Farmers, under the aegis of Zero Hunger Commodities, have called for increased support from the Federal Government to enable farmers to engage in massive food production across the country.
Farmers on the FADAMA project
They made the call in separate interviews with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of their recent meeting in Abuja.
Dr Tunde Arosanyin, the National Coordinator of Zero Hunger Commodities, said that the government had only been very forthcoming in the area of support to the country’s farmers.
He said that the development had compelled many farmers to abandon farming and take up other occupations, adding that the career switch might negatively affect food production in the coming years.
He said that in spite of the existing challenges, the agricultural sector still had a number of opportunities which could be further exploited by the private sector.
“However, factors like irrigation farming schemes, availability of farmers groups, existence of favourable policies and strategies, among others, would boost agricultural production and productivity, if they are well-harnessed and effectively utilised.
“Improved agricultural production will serve as a basis for poverty alleviation, particularly in the rural areas,’’ he said.
Also speaking, Mr Daniel Okafor, the Chairman of Potatoes Farmers Association of Nigeria (POFAN), bemoaned the challenges currently facing Nigerian farmers despite the importance which the government had attached to agriculture in its efforts to revive the country’s economy.
He stressed that the farmers were at the mercy of the buyers of farm produce, adding that they were facing other challenges such as post-harvest losses, particularly with regard to perishable produces.
“Certainly, government is slow in making efforts to help farmers out in achieving their dream of making the country a self-sufficient nation in food production,’’ he said.
Okafor said that the government should put in place pragmatic mechanisms to purchase food commodities such as rice, garri and fish, among others, directly from local farmers, rather than importing those commodities from other countries.
He said that since the government had initiated its school feeding programme, tangible efforts should be made to compel the school authorities to buy food commodities directly from farmers.
He added that foodstuffs like rice, garri and fish, for instance, should be purchased directly from local farmers, rather than relying on food imports.
“No doubt, this will show the seriousness of the government in efforts to revive the agricultural sector and boost the nation’s economy.
“I know it is better we get direct information from the farmers, which is the essence of holding this meeting but permit me to list a few challenges facing our farmers.
“A major challenge facing our farmers is post-harvest losses, as over 40 per cent of their harvests usually go bad due to the lack of storage facilities.
“Other problems include pest infestation of farms and lack of easy access to finance and markets,’’ he added.
Mr Khalil Haliluan, the Chief Executive Officer of OyaOya, an online produce marketing firm, underscored the need to facilitate produce buying and selling processes in ways that would them less stressful or time consuming.
He said that efforts should also be made by all agricultural stakeholders to facilitate produce transportation to markets.
The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) initiated the National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme to facilitate the provision of houses to Nigerians and bridge the housing deficit.
Observers say Nigeria’s housing deficit is far in excess of 17 million. Photo credit: lagos.all.biz
NHF is a pool which mobilises long-term funds from Nigerian workers, banks, insurance companies and Federal Government to advance loans at a single-digit interest rate to its contributors.
With the NHF scheme, workers are to contribute 2.5 per cent of the basic salary to the fund, while and the funds therein are supposed to be used for mortgage loans to the workers at concessionary terms for the purchase, building, expansion or renovation of their houses.
Apart from the workers’ contribution, the NHF also mobilises domestic and offshore long-term funds from banks, insurance companies and the Federal Government, which are supposed to be used as soft loans to its contributors.
The FMBN is, therefore, constitutionally empowered to facilitate the growth of viable primary mortgage institutions that would service the housing needs of Nigerians.
But while some civil servants have benefited from the NHF scheme, others have yet to benefit, prompting many people to clamour for the review or outright abolition of the scheme.
On this background, some stakeholders in the housing sector express concern about the operations of NHF and call for stiffer penalties against violators of the NHF Act.
But Mr Ayuba Wabba, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), rather called for a realistic housing scheme that would enable workers to afford houses.
“For us to address the issue of housing deficit, we must have an agreeable interest rate that is affordable to citizens and workers, if not the houses will be built and will not be affordable,’’ he said.
Expressing worry that Nigerian workers could still not afford the houses in spite of putting in 2.5 per cent of their monthly salaries to have shelter, he called on the Federal Government to intervene by providing the necessary funds required to drive the housing scheme.
He decried the violation of the NHF Act by some stakeholders, observing that failure of commercial banks to contribute to the fund had retarded progress of the scheme.
