomato garden in Ibanda district in Western Uganda. Photo credit: Hope Mafaranga
The controversial Bill, which was passed at the beginning of October 2017, has been on and off the shelves since 2012, leaving both politicians and scientists divided.
Among the clauses that were controversial included transporting of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for export or import without the approval of a competent authority will become criminal in Uganda.
Defaulters risked paying a fine of 2.4 million Uganda shillings or be jailed for five years.
Katushabe, other farmers and scientists will be able to use technology in farming, after the Bill that is now awaiting the President Yoweri Museveni’s signature to become law without any legal fear.
Ugandan Parliament where Members of Parliament (MPs) sat and passed the Bill
If the president signs it into law, it will consolidate all regulatory frameworks that facilitate the safe development and application of biotechnology by establishing a competent authority, designating a national focal point, a national biosafety committee, institutional biosafety committees and also providing mechanisms to regulate research and the general release of GMOs.
Biotechnology is a technique that uses living organisms or substances from living organisms to have or modify a product, improve plants, animal breeds or micro-organisms for specific purposes. Biosafety means safe development, transfer, application and utilisation of biotechnology and its products.
While presenting the report of science and technology committee that studied the bill, the chairperson, Kafeero Ssekitoleko, said Uganda has no specific law regulating the development and use of modern biotechnology, it had, on the other hand, ratified a number of international treaties, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1993 and the Cartagena Protocol Biosafety of 2001.
“Our scientists are working for Uganda to own its patents and technology so that we are not obliged to foreigners,” Sekitoleko said.
The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, whom the country is waiting for to sign the Bill into Law
The Bill gave a green light to the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNSCT) as the competent authority for biotechnology and biosafety that will approve the development, testing and use of GMOs.
Dr. Peter Ndemere, also Executive Secretary of UNCST, said biotechnology is very critical with many exciting products being developed especially in agriculture in trying to address food security, climate change and nutritional needs.
Dr. Ndemere also said GMOs have been used in Uganda for many years by several industries to process wine and beer, cheese and yoghurt, bread, extraction of cobalt and welcome it a positive thing to enhance food security and fight crop diseases and pests.
“With law in place, our food insecurity worries and climate change challenges are solved. We are proud that the policy that started in 2008 transformed into a Bill in 2012 is finally becoming a law,” he said.
The UNSCT will work alongside the Ministry for Water and Environment which will act as the national focal point for the purposes of the Cartagena Protocol, the registrar of biotechnology and biosafety and institutional biosafety committees.
The advocates of the Bill note that GMOs have the potential to boost food, fuel and fiber production, which will accelerate economic growth and foreign exchange earnings, like in South Africa and Burkina Faso.
Dr. Barbara Zawedde Mugwanga, the co-coordinator of the Uganda Biosciences Information Centre said the passing of the Bill means that the country can regulate what is coming in.
“We can now also choose what we want to use in modern biotechnology in agriculture, medicine, environment management and medicine,” she said.
Dr. Godfrey Asea, the director of National Crops Resources Research Institute, Namulonge in Wakiso district, congratulated Parliament for passing the Bill.
“I am happy that we have a legal framework to conduct research outside the institutes,” he said.
The Bill was passed a few after the Agri-Biotechnology and Biosafety Communications (ABBC) (2017 Africa Symposium) held in Uganda recently.
Dr. Margaret Karembu, director, ISAAA
The symposium that was organised by a consortium of partners led by the Africa Biosafety Network of Expertise in partnership with UNCST, Uganda Biosciences Information Center (UBIC), and the International Service for the acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) and the Programme for Biosafety Systems (PBS) had called upon parliament to pass it to give a better working environment to scientists.
Dr. Margaret Karembu, the director ISAAA, said agriculture continues to remain the backbone of many African economies which is facing several constraints including climate change, pests and diseases.
“Adoption of new technologies like genetically engineered crops will offer an opportunity for advancement an addressing these challenges,” she said
Dr. ELlioda Tumwesigye, minister of science, technology and innovation, said Uganda boasts of having the best research scientists on the continent especially in the areas of agriculture in general and biotechnology in particular.
