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General news

EU to partner NYSC to end irregular migration of Nigerians

 

NAN-H-14

Partnership

By Yashim Katurak

Abuja, July 14, 2017 (NAN) The EU says it will partner the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the Pan African Institute for Global Affairs and Strategy (PAIGAS) to end irregular migration of  Nigerians.

The EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Michel Arrion, made the promise in Abuja on Friday when some EU and PAIGAS officials paid a courtesy visit to the NYSC Director-General, Brig.-Gen. Suleiman Kazaure.

Arrion said that many Nigerian youths were risking their lives in a bid to travel abroad to earn better living.

He said that the partnership would focus on entrepreneurship and skill development for the youths in order to open avenues for job creation and self-reliance.

He said the collaboration by the three organisations was a major EU strategy to provide the youths with skills to create jobs for themselves.

“The first thing we want to focus on is skills acquisition; skills that will help the youths to start a micro enterprises.

“We also hope to contribute to the policy of dialogue developing currently between the EU and many African countries. Nigeria has a very important role to play in this dialogue.

“One of the issues we have raised is the increasing desire of Nigerian youths to leave the country for Europe using irregular and illegal migration channels.

“We want to work together to discourage this act and to end this, we have to explain the risks, opportunities and various legal ways one can use to travel to Europe,” he said

Ambassador Martins Uhomibhi, the PAIGAS President, said that youths were great assets to the country.

Uhomibhi expressed optimism that PAIGAS would help in bringing succor to the country’s unemployed youths.

He, however, said: “the youths need to believe in themselves; they need to know that they can achieve anything they want to achieve.

“There is no need to go across the desert on a suicide mission because there are legitimate means they can use to achieve what they want.”

He said that this year alone, 17,000 Nigerians had migrated to Italy, stressing that something urgent needed to be done about the problem.

Kazaure assured the delegation that the NYSC was willing and ready to work with them and that skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development were main focus of the corps.

He said the collaboration would go a long way in addressing youth unemployment in the country. (NAN)

KRY/EMO/TA

Edited by Ejike Obeta

Health

NAN to partner NPopC on 2018 census

NAN to partner NPopC on 2018 census

NAN-HG-2

Partnership

By Yashim Katurak

Abuja, July 4, 2017 (NAN) Mr Bayo Onanuga, the Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), says the agency will partner the National Population Commission (NPopC) in carrying out effective coverage of activities of the proposed 2018 census.

Onanuga said this when the NPopC Chairman, Mr Eze Duruiheoma, visited him at the NAN Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.

The managing director said the agency would use its local and national reach to effectively cover the activities of the commission at the national, state and grassroots level.

Onanuga said the agency had a wide national coverage of news with offices in all the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory and no fewer than 22 district offices across the country.

He said the agency would use this capacity to effectively cover the activities of the commission including preparatory activities leading to the census.

“The agency has been working with the commission’s local and international collaborating agencies and so we are familiar with the kind of activities and duties carried out by the commission.

“We are ready at all times to partner with you at the national, state and grassroots level; NAN is always on board to work with you in covering preparations for the census, the census itself and other activities.

“No other agency has the kind of reach that NAN has with over 500 reporters spread across all states and local government areas of the country,” Onanuga said.

However, the managing director urged NPopC to conduct a credible and acceptable census free of politics for national development purposes.

Earlier, the NPC chairman solicited for support from all and pledged to conduct a credible and acceptable national headcount.

Duruiheoma commended the efforts of Onanuga in heading the only news agency in Nigeria with the numerous challenges that abound in holding such office.

He also lauded staff of the agency for supporting the managing director to succeed in his task, noting that one cannot succeed without the support of the people.

He said that he has always followed the activities of the agency since its inception and appreciated the growth it has experienced so far.

Duruiheoma urged Onanuga to scale up the good work. (NAN)

KRY/MST

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

Medical Directors Guild solicits partnership to fight meningitis

Medical Directors Guild solicits partnership to fight meningitis NAN-HG-9

Directors

By Olasunkanmi Onifade

Abuja, April 10, 2017 (NAN) The Guild of Medical Directors has solicited a realistic collaboration of the private sector in the fight against Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) epidemic in some states.

Dr Chito Nwana, the FCT Chapter Chairman of the guild, made the call on Monday at news conference in Abuja.

