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UN Resident Coordinator Leads March Against Violence Against Women in Abuja
UN Resident Coordinator Leads March Against Violence Against Women in Abuja
By: Michael Mike
The United Nations Resident Coordinator, Mohammed Fall on Saturday led some prominent women activists in a march on major streets of Nigerian capital city of Abuja to demand for the end of violence against women.
The march was part of activities marking the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV) celebrated worldwide.
During the march which was organized in Abuja by the UN Women in conjunction with Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF), Medicaid Cancer Foundation, the UN Resident Coordinator alongside the women carried placards demanding for an end to violence against women and spoke against what they termed crime not only against women but humanity.
Addressing the media after the long walk, Mr. Fall said there was urgent need for an end in violence against women, girls and boys, insisting that everyone needs to be involved in the campaign as it affects the entire human race.
He lamented that the statistics of violence against women is still very much alarming and showed that it needed to be approached with all round strategies that would make people to know its harm and get offenders no hiding place.
Fall said there is still much told be done by government, law enforcement agencies and leaders in all sectors to build awareness against violence against women and to expose it for what it is: crime against humanity.
Speaking on the need to put an end to the crime, the former First Lady of Kebbi State and Founder of Medicaid Cancer Foundation, Dr Zainab Bagudu said with the law against violence against women in place, there is still need to fight on until the society shows it does not tolerate violence against women.
She said after the law, “then the next step becomes the implementation and general awareness, the mindset of the average, person from our environment, is that they don’t even understand what constitutes abuse. So we need to educate them, to make them aware, and most importantly, to combine the facilities that they need if abuse should take place, we focus on women and young adolescent girls, but boys are also victims of abuse, and they can turn out to be perpetrators once they have been abused.”
She said “there is continuous need
to organize educational classes in schools and different places, so that we can educate our boys and they can prompt be supportive.”
She noted that there is need for much more efforts at ending the violence against women, insisting that: “Well, it’s (campaign) never enough. We’re a very large country. The population is high, so we know the challenges that we have and different conflicting priorities. So it’s important that we don’t get tired, and one of the advocacies that we do, to call on government to provide more resources, and donor partners, to help us. The task can be quite big, and the police can sometimes not be as responsive as we would like them to be, due to other reasons, but we hope that they will be more acute to the trauma that this causes to women, children and some men when it happens, and that’s why we keep on advocating so it’s not enough. We need to have more. We need to have more action. We need to have more understanding. There are also programmes that focus on educating our security forces so that they really understand how they should be reacting. Every police station should have a desk against gender based violence and women should have the confidence, or abused victims should have the confidence to approach these desks, make their point without fear of stigmatization.”
On her part, the Mandate Secretary of the Federal Capital Territory, Dr. Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, said the campaign was on in all parts of the Federal Capital Territory to drive the message to the grassroots.
She noted that: “We need to keep aggregating and scaling like what is happening today. We need to have more of this advocacy. We need to have more of the intentionality of collaborations between governments and private, public individuals, people who are able to invest and engage not just the interest, but in terms of the action and bringing interventions from messaging to the place of invested empowerment, of the mindsets of cultural traditional practices.”
Project Manager of WARIF, Adeola Potts-Johnson, on her part, said the campaign has been a success so far for it has grown from just being held in a city to many important cities of Nigeria and prominent cities across the globe.
She said WARIF would continue to push the bar until violence against women becomes history.
UN Resident Coordinator Leads March Against Violence Against Women in Abuja
European Union Commits €22m to Accelerate Nigeria’s Fibre Network Under BRIDGE Project
By: Michael Mike
The European Union has pledged €22 million in grant funding to support Nigeria’s large-scale fibre-optic expansion, reinforcing the Federal Government’s drive to transform the country’s digital backbone.
The grant, announced in Abuja on Wednesday, will be channelled through the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and on-granted to the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy for implementation of the government’s Project BRIDGE initiative.
The EU funding will sit alongside an €86 million loan from the EBRD’s own resources, pending final approval. The operation represents the EBRD’s first major sovereign financing in Nigeria since the country formally became a shareholder of the bank last year.
Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijjani described the agreement as a decisive step toward delivering the BRIDGE project within schedule, noting that Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda depends heavily on robust and inclusive broadband infrastructure.
