A Federal High Court, Lagos on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 ordered the permanent forfeiture of 56 houses situated in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja valued at $21,982,224 (about N3.3 billion) allegedly linked to a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, to the Federal Government.
Diezani Alison-Madueke. Photo credit: TODAY.ng
The trial judge, Abdul-Azeez Anka, made the order in response to a motion by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking the permanent forfeiture of the property.
The anti-graft agency while urging the court to grant the motion argued that the property sought to be attached are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
Having listened to the submissions of EFCC’s counsel, Anselem Ozioko, Justice Anka granted the motion as prayed.
The forfeited properties include 21 mixed housing units of eight numbers of four bedroom penthouse apartment; six three-bedroom apartments; two three-bedroom apartments and one four-bedroom apartment, all ensuite and located at 7, Thurnburn Street and 5, Raymond Street, Yaba, valued at N937 million and bought through Chapel Properties Ltd.
Others are 16 four-bedroom terraces, located at Heritage Court Estate, Omerelu Street, Diobu GRA, Port Harcourt, River States, valued at N928 million and bought through Blue Nile Estate Ltd; 13 three-bedroom with one room maid’s quarter, situated at Mabushi Gardens Estate, Plot 1205, Cadastral Zone B06, Mabushi, Abuja, valued at N650 million and bought through Azinga Meadows Ltd and six flats of three bedrooms and one boys quarter, located at Plot 808 (135) Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, valued at N805 million and bought through Vistapoint property Development Ltd.
In granting the motion, the judge noted that there was no response to the applicant’s motion on notice for final forfeiture by any of the respondents despite been served with the hearing notice.
Justice Anka said: “I have gone through the affidavit attached to motion for final forfeiture as well as the submissions of the EFCC’s counsel, A. B. C. Ozioko. The court has no option considering the incontrovertible evidence filed by the EFCC than to grant the application.
“The motion for final forfeiture is accordingly granted as prayed. All parties have right of appeal.”
Joined as respondents in the suit are Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke (1st respondent), Donald Chidi Amamgbo (2nd respondent), Chapel Properties Limited (3rd respondent), Blue Nile Estate Limited (4th respondent), Azinga Meadows Limited (5th respondent) and Vistapoint Property Development Limited (6th respondent).
Justice Abdulazeez Anka of the Federal High Court, Lagos on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 refused to hear a fundamental rights suit filed by suspected kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, also known as Evans, seeking N300 million damages for illegal detention.
Evans
Justice Anka said the case file would be returned to the Chief Judge for further directive.
The judge had earlier heard the case during the court’s long vacation and adjourned until August 29 for judgment after parties argued it and adopted their addresses on August 16.
But, the Police, through its counsel, Mr. David Igbodo, said another lawyer, Mr Henry Obiazi, who represented the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the Nigeria Police when the case was heard, did so without authorisation.
The police prayed the court to set aside all the purported arguments made by Obiazi and to set aside the ruling it delivered on August 16 in which he adjourned for judgment.
When the case came up before another judge, Justice Chuka Obiozor during the long vacation, he held that the case was no longer urgent.
Justice Obizor then returned the file to the Chief Judge, Justice Adamu Kafarati, for re-assignment to another judge.
The case was subsequently re-assigned to Justice Babs Kuewemi.
However, Evans’ counsel, Olukoya Ogungbeje, wrote the Chief Judge, informing him that Justice Anka had already adjourned the case for judgment.
Based on the letter, the case was again returned to Justice Anka.
When the case came up before Justice Anka on Wednesday, he expressed displeasure that the case was returned to him when the issue of judgment had been overtaken by events.
The judge said that since the police had filed other applications, the earlier adjournment for judgment had become void, adding that even if he had written the judgment earlier, it meant that a new one would be written.
Police counsel Mr. Chukwu Agwu accused Ogungbeje of “smuggling” the case file back to Justice Anka’s court.
He said: “The case was re-assigned to Justice Kuewumi. How my learned colleague smuggled this case to this court is baffling. He did not avail us with a copy of his letter to the Chief Judge, otherwise we would have reacted.”
