The Federal Government has directed River Basin Development Authorities to embark on routine dredging of rivers and water channels to boost agriculture.
Suleiman Adamu, African Water Facility (AWF) Chair and Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources
Alhaji Sulieman Adamu, Minister of Water Resources, gave the directive on Thursday, August 2, 2018 in Wachakal, Yobe State, while launching the dredging of the Kumadugu-Yobe tributary.
He said the measure became necessary to meet the target of President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s self-sufficiency in food production.
Adamu said the availability of water would enhance massive agricultural production for food security, employment opportunities and economic recovery.
The minister also directed Lake Chad Basin and Hadejia/Jama’are River Basin to dredge water sources in their areas.
He assured Nigerians that government would find lasting solution to the menace of Typha grass on rivers which had hindered flow of water to the downstream.
Senate leader, Ahmad Lawan, said the failure to dredge the river in the last 25 years had grossly reduced water flow and agricultural production in the affected communities.
According to the lawmaker, the water flow has improved with the commencement of the dredging, adding that the surrounding communities have re-engaged in farming, fishing and livestock.
“Our people have massively gone back to farming, fishing and livestock.
“This administration believes in giving people means of livelihood, self-reliance and economic independence to liberate the people from clutches of poverty.
“In Yobe North, we have seen the change promised to us by the APC administration; it has been delivered to the people,” he said.
Emir of Bade, Alhaji Adamu Umar-Sulieman, said Yobe-Kumadugu River contributed 1.7 per cent of water to Lake Chad but added the volume reduced due to siltation.
The emir, therefore, urged the supervising ministry to ensure the prompt dredging of the river to improve water flow, food production and security.
Farmers in the southeast geopolitical zone have decried the late supply of fertiliser and other inputs, saying that it will affect their productivity in the current farming season.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh
Some of the farmers, who spoke in a national survey conducted by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), bemoaned the late supply of fertiliser although crop growing in their neighbourhoods ought to commence around April.
In Enugu, Mr Christopher Nwame, the Director of Enugu State Agricultural Services, conceded that the Ministry of Agriculture had yet to supply farmers with fertiliser.
Nwame told NAN that farmers could, however, purchase the commodity at subsidised rates through agricultural schemes such as the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), without having to wait for the government’s supplies.
However, Mr Uzoma Ucheobi, a yam farmer, said that he was not aware of any outlet that was selling fertiliser at subsidised rates to farmers in the state.
He said that he resorted to using organic fertiliser in his farm because the chemical fertiliser was very expensive and difficult to find.
Mrs Theresa Okeke, a farmer in Amaechi-Idodo community, said that the supply of fertiliser to farmers after the planting season was certainly counterproductive, as it would affect farm yields.
Mr Romanus Eze, the Secretary of the Enugu State chapter of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), said that farmers were still waiting for the state government’s subsidised fertiliser.
He, however, noted that as the current planting season was almost coming to end, it might be difficult for the farmers to have access to the fertiliser.
In Abakaliki, Mr Sunday Ituma, the State Programme Coordinator of the Value Chain Development Programme of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD-VCDP) in Ebonyi State, said that his organisation had begun the distribution of fertilisers and other farm inputs to farmers in the 2018 farming season.
“We want to meet the wants of farmers as to farm inputs because it is our cardinal objective to assist the rural poor in the state.
“The distribution will last for two weeks and at the end of the first week, other field officers will be considered if any of the shortlisted ones failed to collect their inputs.
“The benefiting farmers will only receive certified rice seeds, fertilisers (NPK and Urea) and cassava stems but they are expected to show evidence of purchasing rice seeds before they could have access to the fertilisers.
“The rice seeds cost N450 per kilogramme; the beneficiaries are expected to pay N11, 250 into a designated bank account and use the teller to access the fertilisers,” he said.
Ituma said that the cost of the fertilisers was N8,500 per bag, adding, however, that Gov. David Umahi approved the subsidised prices of N3,000 for the NPK brand and N3,500 for the Urea brand.
“Agro dealers are instructed to procure fertilisers from the Ebonyi fertiliser plant because of the good quality of its fertiliser brands,’’ he said.