“We actually keyed to the scheme but along the line, in 2003 and 2004, we had challenges because the houses were built and workers could not afford them.
“The type of houses required were not the type built, so hundreds of houses are lying fallow in Abuja because nobody can afford them,’’ Wabba observed.
In his opinion, Mr Oluseyi Lufadeju, a trustee at Real Estate Development Association of Nigeria, accused the Central Bank of Nigeria and some commercial banks of not contributing to the fund.
According to him, Section 5 of the NHF Act stipulates that commercial or merchant banks shall invest in the fund 10 per cent of its loans and advances.
“The loan or advance will be at an interest rate of one per cent above the interest rate payable on current account by banks.
“Every registered insurance company shall invest minimum of 20 per cent of its non-life funds and 40 per cent of its life funds in real property development; of this, not less than 50 per cent shall be paid to the fund through the FMBN.
“Section 11 of the NHF Act provides that the Central Bank of Nigeria shall collect from commercial and merchant banks at the end of every year and not later than one month after, the percentage of their contribution to the fund,’’ he explained.
Lufadeju said without full capitalisation, the bank could not fulfil its obligation of providing affordable houses to Nigerians.
Sharing similar sentiments, Mr Mohammed Khalil, a consultant, said since the enactment of the NHF Act, deposit banks and insurance companies had not invested in the fund.
He observed that an analysis of total loans and advances by the commercial and merchant banks in 2016 was N15 trillion.
“At the rate of 10 per cent, the CBN pursuant to Section 11 is supposed to have credited the NHF with the sum of N1.5 trillion by March 2017,’’ he said.
Khalil said that if the Federal Government was to create at least one million new homes through a national mortgage single digit interest rate, it would require N6 trillion.
“It follows, therefore, that at the current official figure of 17 million housing deficit, the Federal Government will require N102 trillion,’’ he said.
Mrs Hannatu Fika, Executive Secretary, Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board, therefore, noted that providing incentives for the capital market to invest in property development was crucial in proffering sustainable solutions to housing deficit in the country.
She urged the Federal Government to encourage the development of specific programmes that would ensure effective financing of housing development, particularly low-cost housing for low income earners.
In his reaction, Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, Managing Director of FMBN, said banks and insurance companies in Nigeria were required to be investing in the NHF scheme but they defaulted.
He said unless these provisions of the act were complied with, the pool of funds available for mortgage financing at affordable interest rate would continue to be inadequate.
“This means that the FMBN will be unable to make low interest mortgages available to Nigerians as the 2.5 per cent workers monthly contribution is grossly inadequate, especially that of the medium income earners,’’ he observed.
However, Mr Ahmad Kaita, the Chairman, House Committee on Housing, stated that the committee, in line with the legislative agenda of the House of Representatives, had recognised the need to provide required legal and legislative frameworks to ensure affordable housing for Nigerians.
Similarly, Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara reiterated the commitment of the house to initiate a legislative framework that would address housing deficit in the country.
He expressed concern that policies designed to provide adequate housing for Nigerians had not yielded positive results due to violation of the NHF Act by the stakeholders.
He also emphasised the need to unravel the reason why some stakeholders in the housing sector failed to comply with the NHF Act and the Federal Mortgage Bank Act.
“The National Housing Fund is designed to assist the public servants and private sector employees while saving a percentage of their income.
“The government, through mortgage banks, is expected to provide loans to real estate developers to build low cost houses for Nigerians.
“But both programmes are not yielding the desired result as houses are still not within the reach of Nigerians,’’ Dogara said.
He, nonetheless, said the legislature would collaborate with the stakeholders in ensuring safe and affordable homes.
For affordable houses, the Senate Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban Development, pleaded with shareholders to pay up their equities to actualise the planned recapitalisation of FMBN.
Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Barnabas Gemade, listed the shareholders to include the Federal Government, Central Bank of Nigeria and Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund.
He observed that the CBN had vital role to play in making the FMBN function effectively by exercising its statutory roles, especially in the areas of funding and regulation.
“The N5 billion capital base of the FMBN is low and the shareholders should hasten up by increasing the capital base to reflect current realities.
“CBN should sanction commercial banks that defaulted in remitting 10 per cent of their loan portfolio to FMBN as investment to the development of a virile mortgage industry as required by the law,’’ he said.