He further noted that the Government of Uganda is aware of this fact hence continues to create enabling environment for scientist and innovators to excel in order to have a vibrant technology and science driven society.
Prof. Yaye Gassama, the former Minister and Vice-chair Senegal Academy of Science, said biotech has set deep roots in lives of people, causing new paradigms.
“We need to capture this favorable momentum to communicate the benefits of biotech,” she noted.
Christopher Kibazanga, the state minister of agriculture, said the sector plays a central role in in economic growth, development and poverty alleviation in Uganda which is key to why ‘Vision 2040’ and the National Development Plan.
Kibazanga stated that the majority of the Ugandan population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture which has a huge potential to transform Uganda’s economy.
Describing the country’s biotech research capacity, the minister said institutions like National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) and Makerere University among others are producing important novel technologies to improve farm productivity.
He said such technologies should be promoted adding that ignoring such research and innovations would mean nullifying the efforts of the country’s scientists.
Citing some of the ag-biotech research on-going in the country especially on key food security crops such as cassava, banana and maize, Kibazanga said there was evidence from research conducted by NARO showing that modern biotechnology can be used to address some of the most difficult constraints in crop and animal agriculture.
The Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) has donated an ultra-modern ICT Centre and science laboratories to African Church Community Secondary School in Ewupe, a community hosting the company’s facilities in Ota area of Ogun State.
L-R: Operations Manager, Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG), Mr. Niyi Salami; Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mrs. Modupe Mujota; and SNG Managing Director, Mr. Ed Ubong, at the formal handover of science laboratories and ICT centre to African Church Community Secondary School in Ewupe Ota by SNG… last Tuesday.
The donation was the second phase of SNG’s intervention in the school to bring it to a competitive standard. The company had in 2016 donated a block of five classrooms, a 12-room stand-alone toilet facility, school water system, upgraded football field, and a rehabilitated five blocks of 19 classrooms for shared use by the school and the co-located Ebenezer African Church Primary School in the first phase of the intervention.
“Our goal is to support government and other relevant agencies to close the gap of educational inequality between pupils of public schools and their counterparts in private schools,” Managing Director of SNG, ED Ubong, said at a ceremony marking the completion and handover of the projects to Ogun State government.
“We recognise education as the topmost need of the people of our neighboring communities and what we have done is a progression of our longstanding support to the school and to the communities,” Ubong added.
Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mrs. Modupe Mujota, who received the facilities on behalf of the state, commended SNG’s investment in public schools in the community and charged the students to take full advantage of the facilities to “upscale their academic performance and competitive exploits”.
“This singular act of Shell Nigeria Gas depicts the company’s fulfillment of its social responsibility for the development of its host communities and is worthy of emulation by others,” she said.
In his remarks, the school principal, Mr. Gbolahan Adekunjo, acknowledged the improved academic standard and the growing number of enrolment in the school following the series of upgrade by SNG. “The interventions have resulted in an enabling environment for teaching and learning and the impact is felt by the students, staff, parents and catchment communities.”
The Chairman Community Development Association Ewupe, Alhaji Monsuru Akande, thanked SNG on behalf of the community and appealed to the state government to continue to create the enabling environment for SNG and other companies to support education in the state.
Shell Nigeria Gas Limited is a fully owned Shell company for the downstream distribution of gas to industries in Nigeria. SNG currently operates a gas transmission and distribution network of approximately 115km and serves industrial customers in Ota, Ogun State and Aba in Abia State.
A builder and engineer in private practice, Dr. Samson Opaluwah, has been unanimously elected as the Vice-Chairman of the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON). The election took place during the 107th meeting of the Board on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 in Abuja.
Dr. Samson Opaluwah
The meeting is sequel to the inauguration of the 15-member 6th Council by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, on July 18, 2017. They are to serve as the governing Board for next four years.
Dr. Opaluwah is expected to, in the next four years, bring his knowledge and wealth of experience to bear in the Council’s policy making and management decisions for the overall growth of the building profession in Nigeria.
