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Tag: Northwest

  • FG says 4m children in Northeast, Northwest are malnourished

    FG says 4m children in Northeast, Northwest are malnourished

    The Federal says more than four million children in the Northeast and Northwest regions are malnourished.

    Mrs Ladidi Bako-Aiyebusi, the Director of Nutrition Department in the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, made this known on Wednesday at a five days meeting with nutrition experts and stakeholders in Keffi local government area of Nasarawa state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ministry is holding the meeting in partnership with Civil Society -Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) and other nutrition partners on a strategic advocacy policy for nutrition in Nigeria.

    The meeting which started on Tuesday, will end on Saturday.

    Those participating in the meeting are nutrition experts, academia, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) among others.

    In her opening remarks, Bako-Aiyebusi said the meeting was called to policy directions to guide integrated result focus advocacy on nutrition Issues in Nigeria.

    She added that currently, Nigeria faces severe crisis of triple burden of malnutrition, evidence by widespread macro and micronutrient deficiency, undernutrition and overnutrition with significant impact on health and socio-economic development.

    “In addition, the 2021 National Food Consumption and Micronutrient Survey report shows that nearly 4.4 million children in the Northeast and Northwest regions are malnourished.

    “Identified causes of malnutrition include inadequate access to food, poor food consumption, improper feeding and caring practices, economic and political structures, low economic status, inadequate health-seeking behaviors and low level of education among the populace,” she said.

    She pointed out that globally, advocacy has been identified as a productive tool in promoting the interest of persons or situations especially when it is evidence-based hence nutrition.

    ”Every  other component of health, needs to be promoted through evidence-based advocacy.

    “This is why the Nutrition Department of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in collaboration with relevant Stakeholders is hosting this 5-days meeting.

    “It is for stakeholders to think through the process of developing a strategic document on effective ways to drive advocacy for nutrition in Nigeria putting Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) into consideration and every other nutrition component along the life cycle, leaving no one behind.

    “It is believed that the National Advocacy Strategic approach will enhance collaboration, integration, capacity strengthening as well as develop an investment case for addressing nutrition in the Health Sector,” she added.

    In an interview, Mr Kunle Ishola, Programme Officer, CS-SUNN lauded the initiative of the ministry and said advocacy engagement cannot be effective except some steps are followed hence the reason for the technical and financial support of CS-SUNN for the stakeholders meeting.

    He explained that the support of CS-SUNN is to enable participants to come up with an effective nutrition advocacy document that will change the narrative in Nigeria.

    “If there is a way for it to go and it doesn’t go that way, don’t expect to see results.

    “So having pushed issues of nutrition for years, we just felt that there is a need to channel a clear path for nutrition advocacy in the country.

    “The essence of the meeting is to come up with elements that makes effective advocacy on nutrition issues,” he said.

    Also speaking, Mr William Anyebe, a participant said a lot of nutrition advocacy is going on but there isn’t a document that guides the process hence the meeting to package a document that guides how nutrition advocacy is carried out in Nigeria henceforth.

    “Considering that malnutrition is a very big issue in Nigeria, it is important to come up with a document that makes it very clear so that all persons involved in the advocacy for improved nutrition are properly guided,” he said.

    Another participant, Prof. Salisu Abubakar, Vice Chairman, National Nutrition Technical Working Group also added that the document will guide nutrition advocates on how best to integrate advocacy and make it more collaborative for better funding and service delivery.

    He said the strategy document will also capture new ways of tackling undernutrition in rural areas and overnutrition in urban areas.

  • EU set to invest additional €5.4 million euros on teachers’ training, capacity building in Nigeria

    EU set to invest additional €5.4 million euros on teachers’ training, capacity building in Nigeria

    More teachers in the Northwest of Nigeria will be trained to the tune of €5.4 million euro in training, building capacity and investment by the European Union.

    The EU is committed to reducing the high number of out of school children in the region by improving access to quality education and empowering youths in the region.

    The EU Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen made the disclosure in Abuja at the official launch of the €4O million intervention programme on education and youth empowerment in North Western Nigeria through the Global Gateway initiative.