He promised that the committee would also ensure amendment of both the FMBN and NHF Acts to make the bank function effectively.
Gemade noted that N100 billion was approved in 2017 budget as intervention fund to support mortgage activities in the country.
He directed the bank to follow up the matter with its supervisory ministry, noting that the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing should contact the Federal Ministry of Finance to secure the release of the fund.
An Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon, Prof. Titus Ibekwe, on Thursday, January 4, 2018 urged the general public to desist from using cotton buds, pen cover, car keys, among others to clean their ear.
Cleaning the ear with a cotton bud. Photo credit: Medical/UIG via Getty Images
Ibekwe, who is with the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that such practices were harmful to the ear.
He said that the practice of using feather or pouring hot oil in the ear to clean it was also harmful.
The consultant ENT surgeon said that such practices exposed the ear canal to infections, which could cause temporal or permanent damage to the ear.
Ibekwe said that the ear had the ability to clean itself.
“It is tempting to use cotton bud or other objects when you feel your ears are blocked, but this can interrupt the natural cycle of wax production, which actually acts as a self-cleaning agent.
“Earwax is the normal substance that the body produces to clean and protect the ears.
“Using any substance to remove such wax will further push it into the canal, thereby causing a blockage which in the long run causes hearing loss among other complications.’’
The consultant noted that a lot of people engaged in these practices and self treatment ignorant, saying that it was not advisable health-wise.
“You are not supposed to clean the ear with anything, because the ear canal has the kind of configuration that will hinder you from removing the intended dirt or wax.
“The problem is that efforts to eliminate earwax only create further issues because the earwax is just getting pushed down and impacted further into the ear canal.
“Anything that fits in the ear can cause serious harm to the ear drum and canal with the potential for temporary or even permanent damage,’’ he added.
Ibekwe urged the public to consult ENT experts in the event of any hearing or ear challenge for proper diagnosis and medication.
Following nomination by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, the General Assembly on December 22, 2017 elected Maimunah Mohd Sharif of Malaysia as Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).
Maimunah Mohd Sharif
She succeeds Joan Clos of Spain to whom the Secretary-General says he is grateful for his dedicated service to the organisation. Dr. Clos led UN-Habitat during the pivotal years when the world’s population became majority urban. During this time, he championed the development of a New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11), the first development goal focused on sustainable urbanisation. His emphasis on urban planning and national urban policies has been widely appreciated and applied to plan and steer the world’s cities toward sustainability, economic and social progress and inclusion.
Ms. Sharif is currently Mayor of the City Council of Penang Island, Malaysia. Prior to her appointment as Mayor, she was the first woman to be appointed as President of the Municipal Council of Seberang Perai in 2011. As mayor of a local authority, she leads Municipal Council of Seberang Perai to achieve its vision of a “cleaner, greener, safer and healthier place to work, live, invest and play”.
She is a champion of Gender Responsive Participatory Budgeting to integrate gender perspectives into the governance process as a tool to mainstream gender into budgetary and development policy and planning. During her tenure, the Municipal Council of Seberang Perai was the first Local Authority to implement and achieve six quality-based management ISO certifications.
Ms. Sharif began her career as a Town Planner at the Municipal Council of Penang Island in 1985. In 2003, she was promoted to Director of Planning and Development, a position she held until November 2009. As Director, she was responsible for the preparation of structure and local plans, and was directly involved in development control of Penang City projects and landscape development. She also led a team for the planning and implementation of the Urban Renewal Projects in George Town. In November 2009, she was entrusted as the first General Manager to establish George Town World Heritage Incorporated and manage the George Town World Heritage Site which was inscribed by UNESCO in July 2008.
She holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Town Planning Studies from the University of Wales Institutes of Science and Technology, United Kingdom and a Master of Science in Planning studies from the Malaysia Science University.
Year 2017 was another important year to the environment sector. While there were several efforts at both national and global levels towards effectively managing the environment to prevent natural and human-induced environmental disasters that threaten human health, agriculture, water resources and other sectors of the economy, there were also scores of disasters recorded that tried to undermine the efforts made in safeguarding the environment.
Let me first highlight prominent environmental disasters that were recorded in 2017, starting from Nigeria, then globally.
