By Lizzy Okoji

The ECOWAS Parliament will in Monrovia meet for the first time in 2021 to discuss ways of fostering women empowerment in the West-African sub-region.

The meeting which will hold from April 13 to 17 has the theme, Empowerment of Women in the ECOWAS Region.

Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Mohamed Tunis will chair the meeting which will see joint committees on Social Affairs, Gender and Womens Empowerment/ Education Science and Culture and/ Health go into special sessions.

The meeting sessions will be taking place from April 13 to 17 in Monrovia and will see representatives from the ECOWAS Parliament and other important ECOWAS bodies come together to map out strategies on empowering women in the sub-region.

Meanwhile, womens empowerment and gender equality concepts are important in fostering health and human development.

This is achieved when both men and women enjoy the same socio-economic rights and opportunities and have equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making, the communications department of the parliament said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that studies have shown limited commitment by state actors toward achieving womens empowerment in the sub-region.

This is even when Article 63 of the ECOWAS Treaty urges state actors to formulate policies and develop programmes that will enhance womens economic, social, and cultural conditions.

Source: NAN News

By Alex Enebeli

A fertility expert, Dr Uchenna Ayogu, has urged couples who find it difficult in making their own babies to try In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF).

Ayogu, Chief Medical Director, St. Stephen Specialist Hospital, Achara Layout, Enugu, made the call on Friday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu.

According to him, couples with primary and secondary infertility can now make use of the advanced technology with the help of experts to have their own children.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that IVF involves sperm and ovary extraction, fertilisation and implantation inside a womans womb under experts monitoring.

Ayogu noted that with the culture in many societies, child-bearing became very important and the trauma being faced when couples are childless requires urgent solutions.

He regretted that much awareness had not been given to IVF in the country as health education was not publicised and most couples dwell in self-help.

A lot of factors lead to this; like pressures from in-laws, family members and friends.

The herbal and prayer houses are not always the solution, but I want to assure couples that scientifically IVF has saved a lot of families, Ayogu said.

The doctor explained that it is viable for women under the age of 35, but fails mostly for women above the age of 55.

He also said that the money involved had made it inaccessible for couples in Nigeria.

The procedure requires money, which only family who are financially buoyant can afford. It takes up to N1.5 million to 1.6 million to carry out.

The process sometimes fail because of inadequacy of the pelvic and resistance of the uterine walls.

We make sure those indications that would make zygote survive are detected before implanting.

There is period one is supposed to do that and once it passed, it will not work because once fertilization occur, development begins, he said.

Ayogu added that at 18, one could donate his or her sperm/egg to help couples finding it difficult to conceive, but frowned at people who do it for commercial purposes.

He explained further that it takes 34-36 weeks for IVF baby to mature for delivery.

Once baby develop lungs and can survive out of the womb, we bring the baby out, he said.

He, however, added that after undergoing IVF some lucky women could conceive naturally following the flushing of the fallopian tube.

NAN reports that the first IVF success was recorded on Nov.10, 1977, while the worlds first IVF baby, Louise Brown, was born in July 1978. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Abdullahi Mohammed

The Federal Government, on Friday, unveiled its new Solar Power for five million households in off-grid rural communities in Jigawa.

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, while unveiling the Solar Power Naija Programme, aimed at Jangefe community in Roni local government area of Jigawa, said the project was expected to create 250,000 jobs, through its value chain.

The project launch is the first phase of the deployment of one 100,000 Solar Home System (SHS), under the Solar Power Naija Programme of the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP), by the Federal Government with the objectives to;

Expand energy access to 25 million individuals, representing five million new connections, through the provision of solar home systems or connection to a mini grid.

Increase local content in the off-grid solar value chain and facilitate the growth of the local manufacturing and assembly industry;

Incentivize the creation of 250,000 new jobs in the energy sector, Osinbajo said.

The vice president also announced that the federal government was working to ensure universal access to electrification in Nigeria, through the decentralization of grid power solutions.

He disclosed that the federal government had committed more than N140 billion to the project, with the Central Bank of Nigeria providing soft loan worth about 200 million dollars.

The Minister of Power, Mr Sale Mamman, said that when the project was fully implemented, it could generate over N7 billion in annual revenues for the federal government.

