28.3 C
Lagos
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Home Blog Page 2083

Boko Haram, ecological scourge and Africa’s uprisings

Michael Simire
-
1
Boko Haram, ecological scourge and Africa’s uprisings

Boko_Haram_2The conflicts in Africa are both echoes and memories of past turmoil on the continent. While we can hazard a guess that we know where we are coming from, the question of where current events will lead, and if that is where we desire to go, remain open. Africa has the challenge of characterisation in the eyes of the world. When she is not presented as a continent of hungry or malnourished people, she is shown as a continent perpetually enmeshed in violent conflicts. The fact that these are often overstated does not diminish the urgent need to ensure that we understand these events, confront and eliminate them.

Africa is rich. This wealth has constituted the core of the problem confronting the continent and has provided the environment for proxy wars and some of the most horrific resource wars in the world. Some wars were justified, especially the wars for independence waged by heroic revolutionaries with an alternative dream for the continent – diametrically opposed to the kleptomaniacs that grabbed the reins of power on the ashes of the immediate post colonial structures.

Conflicts peaked in the continent in 1989 when there were nine full-blown wars and in 1991/1992, which had eight wars. Today, we have fewer wars on the scale of those of the 1980s and early 1990s. Interestingly, by comparison, there are more wars in Asia,than there are in Africa when taken on a per country basis. However, we are at a time of tremendous uprisings. These uprisings include what has come to be bogusly known as the Arab Spring – including especially the one that started from Tunisia and spread to Egypt, Libya and elsewhere. Some people have snidely argued that we are now seeing an Arab winter.

The January 2012 uprising in Nigeria in opposition to increases in price of petroleum products was a significant political response by oppressed citizens. Official critics of that uprising preferred to interpret the citizens’ revolt as having been orchestrated by the car-owning middle class rather than as a reaction by the poor who are deeply impacted by a lack of basic energy and social services that leaves them struggling to obtain these basic necessities for livelihoods.

Of course we cannot forget the 2005-2009 armed resistance in the oil fields of the Niger Delta and the demands that undergirded it. Neither can we ignore the high number of protests in South Africa, including the Marikina incident where miners that asked for living wages got cut down in a hail of bullets instead. That incident demonstrated how dispensable labour has become in this era of neo-colonial and rabidly neo-liberal economics. It underscored the downgraded cost of the reproduction of labour.

The end of armed conflict in the Niger Delta has not brought about the end of military propelled ecological assaults. The catalogue of bombed-out bush refineries and crude-oil-aden Cotonou boats that the military chalk up as successes are actually major contributors to horrendous environmental pollution. Added to the regular oil spills, toxic waste dumping and gas flaring, the violence in the oil fields continues unabated.

Agreeing that Africa is not a war-endemic continent does not diminish the nightmares that conflicts such as those engendered by Boko Haram bring to Nigeria, and the region.  These conflicts raise other fundamental issues that are of deep concern to us and should be of concern to all.

Resource wars hardly ever translate to halting the exploitation of the resources while the conflicts rage. Exploitation continues without regulation or control during periods of conflicts and the lack of accountability and responsibility sometimes constitute the real impetus for conflicts.  The beneficiaries of resource wars include the armament merchants, the resource exploiters and the complicit political heads of marauding gangs and governments. And so we hear of blood diamonds. And we should also talk of blood crude oil, blood gold and blood timber.

What do these conflicts mean for the ecological state of the continent? In the long list we will find environmental degradation. Recently, some people suggested deforestation as a way of flushing Boko Haram out of the Samisa Forest following the dastardly abducting of over 200 young girls at Chibok. The US military tried that method of warfare using highly toxic Agent Orange manufactured by Monsanto and Dow Chemicals from 1961 to1971 in Northern Vietnam. The scars on people and the environment remain till now.

Oronto Douglas, the Special Adviser to the President on Documentation and Strategy, argued in his incisive article Bring back the Book, the Letters and Our Girls! that the anger over the abduction of the young Chibok girls should not be frozen at such a level that would see the global disgust dissipate the moment the girls are rescued. He rightly mentioned that this is the right time to dig into the root causes of the marginalisation of female folks in the country, including issues of child brides, VVF, discriminatory access to education and other factors that could make abduction and threat of selling young girls even conceivable, not to mention as something to brag about.