He said the partnership reflects growing confidence in Nigeria’s digital roadmap and expressed optimism that 2026 would mark a year of tangible progress in cooperation between Nigeria and the EU.
EBRD President, Odile Renaud-Basso, who is on an official visit to Nigeria, said the bank was proud to collaborate with the EU to expand digital infrastructure in Africa’s largest economy. She noted that the technical cooperation embedded in the financing is structured to crowd in private capital while ensuring secure, resilient and inclusive connectivity.
EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Gautier Mignot, underscored the strategic importance of digital networks to both Nigeria and the EU, stressing the need for trusted, high-integrity infrastructure built to international standards.
Project BRIDGE aims to deploy 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic cables nationwide through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that will be capitalised with sovereign loans and private sector participation. In addition to the EBRD financing, the Federal Government is expected to receive support from the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
The EU’s €22 million package combines technical assistance with investment support to speed up project preparation and strengthen implementation capacity. It will fund low-level design work for about 40,000 kilometres of the planned network, including route mapping, crossing surveys, digital planning, quality assurance and security risk assessments aligned with global best practices.
Officials said this groundwork would provide the SPV with a ready-to-execute blueprint, enabling immediate rollout once financing arrangements are finalised and the vehicle is established with at least 51 per cent private sector ownership.
Beyond infrastructure, the grant is expected to deepen Nigeria’s digital skills base. About 2,000 technicians will receive specialised training, while small subcontractors will gain access to pooled procurement systems and equipment subsidies designed to reduce entry barriers.
Authorities estimate that these measures could lower deployment costs by between 20 and 30 per cent, while promoting adherence to Nigerian and EU quality standards and encouraging participation of European technology suppliers in the fibre supply chain.
The intervention forms part of the EU’s broader Global Gateway strategy, which supports investments in digital infrastructure, public services and human capital development across partner countries.
For Nigeria, the partnership signals renewed international backing for its ambition to build a resilient, open-access broadband network capable of driving economic growth, innovation and digital inclusion nationwide.
European Union Commits €22m to Accelerate Nigeria’s Fibre Network Under BRIDGE Project
Troops repel insurgents, neutralise suspected informant in Borno
By: Zagazola Makama
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai have repelled suspected insurgents and neutralised a suspected informant during operations in Ngamdu area of Borno.
Military sources said the action followed signals intelligence indicating that suspected Boko Haram elements were massing.
At about 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 18, troops carried out a fire mission on the identified area, forcing the insurgents to disperse and abort their suspected plan.
Shortly afterward, at about 3:45 a.m., troops engaged and neutralised a suspected insurgent informant who attempted to breach the trench defensive position in Ngamdu.
Sources said the troops immediately conducted a search of the surrounding area after the encounter but made no further contact with fleeing suspects.
Troops repel insurgents, neutralise suspected informant in Borno
Yobe: Troops Disperse Terrorists, Arrest Five Suspected Arms Smugglers
By: Zagazola Makama
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai have disrupted a suspected terrorist gathering and arrested five suspected arms smugglers during separate operations in Yobe State.
Security sources said that at about 6:21 p.m. on Feb. 17, troops conducted a fire mission following credible intelligence that terrorists were converging in large numbers on motorcycles at Mangari, about 10.6 kilometres from the location of the 135 Special Forces Battalion in Buratai.
The swift action forced the insurgents to disperse in disarray, effectively disrupting their suspected plans.
In a separate development, troops of the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Potiskum apprehended five suspected arms smugglers and abductors at about 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 18 at a checkpoint along the Gombe–Potiskum road.
Those arrested included a 41-year-old suspect, Baba Abare, who was found in possession of an AK-47 rifle, alongside four others identified as Idris Zakari, 33; Nasiru Aliyu, 25; Abdullahi Sulaiman, 35; and Mohammed Idris, 34, all said to be indigenes of Potiskum town.
The suspects were intercepted in two Golf Wagon vehicles bearing registration numbers Borno NGL-506XA and Kaduna DKD16-01.
They were disarmed and handed over to appropriate authorities for further investigation.
Yobe: Troops Disperse Terrorists, Arrest Five Suspected Arms Smugglers
European Union Commits €22m to Accelerate Nigeria’s Fibre Network Under BRIDGE Project
Troops repel insurgents, neutralise suspected informant in Borno
Yobe: Troops Disperse Terrorists, Arrest Five Suspected Arms Smugglers
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