Chadian communication minister and government spokesperson Cherif Mahamat Zene on Monday called on the population to stay calm after fierce clashes between the army and rebels over the weekend.

I want by my voice to reassure that there is nothing, absolutely nothing that can justify the panic that a part of the population is seized with because of the malicious propaganda on social networks.

I, therefore, appeal for calm, Mahamat Zene twitted.

More than 300 fighters were killed and 150 others, including three top leaders, taken prisoner on Saturday in Chads western Kanem province, a Chadian army spokesperson said on Monday.

This came after a raid by the Front for Alternation and Concord in Chad (FACT), an armed rebel group based in neighboring Libya, according to local media.

The battleground is some 300 km north of the capital NDjamena.

On Monday, security in the capital city was beefed up with tanks deployed in major strategic positions.

The establishment this morning of a security system in certain parts of the capital seems to be misinterpreted.

There is no particular threat to fear, Mahamat Zene said. (Xinhua/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Kenya on Monday launched a national information platform to help address the growing challenge of malnutrition in the country.

According to Eric Wafukho, chief administrative secretary for the National Treasury, the project s designed to popularise data generation and dissemination of information in an effort to improve nutrition status among local communities.

The project brings together and analyzes existing information and data from all sectors to support the development of evidence-based policies and programs to improve human nutrition, Wafukho said during the launch in Nairobi.

He said the project was intended to enhance information dissemination and provide a better understanding of Kenyas nutrition status among national leaders and policymakers.

Wafukho said that the National Information Platform for Food Security and Nutrition project is expected to help fast-track Kenyas achievements of national and international targets on food security and nutrition.

We are racing against time to achieve the vision 2030 and Sustainable Development Goal 2 of ending hunger and reducing malnutrition and stunting levels as we committed.

Veronica Kirogo, head of the Division of Nutrition in the Ministry of Health said that the country was facing a triple burden of malnutrition nutrition, overweight and obesity and micronutrient deficiencies.

Kirogo, therefore, called for multi-stakeholder collaboration in addressing the triple burdens with the aim of giving populations better lives by reducing malnutrition and stunting.

The nutrition project will be implemented jointly by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. (Xinhua/NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Zubairu Idris

INEC on Monday blamed electoral violence and voter apathy on population growth and inadequate number of polling units.

The current 119,973 poling units, which were created since 1996, have been the voting stations up until 2019 general elections, Jibril Zarewa, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Katsina State, said.

This is in spite of increase in voter population from 53 million in 1999 to 85 million in 2019, he added.

Zarewa was addressing the start of a two-day workshop for INEC field officers on the proposed conversion of voting points to poling units.

Over the years, several challenges have confronted INEC with regard to polling units as a result of population growth, demographic shifts, growth of new settlements and expansion of towns and villages.

These make the existing polling units to become inadequate.

Many of the polling units are overcrowded during elections; that brought delays, disruptions, violence and voter apathy.

Voter access to polling units is fundamental to our elections and to democracy, he said.

The locations of some polling units also make access very difficult, particularly for persons living with disabilities, Zarewa added.

He said there were 4,902 polling units in Katsina State that catered to 2.7 million voters in 1999, adding that the number of voters increased to about 3.3 million in 2019.

He explained that this informed the creation of additional 1,750 voting points in the state to bring the total number of voting centres to 6, 652 to reduce congestion.

Zarewa said that INEC would begin Continuous Voter Registration on June 28 to enable those eligible to obtain the Permanent Voter Registration Card.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised for Electoral Officers and Assistant Electoral Officers drawn from the 34 Local Government Areas of Katsina State. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Abiodun Esan

Ahead of 2023 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has promised to make polling units accessible to the electorate to remove voter apathy during elections.

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Kwara, Malam Garba Attahiru-Madami, made this known on Monday in Ilorin while declaring open two-day training on Implementation of expansion of voters access to polling units.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training was for Electoral Officers (EOs) and Assistant Electoral Officers (AEOs) in charge of Administration, Operations and Cluster Registration areas drawn from the 16 local government areas of Kwara.

