Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, Terkimbi Ikyange, has charged the people of the state to take early flood warnings seriously by avoiding flood-prone areas and desist from building in such areas.
A flooded Street off Ishaya Bakut Road, Makurdi, Benue State
The Speaker, who gave the charge on Monday, August 28, 2017 while addressing newsmen after he led Principal Officers of the Assembly to inspect flooded areas in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, stated that the issue of perennial flooding in the metropolis is made worse by residents’ illegal building activities and indiscriminate dumping of refuse in drainage systems, among others.
Stressing further, Mr Ikyange, who sympathised with the affected residents, commended the prompt response by the Benue State Governor and other agencies of government in the aftermath of the flood.
Addressing the Assembly Leadership at the submerged Radio Transmitter House, Director General, Radio Benue Corporation, Mrs Espei Ushe Uba, called on government to hasten action on preventing indiscriminate building on water-ways, which she said is one of the causes of flooding.
Earlier, a resident of New Kanshio Layout, Mr Anyam Adzegeh, who lamented the half-washed bridge leading into the community, sued for government’s quick response in re-building it as, according to him, residents’ communal efforts so far cannot sustain its existence, such that they would be cut off from the town.
Affected areas that where submerged and visited, following the Saturday, August 26, 2017 night’s heavy downpour include Radio Benue Station (which is now off-air), Wurukum Market, New Kanshio Layout, Ishaya Bakut Road, Welfare Quarters, Benue State University, Wadata Rice Mill, Idye and Achusa.
World leaders, water experts, development professionals, policy-makers, and one astronaut, have gathered in Stockholm, the Swedish capital city, for a week-long meeting focused on finding ways to better use, and reuse, the world’s increasingly scarce fresh water.
Executive Director, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), Torgny Holmgren
The term “water scarcity” is becoming increasingly common. As more countries, and cities, experience the effects of high population pressure and less available freshwater, the interest among policy-makers, businesses, and citizens grows. The realisation is there. We need to become more efficient water users. We need to make some drastic changes.
“World Water Week is a key meeting place for the water and development community; it is here that we come together and make sure that the very best ideas are brought forward,” said SIWI’s Executive Director, Torgny Holmgren.
World Water Week is said to be the world’s biggest global annual meeting focusing on water and development. It is organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). The Week draws over 3,000 participants from nearly 130 countries, who come to Stockholm to learn about new research results, share experiences, discuss progress in the implementation of the Global Goals, and together try to find new ways to meet the world’s growing water challenges.
The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Peter Thomson, called the world’s climate and water resources the “fundament of our existence”, and said that “Without proper stewardship of that fundament the 2030 sustainable development agenda obviously goes nowhere. Because without the fundament we can’t exist.”
“Together with the Paris Climate Agreement, implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals represents the best chance our species has to achieve a sustainable way of life on Planet Earth before it is too late,” he added.
Sweden’s Minister for Environment, Karolina Skog, said: “Sustainable and efficient management of our water and wastewater (…) has a profound effect on all aspects of human life; economic growth, sustainable development, sustainable city planning, circular thinking in industry and in production, energy saving, good quality of our water and, last but not least, it is crucial for health and for a sustainable environment.”
Astronaut and Member of Sweden’s Royal Academy of Science, Christer Fuglesang, described the intricate water reuse systems that are necessary during space missions, enabling food to be grown on board, and ensuring a drinking water supply – both helping to inform research, and optimise methods for increased water use efficiency on earth.
Another central aspect of efficient water use, is to use less. In his welcoming speech Holmgren pointed out that it will be challenging but necessary to change large-scale water consumption patterns: “The Week’s theme, Water and waste: Reduce and reuse, really touches the very core of our daily lives. To reduce, some drastic changes will be necessary – especially by the main water users, including industries, energy producers and the agriculture sector.”
He added that changes are also needed in how we think about reuse of water: “I think that it is very important to try and change the mind-set around waste. Rather than presenting us with a problem, we can view waste as an asset also becoming a business opportunity.”
Stephen McCaffrey, 2017 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate and a Professor in water law, spoke of the need for water cooperation and water diplomacy. He told participants that although the ingredients for potential water conflicts exist, such as higher population pressure, climate change, and much of the world’s fresh water being shared by two or more countries, studies show that water sharing is much more likely to lead to cooperation than conflict.