Similarly, Mr Abubakar Twumasi, the Managing Director, ASOLAR, the project handlers, thanked the federal government for giving them the opportunity to actualise the innovative vision.

Earlier, Gov. Muhammad Badaru of Jigawa thanked the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for supporting the state through its various interventions.

Badaru, however, expressed the hope that Jigawa would get the minimum of 150,000 units of the new five million homes expected to be powered, noting that each state was expected to get about 150,000 units, if the five million units were shared.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Osinbajo had earlier witnessed the installation ceremony of the Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Hussaini Adamu, by the Emir of Kazaure, Dr Najib Hussaini Adamu, as the new District Head of Roni and the Galadiman Kazaure. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Gabriel Agbeae

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency has predicted sunshine and haziness from Saturday to Sunday across the country.

NiMets weather outlook released on Friday in Abuja predicted sunny and hazy skies over the Northern region with chances of thunderstorms over Taraba during the afternoon and evening hours on Saturday.

According to it, the North Central cities should be in partly cloudy skies during the morning hours.

The agency forecast chances of isolated thunderstorms over Kogi, Niger, Kwara, Southern Benue and Southern Nasarawa in the afternoon and evening hours.

It envisaged partly cloudy to cloudy skies over the Inland and Coastal cities of the South during the morning hours.

NiMet anticipated isolated thunderstorms over Imo, Ondo, Oyo, Edo, Delta, Abia, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Lagos and Cross River states in the afternoon and evening hours.

For Sunday, Sunny and hazy skies should prevail over the Northern part of the country with prospects of dust haze over Borno, Yobe and Jigawa within the forecast period.

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies are expected over the North Central cities during the morning hours with chances of a few thunderstorms over parts of Plateau, Nasarawa and Federal capital Territory during the afternoon and evening period.

It should be mostly cloudy skies over the Inland and Coastal cities of the South with prospects of isolated thunderstorms over Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers and Bayelsa states during the morning hours, it said.

According to it, isolated thunderstorms are expected over Ebonyi, Abia, Enugu, Anambra, Imo and the entire Coastal cities of the South.

NiMet predicted sunny and hazy skies over the Northern region with prospects of dust haze over Borno, Yobe, Kano, Katsina, Gombe and Jigawa during the forecast period.

It envisaged partly cloudy to sunny skies over the North Central cities with chances of isolated thunderstorms over Kwara and Kogi during the afternoon and evening hours.

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies should prevail over the Inland and Coastal cities of the South in the morning hours.

Also, with prospects of a few thunderstorms over Enugu, Imo, Abia, Edo, Ekiti, Ogun, Oyo, Rivers , Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Edo and Delta states during the afternoon and evening hours, NiMet predicted. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Igbaugba Ehigimetor

Sixteen National and Festival records have so far been set in the swimming event at the ongoing National Sports Festival (NSF), Edo 2020.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that while two of the records are set in National Records (NR), 14 records have been broken in Festival Records (FR).

NAN reports that Team Edo set a new NR in 4200m freestyle women relay in swimming in a time of 10:00.53 to erase the old record of 10:10.89 set in 2006.

In the 800m freestyle men, Opute Clinton of Delta set a new NR of 9:34.53 to cancel out the old record of 9:40.20 established in 2006.

Swimming sensation Ifiezegbe Gagbe from Bayelsa, has been the cynosure of all eyes, with her new FR records in six events at the festival so far.

She has created new records in 100m Freestyle, 400m individual medley, 1500m freestyle, 200m freestyle and the 400m freestyle respectively.

The Bayelsa swimmer returned in a time of 1:01.54 in the 100m freestyle for women, against the former FR of 1:02.66 set in 2012.

Gagbe also set new FR of 5:46.95in the 400m individual medley toerase the 2006 FR of 5:47.95.

The queen of the pool also set new FR of 21:04.92 in the1500m freestyle women to cancel out 21:05.10 set in 2018.

The athlete further created new FR of 2:17.05 in 200m as against 2018 FR of 2:20.28 and 5:04.30 in 400m to erase the old 2012 FR of 5:09.71.

Another athlete, Timipamere Akiayefa of Delta, created two new records in 50m Backstroke for women and in the 50m Butterfly.

