Police has arraigned a banker with Keystone Bank Plc, Mrs. Chinonye Okafoagu, before a Chief Magistrate Court in Ebute-metta, Lagos for allegedly stealing the sum of N3 million from the bank’s Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
The ATM machine
The banker is facing a four counts charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing, forgery and false modification of ATM’s data.
The accused was charged and arraigned before the court by the men of State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti-Yaba, Lagos.
Police in the charge marked N/73/2017, alleged that the banker and others now at large, committed the offence in March 7, 2016, at the Festac Branch of the bank.
The police alleged that in order to steal the N3 million from the bank’s ATM machine, the banker without lawful authority modified the ATM’s data, and thereby making the machine not to dispense money to the bank’s customers.
The Offences according to the police are contrary to and punishable under sections 409, 285(7), 389(1), and 365(1) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos state of Nigeria, 2015.
The banker was also accused to have allegedly written the name of one Elizabeth, who supposed to handle the bank’s ATM machine on the said date, and equally append her signature in the ATM’s loading staff register, which she equally presented to the management of the bank.
However, after the charge was read to the accused banker, she pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Consequently, the presiding Magistrate, Mrs. A. O. Salawu, admitted her to bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in the same sum.
The Magistrate also ordered the sureties to furnish the court with evidence of three years tax paid to the Lagos state government, means of livelihood, and have their addresses verified by the court’s registrar.
The matter has been adjourned till September 25, for commencement of trial.
A considerable number of nations around the world have resated their commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, even as the United States continue to dither on the global treaty.
Participants at the Ministerial Meeting on Climate Action in Montreal, Canada
The Paris Agreement, which entered into force on November 4 2016, 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.
At a Ministerial Meeting on Climate Action convened by Canada, China, and the European Union, a majority of the participants expressed the fact that the Paris Agreement was irreversible and that it would not be renegotiated.
The United States, however, re-confirmed that it would withdraw from the Paris Agreement but that it is open to re-engaging on terms more favourable to it.
The Paris Agreement requires all Parties to put forward their best efforts through “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead. This includes requirements that all Parties report regularly on their emissions and on their implementation efforts.
The meeting, which featured representatives from 34 governments of major economies and other key players on climate change, was aimed at advancing discussions on the full implementation of the Paris Agreement and to demonstrate continued political commitment to global action. It held on Saturday, September 16, 2017 in Montreal, Canada.
Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji facilitated the meeting with representatives from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, EU, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Recognising that the environment and the economy go hand-in-hand and that ambitious climate action will protect the environment, spur clean growth and sustainable development, create jobs, and improve human health, participants emphasised that global efforts are at a critical juncture, even as they indicated a strong commitment to the full implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Participants also underscored the importance of providing clarity and certainty to all actors, including investors, and thus acknowledged their political commitment to complete the Paris Work Programme in 2018.
Many expressed the importance of the Paris Agreement and its modalities, procedures, and guidelines to continue to build trust and help solidify confidence in the global commitment to climate action. It was highlighted that technical negotiations at COP23 should build on the spirit of Paris, and be constructive and balanced to advance consensus on modalities, procedures and guidelines that will help all Parties in the implementation of their Paris Agreement obligations.
There was support for the efforts of the Moroccan and Fijian COP Presidencies in determining the modalities for the 2018 Facilitative Dialogue, based on consultations with Parties. It was reiterated that the Dialogue should help Parties take stock of progress made and further drive ambition, including in collaboration with non-state actors.
The importance of pre-2020 action and the need to build on current efforts were acknowledged. Many also pointed to the importance of financial, technology and capacity building support and recognised the progress being made. Furthermore, participants highlighted their support for the Marrakesh Partnership on Global Climate Action, pointing out that sub-national governments, Indigenous and local communities, and non-party actors are essential in achieving these objectives, and that multilateral processes should continue to be more inclusive and recognise the importance of gender equality.
