NAN Archive

Loading

NAN Archive

Tag engagement

Health

FGM: NGO harps on engagement of traditional rulers

FGM: NGO harps on engagement of traditional rulers
By Olasunkanmi Onifade
Mutilation
Abuja, Feb. 6, 2019 (NAN) Child and Youth Protection Foundation (CYPF), an NGO, called for the engagement of traditional leaders in combating Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the country.
The National Coordinator, Mr Olatosimi Kolawole, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja to commemorate the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM.
NAN reports that the Day is a UN sponsored annual awareness day that holds on Feb. 6 as part of the UN’s efforts to eradicate FGM.
The day was first introduced in 2003.
He said the traditional leaders in ensuring that they support the prohibition of FGM as they are closer to people at the grassroots which is commonly practiced.
“We need to increase our efforts in Nigeria to eradicate FGM. The VAPP Act forbids FGM so we must work hard to ensure that VAPP Act is domesticated in all the states so that FGM can be criminalise in all states.
“As an NGO we will continue to talk about the complete eradication of FGM in Nigeria,” Kolawole said.
He said the VAPP acts had strengthened advocacy against rape, FGM, partner battery, stalking, harmful widowhood practices by state actors while prohibiting all forms of violence.
Kolawole said it had also provided protection and effective remedies for survivors and punishment of offenders.
He said FGM violates human rights principles and standards including the principles of equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex.
Kolawole also said FGM also violates the right to the highest attainable standard of health, the rights of the child and the right to physical and mental integrity. (NAN)
OEO/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

General news

Association seeks engagement of more doctors in hospitals

Association seeks engagement of more doctors in hospitals
By Ummul Idris
Doctors
Abuja, Feb. 1, 2019 (NAN) The Association of Residents Doctors (ARD) has called for engagement of more doctors in public owned hospitals across the country.
Dr Roland Aigbovo, the ARD President, FCT chapter, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.
Aigbovo said that the number of doctors to patients was grossly inadequate.
He said government needed to employ more doctors, noting that there are a lot of qualified doctors roaming the street with no work.
He stated that most doctors were often on call work for 32 hours, stressing that this is exposing them to danger and committing unpardonable errors.
Aigbovo however noted that unpredictable busy schedule was an inevitable part of doctor’s life, especially at the emergency wards.
According to him, the more stress factors, the more mistakes they make and when mistake is being made the patients suffers more adverse effects that are unrelated to their illness.
“It is natural to think that the more stressed you are the more errors you make, the maximum we work is generally when we are on call 32 hours.’’
“I believe when more hands are employed it will reduce the hours we doctors work and less stress,’’ according to him.
He said that the population was growing faster, while doctors and facilities in the hospital remained the same. (NAN)
UMD/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

SGA Confab: UN calls on African Governments to create mechanisms for engagement

SGA Confab: UN calls on African Government to create mechanisms for engagement
By Chinenye Offor
Engagement
Abuja, Nov. 5, 2018 (NAN) The United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs (UNDESA) has called on African governments to create safe space and mechanisms for engagement for older persons.
Ms Amal Abou Rafeh, the Chief, Programming on Ageing Unit of UNDESA, made the call at the first Stakeholders Group on Ageing in Africa (SGA) annual regional conference on Monday in Abuja.
She noted that Africa’s population was ageing and older persons in the continent would grow faster than any other region in the world increasing threefold to 226 million by 2050.
The UN official also said that Africa was expected to see the second fastest growth in the number of persons aged 80 and above with 273 per cent increase in number of persons aged 80 years or over the same period.
According to her, the change required engagement with broad range of stakeholders, including non-governmental organisations, volunteer groups, academia and local communities.
She also said that the recently established stakeholder group on ageing was positioned to engage with and influence policy makers and UN processes through providing valuable expertise and understanding of local context they operate.
She noted that older persons were more likely to live in poverty than people of younger ages in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa because pension system were either not in place or they failed to provide adequate income.
Rafeh decried the alarming rate of growing reports of gang rape, murder of older women as well as accusations of witchcraft in Africa.
She added that highlighting gaps between evidence, policy and practice, offering of concrete proposals, creating solutions as well as creating more opportunities for a regional conversation on issues relevant to older persons was of essence.
“We believe that this approach is essential to build on steps already taken by African states in the implementation agenda 2030, and African Union Agenda 2063.
“And to ensure that issues of relevance to older persons are taken into account in their implementation that no one is left behind, including the older persons,” she said.
She however noted that all hands must be on deck, country led, country owned to reinforce the commitment to leave no one behind as well as reach the inclusion, partnership and participation.
Besides, she identified lack of awareness of older persons rights, age based discrimination and marginalisation, gaps in social security provision, violations, abuse, neglect and lack of legal protection as challenges that hinder implementation of policies on ageing.
Rafeh also said that insufficient financial resources to implement most activities for older persons, limited data, lack of effective policy, coordination and coherence, and very low involvement in later life research contributed to implementation policy challenges on ageing.
Similarly, Mr Ken Bluestone, the Chair, Global Alliance for Rights of Older Persons (GAROP), said that it was imperative for government to improve the implementation of existing legislation including the ratification of the AU Protocol to the African charter on human and people’s right on the rights of older persons.
He further said that it was crucial to ensure that universality of the rights of older persons is fully embedded in the international system through a UN convention on the rights of older persons.
Bluestone also said that making visible contributions to families, communities and to wider society, understanding their potential vulnerability and how to support the older persons was very core of the organisation universal commitment to human rights.
He therefore said that raising awareness of older persons’ rights, challenging ageism as well as working with governments would help in improving implementation of existing legislation.
Bluestone, however, reiterated his commitment to work with the SGA towards protecting the rights of older persons and on behalf of GAROP congratulated SGA Africa for the landmark event and called for much needed attention to older women’s and men’s rights needs in Africa. (NAN)
CSO/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