“The health sector is the most relevant sector because if one is not healthy, the person cannot be productive.

`Necessary things need to be done to provide quality healthcare delivery in the country.

“The private health sector can add value to the effort being made by the government; the role of the private sector in quality healthcare delivery cannot be overemphasised,’’ she said.

However, Nwana called for Public Private Partnership (PPP) to achieve efficient healthcare delivery in the country.

The chairman said, for instance, that government should address the issues of multiple taxation.

She commended public health officials, private health sector as well as NGOs for their contributions in controlling further spread of meningitis and loss of lives in the country.

“This is the time to highlight and to bring out the importance of the private sector in battling these conditions and being part of the management and public awareness.

“The private sector is a very strong part of our health system, and this is a good way to figure out how private and public sector can work together to battle the things that are ailing our nation.

“This will be one of the issues that will be addressed at the upcoming conference and we will develop a strategy and process of public-private engagement to which the wellbeing of the citizenry is the ultimate beneficiary,’’ she said.

The Public Relation Officer of the guild, Dr Biodun Ogungbo, advised Nigerians to be cautious about CSM and take conscious efforts by preventing the occurrence.

“Patients and the general public need to be more aware of the disease in the country and the preventive measure is keep good personal hygiene, well ventilated apartment, drink enough fluids.

“For those who have the symptoms of headache, fever, vomiting and so on should not go to a chemist, herbalist, pastors or ignoring it, but they should rather go to the hospital,’’ he advised. (NAN)

OEO/MST

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

General news

Kano pledges sustained partnership with international donor agencies 

Kano pledges sustained partnership with international donor agencies 

NAN-H-88

Partnership

Kano, March 7, 2017 (NAN)‎ The Kano State Government has on Tuesday pledged to continue to collaborate with international donor agencies for the development of the state.

Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje said this at the two-day donors’ conference in Kano.‎

Ganduje said that the meeting, with theme “Fostering State Development Agenda”,‎ would ‎discuss issues concerning donations and assistance by the international organisations to the state.‎

He noted that some of the problems faced by the partnership were delays in releasing counterpart funds by the state government and economic recession in the country.

‎The state Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Hajiya Zubaida Abubakar, said the importance of the meeting was to know the actual contributions from all the donors that were partnering or coming to partner with the state.

She said that donations from the aid organisations were helping on addressing the critical socio-economic problems and would also help in development plan of the state.

She emphasised the state government’s determination to develop infrastructure in the state as part of initiatives to improve the welfare of the people.‎ (NAN)

MNT/MST

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola‎

Health

Delta pledges technical partnership to combat diseases

Delta pledges technical partnership to combat diseases

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Partnership

By Valentine C. Utulu

Asaba, March 7, 2017 (NAN) The Delta Government has reiterated its commitment to seek partnership with local and foreign organisations to check possible outbreak of diseases in the state.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Nicholas Azinge, said this on Tuesday in Asaba when officials from the Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis Research, Kaduna, and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnosis (FIND), Geneva, Switzerland visited him.

He affirmed the state government’s preparedness to work with organisations in the health sector to help trace every outbreak of diseases in local government areas of the state with a view to stemming the spread.

The commissioner said disease surveillance and response activities were very vital activities the ministry carries out regularly in order to reduce the impact of diseases.

He pledged to work closely with the institute and its funding partners to enable the state take advantage of their assistance in prompt detection and control of diseases.

Azinge directed the State Hospital Management Board to make it mandatory for doctors to direct patients in endemic areas who have continuous cases of fever to take the rapid diagnostic test for sleeping sickness.

He warned that any doctor who fails to abide by the directive of sending those who tested positive from the test to visit the facilities designated for confirmation of the disease would be sanctioned as a deterrent for others.

Earlier in an address, Prof. Joseph Ndung’u, Head of Programme, Neglected Tropical Diseases at the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnosis (FIND), Switzerland, lauded Nigeria for its commitment to disease control.

He disclosed that Nigeria is one of the countries that have advanced in the control of human and animal trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness in Africa.

Ndung’u said that since the last reported case of the disease in Nigeria in 2012, there has not been any new officially reported case till date, describing the development as a remarkable feat

He said that going by the trend, the institute had projected that the disease would not be in existence in Nigeria by the year 2020.

Ndung’u said the foundation has launched an aggressive programme in Delta where it had sensitised policy makers, health workers and communities on the clinical signs of sleeping sickness disease.

