Country Director
Amnesty: Nigerian government highly sensitive to criticism
The country director of Amnesty International (AI) Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, says the federal government is “highly sensitive to criticism” and only focuses on appearances. Ojigho stated this on Thursday while addressing the topic “Is Freedom of Speech in Danger in Nigeria?” during a virtual conversation, tagged ‘Thursday Talks’. The virtual conversation, which is a monthly programme focused on engaging thought leaders, was moderated by Adeboye Adegoke, senior programme manager at Paradigm Initiative. The AI country director described the government’s ban on Twitter and its proposed amendment to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) code as attempts to gag criticism. “What we are seeing is a government that is highly sensitive to criticism and, as such, seeks to work more on the public re...
FAO reiterates support to Nigerian government’s efforts to tackle food insecurity
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has reiterated its commitment to support the Federal Government‘s efforts to ensure food sufficiency. FAO Country Representative, Fred Kafeero, said this at the 44th meeting of the National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development (NCARD) in Abuja on Thursday. He said that the theme of the meeting, which is “Nigeria’s Agriculture and Food Security in the face of COVID-19, Floods and Insecurity, ” was timely. Kafeero, however, said that the theme was a call for action to cushion the knock-on effects of these shocks and threats on the livelihoods of a large section of the population, especially vulnerable groups. He urged the government to provide enabling environment for private participation, creating synergy, engaging other sectors, interven...
Nigeria loses 250,000 babies to preventable, treatable causes annually – experts
Despite the global efforts to end preventable newborn deaths by 2030, through the Sustainable Development Goal 3.2, experts have raised the alarm that Nigeria loses over 250,000 babies yearly due to preventable and treatable causes, even as the country ranks second highest globally in infant deaths. According to a Professor of Paediatrics at the College of Medicine University of Lagos, and Clinical Lead, Newborn Essential Solution and Technologies, NEST360, Professor Chinyere Ezeaka, with current slow progress, it may take Nigerian 100 years to meet the goal. Ezeaka identified causes of newborn deaths in Nigeria to include prematurity, infections, birth asphyxia, congenital abnormalities among others, she said these would be reduced with the wide-scale adoption of comprehensive newborn car...
NHRC unveils new digital complaint platform
Wikipedia The National Human Rights Commission said on Saturday that it had unveiled a new automated complaint reporting database for reporting of various forms of human rights violations in the country. According to the commission, the “automated complaint reporting database” is “a real-time digital platform that provides citizens with opportunities to promptly report all forms of human rights violations involving civilians, security personnel”, among others. A statement by the NHRC’s Assistant Director of Public Affairs, Fatimah Mohammad, stated that the commission’s Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu, unveiled the platform at a webinar “following a robust partnership between the Commission and CLEEN Foundation”. The statement did not disclose any detail about the platform and how the publ...
Actionaid Nigeria calls for declaration of state of emergency on rape
Actionaid Nigeria has called on the federal government to declare state of emergency on rape, following the alarming cases of rape across the country. Country Director of Actionaid Nigeria, Mrs Ene Obi made the call during a one-day Women’s summit on preventing violent extremism in Nasarawa state. Obi, who was represented by the Manager, Humanitarian and Resilience, David Habba, stated that Nasarawa state currently has the worst case of rape, where a three-month old baby was raped by a 27-year-old man. She explained that while women rarely take part in conflict, they are often the most affected, ranging from psychological, emotional, physical to mental loss which continues decades after the conflict has ended. The Actionaid country director expressed concern over the rising number of sexua...
World Bank: Nigeria faces worst recession in 40 years
The collapse in crude oil prices, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to “plunge the Nigerian economy into a severe recession, the worst since the 1980s”, the World Bank said on Thursday. The World Bank, in a new report, titled ‘Nigeria in times of COVID-19: Laying foundations for a strong recovery,’ estimated that Nigeria’s economy would likely contract by 3.2 per cent this year. “This projection assumes that the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria is contained by the third quarter of 2020,” it said. The bank said if the spread of the virus became more severe, the economy could contract further. It said, “Before COVID-19, the Nigerian economy was expected to grow by 2.1 per cent in 2020, which means that the pandemic has led to a reduction in growth by more than five percentage poin...
Center tasks Senate on thorough probe of allegations against NDDC
Pool Photo The Global Center for Good Governance, GCGG, has tasked the Senate on the need to embark on a thorough probe of the allegations leveled against the Interim Management Committee, IMC of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. The group in a statement, yesterday, also affirmed that it is not interested in the likely outcome of the probe adding that if the allegations against the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Godswill Akpabio, and the IMC are irresponsible, an unreserved apology should be extended to them. GCGG Country Director, Dr. Chris Udoh in the statement, said: “We salute both chambers of the National Assembly for rising to the challenges of exercising its oversight functions on the NDDC. “If the maelstrom of allegations against the Minister and the IMC turn o...