To share lessons and best practices, many participants highlighted their countries’ approaches and experiences in reducing emissions and adapting to climate change, and broadly emphasised their steadfast determination to implementing these efforts and their NDCs. It was underscored that taking action now is critical in order to accelerate the global transition to a low-carbon and resilient economy. A number of participants welcomed the momentum and movements of the market in that regard and underscored the importance of carbon pricing.
In light of the commitment to moving forward together and demonstrating progress, a message was sent to negotiators to carry forward the positive and open spirit of the Ministerial on Climate Action to advance their work on implementing the Paris Agreement through the completion of the Paris Work Programme and the 2018 Facilitative Dialogue.
Canada, China and the European Union were thanked for taking this initiative and for their offer to co-convene a second meeting in 2018 in Europe.
According to emerging theories, the world’s standing forests may be protecting continents against cyclonic storms, such as hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones. But, as these forests disappear, scientists anticipate more frequent and more destructive storms.
A view of the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Sint Maarten Dutch part of Saint Martin island in the Caribbean, Sept. 6, 2017.
Recent research conducted in collaboration with the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) suggests that forests and cyclones share a fundamental link in atmospheric dynamics, and that changes in one can trigger changes in the other.
Both cyclones and forests are characterised by striking amounts of rain, which derives from the atmosphere. Evidence suggests that by importing atmospheric moisture from the ocean, forests deplete the vapour available to generate and support cyclonic storms.
“Our work suggests that forests may protect continental regions from extreme storms,” explains Douglas Sheil, a Senior Research Associate at CIFOR. “Both the formation and maintenance of cyclones appear to depend on sufficient supplies of water vapour. We believe that cyclonic storms cannot maintain themselves over, or near to, extensive forests, as they draw away moisture over the land.”
In addition to reducing the number and intensity of cyclones, forests may also reduce the incidence of devastating floods, droughts and tornadoes. Sheil and his colleagues Anastassia Makarieva and Victor Gorshkov argue that sustaining natural forests is a sound strategy for water security and climate stabilisation.
A growing body of evidence
The emerging “biotic pump” theory argues that vegetation and tree cover may influence rain and rainfall patterns to a greater extent than is generally assumed. While the prevailing view is that winds are determined by temperature gradients, recent studies describe how evaporation and condensation influence atmospheric dynamics.
The physical details of the theory and its implications have been published in peer-reviewed physics journals (1, 2, 3) and atmospheric science journals (4, 5, 6, 7). In advancing these ideas, researchers have described failings in the temperature-driven theory of winds (8) and revised the fundamental equations governing atmospheric dynamics (9).
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change, is calling for nominations of authors for the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).
Governments, Observer Organisations and IPCC Bureau Members have been requested to submit nominations of Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors and Review Editors by Friday, October 27, 2017 (midnight GMT +1). The Bureaus of the three IPCC Working Groups will then select the author teams from the lists of nominations.
The call for nominations follows agreement on the outlines of the three Working Group contributions to the Sixth Assessment Report at the IPCC’s 46th Session in Montreal, Canada, earlier this month.
The three Working Group contributions will be finalised in 2021, followed by a Synthesis Report in 2022, forming an up-to-date and comprehensive assessment of the scientific community’s understanding of climate change. The IPCC is already preparing three Special Reports on specific topics as well a refinement of its guidelines for measuring greenhouse gas inventories.
Hundreds of experts around the world in the different areas volunteer their time and expertise to produce the reports of the IPCC. Author teams aim to reflect a range of scientific, technical and socio-economic views and backgrounds.
The IPCC includes three working groups: Working Group I assesses the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II is responsible for impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III assesses the mitigation of climate change.
“We are seeking scientists with expertise across the disciplines assessed by the IPCC,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC. “We also hope that more scientists from developing countries and more women scientists will be nominated as IPCC authors to give us diverse author teams that can provide a range of relevant perspectives.”
IPCC author teams include a mix of authors from different regions. The IPCC, it was gathered, also seeks a balance of men and women, as well as between those experienced with working on IPCC reports and those new to the process, including younger scientists.