According to him, the foundation also has a partnership agreement with the Nigerian Government through the Nigeria Institute of Trypanosomiasis Research (NITR), federal and state Ministries of Health.

He said the partnership would enable them put in place a strategy that would intensify the screening of communities in regions where cases of sleeping sickness have been reported in the past.

Ndung’u further revealed that the partnership has resulted in the training of health workers in Delta and the introduction of screening facilities in 52 healthcare centres in the state.

He also said the foundation has supported the development of unique tests and a rapid diagnostic test kits for screening of sleeping sickness to enable health workers to perform the test in a simplified way.

Ndung’u further explained that the method adopted in the screening test requires that if somebody was found positive, the person would have to go for confirmation.

He said: “To this end, the health facility centres for the confirmatory testing was increased last year from the initial four to 25 in Delta state.

“But since no case of the disease has been detected, the centres will be reduced to 18 based on the findings from the research carried out on the epidemiology of the disease all over the state.”

Ndung’u however added that the centres would now be uniformly distributed across the state while the surveillance of the disease would still continue.

He said only the World Health Organisation (WHO) can confirm or verify that Delta was free from the disease with the aid of the data being generated by the Principal Investigator from the Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis Research, Kaduna.

Dr Felicia Enwezor, the Principal Investigator, Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis Research, Kaduna, said the programme was initiated in 2014, but the actual screening operations started in 2015 and has continued till date.

She explained that the institute was the chief collaborator in the programme in terms of funding and it embarked on the visit to assess what was on ground and discuss their findings.

Enwezor disclosed that the programme would be rounding up by June 2017 in line with the memorandum of understanding signed with the Delta Government. (NAN) CVU/MST

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Foreign

UN seeks partnership with Nigerian media

UN seeks partnership with Nigerian media

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Partnership

By Isaac Aregbesola

Abuja, Feb. 17, 2017 (NAN) The United Nations (UN) has directed its agencies to operate an open door policy with the media in Nigeria for the success of the body’s operations in the country.

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon, made this known to newsmen at a round table in Abuja.

“I am the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator as well as UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria. I represent the UN Secretary General in the country.

“Since my arrival to Nigeria, I have come to appreciate the vibrancy and diversity of the local media.

“In my meetings with partners, I have emphasised that I will be leading a very transparent and accountable UN System that proactively shares information with its partners and the public we owe it to them,” he said.

Kallon, who said media was key to the success of UN operations in Nigeria, stated that he would not be able to achieve his purpose without a strong partnership with the media.

“I have asked all agencies to keep their doors open and respond to your queries as quickly as possible.

“I will also ensure continuous engagement with you on a regular basis so that together, we can share information and ideas as we work towards the good of this great country.

“I count on your support,” he said.

The official, who arrived Nigeria in January, said he had engaged with stakeholders including the Senate President, ministers, governors, senior government officials, representatives of development partners and international NGOs.

Kallon said he had also visited a number of states including Kaduna, Kano, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa during which he came to appreciate the challenges facing Nigeria.

He said that as a strong believer in “being on the ground to know what is on the ground’’, he would continue engaging with various stakeholders in the country.

Kallon said he would continue in his pursuit for stronger partnerships aimed at designing evidence-based solutions to the challenges the people continue to face.

“The challenges Nigeria faces are numerous – from security to governance and the economy.

“During my visit to the three most affected States in North East, I have seen widespread suffering among the survivors of the insurgency.

“I saw children with no food, widows with no source of livelihood, idling youths and hopeless communities,” he lamented.

According to him, the challenges being faced are enormous, but solvable.

“As a UN family, we are providing support to the Federal and State Governments to help in responding to these challenges,” he said. (NAN)

IAA/MST

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

General news

SEC, EFCC partner to ensure effective capital market policing

SEC, EFCC partner to ensure effective capital market policing

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Partnership

By Lucy Nwachukwu

Abuja, Jan. 19, 2017 (NAN) The Securities and Exchange Commission says it is collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to ensure an effective policing of the capital market.

A statement by the management of SEC on Thursday in Abuja said a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the duo in Abuja.

According to the statement, the partnership will help promote the efficient investigation and conclusion of all cases reported by either institution to each other.