But Ogungbeje said he wrote the letter on the basis that since judgment had already been fixed, Justice Anka would deliver it after entertaining the late application filed by the police.
Meanwhile, Justice Anka held that it was not factual to say that judgment had been reserved “when it’s not”, adding that the court was obliged to hear the fresh applications by the police.
He said the case was not adjourned for judgment but for hearing, adding that Ogungbeje’s claim that the case was for judgment was not the true position.
Ruling, he said: “The case was made for hearing of the motion of first and second respondents.
“The court shall therefore cause a letter to be written to the Adminstrative Judge to explain the true position of the case, which is for further hearing and not judgment.
“Parties shall therefore await the decision of the Admin Judge, either to re-assign the case or for this court to maintain the case in its causelist.”
Evans has since been arraigned before Justice Hakeem Oshodi of the Lagos State High Court.
While Evans and two others pleaded guilty to the charges, the remaining defendants pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution said that the defendants between February 14 and April 12 along Obokun Street, Ilupeju, Lagos, armed with guns and other dangerous weapons, captured and detained one Mr Duru Donatus.
He said that the defendants allegedly collected a ransom of 223,000 Euros to release Donatus.
In his fundamental rights suit, Evans is claiming N300 million against the police as damages for alleged illegal detention and rights violation.
The Director General/CEO, National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr. Rufus Ebegba, has assured Nigerians that the agency will continue to work to ensure the safety of Nigerians with regards to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
DG/CEO, NBMA, Dr. Rufus Ebegba (middle); National Coordinator, Northern Youth Anti-Corruption Ambassadors (NYAA), Idris Goga (on Dr. Ebegba’s right); with the members of the NYAA and staff of the NBMA
Dr. Ebegba, who said this while receiving the Mallam Aminu Kano Award of Excellence bestowed on him by the Northern Youth Anti-Corruption Ambassadors of Nigeria in Abuja on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 encouraged Nigerians to support the government in fighting corruption.
“The award conferred on me today shows that Nigerians are watching the actions of the government and the establishment of the Northern Youth Anti-Corruption Ambassador group gives hope to the future of Nigeria,” he said.
Dr. Ebegba dedicated the award to the Federal Government as a symbol to fight corruption and thanked them and assured them that the agency would do better.
While presenting the award of recognition for safety management, youth empowerment, financial discipline and social transformation, the National Coordinator, Northern Youth Anti-Corruption Ambassadors, Idris Goga, commended the DG/CEO for his hard work, high performance, sacrifice, selfless service and outstanding leadership in ensuring that the agency efficiently carries out its mandate.
Globally, more than 20,000 girls are married every day below the minimum age permitted by national law, according to new research from Save the Children and the World Bank, marking the International Day of the Girl.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, CEO of Save the Children International
In all, about 7.5 million girls are married illegally every year. In addition, close to 100 million girls are not protected against child marriage under the laws of their countries.
A growing number of countries are raising the legal age of marriage or eliminating exceptions under the law that allow early marriage with parental consent or court consent. However, implementing such laws is challenging.
More than two thirds of all child marriages are still taking place below the minimum age permitted by national law, showing the difficulty in ending the practice.
While some of these marriages are informal as opposed to formal unions, most would likely still be illegal under the law. Weak enforcement and a disconnect between national, customary, and religious laws are part of the issue. Deep-rooted traditions and beliefs mean that traditional leaders in communities still too often support the practice.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, CEO of Save the Children International, said: “We will not see a world where girls and boys have the same opportunities to succeed in life until we eradicate child marriage. When a girl gets married too young, her role as a wife and a mother takes over. She is more likely to leave school; she may become pregnant and suffer abuse.
“Laws banning the practice are an important first step. But millions of vulnerable girls will continue to be at risk unless child marriage is tackled head on. We need to change attitudes in communities so that we can end this harmful practice once and for all.
“The longer a girl stays in education, the more likely it is that she grows up healthy, secures a livelihood and has healthy and educated children of her own.”
The findings come ahead of an African-led conference on ending child marriage to take place in Senegal later this month. The West and Central Africa High Level Meeting on Ending Child Marriage (October 23-25) will see government leaders, traditional, religious and other influential leaders, child rights organisations, youth, and UN agencies, come together to discuss solutions to end this harmful practice.
