By George Odok
The Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) has handed over six completed erosion sites to the Cross River Government on behalf of the benefiting communities.

Dr Inyang Asibong, the Commissioner for International Development in Cross River, handed over the sites to Mr Timothy Akwaji, Head of Civil Service in the state on Wednesday in Calabar.

Asibong, also the Acting Project Coordinator of NEWMAP in the state, said NEWMAP was initiated to reduce vulnerability to soil erosion in targeted sub-catchment.

The completed sites that were handed over to the state government are Nyagasang, Ikot Anwatim, Ikot Ekpo, Atakpa, Lemna and Federal Agriculture.

The commissioner said that before NEWMAP intervention, the erosion had caused havoc and damage to the affected communities.

She said Cross River Government and NEWMAP sought to achieve sustainable land management by promoting innovative erosion techniques in view of the devastating effects of the erosion sites.

The project was not just launched into the sites, we carried out several stakeholders engagement with different groups comprising men, women and youths in a bid to make them part of the project implementation.

The project team identified project affected persons: these are persons affected in the course of carrying out civil intervention at the gully sites.

Compensation was paid then following survey of their property to enable them secure alternative accommodation.

The project provided succour to the community members whose sources of livelihood were also affected by training them on alternative sources of livelihood skills, she said.

Asibong said that grants were also provided for members of the affected communities to start some businesses such as poultry, fish farming, farming, tailoring and shoe making.

Having successfully completed work on the six sites, it is imperative for NEWMAP to handover the sites to the relevant stakeholders/end users for maintenance and sustainability, she said.

Speaking, the State Head of Civil Service, Akwaji, thanked the World Bank for providing the funds to the state government for the intervention.

He said that the release of the counterpart fund was also an indication of governments commitment towards ameliorating the plight of the people.

Awaji urged the benefiting community members to make good use of the projects by avoiding dumping of refuse along the drainage system and unnecessary excavation of soil.

Dr Francis Obo, who responded on behalf of the benefitting communities, thanked NEWMAP and the Cross River Government for the successful completion of the projects.(NAN)

Edited by Chidi Opara/Ismail Abdulaziz

Source: NAN News

By Muhyideen Jimoh

The All Nigerian Football Players Union (ANFPU), has called for better structure and sponsors for all tiers of football leagues in the country.

Abdul Sule, President of the Union told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the league remains the soul of football development in any country.

The ex -international who lamented the state of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), said in spite the abundance of talents, stressed the need to change the narrative.

There is need to urgently get sponsors for the league (NPFL), and how do you get sponsors? the League must have a proper structure.

The most important thing is the structure and the structure starts from the grassroots, we must have good facilities (pitches) and proper remuneration for our players and officials, he said.

He said the union would be working more closely with the clubs and League Management Company (LMC) to ensure better structure and welfare for players.

The former Stationery Stores FC player expressed optimism that once the right structures are put in place, the Nigerian league would be among the best in Africa.

The former Kogi United FC Chairman said, the Union had lined up series of workshops and seminars for former and active Nigerian footballers to enhance their capacity building and welfare.

He called on those looking for seats on the board of the next Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board, to come up with policies that would fast-track the development of Nigerian football. (NAN)(www.nannnews.ng)

Edited by Jopseph Edeh

Source: NAN News

By Adeyemi Adeleye

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says about 21, 352 of 34,242 newly printed Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for new registrants are still uncollected in Lagos State, four months after release.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lagos State, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, disclosed this at the State Level CSO Engagement Visit organised by the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) powered by the EU-Support Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) in collaboration with INEC.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the engagement is: Womens Political Participation and Inclusion and 2023 General Elections.

Speaking, Agbaje, who decried the huge number of old and new PVCs lying fallow at INEC offices in the 20 local government areas, said the staggering amount of the PVCs belonged to women, being important stakeholders in elections.

Permanent Voter Card (PVC) is the sole instrument required from the Voter to participate in an election, it is an important eligibility instrument for voting without which no citizen would be allowed to partake in an election.

However, the total number of uncollected old PVCs in the state is 928,362 as at 5th Sept. 5, no doubt, the uncollected PVCs for women may be in the neighborhood of 436,451 (47 per cent).

Meanwhile, the total number of uncollected New PVCs is 21,352 out of 34,242 received PVCs, while the rest of the new PVCs for the 2021/22 registration exercise is being awaited.