    She disclosed that the additional fund was to ensure teachers get the necessary and upgraded skills and learning needed to nurture students armed with requisite knowledge to become an army of solutions to the many challenges confronting Nigeria and the continent in general.

    The EU Commissioner said: “Actually, this component is complemented by a €5.4 million euros separate programme that we signed today, which is dedicated to teachers for aiming to build their resilience and capacity in challenging environments. We have to remember that there is no education without teachers and that’s why we also have to invest in teacher training.

    “The third objective of our programme is really that it empowers youth with the skills they need, providing vocational education as promoting behavioral change campaigns to challenge harmful social norms and empower girls.

    Urpilainen also added that the European Union was set to provide vocational education and training for Nigerian youths in order to equip them with the necessary skills required to excel in the labour market.

    She said: “This ambitious programme launched today has been designed with Nigerian authorities to ensure ownership and an adequate response to the local needs. The EU is not only targeting the youth through this specific programme, it is also bringing the youth to the driving seat and this is why as the EU, we set up the Youth Sounding Board, also here in Nigeria, as well as in many countries to make sure that what we do is for the youth but also by the youth.

    “We have to include young people in the decision making, we have to create spaces and structures where young people feel that they are visible and they watch this and this is precisely what the European Union is doing.”

    Urpilainen, while noting that Nigeria was not only the economic powerhouse on the continent and the most populous country in Africa, but the country was also a strategic partner of the EU in the West region, described education as the most transformative sector with ability to change the fortunes of a country.

    She explained that the programme would focus on lifting out of school children off the streets to get the required education, especially girls through various components aimed at achieving one objective; access to quality education and youth empowerment.

    She said: “Education is the most transformative sector in which we can invest and it is the cornerstone for creating resilient societies and finding solutions to the biggest challenges of our time.

    “So the EU investment on access, skills and quality education and youth empowerment in Northwestern Nigeria brings actually all these different components together. It will be deployed in the Northwest Nigeria.

    “The programme which we are launching today supports access to education for out of school children with a specific focus on bringing and keeping girls in schools. It also includes direct assistance to families cash, cash, transfers, social protection, income generation, gifts and indirect assistance through agricultural practices. I think it’s important that we are able to provide access to education each and every child in Nigeria so no one is left behind.

    “Another talk and overall objective of our programme is that it really promotes validated teaching and learning in targeted schools. So it will support child centred medical, sexual reproductive health racial gender equality training and support community based and state level capacities to deliver on education.”

    Speaking on behalf of the Northwestern states, Governor of Jigawa State, Umar Namadi, while appreciating the EU for helping the region tackle the menace of out of school children, said they were committed to making education in their respective states a priority and have decided to invest heavily in the sector.

    He said: “The Northwestern states have the highest population in the country, we are more disadvantaged when it comes to education so this support is coming at the right time.

    “For each of us education is a priority and we have decided collectively and individually to invest in education and we are ready to change the narrative in next four years.

    “This support has come at the right time and I assure you that this support will go a long way in helping us to revamp education in our various states. This intervention we will utilize in the best way possible and I assure you that the outcomes would be something commendable to improve our educational system and other aspects of social development.”

    On his part, Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, warned that any attempt to downplay education would cost the country a fortune in terms of welfare and security.

    “If our youths are not properly catered for, trained and empowered, we are toying with the future of the country. Not catering for them will allow poverty to grow, insecurity to foster.”

    “Our focus is shifting to basic education, out of school children, adolescent girls who needs to be trained and empowered.

    “Our government is ready to commit 25% of the budget on education, all the President needs according to him is policies that will justify that budget and that is what we are working on.”

  • 10th Senate: Zone Senate President to Northwest – APC Chieftain

    10th Senate: Zone Senate President to Northwest – APC Chieftain

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State, Malam Muazu Dansarauniya, has advised the leadership of the party to zone the Senate presidency to the Northwest region.

    Dansaraunita told newsmen in Kano on Friday that the party in the zone had performed credibly well during the presidential election.

    He explained that it is only democratic for the party’s leadership to ensure that the seat for the Senate presidency comes to the Northwest and to Kano specifically, the political heartbeat of the north.

