Women
CSOs threaten to occupy National Assembly over Electoral Act amendment
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations has threatened to occupy the National Assembly after Ramadan fasting, if the lawmakers fail to pass the Bill for an amendment of the Electoral Act. The CSOs which include Center For Liberty, Concerned Nigeria, The Electoral Hub, and Raising New Voices Initiative, issued the threat at a joint news conference on Thursday in Abuja. The Co-convener, Centre for Liberty, Mr Dare Ariyo-Atoye, who read the joint speech of the CSOs, said they were worried that the 9th National Assembly was yet to pass the bill. According to him the passage of the bill could have given them lasting legacies and written their names in gold. Ariyo-Atoye said that in the last 15 months, CSOs had consistently engaged lawmakers and appealed to the NASS to make the passage of a n...
Tokyo Olympics: Minister confident Nigeria will return to track and field podium
Youth and Sports Development Minister Sunday Dare is confident Nigeria’s 13 year wait for a track and field medal at the Olympics will end this year at the Tokyo Games. Nigeria last won a track and field medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 when the women’s 4x100m relay team and Blessing Okagbare (long jump) won silver medals and the Sports Minister is confident track and field will start delivering the medals like it did in 1996 in Atlanta. Track and Field has accounted for 13 of the 25 medals Team Nigeria have won at the Games. The sport has also delivered two of the three gold medals won with a first ever individual gold by Chioma Ajunwa in the women’s long jump. ”The performances of our athletes so far this year have given us renewed hopes that Nigerian track and field athletes can be...
UN expresses worry over violence against women in Nigeria
The United Nations has expressed worries over rising violence against women and girls in Nigeria. The UN National Programme Manager, Patience Ekeoba, lamented that the country’s security is weak in handling gender-based matter. Ekeoba called on the federal government to retrain security personnel, especially the police in handling gender-based matter in order to put an abrupt end to the narrative across the country. She said this while speaking at the 8th Triennial Convention of the Mothers’ Union of the Church of the Lord International held in Ogere-Remo, Ogun. The UN personnel who spoke on the theme “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made” disclosed that 3.85 million of Nigerian girls are out of school, warning that the victims are at risk of social violence. According to her, violence against w...
Plateau senator seeks Nigerian government’s support for victims of yam market fire
Senator representing Plateau South in the National Assembly, Professor Nora Dadu’ut, has appealed to the federal government to support victims of the recent fire incident that engulfed the famous Namu Central Yam Market in Qua’an Pan Local Government Area, of Plateau state which led to the loss of food products and other valuables worth millions of naira. The lawmaker, who made the appeal during a press briefing in Jos, said she was saddened by the heart-rending development, and called on governments at all levels, and well-meaning Nigerians to offer support for the victims to aid their recovery from the tragedy. She said, “We would not rest on our oars until we have done the needful in reducing the damages and ameliorating their challenges through state and federal government intervention...
Saudi Arabia executes three soldiers for ‘cooperating with enemy’
Saudi Arabia has executed three soldiers convicted of “high treason” and “cooperating with the enemy”, with a statement from the kingdom’s defence ministry saying the trio was sentenced to death by a specialist court after a fair trial. The state-run Saudi Press Agency identified the men as soldiers working in the defence ministry. It did not elaborate on how the men aided the kingdom’s enemies. The ministry did not name the “enemy” either but the executions on Saturday were carried out in the southern province bordering Yemen where Saudi Arabia has been at war for more than six years against the Iran-backed Houthi fighters. Saudi Arabia has come under increasing global scrutiny over its human rights record since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at the kingdom’s Istanbul co...
Reports: Governments ‘gender blind’ to coronavirus’ ‘greater impact’ on women
Governments are putting women and girls at greater risk of the health and socio-economic impacts posed by the coronavirus pandemic, two global studies released Wednesday show. They called on leaders to prioritise gender equity in their response to the health crisis. Two studies, one from a global research partnership led by the Global Health 50/50 Project in London and another by the Center for Global Development (CGD) in Washington, were released Wednesday to coincide with World Health Day that highlight major failings by national governments to consider sex or gender in their COVID-19 policies. Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, several studies have pointed to the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women. Many women have shouldered a heftier burden taking on more unpa...