She returned in a time of 31:73 in the 50m Backstroke to cancel out the previous record of 32:10 set in 2006 while she set new FR 50m Butterfly record of 29: 34 to erase the 2018 record of 29:87.

Akiayefa, along with her colleagues, similarly created a new FR record in the 4100m freestyle when they finished the race in a time of 4:20.98 to erase the 2018 record of 4:22.56.

NAN reports that other records created are in the 100m Breaststroke for men and women, 4200m freestyle women, 50m Butterfly men, 100m Butterfly men and the 800m freestyle men.

The swimming event is ongoing at the NSF, tagged Edo 2020. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Ijeoma Okigbo

Ifiezibe Gagbe, Bayelsa swimmer has won six gold medals in swimming and is aiming for four more at the National Sports Festival in Benin.

Gagbe won the 800m freestyle women event on Friday, with a time of 10:41.01 seconds.

At the end of the race, a very excited Gagbesaid she was hopeful of four more gold medals.

I feel so excited. I have more four events to participate in and I hope that they will all be gold.

The last festival in Abuja 2018, I won 14 silver medals, no gold.

This was because I was not fit enough having delivered my baby. Now I am going to make a statement, she said.

The athlete appealed for Bayelsa Governments support for athletes, saying I want the Bayelsa Government to encourage the athletes.

Government should encourage them with financial remuneration because sometimes we feel that after these competitions, nothing is offered the athletes thereafter, Gagbe said.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Justina Auta

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, says the Federal Government is working towards opening micro gas distribution channels across all local governments areas in the country.

Sylva, disclosed this at the inauguration of the Nigerian Women for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) project, organised by the National Centre for Womens Development (NCWD), Zigma Gas Limited and Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources on Friday in Abuja.

The minister, represented by his Senior Special Assistant on LPG, Brenda Ataga, emphasised on healthy alternative to firewood as fuel for cooking because it is a clean source of energy.

Theministry is targeting to ameliorate the energy challenge in Nigeria and clean cooking gas is key in this regard because 70 per cent greenhouse emissions are caused by deforestation.

ThisLPG project will enable us to empower rural women to use a more cleaner energy source for cooking, he said.

The Director-General, NCWD, Mrs Mary Ekpere-Eta, revealed that 99 million women across households in all the LGAs would benefit from the project within the next three years.

This partnership will be of benefit to Nigerian women and youths as it will support the efforts of the Federal Government in achieving its 2023 sustainable energy targets.

The project is targeted at reaching 99 million women and households within three years cutting across the 120,000 polling units and all wards in the 774 LGAs in the federation, she said.

She said that the centre would carry out massive door-to-door campaign on the project .

Ekpere-Eta explained that the centre would create kiosk in all LGAs to serve as micro distribution centres for safe-to-use LPG cans.

The first phase of this project will be targeting 11 states Katsina, Sokoto, FCT, Ebonyi, Plateau, Adamawa, Borno, Bayelsa, Cross River, Imo and Ogun, She added.

Also speaking, United Nations Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator, Mr Edward Kallon, said that the LPG project was a window of opportunity for Nigerian women to impact in the oil and gas industry.

Kallon, therefore, called on the government and relevant stakeholders to drive non-discriminatory employment practices, increase access to capacity building and engage women in community consultation and decisions for their active participation in the sector.

President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zigma Gas limited, Dr. Funmi Ogbue, said that the distribution channnels would open up more than 700, 000 jobs for Nigerians.

Represented by the companys Project Engineer, Mr Adeshina Olaitan, Ogbue stressed the need for women and youths to venture into oil and gas business to improve their incomes and national economy. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Abbas Bamalli

The Federal Government says it has registered no fewer than 5.7 million farmers nationwide in an effort to bring them closer to the government.

Alhaji Sabo Nanono, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said this on Friday during a General Assembly of Farmers organised by the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in Kano.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor of Kano State, Mr Hassan Musa-Fagge.

According to the minister, the effort was to ensure that genuine farmers were brought closer to the government so that they can enjoy government support directly.

He further commended AFAN for organising the General Assembly of Farmers, urging the national leadership of the association to carry all their members along.

