Presenting the items in Gombe, the Director General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani Sidi said, “The initiative, which is in line with international best practices allowed those engaged in the fighting to voluntarily surrender and embrace peace so that they undergo rehabilitation.”
He added that NEMA would play its role in the programme by providing regular support of food and non-food items for their up keep.
According to a statement signed and issued by Sani Datti of the Media and Public Relations Unit of the Agency, the items, which would be released quarterly, include 410 bags of rice, 400 bags of beans, 200 bags of millet, 200 bags of sorghum, 750 cartons of spaghetti, 50 cartons of Maggi cubes and 810 cartons tomato paste. Others are 101 Vegetable oil in 20 liter kegs, 101 palm oil in 20 liter kegs, 50 bags of salt, 100 bags of sugar, 420 cartons of milk and 420 cartons of milo chocolate.
The non food items include: 800 pieces of mattress, 500 hundred pieces of blanket, 500 pieces of nylon mats, 1000 plastic buckets, 1000 plastic spoons, 1000 plastic cups 1000, plastics plates, 1000 plastic pairs of slippers, 2000 men’s wear, 63 cartons of bath soap and 1000 bath towels.
Receiving the items, the Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor, Brigadier-General BM Shafa, said the initiative was designed to de-radicalise, rehabilitate and re-integrate willing and repented Boko Haram insurgents who have come out to surrender to the military and believing that it would quicken the peace process in the North east.
“Between September last year and February this year, a good number of Boko Haram members have come out to surrender,” he added.
He thanked the Gombe State Government for providing the location and giving them all the necessary support.
About 11 agencies of the Federal Government are directly involved in the Operation Safe Corridor programme.
Eko Atlantic City, a sprawling mixed-use estate being built on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in Lagos, has been described as an opportunity for British businesses to make a difference in Nigeria.
Model of the development
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright, who made the submission during a recent tour of the project site by a trade delegation of the British Prime Minister, expressed delight over the pace of development on site. The delegation was led by John Howell, a Member of Parliament and British Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria.
Arkwright said he was amazed by the size and ambition of the project which, he noted, has replaced land that has been lost due to coastal erosion.
L-R: Ahmed Bashir, MBE, Acting British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria; Pierre Edde, Development Director, Eko Atlantic City; John Howell, MP, UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria; Paul Arkwright, CMG, British High Commissioner to Nigeria; and Daba Graham-Douglas, Project Coordinator, Financial District Development, Eko Atlantic City, during a tour of Eko Atlantic City by the UK Prime Minister’s delegation on Thursday July 28, 2016
“I look forward to seeing the city develop and become a home to British business,” he said, adding: “I am also surprised by how much development has taken place since I was last here; most roads have been constructed with numerous buildings nearing completion. Eko Atlantic is a wonderful opportunity for British business to make a difference in Nigeria.”
Howell described the project as an amazing feat of engineering, and commended the handlers of the multi-billion-dollar project, South Energyx Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group, for “the ambitious work being undertaken.”
He described the project as innovative and exciting, saying: “I look forward to future discussions on the ways that UK businesses can facilitate the scale and ambition of this project in areas such as construction and retail.”
Also on the UK team were Ahmed Bashir, Acting British Deputy High Commissioner; Laura Mackie, Executive Assistant, UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria; Wale Adebajo, British Deputy High Commission’s Press; and Boma Beddie-Memberr, Executive Assistant, Acting British Deputy High Commissioner.
Briefing the delegation, the Development Director, South Energyx Nigeria Limited, Pierre Edde, said that, on completion, the estate would be home to about 450,000 residents, providing office facilities for another 150,000 people, with commuter volume expected to exceed 300,000 people daily. In addition, he said, the new city would be self-sufficient and sustainable, generating its own power, water and telecommunications facilities.
He pointed out that the project was designed to change the face of the Lagos coastline by permanently solving the problem of the incessant ocean surge that had threatened to overrun the Victoria Island area of the state. He described the project as an investor’s delight, with promise of quick return on investment. He urged investors, especially Nigerians in diaspora, to take the opportunity offered by the emerging city to increase their investment in Africa’s most populous nation.
Upon completion, he stressed, Eko Atlantic City will become Africa’s main business hub, with its Central Business District positioned to become the new financial headquarters for Lagos and the entire country.
Edde described the project as rapidly approaching completion and restated his company’s commitment to ensuring that it is completed on schedule. He told the delegation that one of the first two residential buildings in the new city would be completed by the end of August, while the second would be ready before the end of the year, with the first office block set be ready between September and October, 2016.
