The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr, have been having sleepless nights immediately the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon became African Nations Cup champions.
Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr
Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia and Algeria are in the same World Cup African qualifying group. Although Nigeria is leading the group, the determinant factor appears to be the two-legged encounter between Nigeria and Cameroon in August.
Reports reaching us have it that NFF has engaged the Nigeria Embassy staff in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, to help monitor some of their local players with video tapes of matches played.
Rohr, on the other hand, has engaged the services of three French coaches to study the match tapes of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, and come up with the best approach on how to play the World Cup qualifiers in August.
Rohr, who is currently in France, said that the Cameroon head coach is seriously monitoring Nigeria’s foreign-based players, especially Alex Iwobi, Victor Moses, Kelechi Iheanacho and Ahmed Musa.
In order to keep the Super Eagles in shape for the August crucial match, the NFF has gotten approval for the two international friendlies fixed for next month in London.
The first is against the Teranga Lions of Senegal on March 23rd and March 27th against the Stallions of Burkina Faso at the Barnet FC of England’s Stadium.
Meanwhile, the newly-crowned African champion, Cameroon, have lined up a friendly with the Tunisian national team, the Carthage Eagles, at the Mustapha Ben Jannet Stadium in Monastir on March 24th.
As the 2016/17 English Premier League season reaches the third-quarter stage, clubs have begun to engage themselves in a horse race, as they gun for players with an eye on next season’s campaign.
Dele Alli of Tottenham Hotspur and some other outstanding players are being eyed by clubs
Second place league table occupier, Manchester City, have beamed their searchlights on the sensational Dele Alli of Tottenham Hotspur, dangling a mouth-watering £89 million.
The 20-year-old midfielder, who also laces his boots for England, had signed a six-year contact in September to remain in Spurs until 2022, raking in nearly £55,000 a week at White Hart Lane.
Alli is also on the radar of Real Madrid, Barcelona and PSG. Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola is planning a £40 million double bid for Atletico Madrid’s French brothers Lucas and Theo Hernandez this summer.
Lucas, 21, is a centreback while Theo, 19, plays at leftback.
Atletico could also be tempted in a part exchange deal involving disgruntled striker Sergio Aguero.
Arsenal and Manchester United are in talks to sign Monaco star Fabinho – but the player himself favours a move to Manchester City, claims his father.
The versatile Brazilian, who can play at full back or in midfield and has long been linked with a switch to Old Trafford, also has interest from Barcelona.
Rated at upwards of £35million, the 23-year-old would not come cheap but, according to his father, that is not deterring his suitors who are already talking to his representatives about a summer switch.
“Nigeria is committed to sustainable economic development. The Lagos event is a concrete step in the process of developing and issuing our 2017 Sovereign Green Bonds programme.”
The Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos will host the Green Bonds forum
Those are the assuring words of Amina Mohammed, the Minister of Environment, as the nation’s aspiration to become a green economy inches closer.
This is courtesy of a forum that pits Federal Government officials with investors and capital market operators. Themed “Green Bonds: Investing in Nigeria’s Sustainable Development”, the flagship Green Bond Conference is holding at the instance of the Federal Ministry Environment, Federal Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office, in Lagos on Thursday, February 23 2017.
Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, and Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State will grace the occasion, which will feature panel discussions, exhibitions and paper presentation.
The Sovereign Green Bonds project is part of a strategic process by the Federal Government to add to the nation’s funding options to catalyse the rebound of the economy and offer Nigerians a new alternative.
It was gathered that the Green Bonds issuance will be the first stage in enabling Nigerians tap into the growing global market for Green Bonds which, as at the end of 2016, comprised of $576 billion of unlabeled climate-aligned bonds and $118 billion of labeled green bonds.
“A sovereign green bond represents a new stage in development of the Nigerian capital market and opens the way for further corporate issuance and international investment. The NSE is playing a key role to help develop this enormous opportunity for Nigeria and fulfill one of our key objectives as a member of the UN Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative,” says Oscar N. Onyema, CEO of Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Nigeria’s first Green Bond issuance will be the first ever sovereign issuance in an emerging market, says Ms. Mohammed, adding that the initiative present an opportunity and that the investors conference for Nigeria’s first Green Bond issuance is timely.