    He explained that the APC, despite the votes it had contributed to the election of the President-elect, Sen. Bola Tinubu, has only one senator, Sen. Barau Jibril, in Kano state and any mistake of not making him the Senate president will affect the strength and control of the region by the party.

    He therefore called on the APC leadership to ensure that Sen. Jibril emerged the Senate president in order to form a rallying point for the party in the Northwest in particular and the North at large.

    “The President-elect and leadership of the party is to look at the votes recorded in the Northwest during the presidential election as a yard stick in zoning the Senate presidency to the region.

    “We have done very well in this presidential election. We have contributed the most votes.

    “So you see, even in terms of reward and recognition, we have the right to say we need to have the Senate presidency.

    “The Presidency has gone to our partners in the Southwest, the Vice Presidency has gone to our partners in the Northeast, and the largest voting block and the largest political block deserves the presidency of the Senate,” he said.

    Dansarauniya described the call by the NNPP as deliberately geared towards seizing control of the region by disallowing the APC to have a strong political leadership like the Senate president from the region.

    He said that calls by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Reps-elect, Abdulmumin Kofa, who condemned allotting the Senate presidency to the North as a disservice to the nation.

    “I believe that is unfair for a minority party to basically come in and dictate to the APC what to do.

    “But very importantly, we need to look at the motive behind this statement.

    “We know that Jibrin is from NNPP and the NNPP leader is from Kano and Kano is the heartbeat of Northwestern politics as well as Northern Nigeria.

    “So what they are trying to do is to strategically convince APC not to put a political leader on that space so that they can monopolise the politics of the region. We can see their plans,” said the APC chieftain.

    “Therefore, if NNPP people are saying that you don’t love Nigeria if you say you are giving us the Senate presidency, it is just a strategy to mobilise and have the entire Northwest to themselves, which is a very important block.

    “Now we have seen how close this election has been, Northwest votes alone could have physically doubled what the rest of Nigerian votes could have given if we galvanise and institutionalise support in the region.

    “So I’m calling on our leaders, the National Chairman of our party, the President-elect, to look at what the president has outlined as a government of national competence, and when we look at competence, we will not go beyond our senatorial presentation in Kano in the person of Sen. Barau Jibril.

    “Some people talk about fairness and equity in terms of politics. I want to highlight this, democracy has a principal rule, this rule is about participation,” Dansarauniya explained.

    “You cannot participate and then ask for a reward. The people that are asking for a reward, we are asking them to galvanise themselves, organise themselves in the next election, and contribute to the success of the party.

    “So you cannot basically deny the party votes and when the party is basically and equitably and fairly sharing its positions you now say because of national unity, you want to take the critical position.

    “All I’m saying to our brothers in other regions is 2027 is not far away, go back, work hard, join us to make success of the next election and you will get your fair share of reward and recognition,” he said.

  • Bandits massacre 8,000 in Northwest – FG

    Bandits massacre 8,000 in Northwest – FG

    President Muhammadu Buhari has issued a marching order to security agencies to do whatever is necessary to put an end to banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling and other related crimes bedeviling Katsina and the Northwest region

    The Minister for Interior, Ogbeni Rauuf Aregbesola, accompanied by the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi, made the disclosure at an emergency town hall meeting with stakeholders in Katsina which was organized as part of measures to end the spate of insecurity facing the state and the region

    While assuring the region of the determination of the Federal Government to bring its total brutal and ferocious might to bear on the enemies of peace in the area, the minister added that time has come to put an end to all forms of criminality.

    He said: “President Muhammadu Buhari and his cabinet were saddened with the wanton killings and destruction of lives and property being carried out by the bandits.

    “The marauding bandits terrorizing the North-West zone of the country have massacred over 8,000 persons in Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto and Niger states.

    “Their most threatening attack was on April 18, 2020 on Katsina villages during which 47 people were killed. These criminals attack mostly people in the rural areas; kill, steal and rape without mercy, they are practically destroying the economy of rural areas and the food supply chain of the country”.