Mercury, a neurotoxic metal, has been found in high levels across all global regions in women of reproductive age, according to a new study conducted by IPEN (a global public health & environment network), Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) in collaboration with Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental (SRADev Nigeria).
A young mother
Women in the Pacific Islands and in communities near gold mining sites in Indonesia, Kenya, and Myanmar were found to have average mercury levels many times higher than US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) health advisory levels.
The research, titled: “Mercury in Women of Child-bearing Age in 25 Countries”, was undertaken to measure the prevalence of mercury body burden at levels that can cause neurological and organ damage. Mercury in a mother’s body can be transferred to her foetus during pregnancy, exposing the developing foetus to the potent neurotoxin.
Researchers from IPEN coordinated hair sampling from 1,044 women of reproductive age in 37 locations across 25 countries (including Nigeria) on six continents. Analysis, conducted by BRI, found that 36% of women sampled had average mercury levels over the US EPA health advisory level of 1 ppm, above which brain damage, IQ loss, and kidney and cardiovascular damage may occur. The study additionally found that 53% of the global sample of women measured more than 0.58 ppm of mercury, a level associated with the onset of foetal neurological damage.
The study found significantly elevated mercury concentrations in the hair of women in numerous regions of the world related to three predominant causes of mercury pollution: coal-fired power plants (one of the main sources globally that contaminate oceans with mercury that accumulates in fish), artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) and local contaminated sites from various industries releasing mercury to soil, water and air.
Key findings are listed to include:
One out of five women in the communities studied near heavily industrialised areas have mercury levels over 1 ppm. This includes women in Nepal, Nigeria, and Thailand, where contaminated sites pollute local land, waterways and food sources. In the Nigerian result specifically, the mean mercury hair concentration for women from these locations slightly exceeded the 1 ppm threshold at 1.053 ppm ± 0.652 ppm (fw), a level indicative that there is contamination of local fish from Lagos Lagoon. Additionally, women near contaminated sites in Albania, Chile, Kazakhstan, Nepal and Ukraine measured average levels above 0.58ppm.
In the Pacific Islands, which is far from all industrial mercury sources but where people eat fish as their primary food source, 85.7% exceeded the 1 ppm threshold, with most women measuring three times above the US EPA standard.
Over half of the women sampled in Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar and Paraguay measured over 1 ppm where communities subsist from small-scale gold mining. Excluding Paraguay, where fish is not the protein staple, 81% of women were above 1 ppm, with women in two Indonesian locations measuring between three and nine times above the US EPA threshold for mercury.
“This study illustrates the unfolding global mercury pollution threat for the women and children of many Pacific Island nations and for most women engaged in small-scale gold mining,” said Lee Bell, the study’s Principle Investigator from IPEN. “The very high mercury levels found in the hair of most of these women point to the urgent need for action to phase-out coal-fired power plants and the international trade of mercury supplying small-scale gold mining, the two most significant causes of mercury pollution.”
Next week, governments from across the globe will convene in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss next steps for the new international, legally-binding treaty, the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The research underscores the need for guidance to identify mercury-contaminated sites, monitor mercury body burden, and take action to curtail the primary sources of mercury pollution – coal-fired power plants and ASGM.
Commented Yuyun Ismawati, IPEN Lead for ASGM/Mining and Goldman Prize winner: “Millions of women and children in communities mining gold with mercury are condemned to a future where mercury impairs the health of adults and damages the developing brains of their offspring. As long as the mercury trade continues, so too will the mercury tragedy.”
“This study underscores the importance of global cooperation to address mercury pollution,” said David Evers, Executive Director and Chief Scientist at BRI and co-author of the study.
“Mercury contamination is ubiquitous in marine and freshwater systems around the world. Biological mercury hotspots are globally common and are related to a variety of human activities. For these reasons, it is critical that we continue biomonitoring efforts to track potential impacts on local communities and on the environment in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention.”
