An ecologist, Mr Abdullahi Aremu, has called on the government and other stakeholders to sensitise Nigerians to the dangers of bush burning, just as the harmattan season sets in.
Bush burning
Aremu, who is the Director-General, Advocacy for Environmental and Sanitation Integrity, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), gave the advice in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday, November 27, 2017.
He described bush burning as an abuse of environment, saying that it had negative consequences on soil fertility and by extension, crop growing.
He urged the residents of the rural areas, particularly hunters, to refrain from setting bushes on fire in their efforts to hunt down animals.
Aremu underscored the need for state and local governments as well as other relevant stakeholders to embark on public sensitisation campaigns on bush burning, particularly in the rural areas.
“There is need to educate Nigerians on the abuse of the environment and the importance of forests in efforts to tackle environmental challenges such as erosion and flooding,’’ he said.
He said that state and local governments should strictly enforce extant environmental laws so as to check illegal bush burning and the abuse of the ecosystem in their domains.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) on Monday, November 27, 2017 urged the Federal Government and other stakeholders to fulfil their pledge to fund the testing and treatment of HIV/AIDS in the country.
Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole
Steve Aborisade, Advocacy and Marketing Manager of AHF, made the call on behalf of the Foundation on the sidelines of activities commemorating the organisation’s 30th global anniversary in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the commemoration had the theme “Keeping the Promise’’.
“Everybody has a promise to keep on HIV and AIDS, and the government needs to keep the promise on funding to end AIDS as a public health challenge by 2030.
“It needs to take ownership of the HIV response and not be dependent on donor partners. For instance, the South African government funds 80 percent its domestic programmes, and it is not dependent on donors.
“The budget (in Nigeria) is generally is not encouraging and health must be funded because health is wealth,’’ Aborisade said.
He further reiterated AHF’s commitment to re-strengthening its partnership with relevant stakeholders to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2020 and end AIDS as a public health challenge by 2030.
Dr Modupe Oduwole, National Strategic Intervention Adviser, UNAIDS, also called on the Federal Government to take ownership of the HIV response in the country.
Oduwole said it was important for the Nigerian Government to take ownership of the HIV response of its citizens as donor funds are now dwindling.
“Beyond ownership, there is also the need for integrated approach to healthcare delivery, and revamping the whole healthcare sector for better care.’’
Dr Uche Okoro, Project Manager, FCT Agency for the Control of AIDS, further commended the government on its intervention in the treatment of HIV and AIDS in the country.
Okoro said government was working towards the inclusion of HIV and AIDS treatment in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
“This will help to reduce the out-of-pocket spending of persons living with the virus.’’
A Committee of European Union Member States is met on Monday, November 27, 2017 to discuss a licence extension for the controversial weedkiller glyphosate.
The European Parliament will decide on extending the approval of glyphosate
The EU licence for glyphosate will expire on December 15, and member states are divided as to whether they should agree to a five-year extension as proposed by the European Commission.
Glyphosate inhibits the growth of unwanted plants.
It is widely used in farming, but also to control plants in domestic and urban settings, and has been questioned amid concerns as to whether it might cause cancer.
So far, the commission has failed to secure the necessary support from EU member states for the renewal of the licence, despite proposing a shorter licensing period of five years, instead of 10 as envisaged originally.
In October, the EU parliament adopted a non-binding resolution to band the household use of glyphosate with immediate effect and end agricultural use by 2022.
Not taking care of the environment and thus allowing it to deteriorate has been fingered as the root of the upsurge of dissidents in the country.
L-R: Nnimmo Bassey, Prof. Babajide Alo and Ugochi Oluigbo at the Leslie Adogame environmental colloquium on Saturday, November 25
This was the assertion of panelists at the inaugural national environmental colloquium in commemoration of Leslie Adogame’s 50th birthday in Lagos on Saturday, November 25, 2017.