Mr Ikechukwu Nwobo, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, said that the Ebonyi Government had also commenced the sale of fertiliser and other inputs to farmers at subsidised prices.
Mrs Anthonia Ibe, a rice dealer, called for more intervention by relevant stakeholders in inputs supplies so as to meet the ever-increasing wants of farmers.
“For instance, we still buy fertilisers at N8,000 for both the Urea and NPK brands but the intervention of agencies such as IFAD-VCDP has drastically reduced the prices,’’ she said.
However, the Anambra Government said that it had created four agricultural zones to enable farmers to have hitch-free access to fertiliser and other agricultural inputs.
Mr Jude Nwankwo, the Programme Manager, Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), told NAN in Awka that the zones were Otuocha, Onitsha, Aguata and Awka.
He said that the zones were created by the Ministry of Agriculture to facilitate the distribution of fertilisers and other inputs to farmers, adding that the creation had curbed the activities of middlemen in the sales and distribution the farm inputs.
“In Anambra, members of farmers’ cooperative groups get free improved rice seedlings and yellow cassava stems, while farmers buy fertilisers at a reduced rate of N5,000 for a bag of NPK fertiliser,’’ he said.
Chief Nnamdi Mekoh, the AFAN Chairman in Anambra, said that the price of a bag of NPK fertiliser in the state ranged between N7,500 and N9,000 in the open market.
Mekoh, however, said that he was not aware of any provision of subsidised fertiliser for farmers in the state, adding: “The only farm input that registered farmers in Anambra are getting is rice seedlings.’’
He said that the ABP and IFAD-VCDP offices had yet to inform farmers of the availability of subsidised fertiliser in the state, adding that only improved rice seedlings were given to registered farmers through these channels.
Also, Mr Donatus Orjika, the President, Youths for Agriculture Cooperative Society, Nnewi South Local Government Area, said that members of the group had yet to get fertiliser through government sources since the beginning of the 2018 farming season.
“All that we are hearing from the state-owned radio in the last one week is that farmers who are interested in buying fertiliser at subsidised rates should submit the list of their names, pending the time they will finally call us,’’ he said.
Orjika, who decried the delay in the supply of fertiliser to farmers in the area, urged relevant government agencies to be prompt in the provision of fertiliser to farmers, particularly in the Southern and Middle Belt regions of the country.
“This is because our planting season in the South and Middle Belt starts from April when we begin to have rains; any delay in the release fertiliser to farmers till July or August, when we are already carrying out our first harvest, would definitely be counterproductive,’’ he said.
Farmers in some states in the North East geopolitical zone also bemoaned the delay in the government’s supply of fertiliser and other farm inputs at subsidised rates, describing it as a major setback that would affect their productivity.
They said that although the farm inputs were available for sale in the open market, most farmers could not afford them because of their exorbitant prices.
In Adamawa, Alhaji Musa Magaji, a Yola-based farmer, said that a 50 kg. bag of Urea fertiliser cost between 7,500 and N8, 000, while the price of the NPK variant ranged between N6, 000 and N7, 000.
He, nonetheless, noted that most of the smallholder farmers in the area could not afford the commodity at those prices.
However, the Commissioner of Agriculture, Dr Waziri Ahmadu, said that the Adamawa Government had approved the supply of 15,000 tonnes of fertiliser to farmers, adding that fertiliser sales at the subsidised price of N6,000 per bag would commence by end of July.
Similarly, some farmers in Borno expressed concern over the increase in fertiliser prices due to the rising demand for the commodity.
NAN check showed that a bag of fertiliser cost between N7, 000 and N7, 800 in the market, depending on particular brands.
Malam Hassan Zabarmari, a rice farmer, grumbled that the high cost of the commodity would affect his productivity.
Zabarmari said that he would need more than 10 bags of fertiliser to nourish his five-hectare farm.
“We are not getting fertiliser from the government; we buy from the market at exorbitant costs,” he said.
Nevertheless, Malam Umar Abdullahi, the AFAN Chairman in Gombe State, said that the late distribution of fertiliser had negatively affected farmers in the state.