Ms. Mohammed and the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, had on January 12, 2017 inaugurated a Public Private Advisory Group Meeting on the Green Bonds, and event that consolidated a Stakeholders’ Consultation held earlier.
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos and presided by Justice M. Idris has affirmed that the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) is within its rights to demand and get a response from the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) on its request for information on tax benefits granted to tobacco companies under the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) scheme.
According to scientists, tobacco smoking is dangerous to health
ERA/FoEN had, on 28 November 2016, through its solicitor, Yinka Kotoye of Pisces and Gemini Law Office, made the request in line with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, with the letter addressed to the Comptroller-General of NCS and the other respondent being the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun. The Attorney-General of the federation was copied.
In a letter titled Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act with specific reference to the tax benefit(s) in the tobacco industry, ERA/FoEN made 11 specific requests.
ERA/FoEN is asking the NCS to make public the volume and brand names of cigarettes exported from Nigeria from 2002 till date, those imported within that period, by which company and to which country, how much British American Tobacco Company Nigeria (BATN) benefited from the EEG from 2004 to 2014 and the waivers or tax exemptions the company got from 2004 till date.
It is demanding how much tax waiver, or grants benefited by any other tobacco company operating in Nigeria from 2004 till date, volume of raw tobacco leaf imported into Nigeria by BATN and from which country and volume of shredded tobacco imported into Nigeria by the company and from which country.
Other demands are: volume of raw tobacco leaf imported into Nigeria by any other tobacco company, into Nigeria and from which country, volume of shredded tobacco by any other tobacco company, into Nigeria and from which country, location of cigarette factories in Nigeria, and volume and brands produced from each factory.
According to the motion exparte by the ERA/FoEN solicitors on Friday February 10, 2017, Attorney General and the Minister of the Federation and the Finance minister were urged to mandate the NCS to comply with the mandatory provisions of the FOI Act to make the documents sought by ERA/FoEN.
ERA/FoEN Deputy Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said: “This is a good development as we have reiterated that our demand aligns with the Federal Government attempts to track and trace the revenue that was illegally diverted into private hands or undue grants that was used to bleed our economy. We are very much interested in the economics of tobacco business in Nigeria.”
ERA/FoEN went to court after the mandatory seven-day period of response from the NCS under Section 5 of the FOI Act to respond elapsed with no response from the agency. The case was adjourned to 24 February 2017.
The Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in Bonn, Germany on Monday, February 20 2017 convened its first meeting in 2017.
Frank Wolke of Germany (right) and Arthur Rolle of the Bahamas
At the start of this 93rd meeting, the Executive Board elected Frank Wolke of Germany and Arthur Rolle of the Bahamas as Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively. Mr. Wolke and Mr. Rolle will serve until the first meeting of the Executive Board in 2018.
Mr. Wolke, who joined the Board in 2014, is Head of Section, Emissions Reduction Projects, Emissions Trading Authority at the German Federal Environment Agency.
Mr. Rolle, who joined the Board in 2015, is a Consultant at the Ministry of the Environment and Housing, and participates in the climate change negotiation process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The new Chair takes over from Mr. Eduardo Calvo. The new Vice-Chair takes over from Mr. Frank Wolke, who also served as Vice-Chair of the Board last year.
The CDM allows emission-reduction projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2. These CERs can be traded and sold, and used by industrialised countries to a meet a part of their emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol.
According to the UNFCCC, the mechanism stimulates sustainable development and emission reductions, while giving industrialised countries some flexibility in how they meet their emission reduction limitation targets.
But certain quarters have frowned at the initiative, claiming that it encourages industrialised to continue to pollute in the belief that they can “offset” such emissions elsewhere.
The CDM is said to be the main source of income for the UNFCCC Adaptation Fund, which was established to finance adaptation projects and programmes in developing country Parties to the Kyoto Protocol that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The Adaptation Fund is financed by a 2% levy on CERs issued by the CDM.
Worried by the endless looting of the nation’s commonwealth and the slow pace of recovery of such slouch as a result of legal encumbrances, anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) in Nigeria are devising preventives measures of discouraging opportunities, rationalisation and pressure that make corruption happen.
