Police IG Mohammed Adamu

The Inspector General of Police (I-G), Mr Mohammed Adamu, has pledged continuous support to discourage examination malpractices during the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mr Frank Mba, disclosed this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

He said the force would continue to partner with the examination body to ensure that perpetrators were brought to book.

He said 12 suspects were arrested for their involvement in various examination malpractices in the just concluded WASSCE in some states across the country.

Mba said the arrest of the suspects followed renewed partnership between the examination body and the police aimed at ensuring and promoting the integrity of examination processes.

Investigations by Police revealed that the suspects used their privileged positions as invigilators, supervisors and school functionaries to conspire, perpetrate and encourage varying degrees of malpractices.

The malpractices among others include online transmission of examination questions and answers on various social media platforms, he said.

He said that the suspects were arrested in Kano, Rivers, Nasarawa and Bauchi states.

Mba said that the I-G had enjoined parents, guardians, students and all stakeholders in the examination processes to cooperate with the police and the exam body to end examination malpractice.

Source: NAN News

INEC Boss

By Donald Ugwu

On Sept. 19, the nations electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), proved book makers wrong by conducting what has so far been termed as one of the freest and credible elections in the country.

The election was devoid of the usual violence and conspiracies to steal the mandate of the electorate to chose who governs them.

INEC, in just 24 hours delivered a verdict from the Edo polls, that returned incumbent Gov. Godwin Obaseki of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for a second term in office.

That day, Edo, The Heartbeat of the Nation, was calm and the fear that the state would experience bloodletting was doused by the conduct and carriage of most of the political stakeholders, before, during and after the governorship polls.

Months before the exercise, following the utterances from political gladiators, Edo was almost torn apart, as hoodlums masquerading as party loyalists, fought at the gate of the palace of the Benin monarch.

The Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, had prior to the incident, said that he would call his sons, Obaseki and his main challenger, Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu, to a peace meeting, in order to ensure violence-free election in Edo.

The Oba did. With the National Peace Committee, led by former military Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Bishop Matthew Kukah, its secretary, following immediately after, a peace accord was eventually signed, setting the stage to what came out of Edo.

The questions now are: After Edo what next? Will INEC do an encore in the next election already scheduled for Ondo State on Oct. 10? Will the votes of the Ondo State electorate count and will it also be non-violent?

INEC already knows that all eyes are on it and that if it achieves the same feat as it has done in Edo, it would have fully restored credibility in the nations electoral system.

In Edo, INEC used its newly created Z-pad, a technology-driven visual portal to upload all results collated at the polling units to a central portal to remove any act or attempt to manipulate the outcome of the results at the various collation centres.

The Z-pad was akin to the strategy adopted by then Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, for the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election.

The Commission mounted a bill board at the commissions headquarters in Abuja, where collated results were published in quick sequence.

Available results showed that Chief MKO Abiola, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party was coasting to victory before the election was annulled.

The Z-pad adopted by INEC for Edo governorship election worked as the usual cobwebs which hitherto festooned the dusky beams of form EC8, the document for the recognised manual transmission of results, were removed.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Sept. 23 began a three-day visit to Ondo State to assess the preparedness of his men to replicate the feat in Edo.

He assured Nigerians, especially Ondo State electorate that the Commission was fully ready for Oct. 10.

The reassurance has been a soothing balm to the people, after a wild fire on Sept 10, torched more than 5,000 card readers for the polls stacked in containers in the state INEC office.

We have already recovered. Unfortunately, we lost 5,000 smart card readers, but we recovered by getting the prerequisite number of card readers from the neighbouring Oyo State, and they have been delivered.

They have arrived, been charged and configured and are ready for the election on Oct.10, in Ondo State.

We will use the Z-pads to upload results on election day real-time and we have moved those Z-pads from Edo to Ondo State for the election.

So, the same preparations that we made for Edo, we have also made for Ondo State, so we are prepared for the election, he said.

Yakubu said he would also meet with the council of traditional rulers, security agencies, and officials of the Commission in the 18 local government areas of the state for the purpose of the election.

This is the first visit. We are still coming back a week after for the main stakeholders visit and the signing of the peace accord, he said.

INEC achieved success in Edo, but remaining on top is usually a major challenge for persons and institutions that must be exposed to tests.

It is expected that the umpire will not relax as it must gather all information on what transpired in all previous elections, assess what went wrong in some instances and do its possible best to correct them.

