The illegal occupation of Belema Flow Station and Gas Plant in Rivers State has safety implications both for the people at the facilities and nearby communities, The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has warned. Since Friday, August 11, 2017 some persons have reportedly camped out day and night at the two facilities.
Protesters at the Belema Flow Station
In a statement issued on Sunday, August 20 2017, SPDC said it was “deeply concerned that unauthorised persons, including women and children, have been observed in close proximity to equipment that process crude oil and gas without the protection of safety clothing that is mandatory for people working in or accessing such restricted areas.”
SPDC had carried out an emergency shutdown of production ahead of the illegal occupation, but has been unable to access the facilities since then to ensure a safe shutdown over a prolonged period.
“The continued illegal occupation for many days exposes people at the plant to higher safety risks as anything could trigger a spill or fire with potentially serious consequences,” the company warned in the statement endorsed by its Spokesman, Bamidele Odugbesan.
Odugbesan added that the organisation remained committed to the development of the Niger Delta especially host communities including Belema and Kula.
“The SPDC JV partners have contributed $29 billion to the economic growth of Nigeria between 2012 and 2016. The SPDC JV is also currently supporting various GMoU Cluster Development Boards in the Niger Delta and mentoring NGOs to deploy a total of N7 billion for development projects of host communities’ choice under the GMoU programme,” he disclosed.
The three tiers of government (federal, states and local governments) shared N2.788 trillion between January and June this year, a 38% increase on the N2.019 trillion shared in the first half of 2016.
Executive Secretary of NEITI, Waziri Adio
This disclosure is contained in the NEITI Quarterly Review which focuses on disbursement from the Federation Accounts and Allocation Committee (FAAC).
The review was based on data obtained by NEITI at the meetings of FAAC and data from National Bureau of Statistics, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office.
Out of N2.788 trillion disbursed in the first half of 2017, the Federal Government received N1.09 trillion, 36 state governments received N923 billion while N549.8 billion went to 774 local governments in the country.
A further breakdown shows that total releases to the three tiers of government was N430.16 billion in January, N514 billion in February, N496.40 billion in March, N418.82 billion in April, N418.82 billion in May and N462.36 billion in June.
However, despite the 38% increase in disbursements in the first half of 2017 when compared with 2016, all the three tiers of government suffered significant revenue decline in terms of projected FAAC disbursement. “Coupled with the low price of oil is the country’s difficulty in meeting the targeted/budgeted production rate of 2.2 million barrels per day. Production has consistently fallen below two million barrels per day since March 2016. Thus the double “whammy” of low oil prices and lower production that hit the country since 2014 has remained,” the NEITI Quarterly Review observed.
For instance, while the expected FAAC disbursement for the three tiers of government was N4.7 trillion, the actual FAAC disbursement to them was N2.788trillion, representing a shortfall of over 40.67%. According to the publication “the volatility nature of disbursements to all tiers of government in the first half of 2017 would suggest difficulty in implementing budgets at Federal, State and Local government levels. The volatility in revenue inflows will adversely affect planning and expenditure of government and thus likely hamper efforts at stimulating growth and development”.
The NEITI Quarterly Review further disclosed that a total of N513 billion was spent on debt servicing by the three tiers in the first quarter of 2017. This was against the N1.276 trillion disbursements in the first quarter. This means that debt servicing took up 40.27% of FAAC disbursement for the first quarter of this year.
“The figure reveals that debt servicing as proportion of total FAAC allocations is generally higher in the first quarter of the year, after which it falls to lower levels. Based on this, the figure of 40.27% observed in the first quarter of 2017 might be an upper threshold and it would thus be expected that this figure will be lower for the remaining quarters of the year,” the Report concluded. However, the Debt Management Office (DMO) is yet to provide data on the figure for the second quarter of 2017.
In this direction, the NEITI publication expressed concern that, the nation’s debt in relation to revenues appears to have reached critical levels. It further disclosed that domestic debt servicing constituted 90% of total debt servicing. The Report also remarked that “domestic debt servicing consistently outstrips external debt servicing. In the first quarter of 2015, domestic debt servicing made up over 93% of total debt servicing. This figure did not change much by the first quarter of 2017 as domestic debt servicing was over 92% of total debt servicing”.
On the Paris Club debt refund to the 36 States and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the NEITI Quarterly Review confirmed that N760.18 billion was released by the Federal government to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.