Country Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Nigeria, Ms. Cristina Albertin
Rising from a three-day Day National Workshop on Corruption Prevention for Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs), organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) through funding by the European Union (EU), in Calabar, Cross River State, officials of the agencies called incorporation of the logic of deterrence as part of corruption prevention tools by fostering synergy between enforcement and prevention efforts.
In a communique issued at the end of the workshop, the ACAs argued that “while recognising that enforcement through investigation and prosecution is important in addressing corruption, preventing corruption in its multi-dimensional nature is essential as a means of discouraging opportunities, rationalisation and pressure that make corruption happen. As it is also more cost effective to prevent corruption than to investigate and prosecute it after it has been perpetrated.
The agencies are also to develop “coordinated, focused and systematic approach towards corruption prevention to make it have necessary impacts, while taking into consideration values and disposition of heads of ACAs on why corruption happens to understand direction of preventive efforts in those ACAs. Each ACA is expected to develop specific prevention mandate peculiar to its mandate and capacity.
The ACAs are, amongst others, to have specialised training for dedicated staff with the aim of deepening understanding of corruption prevention strategies; coupled with the imperative for them to develop strategic thinking and capacities with specific focus.
The Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) is expected to play a strategic role of coordination and ensure effective implementation of prevention strategies by the ACAs. As part of its activities, PACAC is expected to advise government on the various challenges being faced by the ACAs in delivering on their mandates and recommend necessary assistance required to make them perform optimally. This is especially in the area of funding; as the workshop acknowledged that “though prevention requires adequate financial outlay that may not be regularly available to the ACAs, a purposive approach to preventing corruption requires: adequate competencies, multi-dimensional approach, investigation and research into its dimensions, implementation and measurement of impacts.”
Nigeria is said to be taking an important step in its fight against terrorism, by working to further refine and strengthen its strategy to prosecute, reintegrate, and rehabilitate former members of Boko Haram in compliance with international laws and standards.
Former members of the Boko Haram sect
For this purpose, technical and high level consultations were held in Abuja from 13 to 15 December 2016, on “Considering Approaches to Prosecuting, Reintegrating and Rehabilitating Former Members of Boko Haram”.
Funded by the European Union (EU), the consultations were organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Security Council’s Counter Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) in response to request from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The project seeks to support Nigeria’s efforts to bring terrorists to justice and to prevent terrorism acts through human rights-compliant criminal justice measures against terrorism. It focuses on strengthening the capacity of Nigerian criminal justice officials to effectively investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate terrorism cases, in accordance with the rule of law and human rights. This includes providing in-depth training courses for select groups of criminal justice officials and on-going advisory services for the trained officials, with the aim of supporting the transition from confession-based to evidence-based prosecution of terrorism cases.
The consultations brought together experts from other countries which have faced similar challenges including Algeria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and South Africa, to share lessons learnt and good practices. Joining them were also experts from relevant international organisations, who discussed international good practices and applicable international human rights and humanitarian laws, norms and standards. Nigerian officials highlighted the progress achieved and challenges remaining in implementing a criminal justice-based approach to the prosecution, reintegration, and rehabilitation of former members of Boko Haram.
As a result of the consultations, Nigeria identified the need to further clarify its goals for a successful criminal justice framework as part of an overall reintegration and rehabilitation approach, including developing an effective prosecution strategy and robust criteria for pursuing alternative rehabilitation and reintegration approaches. Nigeria also began to consider what further support and assistance may be required to allow Nigeria to continue strengthening its strategy to prosecute, reintegrate, and rehabilitate former members of Boko Haram.
The consultations benefited from the participation of 31 Nigerian entities, including officials of the six most affected Nigerian states, and 14 international organisations and other national governments.
Launched in May 2016, the project has already delivered 19 capacity building activities. This included in-depth training courses for 20 legal advisors from the Nigerian investigative agencies, 30 Nigerian Police Force counter-terrorism investigators, and two select groups of 20 criminal justice officials on international cooperation and counter-financing of terrorism. The project is also delivering an intensive train-the-trainers course for 30 criminal justice officials on human rights and criminal justice responses to terrorism, using tailored training modules developed in 2015 in partnership with the Nigerian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) has selected the team of experts – comprising coordinating lead authors, authors and review editors – who will prepare the Special Report on “Global Warming of 1.5ºC: an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty (SR1.5)”.