Available records showed that Edo has 2.21million registered voters, 1.73 million qualified to vote, as 483,796 persons failed to collect their voter cards.

The winner emerged with 307,955, votes, while the states population from a 2014 estimate is five million.

Obviously, it was not 100 per cent success in Edo as there were still cases of poor voters turnout, intimidation by the presence of 30,000 police men, harassment of mostly female voters and various allegations of vote-buying.

Various groups, politicians, diplomatic community and ordinary Nigerians have hailed Edo polls and want its lessons to spread to Ondo State and other subsequent polls.

The U.S., which had issued a no visa order on any person that could undermine the Edo polls, on Sept. 24, endorsed the processes that led to a successful Edo polls.

The country lauded INEC and the security agencies on the positive roles they played during the election, which it said, strengthened democracy in the country.

It called on all stakeholders, including INEC, political parties, and the security agencies to improve the electoral process during the Oct. 10, Ondo State governorship election.

The United States remains concerned with reports of some violence that did emerge during the election, and reports of vote-buying and intimidation of both voters and civil society domestic observers.

We will continue to encourage all stakeholders, including INEC, political parties, and the security services to improve the electoral process in the upcoming Ondo State governorship election.

As a democratic partner of Nigeria, the United States remains committed to working together to achieve our mutual goals of peace and prosperity for the citizens of both countries, it said via the Facebook page of the United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria.

The U.S. stressed the need for all Nigerians and other stakeholders to give its support in anyway, to make the system better for posterity.

Analysts recall that former President Goodluck Jonathan, demonstrated statesmanship and sportsmanship after the 2015 Presidential Election as he put a call to President Muhammadu Buhari to prevent endless tussle at the election tribunal and usher in peace to the electoral space.

Buhari had since built on this by making sure that there was improvements in conduct of elections so that the opposition, no matter who, has the hope that victory can come its way.

Nigeria cannot afford to disregard the already established principles; the country should continue marching forward. It can never be late. (NANFeatures)

Source: NAN News

FIFA

FIFA has suspended Trinidad and Tobago from international football after its football association (TTFA) pursued a dispute through the countrys High Court in contravention of the world governing bodys statutes.

The TTFA and FIFA have been at loggerheads since March after the world governing body dissolved the executive of the cash-strapped association.

FIFA said it had installed a normalisation committee after they concluded the TTFAs former leadership had engaged in various acts of serious mismanagement.

This was opposed by TTFA president William Wallace and contested in court.

The suspension was prompted by the former leadership of the TTFA lodging a claim before a local court in Trinidad and Tobago in order to contest the decision of the FIFA Council to appoint a normalisation committee for the TTFA, FIFA said in a statement.

This course of action was in direct breach of article 59 of the FIFA Statutes, which expressly prohibits recourse to ordinary courts unless specifically provided for in the FIFA regulations.

FIFA said they gave a Sept. 16 deadline to withdraw the case which was extended to Sept. 23 before the decision was taken to suspend the TTFA.

This suspension will only be lifted when the TTFA fully complies with its obligations as a member of FIFA, including recognising the legitimacy of the appointed normalisation committee and bringing its own statutes into line with the FIFA Statutes, it added.

Trinidad and Tobago are scheduled to play Guyana in their next competitive fixture on Oct. 8, the start of their qualification campaign for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.(Reuters/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Coronavirus

The coronavirus pandemic threatens to turn back the clock on a decade of progress in women and childrens health, according to a United Nations (UN) report released on Friday.

The report highlights significant advances made since the launch of the UNs Every Woman Every Child movement 10 years ago, including more than one billion children being vaccinated, and deaths of under-fives reaching an all-time low in 2019.

However, the report notes that these gains were not evenly distributed across the globe.

Last year, 5.2 million children died of preventable causes before reaching age 5, and 82 per cent of those deaths were concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

The coronavirus crisis is exacerbating existing inequalities, with the most vulnerable women and children most affected by disruptions to health services, according to the UN.

Without more efforts to tackle preventable child deaths, 48 million children under five could die between 2020 and 2030, the report warns.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, a child under the age of five died every six seconds somewhere around the world, UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore said in a press release.