He said that late fertiliser supplies had almost become a norm, adding that development could affect farmers’ productivity and, in essence, food production in the state.
“It has always been a problem; late distribution of fertiliser is frustrating the cultivation plans of farmers in the state; it does not allow us to plan well, ahead of the planting season.
“Most farmers usually buy their fertiliser at exorbitant prices in the open market before the government launches fertiliser distribution in the state.
“This is because the farmers are tired of waiting for the government’s supply, which often comes very late.
“The distribution of fertiliser should be done as early as possible, even before the month of April, so as to avoid the rush for the commodity after the launch of its sales,” he said.
In the meantime, the Yobe Government said that it had procured 8,640 tonnes of fertiliser for distribution to farmers this cropping season.
Alhaji Mustapha Gajerima, the Commissioner of Agriculture, told NAN that government had awarded a N1.468 billion contract for the supply of NPK fertiliser.
“The contractor has started delivering the fertiliser and we will soon commence its distribution to farmers across the state,” he said.
He said that the brand of fertiliser which the government procured was suitable for crop growing in Yobe, considering the rainfall patterns in the state.
However, some farmers, who spoke to NAN, said that they were compelled to buy fertiliser at prices ranging between N7, 000 and N8,000 per 50kg. bag in the open market, as the government had yet to kick-start fertiliser sales.
All the same, the Jigawa Government has procured 5,000 tonnes of assorted fertilisers for sale to farmers at a subsidised rate of N5,500 per bag.
Alhaji Mohammad Lana, the General Manager of Jigawa Agricultural Supply Company (JASCO), who disclosed this to NAN, said that farmers could purchase the commodity in any of the retail outlets of JASCO in the 27 local government areas of the state.
Alhaji Adamu Maigoro, the RIFAN Chairman in Jigawa, told NAN that the state government had sold 6,000 bags of fertiliser to members of his association.
Meanwhile, Gov. Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State said that his administration had procured over 20,000 tonnes of fertiliser for sale to farmers this year.
Speaking at a ceremony marking the commencement of fertiliser sales, the governor said that the commodity would be sold to farmers at the rate of N5,500 per 50kg. bag.
The death and unsafe burial of a 65-year-old woman in Mangina in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) was the critical event that set alarm bells ringing in the latest Ebola outbreak in late July, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday, August 3, 2018.
An Ebola patient receiving treatment
WHO’s emergency response chief Peter Salama said seven of the woman’s immediate family later also died from Ebola-like symptoms, and potential cases were now being traced in 10 localities.
Apart from Mangina in North Kivu province, there were now suspected cases in the local town of Beni and neighbouring Ituri province, Salama told a regular UN briefing in Geneva.
The WHO also warned that the Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC, is likely spread over tens of km and poses a high regional risk given its proximity to borders.
The health ministry said four people have tested positive for Ebola in and around Mangina, a town of about 60,000 people in North Kivu province, 100 km from the Ugandan border.
Another 20 people died from unidentified haemorrhagic fevers in the area, mostly in the second half of July.
On July 29, a previous outbreak on the other side of the Central African country was declared over after killing 33 people.
“It would appear that the risk, as we can surmise for DRC, is high. For the region it’s high given the proximity to borders, particularly Uganda,” said WHO’s emergency response chief, Peter Salama.
“We are talking about tens of kilometres, but I stress that this is very preliminary information at this stage.”
Ebola is believed to be transported long distances by bats and can find its way into bush meat sold at local markets and eaten. Once present in humans, it causes haemorrhagic fever, vomiting and diarrhoea and is spread through direct contact with body fluids.
Over 11,300 people died of an epidemic in West Africa from 2013 to 2016.
This is the vast, forested central African country’s 10th outbreak since 1976, when the virus was discovered near Congo’s Ebola river in the north.
That is more than twice as many epidemics as any other country.
The response to Congo’s previous outbreak was considered a success despite the 33 deaths, as the use of a vaccine made by Merck helped contain the virus.
The kind of Ebola in the latest outbreak has been confirmed as the Zaire strain that the Merck vaccine protects against, Congo’s health ministry said late on Thursday.
