National News
FG, AFD to Strengthen Co-operation on Climate Action in Nigeria

FG, AFD to Strengthen Co-operation on Climate Action in Nigeria
By: Michael Mike, Abuja
The federal government and the French Development Agency, “Agence Française de Dévelopment” (AFD) have renewed their commitment to strengthen their cooperation towards promoting climate action and the low carbon economic development in Nigeria.
This agreement was reached on Wednesday when the new Country Director of the French Development Agency, Mr. Xavier Muron paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of State for the Environment, Chief Sharon Ikeazor at her office in Abuja.
Muron said the visit was to discuss AFD strategies and priorities for climate action in Nigeria, especially based on the just concluded COP26 and the commitment of Nigeria in this regard.
He also said the meeting was intended to provide an opportunity to discuss the upcoming launch of the Nigeria Deep Decarbonization Project (DDP Nigeria) scheduled to hold in Abuja in the coming week.
The Country Director noted that AFD was already funding and collaborating with the Ministry on several high-impact projects in the areas of waste management, biodiversity conservation, urban development, power transmission, and off-grid capacity development. Some of these, he said, are already ongoing while some are in the pipeline.
Muron said he was especially excited about the Nigeria Deep Decarbonization Project which is a national research and capacity building project for the implementation of a Deep Decarbonization Pathway Programme (DDPP) in Nigeria funded by the Agence Française de Dévelopment (AFD) with the International Relation and Sustainable Development Institute (IDDRI) as the Programme Coordinator.
The project is done in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment under a framework established through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Federal Government and the AFD signed in December 2020. The key objective of the DPP Nigeria is to mobilize and reinforce the capacities of local teams of experts and researchers in Nigeria to be able to produce country studies analyzing decarbonization scenarios and low-emission development pathways. DDP is led by the Center of Climate Change and Development at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo with researchers from several universities across the country participating as Research Fellows.
The National Project leader for DDP Nigeria, Professor Chukwumerije Okereke who is the Director of the Center for Climate Change at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo, Ebonyi State said he was excited that the DDP Nigeria will build the capacity of Nigeria to develop scenarios produce robust quantitative models that can help guide Nigeria’s long term low emission development.
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Responding, the Minister of State thanked the AFD for their visit and for both their current and pipeline of funded projects to help Nigeria tackle climate change and related environmental challenges.
She said the Ministry is determined to tackle the myriad of challenges posed by climate change with the support of both national and international cooperation.
She said it was evident through the ambitious NDC recently submitted by Nigeria that drastic measures are required in the areas of climate mitigation as well as efforts to enhance the adaptive capacity of Nigeria to protect the country from the negative impact of climate change.
Ikeazor said the ministry is fully aware of the imperative of energy transition for the country and is already working in close collaboration with other relevant ministries and agencies to facilitate the financing and implementation of the Energy Transition Plan of the government.
The Minister noted that while the production of country studies analyzing pathways for low-emission development strategies for Nigeria has always been a critical component of the national climate policy, generating context-relevant long term climate scenarios and modeling for Nigeria has become even more imperative in the light of the newly submitted NDC and the net zero carbon pledge made by the President at COP26 in Glasgow.
The Minister expressed optimism that the analysis that will be done under the Nigerian Deep Decarbonization project will complement the scenarios work done in the Energy Transition Plan so that the country will have a rich menu of options for pursuing her decarbonization agenda with a clear understanding of the implications the various decarbonization options and pathways.
She said she was looking forward to hosting the participants in the launch to present the DDP project to the larger community of stakeholders to ensure wider project ownership as well as to begin the conversation on the scenarios and modeling options that can help Nigeria achieve her stated long-term climate objectives including the goal of net-zero emission by 2060.
Ikeazor announced the commitment of Nigeria to achieve the goal of net-zero emission by 2060 that a Federal Executive Council memo is being prepared for a sustainable National Energy Transition plan for the country.
FG, AFD to Strengthen Co-operation on Climate Action in Nigeria
National News
Eid-el-Kabir: IPCR Calls on Nigerians to Peace, Harmony

Eid-el-Kabir: IPCR Calls on Nigerians to Peace, Harmony
By: Michael Mike
Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) has called on Nigerians to promote peace and harmony in their communities, recognizing that peace is essential to national development and progress.
The advice was given by the Director General of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Dr. Joseph Ochogwu, in his message on Eid-el-Kabir.
The Institute, while extending warm greetings to Nigerians, wished them a joyous and peaceful celebration, marked by love, compassion, and unity.
The Institute while noting that Sallah is a significant occasion in the Islamic calendar, symbolizing the values of sacrifice, gratitude, and community, emphasized that the spirit of Sallah should guide Nigerians in their interactions with one another, fostering a culture of peace, tolerance, and understanding.
The IPCR urged Nigerians to promote peace and harmony in their communities, recognizing that peace is essential to national development and progress, while
encouraging individuals to embrace the values of Sallah, including forgiveness, empathy, and kindness, in their daily lives.
According to IPCR, peace is critical to promoting national stability and cohesion.
The Institute also urged Nigerians to use this period of Sallah celebration to address conflicts and promote dialogue, which could help to build trust and understanding among Nigerians and also contribute to a more peaceful society.
It recognized that the country’s many ethnic and religious groups can work together to build a more harmonious society, celebrating their differences and promoting a culture of tolerance.
End
National News
Community Leader Seeks Tinubu’s Urgent Intervention in Incessant Plateau Killing