Attahiru-Madami said polling points in all polling units would be expanded to polling units to make them accessible to the people.

He noted that many eligible voters refused to vote on election day because of the distance of polling units to their residences.

The REC told the participants that the training was very important to INEC, just as election was important, adding that without polling unit, there would be no election.

Election start from polling unit, if there is no polling unit, there would be no election and collation, that is how important polling unit is, he added.

He therefore charged the participants to take the training very serious as the outcome of the training would offer opportunity on what they would do on the field.

I dont need to re-emphasise why access to polling unit is very important. We already know that this exercise was carried out in 1996 and it was to serve 50 million voters.

In 2019 election, we have greater voters of 84 million; you can see that the polling units now are grossly inadequate.

By the time general election will take place in 2023, our projection is to have over 120 million voters.

The number of polling units we have now cannot serve the 120 million voters, so the training is very important, he said.

According to the REC, one of the reasons for voter apathy is because the polling unit was not accessible to them.

He said that some polling units have over 1,000 to 5,000 voters that were spread to polling points.

So, we want to see how we can convert some of these voting points to polling units to meet the need of the people on election day.

In some communities with communal clash, having their own polling unit would solve such conflict, because you will see a villager that will say, I will not go to that village to vote, he added.

He said the idea of expansion of polling units was to remove voter apathy and reduce distance from home to the polling unit. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Emmanuel Oloniruha

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned that it will no longer stand and watch party conventions and congresses degenerate to violent crises that threaten lives and destroy property.

The INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, gave the warning in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

Okoye said that INEC would henceforth reconsidered its involvement in political parties events to ensure that lives of its staff and members of the public are guaranteed.

He threatened that there would be grievous penalties in any situation where party congresses and conventions degenerated into violence.

He said that INEC watched with utmost dismay and profound concern the recurrent acrimony, violence and destruction of property, including the commissions property and equipment, which had characterised some recent party congresses across Nigeria.

The level of violence in some of the congresses is making it extremely difficult for the commission to exercise its statutory oversight responsibility enshrined in Sections 85 and 87 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended).

In one such congress in Kaduna recently, violence broke out leading to the destruction of the commissions ballot boxes.

Political parties are reminded that they have a clear obligation to ensure that their congresses and conventions are orderly, democratic and in accordance with extant legal framework, their own constitutions and guidelines, as well as INECs regulations and guidelines, he said.

He warned that the commission would no longer tolerate situations where party conventions and congresses degenerate into farcical rituals and violent fiascos that threaten lives and destroy property.

Henceforth, there will be far-reaching consequences in any situation where party congresses and conventions degenerate into violence and destruction of INEC property.

Apart from replacing such destroyed materials, parties may be blacklisted from the receipt of INEC materials for their activities in the future.

The Commission may also withdraw its staff from monitoring such violent political party meetings, with the resultant non-recognition of their outcomes, Okoye said.

He reminded political parties of forthcoming primaries to select their candidates for upcoming elections and bye-elections, particularly those for the Anambra State Governorship election and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections.

Parties must stick to the respective Timetable and Schedule of Activities for these elections as released by the Commission, which have been communicated to them and are available at the INEC website (www.inec.gov.ng).

Parties must ensure that their primaries are peaceful and orderly. Above all, they must adhere strictly to the Electoral Act, INEC Regulations and Guidelines, as well as party constitutions and rules, which are domiciled with the Commission.

Finally, in the conduct of their internal processes, political parties must hold themselves to the same standards they hold the Commission during elections namely, openness, fairness, adherence to rules and peaceful conduct.

He added that INEC remained deeply concerned about the acrimony and violence within parties such that there were now more suits in various courts of law arising from party congresses and primaries than from elections conducted by the commission.

Okoye gave assurance that INEC would still continue to work with political parties in support of their internal functioning in order to build strong and democratic parties in Nigeria. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Douglas Okoro

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ebonyi Monday bagan a two-day training for Electoral Officers on methods and principles for the proposed polling units in the state.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Dr Joseph Chukwu, who declared the workshop open in Abakiliki, said the training would help INEC to determine where to locate the polling units and how to convert voting points to polling units.