“The study exposes a mercury pollution problem that is affecting all of us”. It is alarming because fishing families in the coastal communities and residents in Lagos have the fish as the primary protein source in their diet and a delicacy,” said Leslie Adogame, Executive Director, SRADev Nigeria. “This study underscores the urgency for the ratification of the Mercury Convention by the Nigerian government.”
Cook Islands resident Imogen Ingram of the Island Sustainability Alliance learned that her own mercury levels were two and half times that of the US EPA health advisory threshold. “It is really alarming to learn that you have high levels of toxic mercury in your body and that as a result, you have, without knowing, passed on mercury to your child,” she commented. ”Mercury contamination across the Pacific Islands is high because we eat fish. But I do not want to be told not to eat fish. Coal-fired power, one of the primary sources of mercury pollution in the oceans, is the real offender. It is time to phase it out.”
Worried by the steady increase in reported cases of outbreak of measles, the Federal Government has rolled out its 2017 Measles Campaign. Reported cases of the ailment rose from 166 (affecting 140 local governments areas – LGAs) in 2015 to 183 (affecting 158 LGAs).
Dr. Faisal Shuaib, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency
Executive Secretary, Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, made the revelation recently in Abuja while addressing journalists on the programme of events of the planned Campaign on Measles.
He commended the Federal Government for promptly releasing N3 billion to support the measles campaign, which will commence in October.
According to him, “Persistently, low routine measles follow up Subnational Immunisation Activities (SIA) coverage in 2013 (74%) and 2015 (84.5%) have resulted in a population immunity profile that has allowed increased transmission of the measles virus among children of about 10 years of age, resulting in morbidity and mortality. Movement of internally displaced people from recently liberated security threatened areas is also likely to have caused increased susceptibility and exposure among local populations.
“Case-based measles surveillance that has satisfied key surveillance performance indicators since 2012 indicators that measles virus transmission is extensive throughout the country, with increasing number of cases, outbreaks and increasing numbers of Local Governments Areas. These outbreaks occur in spite of the 2015 measles follow up campaigns. Aproximately 2.4% of all children with laboratory confirmed cases of measles die, likely precipitated by malnutrituion and or vitamin A deficiency.
“Vaccination status among confirmed cases indicates that majority of cases have never been vaccinated with measles vaccine, consistent with inadequate levels of immunisation coverage.
“The number of outbreaks has increased from 166 affecting 140 local governments areas to 183 affecting 158 local governemnt areas in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Survellance data shows that there was a steady increase in measles incidence among children under 5 years in the North from 190/ million in 2014 to 527/ million in 2016.
“The trend of proportion of measles cases among children aged five and 10 years in the North has been rising steadily since 2014, cumulatively in 79.4% and 19.1% respectively in 2016. In the Southern states, though the incidence decreased from 111/ million in 2014, to 11/ million in 2016., the incidence rate is still above the desired less than 5 per million populations.
“It is also note worthy that the proportion of measles cases among the under 5 is 59.4% and 5-10 years is 18.7%.”
He said the 2017\2018 measles Vaccination Campaign would focus on children ages nine months to 59 months and it would be implemented in phases from October 2017 to March 2018, and that 95% national coverage is expected.
The NPHCDA boss added that 22 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are yet to approve the campaign. He listed the states to include: Katsina, Sokoto, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe, Plateau, Bayelsa,Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Ondo, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Lagos, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu. He added however that Kaduna, Zamfara and Jigawa states have approved but yet to release their counterpart funding.
Kano State is said to have only released N9 million out of N66 million, the remaining balance is expected to be paid by the local governments councils. Kebbi, Borno, Nassarawa and Imo states have released their counterpart funding.
Shuaib therefore said all the states that do not release it counterpart funding by 15 of September, 2017 would not participate in the vaccination campaign.
Nigerians have been told to be rest assured of the protection of their health and the environment by the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) on matters concerning genetically modified (GM) foods.