“Facilitating National Environmental Discourse for Agenda Setting for 2018” is the theme of the colloquium anchored by Mr Kayode Aboyeji of Ecogreen News. Issues discussed ranged from government policies, waste management and sundry issues bordering on environmental protection.
Adogame is the Executive Director, Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADev Nigeria).
According to Professor Babajide Alo, Director, Centre for Environmental Human Resources Development, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, the herdsmen issue is purely an environmental one.
Leslie Adogame
The migration and invasion of farmlands and public places by cows and the herders are due to desertification, he added.
Expatiating, the environmental expert identified 47 per cent of the herders as idle youths who lost their means of livelihood due to environmental problems in the North.
On the way forward, the don said those young herders should be captured and engaged gainfully.
“If you do the right thing when it comes to the environment, crime rate will drop because a hungry man is an angry man.
“Boko Haram came up because Lake Chad dried up and youths who were engaged became easy recruits of Boko Haram,” he said.
Setting environmental agenda for 2018, Nnimmo Bassey, environmentalist activist, author, poet and former chairman of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), urged the electorate to look out for “parties or individuals whose manifestoes are environment-friendly”.
Pollution, he noted, is among the top 10 killers in the world, adding that “Nigerians are living in a polluted environment”.
For him, terrorism and gun-wielding policemen in the streets are other forms of pollution.
He urged government and other stakeholders to “protect our waters, protect our forests and talk to the cattle-owners who arm the poor herdsmen to kill poor farmers while they relax in their cosy mansions.”
Award-winning environmental journalist, Ugochi Oluigbo of Television Continental (TVC), in her own part of the discussion, asserted that Nigerians’ seeming illiteracy on environmental issues “is a structural problem”.
She said the twin evils of poverty and environmental issues were not making matters better, as hunger had made people to take environmental issues for granted.
The “Green Angle” presenter on TVC urged Nigerians to think about others while dealing with the environment.
Fixing Nigeria, she insisted, is a job for everyone because of “our structural problem”.
A guest, Anthony Akpan of Pan African Vision for the Environment (PAVE), canvassed thst environmental education should be included in the school curriculum. He also called on policy-makers to make adequate provision for environmental issues.
Prof. Alo agreed with him, noting that Lagos State tried it once, “but I don’t know the situation now”.
A new antiretroviral drug employed in the first line treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), will soon be rolled out to more Nigerians living with the disease, according to Africa Community Advisory Board and the Clinton Health Access Initiative.
Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole
The drug, DTG (dolutegravir), is already available in developed countries and afforded by few Nigerians but at a very high cost. However, the Clinton Health Access Initiative is ready to accelerate the availability of the drug, which is considered an optimal treatment option. In comparison to Efavirenz (EFV), the current widely used first line drug, DTG is found to be more efficacious, durable, tolerable, of higher bioavailability, lower pill burden, and potential for fewer side effects.
A member of the Africa Community Advisory Board (AFROCAB), Mr. Obatunde Oladapo, said at a sensitisation meeting on Friday, November 24, 2017 in Lagos that several countries have changed or are in the process of making the transition to DTG-based first line regimen (and in fewer countries EFV 400mg) but more information is needed on how they are likely to perform in real world in low and medium income settings and that is the reason to engage communities in clinical trials.
“What AFROCAB is doing is that before this drug will be rolled out in Nigeria, the community will be adequately represented. AFROCAB will be involved in setting the standard of care, development and distribution of literacy materials and creating orientation workshop for support group leaders. Already 6,500 participants are enrolled in a clinical trial that began since June in three sites: Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Jos University Teaching Hospital in Plateau State, and Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, Benue State.”
According to him, the trials will last for a year till June 2018. Subsequently, the Clinton Health Access Initiative will make it available and accessible to the 3.1 per cent Nigerians living with HIV.
Speaking at the same meeting, Dr. Oliver Ezechi, Deputy Director of Research and Head, Clinical Sciences at the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research, welcomes the development, but argues that rather than making DTG a first line drug, it should be reserved as a life-saving third line drug for hundreds of people who have developed resistance to first and second line treatments.