Some 216 arts and culture professionals, scientists and campaigners have signed a damning letter published in The Times of London, calling for British Petroleum’s (BP) new five-year sponsorship deals with the British Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Royal Opera House and Royal Shakespeare Company to be cancelled.
Main entrance to the British Museum. Photo credit: wikipedia.org
The signatories argue: “These institutions’ decisions are badly out of step with the mood of their own staff and audiences”. The announcement of the new deals last week was met with condemnation from campaigners and an assurance that protests and art interventions against BP sponsorship would escalate – including a public ‘Splashmob’ in the British Museum in September.
Prominent signatories include actors Mark Rylance and Ezra Miller; writer and activist Naomi Klein; Nigerian poet, campaigner and winner of the Right Livelihood Award (Alternative Nobel Prize) Nnimmo Bassey; environmentalists Jonathon Porritt and Bill McKibben; composer Matthew Herbert; artist Conrad Atkinson; climate science historian Naomi Oreskes; and West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda.
Clayton Thomas-Müller, a prominent Canadian Cree activist and signatory of the letter, said: “By signing this new deal with BP, the British Museum is helping the oil company drill more wells and build more pipelines – poisoning Indigenous communities and destroying our planet’s future. Once again, the British Museum is on the wrong side of history. With public culture supporting fossil fuel colonialism, it’s up to frontline struggles to keep the oil in the soil.”
Anna Galkina, a campaigner with Platform (part of the Art Not Oil coalition), said: “Oil sponsorship is meant to buy artists’ silence and audiences’ approval, and silence the people who live on the frontlines of oil extraction and climate change. This letter shows that more and more artists, culture professionals and academics are no longer happy standing by while BP brands the UK’s biggest museums and theatres for a pittance. BP is wrecking the climate and wrecking lives, from the Gulf of Mexico to West Papua, and deserves to be cast out of our culture.”
BP claims its sponsorship comes with “no strings attached” but internal emails released by the Art Not Oil coalition have shown this to be untrue. In 2015 BP leant on the British Museum to host a Mexican “Days of the Dead” festival where it was able to meet with members of the Mexican government just weeks before bidding for new drilling licences in the Gulf of Mexico, according to British Museum emails published in a report by the coalition in May. Other emails showed BP convened a security meeting attended by senior staff from sponsored institutions to discuss security measures for responding to peaceful protest. The Museums Association’s Ethics Committee have considered the report’s findings and are expected to issue a statement soon on whether its Code of Ethics has been breached.
Among the letter’s signatories are representatives of frontline groups, solidarity campaigns and Indigenous struggles against BP’s operations and the impacts of climate change, from Australia to Latin America to the US Gulf Coast to West Papua. They include:
Benny Wenda, exiled West Papuan independence leader. The Free West Papua campaign is running a global boycott of BP over its involvement in West Papua and collusion with the repressive Indonesian regime.
Nnimmo Bassey, poet and long-time environmental campaigner from Nigeria and former Chair of Friends of the Earth International.
Melina Laboucan-Massimo from the Lubicon Cree First Nation, who has been a high-profile campaigner against tar sands extraction and for clean energy in Alberta, Canada.
Gilberto Torres Martinez, a Colombian trade union leader, who was a victim of kidnapping and torture by paramilitary groups backed by BP, and lived to tell the tale.
Many Latin American solidarity networks, based in the UK and Mexico.
All four institutions have seen creative protest performances critiquing their relationship with BP.
Theatrical protest group BP or not BP? invaded the RSC’s stages repeatedly in 2012 when BP sponsored a series of plays there, and have now performed without permission in the British Museum 18 times – the most recent three performances being in response to BP’s sponsorship of the current ‘Sunken Cities’ exhibition. Watch films of all their performances. The group of ‘actorvists’ have announced a public ‘Splashmob’ in the museum on 25 September.
Greenpeace also protested on the day the Sunken Cities exhibition opened, climbing the iconic pillars of the museum, which decided to close for several hours in response.
Liberate Tate performed “Fifth Assessment” at several of the institutions (British Museum, National Portrait Gallery, and Royal Opera House), where performers (including actor Ezra Miller) read out the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment report.
The Royal Opera House has also seen several protests inside the auditorium and in Trafalgar Square, during different live BP Big Screen performances.
Letter text:
Re: Another five years of BP-branded culture
BP’s announcement of five-year sponsorship deals with the British Museum, Royal Opera House, National Portrait Gallery and Royal Shakespeare Company is outdated and unacceptable.