The death toll from Tropical Storm Harvey is expected to rise as Houston and a wide swath of Texas face record rains and catastrophic flooding.
In Houston, Jesus Nunez carries his daughter Genesis, 6, as he and other family members flee their flooded home. Photo credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times
With deadly power, Tropical Storm Harvey has inundated Houston and southeastern Texas, bringing up to 2 feet of rain in 24 hours in the nation’s fourth largest city and triggering flooding that the National Weather Service called “catastrophic” and “unprecedented.”
At least five people were reported to have died, and authorities expect the death toll to rise. More than a dozen injuries have been blamed on the storm, which made landfall on Friday night as a Category 4 hurricane, the most powerful to hit the United States in a decade. Its winds have slowed to tropical-storm force.
Meanwhile, 911 operators fielded 56,000 calls in less than 24 hours, pleas for help went out over social media, thousands of rescues took place, and some residents made desperate treks across Houston’s sprawling freeways. The White House says President Trump will travel to Texas on Tuesday.
With record floodwaters devastating much of southeast Texas, more than 450,000 people are likely to seek federal aid in recovering from Harvey, the storm that has battered the Gulf Coast for days, Brock Long, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said on Monday. The agency has estimated that about 30,000 people will seek emergency shelter, and that federal aid will be needed for years.
The Houston region now looks like an inland sea dotted by islands, with floodwaters inundating roads, vehicles, and even bridges and buildings. Thousands of people have been rescued from flooded homes and cars and many more are stuck in homes that remained above water but are cut off.
More than 30 inches of rain has fallen on parts of the Houston area since Thursday, the National Weather Service reported on Monday, causing catastrophic flooding that officials have called the worst in the state’s history. Torrential rains will continue through Friday, with an additional 15 to 25 inches pummeling the region, the Weather Service predicted.
Harvey turned back out to sea on Monday morning, with the centre of the storm reaching the Gulf of Mexico between Corpus Christi and Houston, the National Hurricane Centre reported. It was expected to move slowly to the southeast on Monday, before churning to the northeast, along the Gulf coast.
Justice Abdulazeez Anka of the Federal High Court, Lagos on Monday, August 28, 2017 ordered the permanent forfeiture of the sum of N7,646,700,000, suspected to belong to former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Dieziani Alison-Madueke, to the Federal Government.
Diezani Alison-Madueke. Photo credit: TODAY.ng
Justice Anka made the order following an application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking the final and permanent forfeiture of the said sum to the Federal Government.
The anti-graft agency in its supporting affidavit, averred that, consequent upon the investigation it carried out based on intelligent reports, the sum of N7,646,700,000 was discovered in the accounts of some banks.
The commission said the fund was actually proceeds of unlawful activities held and laundered through former Group Managing Director, Crude Oil Marketing Division of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Gbenga Olu Komolafe; former Group Managing Director, Petroleum Products Management Company (PPMC), Prince Haruna Momoh; and Group Managing Director of Nigerian Products Marketing Company (NPMC), Umar Farouk Ahmed, on behalf of Mrs. Alison-Madueke.
Justice Chuka Obiozor of the same court in Lagos had on August 7, 2017, ordered the temporary forfeiture of the money and ordered anyone interested in the funds to enter appearance and say why the funds should not be forfeited to the federal government permanently.
The order followed an ex- parte application filed and argued before him by the EFCC. The EFCC had in the application alleged that Mrs. Alison-Madueke stashed the money in some banks.
The anti graft agency further alleged that the Federal Government had, since February last year, through an order granted by another judge, Justice Muslim Hassan, also of the Federal High Court in Lagos, recovered part of the huge money stashed in banks across the country by the former minister.
But, on Monday, August 28, the court ordered the permanent seizure of the funds as no one claimed ownership.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) will on Tuesday, August 29, 2017 launch a guide on strengthening the central role of gender consideration in its allocation of climate finance.
Executive Director, Green Climate Fund (GCF), Howard Bamsey
“Mainstreaming Gender in Green Climate Fund Projects” details how GCF partners need to mainstream the inclusion of women, girls, men and boys from socially excluded and vulnerable communities at all stages of the climate finance project cycle.