“From this meeting, we hope to have an important understanding of child marriage, its consequences, drivers, and solutions. We’ll look at policies and legal frameworks surrounding child marriage, and we intend to build a platform where we will be sharing our successes and challenges in the implementations of policies and programmes in ending child marriage,” said the First Lady of Sierra Leone, Sia Koroma.
West and Central Africa is home to many of the countries with the highest rates of child marriage globally. In this region alone, 1.7 million child marriages are taking place below the national minimum age every year—one of the highest proportions globally. Some countries in the region are also affected by high rates of teenage pregnancy outside of formal marriages, too often a result of gender-based violence or exploitative relationships—which generally go unpunished.
Fatmata, 16, from Sierra Leone, was married last year. “I was 15 years old when I met my husband. Right now, I’m not very happy because I didn’t have the chance to do what I wanted to do in life and now I’m pregnant,” she laments
The analysis by Save the Children and the World Bank is calling for urgent action to tackle child marriage at both the national and international levels. Legal reform to set the minimum age for marriage at a minimum of 18 and eliminating exceptions are needed. But, in addition, national strategies with well-designed targeted interventions are also needed, especially to enable girls to remain in school as a viable alternative to marriage.
At the World Bank the study is part of a work programme that benefits from support from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and the Global partnership for Education, Data on the legal age of marriage are from the Women Business and the Law initiative.
A recent study conducted by Save the Children UK reveals that child marriage is both the cause and a result of poor education outcome in Nigeria. (Nigeria Girls’ Education Research, 2017) In Nigeria, over 10.5 million children are out of school, the highest number globally. Nearly 6.3 million of this number are girls. Furthermore, Violence against Children in Nigeria Survey (VACS, 2015) reports that one in every five girls in Nigeria has experienced sexual violence and a third of this number are between age 14 and 15.
In Nigeria, child marriage negatively impacts girls’ education outcomes as they are at increased risk of pregnancy and drop-out. This leads to a recurring cycle of illiteracy, poverty, lack of economic opportunity and entrenched gender gaps.
Therefore, says the organisation, there should be a renewed commitment and immediate action to ensure the right of every girl for education is respected, protected and fulfilled; and national and state level investment on education is increased with an aim to improve the quality and accessibility of an affordable primary and secondary education, including increasing number of female teachers, reinforcing teachers’ code of conduct, improving accessibility of text books and ensuring that the teaching-learning environment is safe and free from all forms of violence against the girl child.
In commemoration of the 2017 International Day for Disaster Reduction, Achim Steiner (Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme), Patricia Espinosa (Executive Secretary of UN Climate Chang) and Robert Glasser (UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction and head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) emphasise in this treatise that the climate change phenomenon has become a threat to rich and poor alike, and that management of climate risk should be integrated into disaster risk management as a whole
A view of the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Sint Maarten Dutch part of Saint Martin island in the Caribbean, Sept. 6, 2017.
From Miami and Puerto Rico to Barbuda and Havana, the devastation of this year’s hurricane season across Latin America and the Caribbean serves as a reminder that the impacts of climate change know no borders.
In recent weeks, Category 5 hurricanes have brought normal life to a standstill for millions in the Caribbean and on the American mainland. Harvey, Irma and Maria have been particularly damaging. The 3.4 million inhabitants of Puerto Rico have been scrambling for basic necessities including food and water, the island of Barbuda has been rendered uninhabitable, and dozens of people are missing or dead on the UNESCO world heritage island of Dominica.
The impact is not confined to this region. The record floods across Bangladesh, India and Nepal have made life miserable for some 40 million people. More than 1,200 people have died and many people have lost their homes, crops have been destroyed, and many workplaces have been inundated. Meanwhile, in Africa, over the last 18 months 20 countries have declared drought emergencies, with major displacement taking place across the Horn region.
For those countries that are least developed the impact of disasters can be severe, stripping away livelihoods and progress on health and education; for developed and middle-income countries the economic losses from infrastructure alone can be massive; for both, these events reiterate the need to act on a changing climate that threatens only more frequent and more severe disasters.