Flooded highway in Lekki, Lagos
Environment disasters recorded in Nigeria
In early 2017, a strange black soot blanketed parts of Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital in Nigeria. The black soot which first appeared in late 2016 continued to fall down from the sky, scaring residents. Residents had different complaints about the soot: “you hang your clothes and before you know it, they become black. You step on your floor, everywhere is black.” “When I brush my teeth in the morning and try to clear my throat, I normally notice a dark phlegm and the same applies when I try to clear my nostrils.”
In the 3rd quarter of 2017, following the prediction by Nigeria Meteorological Agency that some parts of the country will experience flooding in 2017, flood started visiting some Nigerian States. The major flood started in Lagos, then Niger, Oyo, Kogi, Benue and other States. On July 8th, 2017, Lekki and Victoria Island areas of Lagos State were on flood lockdown due to overnight torrential rains which started at 11pm the previous night. Houses were submerged and economic activities halted as the flood locked down the State. In Niger State, the flood that hit Suleja town caused death of about 13 people. “Among the dead were a house wife, her six children and a good Samaritan who tried to rescue some children from the flood.” “Several electric poles and not less than seven houses were destroyed as a result of the flood due to five-hour rainfall.” In Benue State, “more than 110,000 persons in 24 communities, including Makurdi were displaced by flood.” The devastating flood incidents made “…the House of Representatives… set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the…flooding in Lagos and Niger States.”
Environment disasters recorded in other parts of the world
In other climes, environmental disasters also hit hard. “California was drenched in the wettest winter on record, ending years of drought. Then came California’s most destructive and largest wild fires season ever. The Tubbs fire in Northern California killed 22 people and damaged more than 5,600 structures.”
“Two major hurricanes – Harvey and Irma – blasted the United States coast with winds exceeding 130 miles per hour (mph), and savage hurricane Maria rocked Puerto Rico with winds exceeding 155 mph.”
Most of summer’s damage to United States in 2017, said to be the most expensive hurricane season “was caused by the infamous trio of Harvey, Irma and Maria. Besides its winds, Harvey flooded Houston with more than four feet of rainfall as it made landfall August 25. Irma battered the Carribean before coming ashore in the Florida Keys on September10th. And Maria destroyed homes and much of the infrastructure in Puerto Rico and inflicted a devastating disaster on the island when it came ashore on September 20.”
In Asia, “historic rainfall during the height of monsoon season… killed more than 1,200… in India and Bangladesh” and affected some 41 million people.
In Sierra Leone, West Africa, “a massive mudslide sparked by heavy rains and flooding in an area of Freetown…killed around 500 people and left hundreds missing.”
In the United Kingdom, “snow and ice brought much of England and North of Scotland to a standstill, with road closures and public transportation cancellations,” as overnight, temperature plummeted to minus 8 Degrees Celsius.
Away from the environment disasters recorded in 2017, there were also efforts to save the environment through policies, regulations, laws, advocacy and innovations.
Nigeria
In year 2017, the Federal Government of Nigeria engaged coordinators for the implementation of the Ogoni land cleanup project. Also the Federal Government received the first tranche of the $1 billion initial capital for the implementation of the project. “Recall that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which conducted an environmental audit of some contaminated sites in Ogoni, had in its recommendation to the Federal Government, suggested that an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoniland be set up with an initial capital injection of $1 billion contributed by the oil industry and the government, to cover the first five years of the cleanup project. But since the launch of the Cleanup and subsequent inauguration of the Governing Council and Board of Trustees (BoT) for the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in August 2016, the project had experienced delays…”
The year also saw the Nigeria’s former Minister of Environment, Amina J Mohammed who was announced as the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations on December 15, 2016, resumed work at the United Nations.
On February 20, the Lagos House of Assembly passed “A Bill for a Law to Consolidate all Laws Relating to the Environment for the Management, Protection and Sustainable Development of the Environment in Lagos State and for Connected Purposes” into law. The law that criminalizes the drilling of boreholes without permit was criticized by most Nigerians.
Other environmental issues that attracted widespread criticism in the year were: the two permits to Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Limited for the commercial release and market placement of genetically modified (GMO) cotton and the confined field trial of GMO maize by National Biosafety Management Agency, and the proposed 260km super highway in Cross River State. These two issues were criticized and rejected by civil society organisations led by Nnimmo Bassey, the Executive Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation. The issue about the two permits issued to Monsanto was the concern about human health and environmental risks of genetically altered crops, which made the civil society organizations to demand nullification of the permits and the repealing of the National Biosafety Management Agency Act 2015 which gave “enormous amounts of discretionary powers” to the agency. On the 260km super highway in Cross River state, “Environmental activists… kicked against the project which they said would destroy several species of plants and animals and also displace the indigenous people of the areas where the road will traverse.”