According to him, before the training, the electoral officers were directed to go to their local government areas to determine possible new polling unit locations and the distances from the existing ones.

He said the state had 1,785 polling units but pointed out that the number might not accomodate the increasing number of qualified voters that would turnout during the voter registration.

The training is to build the capacity of the officers on the method and principles of implementation of expansion of voter access to polling units in Nigeria.

Expanding voter access to polling units is part of the commissions strategies to enhance more voter participation in the voting and other electoral processes, including voter registration and voter verification exercises, he said.

He said expanding voter access initiative would bring polling units closer to the electorate by eliminating challenges of distance and over crowding at polling units.

Since 1999, Nigeria has not increased the number of polling units, in spite of the surge in the number of qualified registered voters.

Since the return to democracy and conduct of the first election in 1999 to date, we have been using the same number of polling units.

Yet, before every election period, we conduct voter registration for new eligible voters.

So this initiative is to expand the number of polling units from the existing ones and voting points, not only in Ebonyi but throughout the country.

The exercise will allow for more voters, who are usually disenfranchised, either due to the distance of the polling units from their residential areas or as a result of over crowding.

When we bring polling units closer to the electorate by expanding voter access, it will enhance credible voting process and allow more electorate to vote, Chukwu said.

He said the commission would soon begin to engage stakeholders and solicit their support for the smooth take off of the pre-2023 election programmes and conduct of free, fair and transparent election in 2023.

The REC gave assurance that the commission would leverage the Constitution and Electoral Act to conduct free, credible and transparent election in 2023. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Olayinka Owolewa

Malam Farouk Salim, the Director-General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), has urged the Federal Government to allow the agency to return to the nations ports to enable the organisation to check the influx of sub-standard products into the country.

Salim made the remarks during the inspection tour of KAM Holdings, a steel manufacturing company, on Monday in Ilorin.

He noted that chasing substandard products all over the country, rather than waiting for them at the ports had been a major challenge to the agency.

It is important to note that the non-involvement of SON at seaports in the country has continued to pose various challenges, particularly to the agencys compliance and monitoring units.

It is only in Nigeria that the nations standard organisations directorate is not at the ports to authenticate goods brought into the country. This is counter-productive to the economy of the nation.

It is easier to fight the influx of substandard products at the points of entry than chasing them around all the markets and warehouses in the country, Salim said.

The NSO Director-General also said that more than 85 per cent of the products imported into the country on a daily, monthly or yearly basis came through the seaports and waterways.

Salim said it would therefore be difficult to ignore the agency in the quest for zero imports of substandard and unwholesome products as well as the Federal Governments policy on ease of doing business in the country.

In his response, Dr Kamaldeen Yusuf, the chairman of KAM Holdings, called for the reintroduction of pre-shipment inspection of goods at the nations ports to check the proliferation of arms, substandard products and loss of revenue in the country.

Yusuf said Nigeria could adopt what is obtainable abroad, where government regulatory agencies inspect goods from the originating factories before being allowed to get to the markets.

He asked SON to invest more in technologies that would help rid the country of substandard steel. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Precious Akutamadu

Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, on Monday urged the Federal Government to allowed states to develop and operate their respective minerals and pay royalty to the central government.

Wike made the call when Mr Uchechukwu Ogah, the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House in Port Harcourt.

He said the call became pertinent because the federal government which unilaterally controls the countrys rich mineral endowment has failed to translate the mineral wealth into overall economic development.

The Governor maintained that in order for the country to benefit from its vast mineral endowment, the federal government should concentrate on the formulation of policies that will facilitate an improvement in the governance of the mining sector to improve social welfare of the citizens.

The federal government is carrying so much load that they are not supposed to carry, allow states to develop these minerals and pay royalty to the federal government, that is the way its supposed to be, Wike said.

He urged the Minister to push for reforms that will enable States and Local governments take charge of the mining of solid minerals in their domains and then pay tax to the federal government.

It is very important for people to know that part of the problem in this country is that everybody is depending on oil, when we are also supposed to look at other minerals.