The implication of this is that the commission is having a staggering number of PVCs that should be collected by the women and other eligible voters to enable them massively participate in the forthcoming 2033 general elections, Agbaje said.

According to him, it is imperative that women folk, particularly the Nigerian Women Trust Fund under the Gender Election Watch (GEW) and other stakeholders rise up to the challenge to ensure the PVCs are collected without further delay.

Agbaje, who expressed dissatisfaction over low number of women flag-bearers in the forthcoming general elections, said women needed support, encouragement and needed to be bold to fight like men to take leadership and political positions.

We have fewer women than men going for elective positions (in 2023). It is not too good, we have to continue to improve through this kind of engagement so that in future elections, we will have more women coming out for elective positions, he added.

The INEC boss urged stakeholders to mobilise women for PVCs collection and encourage them to vote in the 2023 general elections, saying that INEC had taken a number of measures aimed at ensuring the smooth conduct of the general elections.

Agbaje said that the just-concluded Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) captured 12,298,944 out of which a total of 6,224,866 were female while male registrants were 6,074,078.

In her welcome remarks, Mrs Mufuliat Fijabi, the Chief of Executive Officer, NWTF, said the main objective of the engagement was to build synergy and cooperation between the group, INEC and other critical stakeholders like CSOs, religious and traditional leaders.

Fijabi said the engagement was to see how all stakeholders could work together to improve women political participation in the country.

There is need for more synergy in advocating for more women in leadership and political positions and the commitment to achieving this vision, Fijabi said.

On the overview of the project, Malliya Manu, the NWTF Programme Manager, said the EU was worried about the low participation of women in decision making processes in Nigeria, saying the project wanted to ensure increase in women representation.

Manu said that critical stakeholders like wives of governors, CSOs, religious and traditional leaders, INEC and others should step up games to bring in more women in politics.

According to her, average women participation in politics is 25 per cent globally, about 22 per cent in Africa and 4.8 per cent in Nigeria.

She said that Nigeria could not have a strong and balanced democracy because of marginalisation of women in politics, saying the just concluded political parties primaries had shown a decrease in women as flag-bearers.

Manu highlighted barriers against women to include lack of effective government will to implement international conventions, money politics and system of god-fatherism, exclusion of women in parties leadership positions as well as patronage-based political system.

Nigeria should be able to ensure 25 per cent of women representation in Africa. By 2027, we want to see more women being elected as candidates of political parties, she said.

Speaking, Mrs Victoria Eta-Messi, the Deputy Director, Gender Relations, Gender and Inclusivity Department, INEC, said the commission plans to enlighten stakeholders on the INEC gender policy, the objective of the policy and the implementation of the policy which is mandatory for the commission and other stakeholders in the electoral process.

Eta-Messi said that not much was achieved during the party primaries by women as many could not clinch tickets to contest the 2023 elections.

So, already, it is not very promising outlook with regard to women candidates. What we want to achieve now is to ensure and to see that many women turnout to vote.

Beyond 2023, we also hope that those lapses that were noticed for the 2023 general elections would have been bridged and all barriers would have been addressed and taken care of so that many more women will participate in the electoral space.

One of the stakeholders, Mrs Hilda Nwanekwu, Executive Director, Initiatives for Sustaining Gender Empowerment, stressed the need for more bonding among women to take over leadership and political positions.

Also, Dr Angela Daniel, Executive Director, Women Entrepreneur Association of Nigeria as well as STAGE for Women Development Initiative, decried that political parties had continued to refuse to admit women, urging stakeholders to give opportunity to women.

NAN reports that the event had in attendance, various women leaders advocating inclusion of women and People Living With Disabilities (PLWDs) in Nigeria. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Chioma Ugboma

Source: NAN News

By Muhammad Nasir Bashir

A 45-year-old housewife died while her husband sustained injuries in a building collapse in Gwaram Local Government Area of Jigawa.

Spokesman of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the state, CSC Adamu Shehu confirmed the incident in Dutse on Tuesday.

Shehu said the incident occurred on Sunday at about 11:30 p.m., as a result of heavy downpour recorded in the area.

One Talatu Shehu, aged 45, a housewife at Auyakawa quarters in Gwaram LGA lost her life as the building in which she was sleeping together with her husband collapsed.