L-R: Environment Minister of State, Ibrahim Usman Jibril; Director General/CEO of National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA); and Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics, Nile University in Nigeria, Prof. Faruk Gursoy, at the Third National Biosafety Conference, in Abuja
The Environment Minister of State, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, who made the submission in Abuja on Thursday, September 14, 2017 during the Third National Biosafety Conference, stated that the NBMA has capable biosafety regulatory personnel (scientists), “who are well trained within and outside the country to effectively carry out its regulatory functions.”
“The NBMA has well equipped laboratory to detect the smallest altered genes in GMOs. The Agency also carries out risk assessments on GMOs currently under trial in the country,” the minister added.
His words: “The NBMA is poised to effectively regulate modern biotechnology for the benefit of Nigerians. The Agency is here to safeguard the environment and human health of all Nigerians, taking into consideration national interest and socio-economic issues from potential adverse impacts of modern biotechnology and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
“The Agency is charged with the responsibility for proving the regulatory, institutional and administrative framework and mechanisms for safety measures in the application of modern biotechnology in Nigeria. This is to ensure the safe practice of modern biotechnology and, use and handling of GMOs to avert adverse impacts on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, considering risk to human health.
“With the creation of the NBMA Act, Nigeria has joined the league of countries in the in the world with biosafety laws and agencies. Countries in Africa with Biosafety laws and agencies include: South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Sudan, Ghana and Cameroon.”
According to him, the only way to achieve economic growth, food security and sufficiency and sustainable environment is innovation of safe smart scientific and technological means of maximising available land resources to increase food and fibre production.
He added: “We must also look for ways to increase investment, through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development, plant and livestock gene banks, in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity.
“This calls for a combination of tools, processes and safe technologies in a complementary way, to provide a form of economic diversification, which would bring with it a new set of skill requirements thereby expanding job opportunities. This is where modern biotechnology comes in and hence biosafety.”
The minister in a presentation assured of government’s determination to partner with all stakeholders in exploring use of relevant technologies that would, according to him, provide safe and adequate food for Nigerians. He stressed that, as a demonstration of government’s commitment, the NBMA was established to enable Nigerians benefit maximally from the practice of safe, modern biotechnology.
“The NBMA works in partnership with other line Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Non-Governmental Organisations, Youths, Women and Farmers Associations and the international community, in line with the United Nations Conventions to protect the environment.
“These partnerships are important if we are to succeed in ensuring food security. I therefore wish to charge all of you to support the government in her efforts to rejuvenate the economy and free our people from poverty,” the minister submitted.
Chairperson, NGO Coalition working with the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Chike Chikwendu, in a goodwill message, said: “Given that our environment is already stressed and Nigerians will not support any further steps to degrade it, the Nigerian NGO community, as critical stakeholders in the Nigerian environment space, is therefore desirous to fully understand Nigeria’s position on the use of GMOs and other policy issues on the use of modern biotechnology in the economic development of Nigeria.
“In this manner, we will be able to support and sensitise Nigerians accordingly. Currently, as a food insecure nation, we cannot afford to denounce any food production techniques that are not proven to have adverse environmental effects.”
Vice President, All Farmers Association, Chief Daniel Okafor, underlined the importance of science and technology, saying that, without it, mankind cannot survive.
“Biotechnology will lead us to another level. Nigeria needs food in abundance and, with agriculture and food science/technology, this can be achieved,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Prof. Ignatius Akhakhia Onimawo, frowned at the situation whereby “people have confused bio-fortification with GMOs.”
“We need to do a lot of education and awareness raising. Science is about facts, not speculation,” he said.
Vice President, Nigeria Biosafety Association, Prof Abiodun Denloye, lamented that “many of what we’ve heard on biosafety on the media are negative reports.” According to him, “it will be unfair to talk about biosafety as if it’s a wholesome unwanted technology”.
“Every step should be taken on its own merit and we should do away with the attitude of throwing away the baby with the bath water,” he said.