A (shocking) sign of things to come?
The effects of a warmer climate on these recent weather events, both their severity and their frequency, has been revelatory for many, even the overwhelming majority that accept the science is settled on human-caused global warming.
While the silent catastrophe of 4.2 million people dying prematurely each year from ambient pollution, mostly related to the use of fossil fuels, gets relatively little media attention, the effect of heat-trapping greenhouse gases on extreme weather events is coming into sharper focus.
It could not be otherwise when the impacts of these weather events are so profound. During the last two years over 40 million people, mainly in countries which contribute least to global warming, were forced either permanently or temporarily from their homes by disasters.
There is clear consensus: rising temperatures are increasing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, leading to more intense rainfall and flooding in some places, and drought in others. Some areas experience both, as was the case this year in California, where record floods followed years of intense drought.
TOPEX/Poseidon, the first satellite to precisely measure rising sea levels, was launched two weeks before Hurricane Andrew made landfall in Florida 25 years ago. Those measurements have observed a global increase of 3.4 millimeters per year since then; that’s a total of 85 millimeters over 25 years, or 3.34 inches.
Rising and warming seas are contributing to the intensity of tropical storms worldwide. We will continue to live with the abnormal and often unforeseen consequences of existing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, for many, many years to come.
In 2009, Swiss Re published a case study focused on Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, which envisaged a moderate sea level rise scenario for the 2030s which matches what has already taken place today. If a storm on the scale of Andrew had hit this wealthy corner of the US today, the economic damage would range from $100 billion to $300 billion. Now the estimates suggest that the economic losses from Harvey, Irma and Maria could surpass those numbers.
Reduce disaster risk now; tackle climate change in the long-term
Miami is working hard on expanding its flood protection programme; $ 400 million is earmarked to finance sea pumps, improved roads and seawalls. Yet, this level of expenditure is beyond the reach of most low and middle-income countries that stand to lose large chunks of their GDP every time they are hit by floods and storms.
While the Paris Agreement has set the world on a long-term path towards a low-carbon future, it is a windy path that reflects pragmatism and realities in each individual country. Thus, while carbon emissions are expected to drop as countries meet their self-declared targets, the impacts of climate change may be felt for some time, leaving the world with little choice but to invest, simultaneously, in efforts to adapt to climate change and reduce disaster risk. The benefits of doing so make economic sense when compared to the cost of rebuilding.
This will require international cooperation on a previously unprecedented scale as we tackle the critical task of making the planet a more resilient place to the lagging effects of greenhouse gas emissions that we will experience for years to come. Restoring the ecological balance between emissions and the natural absorptive capacity of the planet is the long-term goal. It is critical to remember that the long-term reduction of emissions is THE most important risk reduction tactic we have, and we must deliver on that ambition.
The November UN Climate Conference in Bonn presided over by the small island of Fiji, provides an opportunity to not only accelerate emission reductions but to also boost the serious work of ensuring that the management of climate risk is integrated into disaster risk management as a whole. Poverty, rapid urbanisation, poor land use, ecosystems decline and other risk factors will amplify the impacts of climate change. Today on International Day for Disaster Reduction, we call for them to be addressed in a holistic way.
Stakeholders in the agriculture and health sectors of the Nigerian economy have canvassed for the fortification of micronutrients in staple foods to stem the ugly effect of hidden hunger.
Front Row (L-R): Chairman, LOC and FUNAI DAP, Prof. Jonny Ogunji; a participant; Chairman of the event and CMD, FETHA, Dr. Emeka Onwe Oga; former Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu; FUNAI VC, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba; VC of Uniport, Prof. Ndowa Lale; HRM, Eze Domnic Aloh; a member of the University Council, Prof. Michael Omelewa; and Ag. Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Dr. Christiana Igberi, in a group picture with some participants at the event
They made the call on Tuesday, October 10, 2017 during the maiden international conference on Food Security and Hidden Hunger organised by the Faculty of Agriculture, Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), Ebonyi State with the theme “Hidden Hunger Dynamics: Opportunities and Challenges for Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Declaring the conference open, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba, noted that the era of oil boom was over and advised governments at all levels to invest massively in Agriculture in order to mitigate the incidence of poverty and hunger in the country.