The incident occurred on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022 at about 11:30 p.m., following a downpour which led to the collapsed of the building while the couple were asleep, he said.

He said the husband, Malam Shehu NaAllah, 60, survived the incident and referred to hospital for medical attention, while his wife, Talatu died in the rubble.

The spokesman added that the remains of the deceased had been released to her family for burial after she was certified dead by a medical doctor.

According to him, the rain which lasted for many hours caused havoc destroying several mud houses in the area.

Shehu said the commands disaster management personnel had evacuated residents whose houses were on the brink of collapse. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by AbdulFatai Beki/Rabiu Sani-Ali

Source: NAN News

By Joshua Oladipo

Gov. Gboyega Oyetola of Osun, on Tuesday, inaugurated a 3.65 kilometre rehabilitated bridge in Gbongan, Ayedaade Local Government Area of the state

The newly rehabilitated bridge, Chief Bisi-Akande Trumpet Bridge was named after the former interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In his remarks, Oyetola said that the inauguration was in fulfillment of his commitment to the development of the ancient town and its people.

The governor appealed to all road users within and outside Gbongan not to engage in any act capable of undermining the newly-rehabilitated road.

The road we are inaugurating today witnessed massive deterioration due to diverted traffic to Gbongan township during the construction of Chief Adebisi Akande Trumpet Bridge at Gbongan Junction.

As a responsible and responsive Government, we rose to the occasion to fix it to improve the socioeconomic development of our people.

The rehabilitation of the road will no doubt improve the socioeconomic life of the people and the town in significant ways.

Besides further giving a facelift to the ancient town, it will also increase commercial and agricultural activities which the good people of Gbongan and environs are noted for.

It is our hope that the people of Gbongan and its environ shall take advantage of this road to improve on their businesses and the general social development of the area, he said.

Oyetola also said his administration would continue to provide services and projects to meet the needs of the people in the state.

It is our hope that you will continue to carry out your businesses and relate with one another in peace, to sustain our ranking as the most peaceful State in Nigeria.

As a government, we shall continue to do all in our power to secure the lives and property of the State and our people, he said.

Earlier, Mr Remi Omowaiye, Commissioner for Works, appreciated the people of Gbongan for their patience, support and loyalty during the rehabilitation period.

Also, Mr Adegboyega Famodun , the APC Chairman in Osun, commended the governor for fulfilling his campaign promises, despite the paucity of funds. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Victor Adeoti/Oluwole Sogunle

Source: NAN News

By Ginika Okoye/Favour Ukabiala

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has bagged the Federal Governments level five platinum level organisation award for outstanding performance in good governance and financial accountability.

The assessment was done by the Bureau of Public Service Reform (BPSR) from Sept. 2021 through the Bureaus Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) initiative.

Presenting the award and report in Abuja on Tuesday, Mr Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), said the assessment was drawn from the Federal Governments commitment to ensure improved service delivery in the public service.

Mustapha, represented by Dr Habiba Lawal, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, congratulated the NDIC for accepting the assessment tool.

He enjoined all the federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to subject themselves to the assessment for improved performance and service delivery.

Dr Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, commended the NDIC for the achievements.

Ahmed, represented by Mr Stephen Okon, the Director, Home Finance of the ministry, said the appraisal should be constant to maintain the standards.

Analysing the SAT report, the Director-General of the BPSR, Dr Dasuki Arabi, said the Bureau assessed 10 pragmatic areas in the corporation.

Arabi said the areas assessed included performance management, strategic plan, budget, procurement, transparency and accountability, among others.

He said the corporation scored 93 per cent in the assessment for high quality work and hard work by the staff.

It is worthy of note that NDIC is the first and only agency under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning which has enthusiastically submitted itself to undergo the assessment.

The Bureau received a marching order in November, 2019 to deploy the tool in all MDAs.

This is an outstanding pace NDIC has set, our humble persuasion is for others to readily emulate it.

The introduction of SAT at this period to identify strengths and weaknesses of MDAs is a practical effort Public Service Institutions (PSIs) must key-in to if they must redeem their usefulness and relevance.

This tool, which has to its credit a United Nation Award, is among the best innovation emanating from the Bureau to rank, reposition and reengineer organisational performance for improved service delivery, he said.

He advised the corporation to collaborate more with other agencies of government for effective service delivery.