“There are up to 50 people at our center (NIMR) who have failed both first and second line drugs. The third line drugs are not available and they are not free. A regimen costs N80,000 per month. How many patients can afford that monthly?” he lamented.
Usually, the first time a patient starts taking anti-retroviral drugs, he or she is given first line drugs. But the rule is that at least one percent of every such patient will develop resistance. The solution is to place him or her on second line drug. Similarly, every patient on second line drug will develop resistance, after which they will be placed on third line drugs.
Dr. Ezechi noted that since the beginning of HIV response in Nigeria (more than two decades ago), several patients have developed resistance to first and second two line drugs and since third line drugs are not available, accessible and affordable, they are inadvertently left to die.
“Since 97 percent of drugs are donated by donor agencies, will you blame PEPFAR, or Global Funds or any funder if they say they have no money to support people on third line drugs? That is why personally, I would have preferred this DTG is kept as a third line drugs because it is difficult to see patients that you have been caring for, going to die because of drug resistance,” he argues.
“I don’t agree with that,” Mr. Oladapo says. “I believe that using DTG as a first line drug is putting out best foot forwards. Moreover, it is already in Nigeria’s treatment guideline that DTG should be used as first line drug,” he adds.
In 2015 the World Health Organisation (WHO) included three drugs Efavirenz lower dose – EFV400, darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r) and dolutegravir (DTG)DRV/r, and DTG in HIV treatment guidelines as part of alternative regimens. To date at least fifteen low and medium income countries have recommended DTG first line in their national guidelines. And five countries have already began providing DTG in their programs: Botswana, Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda.
Executive Director, Sahara Group, Mr Tonye Cole, has tasked entrepreneurs on the need to exploit technology for information gathering toward enhancing business opportunities and economic growth.
Executive Director, Sahara Group, Mr Tonye Cole
Cole gave the advise at the Entrepreneurs Connect Forum, themed: “The role of credit and technology in building a sustainable business” on Saturday, November 25, 2017 in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Entrepreneurs Connect is one of the initiatives of The Young CEO that seeks to connect startups with business leaders from various sectors.
The platform provides startups access to mentorship, grants and networking opportunities to help them scale up their businesses and command authority in their respective sectors.
Cole noted that many entrepreneurs were not leveraging the internet to research
diverse information that could catalyse and expose their businesses to global trends that would spur growth.
“Startup businesses collapse because people have not done enough research into why they are going into business; they go into business because they see someone else doing it.
“Every business school would tell you that most businesses fail in their first year, so to reduce the rate of this failure, you must spend time in conducting research so that you can avoid pitfalls that others went through,” he said.
According to him, lots of financing opportunities are available to be explored by startups, adding that money is chasing entrepreneurs with innovative ideas.
He commended the Federal Government on the country’s improvement on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking, adding that sustainability of the improved index should be enhanced.
“The government can set a target and continue to build upon it, the ultimate is doing business registration and operating your business without seeing any government official.
“The government should continue working that way because you do not need any government official to access money, pay taxes, access information and I believe that we will surely get there. It is a work in progress,” Cole said.
He stressed that everyone and not just government has a role to play in contributing to easing the business environment in view of the immense benefits.
Mr Michael Akintan, risk analyst, Bank of Industry (BoI), urged the entrepreneurs to keep proper business records and to explore the various financing products of the bank to upscale their businesses.
Mr Aigbe Omoregie, Convener of The Young CEO, said that the initiative had been at the forefront of youth empowerment through its programmes and events.
“Nigeria, in comparison with other West African countries, is by far a bigger economy with a teeming population of over 210 million, with the young unemployed people constituting a whooping 65 per cent of the number.
“A large percentage of these young people are willing to work and create new business opportunities in their local communities but lack access to funding and mentorship from renowned business leaders,” he said.