He maintained that Agriculture has a strategic role to play in Nigeria’s quest for economic stability, food security and employment generation for the youths. The Professor of Agricultural Economics further stated that the university established a Faculty of Agriculture in order to help its host community in particular and Ebonyi State in general achieve their agricultural prospects.
He further said: “Our Faculty of Agriculture was established to give practical skills to the students in order to make them employers of labour and contributors to the growth of our nation’s economy on graduation”, stressing that the faculty would be different in many ways as students would be exposed to the rudiments and dynamics of modern farming.
Delivering the lead paper of the conference entitled “Hidden Hunger Dynamics: Opportunities and Challenges for Meeting the Sustainable Goals”, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Ndowa Ekoate Sunday Lale, said: “Hidden hunger means inadequate consumption of nutritious food bearing in mind that the psychological use of food is within the domain of nutrition and health, adding that “food preparation and packaging affect its nutritional contents.”
He noted that no nation has achieved food security despite the notable increase in food production in different parts of the world, stressing that 60% of the world’s hungry were women while in every 10 seconds a child dies from hunger-related diseases.
He therefore canvassed for increased intake of nutritional and fresh food and the shunning of processed ones and the invigoration of the school health programmes in order to mitigate the negative effect of hidden hunger on people like malnutrition, obesity, wasting and the likes.
In his presentation on “Full But Not Healthy: Assessing the Policies Cum Programmes to Support Food Security and Fight Hidden Hunger in Nigeria”, the former Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, opined that both the quality and quantity of food were important in tackling micronutrients deficiency in food consumption.
He lauded the federal government initiative of fortifying salt with vitamins A, calling on agencies of government charged with implementation and monitoring to go the extra miles to secure compliance from all stakeholders. He maintained that for hidden hunger to be curtailed in the country, government should enforce the fortification of all stable foods with essential nutrients like it is being done with salt.
The Professor of Medicine further advised the ministries of heath and agriculture and its agencies to work in synergy, also urging them to work directly with the people for the government policy on food security to have consummate impact on the citizens.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee for the conference, Prof. Dr. Jonny Ogunji, and the Acting Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Dr. Christiana Igberi, spoke on the rationale for hosting the conference and the benefits to be derived from it by all stakeholders.
Ogunji noted that preventing hidden hunger in all its forms was essential for achieving almost all the Sustainable Development Goals, stressing that the goals were to assess efforts made towards food security realisation, stimulate debate on hidden hunger, improve diets and raise levels of micro-nutrition among others.
Igberi on her part noted that the establishment of a Faculty of Agriculture in the university was one of the greatest achievements of the present University Management, adding that the consequences of hidden hunger on people were long term and profound. And called on all relevant stakeholders to have a re-think in the issue of food security especially nutrition.
The opening ceremony of the conference was chaired by the Chief Medical Director of the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (FETHA), Dr. Emeka Onwe Oga.
A Soil Association report has revealed how genetically modified (GM) cotton grew to almost obliterate all other cotton production in India, and how the promised GM success rapidly turned to failure, with disastrous, even lethal, results for some of the world’s poorest farmers. The report, launched at the Textile Exchange Sustainability Conference in Washington D.C., reveals how alternative, more sustainable cotton production is now successfully replacing GM.
The GM Bt Cotton failed in Burkina Faso, with farmers making claims from Monsanto
GM cotton was introduced to India in 2002 by Mahyco Monsanto (India) Ltd. The initially promising performance of GM cotton proved short-lived as crops experienced severe pest attacks. Production costs rose threefold due to the more expensive pesticides needed to control problem insects and widespread crop failure.
This led to huge debts for small-scale cotton growers, which represent most of India’s cotton producers. A spate of suicides followed. In just one region of Maharashtra province, factors linked to the cultivation of GM cotton are reported to have led to 7,992 farmer suicides between 2006 and 2011.
One of the ministers responsible for introducing GM cotton to India was recently quoted as saying, “In the 1990s, I introduced GM cotton in India. Twenty years later, I regret…I am responsible for suicide of thousands of cotton farmers.”
