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Experts Present Guidelines To Tackle Climate Change and Economic Growth

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Experts Present Guidelines To Tackle Climate Change and Economic Growth

By: Michael Mike

Experts in environmental field have come out with key policy steps to address the threat of climatic changes and launch the country into a new era of industrial development and economic growth.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Monday, the leader of the group (Society for Planet and Prosperity (SPP), a non-partisan organisation devoted to sustainable policy research, Prof. Chukwumerije Okereke, said after months of research, the group has unraveled 11 key steps and decisions that if taken in the next five years, there would be a socio-economic transformation required to enable Nigeria to meet the government’s 2060 net zero carbon emissions mission target.

Okereke, who is an internationally recognized scholar, flanked at the press conference by Executive Director, Society for Planet and Prosperity, Oghenemere Orugbo and CEO, GCA Capital Partners, Obi Ugochukwu, recalled that at
the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26), Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari committed to achieving net zero by 2060, which would be in line with the Climate Change Act and Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan, released in August 2022 and was developed to serve as the pathway toward achieving the 2060 net zero target. He noted that Nigeria has also launched a long-term vision for 2050, which is expected to inform the development of its Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy.

He said riding on the shoulder of Mr. President’s announcement at COP26, the Society for Planet and Prosperity (SPP) a non-partisan organisation devoted to sustainable policy research on the 28th of July 2022 launched the project “Nigeria: Top 10 Net zero Measures” with funding from the European Climate Foundation (ECF), disclosing that the Top 10 measures were later developed into 11 measures after critical examination by experts.

He said: “The main aim of the project was to map 11 key steps and decisions that if taken in the next 5 years will underpin a socio-economic transformation required to enable Nigeria to meet the government’s 2060 net zero target, the project was also aimed at presenting these steps and decisions in a format that is accessible to a wider public through communication materials that can stimulate and inform a wider public debate, involving civil societies and policymakers.”

He revealed that: “In selecting the top 11 measures, the Society for planet and prosperity engaged with senior experts from the government, the private sector, trade unions, civil society organisations, academia and think tanks, the media, and international development partners. They were invited to discuss and assess the benefits of successful implementation of each measure against four criteria, which are deemed to fairly represent the breadth of the development challenges facing the country.”

He said according to the report, prioritized measures that if implemented jointly over the next five years would significantly positively impact the ability of Nigeria to embark on a low-emission development pathway to a net-zero emission future are; (1) A strong focus on generating renewable electricity both on and off-grid (minimum of 30% of on-grid electricity from renewables), (2) Elimination of diesel and gasoline generators for electricity generation by 2030. (3) Plant 300 million trees [this decade] and promote Agro-forestry, reforestation and afforestation, including community-based forest management and recovery. (4) End (associated) gas flaring by 2030 (5) Reduce wood cooking from the current 72% of the population to 20% of the population by 2030 / introducing clean cooking into 30 million households (6) Embark on the construction of 300,000 green homes in the next 12 months and 1.5 million over the next 5 years (7) A modal shift in transport by realizing a shift of passengers to Bus Rapid Transport (BRT); backed up by enforcement of emissions standards in vehicles. (8) End landfilling of untreated waste and transit into properly designed and managed landfills with state-of-the-art gas collection (9) Increase the amount of irrigated land (ha) using renewable energy for pumping from 24.35% to 100% (and associated increase use of off-grid power in communities) (10) Consistent economy-wide Energy Efficiency improvements (-50% from 2015 baseline) Examples are reducing electricity transmission losses and replacing 4 million incandescent bulbs with Tubular Fluorescent Lamps (TFLs) or Light-emitting Diode (LEDs), equipment standards. (11) Landscape-scale restoration and recharging of the Lake Chad basin.”

He revealed that: “A rough calculation indicates that the eleven measures could result in an emission reduction of about 174.01 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030 similar to the fossil emission of Algeria or Iraq in 2021.”

He said: “Therefore, it is very important to note that the total implementation of all the measures in this report will facilitate the achievement of Net zero by 2060 as pronounced by Mr. President at COP26.”
Monday,
Okereke lamented that Nigeria is facing existential threat due to climate change, insisting that something urgently needed to be done to avert and stimulate the nation’s economy as the world is fast moving from fossil fuel.

He said the nation is presently at two extremes, the need to control climate change and build the economy and safeguard Nigeria over dependence of oil revenue, insisting that this must be top priority for the incoming administration.

Experts Present Guidelines To Tackle Climate Change and Economic Growth

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USAID, SON Partner to Reduce Lead Poisoning and Protect Nigerian Children

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USAID, SON Partner to Reduce Lead Poisoning and Protect Nigerian Children

By: Michael Mike

The United States Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Government of Nigeria, through the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), have agreed to collaborate on mitigating lead poisoning in the country.

By this arrangement, they plan to enhance surveillance, regulation, and enforcement of standards related to consumer goods and paints in Nigeria.

Lead can affect individuals of any age, but children are particularly vulnerable due to their behavioral patterns and susceptibility to toxicity at lower exposure levels.

Globally, an estimated one-third of children have blood lead concentrations that impair cognitive development and contribute to learning disabilities and attention deficits. A 2011 survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that unsafe mining and ore processing are the leading causes of lead poisoning in Nigeria.

USAID/Nigeria Mission Director, Melissa Jones in a meeting with SON Director General Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwunonso Okeke, said: “USAID is committed to leading the Government of Nigeria’s mitigation efforts to save Nigerian children from further risk of lead exposure.”