    He also declared that the charge received from the President is twofold; first is to put an end to the banditry group, while the second is to work with the government and people of the state to restore normal life, especially to the people in the rural areas and the farming community.

    Also speaking, the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi, admitted that the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is bedeviled with unprofessional conducts that are not in line with democratic principles of governance.

    He noted that the stakeholders’ engagement is coming at a time when Police in this country is being faced with the challenge of unprofessional conducts that are not in tune with the principles of democratic governance

    Earlier, the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari said the state government had made frantic efforts in tackling security challenges in the state.

  • Monarchs, other highly placed Nigerians collaborating with bandits to incite violence in Northwest – FG

    Minister of Defence, Gen. Mansur Dan Ali on Tuesday warned those collaborating with bandits to desist of face the full wrath of the law.

    Relying on security reports, the minister said some highly placed persons, including traditional rulers, had been collaborating with troublemakers.

    In a statement issued in Abuja by his Public Relations Officer (PRO), Col. Tukur Gusau, the minister said the Federal Government and the Nigerian Armed Forces had taken proactive steps to curtail the problems in Zamfara by launching various operations, but the activities of the collaborators have been frustrating the efforts.

    He lamented that those profiting from the situation have been providing information to the bandits and other criminal elements within the Northwest zone to escape the onslaught of the various military operations and strategies.

    Gen. Dan Ali maintained that the government would not shy away from its responsibility of making the country safe and secure, warning that those compromising military operations would be made to pay for their crimes legally.

    The minister said: “The Ministry of Defence is very concerned about the security challenges in the Northwest, particularly, in states of Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina and Birnin-Gwari axis of Kaduna. Due to the recent prevailing security situation in the states, the Defence ministry, through the Nigerian Army, is now conducting Exercise HARBIN KUNAMA IV simultaneously in Zamfara, Katsina and Sokoto states.

    “The purpose of the exercise is to effectively flush out the activities of criminal elements in the Northest. The Nigerian Air Force has also intensified air strikes against the bandits in Zamfara. So far, the combined efforts have yielded lot of successes, leading to the killing of many bandits, rescue of many innocent persons, including the renowned Islamic scholar Sheik Ahmad Suleiman.

    “The government is also addressing the remote and immediate causes that gave room to high spate of armed banditry in the states. Recently, the government acted on the advice of the Ministry of Defence to suspend all mining activities in Zamfara State and environs following intelligence report that suggest close collaboration between the activities of the bandits and illegal miners.

    “It is instructive to mention here that insurgency and terrorism are global phenomena that cannot be addressed through military actions only. The whole society has to rise in unison to support the government’s efforts to address the problem.

    “However, in spite of the concerted efforts of the Armed Forces and other security, some unpatriotic persons, including highly placed traditional rulers in the areas, were identified as helping the bandits with intelligence to perpetuate their nefarious actions or to compromise military operations.

    “In the last three years, the Ministry of Defence had carried out several reforms geared towards the reorganisation and expansion of the Armed Forces in order to meet up with contemporary security challenges across the nation and the sub region.

    “In line with this, the Nigerian Army established 8 Division with headquarters in Sokoto to cover Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara states while the Headquarters of 1 Brigade was relocated from Sokoto to Gusau.

    “Presently, the tactical headquarters of 8 Division has since located to Gusau. Similarly, the Nigerian Air Force also established Quick Response Force in Gusau and landing areas in Gusau and Birnin Magaji, respectively.

    “The Ministry of Defence, therefore, wish to warn any person or group of persons who choose to connive or sympathises with the bandits to perpetuate crime against the law abiding citizens to henceforth retract their steps or face the full wrath of the law.

    “The Armed Forces of Nigeria have been directed to deal decisively with anybody identified helping the bandits under whatever guise, no matter how highly placed the person or persons may be.

    “The Ministry of Defence wants to, once again, use this medium to assure Nigerians that the Armed Forces of Nigeria, in conjunction with other security agencies, will continue to protect lives and properties of law abiding citizens of this country. The general public is also requested to cooperate with the Armed Forces to discharge of its constitutional responsibilities effectively.”