Africa Coordinator, Programme for Biosafety Systems (PBS), Dr John Komen, described the conference, which had “Biosafety: Paving the way for safe and sustainable environmental management, agricultural development and economic recovery” as it theme, as a testimony of Nigeria’s achievement in the biosafety and biotechnology sector.
“We pledge our support for Nigeria now and many years ahead in the responsible development and use of biotechnology,” Komen stated, adding that PBS works with Nigeria and other countries interested in using biotechnology to enhance agricultural innovation.
Nigeria Country Director, PBS, Dr Matthew Dore, disclosed that PBS experts provided technical assistance for the country’s first ever confined field trials for “an important food security crop”.
“In parallel, PBS provided legal analysis, technical expertise and outreach capacity to support the development of a biosafety legal framework,” stated Dr Dore.
Mobilising private sector capital is critical to climate transformation, and the Green Climate Fund’s (GCF) partnerships in Mongolia demonstrate how the Fund can leverage public funds to engage private investment.
Ayaan Adam, Director of GCF’s Private Sector Facility
This was the message emphasised by Ayaan Adam, Director of GCF’s Private Sector Facility, in a statement to the Mongolian Sustainable Finance Forum in Ulaanbaatar on Thursday, September 14, 2017.
”GCF is providing strong support for developing countries to build their climate capacity and ownership,” stated Ms Adam in her keynote speech. “We are also using public funds to catalyse private players and encouraging their full participation, providing creativity, innovation and massive capital for climate action. This is the sustainable, long-term solution to respond to climate change,” she explained.
Ms Adam addressed the 450+ attendees of the international forum in Ulaanbaatar, and used the Fund’s partnerships in the country as an example of how GCF can respond rapidly and with transformative impact to support country ownership and crowd-in private capital.
The Green Climate Fund recently disbursed $20 million for an investment to create a business loan programme for GHG emission reduction in Mongolia. The project was developed in partnership with XacBank, one of Mongolia’s leading banks. It was fast-tracked from accreditation, to project approval, signature, and disbursement in less than a year.
While the Fund has many international private sector projects, this is its first local private commercial project in a developing country.
At the same time, GCF is providing readiness funds to the country in order to support the development of the Mongolian Green Credit Fund by the Mongolian Ministries of Finance and Environment. Delivered in partnership with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), this project will enable the creation of a national financing vehicle to deliver long-term climate finance to stimulate green growth.
At the same time, GCF is providing readiness funds to the country in order to support the development of the Mongolian Green Credit Fund by the Mongolian Ministries of Finance and Environment. Delivered in partnership with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the one year project will enable the creation of a national financing vehicle to deliver long-term climate finance to stimulate green growth.
The proposal was approved for an amount of $350,000 that will help in scaling up a national finance vehicle to bring long term finance to projects and programmes that stimulate green growth in the country.
In stressing the Fund’s ability to engage the private sector, Ayaan Adam also highlighted the Fund’s Mobilising Funds at Scale programme. A recent Request for Proposals under this $500 million programme has generated over 350 proposals to GCF from private sector institutions around the planet, including from national financial institutions in developing countries.
The most promising ideas will be developed and submitted to GCF’s Board for funding consideration.
United Nations Security Coordination Officer, Francis T. Okoemu, has confirmed his attendance at the the News Express 5th Anniversary Lecture holding on Thursday, September 28, 2017, at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Ikeja, Lagos.
News Express Publisher, Isaac Umunna
Mr. Okoemu, a counter-terrorism expert who worked in the United Kingdom before joining the UN staff, confirmed his attendance in an e-mail message to News Express Publisher, Isaac Umunna.
A statement issued on Saturday by Umunna quoted him as saying: “Yes, I will be in Nigeria for the News Express 5th Anniversary Lecture. It is something I want to be part of because News Express is a paper for which I have great respect.”
A widely travelled Nigerian expatriate, Mr. Okoemu holds a BA Degree in Contemporary Military and International History, a Master’s Degree in Terrorism and Security Studies, and PGD in Intelligence and Security Studies, both awarded by the University of Salford, Manchester, UK.