We cannot afford another five years of BP-branded culture. We believe museums, theatres and galleries are public institutions that must play a positive role in taking urgent climate action and defending human rights. If the world is to avoid rapid and devastating climate change in the coming decades, most of the oil on BP’s books cannot be burned. Meanwhile, the company continues acting in defiance of the Paris Agreement on climate change, and harming lives every day – despite community resistance from the Gulf Coast to West Papua to Australia.
We know now that BP sponsorship comes with strings attached. A recent report revealed how BP leant on the British Museum to hold events timed with BP’s bid for drilling licenses in Mexico, and how the museum checked in with BP on curatorial decisions.
Branding a major museum or theatre has become cheaper for BP (just £375,000 a year for each institution, on average). This is less than the cost of a short billboard campaign. Surveys show that a majority of Londoners, and the British Museum’s own staff, are against BP sponsorship. These institutions’ decisions are badly out of step with the mood of their own staff and audiences. BP is not welcome to use our culture to promote its destructive business – these deals must be cancelled.
The 7th Environment Outreach Magazine Public Lecture/Environmental Awards Ceremony will hold on Thursday, 04 August 2016 in Abuja.
Environment Minister, Mrs Amina J. Mohammed, delivering a speech at the High Level Segment of COP21
According to the publisher of the magazine and host of the event, Chief Noble Akenge, the theme of this year’s lecture is: “Insurgency and its effect on the Nigerian Environment and Economy: which way forward” and it will be delivered by the Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed.
Erstwhile Minister of Environment, Chief John Ogar Odey, will chair the occasion while the former Deputy Managing Director of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (AGIP), Dr. Daru Owei, is special guest of honour.
King Alfred Diete-Spiff, Amanyanabo of Twon-Brass and Chairman, Bayelsa State Council of Traditional Rulers, along with Alhaji Umaru Bubaram Ibn Wuriwa Bauya, the Emir of Potiskum, Yobe State, are also expected as Royal Fathers of the Day.
Chief Akenge disclosed in a statement on Monday that, as part of activities marking the event, Environmental Awards in various categories will be conferred on eminent Nigerians who have distinguished themselves in the protection of the environment through position action and years of dedicated service.
The Award categories include Environmental Stewardship Award, Environmental Support and Protection Award, Community Development and Nature Conservation Award, Environmental Legislative Excellence Award, Environmental Media Excellence Award, and Defender of the Environment Award.
Some of the nominees for the 2016 Environmental Awards include Amina Mohammed, Babatunde Fashola (Minister of Power, Works and Housing), Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, Professor Sani Abubakar Mashi (Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja), Mrs. Olufunso Amosun (Wife of the Ogun State Governor) Senator Ahmed Lawn of the National Assembly, Kingsley Chinda (former Commissioner for Environment, Rivers State and presently Chairman of Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives, Abuja), Professor I. K. E Ekweozor (Secretary, Board of Trustees, Nigerian Environmental Society), Dr. Daru Owei (former Deputy Managing Director of AGIP), Dr. Victor Fodeke (Environmentalist and former Technical Adviser to the African Union), and Professor Mrs. Prekeyi Tawari-Fufeyin (Professor of Environmental Toxicology at the University of Benin).
Others include Mr. Akin Awobamise (retired Zonal Director of NESREA), Elder Uche Agbanusi (former National President of the Nigerian Environmental Society), Mr. Salisu Dahiru (National Coordinator of NEWMAP), Dr. Samuel Anurigwo (Nigeria Country Director of the International Institute of Policy Makers and Administrators), Mr. Pyagbara Saro Legborsi (President of MOSOP) and Daily Trust Newspapers published by Media Trust Limited.
“The event promises to examine and discuss the spate of insurgency in Nigeria and its consequences on our environment and economy and proffer solutions,” said Akenge.
The Sokoto State Government has expressed its readiness to collaborate with the Kingdom of Morocco in the development of solar energy and fertiliser management for the benefit of the people of the state.
Solar panels on rooftop of a home
Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, who met with the Moroccan Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Mosidfa Bouh, in Abuja said that Morocco had distinguished itself in some critical sectors, which had attracted the relationship between the two states that would be of utmost importance to the two parties.
“We discussed a number of issues, which we hope to concretise in follow-up discussions. We sought closer working relationship between our two states especially in areas like solar energy, leather works, agriculture (irrigation management), educational and cultural integration as well as fertiliser management.