Peter Melchett, Policy Director at the Soil Association, said: “Many people assume that GM crops will work miracles when, more often, the harsh reality is that GM creates nightmares. That is what GM cotton is doing in many countries, none more so than in India, the largest cotton producer in the world. Some of the poorest farmers in the world have been subject to a crude GM experiment that has gone disastrously wrong – and many have paid the price with their lives. Thankfully, with Indian government support, non-GM and organic production is now in a positive position, offering lower production costs and supporting healthier agricultural, environmental, and social outcomes.”
The report makes clear that the problems caused by pests were entirely predictable. GM cotton is engineered to ward off pests, but nature is quick to get around this: just four years after GM cotton was introduced to India, the pink bollworm, the pest the plants were design to resist, became immune to GM cotton in Western India. In many areas, other pests took advantage of the disrupted ecological balance caused by GM cotton, leading to massive crop losses. In Punjab in 2015, whitefly destroyed two-thirds of the cotton crop, causing an estimated loss of $629 million, leading to the suicide of 15 farmers.
GM cotton seed dominated the Indian market, to the extent that organic production was threatened. However, many organic farmers have weathered the storm and now both government support and local initiatives are changing the story of cotton in India. These include projects to improve the availability of good quality organic seed and Government-supported chemical-free zones, where farm management approaches are adopted by multiple smallholder farmers across wide areas to maximise the benefits of sustainable farming practices.
Organic cotton, 70% of which is grown in India, offers a more stable, long term solution for farmers. Organic production uses non-GM seed, follows natural approaches such as crop rotation, and makes the most of local resources, all of which allow farmers to grow a variety of crops for food and income alongside cotton. Demand for organic cotton has been growing and reached $15.7 billion in 2015. Momentum is building behind organic cotton: brands and retailers are increasing their support for organic cotton, with important sustainability targets being set by major companies around the world and further commitments are expected to be announced from other multinational brands on 11 October 2017.
The report, titled “Failed Promises: the rise and fall of GM cotton in India”, offers a warning of the perils of relying on GM technology, but also provides reasons to be hopeful as alternative approaches, including organic, are creating a better vision for farming in India and beyond.
On the occasion of the Rapunzel Naturkost One World Festival, the five winners of the 5th One World Award (OWA) were presented in a festive gala on Legau in the Allgäu region of Germany on Friday, September 8, 2017 and which attracted nearly 700 guests from all parts of the world.
Awardees at the Rapunzel Naturkost One World Festival in Legau, Germany
This year, two outstanding projects shared the OWA Grand Prix and the 30,000 Euro prize money: State Prime Minister Shri Pawan Chamling from India who managed to convert the Indian federal state Sikkim together with 65,000 farmers to organic agriculture in only 12 years. The United World Colleges (UWC) from Freiburg/Germany and Pune/India with their social and sustainable educational programs that correspond remarkably well with the OWA goals.
Only within a few years, the OWA appears to have established itself as the most important award of the global organic movement. Joseph Wilhelm, founder and managing director of Rapunzel Naturkost and initiator of the OWA, describes the award in his opening address as an “encourager award that honours people and initiatives that promote fair and equitable globalisation.” The award that is presented by Rapunzel and IFOAM – Organics International is awarded every three years.
The German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dr. Gerd Müller, and Joseph Wilhelm presented the awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award that went to the Ethiopian scientist and environmental activist, Dr. Tewolde Berhan and his wife Dr. Sue Edwards who are the first married couple to receive this award for their profound life’s work. The laudatory speech for this honorary award was given by Markus Arbenz, executive director of IFOAM – Organics International.
Short film clips and interviews showed the audience the commitment of the winners. The host of the evening was journalist and book author, Dr. Tanja Busse, who found empathetic words for a moving and emotional award ceremony. The well-known guitar soloist, Walter Abt, performed the background music.
The prize money of 5,000 Euro each and an OWA medal went to Professor Amin Babayev from Azerbaijan, Nasser Abufarha (Canaan Project) from Palestine and Martha-Jean Shamiso Mungwashu from Zimbabwe. Roberto Ugas (World Board IFOAM – Organics International, Peru), Steffen Reese (Naturland Deutschland) and Helmy Abouleish (Sekem, Egypt) gave the laudatory speeches.