This should allow health officials to again use what has become the greatest weapon against Ebola epidemics to date.
Still, this outbreak poses new challenges. Eastern Congo is a tinderbox of conflicts over land and ethnicity stoked by decades of on-off war and this could hamper efforts to contain the virus.
About 1,000 civilians have been killed by armed groups and government soldiers around Beni since 2014, and the wider region of North Kivu holds over one million displaced people.
Officials in Mangina rushed on Thursday to educate people about the risks of spreading the virus in a town that one local nurse told Reuters had no ambulance service.
Agents were deployed to warn people about the need for strict hygiene and the local radio station passed on messages about how to act, a local journalist said by phone.
“There is a great panic among the local population following the appearance of the Ebola epidemic,” said a nurse by phone, who asked not to be named.
The hospital where she works has already seen three people die recently of haemorrhagic fever.
The hospital was awaiting help from the Red Cross to bury the bodies properly, she said.
Meanwhile, Uganda has set up screening at the land border it shares with Congo and at its Entebbe international airport.
“Ebola is highly infectious, so we have put in place measures,” Uganda’s Junior Health Minister, Sarah, Opendi told Reuters.
An international delegation including officials from the UN, the World Bank and the WHO is in Beni, 30 km from Mangina.
The Federal High Court in Awka, Anambra State, is under what looks like a critical gully erosion threat and at the verge of imminent collapse.
Federal High Court Complex, Awka under erosion threat. Photo credit: NAN/APC
A correspondent of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who visited the complex on Friday, August 3, 2018 reports that parts of the property had already caved into the gaping gully.
Some of the parts that have been lost to erosion include the perimeter fence, generator house, the original site for electricity and tarred road leading to Judges’ Quarters.
Other are the Boys Quarters for servants and house helps in the Judges’ Quarters, the water supply borehole and the part of the entrance to the Court complex.
Mrs Blessing Egbuche, a staff of the Federal High Court, told NAN that they no longer felt safe working under the prevailing circumstance.
Egbuche said no part of the complex is safe now as each rainfall reduces the integrity of the buildings which already had visible cracks due to underground vibrations.
She said electricity and water supplies were no longer available as they could no longer use the borehole and the transformer had been dismantled.
Egbuche said they had cried to the Anambra State Government and the Nigeria Erosion Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) and had not received any assistance after they had visited severally.
“We no longer feel safe and happy working here, the staff, the lawyers and judges can no longer use the convenience because there is no water, so that has resulted in the messing up of the whole place.
“There is no light in the complex, maybe there is electricity supply, but our transformer has been disconnected because erosion was swallowing it up and we had to call EEDC to come and remove it.
“The borehole has collapsed, our 20,000-capacity water tank is there but we have emptied it to prevent it from going down into the gully soon,’’ she told NAN full of lamentation.
“Now, the staff members tell you that they want to ease themselves outside the gate and leave from there, you cannot monitor them again.
“The building is at the risk of collapse, we are not safe here anymore, we need urgent assistance to prevent this disaster,’’ she said.
Also, Mrs May Esealuka, Deputy Chief Registrar in the Court, lamented the possible loss of the multi-million-naira complex to gully erosion.
Esealuka told NAN that all efforts to get the Anambra Government and Ministry of Environment to intervene in the problem since it started were futile.
According to her, we have sent letters to Anambra Government in November last year and all the people and agencies that matter in Anambra, including NEWMAP came and saw things for themselves.
“What is happening here is sad, every moment my heart jumps that the worst will happen; there is no road to the Judges Quarters anymore.
“For the past six months, we did not have light, no water supply, we have moved our generators to a safer side because the generator house has collapsed.
“Since this thing started, nothing has been done to save it, NEWMAP at a time said I should call people at the top for release of funds, but am I supposed to talk, if not the people on ground.
“We have been writing letters and making calls that some of them no longer pick my calls, we are begging whoever is in charge to save us, the media should help us to shout so that they can help us,’’ she said.