Mr Bello Hassan, the Managing Director of the NDIC, said the SAP initiative would continue to assist the Corporation in evaluating its responsiveness to current government policies.

Hassan said the award and report would spur the corporation into doing more to achieve its targets.

We were highly elated for been rated platinum level, but I think for us we have a culture of continuous process improvement, so we are going to look at the report closely most especially on the recommendations.

We are going to improve on our weaknesses identified so that when next we are assessed, we will do much better, Hassan said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the SAT report was presented to the corporation by the SGF. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

Source: NAN News

By Tosin Kolade

The Federal Government, in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), has inaugurated a National Roadmap on Hand Hygiene for All.

The roadmap gives direction for collaborative efforts to implement the Sanitation and Hygiene programmes under the UN Sustainable Development Goal six.

At the public presentation on Tuesday in Abuja, Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, said the Nigeria Roadmap identified strategic goals and opportunities for investments to improve hand hygiene.

Adamu said that it provided actions across the three pillars of political leadership, enabling environment and inclusive programming at scale to increase supply and demand.

The Roadmap has laid out a path for maximising upcoming opportunities in the implementation of hand hygiene in homes, schools, healthcare facilities, among others.

This Roadmap will further increase the awareness of Nigerians on the developing initiative for inclusive hand hygiene in all human context of existence in Nigeria.

Activities to realise these factors have been detailed to include short-term COVID-19 response needs to control the outbreak and medium-term activities to rebuild hand hygiene culture, he said.

Adamu said the long-term approach called for sustenance of hand hygiene culture, adding that the impact of adequate handwashing cut across the whole SDGs Agenda.

He said this has the potential to improve healthcare outcomes and subsequently increase the progress regarding equity, education, and WASH.

Also, Mr Emmanuel Awe, the Director, Water Quality Control and Sanitation, Ministry of Water Resources, said there was need for political leadership to build momentum in all tiers of government.

Awe said that strong enabling environment was crucial, as it would strengthen systems for financing and developing policies in a sustainable manner.

The UNICEF Deputy Representative, Ms Rushnan Murtaza, said the roadmap was a deliberate effort to guide the country in interventions that build on the efforts of government in curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Murtaza said the benefits of hand hygiene in preventing the transmission of infectious diseases were crucial, as it had been proven to reduce deaths from respiratory and diarrhoea diseases in under-fives.

She said to facilitate the implementation of this Roadmap, UNICEF supported the Market Assessment of Hygiene Products and Services in Nigeria.

The report of this assessment is ready and will be widely circulated to facilitate efficient decision-making on sourcing hygiene products and services at all levels.

I understand that the Clean Nigeria Campaign at the National level has already incorporated the core strategies of the hand hygiene for All Roadmap into their campaign strategies, she said.

Murtaza urged all states and local government areas to key into the roadmap and integrate it with their state-specific open defecation free roadmaps.

Commenting, Dr Edwin Isotu-Edeh, WHO Representative, commended the efforts of the Federal Government in prioritising sanitation and hygiene through the campaign for hand hygiene.

There is a huge gap in accesss to handwashing services among households in the country as reflected in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Normal Routine Mapping report, as it stood at only 17 per cent.

There is need for behaviour change to inculcate handwashing as the first line of defense in breaking disease transmission, Isotu-Edeh said.

He called for mainstreaming the roadmap into all development policies and programmes.

According to him, this will help to improve access to basic and improved sanitation and hygiene services sustainably. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Chidinma Agu/Olagoke Olatoye

Source: NAN News

By Ngozi Njoku

A 37- year-old Uber driver, Chukwuemeka Benjamin, on Tuesday appeared before an Ogudu Magistrates Court, Lagos for allegedly stealing a Toyota Camry worth N1.7 million.

Benjamin who resides at Olatinji Street, Ojota, Lagos is charged with conspiracy and theft.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against him by the police.

The prosecutor, Insp Donjour Perezi, told the court that the defendant committed the offences on Aug. 2, at Olatunji street, Ojota, Lagos.

According to him, the defendant conspired to steal a Toyota Camry car with registration No. SMK 03 WC valued N1.7 million and belonging to Chief Olubiyi Afolarin.

He said that the defendant who collected the car on hire purchase from the complainant, claimed to have parked the vehicle in front of his compound on Aug. 1, at around 8:30 p.m.