CORBON describes Opaluwah as “a seasoned professional who has held very prominent positions and worked in various capacities as a builder, procurement professional and public servant”.
He is a member of professional bodies such as the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) and Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).
Established through the Builders Registration, etc. Decree No. 45 of 1989, now Act Cap B. 13 LFN 2004, CORBON is mandated to regulate and control the practice of the building technology profession in all its aspects and ramifications.
Thus, the provisions of the Act charge CORBON with the following responsibilities, among others:
To determine who is Builder for the purpose of the Act;
To determine what standards of knowledge and skills are to be attained by persons seeking to become registered as Builders and reviewing those standards, from time to time, as circumstances may permit;
To secure, in accordance with the provisions of the Act, the establishment and maintenance of a register of persons entitled to practice the profession of building and to publish, from time to time the lists of those persons;
To regulate and control the practice of the building technology profession in all its aspects and ramifications; and
To perform such other functions conferred on the Council by the Act.
On the premise of the Act and to effectively regulate building production processes, CORBON has embarked on the following:
Registration and licensing of Builders
Registration and licensing of Building Consultancy firms
Licensing of Building Trades Artisans and Craftsmen
Licensing of Companies that are involved in Building Technology services, especially Building Production (Construction) contracting.
In the spirit of the 2017 Global Handwashing Day, the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) has stated that the future of the African continent lies in its hands.
Dr. Canisius Kanangire, Executive Secretary, African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW)
Dr Canisius Kanangire, Executive Secretary of the Abuja-based AMCOW, who made the submission in a statement to commemorate the event observed on Sunday, October 15 2017, pointed out that the organisation considers handwashing as an integral part of its water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions.
“Indeed, the future of Africa is in our hands…lets wash our hands! Happy 2017 Handwashing Day!” he stated.
According to him, in line with AMCOW’s mandate, the Secretariat will continue to work with member states and partners in ensuring improved livelihoods for Africans, while creating the enabling environment for sanitation and hygiene across the continent through the implementation of these commitments.
His words: “October 15 marks yet another Global Handwashing Day, instituted since 2008 to raise awareness about the benefits of handwashing with soap and to spotlight the state of handwashing around the world.
“Handwashing remains one of the most effective measures of avoiding sicknesses and spreading germs to others. Many illnesses and conditions are spread by not washing hands with soap and clean, running water. Pneumonia, a major Acute Respiratory Infection, is the number one cause of mortality among children under five years old, taking the life of an estimated 1.8 million children per year. Diarrhea and pneumonia together account for almost 3.5 million child deaths annually.
“According to World Health Organisation, 42% of this estimate occurs in Africa even as handwashing with soap is estimated to reduce incidents of diarrhea by 30% and respiratory infections by 21% in children under the age of five. Africa has to stand up and ensure every child has access to handwashing tools and services.
“At AMCOW, we consider handwashing as an integral part of our water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions hence the proactive step taken towards the end of the MDGs era in 2015 by African Ministers responsible for sanitation at the 4th AfricaSan Conference in Dakar, Senegal viz the 4th and 6th Commitments of the N’gor Declaration which commits African governments to ensuring strong leadership and coordination at all levels to build and sustain governance for sanitation and hygiene across sectors especially water, health, nutrition, education, gender and the environment; and ensure inclusive, safely-managed sanitation services and functional handwashing facilities in public institutions and spaces.”
At the airport, in the banks, and elsewhere in public, people are wearing protective masks. Gatherings are forbidden and schools remain closed.
Hery Rajaonarimampianina, President of Madagascar
The president is talking about “war” – in the face of the outbreak of the highly-lethal and easily contagious plague that has plunged the island of Madagascar into a state of fear.
The fact that the plague is spreading in the densely-populated urban areas has caused major concern.
In early October, the first long lines were seen forming at pharmacies in the capital Antananarivo as people tried quickly to obtain antibiotic medicines to protect themselves.
The supplies quickly sold out and the government urged people to stay calm.
But then the Health Ministry sent SMS messages to every telephone number registered in the capital, with this warning: “Plague, the quick death.