According to the GCF, it is the first climate finance fund to mainstream gender perspectives from the outset of its operations as an essential element of its decisions on funding proposals. Its first manual on gender in climate finance was compiled in close collaboration with UN Women, a global body dedicated to gender equality and empowering women.
GCF Executive Director, Howard Bamsey, and Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate, Isabella Lövin, will jointly launch the guide during the World Water Week, currently being held in Stockholm, Sweden.
GCF’s Gender and Social Specialist, Rajib Ghosal, said the marginalisation of women from economic and political power means they tend to bear the greater brunt of climate change effects.
“At the same time, in many countries, women are recognized as agents of positive change who make valuable contributions to climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts,” he added.
“Gender consideration should not be seen as an extra burden in the approval of climate finance projects. It is a key element in the success of climate finance initiatives, considering the crucial role women play in societies.”
Mr Ghosal said GCF-approved projects are forging new frontiers in female empowerment, such as an innovative initiative generating a low-carbon energy sector in Mongolia which ensures over half of the loan support will go towards women-led/owned enterprises.
This $60 million private sector project, implemented by Mongolia’s XacBank, is designed to overcome the current reluctance by investors to fund the opening of new markets in renewable energy and energy efficiency. He also emphasised the important of taking a gender aware approach in financing adaptation projects.
This includes GCF’s support for a $166.3 million project enhancing the resilience of communities in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. India’s National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is ensuring its implementation of this project matches the whole stratum of community needs by using 1,000 water champions to oversee the installation of solar-power water pumps.
Climate change is magnifying the environmental problems the coastal communities of small island developing states are facing. In this piece written to review past and ongoing projects as well as commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Adaptation Fund (AF), Dr. Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, Head of Climate Change Adaptation of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), says that the duo over years collaborated to dish out the funds in the bid to reduce climate change risks and build more climate-resilient nations
Dr Pradeep Kurukulasuriya of the UNDP making a presentation
Since its inception, the Adaptation Fund (AF) has provided critical support for climate resilient development strategies across the globe. Working through agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), governments across the globe have accessed Adaptation Fund finance to reduce climate change risks and build more climate resilient nations.
This work has been a key driver over the past 10 years in protecting Small Island Developing States, supporting climate-smart agriculture, ensuring long-term food security for vulnerable populations, and promoting the effective management of natural resources.
With financing and support from the Adaptation Fund, UNDP works with national governments to identify, design and implement interventions that are needed to achieve the goals set out through the Paris Agreements, 2030 Agenda and other global accords.
In the end, the collaboration between the Adaptation Fund, UNDP, national governments and local beneficiaries is about reducing risks, building and strengthening institutions, and supporting vulnerable communities in effectively and efficiently managing the uncertain future that climate change brings.
Many developing countries are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Droughts, floods and changing rainfall patterns are compounding factors in water shortages and hunger, which in turn have cascading effects including migration. These are very real and present threats that require immediate action. Continued financial support especially for those countries bearing the brunt of impacts is important. Catalyzing finance, especially from the private sector, to affect behavioral change at scale is also critical. Left unchecked, these climatic challenges threaten to unravel efforts to build a more peaceful, more secure, more equal world.
Current Adaptation Fund-financed climate change adaptation initiatives are being implemented by national governments with the support of UNDP worldwide. Adaptation Fund-financed climate change adaptation initiatives have been completed or are being implemented by national governments with the support of UNDP in Colombia, the Cook Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Eritrea, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Maldives, Mali, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Continuing this partnership, a number of interesting Adaptation Fund-financed projects are also being developed by national governments in coordination with UNDP.
The impact of Adaptation Fund finance is most apparent when one looks at the way lives and livelihoods have been positively affected, how certain parts of the Earth have transformed to resist the impacts of climate change, and how local cultures, economies and institutions have grown strong roots to withstand the stormy and unfavorable winds of change.
In Mauritius for instance, Adaptation Fund financing has been used to plant 20,000 mangrove plants that will function to protect the coastline from erosion. Dual benefits of adaptation and livelihood options are promoted by also creating new economic opportunities through ecotourism.