Omoregie noted that the platform seeks to bridge the gap of financing, mentorship and capacity building of youths between 15 to 30 years toward boosting entrepreneurship, job and wealth creation in the country.
NAN reports that two beneficiaries in the fashion and agro-allied industry were awarded N100, 000 grant each to scale up their businesses.
At least 300 women in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State have been empowered with vegetable seeds and farm implements, an aide to the state governor, said on Saturday, November 25, 2017.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State
Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Asaba, Dr Genevieve Mordi, the Senior Special Assistant to Delta Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, on International Relations, said the empowerment programme was to encourage more women to engage in agriculture, especially vegetable farming.
Mordi said that the vision was driven by the need to instill in the people of the state the “Western-style’’ mind-set of farming.
“The vision is also aimed at erasing the erroneous notion that some particular crops cannot do well in the state.
“I am particularly worried that sometimes, we are at the mercies of our northern brothers for the supply of some crops and vegetables such as tomato and onion, among others.
“These crops some of us earlier believed cannot do well in this part of the country.
“Delta state, by divine coordination is well situated geographically and my vision is to see a Delta State where farming becomes a specialised profession as it is in the western hemisphere where farming is not just limited to supplying the food chain but also expands into agri-tourism ,’’ she said.
According to her, Agri-tourism, hotels are built within organised farming settlement, activities such as fruit picking, customised foods, custom smoothness and juices blends by the hotel guests could be included as part of the tourism package to attract guests nationally and internationally.
“We already have this in Aqua-culture termed as ‘point and kill’. It is just adapting same practice to fruits and vegetables.
“This will definitely lead to job creation and increased revenue generation. We will get there one day and real soon,’’ Mordi said.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Saturday, November 25, 2017 that the newly inaugurated N10 billion Farmers-to-Finance-Mutual Funds would help reduce poverty and support local farmers to grow their businesses.
Vice President of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo
Osinbajo stated this in Abuja at the 2017 Conference of the Association of non-bank Micro-finance Institutions of Nigeria (ANMFIN) and launch of of its N10 billion Farmers-to-Finance-Mutual Funds.
He said that the newly established fund would complement the effort of the Federal Government at increasing agricultural output, ensuring food security and the production of raw materials.
Osinbajo was represented at the event by the Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Mr Olukayode Pitan.
He commended ANMFIN for the initiative directed at achieving financial inclusion by providing easy and affordable finance to farmers residing in rural areas.
“It is estimated that in Nigeria, those living below the poverty line is about 67 per cent, most of who resides in the rural areas and primarily practice subsistence farming.
“Therefore the elimination of poverty is not possible without sustained execution of agricultural development programmes.
“Given the scale of investments required to ensure sustained growth in the sector, private sector involvement is fundamental.
“One major avenue through which this can be achieved is through pooling of capital from private sources, such as the Farmers-to-Finance-Mutual Funds.
“This platform will offer private investors the ability to pool capital and take advantage of large investment opportunities that are not usually accessible to an individual investor.
“On this note, I thank ANMFIN for developing this initiative. I am hopeful that with all these strategies geared towards enhancing agriculture output, we shall soon achieve self-sufficiency in food production,’’ he said.
Also, the President of ANMFIN, Princess Adeshola Ogunleye said that the Fund would be made available to farmers at an interest rate of 10 per cent.
She said that the association would leverage its network to ensure that at least 4.5 million farmers benefited from the fund.
“The initiative, in addition to providing loan able funds, will also identify, develop and package viable rural farmers with enterprising customers.
“Through this scheme, ANMFIN is expected to actively play and partner relevant stakeholders like the CBN, DFID amongst others to contribute to increasing financing to disadvantaged farmers,’’ she said.
Also, the Chairman, ANMFIN Board of Trustees, said that the mechanism to ensure that the funds was not diverted have been put in place.