The money which was paid in two tranches represents refunds of over deductions from FAAC allocations to states and local governments used for quick payment of debt relief granted to Nigeria by the Paris Club between 1995 and 2002.
The NEITI publication disclosed that Rivers received the highest amount of N44.93 billion followed by Delta with N37.61billion and Akwa Ibom N35.98 billion. Bayelsa got N34.9 billion while Kano state received N31.74 billion respectively. The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja received the lowest amount of N2.05 billion. Details of total Paris Club Refund to the 36 States and Abuja are produced below:
Table: Break down of Paris Club Refunds to States and FCT (N Billions)
State
First Tranche
Second Tranche
Total
Abia
11.43
5.72
17.15
Adamawa
10.26
6.11
16.37
Akwa-Ibom
25.98
10.00
35.98
Anambra
12.24
6.12
18.36
Bauchi
13.76
6.88
20.63
Bayelsa
24.90
10.00
34.90
Benue
13.71
6.85
20.56
Borno
14.68
7.34
22.02
Cross River
12.15
6.08
18.23
Delta
27.61
10.00
37.61
Ebonyi
9.02
4.51
13.52
Edo
12.18
6.09
18.27
Ekiti
9.55
4.77
14.32
Enugu
10.72
5.36
16.09
Gombe
8.95
4.47
13.42
Imo
14.00
7.00
21.00
Jigawa
14.22
7.11
21.32
Kaduna
15.44
7.72
23.17
Kano
21.74
10.00
31.74
Katsina
16.40
8.20
24.61
Kebbi
11.95
5.98
17.93
Kogi
12.06
6.03
18.08
Kwara
10.24
5.12
15.36
Lagos
16.74
8.37
25.12
Nasarawa
9.10
4.55
13.65
Niger
14.42
7.21
21.63
Ogun
11.48
5.74
17.22
Ondo
14.01
7.00
21.01
Osun
12.63
6.31
18.94
Oyo
13.32
7.90
21.22
Plateau
11.29
5.64
16.93
Rivers
34.93
10.00
44.93
Sokoto
12.88
6.44
19.32
Taraba
9.33
5.61
14.94
Yobe
10.83
5.41
16.24
Zamfara
10.88
5.44
16.33
FCT
1.37
0.68
2.05
TOTAL
516.38
243.80
760.18
The NEITI Review reports that “the Federal Ministry of Finance stressed that the Paris Club releases should be used largely by the States for the payment of workers’ salaries, welfare, and pensions which may have been pending since 2014”.
The NEITI Quarterly Review also confirmed that the NNPC has completed the refund of N450 billion owed the Federation Account, as a result of portions of domestic crude receipts withheld by the Corporation from November 2004. This followed the implementation of a payment schedule worked out between the Corporation and the Federation Allocation Accounts Committee.
From the NNPC debt refund which commenced since 2011, a total of N206.242 billion was paid to the Federal Government, N151.446 billion was paid to the 36 States and FCT, while the 774 local governments collectively received N92.311 billion.
NEITI’s interest in providing timely information and data on the FAAC allocations to the three tiers of government is in line with its mandate to monitor and enthrone transparency in the management of extractive industry revenues. NEITI’s is also interested in the FAAC disbursements in view of the fact that over 70% of the funds involved are derived from the extractive sector.
Over four years – some 56 months – of implementation of a project tagged “Support to the Justice Sector in Nigeria” formally came to a close in Abuja on Thursday, August 17, 2017 amid pomp and circumstance.
Hon. Justice Ibrahim Jauro of Yobe State Judiciary; Mrs Joy Bob-Manuel, DG, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria; Mr. Kurt Cornelis, Head of Development Cooperation, EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS; and Ms. Cristina Albertin, UNODC Representative in Nigeria at the End of Project Shareholders’ Meeting in Abuja
Implemented by the European Union (EU), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Federal Government, the project gulped a whopping €19,076,309.
The project was realised in locations such as Abuja and nine focal states of Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Imo, Katsina, Lagos, Osun and Yobe. Its main objective was to strengthen the Rule of Law through enhanced accountability, accessibility, transparency and fairness of the justice system in Nigeria.
Essentially, the Support to the Justice Sector in Nigeria Project aimed to complement the efforts of government in improving justice delivery through effective coordination and cooperation among justice sector institutions, with enhanced legal and policy frameworks, strengthened operational structures and capabilities of officials in the sector, and increased access to justice and respect for human rights and the rule of law, especially for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups including children.
