Blog

Girl Child Day: Activist wants child right enforced at grassroots

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Rights
By Olasunkanmi Onifade

Abuja, Oct. 11, 2016 (NAN) Miss Charity Anaja, a child right activist with Dorcas Tabitha Foundation, on Tuesday called for more enforcement of the child right Act at the grassroots.

Anaja told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that 23 out of 36 states at various stages were yet to implement and enforce the laws.

“We want to commend the efforts of government for commitment to protecting, promoting and preserving the rights of the children by ratification of the convention rights of the child.

“These laws have to an extent reduced the challenges of the girl child in terms of the violence, exploitation and discrimination as a whole,’’ she said.

Anaja called on relevant stakeholders to partner in ensuring that the girl child in the country had access to free and quality education especially in the rural areas.

She said others include access to quality healthcare and information, access to legal representation and enforcement of those laws that fight violence against women.

“The patriarchal culture that brings down women should be set aside so that women can have enough self esteem to complement the men and become societal assets.

“Parents have a role in redefining the values placed on the girl child at the home front, girls should not be merely seen as future wives and mother’s but as persons with unique and rich potentials.

“They should be given opportunities for self actualisation and fulfilment,’’ Anaja said.

She called for the need to change some wrong perception of the girl child through the media, entertainment, religion and culture.

Anaja said the male counterparts should see women as partners and major stakeholders in moving the nation forward and not stumbling blocks.

She said if the women were given the relevant opportunities, they would add value in the decision making process.

The activist said the child right act on education, health, values reorientation, information and representation should be taken to the grassroots. (NAN)
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Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

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Roads
By Yinka Owolewa
Ilorin, Oct. 11, 2016 (NAN) The Kwara Government on Tuesday said that it would begin repair of the state’s roads within the next 60 days.

The state’s Commissioner for Information and Communications, Alhaji Mahmud Ajeigbe, made this known at a press briefing in Ilorin.

The commissioner, who expressed worry over the condition of some roads within Ilorin metropolis, gave an assurance that plans were on to remedy the situation.

He attributed the delay in rehabilitating the affected roads to the current rainy season, saying whatever repair that may be carried out now would  turn out a waste.

Ajeigbe said government was not treating the concern of the people, particularly road users, with levity.

He said that the asphalt plant initiated by the state government would be of tremendous assistance and would reduce the cost of maintaining roads across the state.

The commissioner also said the rehabilitation effort would focus on major roads within the metropolis, including Asa-Dam, Tanke-Tipper Garage, Unilorin-Main Campus and Pipeline Roads among others.

“I can assure you that very shortly, the maintenance of these potholes will start.

“Within the next 60 days, we will start to see an appreciable level of maintenance on our roads, ‘’ Ajeigbe said. (NAN)
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(Edited by Evageline Opara and controlled by Mufutau Ojo)

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Technology
By Lucy Nwachukwu
Abuja, Oct. 11, 2016 (NAN) The National Cooperative Financing Agency of Nigeria (CFAN) said it had begun a Unified Cooperative Platform (UCP) to meet the operational needs of cooperative societies in the country.

The Executive Secretary, CFAN, Mr Emmanuel Atama, said this while addressing newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.

Atama said the planned implementation programme would enlist over 200 cooperatives in the first phase, adding that this would commence with the north central states, including the FCT.

“Each  Geopolitical zone of  Nigeria will have over 40 cooperatives on board with  the use of  UCP by December while we scale up  to 50 per zone in a quarter by 2017.

“ The UCP, with support of the Inter-Bank Settlement Scheme, will help achieve the role of cooperative in the financial inclusion drive by the year 2020.

“It will help to make our current drive for inclusive pension, healthcare, housing and others very easy and accountable on the part of collating the contributions from teaming members and remittance.

“ It will also serve as a bedrock upon which the much desired National Development Fund is anchored and enable government and development partners to ascertain the level of cooperative contribution to the economy.

He said,“ the Unified Cooperative Platform was launched on Feb. 2, through a collaborative effort by the then Acting Federal Director of Cooperatives, Mr John Musa and CWG Plc.

“The essence is to provide standardised cooperative technologically driven platform that would meet the operational eeds of the cooperative societies in Nigeria.

“The innovation serves as a one stop shop for all technology needs of cooperative societies, it solves issues of accountability, productivity, monitoring and reporting needs of every cooperative society.

“It is meant to connect cooperatives to the apex body for the purpose of ascertaining their contributions to the overall growth of the economy.