Can a movement against violence become a movement for social, economic and environmental justice? We would waste a great opportunity if we stop at just the massive hashtag-and-photo-shoot campaigns. This is a great moment to build an issues-centred political movement in Nigeria and in Africa. It is time to go beyond the hastag.

Wars kill not only directly through bullets and bombs but also through diseases, destruction of the environment and livelihoods, increase in violent crimes, displacement of populations and unsustainable exploitation of resources. Conflicts also open possibilities for the re-colonisation of the continent, on our invitation, in the guise of military and economic assistance. We are seeing this unfolding in our nation and in other nations of Africa.

In an effort to engender interrogations and interpretation of current uprisings in Africa, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) hosts her third Sustainability Academy titled Turmoil in Africa: Uprising or Chaos? The Instigator, Firoze Manji, of ThoughtWorks and the Pan African Institute, has done deep work on the issue and he is in an excellent position to lead. He facilitated (and co-edited) the publication of Claim No Easy Victories – The Legacy of Amilcar Cabral as well as Silence Would Be Treason- The Last Writings of Ken Saro-Wiwa. He is here to help us make sense of the battles raging or smouldering around us and to fathom the changing nature and objectives of such uprisings.  Let us begin the interrogations.

 

By Nnimmo Bassey (Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation – HOMEF)

Cross River community moves to save endangered primates

Michael Simire
-
0
Cross River community moves to save endangered primates

PrimateThe Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee is the rarest and most endangered of four sub-species of chimpanzee currently found in Africa. Man’s closest living relative, the ape, is fully protected by Nigerian law, and now by communities also.

When a chimpanzee was recently killed by a hunter in the Mbe Mountains, the entire community of Bamba in Boki LGA, Cross River State, rose up in revolt to protest. Led by their able chief, Vincent O. Mkpe, the community quickly identified the hunter responsible for this heinous act as Ubua Stanley, and he was duly arrested.

A joint team from the Governor’s Task Force on Anti-Deforestation and the Cross River State Forestry Commission immediately travelled to the village, ensuring that the culprit appeared before the magistrate in Obubra in less than 24 hours. Justice was indeed swift and, using the newly revised forestry and wildlife law of Cross River State (2010), the man was sentenced to one year imprisonment with the option of a N100,000 fine.

An upcoming tourist destination, the Mbe Mountains are traditionally owned by the nine communities that surround the mountain. The area is managed for conservation and development by the Conservation Association of the Mbe Mountains (CAMM) with support from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and is home to other rare and endangered species such as the Cross River gorilla in addition to the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee.

The importance of the Mbe Mountains as a wildlife haven, and a source of pride for Cross River State, has not gone unnoticed. Bamba the Gorilla was recently unveiled as the official mascot and logo for the 19th National Sports Festival scheduled for Calabar in November 2014.

WCS to manage Nigeria elephants reserve

Michael Simire
-
0
WCS to manage Nigeria elephants reserve

 

Elephants
Elephants

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has announced that it will partner with the Bauchi State Government to manage the conservation of Yankari Game Reserve, a key protected area in Nigeria that contains the largest remaining population of elephants in the nation and one of the largest in West Africa.

WCS signed a four-year MOU with officials in Bauchi State to manage conservation work in Yankari, considered the nation’s richest protected area.

The reserve contains an estimated 350 elephants – the only viable population remaining in Nigeria. In addition, the 866-square-mile (2,244 square kilometers) reserve supports important populations of lion, buffalo, hippo, roan and hartebeest.

Originally created as a game reserve in 1956, Yankari was upgraded to a national park in 1991. It was managed by the National Parks Service until 2006 when responsibility for the management of the reserve was handed back to Bauchi State Government. Since then tourism infrastructure has been dramatically improved. Yankari is now one of the most popular tourism destinations in Nigeria.

Support from WCS began in 2009.  Since then protection of wildlife has improved although hunting and grazing of livestock within the reserve has not yet been brought under full control. Furthermore unconfirmed reports suggest that an unknown number of elephants may have been killed in recent years to supply Nigeria’s illegal trade in ivory.

In addition to the funds provided by Bauchi State Government under the terms of the MOU, WCS’s 96 Elephants campaign will also provide funding and support for regular anti-poaching patrols in Yankari including equipment and training.

“Yankari Game Reserve is an ecological gem of West Africa,” said Dr. James Deutsch, Executive Director of WCS’s Africa Programme. “We are extremely proud to be entrusted with preserving this critically important wildlife area by the Governor of Bauchi State, Malam Isa Yuguda, for the benefit of the people of Bauchi State and Nigeria.”