Debra Roberts, Co-Chair of Working Group II of the IPCC
The report will be finalised in September 2018 in time for the facilitative dialogue under the Paris Agreement that will take place later that year.
“The selection of the authors for the IPCC’s 1.5oC report is the first step in the critical journey started at COP21. This special report will facilitate this important journey by assessing the available science and highlighting the policy options available to support the achievement of a climate safe, equitable and sustainable world,” said Debra Roberts, Co-Chair of Working Group II.
The members of all three IPCC Working Group carefully considered all nominations and developed the final list of authors and review editors in a detailed and iterative selection process. The selection was undertaken according to the Principles Governing IPCC Work, considering the required scientific, technical and socio-economic expertise, geographical representation, gender balance, and the inclusion of experts with and without previous IPCC experience.
Eighty-six experts from 39 countries will undertake the assessment, selected from over 560 nominations received from national focal points and IPCC observer organisations. 38% of the experts are women, 51% come from developing countries and economies in transition (statistic based on experts’ citizenship), 26% are new to the IPCC process.
“There is great interest in the scientific community to contribute to this IPCC Special Report, as evidenced by a constant flow of new peer-review publications related to various dimensions of global warming of 1.5°C, and also by the large number of high profile nominations for participants to the scoping meeting, last August, and now for Lead Authors and Review Editors of the report,” said Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Co-Chair of Working Group I. “The selection process was challenging, as we could on average only retain one expert out of 6-7. We will bring together a strong team to the first Lead Author meeting, on 6-10 March in Brazil.”
The continued interest and support for the IPCC assessment is solicited, for example contributing as an Expert Reviewer during the review this special report. A call will be opened for experts to register for the Expert Review of the First Order Draft that will take place in August-September.
For Nigeria to fulfill its commitment to the reduce carbon emissions by 30%, there are urgent needs for legislations and budgetary planning for infrastructure development that can be facilitated by the nation’s lawmakers.
Chairman, House Committee on Climate Change, Sam Onuigbo
This was the focal point of discussion at the Climate Change Knowledge Immersion Workshop series which was organised by the Federal Ministry of Environment’s Department for Climate Change and the World Bank for members of the National Assembly on Thursday, February 16 2017 in Abuja, the federal capital city.
According to the World Bank’s Practice Manager for Africa and Environment Resources, Benoit Bosquet, the lawmakers must work with the executive to enshrine incentives and modalities that will enable Nigeria achieve its commitment to reducing carbon emissions by 2030.
“This will be achieved when the lawmakers ensure that, for every budgetary plan, all projects are fully committed to climate proofing activities,” Mr Bosquet explained, adding that “this will definitely ensure sustainable development as such investments will be planned adequately from the beginning.”
He further enjoined the lawmakers on the need to also “create laws that will enable incentives for development of alternatives for the poor which will create wealth along with sustainable development.”
Using the example of firewood which is the main source of fuel for rural communities across Nigeria, the development expert opined that a law which will facilitate investments in production of alternative source of cooking is essential for the country.
“But, in the absence of that, policies on afforestation or reforestation should be put in place to make provision for the cultivation of new trees in place of the felled ones,” Bosquet said, adding that “effective policy-making and implementation is crucial to enable climate-smart economic growth, to attract investors to finance Green Growth, and to actively engage citizens.”
Director of Climate Change Department at the Federal Ministry of Environment, Peter Tarfa, during his presentation, urged the lawmakers to take the following actions for Nigeria’s INDC commitment:
Legislate on and ensure constitutional changes for implementation of NDC across all levels
Domesticate the Paris Agreement
Strengthen governance and institutions for sustainable development at national and state levels
Improve interactions among parliamentary committees to deliver Paris Agreement objectives
Legislation effectively to support private sector investments in climate change issues
Make green budgetary allocation by asking critical questions during budget defence on projects
Device tax exemption polices for climate change investments
Hold all MDAs and the executive accountable with increased engagement
Dr Tarfa further appealed to the lawmakers to come up with “laws and legal framework that will support the reduction of cost of imported solar panels and battery into the country”, as well as legislations that will enable the tracking of how Nigerians are individually contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions, such as people installing solar panels in their homes.