“This will also enable government and development partners understand the level of support they should extend to cooperative activities in Nigeria.

According to Atama, the platform offers a robust cooperative banking platform that supports financial and banking services and collaboration between the various state cooperatives and the apex body.

He said the platform enjoyed the expertise of CWG Plc, the largest IT services company in Nigeria, with years of experience in building shared IT platform.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the CFAN is the apex cooperative financial institution in Nigeria, established under the Cooperative Societies Act 2004 CAP 98 LFN.

The UCP is a core cooperative banking solution that enables cooperative societies to manage their members general ledgers, perform daily posting, mange loans and generate different types of reports.

It also has the facility that ensured data upload and migration from analogue to digital ways of data management in the UCP with real time access grant to the UCP by CFAN.(NAN)

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(Edited by Gregory Mmaduakolam/Idris Abdulrahman)

Adequate data will help address girl-child constraints — UNICEF

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Data
By Kate Obande
Abuja, Oct. 11,  2016  (NAN) Ms Teija Vallandingham, UNICEF Girls Education Programme (GEP3) Manager, said on Tuesday that adequate data would help the country overcome the limitations and abuse a girl-child faces.

Vallandingham made the assertion at an event on Tuesday in Abuja to mark the 2016 International Day of the Girl-Child with the theme “Girls Progress equals Goals Progress: A Global Girl Data Movement’’.

The event was organised by UNICEF in collaboration with Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) and the National Centre for Women Development, to promote the right of girls.

“Pulling data together on what constitutes key constraints that girls face begins the process of working to support them to overcome the issues.

“Quantifying the challenges girls face is the first critical step towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals on gender equality and breaking barriers that confront the world’s 1.1 billion girls.

“The burden of unpaid household work begins in early childhood for girls and intensifies as they reach adolescence; girls spend 160 million more hours than boys doing household chores everyday globally,’’ she said.

The UNICEF programme manager said that the uneven distribution of unpaid household chores socialises girls and their societies to believe that a girl’s primary role is at home.

According to her, this belief reinforces gender stereotype and perpetuates girls and women’s economic dependence.

Vallandingham said that time spent on chores limited a girl’s time to play and socialise.

The manager noted that 32.4 per cent of girls as against 29.4 per cent of boys  are out of school while 60 per cent of children of the poor are also not in school as against five per cent of the children of the wealthy.

She attributed these lapses to financial constraints, lower status accorded to girls in the society, low parental literacy level and child labour.

Also in her address, Chioma Osuji, the Policy Advisor of CSACEFA, said that the SDGs could not be achieved without taking into consideration the empowerment of the girl-child.

She added that 60 per cent of the Nigerian population comprised girl-child.

“We cannot empower girls without education as it is the only key we can use to bridge the barrier between the poor and the rich and be sure we have sustainable development in the country.

“Nigeria has more girls out of school than any other country.

“Thirty-two per cent of 15 to 23-year-old girls in the country are illiterate compared to 22 per cent of boys within the same age,’’ Osuji said.

She advised the government to expand the nine years free education policy to 12 years.

also speaking, Comrade Felicia Chukwura, the Chairperson, Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) said that the girl-child must be empowered to enable her to be good citizens.

She added that if the girl-child was duly empowered, she would be a good mother and leader in the society.

“If you educate a woman you educate a nation,’’ she added. (NAN)

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Edited by Bayo Sekoni/Nkechi Okoronkwo

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International Girl Child Day: FIDA wants gender offenders prosecuted

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Gender
By Talatu Maiwada
Abuja, Oct. 11, 2016 (NAN) The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) on Tuesday called for proper prosecution of offenders of sexual and gender based crimes to serve as deterrence.

Mrs Chioma Onyenucheya-Uko, Assistant Public Relation Officer, FIDA, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja as the world marks this year’s International Girl Child Day.

She said that punishing offenders would encourage victims of such crimes to report and speak out, adding that this will bring an end to stigmatisation.

Onyenucheya called on the Nigerian Police to always conduct thorough investigations in order to unearth culprits behind such dastardly crime.

She said that violence and abuse could affect a child’s development, dignity, physical and psychological integrity; hence culprits must be punished to eliminate such crimes in the society.

NAN reports that the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP) provides for the prosecution of such offenders.

She called on the appropriate authorities to implement such provisions of the Act in dealing with perpetrators.

“The provisions of the Act are rich and if adequately used will punish offenders and deter the-would be offenders.