NAN reports that it is not only the Federal High Court Complex that is at risk as the erosion is just few metres away from the Federal Secretariat still under construction.
Some structures in the abandoned Three Arms Zone along Ekwueme Square have also been swalowed by the menace.
Responding to the situation, Mr Emeka Achebe, Head of Communications in NEWMAP, said the World Bank Technical Team have visited the site and appreciated the enormity of Danger.
Achebe said a special intervention plan known as “Gully Rapid Action and Slope Stabilisation (GRASS), has been approved for the site.
According to him this will control damage and immediate threat to houses and other critical infrastructure, adding that remedial works will begin before the end of August.
“GRASS has been approved by the World Bank for Ekwueme Square and activities will commence before end of month,’’ he said.
President of the Nigerian Meterological Society (NMetS), Prof. Clement Akhoshile, has called for the development of shield outlets to conserve the water being released from the dams.
Effect of heatwave
Akosile made the call in an interview on how the nation could mitigate the heatwave ravaging European countries on Friday, August 3, 2018 in Lagos.
Heatwave occurs when the temperature rises above normal and the air becomes dry over a long period of time.
According to him, a shield outlet will ensure that water released from dams is channeled to areas that need water instead of the current way of causing flooding by releasing the water into the river.
“The water projects that we have must be better managed than the way they are being handled at present.
“The dams have to be properly maintained and secured so that they do not break.
“We must develop and have a proper outlet so that instead of wasting water being released from the dams it will go to areas that do not have enough water.
“It will prevent moving of excess water along the water courses causing flooding of communities and destruction of lives and properties,’’ he said.
Akoshile also advised the government to devise means of curtailing bush burning to protect the environment.
He added that the people’s lifestyle of making charcoal from firewood by cutting down woods must be stopped.
The NMet’s president said that the government should intensify its attempt to planting trees to checkmate desert encroachment.
He said that deliberate efforts should be made on continuous basis to preserve the forests.
Akoshile warned that the nation would suffer greatly if its vegetational cover was allowed to continually decrease at an alarming rate.
He said that at present the planting of trees did not correspond with the way trees were being felled and uprooted.
Heatwave has been causing havoc in some regions of the world recording temperatures above 48 degrees Celsius and affecting the environment in various negative ways.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) Consultant, Dr Ken Ukaoha, has advised farmers to embrace scale of measurements.
Rice farming
Addressing farmers on Friday, August 3, 2018 in Makurdi, Benue State, on the importance of weighing or measuring their produce before sale, Ukaoha said that the programme was ready to assist farmers to procure weighing scales.
According to him, IFAD-VCDP assists farmers with funds to acquire weighing scales, adding that the programme gives farmers 70 per cent of the total cost of the scales while they provide 30 per cent.
He also encouraged farmers conduct market surveys in order to know the cost of the scales, before approaching IFAD-VCDP for assistance.
This, he said, would enable the programme to know exactly how much to make available to them.
Ukaoha encouraged farmers who had yet to acquire or procure the scales to take advantage of the opportunity.
He said that weighing or measuring their produce before selling them was of great advantage to them as well as the buyers.
“In some situations, the farmers cheat themselves when they fail to weigh or measure their produce before selling and in another situation, they cheat the buyers.”
Ukaoha, however, advised that after buying the scales, they should be taken to the Ministry of Trade and Investment for calibration before putting them to use.
A cross section of the farmers who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), expressed joy over the knowledge that they gained, especially the importance of weighing/measuring their produce before selling.
They, however, called for knowledge sharing to farmers at the grassroots.
Following the 10th BRICS Summit themed, “BRICS in Africa: Collaboration for Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity in the 4th Industrial Revolution”, leaders of Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) issued a statement titled, “Johannesburg Declaration”, underlining their countries’ commitment to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Leaders of the BRICS nations of Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa at the 10th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa
The 10th BRICS Summit convened in Johannesburg, South Africa, from July 25 to 27, 2018.
The Johannesburg Declaration is structured around four key themes: 1) strengthening multilateralism, reforming global governance and addressing common challenges; 2) strengthening and consolidating BRICS cooperation on international peace and security; 3) BRICS partnership for global economic recovery, reform of financial and economic global governance institutions, and the fourth industrial revolution; and 4) people-to-people cooperation.