Based at the Bronx Zoo, the WCS harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Programme in more than 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by four million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission, which is to save wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature

Saro-Wiwa: Keeping silent is treason

Michael Simire
-
1
Saro-Wiwa: Keeping silent is treason

 

The late Ken Saro-Wiwa
The late Ken Saro-Wiwa

At the occasion of third Sustainability Academy of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, in Bori, Ogoni pays tribute to late environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa

 

When Ken Saro-Wiwa wrote that silence was tantamount to treason he knew what he was saying. When he declared in the dock that We All Stand Before History, he was as prescient as any prophet could be.

Today, we see clearly that keeping silent in the face of ecological destruction is treason. Keeping silent while the environment and the people die is not just being callous but is plain treason. He knew the vision of the Ogonis and had no doubts about his mission. He endured personal insults, attacks and pains. He took all that because he desired to see a democratic Nigerian nation where no group or individual is marginalised and where everyone lives in dignity in an environment that is safe and supportive of livelihoods. In the Pantheon of great African and global leaders and although he was not a president of a nation he sits well alongside great visionary African leaders.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was a man of many dreams. He was murdered, but as is universally accepted, even if you kill the messenger, you cannot kill the dream. Today, we are gathered here to interrogate the turmoil in Africa and seek to find out what the roots are and whether there is are common factors connecting them. We want to ask the questions: when, where and why did the rain begin to drench us. How could storm clouds gather and yet we say there would be no rain?

One of the regrets of Ken Saro-Wiwa was that he and the Ogoni leaders in the struggle in the early 1990s had not invested enough time in training up cadres and upcoming leaders. He stated this in a number of ways in the communications he was able to smuggle out of prison. He read this in the very last letter he wrote while in detention and which is included in Silence Would Be Treason – The Last Writings of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a book we are proud to present to you today in this historic Ogoni capital city, Bori. Permit me to quote him on this:

“One source of worry is what will happen to our struggle when Ledum and I are put away. We had not had enough time to train the cadres or put alternative leaderships in place. And putting members of the Steering Committee on the police wanted list has deprived us of a lot of hands. I have been able to direct things and even contribute to the publicity war from detention. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do so from prison. We have no funds, not even a bank account. Everything had hinged so much upon my resources that my absence will cause a lot of problems. We’ll have to get around that somehow.”

It is inspiring to see that the seeds sown by the martyrs of the Ogoni struggle continue to fire the imaginations of the marginalised peoples of the world and all those engaged in the epic battles for ecological sanity. Saro-Wiwa was an apostle of peaceful resistance and like others before him the arrows aimed at him by agents of multinational corporations and the governments that polish their bloody shoes did not cow him.  His vision of an Ogoni ethnic nation of proud and dignified peoples lives on. Today, everyone sees the Ogonis and marvel at the tenacity with which you all are committed to peaceful resistance in the face of ecological provocations and extreme pressures including those of land grabbing and outright violence.

It is heart warming that the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) continues to hold up the banner announcing the possibilities of a restored Ogoni environment, attainment of political and economic emancipation of our peoples and securing our collective dignity as peoples. We see other organisations working towards the same ends in Ogoni and in other parts of the Niger Delta and the entire Nigerian nation and we dare to believe that the labour of our heroes past will never be in vain indeed.

On 4 August 2014, it will be three years since the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) issued its damning report on the state of the Ogoni environment. The report uncovered that the Ogoni environment has been so damaged that rather than support lives and livelihoods, it was killing the Ogoni people. The UNEP report confirmed the alarming fact that all the water bodies in Ogoni are polluted with hydrocarbons and a variety of deadly elements including carcinogens. The pollution is so deep that it would require 25 years of work to decontaminate the waters so that people can safely drink and use the resources found in them. The report also revealed that the land in Ogoni is polluted to a depth of five metres in several places and would require five years to clean up before the waters can be cleaned.

Ken Saro-Wiwa declared that what was happening in Ogoni was an ecological war. That may have appeared as a very strong way to describe the situation, but you and I agree that he has been vindicated.  That war is not over. It will not be over until our children can safely swim again in our rivers and creeks. It will not be over until our people can fish, collect crabs, periwinkles and other seafood and eat them with assurance of nourishment and not death by instalment. The ecological war will not be over until our farmers can plant and harvest yams and cassavas that are safe to eat and are not covered in hydrocarbon pollutants. The ecological war in still on! It must stop!