To this end, he said a committee comprising representatives from the CBN, Micro-Finance Banks, the President of ANMFIN as well as the association’s BOT Chairman, had been set up to guard aganst misuse.
In a ceremony held on Friday, November 23, 2017, at the International Civil Aviation Organisation headquarters in Montreal, Canada, to mark the 30th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) was given the Partnership Award. This award has been instituted to recognise the contribution of civil society in providing policy and research leadership in bringing about the Kigali Agreement in October 2016. An international jury made up of eminent leaders selected the awardees.
Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)
Down To Earth, the science, environment and development fortnightly which CSE helps publish, was given the Best Media Coverage Award for its reportage on ozone spanning the last 26 years.
The Ozone Awards are given by the Ozone Secretariat in recognition of the exemplary roles played by “individuals, groups or organisations that have demonstrated extraordinary commitment and contribution to the progress and achievements of the Montreal Protocol in the past 10 years.”
Kigali Agreement
The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol – also referred to as the Kigali Agreement – was signed in October 2016 to phase down the use of hydroflourocarbons (HFCs). HFCs are used as a refrigerant in the refrigeration and air conditioning sectors. It is a super greenhouse gas with global warming potential thousands of times higher than that of carbon dioxide (CO2). The Kigali Agreement is considered to be the first legally binding climate change treaty of the 21st century.
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is considered as the most successful international environmental treaty. Over the past 30 years, it has successfully eliminated chemicals that damaged and made holes in the ozone layer.
Stratospheric ozone layer absorbs most of the harmful ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation reaching the surface of the earth from the sun. Depletion of the ozone layer by chemicals like CFCs had led to an increase in UV-B radiation at the surface, resulting in an increase in skin cancers and other impacts such as damage to crops and to marine animals.
As a result of the Montreal Protocol, in which all 197 countries are signatories, the ozone hole in Antarctica is slowly recovering. Scientific projections indicate that the ozone layer will return to the 1980 levels between 2050 and 2070.
Speaking after the awards ceremony, Chandra Bhushan, said: “These are bad times for multilateralism as many developed countries are shying away from their responsibilities to solve global challenges. But it is clear that without strong multilateralism, we cannot solve global environmental challenges like climate change. This is where Montreal Protocol and its Kigali Amendment become very important. The Kigali Amendment shows that with good science, economics and politics, we can craft a multilateral agreement which is a win-win for both developed and developing countries.”
Hailing the role played by India at the negotiations, Chandra Bhushan added: “India did many things differently during negotiations. For one, NGOs and the government worked as a team. India was proactive and not reactive. It submitted its own proposals, instead of reacting to the proposals of developed countries. Most importantly, India negotiated on the principal of positive reciprocity – it came forward and took more responsibilities, thereby pushing developed countries and China to do more.”
On the eve of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil’s (RSPO) annual meeting, the Shipibo Konibo community of Santa Clara de Uchunya and its representative organisation, FECONAU, have condemned the failure of the organisation’s complaints mechanism to secure justice for their community. They have called on the RSPO to implement urgent reforms if it wishes to be a credible body for certifying sustainable palm oil and eliminating human rights and environmental abuses associated with the palm oil sector.
Members of the Shipibo Konibo Indian community in the Peuvian amazon
The community of Santa Clara de Uchunya, whose ancestral lands and forests have been devastated by a former member of the RSPO (Plantaciones de Pucallpa), currently reconfigured as Ocho Sur PE SAC, has called on the complaints panel to “issue their final report about the violations of our right as as Shipibo-Conibo indigenous people as a result of oil palm operations”.
In a statement issued during a community assembly on October 26, 2017, they asked: “How is it possible that the company could leave the RSPO in the middle of an investigation and not be sanctioned?” The community and FECONAU are now calling on the RSPO to close glaring loopholes in its existing complaints mechanism including the ability of members to withdraw from the RSPO during a formal complaint process and thereby escape being held to account.