The statement reaffirms BRICS’ support for multilateralism, underscoring the central role of the UN in this regard, as the “universal intergovernmental organisation entrusted with the responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, advancing sustainable development as well as ensuring the promotion, and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
The leaders reiterate their commitment to the purposes and principles enshrined in the UN Charter, as well as to strengthening multilateral institutions of global governance to ensure that they are able to comprehensively address global challenges.
The Johannesburg Declaration underlines BRICS’ commitment to fully implementing the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, highlighting the importance of economic, social and environmental dimensions of “equitable, inclusive, open, all-round innovation-driven and sustainable development,” and reiterating the goal of eradicating poverty by 2030.
The statement pledges support for the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) for its role in coordinating and reviewing global implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and urges developed countries to fully honor their Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments.
In the statement, the BRICS leaders “call upon all countries to fully implement the Paris Agreement,” in line with the principles of the UNFCCC including the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), and welcome progress towards finalising the Paris Agreement Work Programme (PAWP) at the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP24) to the UNFCCC to be held in Katowice, Poland in December 2018. They urge developed countries to provide financial, technological and capacity-building support to developing countries to enhance their capability in mitigation and adaptation.
The BRICS declaration notes that the five countries will strengthen their energy cooperation, pointing to their transition to more environmentally sustainable energy systems that are, among other elements, “supportive of the global sustainable development agenda.” The BRICS leaders reiterate their undertaking to “strive toward universal energy access, energy security, energy affordability, reduced pollution and environmental conservation.”
The declaration reaffirms the need to diversify energy supply sources, including renewable and low carbon energy sources, and underlines the need for infrastructure investments, pointing specifically to BRICS support for sustainable infrastructure development in Africa, and committing to further expand green financing to promote sustainable development in BRICS countries.
Noting the outcome of the fourth BRICS Environment Ministers Meeting, held under the theme, “Strengthening Cooperation amongst BRICS on Circular Economy in the Context of the Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP),” the declaration underscores the “enormous potential” of a circular economy approach to reduce waste, to forge more environmentally sustainable processes and to diversify economies while contributing to economic growth and job creation.
The leaders highlight the “vast potential” for cooperation and collaboration between BRICS countries to advance the Oceans Economy, including in the areas of: maritime transport; shipbuilding; offshore oil and exploration; aquaculture; port development; research and technology; conservation and sustainable use of marine resources; marine and coastal tourism; financial and insurance services; and coastal industrial zone development.
The Johannesburg Declaration also reaffirms the BRICS leaders’ aim to enhance cooperation and collaboration on biodiversity conservation, sustainable use, and equitable access and benefit sharing of biological resources.
By Dr Gillian Nelson, Thematic Expert for Climate Change and Sustainable Energy (IISD SDG Knowledge Hub)
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will start using an Ebola vaccine as early as Monday, August 6, 2018 to counter a new flare-up in the heavily populated eastern part of the Central African country, which emerged just as an earlier outbreak was being pronounced over.
Oly Ilunga, the Congolese Minister of Health
Four people have tested positive for Ebola in and around Mangina, a town some 100 km (60 miles) from the Ugandan border, and 20 others have died of similar hemorrhagic fever symptoms without having been tested for the disease.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the new outbreak presents a high regional risk, given the proximity to neighboring countries.
It was discovered in July, just as health officials were declaring the end of another outbreak 2,500 km away in the western part of the country, which killed 33 people since it emerged in April.
The earlier outbreak was officially pronounced over last week. Officials have not yet been able to determine if the two outbreaks are linked.
Officials are already making steps to deploy a vaccine manufactured by Merck which has become the greatest weapon against the spread of the virulent Zaire strain of the virus and which helped contain the earlier outbreak.
“I think we can start using the vaccine as early as next week,” Health Minister, Oly Kalenga, told Reuters on Friday, August 3.
About 3,000 doses were stored in the capital Kinshasa after the last outbreak, he said. Another 300,000 doses could be supplied at short notice, the WHO has said.