He came out to clean the car by 4:30 am to resume work only to find it missing, Perezi said.

The prosecutor said the offences contravened Sections 287 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The Magistrate, Mrs M.O Tanimola granted him bail in the sum of N300, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

She ordered that the sureties must be gainfully employed while one of them should be a blood relative of the defendant.

Ariyo also ordered that the sureties must show evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

She adjourned the case until Oct. 14, for mention. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Nick Nicholas/Sadiya Hamza

Source: NAN News

The Russian army has lost more than 50,000 soldiers in more than six months of war in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian figures.

With the invasion now 195 days old, 50,150 Russian soldiers had been killed, the Ukrainian general staff announced on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian army claimed to have already destroyed 2,077 tanks, 4,484 armored vehicles, 236 aircraft and 207 helicopters.

There was no independent confirmation of the figures.

The British Ministry of Defence, on the other hand, estimated that only about 25,000 Russian soldiers had been killed.

Russia itself had not given any information on its own casualties for a long time.

Last Friday, the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk put their losses since the start of the invasion at just more than 2,900 dead.

In contrast, according to the rarely released Kiev figures on their own losses, there were about 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed and 7,000 missing, they said.

Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February and had since taken control of large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.

The United Nations had so far, registered more than 5,700 civilians killed, but, like Kiev, assumes a much higher number of civilian casualties.

The Donetsk separatists last quoted a figure of around 870 civilian deaths in their area.

The British Ministry of Defence also said that a shortage of reconnaissance drones is increasingly complicating the operations of Russias troops in Ukraine.

The British government had regularly published intelligence information on the course of the war.

Moscow accused London of a targeted disinformation campaign. (dpa/NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Ummul Idris/Chioma Ugboma

Source: NAN News

By Jessica Dogo

The United States National Security Agencys (NSA) Cyber Command Centre, says Public-Private Partnership (PPP), is the solution to protecting critical infrastructure worldwide.

Ms. Morgan Adamski, U.S. Director of NSAs Cybersecurity Command Center, said this during a three-week Cybersecurity Virtual Reporting Tour, on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ongoing program was organised by Foreign Press Centers (FPC).

Morgan, who spoke on the brief titled: The Pivotal Importance of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Cooperation in Strengthening Security, said that the focus of the centre was in threefold.

She said the threefold includes creating a forum to build a more comprehensive picture of the cyber threat landscape, protecting small to medium-sized and large companies that produce critical technologies for the U.S. military.

Morgan stated the last fold to be directly countering maligned influence on emerging technology standards such as fifth generation, sixth generation and cloud security, accordingly.

She said: As we are here to discuss today, PPPs are not just nice to have, they are the solution to protect critical infrastructure worldwide.

The focus of the Cybersecurity Collaboration Center is threefold: first and foremost, creating a forum to build a more comprehensive picture of the cyber threat landscape.

Protecting small to medium-sized and large companies that produce critical technologies for the U.S. military, which we call the Defense Industrial Base, against nation-state threats.

And directly countering maligned influence on emerging technology standards such as 5G, 6G, and cloud security.

She, however, said that PPP should not be about seeking the mechanism or the platform for sharing, but should always be about its outcome that drives the format for the most successful collaboration.

It is never about the mechanism or the platform for sharing in PPP. It should always be about the outcome that drives the format for the most successful collaboration.

At the federal level, a collaborative approach is the cornerstone of our efforts.

We leverage on the unique authorities of federal, civilian, law enforcement, military, and intelligence agencies, and further integrate their operations.

At the operational level, we have found that the secret to collaboration between the U.S. Government and the private sector is empowering the art of conversation, she said.

The Director said analysts were needed to discuss, share information and analyse as they work through a problem or trying to understand a threat.

She said no agency or center had the capacity to collaborate with any organisation in the defense of data and systems against adversarial activity, adding that a distributed approach should be taken to a diverse and agile threat.

We need analysts to talk to each other, sharing information and analysis as they are working through a problem or trying to understand a threat.

That is when we discover new things, talk about alternatives analysis, and build the best mitigation guidance for all.

No single agency or center has the capacity or the authority to collaborate with every organisation necessary to defend our data and systems against adversarial activity.

Instead, we must take a network and distributed approach to a diverse and agile threat, Morgan said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

Source: NAN News