With financing from the Adaptation Fund and support from UNDP, the Government of Myanmaris helping rural villagers living in drought-stricken areas to collect and store water, rehabilitate landscapes of 4,200 hectares of micro-watersheds and support community-based agro forestry, taking climate change risks into account. Building on strategies based on the principles of local empowerment and ecosystem-based approaches, these types of projects are making key technical investments toward ensuring that climate change risks are integrated into improved water supply systems, expanded agro-forestry services, diversified livestock, watershed and soil conservation, while promoting climate-resilient livelihoods that permit the diversification and reduction of risks.
In the Pacific, Samoa has made use of financing from the Adaptation Fund to build the resilience of coastal communities to the impacts of climate change in a range of practical ways. Among them are updated and ‘climate-proofed’ independent-water-scheme water storage and supply systems for the villages of Maasina, Lelea, Sili and Lona; a new 1.4km road connecting the villages of Neiafu, Falealopu Tai, Falealupo Uta and Tufutafoe to inland areas. When extreme weather events manifest now, people are informed in advance to move away from vulnerable coastal areas. The construction of a rock and seawall now protects community assets from increasingly intensifying hazards such as waves, storm surges and coastal floods.
The ongoing commitment of UNDP through its partnership with countries worldwide and financial institutions like the Adaptation Fund is to connect people, ideas, new technology, innovative ways of doing things and financial support to build a world where vulnerable people can build resilience to a changing climate and thrive in the 21st Century.
Nigeria has emerged the sole African mention among 20 nations identified as possessing the most remarkable sustainable energy potentials in the world.
The heat maps help identify countries and regions around the world making the most progress on key sustainable energy issues
The other countries are: Brazil, Mexico, United States, Saudi Arabia, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, China, Turkey, United Kingdom, Iran, India, Australia, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Russia.
Using the latest energy data from its knowledge partners, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) has launched newly updated “heat maps” on its web site that help identify countries and regions around the world making the most progress – and facing the biggest challenges – on key sustainable energy issues.
The four sets of heat maps are focused on access to clean cooking, electricity access, energy efficiency and renewable energy – all key topics of Sustainable Development Goal 7, which calls for achieving affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. Billions of people lack access to modern energy today.
Each of the heat maps identifies 20 “high-impact” countries facing the biggest challenges on specific sustainable energy indicators. In the case of electricity access and clean cooking, for example, the high-impact countries are all in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. SEforALL has also posted fact sheets for each indicator, which highlight key trends and countries making the biggest gains.
“By combining and analysing data in these heat maps, we can show global leaders where they can make the biggest and fastest inroads towards our goal of universal energy access for all by 2030,” said Jane Olga Ebinger, Director of Policy at SEforALL, “The maps also show where big gains are happening so that we can replicate the success of others and help leaders in government, business and civil society make smart choices.”
Ebinger will be posting weekly blogs on the heat maps in the coming weeks. SEforALL will also be posting guest blogs from its partners and doing extensive social media promotion via the hashtag #SDG7HeatMaps
Most of the data for the maps is from the 2017 Global Tracking Framework report, which has been assessing progress towards SEforALL objectives since 2013. The Framework uses available data from household surveys and international databases to track access to electricity, clean cooking sources, improvements in energy intensity and increases in the share of renewable energy compared to overall energy consumption.
The maps also draw on data from the Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy – commonly known as RISE – which evaluates 111 countries on the quality of their policies and regulations for energy access, renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Eradicating malnutrition could increase wages by between 5% and 50% and is a sure way of breaking an inter-generational cycle of poverty in Nigeria, according to Scale Up Nutrition Business Network Nigeria (SBNN), a civil society group.
A malnourished child
Speaking recently in Lagos at a one-day symposium organised by the Media Centre Against Child Malnutrition (MeCAM), Ms Ify Ibiso of SUN Business Network added that good nutrition can prevent “child deaths by more than one third per year, improve school attainment by at least one year, reduce poverty as well-nourished children are 33% more likely to escape poverty as adults and empower women to be 10% more likely to run their own business.”
She noted that at least 33% of Nigerian children under five years are stunted, 18% wasted, 2% overweight, while only a paltry 17% of the under-fives are exclusively breastfed.