Through the support of the projects, some 62 resource materials and publications were produced, including among others, Justice Sector Reform Action Plans for eight states, Court Users Guides (in several local languages), Revised Police Training Manuals, Police Human Rights Handbook and Training Manual, National Policy on Prosecution, Sentencing Guidelines and several publications on Child Justice.
UNODC Resident Representative in Nigeria, Ms Cristina Albertin, remarked that a unique feature of the projects is that it built a lasting platform for partnership among a wide range of federal and state actors in justice administration including network mechanisms with the aim to enlist holistic and comprehensive support across Nigeria justice institutions at federal and state levels for fair, accessible and faster delivery of justice for all.
She said: “In my view, this approach and resulting collaborative work cannot be anything less than a guarantee for continuity and sustainability in justice reform while the project formally ends. Let me assure you at this point that UNODC’s commitment to justice reform in Nigeria continues beyond project end as we know and recognise justice reform as a critical foundation to ensure the respect for human rights for each and every Nigerian, including the principle of equality before the law and the right to due process and fair trials.
The UNODC Nigeria boss congratulated and thanked partners and project supporters for making the initiative a success. She listed them to include the Federal Ministry of Justice, National Judicial Institute, Nigeria Law Reform Commission, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Federal Justice Sector Reform Coordinating Committee, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Prisons Services, National Human Rights Commission, Nigeria Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Nigeria Bar Association, Ministry of Budget and National Planning, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), EU, GIZ, Embassy of Switzerland, as well as the nine states involved in the project’s implementation.
Albertin went on: “Good governance can only happen when it is grounded in accountable and fair justice systems. Public officials, be it legislators, governments or the judiciary will be judged by the citizens for their commitment to fair and effective justice delivery to each and every one.”
Referring to the resource materials and publications produced under the project, she stressed: “With these much-needed policy, legal and operational instruments and tools, justice practitioners are now equipped to deliver justice more effectively and efficiently, including to the vulnerable and poor without leaving anybody behind.”
Head of Development Cooperation, EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Kurt Cornelis, listed some of the project’s achievements to include: development and adoption of a National Justice Policy; passage of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act; establishment of judicial research centres in selected states.
“We believe that the project has effectively contributed to government’s efforts in reforming the justice sector, and it is our sincere hope that the gains currently achieved will be further enhanced,” he stated, even as he disclosed that a successor project, Support to Rule of law and Anti-corruption in Nigeria (RoLAC), has started.
Cornelis said: “The overall objective of the project is to enhance good governance in Nigeria by contributing to strengthening the rule of law and curbing corruption.
“The main expected outcomes are to: advance the timely, effective and transparent dispensation of criminal justice; strengthen access to justice for women, children and persons with disabilities at federal and state levels; strengthen the fight against corruption by reinforcing prevention mechanisms and building the capacity of anti-corruption agencies to effectively address corruption in public procurement, the criminal justice system and the extractive sector, and, to enhance civil society and public engagement in the fight against corruption and the criminal justice reform process.”
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste on Wednesday, August 16, 2017 deposited its instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Francisco Guterres, President of Timor-Leste
The Southeast Asian nation thus becomes the160th country to endorse the global treaty, after Sudan and Zimbabwe on Wednesday, August 2 and Monday, August 7, 2017 respectively deposited their instruments of ratification of the Paris accord.
Occupying half the island of Timor, Timor-Leste is also known as East Timor.
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), East Timor’s ratification of the pact will enter into force in a month’s time on Friday, September 15, 2017.
Previously, Haiti, the Netherlands, Venezuela and Serbia ratified the pact respectively on on Monday, July 31; Friday, July 28; Friday, July 21; and Tuesday, July 25, 2017.
Before then, the Republic of Malawi on Thursday, June 29, 2017 likewise endorsed the agreement, ahead of Egypt and Togo, which ratified the climate accord respectively on Thursday, June 29 and Wednesday, June 28 2017.
The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention (UNFCCC) and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.
The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives. The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework.
As a step towards ramping up clean electro-mobility in Europe, Deutsche Post DHL Group and Ford have unveiled new electric vans used for parcel delivery in German cities, with at least 2,500 electric “StreetScooters” to be in service by the end of 2018. The vehicles will be powered by electricity from renewable forms of energy such as solar and wind.
Each electric delivery vehicle could contribute to save around 5 tonnes of CO2
The transport sector is responsible for 23% of carbon dioxide emissions globally, and that percentage is expected to grow unless action is taken. A rapid shift towards electro-mobility is crucial to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and to achieve the central goal of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which is to limit the global temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius. Such vehicles are also crucial to ensure cleaner air in the world’s towns and cities.