Millions of children living in conflict zones and fragile settings face even greater hardship with the onset of the pandemic. (dpa/NAN)

Source: NAN News

The Nigerian Navy (NN) on Thursday in Les Sables dOlonne, France, inaugurated the first ever purpose built hydrographic survey vessel.

The Director of Information, Naval Headquarters, Commodore Suleman Dahun, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.

The Chief of Naval Staff, (CNS), Vice Adm. Ibok-Ete Ibas, said the new vessel was conceived as a replacement for NNS LANA, which was decommissioned about 10 years ago.

Ibas, who was represented by Rear Adm. Abraham Adaji, said this at a ceremony at the OCEA Shipyard.

According to the CNS, the ceremony marked a giant stride in the efforts toward actualising the dreams of not only restoring but enhancing the service survey capability.

He also emphasised that surveying and charting play a crucial role in ensuring safe navigation and delivery of maritime security.

Ibas added that the new vessel would enhance the safety of Nigerias maritime environment as well as serve as a critical component of deployment of naval power for enhanced maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea.

The CNS stated that the vessel would also play a critical role in the protection of maritime resources and preservation of law and order at sea, thus contributing significantly to the promotion of global maritime commerce.

Ibas, however, thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his unflinching support to the recapitalisation of the NN Fleet.

Earlier, Mr Fabrice Weinbach, who represented Mr Roland Joassard, the CEO of OCEA, said the LANA was the result of the excellent cooperation between the NN and OCEA teams.

Joassard thanked the Nigerian Embassy members of staff and the Nigerian Building survey team for their commitment and professionalism.

He noted that the new ship demonstrated the willingness of Nigeria to improve the knowledge of the countrys waters with a sea proven platform and up-to-date equipment.

Joassard added that the OCEA and NN relations would be strengthened through the supply of integrated logistic support services, including training, to maintain the operational readiness of the crew, the ship LANA.

As well as its equipment and systems and the on-site technical assistance.

Also, Nigerias Ambassador to France, Mrs Modupe Irele, highlighted the significance of the ceremony as a manifestation of good Nigeria French relations.

She noted that the construction of the vessel started in 2018 and was scheduled to join the NN fleet in 2021.

Source: NAN News

Dr Boboye Oyeyemi

By Edith Ike-Eboh

Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) says that 30 per cent of truck drivers in the country have failed vision tests conducted by the commission.

Oyeyemi made this known at the 2020 Truck Renewal Conference in Abuja.

The conference with the theme: Truck Renewal System: Ensuring Road Transportation Safety was jointly organised by the Major oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAM), and Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO).

He said that most of the truck drivers had eyesight challenges and it had made it more dangerous for them to drive at night, describing most of the drivers as lawless.

He said that most of the trucks plying the road did not operate with the minimal safety standard which, according to him, had contributed to the cause of many road accidents.

We need to take action; 30 per cent of drivers failed the vision tests we conducted. I commend MOMAN because most of its members comply to minimal safety standards but the others are yet to do so.

Most of the trucks on our highways do not have safety valves, we must enforce the law of no safety valves, no loading of products .

Just yesterday, a whole family was wiped off to an accident caused by a truck with petrol in Felele Lokoja; this is avoidable if the minimal safety measures were adhered to.

This is the time to stop all the talk shop and swing into action to avoid the reoccurrence of these on our roads, he said.

Oyeyemi said that MOMAN and NARTO with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) should join forces in ensuring that drivers complied with the rules and regulation of traffic while driving their trucks.

The FRSC boss commended the effort of president Muhammadu Buharis administration at reviving the rail system, saying that it would help to reduce the over reliance on the road for haulage of Petroleum products.

If the rail is functioning well, pressure will reduce on the road, he added.

He called for full auditing of trucks and installation of safety valves on the trucks before using them on the road.

MOMAN and NARTO must train and retrain their members, and DPR needs to begin recertification to help reduce crashes on the road.

The level of lawlessness is high on the side of the drivers, we witness average of 90 deaths per week in the country, he added.

MOMAN Chairman, Adetunji Oyebanji described the theme of the Conference as apt judging by the situation of safety in transportation value chain in the country.

He said that globally, products were transported through the pipelines but that had stopped over the years in Nigeria due to lack of integrity.

He said that about 10,000 trucks move from south to northern part of the country with about 80 per cent without skid, automatic breaks and other equipment needed for safety.

MOMAN is working to ensure replacement of trucks that do not meet safety requirements. We are here today to discuss framework on truck renewal.