The ecological war remains on as the days go by and the UNEP report remains unimplemented in a real sense. Erecting signposts reminding us that our communities are polluted does not say where our people should relocate to or whether the contaminants are being cleared. Surely three years is enough for any serious work to have commenced on the detoxification of Ogoni environment.

The UNEP report was an alarm bell signifying that the petroleum sector’s footprint in the Niger Delta is deadly and cannot be ignored. The harm done cannot be wished away. It must be confronted and dealt with. The ecological war in still on! It can be stopped!

The same can be said of the polluting extractive activities in other parts of Nigeria and indeed Africa. The tin mines of Plateau State were abandoned without decommissioning. The environment remains toxic and over 1,100 sinkholes there continue to pose grave danger to man and beasts. The environment of the coalmines of Enugu and Kogi States begs for restoration. The same is the situation with the gold mines of Obuasi, Ghana, the coal mines of Witbank in South Africa and the diamond mines of Kono in Sierra Leone, to mention a few.

Many of the conflicts in Africa do not happen because we are bloodthirsty tribal peoples that are always at conflict with ourselves. No. Many are proxy wars fought on the behalf of agents of resource expropriation and transnational resource thieves. Outright wars and terror across the continent are fought so that arms merchants can ply their bloody trade while our peoples wave weapons produced by merchants of death who laugh all the way to the bank while we abduct young girls, kill children in their sleep, burn down villages and soak in the blood of our children, mothers and fathers.

How climate change hurts Ghana, by Kuffour

Michael Simire
-
0
How climate change hurts Ghana, by Kuffour

 

Kuffour
Kuffour

“Climate Change is like some feet that creeps on a family in the dead of the night and wraps around the members entangling them in ways in which they cannot free themselves. Climate change events have become so complex and uncertain that the developed nations are at loss as to how to predict related events. Climate change is now an issue for survival as it threatens the survival of our world.”

Those were the vivid words of UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Climate Change, President John Agyekum Kuffour during the African regional launch in Accra, Ghana of the “Guidebook for Journalists on Climate Change in Africa held May 20th, 2014.

The erstwhile Ghanaian leader, who has taken up a new assignment since December to give a political touch to the on-going global efforts to address climate change, lamented the scourge in his home country.

His words: “Climate change is essentially a rebound of nature on us. In Ghana, our problem is the indescribable destruction of our forests. We did not intend evil; but in our ignorance we thought we were just making money. Now, our forests are drastically reduced and we need to quickly step up our afforestation efforts. Afforestation should be given priority attention in this country.

“Accra is now congested because the city that was created for one million people 20 years ago, is now inhabited by over seven million people and this is creating all kinds of climate change-related problems. Agriculture is suffering because of unpredictable rains these days. Farmers can no longer tell the right time to plant like they used to do some years back. Indeed, climate change is devastating countries and changing lifestyles.”

Stressing that “everybody is at risk and so everybody must be educated,” he described the media as a major disseminator of information with a major role to play in the education drive. He wants every aspect of the media – radio, television, newspapers, on-line, drama – engaged to spread the news about climate change.

“The media’s contribution will be to send out the message in ways that policy makers and politicians will appreciate the issues at stake and give climate change appropriate attention. We need to exploit natural resources in a responsible manner – we must pump oil responsibly and flare gas responsibly because of their implications for climate change. We need to explore green and sustainable sources of livelihood that can make our economies vibrant. I urge the media to use the Guidebook on Climate Change in Africa like a Bible.”

UN Resident Coordinator in Ghana, Susan Namondo Ngongi, warned that, if not addressed, the impacts of climate change would be magnified by underlying conditions of governance, poverty and resource management as well as the nature of impact at local and regional levels.

To respond, proactive efforts at all levels and by all stakeholders are required to lessen the harm of climate change impact and its effects on society and the environment, she added.

“There is urgent need for policy, economic and social oriented actions to address this problem. Important policy related instruments include the integrated policies which include climate change as a factor in broader policy development to facilitate implementation of mitigation mechanisms, regulatory standards that  provide certainty and consistency on emissions levels, and send a clear signal that discourages a ‘business as usual’ approach,” Ngongi declared.

Minister for Education and Chairman of the Ghana National Commission for UNESCO, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, declared that climate change is upon the world and “we need global solutions, even though each country, regardless its status has role to play. Therefore transmission of accurate information is critical.”