“In terms of fertiliser, we informed the Ambassador that Sokoto has large deposit of primary natural substances needed for making fertiliser and we need to explore the substances to enhance revenue generation and create employment opportunities for the people,” Tambuwal said in a statement issued on Monday by his spokesman, Malam Imam Imam.
In his remarks, the Ambassador said that his country had a long standing relationship with the Sokoto Caliphate in the areas of religion, education and culture.
Expressing delight at the meeting, the envoy extended an invitation to Tambuwal and Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar to visit Morocco for a meeting with King Mohammed VI to further explore issues of mutual benefit between the two entities.
Nigeria has initiated moves to produce a national mercury inventory aimed at identifying, quantifying and addressing its mercury releases.
Environment Expert, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Regional Office in Abuja, Mr Oluyomi Banjo (middle), receiving a certificate at the close of the training
Environment Expert, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Regional Office in Abuja, Mr Oluyomi Banjo, who made the disclosure on Monday (01 August 2016), stated that a country team with members selected from relevant ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and the organised private sector has been constituted to carry out studies for the development of the mercury profile.
According to him, a verification team has also been constituted to review the result of the studies by the stakeholders.
This initiative follows a recent training organised for 13 African countries on how to develop national mercury profiles under the Minamata Convention using the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Mercury Toolkit. The training, held a couple of weeks ago in Barcelona, Spain, had in attendance a Nigerian team as well as UNIDO and United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) officials.
The Nigerian team was led by the Federal Ministry of Environment, which is also the designated signatory for the country to the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
The Toolkit provides a standardised methodology and accompanying database enabling the development of consistent national and regional mercury inventories. The training was conduct by the author of the Toolkit, Mr Jakob Maag, from COWI Denmark.
Banjo said: “At the end, the countries resolved to develop good mercury profiles for their countries as an initial assessment of the Minamata Convention. Upon return to the country, UNIDO will ensure that Nigeria produces one of the best national mercury inventory.”
Countries involved in the training were Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Niger, Benin, Mali and Mauritania.
National inventories will assist countries to identify and address mercury releases. Comparable sets of mercury source release data will enhance international co-operation, discussion, goal-definition and assistance. Comparable datasets from many countries will help to establish a global picture of the scale of releases, and improve possibilities for enlarging the international knowledge base on mercury uses and releases.
About 70 farmlands have been destroyed by hailstorm in some villages of Shagari Local Government of Sokoto State.
Sokoto
Confirming the incident to news men in Shagari town on Monday, chairman of the Local Government Council, Alhaji Jabbi Shagari, said that the affected villages include Gangam, Illela and Lambar Yabo.
According to him, “The disaster destroyed over 10,000 square metre of farmlands, destroying millet, guinea corn and other farm products worth hundreds of thousands of Naira.”
Shagari added that the council had set up a four-man committee to investigate the extent of damage caused by the hailstorm, the actual number of farmers and farmlands affected.
“The committee will also recommend the form of assistance to be rendered to the victims,” he said.
If Nigeria is to harness the opportunities that the new global climate regime presents, the legislature must be equipped with the requisite knowledge to make laws that will facilitate successful implementation, Dr. Pa Lamin Beyai, Country Director, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has said.
Sam Onuigbo (Chairman, House Committee on Climate Change) (left) with Dr. Takwa Zebulon (representative of UNDP Country Director)
Dr Beyai, who made the submission last Tuesday (27 July, 2016) during the “Roundtable on Pursuing a Legislative Agenda to enhance Nigeria’s Climate Resilience” at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, noted that, aside legislating, an effective framework for over sighting is also important.
He said: “It would serve to ensure the efficient use of scarce resources that would lead to job creation, poverty reduction and prosperity that leaves no one behind, all of which are pillars of the green economy and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Thus it is crucial that the National Assembly be better equipped to appreciate the impact of climate change on the economy, the imperative of reducing ecological scarcity and environmental risks and why adequate budgetary appropriation for climate responses and activities is required.
He pointed out that, with the adoption of the Paris Agreement, particularly Nigeria’s pledge under the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to reduce its emission by 20% by 2020 and 40% by 2030, there is huge obligation on government to strengthen existing governance arrangement to deliver on these pledges.
According to him, the implementation of the Paris Agreement and its INDCs component would be heavily dependent on legislative support in terms of appropriation and oversight.
“It is imperative that the National Assembly has a good understanding of the dynamics of international and national climate governance. Therefore, a new legislative approach that will ensure effective climate governance has become an imperative. The role of the National Assembly in providing laws for good governance will be incomplete without a good understanding of their expected role in ensuring a climate-resilient and climate compatible development to enhance economic growth. Hence, the need for the National Assembly to keep abreast with evolving issues particularly the concept of the green economy and green growth,” Beyai emphasised.