To date approximately 6,000 hectares of the community’s forests have been destroyed for conversion to palm oil plantations. Fences and security systems now prevent community members from accessing any remaining forests vital to their subsistence and the company continues to expand its operations despite suspension orders from the RSPO and Peruvian government and ongoing investigations by environmental prosecutors. All of the community representatives have been issued with death threats for their opposition.
Their statement came in the wake of confirmation from the RSPO that no further action would be taken on the case. “The Complaints Panel confirms that it will not be publishing the investigative report.This decision is made on the basis of the Complaints Panel’s procedures and legal advice which highlighted the potential exposure for libel in publishing said report given that Plantaciones de Pucallpa has resigned as a member and RSPO no longer has any jurisdiction on their alleged actions…”
In a response, Robert Guimaraes Vasquez, president of FECONAU, said: “We were surprised when we heard that the RSPO is running scared of the company, it is the community not the RSPO who are fighting for their lives here, several community members have been served with false accusations by the company and have to attend legal processes to defend themselves. Worse still many of us are living in fear of our lives and have received numerous death threats.
“It is bad enough that the complaint mechanism is so weak that the RSPO’s preliminary order to suspend operations was simply ignored by the company and that the company can withdraw while a complaint is ongoing. However, all we have requested is that after two years of this case that the RSPO panel simply issue their full findings. They have done it for the deforestation analysis, why not for the other issues including violation of our land rights and rights to FPIC. Is that too much to ask?”
In a statement, FECONAU issued a series of recommendations to the complaints panel if it is to be fit for purpose. These include measures to prevent withdrawal of companies from RSPO membership while complaints are ongoing and unresolved, measures to enforce their orders as well as the capacity to conduct in situ investigations where required.
Although the case was the first complaint brought against an RSPO member company based in Peru, it exposed structural failings of the RSPO complaint mechanism, which have been used elsewhere by member companies to avoid accountability. These include the sale of company assets to non RSPO members, the creation of new companies or the withdrawal from the membership.
Meanwhile the Complaints Panel (CP) does not appear to have the ability to enforce its decisions. Stop work orders are routinely ignored by member companies and not followed up by the CP as Marcus Colchester, senior policy advisor at the Forest Peoples Programme highlighted, citing cases involving Golden Agri Resources (GAR) in Liberia and East Kalimantan and Wilmar in West Sumatra: “In all these cases the complaints panel has found in favour of the communities in their initial decisions but has then failed to ensure compliance. Despite improvements in Panel’s initial determinations, the CP seems unable to then follow up and sanction companies for continued non-compliance. This is extremely frustrating for impacted communities who have to wait years and years to get justice.”
On the eve of the RSPO’s 15th annual event the Forest Peoples Progamme, FECONAU and other civil society groups are calling for urgent and effective reforms to the RSPO complaint mechanism. These include innovative measures to prohibit withdrawal from the membership while a complaint was ongoing and the creation of a ‘performance bond’ whereby member companies would deposit a fund which could be forfeited on behalf of affected communities if and when they failed to comply with CP rulings.
In October 2016, almost one year after the community of Santa Clara de Uchunya filed a formal complaint against RSPO member in Peru, Plantaciones de Pucallpa, the company withdrew from the membership prior to a final resolution from the complaints panel thereby avoiding any sanctions. Since then the community have made repeated requests to the RSPO for further action to be taken including at a minimum, the publication in full of the findings of the complaints panel.
In March 2017 the RSPO responded with a partial report which assessed community allegations of deforestation which had continually been denied by the company. It was based on satellite analysis commissioned by the RSPO and endorsed community complaints, concluding that “Plantaciones de Pucallpa (PdP) (Peru) to be in breach of RSPO Code and Conduct and RSPO Principles and Criteria (RSPO P & C) during its membership period from October 14, 2013 to October 12, 2016 but concluded that these findings and decision are of moral and persuasive value only, and cannot be enforced in light of Plantaciones de Pucallpa’s resignation as a RSPO member.”