She said: “The climate affects all life: human, animal, plan, water and more. It also affects culture and ways of seeing, since certainties would have shifted. But in this challenge there might also be opportunities for innovation and adaptability.

“In view of the above, ladies and gentlemen, progress is needed on many fronts especially for Africa: the development and transfer of green technologies; greenhouse gas emission reduction and the establishment and implementation of effective government policies. It is of equal importance to provide education and training and promote public awareness to the broadest audience possible with the right information. The need to create and inform global citizenry on their roles in climate change mitigation and adaptation is immediate.”

President, Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Dr Affail Monney, believes that the most critical need of journalists now is neither the fattest pay cheque, a swanky car, nor a palatial home, but capacity building. According to him, the perpetration of mediocrity and other professional diseases can be best cured through capacity building.

“The Guidebook on Climate Change in Africa has therefore come at the right time not only to help capacitate journalists but also to expand the scope of coverage and improve the quality of stories on climate change,” he stated, adding that journalists of this generation have a responsibility imposed by destiny to deepen their understanding of issues on the environment and help contain the ravages of the weather as a result of environmental abuse and bankruptcy.

He said, “The Bible, which to believers is a perennial spring of wisdom and infallible guide, teaches us in Mathew 15:14 that if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit. Never should journalists of today be accused of professional blindness due to ignorance, misreporting or under reporting the environment. Rather, journalists must be on top of issues and as a professional bible internalise and reflect the guidelines in their reports, analyses, features, commentaries and documentaries to justify the investment made in publishing them.

“The GJA thanks UNESCO, the International Institute for the Environment and Development (IIED) as well as the Earth Journalists Network (EJN) for their role to train journalists. The GJA is eternally grateful for this guidebook of professional quality and inestimable value.”

Gas flare-out: Mallam commends Total’s commitment

Michael Simire
-
0
Gas flare-out: Mallam commends Total’s commitment

 

Mallam
Mallam

Minister of Environment, Laurentia Laraba Mallam, has commended French oil and gas giant, Total, over its determination to be the first multinational oil corporation to stop offshore gas flaring in Nigeria.

Speaking through her Press Secretary and Deputy Director Information, Ben Bem Goong, from far away Cancun, Mexico, while participating in the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly, the minister noted that the efforts of Total in this direction are worthy of commendation, adding that other oil companies operating in Nigeria should follow the firm’s good example and environment-friendly approach.

Acknowledging the devastating consequences of gas flaring on the environment, including global warming and ozone depletion, Mallam asked oil companies operating in the country to see gas flaring as a challenge to the entire world and not just a Nigeria problem, adding that the ecosystem is indivisible.

The minister was reacting to the pronouncement by high level officials of Total at its headquarters in Paris, France where the corporation hosted journalists.

Mallam was in Cancun, Mexico as the head of Nigerian delegation to the GEF Assembly, where she presented the country’s position to the 182-member Assembly on the review of the facilities operational structure as well as its general policies and programmes.

Shortly before she left for Mexico, the minister played host to the Mexican Ambassador in her office in Abuja, informing the latter that she would use the opportunity offered by the Assembly to explore possible areas of strengthening bilateral relations between Nigeria and Mexico, most especially on environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity conservation, sustainable forest management, pollution control and ozone layer depletion substances.

She noted that her resolve to personally lead the delegation was informed by the significance of the 5th edition of the Assembly coming after the successful replenishment negotiations with over 30 countries pledging well over $4.25 billion to fund projects in member countries, which have global environmental importance in the next four years.

According to the minister, the meeting evaluated and reviewed general policies as well as the Facilities’ Operational Structure.

Mallam revealed that the GEF is currently the most important source of financing for projects aimed at improving the Global environment.

In his address to the minister, the Mexican Ambassador to Nigeria, the second since the establishment of the Mexican Embassy in Nigeria over five years ago, Ambassador Marco Blanco, said that his country was interested in expanding the frontiers of bilateral relations with Nigeria, maintaining that the environment sector offers a veritable platform for cooperation between the two countries.

Presenting some statistics on his country, Blanco noted that the Spanish speaking country has an estimated population of 120 million people, with 42 Free Trade agreements, adding that Mexico ranks as the 10th most visited country globally.

With similar demographic (population) and economic characteristics, Blanco noted that Mexico and Nigeria have similar environmental challenges which they can confront together for the benefit of their own people.