NARTO and MOMAN believe that safety of the road is possible, we will collaborate with FRSC to ensure training of drivers, he said.

He called on marketers to ensure efficiency in product delivery adding that efficiency will help marketers to remain afloat with the deregulation of the downstream oil sector.

Also, minister of state for Transportation Gemisola Saraki called for adherence to safety measures on the road.

She said that most of the accident on the road were caused by human factor such as using the mobile phone while driving, dangerous driving style, over speeding among others.

Road crash is an epidemic in Nigeria and has caused more deaths than diseases. It can be avoided if drivers can be disciplined, she said.

Represented by Mrs Angela Keyede, Assistant Director, Transport, she said that Government had embacked on road rehabilitation to address some of the challenges.

Government is also reviving the rails but I urge you to ensure replacement of old trucks with modetn trucks to reduce dangers of crashes on our roads, she added.

The National president of NARTO, Alhaji Yusuf Othman, said the group remained relevant in the supply chain of petroleum products in the country.

He said that nearly 58 million litres of petrol consumed on daily basis in the country were transported by its members, adding that government had yet to make policies to attract investment to the sector.

He assured that its member would comply with the safety measures so as to reduce the number of road crashes in the country. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State

By Ifeanyi Olannye

Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta has called for the adoption and implementation of a viable and sustainable healthcare financing programme for states in the country.

He made the call in a statement issued in Asaba after he had addressed the 40th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Scientific Conference of Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) in Oghara.

The NARD AGM, with the theme; Health Care Infrastructure Optimization and Adaptation in the face of a Global Pandemic: The Coronavirus(COVID-19) Challenge, held at the Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara.

Okowa said that with an abysmal 0.5 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in public health spending, Nigeria had one of the lowest public healthcare financing globally.

He also advocated for a national policy on responding and managing unforeseen public health crises.

According to him, the absence of such a framework as well as the novel nature of the coronavirus, posed a major drawback in articulating a coordinated response at the initial stage of the pandemic in the country.

The governor said that his administration had agreed to fund 80 per cent of the training requirements enshrined in the Residency Training Act (2017) as agreed with NARD and DELSUTH and urged the doctors to reciprocate the gesture with renewed vigour and commitment to their duties.

He commended medical doctors and healthcare providers for their courage, commitment and determination to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

He disclosed that Nigeria survived COVID-19 and previous public health emergencies/outbreaks due to the sacrifice, dedication, ingenuity and resourcefulness of healthcare providers.

Okowa, however, said regrettably, many of them got infected during the pandemic, while some, sadly, paid the supreme price.

He expressed hope that the meeting would offer good opportunity to review the ongoing national efforts to combat the pandemic, as well as assess the countrys readiness to respond appropriately to future public health emergencies.

He said I believe we can turn this crisis into an opportunity to bolster our health infrastructure, expand capacity and upgrade manpower in the health sector in such a way that our healthcare system will be better poised to deal with future outbreaks.

Testing was a huge problem because of the shortage of human resources, testing kits, laboratories, and case definition for testing that prioritizes symptomatic cases and their contacts.

The whole country only attained a daily testing capacity of 2,500 samples late in July, which is a far cry from what it should be for a country of our size.

Testing was not only extremely low; it took days before the results could be known. Confronted with a fast spreading disease like COVID-19, the delay meant the virus could spread unchecked as it hindered early contact tracing.

Here in Delta, samples had to be taken to the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo State, which served the entire South-South geo-political region of the country.

The wait was excruciating and exerted immense physical/mental toll on critical health personnel who had to be making frequent trips to Irrua.

The governor said that the state government was able to reach an arrangement with Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in partnership with Pan African Network for Disease Outbreak Research and Rapid Response (PANDORA) to establish a molecular mobile laboratory in Delta.

He explained that since then, we have conducted over 9,000 tests in the state, while confirmed cases stood at 1,799 as at Friday, Sept. 18.

In Delta, we developed a strategic implementation plan focused on clear deliverables that are in line with the provisions of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund component of the National Health Act.

Similarly, the guidelines of the National Health Insurance Scheme were aligned to the prevailing peculiarities of the Delta State healthcare service system.

As the frontrunner in the implementation of this scheme, I am proud to inform this gathering that Delta State Government has accredited 405 health facilities to operate the scheme.