The highlight of the gala was the presentation of the OWA Grand Prix to two winners: State Prime Minister Shri Pawan Chamling from India and the representatives of the United World Colleges (UWC) from Freiburg/Germany and Pune/India. Each of the two winners received prize money of 15,000 Euro and an OWA statue created by the Vietnamese-German artist Dao Droste for their outstanding commitment and their extraordinary initiatives. The laudatory speech for the two Grand Prix winners held Right Livelihood Award laureate, Dr. Vandana Shiva, the globally recognised environmental activist and eco-feminist.
The concluding group picture with all the winners and participants was impressive proof how diverse “one world“ can be and what impact the activities of individual people can have, said the organisers.
Joseph Wilhelm and the OWA coordinator Bernward Geier (coordinator and chairman of the OWA jury) were excited about the success of the 5th One World Award and were already looking forward to the nominations from around the world for the next OWA that will be awarded in the year 2020.
The fifth annual Tusk Conservation Awards were last week presented for the first time in Africa at a gala ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa and attended by three of the country’s most eminent public figures – Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, former First Lady, Mrs Graça Machel, and former President FW de Klerk – who presented the awards on behalf of Tusk’s Royal Patron, HRH The Duke of Cambridge.
Eminent South African public figures such as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, former First Lady, Mrs Graça Machel, and former President FW de Klerk, with awardees at the fifth annual Tusk Conservation Awards in Cape Town
The Tusk Conservation Awards, in partnership with Investec Asset Management, celebrate the extraordinary work of dedicated conservationists from across Africa, whose work and lives might otherwise go unnoticed outside their fields.
Nachamada Geoffrey, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) manager at Yankari Game Reserve in Nigeria, was one of three finalists nominated for the Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa, sponsored by Land Rover. The judges recognized Nacha’s inspirational work leading ranger teams in Nigeria’s Yankari Game Reserve to halt elephant poaching.
The two other finalists for the award were Serah Munguti from Kenya and Brighton Kumchedwa from Malawi. After much deliberation and heightened excitement the award was finally presented to Brighton Kumchedwa by Nelson Mandela’s widow and former first lady, Mrs Graça Machel.
The judges recognized Brighton’s ground-breaking work in Malawi over three decades in tackling one of the major illegal wildlife trade routes in Africa. The winner received a grant of £20,000 and the two runners up each received a grant of £7,500.
Governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, who attended the event, commented: “The conservation value of Yankari is now well known throughout Africa, based on this unrivalled wildlife we are developing Yankari as an important site for tourism in the country”.
Andrew Dunn, Director of WCS’s Nigeria Country Programme, said: “We were disappointed that Nacha did not win of course but his nomination is recognition of the significant progress made in Yankari over recent years. The standard of the finalists was extremely high and I was so proud that Nigeria was represented at this important event.”
Finalist Nachamada Geoffrey, remarked: “I was highly honoured to have been nominated as one of the Tusk finalists. Although it has been tough and rough, our success at Yankari in stopping elephant poaching is due to the hard work and dedication of the rangers and I am proud to lead them in this important work.”
Two other awards were presented at the ceremony: the Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa was presented to Rian Labuschagne by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who said: “We are linked to one another, and here we realize just how much we’re linked with all of nature. We wish to congratulate you (the finalists) most warmly for making it clear that Africa can be beautiful”.
The Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award jointly honoured the bravery and dedication of two men leading teams risking their lives day and night, on poaching’s front line. Former South African President, FW de Klerk, presented the award to Solomon Chidunuka, based in Zambia’s Northern Province and to Lucky Ndlovu from Kruger National Park, South Africa.
In closing the ceremony, de Klerk said: “It was humbling for all of us to learn about the extraordinary commitment, the bravery and the achievements shown by all tonight’s finalists. Africa, indeed the world, owes them a huge debt of gratitude.
“What we have in Africa is so special. The challenge we face is formidable. We have to ensure that communities living alongside wildlife areas and reserves, as well as the wider population, can derive the very real, tangible benefits that can flow from preserving these increasingly threatened tracts of land and the species that share our planet. We have to make conservation relevant to people and to demonstrate its true value to humanity.