A statement on Thursday said USAID will provide technical assistance to SON to raise awareness about the safe use of products that contain lead, support Nigeria in joining the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (Lead Paint Alliance), and aid SON in enacting legislation to identify lead-containing products and its manufacturers. SON will lead engagement with other federal agencies working on lead removal in high-risk communities.

SON Director-General Dr. Okeke said that to limit lead in consumer goods and paints, SON adopted global and regional standards prohibiting the production and importation of paint products with lead concentration beyond 90 parts per million.

In April 2024, SON will participate in the United States and Nigeria Bi-National Commission meeting, contributing to technical discussions on policy framework, regulation, and sensitization on lead mitigation in Nigeria.

USAID, SON Partner to Reduce Lead Poisoning and Protect Nigerian Children

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FG Asked to Include Sign Language in Education Curriculum

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FG Asked to Include Sign Language in Education Curriculum

By: Michael Mike

The Federal Government has been advised to include sign language in the nation’s education curriculum.

The call was made on Thursday by a
Non Governmental Organisation, Beta Nigeria at a stakeholders meeting in Abuja.

The Federal Lead Beta Nigeria Campaign (BNC), Abdulsalam Badamasi, made the call while taking questions from news men on Thursday in Abuja. Where various Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and other stakeholders came together to strategise on the best way to advocate for improved education in Nigeria.

Badamasi who took questions from newsmen after the event said they only want to amplify the voices of existing NGOs in the education sector. And ask for a curriculum review that will accommodate excluded persons.

Responding to the demand by the Disability Rights Advocate, Janet Talbat, that sign language be included in the nation’s education curriculum, he said: “Part of the performance bond that the (23 agenda) has something to do with review of curriculum and I think that’s the opportunity where we can put this request into place. And of course we are going to make sure that we put the issue of exclusion in the front burner so that everybody can be able to put in and support the excluded persons in the education conversation

He also said: “We are looking at a more improved advocacy for education through increased advocacy for education resources. We are bringing in new voices and in the process we are going to ensure that we call on our politicians, service providers, we will also call on partners and others to come together and see how we can increase Nigeria’s commitment and investment to education to a certain level.”

Maryam Uwais, who was the Special Advisor to President Muhammadu Buhari on Social Investments, advised Beta to be cautious of the people’s culture and religion in their campaign to bring more children and out of school children back to school.

She noted that: “The approach to engage in this issues is critical; when for instance we give the impression that Islamic education is not education is going to alienate the people who will want to bring the children into formal education. So we need to find words, the sensitivity, the culture and bring it into our own advocacy and campaign to engage with them and make them understand that it is just a different kind of education and that it’s critical for the children to go and thrive in this world.

Speaking on the importance of formal education, she said, “Today’s context insists that we must have the numerics and the alphabets. And a good understanding of that if we are going to even have skills. We need to sell our products in the market.

“So if we leave our children to just one form of education then they are going to be the ones that have been left out behind. There is so much to gian from formal education because the children will people to fall back to, they will build networks. A few year of formal education make a lot of difference in the life of a girl child, her family and her community.”

Janet Fasatan Talbat of Disability Rights Advocate (Ability Plus Initiative), used the opportunity to call on the organisers to convey her demand of including sign language in the nation’s basic education curriculum to the Minister of education to enable the deaf and those who can speak to communicate with ease.

She said: “As a deaf person I went to a primary school without sign language Teachers and today I have children who are going to school (without sign language teachers); we cannot communicate effectively because they are not being taught sign language. Please when you meet the Minister tell him to include sign language in our educational curriculum.”

FG Asked to Include Sign Language in Education Curriculum

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NAF obliterate scores of Bandits in Tsafe, Zamfara

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NAF obliterate scores of Bandits in Tsafe, Zamfara

By: Zagazola Makama

The Nigerian Airforce have naturalized scores of bandits in damaging airstrikes in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara state.

Military sources confirmed to Zagazola Makama that the airstrikes were conducted
in two locations on Wednesday March 27, 2024, at Magazu Village, Gidan Giye and Kachallah Hassan Nabamu camp, in Tsafe LGA.

Sources said that the gunbattle began with ground troops of Operation Hadarin Daji who repelled the bandits as they attempted to infiltrate Gidan Giye in Tsafe. After their defeat by the the troops, the bandits immediately called for reinforcement.

Soon, the bandits started converging at Tabanni, Magazu and Kachallah Hassan Nabamu villages in an efforts to carry out attacks in Tsafe from different front.

The sources said that NAF assets was detailed to conduct aerial patrols where its identified the terrorists moving in a large convoys of about 50 motorcycles conveying two fighters around Magazu.

The sources said that the attack aircraft delivered at least four full packages of shawarma, Zobo and Sausages, which scored a divaststing hits, leading to the neutralization of scores of the fighters.

The sources said that the surviving bandits were visibly seen scampering for safety in different directions while the strike was taking place.

The aftermath of the strikes later revealed the obliteration of almost 37 motorcycles and the terrorists on them while dead bodies were seen all over the places at Kachallah Hassan Nabamu camp in Tsafe.

Zagazola understands that some of the bandits leaders and fighters are currently at Asola village for a condolence visiting following killing of their fighters by the troops of Operation Hadarin Daji.

NAF obliterate scores of Bandits in Tsafe, Zamfara

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