Following the controversy generated by the super highway project, the Federal Government gave the Cross River State 23 conditions to fulfill before embarking on the project. “Among the conditions are that Cross River State Government (CRSG) ensures that the updated maps in the new EIA must show the re-routed road corridor cognisance of the boundary of Cross River National Park and Ekuri Community Forest as well as conform to international best practices on setbacks for highways in critical ecosystems such as the proposed corridor.”
In the year, the House of Representatives also organised a three-day national summit on environment from October 3 to 5 in Abuja, as a prelude to the formulation of a legislative framework to protect the environmental. The need to take proactive steps in developing appropriate environmental laws and policy for Nigeria considering its position in the comity of nations informed the holding of the summit.
Nigeria also finalised plans to offer N10.69 billion green bonds at 13.48% per annum for financing of renewable energy and other environmental projects. The green bond was considered for issuance following Nigeria’s endorsement of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, with the aim of strengthening global response to the threat.
The House of Representative in 2017 “passed a bill to provide a legal framework for mainstreaming of climate change responses and actions into government policy formulation and implementation. The bill also proposed the establishment of a council to coordinate climate change governance as well as support the adaptation and mitigation of the adverse effects of climate change in the country.”
2017 also saw the Nigerian Government making concrete moves to ratify the Minamata Convention on Mercury following series of preparatory activities. The United Nations Minamata Convention on Mercury aims to protect the human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.
Global
Apart from the efforts made by individual countries in managing the environment, there were also collective efforts by countries at the global level to address environmental challenges. Some of these efforts were through global conventions where member states to the United Nations agreed on actions to be taken collectively to address global environmental challenges. Some of the conventions held in this respect were as follows:
The thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (BC COP-13), the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention (RC COP-8) and the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention (SC COP-8) were held back to back from 24 April to 5 May 2017 in Geneva. These three sister conventions aim to reduce/prevent exposure to harzadous chemicals and wastes.
The First Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP1) was convened from September 25 to 29, 2017 in Geneva, within one year of entry into force of the Convention. The Minamata Convention came into force on August 16, 2017 with ratification by over 50 countries.
The 23rd session of the Conference of Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held in Bonn, Germany, from November 6 to 17, 2017. The major decisions at this convention revolved around achieving the goal of the Paris Climate Change Agreement of holding global average temperature well below 2 Degrees Celsius as well as realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
After COP23, the world convened in Nairobi, Kenya for the 3rd session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 3) to take decision on another global environment issue – pollution. The Assembly which convened from December 4 to 6, 2017 adopted 11 resolutions aimed at achieving a pollution-free planet. The resolutions adopted revolved around land, water, air and soil pollution.
Just immediately after UNEA 3, On 12 December 2017, two years after the historic Paris Climate Change Agreementwas adopted, world leaders gathered in Paris for the One Planet Summit to drive forward climate action and financing of a Greener future. Twelve commitments were made at the One Planet Summit, some of which include: $300 million for the Land Degradation Neutrality Fund to restore deserted land; Launch of the “Tropical Landscape Financing Facility; A $650 million financing programme for research to help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change; Creation of the 100 Water and Climate Projects for Africa funding platform; $15 million for the One Planet Fellowship for young African and European researchers.
The European Union-sponsored (EU) measurement/monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) Project has helped Nigeria strengthen the foundation of her work in climate change MRV, and further prepare the country to measure, monitor, verify progress towards meeting international commitments.
Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, with H.E. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, at COP23
The initiative has likewise helped to show the government and people how Nigeria is progressing towards adapting to and mitigating climate change.
Environment Minister of State, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, made the submission during the EU MRV Project Side-Event at the 23rd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that held last November in Bonn, Germany.
According to the minister, the project has helped the nation to identify critical ares towards achieving these tasks, most notably in how to strengthen institutional set-up between the various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and other stakeholders to accelerate and improve the flow of climate data and information.