Ms Ibiso called for improved media awareness and reporting of nutrition, adding that her organisation is always ready to partner with journalists to not only give proper perspective to the topic but also ensure that nutrition is given adequate attention by all relevant stakeholders.
She added: “The media is an important ally in any public health situation and in this case focusing on nutrition. It serves the role of Influencers and Investigators and is a source of correct information as well as an advocate for correct health behaviours; but before the media can take on their roles, they need to understand nutrition, the issues surrounding it, and policy and practices, in order to convey the right information.
“The SUN Business Network is willing and ready to partner with the media to improve the nutrition of the Nigerian populace especially for children.”
Benue Radio Station, Wurukum Market and seven other communities were submerged following Saturday (August 26, 2017) night’s heavy downpour in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
A flooded neighbourhood in Makurdi
Commissioners for Land, Survey and Solid Minerals, Bernard Unenge, and Water Resources and Environment, Joseph Utsev, went round the town for situation report on Sunday.
Ustev explained that the ministry needed adequate funds to mitigate the situation, adding that the disaster was caused by blocked drainages in some areas.
He said the Transmission House of Radio Benue, Wurukum Market and Low Level were submerged as a result of the downpour.
Other communities affected were: Welfare Quarters, Benue State University, New Kanshio, Rice Mill Wadata as well as Idye and Achusa.
He urged the Federal Government to include Benue State among the states to benefit from the N1.6 billion ecological intervention funds for states affected by flood disasters.
The commissioner said the state has not received any ecological assistance from the Federal Government since 2013.
Ustev said: “Benue Government is looking for ways in which River Benue can be dredged. This is because by dredging the river, majority of the water can be accommodated to prevent future overflow.
“The ongoing research so far showed that the preliminary study will cost about N8 billion, while the main project will gulp about N300 billion. This is where we need Federal Government financial intervention to execute the project, since the funds are much.”
Ustev said the dredging would also encourage economic activities to be serviced by the state’s Cargo Airport.
Flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey is overburdening resources in the US as authorities in and around Houston in Texas scramble to save those trapped by the high waters.
Vehicles are stranded as road network is flooded
Hopes for an immediate respite from Harvey’s wrath seem unlikely as the National Weather Service calls the flooding “unprecedented” and warns things may become more dire if a record-breaking 50 inches of rain falls on parts of Texas in coming days.
The rainfall threatens to exacerbate an already dangerous situation, as Harvey’s rains have left many east Texas rivers and bayous swollen to their banks or beyond.
“The breadth and intensity of this rainfall are beyond anything experienced before,” the weather service said. “Catastrophic flooding is now underway and expected to continue for days.
The storm killed two people in Texas, authorities said, and the death toll will likely rise. More than 1,000 people were rescued overnight, and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner warned that some 911 calls are going unanswered as operators “give preference to life-threatening calls.”
Here are the latest developments:
A woman who drove her vehicle into high water in Houston was killed, and fire killed a man in Rockport.
Several states and the US military are sending emergency workers and equipment to Texas. In Harris County, though, authorities are having issues mobilising those resources. “We’ve requested boats, all the things that would normally happen in a well-planned response to an event like this, but they can’t get here,” Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said.
Dallas announced its plans to open a “mega-shelter” capable of accommodating 5,000 evacuees at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. County officials, charitable groups and local hospitals are working to open the shelter by Tuesday morning.
While Turner warned the rain could exacerbate flooding for “four to five days,” Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Brock Long said he expects his agency “is going to be there for years.”
The Houston Independent School District has canceled school for the week.
Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental and William P. Hobby airports are closed until further notice, and Corpus Christi International is closed for at least 24 hours, officials said. Jack Brooks Regional Airport in Beaumont, Ellington Airport in Houston, Mustang Beach Airport in Port Aransas and McCampbell-Porter Airport in Aransas Pass are also temporarily closed, the Federal Aviation Administration says.
Ben Taub Hospital, which houses a Level I trauma center, is being evacuated after flooding in the basement “disrupted the power source,” Emmet said.
316,000 customers have lost electricity, Gov. Greg Abbott said.
The Red Cross is serving about 130,000 meals a day, the governor said.
President Donald Trump will travel to Texas on Tuesday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