Minerals play a great role in terms of raising revenue for any country, so our overemphasis on oil has reduced our impact on other minerals.

Wike noted if the country fully harness the gold deposit in Zamfara as well as other minerals in other states of the federation, the country will make a lot of revenue from these minerals that can accelerate development.

Wike lamented that despite the possibility of the Ajaokuta Steel Company project generating huge revenues for the country and creating not less than 3,000 jobs, the federal government, for political reasons, have failed to actualise the countrys aspiration to become a major player in the global steel industry.

He declared that the Rivers State government is prepared to collaborate with the federal government to develop the mineral sector of the country.

Wike advised the federal government to shun playing politics with issues of economic development and strive to entrench the ideals of good governance in the country.

Responding, the Minister told the Governor that he is in the State to share with him the vision and policy focus of the Federal Government for the development of the nations solid mineral resources.

Ogah stated that his visit is to solicit for the support and partnership of the state government in ensuring the orderly and efficient exploitation of huge deposits of silica sand, glass sand and clay which are in the state for construction purposes and glass manufacture.

In addition, permit me to also remind you of the abundant sea salt yet to be exploited in Rivers as a state bordering the Atlantic Ocean, which might also be an interesting area for collaborative development, Ogah said.

He commended the governor for the peerless successes his administration has recorded in matching actions with mission statements of actualizing the aspirations of the good people of Rivers State for a balanced development and enhanced quality of life for the present and future generations through responsive governance guided by the fear of God.

Your administration has accomplished its mission as seen in the massive infrastructures, cultural integration, provision of essential social amenities and many other legacy projects for the prosperity of Rivers State people and Nigerians living and doing businesses in the State, he said.

Source: NAN News

By Stanley Nwanosike

Maj.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, the General Officer Commanding, 82 Division, Nigerian Army, has charged soldiers to be combat ready and maintain physical fitness.

Lagbaja gave the charge on Monday during the opening ceremony of Inter-Brigade Corporals and Below Competition, 2021, being held At Abakpa Military Cantonment, Enugu.

The GOC said the objectives of the competition were to develop the physical fitness, combat proficiency and further foster spirit-de-corps among the ranks of corporals and below within the Division.

He said the Nigeria Army and, indeed, the Division would continue to make training and re-training its key driver in order to get all officers and soldiers ready for combat deployment.

As the Nigerian Army continues to professionalise, training has continued to assume greater emphasis.

Fortunately, at this point in time, we have a Chief of Army Staff who has made training a key objective in his command philosophy, he said.

Lagbaja noted that the competition would include: weapon handling, obstacle crossing, cross country relay race, map reading, drill, shooting and combat swimming.

He said soldiers remained the bedrock of all sub-unit and units; and it is a well-known fact that a chain is as strong as its weakest link.

We expect a fair competition. We have unbiased umpires to do justice to the competition and they will conduct it with known laid down rules and regulation, he said.

The four formations under the Division are taking part in the five-day competition.

The formations include: 13 Brigade, Calabar; 14 Brigade, Ohafia; 82 Division Garrison and 44 Engineers/54 Signals Brigade, Enugu. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Ismaila Chafe

President Muhammadu Buhari has met behind closed door with acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the acting I-G was officially presented to President Buhari by the Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Maigari Dingyadi.

The president had announced the appointment of Baba, while in London, via Dingyadi.

NAN observed that the new I-G was among the dignitaries at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja on Thursday to welcome the president, who returned home after 16 days medical check-up in London.

Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting with the president, the new acting I-G said he was in the villa for formal introduction to the president.

My Minister brought me to the president for an introduction and he has introduced me to him.

I also thanked the president for giving me the opportunity to serve Nigeria in acting capacity as Inspector General of Police. I have also promised to do my best to change the narrative as far as internal security is concerned in the country.

Im coming back for a full brief, he said.

On his part, Dingyadi gave assurance that measures had been put in place to provide adequate equipment and trainings aimed at boosting the morale of the Police personnel in the country. (NAN)

Source: NAN News