“Let us tonight therefore, renew our commitment to accept this challenge. Let all of us do all that we can to support Tusk and the work of all the conservationists represented tonight in this marquee. Let us take hands and say: ‘What we have in Africa is precious. We will preserve it’.”
Since he could not attend in person, Tusk’s Royal Patron, Prince William addressed the audience via video and outlined the considerable challenges ahead for conservation in Africa. The Prince said: “I worry a great deal that our generation is not meeting our moral obligation to leave this planet in better shape than we inherited it. Our children and grandchildren will not thank us if we fail in our duty to reverse the decline in so many species.”
Dunn said: “The WCS is the largest and most effective conservation NGO in Africa. Based in Calabar, WCS has been working in Nigeria since 2001, and currently supports the conservation of 5 different sites in Bauchi and Cross River States. WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature.”
The Microsoft Corp. on Monday, October 9, 2017 announced a new wind energy agreement in Ireland. With the agreement, Microsoft will become one of the first multinational technology companies to support a new wind project in Ireland.
Renewable energy: Wind turbines in Egypt. Photo credit: CDKN
Microsoft is entering into a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with GE to purchase 100 percent of the wind energy from its new, 37-megawatt Tullahennel wind farm in County Kerry, Ireland. The agreement will help support the growing demand for Microsoft Cloud services from Ireland. As part of the deal, Microsoft also signed an agreement with Dublin-based energy trading company, ElectroRoute, which will provide energy trading services to Microsoft.
In addition to producing energy, the project will produce valuable data on energy storage. Each turbine will have an integrated battery; Microsoft and GE will test how these batteries can be used to capture and store excess energy, and then provide it back to the grid as needed. This provides more predictable power to an increasingly green Irish grid, by smoothing out peaks and valleys in wind production. This will better enable intermittent clean power sources like wind energy to be added to the Irish grid. This will be the first deployment of battery integration into wind turbines to store energy in Europe.
“Microsoft is proud to be deepening our long history of investment and partnership in Ireland with this agreement,” said Christian Belady, general manager, Datacenter Strategy at Microsoft. “Our commitment will help bring new, clean energy to the Irish grid, and contains innovative elements that have the potential to grow the capacity, reliability and capability of the grid. This will make it easier to incorporate new clean power sources like wind energy, and that is good for the environment, for Ireland and for our company.”
This PPA builds on Microsoft’s strategic partnership with GE, announced last year. The wind farm will integrate GE’s Digital Wind Farm technology, which makes renewable energy outputs even more reliable. Digital models, built on the Predix platform, ensure energy generation supplied can meet demand forecasted and reduce intermittency concerns.
Andres Isaza, chief commercial officer of GE Renewable Energy, said, “This partnership with Microsoft expands GE’s considerable presence and investment in Ireland, where we already employ over 1,500 people and in particular in the renewable energy sector. Wind is now one of the most competitive sources of electricity on the market today, and we’re excited about the capability to use data generated from these wind turbines, using the Predix platform, to maximize the output and value of this project.”
Microsoft is also acquiring an Irish energy supply license from GE. The supply license will benefit both Microsoft and the Irish power grid, as it allows the company the flexibility to easily grow and invest in renewable energy in Ireland over time. ElectroRoute will act as trading service provider for the supply company.
“ElectroRoute is delighted to work with Microsoft and GE to structure and manage the energy trading activities for the supply company,” said Ronan Doherty, chief executive at ElectroRoute. “The wind energy sector is particularly vibrant in Ireland at the moment, and we are seeing the emergence of an array of new structures and procurement approaches, which I feel will persist and grow into the future.”
This agreement continues Microsoft’s history of supporting sustainability projects in Ireland, including a new forestry initiative announced earlier this year and investments in energy efficiency measures and technologies that have greatly reduced its energy and water footprint.
Once operational, the new wind project will bring Microsoft’s total global direct procurement in renewable energy projects to almost 600 megawatts. In 2016, Microsoft set clean energy commitments to power its datacenters and bring new renewable energy sources online in the communities in which it operates.