“This tracking will enable Nigeria ascertain its claim to achieving its NDC commitments,” he added.
Reacting to the issues, chairman House of Representatives Committee on Environment, Obinna Chidoka, announced that the House is “completing a legal framework for Nigeria to track the devastating impact of climate change and efforts made at reducing its carbon emissions.”
According to the lawmaker, “it is just 13 years to the deadline we have set for ourselves to cut emissions by 20%.” He called on all MDAs to work collectively to achieve the INDC commitment as he lamented their “discordant tunes” such as plans by the Ministry of Power to launch new power plants, powered by coal whilst their Ministry of Environment counterparts are clamoring for renewable energy.
Chairman, House Committee on Climate Change, Sam Onuigbo, in his remark commended the World Bank for organising the knowledge immersion workshop, noting that “there is a wide knowledge gap on issues of climate change in Nigeria and this is a major source of concern. We need more of such workshops and we are grateful to the World Bank for supporting this capacity building around the country.”
The World Bank has urged the use of sustainable land use management as a panacea for the rehabilitation of communities in the north eastern part of Nigeria around the drying Lake Chad.
Scientists say the Lake Chad, that borders Nigeria and some other countries, has shrunken by 95 percent over the past 50 years. Photo credit: AP/Christophe Ena
The recommendation was made at the Climate Change Knowledge Immersion workshop which was organised by the Federal Ministry of Environment’s Department for Climate Change and the World Bank for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on Friday, February 17 2017 in Abuja, the federal capital city.
The World Bank’s Practice Manager for Africa and Environment Resources, Benoit Bosquet, stated that “sustainable land and water management” are adaptation mechanism of “climate actions” that can be used to address the devastating impact of climate change.
The northeastern region of Nigeria which has been the hotbed of Boko Haram insurgency shares border towns that host the shrinking Lake Chad with other countries in the sub-region. Experts have traced climate change to the desertification and drying up of Lake Chad which has made unemployed youths vulnerable to the insurgency. This has led to thousands of deaths and displacement of millions of people across the region, creating one of the largest humanitarian disasters in the world.
According to the environment expert, the use of adaptation as climatic actions is simply “the economic adjustment to ecological problems as it occurs by building necessary infrastructure and systems that can address climate change as well as prevent its impact.”
Citing the example of China’s Loess Plateau which was restored with the support of World Bank, Mr Bosquet urged the Nigerian government to make use of “sustainable land and water management to address desertification across northern Nigeria as it was done in one of the poorest regionc in China – Loess Plateau – which has been re-greened and pulled over 2.5million people out of poverty.”
He warned that Nigeria needs to “build resilience now for the harsher climate of the future” because, “if not addressed in time, climate change can worsen Nigeria’s vulnerability to weather swings, and limit its ability to achieve and sustain the objectives of Vision 20:2020.”
The World Bank has projected that, despite not being a major producer of greenhouse gases, Africa is vulnerable to climate change and this could increase the global poverty headcount by more than 100 million people by 2030, with large countries such as Nigeria risking major threats such as food insecurity. It projected that climate change in Nigeria will lead to a reduction of major food production such as millet by 20% by 2050, thereby leading to food insecurity with resultant conflicts such as the ongoing herdsmen crises.
Mr Bosquet also called for efficient resource management, noting that some of climate change impacts are accentuated by human factors. He gave an example of the 2012 flood across Nigeria which claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed properties worth billions of Naira.
According to him, the lack of necessary infrastructures such as dams along the Rivers Benue and Niger led to the inundation which could have been prevented the impact of excess water coming from Cameroun.
“Poor management of water are likely to be more frequent in the near future, so it is important to start working on how to effectively manage the nation’s water resources to avoid the flood disasters,” he warned.
He gave assurances of the World Bank continued support for a number of initiatives for the climate actions such as the Nigeria Erosion and Water Shed Management Project (NEWMAP), Climate Resilience for Coastal Areas of Nigeria, Climate Smart Agriculture with the use of Geographical Information System and efficient land use management across Nigeria.