GEF concludes four-year, $3.7b investment cycle

Michael Simire
-
0
GEF concludes four-year, $3.7b investment cycle

 

Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson of the GEF
Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson of the GEF

Countries participating in the 46th Council of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) held in Cancun, Mexico, launched the new GEF2020 strategy and approved a $230 million work programme that together with previous investments during 2010 -2014 will total $3.7 billion directed towards the protection of the global environment.

These and other decisions taken by the Council provide the foundation for the next four years of actions (GEF-6) by the GEF and its partners to work with countries to address urgent global environmental problems relating to climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification and land degradation, management of international waters, management of forests for multiple benefits, and protection against dangerous chemicals and wastes.

“I believe the GEF has been strengthening its work in many ways. Perhaps most importantly, we can point to a continued strong engagement in countries to address global environmental challenges of concern to us all. In the past four years, the GEF has funded almost 900 projects in more than 140 countries across all important environmental domains for a total amount of $3.7 billion,” said Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson of the GEF.

The GEF-6 replenishment concluded last month with a record sum of $4.43 billion pledged, representing a strong donor support and an expression of confidence in the GEF’s work. “It built consensus around a package of program and policy recommendations that will help keep the GEF at the forefront on many global environmental issues. It will allow GEF to respond to its new responsibilities, strengthen our focus on the poorest countries, continue our momentum to engage with the private sector, and enhance our focus on gender and results,” Ishii added.

Looking ahead, the GEF Council also welcomed the new GEF2020 strategy to guide GEF into the future. The strategy puts a focus on addressing the drivers of environmental degradation, using new instruments to engage the private sector, working to achieve impact at scale, and creating synergies with existing and new development partners. The Council also welcomed two new partners: the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), bringing the number of implementing partners to 14. DBSA is also the first national project agency to be accredited to the GEF.

The GEF Council also appointed Dr. Juha Uitto from Finland as the new Director of the GEF’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO). Dr. Uitto previously served as Deputy Director of the Evaluation Office of the United Nations Development Program, and has more than two decades of experience in the fields of evaluation and environmental policy in a variety of capacities.

WaterAid supports UN’s call to end open defecation

Michael Simire
-
0
WaterAid supports UN’s call to end open defecation

 

AMCOW’s interim President and Nigeria’s Honourable Minister of Water Resources, Mrs Sarah Reng Ochekpe (left), with the Country Representative of WaterAid Nigeria, Dr. Michael Ojo
AMCOW’s interim President and Nigeria’s Honourable Minister of Water Resources, Mrs Sarah Reng Ochekpe (left), with the Country Representative of WaterAid Nigeria, Dr. Michael Ojo

WaterAid has welcomed a new UN campaign championed by UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson to end the practice of open defecation.

Over 1 billion people around the world relieve themselves in bushes, in fields or at the sides of roads or railway tracks for lack of even a basic, shared pit in the ground. This is 14% of the world’s population, or one person in seven.

Where there is open defecation, pathogens spread quickly, causing diarrhoea, cholera, bilharzia (a freshwater worm) and other diseases.

Recent WHO/UNICEF JMP figures for Nigeria show that the number of people with access to improved sanitation facilities has dropped even further from 31% last year to just 28% of the population now. This means about 122 million Nigerians do not have access to improved sanitation and a staggering 39 million (23% of the population) practice open defecation.

Based on these figures, indications are that at present rates of progress, Sub-Saharan Africa overall will not become open defecation free until 2063.

WaterAid is campaigning for everyone, everywhere to have access to safe water and basic sanitation by 2030. Some 748 million people in the world are without safe water, while another 2.5 billion are without adequate sanitation.

Dr. Michael Ojo, Country Representative of WaterAid Nigeria, said: “It is time for a drastic change to the status quo. It is hard to believe that in this day and age, people must still risk their health and dignity for the lack of a basic toilet. It’s even more difficult for girls and women who risk danger and harassment every time they go in search of a private place to relieve themselves. Safe water and basic sanitation has to be a top priority in effectively tackling extreme poverty. We call upon our leaders to take action.”

Without basic toilets, girls are more likely to drop out of school, and adults are less able to care for their families or to work, exacting huge social and economic costs.

The new UN campaign to end open defecation is expected to last till the end of next year, as the UN develops a new set of development goals to replace the original Millennium Development Goals.