Human trafficking: NAPTIP restates position on engagement of witch doctors

Human trafficking: NAPTIP restates position on engagement of witch doctors
NAN-HG-3
Witch-doctors
By Mustapha Sumaila
Abuja, Feb. 7, 2018 (NAN) The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has restated its engagement of witch doctors to improve prosecution cases of human trafficking in the country.

The NAPTIP Head, Press and Public Relations, Mr Josiah Emerole, said in a statement in Abuja that the agency is engaging “native doctors” as ambassadors in the fight against human trafficking.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Director-General of NAPTIP, Ms Julie Okah-Donli, at a symposium in Abuja announced that the agency had engaged some local witch doctors in Benin, Edo, as ambassadors to fight human trafficking in the country.

“What the Director-General said on Monday was that as part of the agency’s efforts to improve prosecution of trafficking cases in Nigeria, the agency is engaging with all strata of society to understand their roles in the fight against human trafficking.

“Bearing in mind that the use of Voodoo and administration of oaths on victims is one of the control mechanisms used by human traffickers on their victims, which makes it difficult for victims to open up and assist the Agency in investigation,” he said.

The spokesperson explained that NAPTIP took its sensitisation campaign to the Ayelala Shrines in Edo, where these oaths of secrecy were administered on the victims.

He said the priests in those shrines were made to understand the implication of the oaths they administer on the victims and most of them have pledged not to work with the human traffickers any longer and have gone as far as assisting the victims renounce the oaths.

According to him, the issue of oath taking has been a fundamental challenge faced by NAPTIP over the years, especially as regards victims’ testimony, as the victims believe the oaths would kill or harm them if they cooperate with the agency in the course of our investigations.

“The Agency therefore saw the need to tackle the problem which was aimed at encouraging the victims to give their testimonies, without which NAPTIP cannot successfully prosecute the traffickers

“The agency had in the past arrested and prosecuted some of these priests for their roles in human trafficking, and therefore could not have employed them in fighting human trafficking.

“However, we realised that sensitising them will be of more benefit in the fight against human trafficking and in line with NAPTIP’s prevention strategy,” he added. (NAN)
MS/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Education

Principal, FGC Minna, commends PTA for engaging 22 teachers

NAN-H-57

Teachers

By Aminu Ahmed Garko

Minna, April 6, 2017 (NAN) Mr Okanya Chinwendu, Principal, Federal Government College (FGC), Minna has commended the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), for engaging 22 teachers to handle key subjects in the institution.

“We have manpower shortage, but we are happy that the PTA has stepped in to assist. The association has engaged 22 teachers and that has brought great relief to us,” Chinwendu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Thursday in Minna.

He said that the understanding and support shown by the PTA had aided the school’s quest for excellence.

“Education is expensive; quality education is even more expensive and certainly beyond government alone,” he said.

Chinwendu called on the Federal Ministry of Education to employ more teachers, noting that permanent staff, who retired several years ago, had not been replaced.

The principal also called for the renovation of structures so as to create a conducive atmosphere for teaching and learning.

“Our classrooms, dormitories, library and Assembly Hall require total renovation; government should hep us,” he said. ( NAN)
AAG/KOLE/ETS

============

Edited by Remi Koleoso and Ephraims Sheyin