Nanono also called on the farmers to be more organised so that they can work together towards the development of the agricultural sector in the country.

Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje charged members of the association to redouble their efforts towards boosting economic development for national progress.

Ganduje, who wasrepresented by his Deputy, Alhaji Nasiru Yusuf-Gawuna, called on the farmers to ensure that their voice is heard all over the country particularly through programmes aimed at improving agricultural activities.

The General Assembly of Farmers should be seen as an avenue for contributing to nation building and should be commensurate with the size of the membership strength of AFAN.

As the farmers in this country constitute at least 70 per cent of the population, Ganduje said.

He promised that the state government would continue to partner with farmers in the promotion of agricultural activities especially irrigation farming.

Ganduje added that his administration had introduced new technologies and ideas to prevent losses in the farming sector.

The Caretaker President of AFAN, Alhaji Faruk Rabiu-Mudi, said the association has been re-organised from the grassroots to the national level.

According to Rabiu-Mudi, the association has also embarked on the integration of the Commodity Associations into its structure.

He added that his leadership has distributed farm inputs worth over N100 million to farmers through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

We have also acquired office accommodation at the Central Business District of Abuja, and we have also entered into partnership with a Chinese firm to invest in rice, soya beans and maize production, he said.

Highlights of the occasion include presentation of awards to President Muhammadu Buhari, Kano State Governor and his Deputy, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees Of AFAN. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Emmanuel Mogbede

The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it will set up a registration appeal committee to consider complaints from members on the conduct of its ongoing membership registration, revalidation and update exercise.

Sen. John Akpanudoedehe, National Secretary, APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), said this in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.

He said that the decision was part of the resolutions reached at the committees ninth meeting, held at the partys national secretariat.

Akpanudoedehe said that the meeting discussed the forthcoming Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections and reviewed the committees activities in the last quarter.

He added that the meeting also evaluated the partys ongoing membership registration, revalidation and update exercise across the federation and discussed its affairs.

He further added that the meeting reviewed the Federal Governments interventions insecurity challenges in some parts of the country and commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his efforts at addressing the situation.

He particularly lauded the president for the counter- actions taken against the spate of insecurity across the country.

Akpanudoedehe said that the meeting passed a vote of confidence onBuhari and urged leaders at all levels to show restraint in comments thatwould not unite the country in the face of insecurity.

The meeting also commended the chairman of CECPC, Gov. Mai Mala Buni, for his peaceful mien and dexterity, which have endeared high profile defections to APC, he said.

Akpanudoedehe said that the resolutions reached at the meeting were in line with the CECPCs commitment to implementing all decisions of the partys National Executive Committee (NEC), particularly the task of ensuring internal democracy, repositioning and rebuilding the party. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Chiazo Ogbolu

The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) Tin-Can Island Port command has generated N112,696,693,158 billion in the first quarter of 2021.

The Customs Area Controller, Mr Mba Musa, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos on Friday.

According to Musa, the revenue earnings for the for the first quarter, which stood at N112,695,693,158.66, shows an improvement of about N21.05billion (23 per cent) when compared with revenue earnings of N91billion in the first quarter of 2020.

The comparative analysis of quarter one revenue collection from 2018 to 2021 are as follows: in 2018, N76,789,721,107.42; in 2019, N78,857,106,168.27; and in 2020, N91,635,998,490.73.

This improvement, despite the twin threat to lives and livelihood posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the command have inspired their officers to continue to work hard while observing all the safety measures to achieve the best of performance.

We kept our lines of communication open and concerted effort was made to ensure that the supply chain is not disrupted, he said.

Musa said that during the period under review, anti-smuggling activities yielded result with a spectacular seizure 43.110kg of cocaine concealed in Raw Bulk Sugar.

20 suspects were arrested in connection with the seizure and detaining of the vessel MV SPAR SCORPIO, he said.

He said that the command had handed over the case file, suspects and the vessel to National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for further investigation.

Musa said that the command had put measures in place to facilitate legitimate trade.

He said that Dispute Resolution Committee and the Help Desk have been re-jigged with a mandate to attend expeditiously to all trade-related disputes.

We have also reinvigorated the use of inter-modal transport system (Use of Barges for Cargo movement) in line with Global Best Practices, he said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News