Among the goals were pledges to cut in half the proportions of people without safe water and sanitation, respectively. Though the overall universal target on water has been met; some individual countries, especially developing countries like Nigeria, are yet to meet those goals and those still without safe water are the hardest to reach. The target on sanitation remains the most off-track.

Recently, in April this year, Nigeria joined 44 other developing countries at the Sanitation and Water for All High Level Meeting and committed once again to achieving universal access to water and sanitation and eliminating open defecation nationwide by 2025.

UN NAMA Registry records first matched support between Austria, Georgia

Michael Simire
-
0
UN NAMA Registry records first matched support between Austria, Georgia

 

Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary
Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary

A new UN Registry which records and matches offers of support from developed nations to the stated plans of developing countries to reduce and limit greenhouse gas emissions has recorded the first such agreed cooperation between Austria and Georgia.

“This first success highlights the enormous potential of the new registry as a transparent, efficient clearing house that matches financial, technology and capacity-building support from the developed world to the needs developing nations have defined themselves to act on climate change,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The online NAMA Registry was designed and is operated by the UNFCCC Secretariat, at the request of governments, to record both the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) which developing countries choose to enter into the system and also the offered support available for these actions.

Its objectives are to facilitate the matching of finance, technology, and capacity building support with these NAMAs and to serve as a platform for international recognition of the mitigation actions of developing countries.

In the first recorded match in the registry, Georgia has received a grant from the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment, and Water to implement Georgia’s NAMA entitled “Adaptive, Sustainable Forest Management in Borjomi-Bakuriani Forest District”.

“I congratulate Georgia and Austria on entering their information into the registry, thereby debuting this important tool.  It is a clear invitation to other countries and organizations to continue to populate the registry and boost the international cooperation between developed and developing countries in reducing and limiting greenhouse gas emissions,” said Ms Figueres.

Church takes free healthcare to Lagos residents

Michael Simire
-
0
Church takes free healthcare to Lagos residents

AriseIt was a banquet of free healthcare services as the Women Arise Initiative, an arm of the Redeemed Christian Church Of God’s City of David Parish, berthed at Apapa in Lagos.

The Women Arise Medical Team patrolled the streets of Apapa in an ambulance announcing to residents to come out and access basic healthcare services at no cost.

Among the healthcare services offered to the residents were malaria, typhoid, blood-sugar tests, blood pressure and dental check, health talk, counseling and drug administration.

Convener of the Women Arise Initiative, Pastor Mrs. Siju Iluyomade explained that the project was borne out of the need to care about the physical and medical wellbeing of women, while lending a voice to issues related to women.

According to her, any nation that lifts up the womanhood would be lifted up in return. Women Arise had previously been to parts of Lagos like Makoko, Lagos Island, Surulere and Ebute-Metta. The group intends to reach out to other parts of the state.

Pastor Iluyomade said the Women Arise Initiative supports the “Bring Back our Girls Initiative” which, according to her, brings to mind the need for the government to ensure every Nigerian is well taken care of. She expressed concerned over the need for healthcare services to be available and accessible to all and sundry.

“Apapa has a diversified mix of different ethnic groups and as we can see all are united in the need to access healthcare services. This shows that there are many things that can unify us as a nation. The impact of our outreach in places we have visited is heartwarming seeing the smiles and satisfaction in the faces of the people and the comfort that they feel, knowing someone is concerned about their health pushes us to do more,” she added.

Head of the Medical Team, Dr. Ademola Lafenwa, pointed out that the high level of ignorance among the people has resulted in some cases where participants don’t even know the status of their health and they have serious health issues.

“Today, one of the person I attended to has a very high blood sugar level and is also hypertensive. He is not even aware of any of these conditions. People don’t know they can approach the nearest health centre within their vicinity for medical care. They think health centres are meant for only babies and immunisation exercises. They also believe that if they visit hospitals, they will be charged heavily for services delivered and conclude that hospitals are designed for the rich only.

The Lagos State Government has ensured that every Primary Health Centre is assigned with a medical doctor, but the level of awareness among the people to use these health centres is low. This is worrisome,” Lafenwa stated.

The turnout was massive as residents thanked the Women Arise Medical Team for offering free healthcare services that would ordinarily have cost them money to access.

 

By Tina Armstrong-Ogbonna

1...2,0822,0832,084...2,126Page 2,083 of 2,126

TV Report

Archives

2025 EnviroNews Nigeria. All Rights Reserved.

×