“The Act captures a broad array of offences that are related to violence, whether physical, social, emotional or psychological,’’ the spokesperson said.

According to her, the Act addresses the issue of gender based violence, women being harassed, the issue of rape and generally issues militating against the rights of women and girls.

Onyenucheya-Uko said that every girl child was entitled to education as stipulated in the Child Rights Act, and urged parents and guardians to ensure that children get safely to school.

Besides, she called on the government to ensure that all schools were protected from all forms of vices such as theft, kidnapping and sexual abuse, among others.

“These girls have rights to education and the education for our girl child should not be denied; but the action of Boko Haram insurgents denied our girls their rights to education.

“The government at all levels should provide security for schools across the country in order to protect the students,’’ she said.

According to her, the girl child should not be treated less from the boy and community should see a girl child as having potential to be great.

The spokesperson said that no meaningful development could take place if the issue of girl child education was not factored into national development processes. (NAN)

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Edited by Bayo Sekoni/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

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Stealing
By Ugochi Ugochkwu
Abuja, Sept. 11, 2016 (NAN) An Abuja Grade One Area Court sitting in Karmo on Tuesday sentenced a 20-year-old man, Sunday Ojobo, to two months imprisonment for stealing a car from a carwash in Wuse, Abuja.

Ojobo, a resident of Lagos Street, Garki, Abuja, was convicted on a one-count charge of theft, contrary to Section 288 of the penal code.

The Presiding Judge, Sadiq Abubakar, who did not give an option of fine, said that the punishment would serve as a deterrent to others.

The prosecuting counsel, Mr Dalhatu Zannah, told the court that one Nathaniel Dazi of Federal Inland Revenue Service Headquarters, Wuse Zone 5, reported the matter at Utako Police Station on Sept. 19.

Zannah told the court that the convict committed the offence on the same date at about 7:45a.m.

The prosecutor said the complainant took his car, a Peugeot 406 marked BWR 25 EF, for cleaning at a carwash in Wuse and handed over the keys to one Elizabeth Osawe, a staff of the outfit.

Zannah added that the convict deceitfully collected the key from Osawe and drove the car to Samaru in Zaria, Kaduna State, where he was eventually arrested.

He said that during police investigation, the convict confessed to the crime and the car was recovered. (NAN)
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(Edited by Joseph Edeh and controlled by Mufutau Ojo)

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Girls
Isaac Aregbesola
Abuja, Oct. 11, 2016 (NAN) The Charge’ d’ Affairs of the U.S. Mission in Nigeria, David Young,
on Tuesday, said America was committed to supporting the campaign to end violence against women, children in Nigeria.

Young stated this in Abuja at the commemoration of the 2016 International Day of the Girl-Child with the theme “Africa4Her.”

He said “we work with Nigerians to ensure the right of every Nigerian woman and girls to live free-Free from physical and emotional abuse at school, at home and in the work place.

“We work to see that she is respected and protected.

“We need to help girls across this country, from all walks of life, not only in crisis. They need the opportunity to grow up safe and healthy, free from violence and abuse.

“They need the chance to be educated to make decisions for themselves about their destinies, what they want to do in life, who they want to love, how they will live, and what they will believe.”

According to him, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is working with Nigeria to narrow its gender gaps in many areas such as education, health, political participation and economic empowerment.

He said that USAID had educational programmes in the northern part of the country focused on ensuring that girls do not only enter and stay in school, but also received quality education.

He added that USAID had developed safe spaces for women and girls affected by the ongoing conflict in the North East.

“USAID health programme encourages girls to delay pregnancy until an appropriate age, and focus on family planning and disease prevention to improve health outcomes for girls and young  women throughout Nigeria,” he said

The envoy commended the Nigerian Senate over the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill, which seeks to  ensure equal employment opportunities for women and freedom from all social violence that has passed second reading.

Mrs Ijeoma  Soroch-Okorie, the Project Director, Teens Global Foundation and facilitator of  “Every Woman is a Star Conference” in her remarks said that there was the need to empower the girl-child through education.

She added that “investing in girls through education is empowering our nation, our girls should have basic rights to education, healthcare, food; and our women must have their voices heard.

“Girls all over the world face discrimination on daily basis. We should know that the progress of girls in the society is also for families and communities.” (NAN)
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(Edited by Saidu Adamu/Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu)

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Housing
By Cecilia Ologunagba
Abuja, Oct. 11, 2016 (NAN) Vice-President Yemi Osinbanjo has said that the  Federal Government is working with stakeholders to raise one trillion naira to  provide affordable housing for Nigerians.