If you have a cough and some of these symptoms – fever, sore throat, breathlessness, coughing blood – go to the hospital.”
In the meantime, around 50 people have died, with the numbers doubling within a week. About 450 others are ill – half of them in Antananarivo.
Smaller-scale outbreaks of the disease are not rare on the island off of Africa’s eastern coast. But this time the numbers are much larger.
It is also reported that a vacationer returning to the Seychelles from Madagascar brought the disease with him there. An epidemic of this size has not been seen since one in the Indian region of Surat in 1994.
Schools in Antananarivo, a city of 2.2 million people, and in other places are eerily empty, while classes were also called off at the university.
“The university is completely empty,” says one student, Antsa Randriamanalina, 20.
She said only a few students were on campus to work on group projects. “I am getting worried. I hope it doesn’t get worse.”
President Hery Rajaonarimampianina is putting on a show of confidence.
“We are at war, but today we have, I believe, the weapons and munitions to conquer this epidemic,” he said at ceremonies for the handover of aid materials from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which sent some 1.5 million doses of antibiotics, enough to treat 5,000 people who have become infected and to protect 100,000 others.
“The more quickly we act, the more lives we can save,” said WHO chief for Madagascar, Charlotte Ndiaye.
The bubonic plague is caused by a bacteria called yersinia pestis which is chiefly spread by fleas and carried by rats. If a human is bitten by an infected flea, the symptoms will appear up to seven days later, first as if a heavy flu and then thickly swelling lymph nodes.
In Madagascar, the vast majority of people infected with plague have contracted the more serious pneumonic form of the disease, which is passed on by breathing in respiratory droplets.
With an early diagnosis, the chances of healing with antibiotics are high. But in the advanced stages, the bubonic plague can morph into pneumonic plague in the lungs. This is transmitted by droplets in the air, similar to the flu, and can quickly spread, with an incubation period of just 24 hours. Untreated, pneumonic plague can lead quickly to death.
There is scarcely any other disease in human history that has spread so much fear and horror as the plague. In Europe, between 1347 and 1353, the “Black Death” claimed millions of lives, possibly as much as one-third of the total population.
The current epidemic in Antananarivo is above all hitting the poor areas hardest. Many of the streets are piled with garbage – ideal conditions for rats.
To try to prevent a panic, authorities have set up tents at the entrances of the poor areas to provide residents with expert information.
Madagascar, with around 25 million people, for years now has been the country that worldwide has had the most reported plague cases, especially the bubonic plague.
If a village reports a case, the health authorities sweep in to drive out the rats, disinfect houses and spray insecticides to kill the fleas. Close relatives of the victims must take antibiotics as a precautionary measure.
The bodies of those killed by the plague are washed in a chlorine solution and rubbed down with lime, for even the dead can still spread the infection.
Funeral rituals such as the customary wake of several days in the home of the deceased are forbidden in plague cases. And the remains are buried far from the cemeteries.
“Our teams are well-schooled in fighting the isolated outbreaks of the plague in the countryside,” Health Minister Mamy Lalatiana Andriamanarivo told the French radio network RFI.
“But this time it is different. This is the pneumonic plague – and it’s in the city.”
WaterAid Nigeria has renewed its call for improvements to water, sanitation and hygiene in schools as well as healthcare facilities in the country.
Handwashing
According to the organisation, one-in-three schools around the world do not have regular access to water, basic private toilets, or a way to wash hands with soap and an estimated 443 million school days are lost every year because of water-related illnesses.
It adds that as many as 50% of schools in sub-Saharan Africa are without access to water, pointing out that access to water, sanitation and hygiene at school is also a matter of gender equality, as girls are more likely to miss lessons or to drop out completely once they start menstruating if their school does not have a decent toilet where they can change menstrual cloths in dignity and privacy. One in 10 adolescent girls in Africa miss school during their menstruation and eventually drop out due to a lack of gender-friendly toilet facilities.