Community Leader Seeks Tinubu’s Urgent Intervention in Incessant Plateau Killing
By: Michael Mike
A community leader and the Waziri Mushere of Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, Chief Yohana Margif has expressed dismay over the incessant killing of innocent citizens of the community.
Margif made this known in an interview with journalists on Thursday in Abuja.
He called on President Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene to halt what he described as genocide against the people, which he said was being perpetrated by suspected herdsmen.
Margif also called on Malam Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser, and other security chiefs in the country, to rein in the alleged culprits.
He said: “I would like to draw the attention of the topmost leadership in Nigeria to the deteriorating dire security situation in Plateau, particularly in Mushere Chiefdom of Bokkos LGA.
“I urge President Tinubu to take immediate decisive action to halt these endless and senseless killings, protect lives and properties, and secure the future of the Mushere people, and other victims of obvious genocide against the people.
“Herdsmen are killing our innocent people, burning their homes, looting their foodstuff, property, livestock, and taking over their ancestral lands,” he said.
According to the Abuja-based real estate mogul, the attacks and attendant killings have intensified recently since the onset of this year’s farming season.
Margif further said that the people had been displaced from their villages and ancestral homes and were forced to become internally displaced persons in the country.
He emphasised that the situation required immediate intervention by all stakeholders in order to prevent further escalation and inflict an irredeemable harm by wiping out the entire community from the surface of the earth.
He lamented that: “Since President Tinubu’s administration began, Plateau State has witnessed an unprecedented escalation of violence and loss of lives.
“This is the current sad reality. Our people are constantly under the threat of the enemy’s bullets and can’t sleep with two eyes closed due to the perpetual unleashing of violence against them by external forces.
“Something urgent must be done to stem the tide of violence and end this war against the people in order not to
harm this administration’s reputation,” Margif said.
In the past couple of days, suspected herdsmen militia killed no fewer than 35 people in the localities of Hokk, Pangkap, Fokoldep, Kopmur, Margif, Horop, Mbor, Mushere and Kwahas localities in Mushere Chiefdom.
Chairman, Bokkos Community Peace Observers, Kefas Mallai, who confirmed the killings to newsmen, said the victims included a 70-year-old Pastor of COCIN LCC Kwakas-Mushere, Mimang Lekyil, who was attacked and killed in the church.
He said that the pastor’s wife was also shot in the leg and was admitted at the Jos University Teaching Hospital for treatment, he said.
“Bokkos has never been this insecure, with the people being butchered as we are currently witnessing,” Lilian Madaki, from the Mushere community told journalists.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Emmanuel Adesina, also confirmed the incident in a statement saying security forces including police and military personnel, had been deployed in the affected communities.
Community Leader Seeks Tinubu’s Urgent Intervention in Incessant Plateau Killing
National News
VP Shettima Leads Mourners At Funeral Prayers For Late Prof. Jibril Aminu

VP Shettima Leads Mourners At Funeral Prayers For Late Prof. Jibril Aminu
** Says Nigeria has lost an intellectual giant
By: Our Reporter
Vice President Kashim Shettima today led other Muslim faithful for the Jana’iza (funeral prayers) of the late elder statesman, renowned medical scholar and former Minister of Education and Petroleum, Prof. Jibril Aminu, at the National Mosque in Abuja.

Prof. Aminu, a one-time President of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organisation (OPEC), passed on in Abuja on Thursday after a prolonged illness.
The Vice President, who arrived at the National Mosque at 1:52 pm, commiserated with the family of the deceased and prayed Allah to comfort them and make Aljanna Firdaus the final abode of the late elder statesman.

Noting that the late Prof Aminu’s demise is a great loss to the nation, VP Shettima described the late surgeon, educationist and administrator as a man who saw it all, just as he said the deceased was an intellectual giant who can hardly be replaced.
“It is a very sad loss. Prof Jubril Aminu was the last of the great titans, an iconic figure who enormously contributed to the development of the nation.
“He was variously the Executive Secretary of NUC, Vice Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri and Honourable Minister of various ministries across the country and left his landmarks on the sands of time.
“He is irreplaceable. May Allah grant him Aljanatul Firdaus and give the family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss. His loss is not just to the good people of Adamawa State but to the nation and Africa at large,” the Vice President prayed.

Born in Song, Adamawa in 1939, Prof. Aminu was a towering figure in Nigerian public life.
The late Consultant Cardiologist served the nation in different capacities, including as Federal Minister of Education and later Federal Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (1989–1992), Ambassador of Nigeria to the United States (1999–2003), and Senator representing Adamawa Central (2003–2011).
He was also President of OPEC in 1991 and President of the OPEC Conference between 1991 and 1992 while he was Petroleum Minister.
Other mourners who joined the Vice President at the National Mosque in Abuja for the Jana’iza included former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; Special Adviser to the President on General Duties (Office of the Vice President), Dr. Aliyu Modibbo; former Secretary to the Federal Government, Yayale Ahmed; former Governor of Adamawa State, Admiral Murtala Nyako; former Governor of Gombe State, Senator Danjuma Goje; former Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai (rtd); former Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman; former Minister of State for Health, Dr. Aliyu Idi Hong, among many others.
VP Shettima Leads Mourners At Funeral Prayers For Late Prof. Jibril Aminu
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