It stated that it will also promote the integrity, efficiency and soundness of the Nigerian Capital Market and the Economy in general.

“It seeks to promote collaboration in the areas of training and secondment of middle cadre officers of the SEC to the EFCC and those of the EFCC to the SEC.

“It will aid the establishment of a liaison desk in both institutions as well as promote collaboration in other areas beneficial to both institutions.’’

It said the partnership entailed that the institutions provided each other with the utmost mutual assistance in any matter falling within the competence of the institutions.

It stated that it would provide “secondment of middle cadre officers, training to enhance the investigative skills and capacity of personnel of the institutions.

“Consequently it will increase the general output and performance of the institutions and facilitate better understanding of each other functions.

“This will be through capacity building programmes and human capital development in the areas of investigation of fraud in the capital market.

“Both institutions will also exchange information to assist the performance of the institutions’ respective functions, reporting, investigation and prosecution of fraudulent practices in the Nigerian Capital Market.

“And any other activity as agreed between the Institutions from time to time.’’

It said the MoU does not create any binding legal obligation, nor does it modify or supersede any laws, regulations or regulatory requirements in force or applying to the institutions.

It said the MoU does not also create any rights enforceable by third institutions nor does it affect any arrangement under other MoUs.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Director-General of SEC, Mr Mounir Gwarzo, in a recent visit to EFCC commended the close relationship between both organisations.

Gwarzo said the commission could not discharge its responsibility effectively without collaborating with the anti-graft agency.

He said: “We are by provision of our law mandated to protect investors on developing the market but the way our law is structured we have limitations over criminal cases.

“And that is why in the last 10 years there has been a very great collaboration between both agencies.

“We hope that when this MoU becomes fully operational, it will assist in reducing market infractions to the barest minimum.”

Gwarzo remarked that the collaboration with the EFCC had been of tremendous benefit to the SEC especially in areas of investigation and enforcement.

It added that effective policing of the market was one of the ways of reviving investor confidence.

He said: “One of our agenda is to bring back the retail investors to the market and there is no way they will agree to return if they are not sure of the safety of their investments.’’

Responding, Magu expressed delight that the collaboration between both agencies had yielded enormous benefit for the growth of the capital market.

He added that the EFCC would continue to provide assistance where required. (NAN)

LCN/MST

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Environment

Ministry partners NEMA to prevent waterborne disease

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Disease
By Tosin Kolade
Abuja, Jan. 4, 2017 (NAN) The Federal Ministry of Water Resources is partnering with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to prevent the outbreak of waterborne disease in Nigeria.

Mrs Elizabeth Ugoh, Deputy Director, Water Quality Control and Sanitation in the ministry, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday that the collaboration would ensure improved livelihood.

Ugoh said such response include the promotion of good hygiene practices, provision of safe drinking water and toilet facilities, to improve the overall living conditions of Nigerians.

She said its partnership with NEMA was specifically targeted at emergencies, especially in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps, and promotion of overall well being of such persons.

According to her, persons living in the IDPs Camps in the North-East are in continuous need of water and accessible toilets facilities, which should not be ignored.

Ugoh said that although inadequate funds was still a challenge, development partners such as UN Children’s Fund and the UN High Commission on Refugees, had been partnering to improve sanitation and hygiene.

She said that access to water and sanitation had reduced incidences of preventable deaths, adding that it was necessary to scale up actions on these needs.

Ugoh said that Water Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) interventions could interrupt diarrhea transmission, and reduce the burden of morbidity and mortality associated with faecal-oral.

The deputy director said Nigeria needed to improve its policies at increasing access to water, sanitation and hygiene.

She urged private individuals and industrialists to take ownership of improving sanitation in their local communities.

Ugoh said that such ownership would reduce the spread of preventable diseases, boost healthy living, and promote a more productive citizenry.

The official said that globally, no fewer than 500, 000 children die annually from preventable diseases caused by unsafe water and sanitation.

She said it was important for all stakeholders to play their part to ensure that Nigerians live healthy, dignified and productive lives.

Ugoh, however, called on Nigerians to have clear plans and programmes on water and sanitation, to enable it to meet the Sustainable Development Goals on universal access to water and sanitation by 2030.

She said that that there was need for all tiers of government to take ownership of improving WASH service to all Nigerians. (NAN)

TAK/FLP/MO

Edited by Folorunso Poroye/Morayo Omolade