The vice-president spoke at the 22nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja on Tuesday where he chaired a Roundtable on Job Creation, Skills and Employment at the summit.

He said that the proposed project would also help to create jobs.

Osinbajo said that the job creation unit in his office had worked out a framework with the  Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) to focus on three sectors to create employment.

He listed the three sectors as construction, agriculture and information communication technology (ICT).

Under construction, the vice-president said the Federal Government was trying to work on a social housing programme, called the Family Home Fund.

“The Family Home Fund is a financial intervention into social housing in the country.

“We are trying to raise a fund which will come to about one trillion naira; we have aggregated fund from the private sector, local and international funds already.

“The whole idea is to be able to intervene in mortgage financing so that developers can build special houses to the specification of the Federal Government.

“Already eight or nine states are giving land and certificate of occupancy for social housing scheme.

“The idea is that any Nigerian who can afford N30,000 should be able to own a house,’’ he said.

Osinbajo said that there would emerge  job creation opportunities as technicians, engineers and skill workers would benefit from the scheme.

He said there would also be training opportunity from the scheme.

The theme of the summit is “Made-in-Nigeria’’.

The problem of housing in Nigeria has been of interest to every administration and official estimates suggest that more than 17 million houses are needed to cover the country’s 180 million citizens.

Each administration has introduced a different scheme but the impact is not felt by the people.  (NAN)
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Edited by David Onilede/Chukwudi Ekezie

Gov. Ortom signs Benue Council of Chiefs bill into law

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Bill

Makurdi, Oct. 11, 2016 (NAN) Gov. Samuel Ortom on Tuesday signed the amended Benue Council of Chiefs and Traditional Councils 2016 bill into law.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Benue House of Assembly recently passed the bill for a law to make provisions for the amendment of Benue Council of Chiefs and Traditional Councils Law.

NAN also reports that the paramount ruler of the Tiv nation, Dr Akawe Torkula died on Nov. 2015 and was buried on Feb.4, 2016 and since then the stool had been vacant.

The governor said that the amendment was necessary to enable the Tiv nation select another paramount ruler, adding that the new law would also allow for the selection of chiefs for vacant seats.

In another development, the governor also sworn in 23 local government sole administrators.

He explained that the decision to appointment sole administrators was to cut cost.

Ortom said that the government needed N1 billion for the conduct of council polls.

“At the moment we cannot pay salaries, so it is very difficult to use N1 billion for the conduct of council polls.

“Our decision to appoint sole administrators instead of conducting local government election is simply to cut cost,’’ he said. (NAN)

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Edited by Cecilia Odey/Obike Ukoh

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Tennis (Re-opend)
By Franklin Ohaegbu
Lagos, Oct. 11, 2016 (NAN) Valetini Grammatikopoulou of Greece, the top female seed at the Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis tournament, on Tuesday had a tough encounter with India’s Kyra Shroff which lasted for 3 hours.

She eventually won 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 to qualify to the second round.

Grammatikopoulou, entered the ongoing 16^th Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championships at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, ranked 207 in the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

She told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after her victory that she was not expecting a tough match in her first game.

“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this much for a start. I lost the first set and I have to make up for it.

“It is not easy coming back from scratch; I have to fight hard to get back to win, this was what I told myself.

“My opponent’s forehand is very perfect and I had to watch how I placed my balls to her to avoid losing points.

“So, I placed most of my balls so that she would continually hit with her backhand strokes and it worked for me,’’ she said.

Meanwhile, unseeded Shroff, ranked 659, said: “Winning the first set got me over and I actually thought I would do same in the second, but I was wrong’’.

In other women’s singles, first timers in the competition, Harmony Tan from France, seeded seven, defeated Russia’s Margarita Lazareva, winning 6-2, 6-2.

Number three seed, Conny Perrin from Switzerland, defeated unseeded, Fanny Ostlund in a quick match, winning 6-4, 6-2.

Ukraine’s Valeriya Strakhova, seeded four, thrashed unseeded, Akilah James from Granada in two sets, winning 6-4, 6-4.

NAN reports that the players, who came from 39 countries of the world, will be fighting for ranking points and 50, 000 dollars prize money in the men and women’s events.

The finals of the first leg will hold on Oct.15. (NAN)
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(Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu and Controlled by Peter Ejiofor)