Senator Mark urges Nigerians to bury religious, ethnic differences
News Agency of Nigeria A former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, has charged Nigerians to bury their religious and ethnic differences and come together to establish a common front against forces threatening the peaceful coexistence of the people. Mark said it was time for all men and women of good conscience to rise to the occasion and proffer lasting solutions to the lingering insecurity that has enveloped the entire country. The former Senate President stated this at a mass on Thursday to mark his 73rd birthday at St. Mulumba Catholic Chaplaincy, Apo, Abuja. According to him, Nigerians can no longer deny the current level of insecurity and disharmony rocking the nation. He said: “Though we have different reasons to celebrate at different times, we cannot shy away from the pre...
Nasarawa first lady restates commitment to fight violence against women
Nasarawa State First Lady, Hajiya Silifat Abdullahi Sule, has reaffirmed her resolve to fight all forms of violence against women. Silifat Sule, stated this while playing host to a delegation from Adogi who were in her office on Tuesday, on a thank you visitfor sponsoring the medical treatment of an infant, Ruqayya, who was raped last year. Recal that on May 27, 2020, a three-month-old baby, Ruqayya from Adogi, Lafia local government area of Nasarawa state was brutally raped by a 27 year old serial rapist, Ahmadu Yaro. Yaro had since been nabbed by Personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Nasarawa state command. Wife of the governor, who was overjoyed seeing Ruqayya looking healthy and playful after several surgical procedures at Jos University Teaching Hospital (J...
UN: 40 people killed in ethnic clashes in West Darfur
At least 40 people have been killed in Sudan’s West Darfur region after three days of ethnic clashes that have prompted the government to declare a state of emergency, the United Nations announced Monday. The clashes in El Geneina, which is close to the border with Chad, also left at least 58 people wounded. Fighting among members of the Arabi Rizeigat and Masalit tribes in El Geneina began after armed men shot two people and wounded two others in the Masalit tribe, according to the U.N. While authorities have yet to determine the cause of the shootings, gunfire exchanges between the two tribes continued into Monday, claiming at least 40 residents. Residents told Agence France-Presse they heard fresh gunfire accompanied by loud explosions at dawn Monday as the violence spread to the suburb...
Ebonyi attacks: VP Osinbajo visits affected communities
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has assured the people of Ebonyi State that justice would be served in the case of persons recently killed by assailants in the Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. Osinbajo stated this on Sunday when he visited the affected communities including Egedegede, Obegu and Amuzu. He was led to the affected communities by the state governor, Dave Umahi. The vice-president also directed the National Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Ministry Of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management And Social Development to assess the level of damage done by the assailants with a view of providing succor for the affected communities. According to the governor, at least 15 persons were killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen who attacked the communities on the ...
US accuses Nigeria of significant human rights abuses
US Embassy in South Africa The United States has accusesd Nigeria of significant human rights abuses in its latest ‘’Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2020’’, released Wednesday by the Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour. In the report titled ‘’’Nigeria 2020 Human Rights Report, Executive Summary’’, the US accused Nigeria of ‘’significant’’ human rights abuses, which include: unlawful and arbitrary killings by both government and non-state actors; forced disappearances by the government, terrorists, and criminal groups; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government and terrorist groups; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions. The 102-page report also accused the federal government of ‘’arbitrary d...
Feminist group tackles Pete Edochie over ‘misogynistic rants’
The Nigerian Feminist Forum (NFF) has described as unreasonable the comments allegedly made by celebrated thespian, Chief Pete Edochie during an interview he granted to BBC IGBO. In a statement by its Communications Officer, Angela Nkwo, NFF said Edochie in the interview “furthered his misogynistic rants concerning his views on Nigerian women in general.” NFF, therefore, called on Edochie to immediately retract the comments, which it said grossly misrepresented his pedigree as an elder in the Nollywood community. The women group also asked him to issue an apology for the gross misrepresentation and cause for concern he had provided for women to experience, tolerate and accept violence meted out to them by their husbands and partners. The statement read in part: “The Nigerian Feminist Forum...