WaterAid adds that some 38% of hospitals and clinics in low- and middle-income countries around the world do not have regular access to water, and that even more do not have basic, private toilets and a way to wash hands with soap.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, some 42% of healthcare facilities do not have access to water. In Nigeria, almost a third (29%) of hospitals and clinics in the country do not have access to clean water; the same percentage do not have safe toilets and one in six (16%) do not have anywhere to wash hands with soap, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) report ‘ Water, sanitation and hygiene in health care facilities: status in low and middle income countries and way forward’.
“This puts patients and healthcare workers at unacceptable risk of infection, including some of the most vulnerable members of society – new mothers and their newborns. One in five deaths of newborn babies in the developing world are caused by infections with a strong link to dirty water, poor sanitation and unhygienic conditions; and Nigeria has one of the largest numbers of neonatal deaths worldwide.”
The organisation stresses that a lack of water and sanitation, combined with poor hygiene, also contributes to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics as, according to it, they are used to stand in for soap and water in infection prevention, resulting in higher levels of anti-microbial resistance.
WaterAid Nigeria Country Director, Dr Halidou Koanda, said: “Clean, plentiful water, good sanitation and good hygiene including handwashing with soap are absolutely essential to effective healthcare, wherever you are in the world. Yet almost a third of hospitals and clinics in Nigeria are without even rudimentary access to water. It is unacceptable that patients and medical workers are exposed to such risk of infection. This Global Handwashing Day, we are calling on governments and donors to take action on this injustice, and on health professionals to join our call to action.
“Good hygiene, and in particular handwashing with soap, have significant impact on the health and wellbeing of the global population. It was one of the ways in which Nigeria fought and won against the deadly Ebola virus; and even though Nigeria is Ebola free now, other diseases such as monkey pox and cholera are threatening public health in the country. These diseases can spread further and faster without sanitation and hygiene practices to block their path and an outbreak in one area can quickly become a city-wide, national or international epidemic.”
Handwashing with soap is also critical for maximising the health benefits of investments in water supply and sanitation infrastructure and combating many health risks, WaterAid contends, adding that out of all water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions, hygiene promotion has proven to be particularly effective in reducing mortality and morbidity from child diarrhoea, and has been identified as the most cost-effective disease control intervention.
“It is important that we promote long-term behaviour change throughout the year and as a crucial part of everyday life beyond just Global Handwashing Day and WaterAid is supporting the Federal Ministry of Water Resources’ year-long hygiene promotion campaign being spearheaded by the National Task Group on Sanitation and aimed at integrating WASH in education and health for improved and holistic outcomes in these areas.
“Through the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development, world leaders have promised to ensure everyone everywhere has access to safe water and sanitation by 2030. To keep that promise, ensuring water, sanitation and hygiene at every level of health services must be a priority.
“The WHO Action Plan aims to provide these essential services everywhere by 2030, but requires political prioritisation and financing to succeed.”
Nature Uchenna Obiakor, Coordinator, YouthWASH Africa, in this piece to celebrate the 2017 Global Handwashing Day (GHD), writes that the theme for this year’s event is conceptualised to emphasise how handwashing protects health, and offers mankind the opportunity to build a sustainable future
Anthony Kirsopp Lake, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
“Our Hands, Our Future” is the theme for the 2017 Global Handwashing Day (GHD) which is celebrated on October 15 every year since 2008 when it was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. It is a day set aside to promote a global culture of handwashing with soap and raise awareness on the benefits of the practice.
The theme for this year’s event is conceptualised to emphasise how handwashing protects our health, and offers us the opportunity to build a sustainable future. Handwashing with soap before eating and after using the toilet has severally proven to be the best preventive approach to healthy living. It is considered as the most cost effective way to mitigate diseases such as cholera, pneumonia, diarrhea, typhoid fever and can save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention. Good handwashing practice also plays a pivotal role in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by contributing to improve well-being and reduce poverty.
According to UNICEF/WHO, almost a third (29%) of hospitals and clinics in Nigeria do not have access to clean water and the same percentage does not have safe toilets. The report also shows that one in six (16%) health care facilities do not have anywhere to wash hands with soap.