This comprise 268 Primary Health Care Centers, 66 Secondary Healthcare Facilities, 65 Private Healthcare Facilities, one Federal Medical Center, three Abuja Healthcare Facilities and two Lagos Healthcare Facilities to operate the scheme in the state.

Total number of enrollees is currently 788,740; we can be proud of the progress we have made even though there is still much work to be done.

In the post COVID-19, there is a compelling need to adopt and implement a viable and sustainable healthcare financing programme for all States in the country.

Each State is primarily responsible for the financing and implementation of its healthcare system.

A healthcare financing programme that is focused on up-scaling primary healthcare services, enhancement of human-resource-for-health capacity, deployment of a technology enhanced healthcare services delivery process and improved access to measurable quality healthcare services outcome for all, is an imperative.

Okowa, who also inspected ongoing rehabilitation of facilities at DELSUTH, expressed his administrations readiness to extend same to other facilities in the state within the limits of available resources.

The Chairman at the occasion and former Governor of Delta, Chief James Ibori, commended Okowa and former Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan for conceiving the idea of building the teaching hospital in Oghara.

He said doctors were at the vanguard of saving human lives, especially in the pandemic and urged them to remain dedicated.

Also, Uduaghan, who was Guest of Honour at the event, congratulated NARD for the dexterity in being the military arm of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).

He also commended Okowa for approving the Residency Training Programme for doctors in the state.

He said that at the inauguration of Delsuth in 2010, his administration engaged diaspora doctors, nurses and pharmacists to exchange ideas.

The staff mix helped the image of the hospital to successfully carry out knee replacement surgery and kidney transplant with partnership from the University of Texas. Uduaghan said.

The President of NMA, Prof. Innocent Ujah, said in a message that NARD had evolved over the years to become vibrant, progressive and a dynamic affiliate of the Nigerian Medical Association.

The Chief Medical Director of Delsuth, Dr Onome Ogueh, said the institution was the apex health organisation in the state with a vision to provide world class health care for all Deltans.

He said the hosting of the 40th Annual General Meeting of NARD in Delsuth was the first time a state university teaching hospital was playing host to the NARD Secretariat.

The National President of NARD, Dr Aliu Sokomba, represented by First Vice President, Dr Julian Ojebo, said the pandemic had brought new challenge to medical practice in a very poorly funded health industry in Nigeria.

Sokomba said NARD fought to ensure the domestication of the Residency Training Act and lauded the contributions of Gov. Okowa to the National Health Act as well as his pioneering efforts toward domestication of the Act.

Highpoint of the occasion was the presentation of awards to Gov. Okowa as the Ambassador for State Health Tertiary Institutions in recognition of his contributions to the National Health Act and implementation of the Residency Training Act 2017. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Gov, Darius Ishaku of Taraba state

By Saidu Adamu

Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba has called on the people of Chonku village who had fled to Wukari town in the wake of the Tiv/Jukun crisis to return home and resume their normal activities, saying peace has returned to the area.

Ishaku made the call while laying the foundation of a Military and Police base at the Chonku village.

He said that the State Government would establish a security base on the border between Taraba and Benue.

He said the security base would provide security to the village which shared a common border with Benue.

The governor said it was very unfortunate that the two border communities had continued to engage themselves in violent clashes instead of living in peace.

He said his administration was doing its best to address insecurity and communal crisis in all parts of the state.

I call on the good people of Chonku to please come back to your town and resume your normal activities, he said.

I want to assure you that adequate security will be provided to you by the military and the police to enable you to return home and go about your normal activities without fear of attack.

He said facilities such as healthcare centres, markets and boreholes would also be provided to improve their living conditions.

Both Taraba and Benue states need peace and the people should be encouraged to coexist peacefully, Ishaku said.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that conflicts between the Jukun and Tiv ethnic groups had resulted to the razing down of the entire Chonku town earlier in the year, forcing the residents to flee to Wukari, headquarters of Wukari Local Government Area of the state. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Policemen on duty

By Saidu Adamu

Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba said military and police operatives had been deployed to construction sites in the southern part of the state to provide security.

Ishaku disclosed this while inspecting road construction sites in Tsokundi and Chanchangi villages in Wukari and Takum local government areas of the state.

He explained that the road projects awarded in 2017 had to be abandoned because of the high level of insecurity in the area.