Sam Onuigbo, Chairperson, House of Representatives Committee on Climate Change, stated that the nation cannot afford to lag behind in the comity of nations.
His words: “Never again will we allow ourselves and our nation to be outpaced in the regional and international actions that are required to create sustainable and climate-friendly solutions that address the biggest development challenge threatening our civilisation. Rest assured this 8th National Assembly (NASS) is focused and determined to work together with the executive arm of government.
“I want to assure you that the leadership of the 8th NASS has attached high priority to addressing climate change challenges. To this end, we have taken unprecedented initial legislative steps to get ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) on the same page of awareness, readiness, determination and commitment to Nigeria’s NDCs and the Paris Agreement. Partnerships are critical to combatting the climate challenge and I want to categorically say here that this 8th NASS is determined to do whatever it takes to help MDAs surmount our climate challenge.”
The legislator urged MDAs to factor in elements of the NDCs and the President’s commitment into their 2017 budget in order to accommodate some of the new challenges, especially as they affect the NDCs.
“The drying of the Lake Chad, Boko Haram and the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the middle belt, western and eastern parts of Nigeria are mere warning shots fired by climate change. If we do nothing to confront this menace from the roots, we might just be setting up ourselves, communities and countries for extinction!” he added.
The World Bank and the Sokoto State Government are collaborating in the execution of various projects to the tune of N8.8 billion in the area of environmental management in 10 local government areas (LGAs) of the state.
Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State
A statement issued by the spokesman to Governor Aminu Tambuwal, Malam Imam Imam in Sokoto on Sunday, said that, under the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), the project would address the menace of gully erosion and land degradation in selected communities across the state.
“Under the arrangement, the Sokoto State Government will pay 12.9 percent of the amount which stands at over N1.33 billion as counterpart funding. The entire project will be executed in 10 LGAs of the state and will tackle environmental issues, water management and land reclamation across the LGAs.
The projects are: rehabilitation of Lugu dam and Wurno irrigation scheme in Wurno LGA, control of river erosion along bridge linking Sabon Birni and Niger Republic; construction of medium earth dam at Rafin Duma and Kadassaka area in Gada LGA; and construction of main collector drainage and gutter from Tudun Wada area to River Sokoto in Sokoto South LGA.
They also include construction of drainage gutter from Goronyo Dam for tree planting and protection activity on desertification; construction of earth dam and afforestation activities to help in reducing erosion in Ungushi district of Kebbe LGA; and construction of drainages, earth dams and land reclamation across multiple locations in Tambuwal LGA.
The other projecta, according to the statement, include construction of drainages, earth dam, afforestation activities to control erosion of Durbawa in Kware LGA and construction of earth dam, drainage and afforestation activities to check flood and erosion in Sifawa in Bodinga LGA as well as construction of drainage gutters to alleviate flood in Wamakko LGA.
A community in Maryland in the US suffered “severe” damage from floods, including damaged buildings and cars swept away by rushing water, after around six inches of rain fell in the area on Saturday, officials said.
A damaged building in Ellicott City, West of Baltimore
Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman told WBALTV flooding caused damage to buildings and cars in Ellicott City, a town of around 65,000 in Howard County, about 12 miles west of Baltimore.
“There’s severe damage in Ellicott City and a lot of road closures in that area,” Kittleman said. Photos showed damaged buildings that appeared to have partially collapsed.
There were some water rescues but Kittleman told the station he wasn’t aware of any serious injuries.
The town’s historic Main Street area suffered some of the worst damage, Kittleman said. Howard County Fire & EMS warned people to stay out of the area, and warned of many road closures.
“Many buildings have significant damage, a lot of cars were damaged – there were cars floating down there, as I heard,” he told the station. Kittleman said late on Saturday the water had subsided somewhat.
Just before midnight, Kittleman declared a state of emergency for Howard County. The county opened a community center as a shelter for people who were displaced.
The National Weather Service warned of a flash flood emergency in Howard County and areas southwest of Baltimore and said “severe flooding” was occurring Saturday night.
Just over six inches of rain was recorded in Ellicott City. Parts of Montgomery County, southwest of Howard County, saw 5.1 inches of rain, according to unofficial measurements, the weather service said.
There was also flooding in Baltimore. The Baltimore Fire Department said one person who was trapped was rescued and three others were helped out of standing water.