A separate study conducted by “WASHWatch” observed that over 60, 000 children below the age of five in Nigeria die from diarrhea diseases caused by the country’s poor levels of access to WASH facilities.
The global status of another document released by WHO in 2015 reported that 15% of patients develop one or more infectious in hospitals. Also, UNICEF in 2010 highlighted that 272 million school days are missed due to diarrhea infection each year.
We must ensure that our children have access to handwashing facilities at school and at home, and teach them good handwashing habits to keep them on track for a healthy future. But, these benefits can only be achieved if handwashing is constantly practiced.
UNICEF is funding the National Task Group on Sanitation to engage YouthWASH in strengthening the capacity of NYSC members to activate and sustain EHCs in schools. In line with this goal, 60 NYSC members, 20 volunteers, 60 Hygiene Education Teachers, and 30 Community Health Education Workers have been trained on hygiene promotion in the six area councils under the FCT.
A symbolic handwashing event is expected to be performed by school children during assembly time in 100 schools across the six area councils. These activities are geared towards taking the campaign beyond the commemoration day and help strengthen the introduction of WASH Friendly School Project as part of our sustainability mechanism to foster hygiene practices in our communities and world at large. The NYSC members are expected to adopt and carry out weekly hygiene and sanitation activities in these schools with the objective of ensuring that these schools take ownership of the process to foster WASH education as well as strengthen school-community relationship.
We have approached the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) office to launch the Adopt a School Project. This initiative is targeted at stakeholders particularly the private sector and donor agencies to help provide WASH facilities as their Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR) in these schools.
Furthermore, we have received approval to partner with the FCT Area Councils Services Secretariat (ACSS) on grass root mobilization and support for effective citizens engagement. We are also working with the FCT Universal Basic Education Board to ensure the successful implementation of the EHCs in the six area councils across the nation’s capital.
Access to water and hygiene is a right issue, not a privilege or charity as largely perceived especially among the political class that sees it as a campaign tool. There is urgent need to strengthen local government institutions at all levels, as well as harmonise the activities of the different coordinating bodies for maximum productivity.
Promoting handwashing practices doesn’t just mean making sure people have access to hygiene facilities; they must also be utilised because the benefits of handwashing depend on people washing their hands consistently at critical times. Choosing hand washing is choosing health which is important to our future. Good hygiene practices must be a habit which requires choosing to perform them not only on Global Handwashing Day, but on regular basis every day.
The Garden City of Port Harcourt in River State is set to host the Energy and New Green Technology Conference with the theme: ‘The Future of Hydrocarbon Industry in the New Age of Green Technology’ between November 28 and 30, 2017 at the Hotel Presidential.
Port Harcourt
The event will provide a platform for articulating a proactive response to the seemingly irreversible disruption to the hydrocarbon industry, according to Alfe City Company Ltd, the organisers.
Among key speakers expected at the event that will attract major stakeholders in the economy are Prof. W.J. Okowa, Dr. Eddie Wikina, Prof. P. A. Olomola, Prof. R A. Olowe, Engr. Don Boham and Dr. Adebayo Adedokun.
The conference with provision for exhibition of new green technology products and services and Regulators Clinic is targeted at participants from Oil & Gas Companies; Petrochemical Companies; Services Companies; Financial Institutions; Regulators; Federal Government; State Government; Oil Producing Areas Development Authorities; and Insurance Companies.
Among the sub-themes of the conference which industry experts will do justice to include: “A perspective on the evolution of the hydrocarbon Industry and its role in the industrialised global economy”, “The recent emergence e of the new green technology and its potential impact on the future of the energy trade”, “The direct cost of the new green technology industry on economies like Nigeria that are almost wholly reliant on the hydrocarbon Industry”, “Managing the immediate to short term effects of the new green technology on the economies of countries like Nigeria whose economic prospects are tied to the fate of the hydrocarbon Industry”, “The roles of government and regulators in managing the transition from a hydrocarbon based economy to a new green technology environment”, and “Deciding on a new template and business module in a green technology economy”.