He has attended counter-terrorism courses in Israel, the United States of America, and other security courses in the UK, which include close protection, intelligence gathering and terrorism threat and response. He is a member of the UK’s Security Industry Authority (SIA) and was Chairman/CEO, Blackwell Security Consultancy, UK Ltd, before he was hired by the UN in 2015.
Mr. Okoemu joins a growing list of important personalities who have confirmed attendance at the News Express 5th Anniversary Lecture. The guest speaker, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, who is Executive Governor of Niger State, will speak on “National Unity and the Demand for Restructuring – A Governor’s Perspective”.
The Lecture, starting from 12 p.m. prompt, will be chaired by Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman of foremost Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Company, Zinox Technologies Ltd., and pioneer of online publishing in Nigeria.
News Express, which debuted on August 29, 2012, is one of Nigeria’s most popular and influential online dailies. It is read by hundreds of thousands of people around the world and records annual traffic of upwards of 100 million.
After steadily declining for over a decade, global hunger is on the rise again, affecting 815 million people in 2016, or 11 per cent of the global population, says a new edition of the annual United Nations report on world food security and nutrition released today. At the same time, multiple forms of malnutrition are threatening the health of millions worldwide.
UN Secretary-General, António Guterres. Photo credit: UN / Mark Garten
The increase – 38 million more people than the previous year – is largely due to the proliferation of violent conflicts and climate-related shocks, according to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017.
Some 155 million children aged under five are stunted (too short for their age), the report says, while 52 million suffer from wasting, meaning their weight is too low for their height. An estimated 41 million children are now overweight. Anaemia among women and adult obesity are also cause for concern. These trends are a consequence not only of conflict and climate change but also of sweeping changes in dietary habits as well as economic slowdowns.
The report is the first UN global assessment on food security and nutrition to be released following the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which aims to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030 as a top international policy priority.
It singles out conflict – increasingly compounded by climate change – as one of the key drivers behind the resurgence of hunger and many forms of malnutrition.
“Over the past decade, conflicts have risen dramatically in number and become more complex and intractable in nature,” the heads of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in their joint foreword to the report. They stressed that some of the highest proportions of food-insecure and malnourished children in the world are now concentrated in conflict zones.
“This has set off alarm bells we cannot afford to ignore: we will not end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030 unless we address all the factors that undermine food security and nutrition. Securing peaceful and inclusive societies is a necessary condition to that end,” they said.
Famine struck in parts of South Sudan for several months in early 2017, and there is a high risk that it could reoccur there as well as appear in other conflict-affected places, namely northeast Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen, they noted.
But even in regions that are more peaceful droughts or floods linked in part to the El Niño weather phenomenon, as well as the global economic slowdown, have also seen food security and nutrition deteriorate, they added.
Key numbers
Hunger and food security
Overall number of hungry people in the world: 815 million, including:
In Asia: 520 million
In Africa: 243 million
In Latin America and the Caribbean: 42 million
Share of the global population who are hungry: 11%
Asia: 11.7%
Africa: 20% (in eastern Africa, 33.9%)
Latin America and the Caribbean: 6.6%
Malnutrition in all its forms
Number of children under 5 years of age who suffer from stunted growth (height too low for their age): 155 million
Number of those living in countries affected by varying levels of conflict: 122 million
Children under 5 affected by wasting (weight too low given their height): 52 million
Number of adults who are obese: 641 million (13% of all adults on the planet)
Children under 5 who are overweight: 41 million
Number of women of reproductive age affected by anaemia: 613 million (around 33% of the total)
The impact of conflict
Number of the 815 million hungry people on the planet who live in countries affected by conflict: 489 million
The prevalence of hunger in countries affected by conflict is 1.4 – 4.4 percentage points higher than in other countries
In conflict settings compounded by conditions of institutional and environmental fragility, the prevalence is 11 and 18 percentage points higher
People living in countries affected by protracted crises are nearly 2.5 times more likely to be undernourished than people elsewhere