“This will enable us better to undertake more detailed greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, identify areas where mitigation actions can and should be taken, and to improve our ability to set out policies and plans, both for the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) called for in the Paris Accord, as well as to help set the domestic framework for investments in both human resources (capacity building) and for setting the policies and plans that will accelerate our work in addressing climate change,” the minister stated.
He expressed appreciation to the EU for providing the nation with more building blocks to achieve set climate change objectives, saying that they help in several ways to accelerate work. The minister added however that while foundations for climate change MRV have been strengthened through the assistance of the European Commission through the project, “we have much more to do as we go forward”.
A key area of focus going forward, for example, is to strengthen and expand the capacity of the Department of Climate Change (DCC) (in the Federal Ministry of Environment), both in terms of human skills, as well as in terms of the hardware and software necessary to compile, process, analyse and report on climate change. He added that the ministry has built an extensive network of Climate Desks in every key MDA and given them the basics in training to gather, process and transmit data to the DCC.
But he believes that they can go much further in this area.
His words: “More personnel in both our DCC and in our federal Climate Desks in all key MDAs need to receive additional and on-going training. We need to develop the information exchange system between the DCC and these Climate Desks so that climate change data and information flow continuously to meet our international and national obligations. We need further assistance from the EU, from our other bilateral and multilateral development partners to help us accelerate our work and strengthen our long-term capacity in climate change MRV.
“We look to our partners to provide us specific assistance in capacity building and climate change data and information collection, processing and reporting to build upon the improved foundations provided by this excellent EU project. With this additional assistance, we can build the stronger, deeper foundations to build further our national and sub-national capacities for a sustainable and efficient National MRV System Framework.”
The EU MRV in Africa Project, funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG-Clima), has been underway for about two years. The project has been working with the Federal Ministry of Environment since February 2016 and has been implemented in two phases.
During the first phase of the project, the team undertook a fact-finding mission and held a national stakeholders’ workshop in early 2016 to enable the European Commission to assess Nigeria’s needs in the area of national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and MRV. The first phase, it was gathered, enabled the project to design Phase 2 in a manner that addressed the nation’s specific capacity needs in the area of national GHG inventory preparation, and preparation of national policies of the NDCs, National Communications (NCs) and Biennial Update Reports (BURs), which the nation is committed to present to the UNFCCC and the Parties to the Convention on a regular basis.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), has predicted moderate dust haze weather conditions in visibility range of two to three kilometres over the Central States of the country on Thursday, January 4, 2018.
Dust haze weather
NiMet’s Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office (CFO), on Wednesday in Abuja, also predicted day and night temperatures in the range of 25 to 34 and 10 to 18 degrees Celsius respectively.
The agency predicted that the Southern States would experience moderate dust haze conditions over the inland cities throughout the forecast period.
It also predicted dust haze with visibility range of about one to three kilometres over the coastal cities with day and night temperatures in the range of 32 to 34 and 17 to 23 degrees Celsius respectively.
According to NiMet, Northern States will experience dust haze condition in visibility range of about one to three kilometres with localised visibility of less than 1000m in few cities throughout the forecast period.
“The northern states will also have day and night temperatures in the range of 25 to 29 and 11 and 16 respectively.
“The particles of dust in suspension around the country are expected to still reduce visibilities across the northern states to about one to three kilometres.
“The inland and the central cities are anticipated to be in moderate dust with visibility of two to three kilometers, while the coastal cities are also expected to be in the range of one to three kilometres in the next 24 hours,’’ NiMet predicted.
The Karu Abattoir in Abuja has been fitted with a Net-zero/Low Carbon Biogas Digester to enable the generation of electricity and heat, as well as the production of organic fertiliser. Promoted by the African Environmental Action Network (EANet-Africa), the ground-breaking ceremony of the facility held on December 14, 2017.
Secretary, Agric & Rural Development, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nzekwe Stanley Ifeanyichukwu, performing the ground-breaking ceremony
Co-founder of EANet-Africa, Dr Victor Fodeke, described the initiative as an ambitious march towards the decarbonisation of abattoirs in Nigeria, adding that, by generating heat, it reduces fuelwood harvesting and deforestation, generates electricity to power Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), produces organic fertilisers (bio-slurry) for green house farming for food security, and promoting sanitation and reducing volume of wastes.