“All teams on the way are being briefed and we are working on the cold chain,” he said, referring to the complex measures needed to keep the vaccine well below zero in a tropical climate without reliable power supplies.
“All this will be available very quickly.”
Ebola, which causes hemorrhagic fever, vomiting, diarrhea and frequently death in humans, finds a natural home in Congo’s dense equatorial forests where infected bats are suspected of transporting it long distances.
The latest outbreak is the tenth in Congo since the virus was discovered near the Ebola river in 1976.
An epidemic in West Africa between 2013 and 2016 killed more than 11,300 people.
Health officials have given new details about how the latest outbreak came to light.
One key event was the death and unsafe burial of a 65-year-old woman in Mangina in late July, the WHO said.
She had been admitted to hospital but then released after showing signs of recovery.
“On discharge (she) came down with a fever and other symptoms that were clinically consistent with Ebola,” WHO’s emergency response chief Peter Salama told reporters in Geneva.
“This is what really raised the alarm. She had fever, vomiting, bloody nose and bloody diarrhea as a final set of symptoms.”
He said seven of the woman’s immediate family later also died from Ebola-like symptoms, and health workers were now trying to track down potential contacts in 10 locations spread over tens of kilometers.
A health worker is believed to be among the dead, Salama said.
There were now suspected cases in the busy nearby town of Beni and the neighboring Ituri province.
WHO is working with Uganda and Rwanda in case the virus travels out of Congo with refugee flows. Uganda has set up Ebola screenings at its land and airport borders.
Salama said scientists were trying to determine whether the eastern Congo outbreak was related to the earlier one in the west.
“We cannot rule out that this is connected to the previous outbreak.
“What we can say is that there is no evidence to suggest there is a concrete link,” Salama said. Genetic sequencing results are expected on Tuesday.
Integrated engineering and construction solutions firm, ITB Nigeria Ltd, has reiterated its commitment to boost innovation in the engineering and construction industry by offering post-tensioning techniques; a unique solution in the global construction industry.
The Sapetro Towers on Victoria Island in Lagos
ITB disclosed in a statement that it has a fully functional post-tensioning division that offers shop drawings and stressing calculations, safe Installation procedure, supplies, and jack calibrations traceable to international standards.
Post-tensioning is a technique for reinforcing concrete, reducing the occurrence of shrinkage and cracking by strengthening concrete with high-strength steel strands or bars, called tendons.
The technique is said to be a form of pre-stressing where the stressing of the tendons is done after pouring and setting of the concrete, thus the name; post tensioning. It reportedly has numerous advantages over standard reinforcing steel as it allows construction that would otherwise be impossible, due to either site constraints or architectural requirements, to be achievable.
Speaking on the essence of using post-tensioning techniques, Mr. Ramzi Chidiac, Managing Director, ITB Nigeria Ltd, said: “At ITB, we constantly strive to improve the quality of our work, elevate levels of client satisfaction, and most importantly contribute significantly to the advancement of the Nigerian construction and engineering community. Our introduction and use of the post-tensioning techniques will guarantee premium quality structures, ensure flexibility of layout and servicing, lighter structure, and lesser construction time.”
Commenting further, Gabby Haddad, a post-tension expert and civil engineer with ITB, implored clients and potential homeowners to consider and opt for the technique.
He said: “If we are to grow the construction industry and build structures of world class standards, it is important that we innovate and adopt new technologies. We are glad to be the pioneers in Nigeria having deployed the technology since 2003 on the Sapetro Towers project on Victoria Island in Lagos, other landmark projects across the country and with further improvements in ongoing projects. Post-tensioned slabs tend to have longer life span, concretes are held more tightly, and cracks are eliminated.”
The twin 13-storey office/residential mixed development Sapetro Towers was completed in a supposed record time of 24 months.
It was neither a Saturday nor a Sunday. And it wasn’t in the evening. It was a weekday during school hours, at a time when their counterparts are learning. Scores of children were seen whooping jubilantly over a new bride at the El-Miskin centre camp – one of the several internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Nigeria.