The launch of the new van is part of the GoGreen environmental programme of the Bonn-based Deutsche Post DHL Group, aimed at reducing all logistics-related emissions to zero by the year 2050. And it comes ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn in November, an event at which many examples of clean transport will be showcased.
12,500 Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Saved Every Year
The e-van, called the “StreetScooter WORK XL,” will function with a battery system delivering 30 to 90 kWh of power. 150 pre-production vehicles will already be used for parcel deliveries in Germany by the end of 2017.
“It is the perfect vehicle for parcel deliveries in major cities and large urban areas, and will enable us to cope with the rising parcel volumes in an even more environmentally friendly and quieter manner,” says Jürgen Gerdes, Member of the Board of Management Post – eCommerce – Parcel, at Deutsche Post DHL Group.
Each of these vehicles could contribute to save around 5 tonnes of CO2 and 1,900 liters of diesel fuel each year. With at least 2,500 e-vans in service as planned, this could allow for a total saving of 12,500 tonnes of CO2 and 4.75 million litres of fuel every year.
A Global Movement for Electric Mobility
In Germany and other parts of the world, similar initiatives are under way. Siemens has announced a plan to start an electric truck charging technology through cables on a stretch of German highways. Meanwhile, in the United States, the electric vehicle startup Chanje is set to launch a new series of electric trucks, vans and shuttle buses. And Tesla has begun the roll out of its Model 3 with an extended range and a price tag which makes the vehicle affordable for a large consumer base.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the global stock of electric vehicles passed the two million mark in 2016, and this rapid rise has been led by countries including China, the United States, Japan, as well as several European countries.
Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has set foot on the soil of South Sudan’s capital – Juba, with the establishment of its first office outside Nigeria.
Gabriel Ayuen Deng and Nnimmo Bassey in Juba, South Sudan
HOMEF is an environmental / ecological think tank and advocacy organisation with focus on hunger politics, fossil politics and creates spaces for knowledge sharing through Sustainability Academes and diagnostic Community Dialogues. The organisation, according to its promoters, places premium on information sharing through its publications, including through the quarterly magazine, Eco-Instigator.
HOMEF in South Sudan Office cooperates with the Nile Institute of Environmental Health (NIEH) to fulfill HOMEF’s mandate. South Sudan is a strategic location for HOMEF as the country struggles to maintain balance since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. The South Sudan office will spear-head activities to contribute to environmental education and the protection of human, ecological and collective dignity within the country and region.
“Our base is Nigeria, but our focus is Africa,” says Nnimmo Bassey, director of HOMEF. “We believe there must be closer collaborations between civil society groups and countries within our continent. We must go beyond bilateral relations between our countries to close linkages between our peoples.”
On Tuesday, August 15 2017, HOMEF and NIEH co-hosted a public workshop in Juba on Water Pollution and the Quality of Life. The workshop dissected the centrality of potable water and sanitation in Nigeria and South Sudan, with special focus on the negative impact on these by oil extraction. The occasion was also used to present the African edition of the book.
HOMEF’s South Sudan office is headed by Gabriel Ayuen Deng.
The US National Park Service, on the orders of President Donald Trump, on Wednesday, August 16, 2017 rescinded an Obama-era policy that allowed individual parks to ban bottled water sales on their grounds as a way to fight litter.
Disposal of waste plastic bottles. Photo credit: Al Goldis / Associated Press
Environmental organisations believed that the controversial 2011 policy that encouraged parks to eliminate the sale of bottled water would help reduce litter. But the park service announcement of the change said it would “expand hydration options for recreationalists, hikers, and other visitors to national parks.”
Two dozen national parks had adopted the policy, or were in the process of doing so. They include Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Zion National Park and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The ban was part of President Obama’s Green Parks Plan to promote the use of tap water and refillable bottles on federal lands, reduce waste and curb carbon emissions.
To keep visitors hydrated, the Park Service has installed new fresh drinking water stations.
Trump’s decision comes just three weeks after the Senate confirmed David Bernhardt as deputy interior secretary. Bernhardt is a former lobbyist with a law firm that has represented water bottlers in the United States. Bernhardt’s confirmation was opposed by some senators because his work on behalf of corporate interests contradicts Interior Department regulations to promote clean air and water.