He said that two graders belonging to the construction company were burnt, while threats to the lives of construction workers had slowed down the pace of work at the sites.

The governor disclosed that the road projects were critical to the lives of the people of the area.

With the deployment of security operatives, work has resumed and steady progress is being made, he said.

He commended the WE Construction Firm handling the projects for doing a good job.

Ishaku urged the people of the area to embrace peace to enable government to provide them with the dividends of democracy.

Earlier, the Commissioner of Works, Mr Irmiya Hammajulde, said 33. 8 per cent of the 30 kilometre road from Wukari to Tsokundi had been completed.

Hammajulde assured that with the restoration of peace and increased presence of security in the area, the project would be delivered before the end of 2021.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

FBRA urges collaboration on World Clean-Up Day toward waste-free future

By Vivian Ihechu

As the world observed the World Clean-Up Day 2020, the members of the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) have urged collaborative action to safeguard the environment for future generations.

FBRA made the call in a statement in Lagos after they had carried out activities to clean-up the environment in Badagry, Ojo and and Bonny Camp in Lagos and Agbowoin Ibadan.

The World Cleanup Day, celebrated annually on the 3rd Saturday in September, is a civic movement, uniting 180 countries and millions of people across the world to clean up the planet in one day.

It is also a social action programme aimed at combating the global solid waste problem, including the problem of marine debris.

Noting that it takes everyone to attain that, the alliance said: With increasing use of plastic packaging, poor waste management and the lack of an adequate recycling ecosystem, there is a great need to take proactive measures to safeguard our environment for future generations.

This is why the members of the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) came together to create awareness on the need for collaborative action on World Clean-Up Day 2020.

Working with other concerned stakeholders, including Geocycle of Lafarge Group, Green Janitors, Kids Beach Garden, Recycledge, NESREA and LAWMA, FBRA organised clean-up activities at Badagry, Ojo and Bonny Camp, in Lagos, and at Agbowo in Ibadan to raise awareness within the local communities of the need to collaborate with community collectors to care for our environment.

The alliance said that over 2,000kg of waste was removed from the environment through these clean-up activities to mark .

It added that volunteers from member companies, including Nestl, 7-up Bottling Company and International Breweries were on ground at the three locations to sensitise the residents.

The World Clean-Up Day is a reminder that we all have a part to play in attaining a zerowaste future.

The FBRA coalition is founded on the strong commitment of our member organisations to deliver on goals that will have a significant impact on the promotion of environmental sustainability.

So far, through various activities and programmes, over 1,718,338kg of plastic waste have been removed from our environment since inception in 2018.

We will continue to lead this change as well as the adoption of practices and partnerships to advance this important mandate, the statement quoted the FBRA Executive Secretary, Agharese Onaghise as saying.

At the Badagry clean-up exercise on World Clean-Up Day, Victoria Uwadoka, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Nestl Nigeria said, At Nestl, our vision is that none of our packaging, including plastics, ends up in landfills, in oceans, or any waterway.

As one of the founding members of the FBRA, we are working hard alongside other stakeholders to achieve a waste-free future in Nigeria in line with our purpose of enhancing quality of life for everyone today and for generations to come.

We are here today with other Nestl Cares Volunteers to create awareness in the Badagry community that ensuring the health of our environment takes all of us.

Other members of the FBRA comprise Nigerian Bottling Company Limited, Nestl Nigeria Plc., Nigerian Breweries Plc., Seven-Up Bottling Company Ltd, Guinness Nigeria Plc., Intercontinental Distillers Ltd, International Breweries Ltd, Tulip Cocoa, Prima Caps and Preforms.

Also in FBRA are DOW Chemicals, Tetrapak West Africa, The LaCasera Company Ltd and Engee PET Manufacturing Ltd, and all provided incentives and support to reach a maximum number of people and to motivate the community collectors in line with the associations purpose of enabling a circular economy to improve waste collection, sorting and management.

FBRA was established in 2018 as the Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) for the food and beverage sector with a focus on enabling the collection, recovery and recycling of post-consumer packaging waste in compliance with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) guidelines.

Part of its mandate is promoting behaviour change through consumer education and the empowerment of the recycling ecosystem.

Since inception, the group has continued to support the waste potential in Nigeria through various initiatives such as community recycling programmes, buy-back schemes and engagement of stakeholders in the waste value chain to promote a circular economy. (NAN)

Source: NAN News