“We unveil another milestone to conserve our forest resources, and enthrone climate safety and sustainable livelihood. This is a truly mega environmental solution project in compliance with Nigeria’s Nationall Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the historic Paris Agreement. There have been several attempts to popularise biogas technology in Nigeria without a detailed roadmap and sustainable implementation strategies,” he said.
According to him, the EANet-Africa National Strategic Roadmap will bring on board clusters home-based and community-based biogas digestors in each of the 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria, Primary Health Centres and agriculture communities to produce 2-5mw electricity in five years in a public-private participatory and focused international support strategy, with the co-benefit of national reduction in municipal waste load by 40%, and enhance sanitation; enhancing conservation of forests sink of greenhouse gases (GHG) by eliminating of fuel-wood harvesting; elimination of indoor house pollution implicated in annual mortality of 135, women and children as bio-slurry will power “Women GreenHouse Farming”; take up a waste-to-wealth campaign and a re-orientation of what is wrongly called waste in Nigeria.
“Preliminary discussion in 2016 with Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) revealed that 47% of municipal wastes in Abuja are biodegradable and we (EANet-Africa) concluded on establishing a biogas digestor to generate about 7mw electricity for FCT,” said Dr Fodeke, who used to be the Director, Department of Climate change in the Federal Ministry of Environment.
He adds: “It is on record that China has over 30 million biogas digestors, while India has 15 million. Biogas technology is popular in East Africa. We are informed that United Kingdom is soon to deploy one million biogas digestors.
“The implementation of these projects with international assistance, and mobilising our innovative internally mobilised public-private partnership (PPP) support strategy can enable Nigeria to reach its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) target of 45% before 2030, enthrone sustainable livelihood, create massive jobs, enhance food security and reduce indoor air pollution and enhance sinks for GHGs in a measurable reportable and verifiable manner.”
Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, Mr Terkimbi Ikyange (Ushongo/APC), has blamed the recent massacre of Benue people by Fulani herdsmen on the inability of the Federal Government to take threats by the Cattle Breeders Association serious.
Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, Terkimbi Ikyange
According to a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker, Mr Bem Abunde and availed EnviroNews, Mr Ikyange stated this while reacting to early Tuesday morning attack on some communities in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of Benue State by suspected Fulani militia that left many people dead, injured and several properties destroyed.
The Speaker recalled that, when the National leadership of the Cattle Breeders Association under the aegis of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, openly threatened to mobilise herdsmen across the country to oppose the implementation of the Open Grazing Prohibition Law, the Assembly in a unanimous resolution, called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector-General of Police to effect their arrest.
He lamented that inspite of the threats and subsequent reaction by the Assembly and the Benue State Government, no efforts were made by the Presidency and other security operatives to prevent them from carrying out their well planned massacre against the defenseless people of the state.
Mr Ikyange described the attack by the marauders as barbaric and an affront on the Rule of Law, stressing that the resolve of Benue people to stop Open Grazing is unwavering.
The Ushongo representative re-echoed the call for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the National leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, as a way of halting the renewed violence against Benue communities.
While commiserating with the deceased families, people of Guma and Logo Local Government Areas and the entire people of the state over the heinous act, Mr Ikyange assured that the Assembly would back every move that will be taken by Governor Samuel Ortom to seek redress.
Storm Eleanor struck Ireland, parts of Britain and northern France overnight into Wednesday, January 3, 2018 bringing with it flooded streets, fallen trees and power cuts.
Floods have already hit in Bantry, Ireland, as a result of Storm Eleanor Photo credit: www.alamy.com
Some 200,000 households were left without power across northern France as of 9 am (0800 GMT), electricity network company Enedis said.
Two thousand of its staff were at work to restore the supply.
Around 55,000 properties were without power in the Republic of Ireland and 20,000 in Northern Ireland, the Press Association reported.
A further 2,500 homes and businesses were cut off from the grid in parts of England.
Winds packing speeds of up to 155 km per hour battered Ireland and caused flooding in the Atlantic seaboard city of Galway.
French railway company SNCF said that regional trains were not working in the Normandy and Alsace regions.
Long-distance trains were running normally.
Air traffic at Strasbourg and Toulouse airports was also interrupted.
French maritime authorities reported that a yachtsman had been rescued in a dangerous helicopter operation in high seas and seven-metre waves off the Normandy coast on Tuesday night.
Shipping was warned of the danger posed by his abandoned sailing yacht, which could not be located.