Earlier, the National Park Service said the ban was based on “the 50 billion plastic water bottles” disposed of by Americans each year and the “approximately 20 billion barrels of oil” required during production generating greenhouse gases. Disposable plastic bottles make up 20% of the Grand Canyon’s waste stream and 30% of the park’s recyclables.
But given the choice, people will choose reusable bottles whenever they can. For example, Zion National Park reports that its sale of reusable bottles increased 78 percent once it banned bottled-water sales.
The Earth Day Network, a not-for-profit group, has expressed concern over the development, going by a recent campaign aimed at impressing it upon President Trump that US National Parks should be free of single use plastic water bottles.
The group states: “Plastic waste is choking our planet and creating a global health crisis. In 2015, the world created 448 million tons of plastic – more than twice as much as made in 1998. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 metric tons of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.
“Approximately 91% of plastic made before 2015 has not been recycled. Our landfills are overflowing with plastic waste, and our recycling centers are overburdened and underequipped to properly repurpose the plastics being recycled. As these systems fail, more and more plastic waste ends up in the streets, rivers, beaches, and eventually the oceans, causing untold harm to plant and animal life the world over.”
Participants at a two-day Nutrition Workshop for Local Government Actors organised by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Synergos for the State Partnership for Agriculture (SPA) programme in Benue State have advocated for an all-inclusive agriculture practice that will support nutrition.
Participants at the Nutrition Workshop
Speaking on the first day of the workshop on Friday, August 18, 2017 at the Conference Hall of Trust Resort, Makurdi, Synergos Benue Team Lead, Mr Michael Agon, maintained that agriculture can not effectively serve the society without nutrition as the two are tied together.
“What we need to stop malnutrition is nutrition sensitive agriculture,” he noted.
Mr Agon stressed that Synergos is determined to midwife Agriculture, Nutrition and Gender Policies in their three intervention States of Benue, Kogi and Kaduna to encourage nutrition practice and stop malnutrition in order to facilitate growth and development of the Nigerian child.
In her presentation, a Consultant, Mrs Yetunde Adeseluka-Oladejo, from Food Basket Foundation International, called on stakeholders in Benue, which is termed the “Food Basket State” to address issues of malnutrition, stunted growth, underweight and overweight in children by utilising the variety of food available.
According to her, strategies to improve on nutrition such as encouraging exposure of babies to the breast in the first 30 minutes of birth and exclusive breast feeding in the first six months as well as as sensitising, informing and involving all stakeholders would go a long way in improving nutrition.
Also speaking, Mr Orngu Africa, also from Food Basket Foundation International, while making a presentation titled “Opportunities in Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture”, charged stakeholders to be proactive and tap the nutritional viability of foods as agriculture.
He reiterated that nutrition is intricately connected to agriculture and that, when tapped, will value chain strengthening and empowerment.
In another presentation by Mr Donald Aorkwagh titled “Home Organic Garden,” the speaker charged Benue people to practice home organic gardening to reduce hunger and even encourage nutrition in response poor communities through sustainable agriculture.
“Households have ignored setting up home gardens to address food insufficiency, address nutritional gaps in households and increase access to income generating options in agriculture where as, choosing organic gardening even takes off many diseases threats such as cancer,” he added.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) on Thursday, August 17, 2017 expanded its impact in the Asian region with an agreement strengthening its shared strategic approach to tackle climate change with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
ADB General Counsel Christopher Stephens (right) and Acting GCF General Counsel Raul Herrera, along with ADB officials, during the signing of the Accreditation Master Agreement in Manila
The two organisations have signed an Accreditation Master Agreement (AMA), a prerequisite for all GCF Accredited Entities in order to implement GCF-approved projects. ADB was accredited to GCF in March 2015.
“The Accreditation Master Agreement between the GCF and ADB will open the way to deeper collaboration between our institutions,” said ADB General Counsel Christopher Stephens. “Working together with the GCF, we will build a robust pipeline of climate projects that support the development and climate objectives of our developing member countries.”
GCF registered the ADB as one of its Accredited Entities, which propose and implement GCF-approved climate projects, in March 2015.
Acting GCF General Counsel Raul Herrera said the AMA signing represents a significant step for GCF as the Asian region is the linchpin to a successful global response to climate change.
“As the dynamo of global economic growth, with Asia Pacific continuing to record the world’s strongest growth, this region has a key role to play in tackling climate change,” said Mr Herrera. “The vital importance of Asia in meeting the climate challenge, along with GCF’s mandate to pursue transformative low-emission and climate-resilient development across the planet, means a shared strategic approach between GCF and ADB in this area is essential.”
