In part of its ongoing research work to understand how Nigerians view peace, United States Institute of Peace (USIP) has so far identified six alternative ways to measure peace in the country, stressing that evaluating the state of peace should go beyond counting fatalities. USIP is however a national, nonpartisan, independent institute, founded by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical and essential for the US and global security. In conflict zones, the Institute works with local partners to prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict. To reduce future crises and the need for costly interventions,…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
The world’s most recognized label for social justice and sustainability, Fairtrade International and a leading crowd-funding platform addressing the local challenges of climate change, Grow Ahead, have hammered out a partnership deal to help out some farmers. With the deal, they will be working together to deliver comprehensive climate mitigation solutions to smallholder farmers through targeted agroforestry efforts. This is coming as global leaders, climate activists and international organisations rose from the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Apparently encouraged by the outcome of the climate summit, Fairtrade and Grow Ahead have committed to supporting reforestation (agroforestry) projects at Fairtrade…
International Standard Organisation (ISO) has come out with a new standard for a digital token identifier that keeps everyone on the same spreadsheet. This is coming following the rise in popularity of decentralised cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. There is also an increased need for a common language to facilitate their safe and secure use. Digital token identifiers (DTIs) fulfil this role so long as they are the same for everyone. A new International Standard has just been developed to ensure that they are. ISO is, however, an independent, non-governmental international organisation with a membership of 165 national standards bodies. Through its…
More than 150 million school children globally are still missing out on meals and essential health and nutrition services. This is largely due to the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the pandemic caused extensive disruption to schools and education worldwide. As a result, millions of children were unable to get their school meals or benefit from school-based health and nutrition services such as deworming, vaccination and psycho-social support. And, following pandemic-driven school closures, five United Nations agencies have thrown their strong support behind an international coalition to improve the nutrition, health and education of school-age children around the world. In a…
At seven, Dania, (not real name) underwent female genital mutilation in her home town, Sulaymaniyah, in northern Iraq. Explaining how it all began, she said, ‘’my mother told me one morning, come with me, we need to go to the bakery. That day, I experienced fear, deception and excruciating pain. I was only seven.’’ Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is recognized internationally as a gross violation of the human rights of girls and women, which reflects deep-rooted inequalities between the sexes and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls. The practice comprises all procedures that involve altering or…
Power seekers in Akwa Ibom State with eyes on 2023, are currently locked in a backstage rat race to sucket themselves into Maintain Peace Movement (MPM), a budding political group. The Movement is being promoted as an umbrella platform to campaign for Governor Udom Emmanuel’s successor. Desperate politicians who want to be ‘anointed’ for any public office in the post-Udom era are repositioning themselves for key roles. Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) National Legal Adviser, Emmanuel Enoidem, who has already pitched his political tent with MPM says it is a vehicle to impress on the electorate to continue to vote for…
On Tuesday, Governor Nyesom Wike led a delegation of Rivers State elders and elected representatives to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, charging him to unravel the real motive behind the recent invasion of the residence of Justice Mary Odili of the Supreme Court. He was accompanied by Senator Betty Apiafi, