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Ebonyi State Government has political will, commitment to make Spotlight Initiative 2.0 successful

Ebonyi State Government has political will, commitment to make Spotlight Initiative 2.0 successful
By: Michael Mike
As the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative to End Violence Against Women and Girls closed out and was handed over to Ebonyi State Government, the State Governor, H.E. Francis Nwifuru, has reassured partners and other stakeholders, of his government’s political will and commitment to ensure the success of the second phase of the Spotlight project.
Represented by the Speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Moses Odunwa at the event held on 26 October 2023, the Governor informed that “the state is well prepared to take up the second phase of the SI project. The state government is well equipped to support the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agncies, and other partners to make the second phase a success.”

Nwifuru reassured all stakeholders and the people of Ebonyi that the signing of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, was not a joke, emphasizing that the law would be implemented and enforced. “The state government is committed to the full actualization of the VAPP Act. If there is any gap in the implementation of the VAPP law, the state government stand ready to address such gaps.” He pointed out, and later declared the project closed and committed to continuing its second phase.
The joint EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, aimed at eliminating violence against women and girls and harmful practices was launched in 2019, with implementation focusing on five states: Adamawa, Cross-River, Ebonyi, Lagos, and Sokoto, plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
UNESCO representative at the event, Ms Regine Priso, urged the Ebonyi State Government to take active steps to sustain the gains of the first phase of the Spotlight project. “The state performed well, the next phase can only be better considering the enabling environment provided by the Governor and the First Lady of the state.
She highlighted some of the achievements of the Spotlight project in Ebonyi State: Establishment of the National Gender-Based Violence Data Situation Room and Dashboard; One-stop Centre; Safe spaces; and the Second Chance Education programme which reached 25,000 girls and young women, including boys and men in the state; among many others.
National Spotlight Coordinator Ms Anu John, noted that the Spotlight Initiative project had led to notable progress towards gender equality in Nigeria. “In 2020, the country saw a significant reduction in gender-based violence (GBV) cases, as well as an increase in reporting of such cases.” She said.
According Ms John, this progress is reflected in the Global Gender Gap reports, with Nigeria rising to 128 out of 153 countries in 2020. “Furthermore, Nigeria has climbed 16 places in the 2022 global gender gap index, reaching the 123rd position out of 146 countries. This represents a substantial improvement from its ranking of 139th out of 156 countries in 2021.” She added.
The hand-over ceremony featured screening of a TV Documentary on the achievements and impacts of Spotlight Initiative in Ebonyi State, and beneficiaries testimonials, while the State Cultural troupe also presented a stage performance on ending GBV.
Ebonyi State Government has political will, commitment to make Spotlight Initiative 2.0 successful
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Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised

Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised
By: Zagazola Makama
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), under the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), conducted a successful Air Interdiction (AI) mission at a terrorists’ hideout in the Southern Tumbuns general area in the Lake Chad of Borno, killing scores of the terrorists.
Intelligent sources told Zagazola Makama that the precision air strike, which took place at about 2100 hours on 5 May 2025, targeted a major terrorists’ concentration camp located in the Tumbuma Baba axis of Lake Chad.
The sources said that the offensive was in continuation of a decisive Operation KALACHEN WUTA II, aimed at denying terrorists the freedom to execute large-scale attacks during the Eid el-Kabir period.
The sources said that Intelligence and Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) reports confirmed that several terrorists were neutralised during the strike, and key logistics under heavy foliage were destroyed.
The sources said that the strikes followed credible intelligence on planned coordinated attacks by the insurgents before, during, and after the Eid festivities. The mission was meticulously planned and executed to forestall such threats and sustain pressure on terrorist elements operating in the Lake Chad fringes.
“We observed significant secondary explosions, indicating the presence of arms and fuel storage. Multiple terrorists were seen fleeing the area, while several others were eliminated during the strike,” the source said.
The sources said efforts are ongoing to gather further feedback, as well as to assess the operational impact of the interdiction.
He added that preliminary signs suggest a high level of disarray and panic within the terrorists’ ranks, with reports of attempted regrouping under surveillance.
Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised
News
Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani
By: Zagazola Makama
The Nigerian Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai have executed a coordinated strike on a major terrorist enclave located at Maisani in the Timbuktu Triangle general area of Borno State, killing several ISWAP terrorists.
Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the air interdiction mission conducted on May 4, 2025, at approximately 1800 hours, was informed by credible intelligence and sustained surveillance, targeted terrorists’ structures cleverly concealed and camouflaged under thick shrubs in the area.
The sources said that using advanced platforms, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) conducted a focused Air Interdiction (AI) mission, resulting in the destruction of the identified enemy hideouts and the neutralisation of an unconfirmed number of insurgent fighters.
According to the sources, Post-strike Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) obtained from our Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms confirmed that the airstrike achieved its intended objectives, dealing a significant blow to terrorists.
Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani
News
Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting
By: Michael Mike
As the world marks the 2025 Environment Day, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has appealed to the World Bank for support on capacity building, data and in addressing the challenges poised by Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) in the country.
Head of Department, National Accounts Energy and Environment at the NBS, Dr. Baba Madu made the appeal at the 2025 Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) Conference on Thursday in Abuja with support from the World Bank in. collaboration with the NBS and the Federal Ministry of Environment.
Madu while noting that the NCA was a new area Nigeria must exploit to further boost the nation’s economy, said for Nigeria to grow and be at par with other developed nations, there was need to account for her natural resources.
He said: “NCA has been tasked with the crucial role of integrating natural capital into economic measurement. It is impossible to measure the economy accurately without accounting for natural resources. Issues such as environmental degradation, afforestation, desertification, and climate change all directly impact productivity.
“Productivity in turn, influences output—one of the core components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). These environmental factors must be reflected across all economic activity sectors to present a more accurate picture of national output.”
While stating that Nigeria currently has data on NCA in Nigeria, the NBS official however raised concerns over the huge data gap from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the environment sector.
He said: “We are not doing badly but we need to improve on what we are doing. In terms of data sources, I can tell you there’s a big gap because these are new areas needed to be exploited.”
Programme Leader on Sustainable Development at the World Bank, Vina Vutukuru, said there was need to jointly
explore the vital role of national accounting in national development plans and to brainstorm on how Nigeria could institutionalize it.
He said: “Establishing the national capital accounting as part of the national account system will allow us to measure the economic value of ecosystem services such as clean air, water and biodiversity which are essential for our well-being and economic prosperity.”
Vutukuru commended Nigeria for having “very bold ambitions” as far as responding to climate change was concerned saying, “That shows the commitment of the policy makers here towards the issue of climate.
“But I think to back up that aspiration and the aggressive goals that Nigeria has set for itself, the foundational thing for those goals to materialize those objectives to come true is a very strong natural account system.”
Head of Media, National Council on Climate Change Secretariat (NCCCS), Chioma Azie who represented her Director General, Dr. Nkiruka Maduekwe at the event, described Nigeria as a very ambitious country, stressing that natural resources was instrumental to achieving all the objective of climate action.
She said: “Technology, policy reforms, behavioral changes has a role to play but natural resources is very key because they’re underpinning the mitigation and adaptation for climate action.
“If you look at Nigeria’s NDC, the NCA is an avenue to provide raw materials that we could use to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies.
“If you look at what we have done in terms of this NDC in 2020.which is the second leg of the NDC, we identified a lot of mitigation activities within this mentioned sectors of ours. In agricultural sector we talked about smart agriculture. What is smart agriculture without natural resources?
“We talked about biomass, what is biomass without natural resources? We also spoke about land use changes and that is natural resources, we talk about natural solutions and we talked about also afforestation, reafforestation. Those are mitigation potentials of our NDC. So, we cannot achieve our NDC without SEEA.
“What you cannot be able to account for is recorded as if it is not done so if we know what is existing in terms of the reservoirs we have for natural resources, it can inform the scope of the mitigation activities we’re going to be imputing in the NDC 3.0,” she said.
Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting
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