GCF also commended ADB for highlighting in its own study how sensitive the Asia and Pacific region is to climate change. “A Region at Risk: The Human Dimensions of Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific,” an ADB report released in July, indicates climate change could diminish the major achievements made during the past few decades in lifting large numbers of people living in the region out of poverty.
GCF’s current portfolio of 43 approved projects include two proposed by ADB – a renewable energy project in the Cook Islands and a water supply project in Fiji.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. The bank plans to double its annual climate financing to $6 billion by 2020, and increase spending to about 30 percent of its overall operations by the end of this decade.
GCF was set up in 2010 by the 194 countries which are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to deliver equal amounts of funding to mitigation and adaptation.
The Joint Association of Persons Living with Disabilities (JONAPID) in Lagos has said that as long as disabled people continue to shun reproductive health services available at hospitals, the country can’t have significant improvements in its current health indicators.
Ms. Ejiro Okotie and Mr. Ayoola Efunkoya, Editor at Voice of Nigeria, bearing their minds at the MediaTraining. Photo credit: JAAIDS
This submission was made at a recent media training in Lagos organised by Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) and the Nigeria Association for the Blind.
“Persons with disabilities (PWD) seldom use public healthcare facilities,” says Ms. Olayide Akanni, executive director of JAAIDS. “From a focussed group discussion we conducted amongst this group, we find stigmatisation, lack of privacy and confidentiality, disability insensitivity attitudes of health workers, continue to push this group out of the hospitals to self-medication and herbal homes.”
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are 25 million disabled people in Nigeria. A global estimate shows that there is a growing vulnerability amongst this group to HIV infection. Contrary to popular myths, PWDs are as sexually active as their non-disabled peers, yet they are less likely to receive information about safe sex, and to have access to prevention methods. This group are also most likely prone to sexual abuse, exploitation and rape. Thus if they remain excluded, the rise in HIV amongst this group will ruin the overall success of AIDS control in Nigeria and other sustainable development goals, experts warn.
Sharing her experience at the training, Ms. Folasade Salimonu, a producer at the Lagos Television and a member of JONAPID, says: “My friend is blind and married. She has had three unplanned pregnancies because the family planning method she chose failed. The day she went to the hospital, the nurses were commenting on how pathetic for a blind woman to incur more problems for herself by getting pregnant! At her neighbourhood too, she had been called shameless for getting pregnant despite her condition (in her matrimonial home). So she stopped antenatal visit to the hospital and continued in a traditional medicine home!”
Ms. Ejiro Okotie, a member of the National Association of the Blind, says, “That a person is living with a disability does not mean he/she is sexually disabled.”
Quoting the Universal Declaration of Sexual Rights, she adds: “The14th World Congress of Sexology (Hong Kong, 1999), adopted 11 sexual rights which includes the right to sexual freedom, privacy, equity, pleasure among others.
Article 5 on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities summarises that such persons enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others.
In her submission, Ms. Akanni states: “We see that they need to be enlightened on Sexual Virility/Libido; Management of Sexually Transmitted Infections.
“A blind man may not know how to wear a condom properly and thus prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. He is stigmatised when he walks to a shop to ask for one. A blind person may not be able to read the instruction on the body of a medicine because most drugs in Nigeria are not written in braille. A deaf/dumb woman may not know how to express her need for a family planning commodity to an overworked nurse, who is already touchy because she has loads of able-bodied patients to attend to.
“These are real barriers hindering PWDs’ ability to increase their uptake of such devices, thus the Lagos State Government can’t meet our needs,” Dr. Adebukola Adebayo, secretary of JONAPID, Lagos Branch, laments.
A related study assessing disability-sensitivity and inclusiveness in Lagos hospitals reveals that only the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) provides sign language interpreters for deaf patients and a few social workers to assist other PWDs with mobility and visual disabilities. It also provides minimal accommodation for persons with disabilities.
The others – over 30 General Hospitals in the state and Primary Health Centres – totally exclude this group.
They thus recommend that educating PWDs on their rights is a way forward. A second most important factor entails including in academic curriculum for all health workers, a training on disability sensitivity. At hospitals, special sections should be designated for PWDs and also place professional interpreters.
“Enabling structures should be put in place to assist PWDs in different capacities (e.g. building ramps for persons on wheelchairs . Attention should be given to Braille descriptions on drugs,” Ms. Layide adds.