According to Mr Soji Adeleye , Chief Executive Officer, Alfe City Company, “one of the most important decisions being discussed right now at both the policy level and corporate headquarters across the Globe is what to make of the inevitability of the new green technology and potential demise of the energy trade as we know it.
“In the case of economies like Nigeria that hitherto had relied almost exclusively on hydrocarbon industry for their economic survival, the issue is existential.
“This conference will bring this existential discussion into focus for three days. Distinguished experts in the sector and renowned economists are scheduled to bring their considerable wealth of Industry experience to bear on the subject with a view to channelling a way forward.”
He listed other objectives of the conference to include, exploring the role hydrocarbon energy has played in the global economy industrialisation; exploring the politics of oil and the emergence of the new green technology; channelling a part for a possible coexistence of hydrocarbon business and the new green technology; for bringing industry operators, regulators, government, and other industries together for a look at the future of the hydrocarbon Economy.
The Alfe City boss said: “The global collapse of the crude oil market in the recent time demands a rigorous analysis particularly in a place like Nigeria that derives almost all of her foreign exchange earnings exclusively from hydrocarbon.
“This specialist conference would attempt to put into focus the role hydrocarbon energy has played and continue to play in the world economy. It would also consider the critical circumstances of countries like Nigeria that did not leverage the considerable wealth accumulated from oil to diversify their economy.
“The technical content will be handled by seasoned international experts in the industry who are expected to proffer plausible solutions for industry operators, government and regulators on how best to confront the inevitable transition to the new green technology.”
Arising from the challenges occasioned by the recent economic recession experienced in the country, government is seeking to diversify the economy by unlocking the opportunities in the environment sector. The economic downturn has been attributed to the nation’s reliance on oil as its single foreign exchange earner.
Environment Minister of State, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, during the media briefing
This year’s edition – and the 11th in the series – of the National Council for Environment will address the issue, in the light of government’s policy thrust. The forum is themed: “Unlocking the Investment opportunities in the Environment sector towards Nigeria’s Economic Recovery, Diversification Growth and Sustainable Development”.
Environment Minister of State, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, who made the submission in Abuja on Friday, October 13, 2017 at a media briefing, said: “Globally, the green economy has become a veritable tool for economic growth and diversification in countries that are not even as endowed with natural resources as ours. It has become a fulcrum of national economic advancement as it cuts across every aspects of a nation’s economy. Our challenge at this point is how to harness and leverage on the huge opportunities in the environment sector.
“With proper harnessing and leveraging on our natural resources, the root of our economic recovery will be faster when we consciously support the green economy by investing in the environment sector to increase other sources of revenue in the Nigeria economy. These opportunities include repositioning of the National Agency for Great Green Wall (GGW), Environment Sound of Chemicals Management, Watershed Management, Renewable Energy, Eco-Tourism, Green Bond, Afforestation/Reforestation, Implementation of the UNEP Report and the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project.
The minister noted that, since his assumption in office, government has vigorously pursued and sensitised the Nigerian citizens towards going green and achieving toxic-free environment.
“It is my sincere wish that, after this National Council meeting, the decisions reached will be such that is capable of re-engineering the sector to expand the frontiers to meaningfully contribute to a speedy economic recovery,” stated, adding:
“In spite of the challenging times, this government has demonstrated complete political will and commitment in the cause of reviving the ‘Nigerian Project’ by dealing with immediate issues of improving security, tracking corruption, and revitalising the national economy. It is in the light of this that government recently launched the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), 2017-2020 economic blue print.
“Pursuant to the ERGP’s policy objectives on the Environment Sector, our deliberations during the council meeting would be guided by our present challenges, aspirations and the policy direction and focus encapsulated in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which defines and determines the new narrative and vision of the present administration for the sector. To this end, I urge our distinguished delegates to the meeting to be objective when considering the merits and demerits of submitted Council Memoranda by applying the stated criteria especially as they relate to the ERGP set targets.”
The 11th National Council on Environment (NCE) holds from Monday, October 16 to Wednesday, October 18, 2017 in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