Women and children in a IDPs camp. The displacement was informed by the Boko Haram insurgency. Photo credit: channelstv.com
A petite girl of 14, bedaubed in a long red veil adorned with gold trimming, had just been ushered into matrimony. The children shouting ameriya (new bride) formed a local bridal train, accompanying her to her husband’s hut in the camp. It was gathered that this was the normal way of life in this camp, which is run unofficially by a Muslim philanthropist, at Jere local government area, Maiduguri in Borno State.
No school in the camp
Ali Hashir, the chairman of the camp said, “There is no school here. The children don’t go to school, because of that the girls marry early. There is nothing they are doing here, but to help their mothers (who teach them to become mothers too).”
Hashir, who is also the son of the philanthropist, pointed me in the direction of the bride’s father who was squatted on a mat, in company of some elders, counting the beads on his tasbih (a string of prayer beads). “Why should I keep the girl when she is ripe for marriage?” he answered through an interpreter, after which he continued his prayer recitation.
The bride wasn’t allowed to speak, but Ali Abubakar Yusuf, a millet farmer, who articulates properly in English, expressed fears about the future of these children.
“We are in critical condition in this camp. There is no school (western education) here,” he said counting his fingers as though about to enumerate the consequences.
According to him, the children play around the camp all day after attending sangaya (Quranic school for few hours). Some help their parents while the teenage girls are married off early.
“If you came here three days ago, we just married three of them (under 18 girls). We marry them among other IDPs in the camp.”
Hashir said that, around April 2017, some students from the University of Maiduguri arrived at the camp with the attempt of establishing a school there, but it failed. “We don’t know why they stopped.”
Yusuf, the millet farmer, added: “Education is the best. Someone who cannot read or write; his life is in danger,” he said, his face drawn as though in agony. “Please help us tell the government to come and help us. Let them help our children go to school. This Boko Haram problem is caused by lack of education, if we don’t send our children to school, their future is in danger.”
Hashir, however, did not admit that it was the lack of school in the camp that was fuelling such.
“It is our culture, normally. Not because of the camp.” But Yusuf believes that if there is a school to enlighten the mind and keep the children and teenagers busy, there will be less of such occurrences. “It is because of they have nothing to do. They (children) cannot be controlled,” Yusuf said with a deep sigh.
“We are in a critical condition here. The government has abandoned us,” Yusuf added, bringing out a green and white identification card issued by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
“NEMA only came here once, nine months ago, and gave us this card. Out of the 1,392 households in this camp, they only registered 450.
“We need assistance in the area of food too. The people giving us food monthly are the World Food Programme and Action Against Hunger.”
When contacted on why there is no semblance of formal education at this camp, the head of media and communication of the Presidential Initiative for the North-East (PCNI), Abdulkadir Alkassim, said the committee is trying its best with the little fund to coordinate all humanitarian support to meet the needs of the people.
“We are limited by funds. If you see UNICEF bringing schools to the camp, it is from the kind of work we do.” According to him, only N10 billion was released out of the N45 billion budgetary allocation made for the committee in 2017. He did not assure if the situation at this camp would improve soon, but he commended the philanthropist and several others who are supporting the government.
“The displacement problem is a huge one. Government cannot do it alone. We need support from NGOs and more philanthropists. Right now, we are working with Victims Support Fund and an Australian NGO that is taking care of orphans of Boko Haram. We are coordinating the activities, gradually,” he said.
Statistics from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), which is mandated to ensure that every Nigerian child has a right to education, show there are over one million children enrolled in Borno State in the academic session 2013/2014. As at March 2017, the commission transparently published on its website, www.ubeconline.com, that a total sum of about N9.3 billion was disbursed to Borno State as its matching grant between the year 2005 and 2016.
With this fund, about 1,700 children at this camp are not expected to grope in the darkness of the mind. Recently, the state governor, Kassim Shettima, claimed it will spend 65 percent of its budget on education, but all this is not felt in this camp.
Apart from the denial of the right to education, the Child Rights Act 2003, which is implemented in only 23 states of the federation, considers marriage before age 18 a violation of the rights of a child.
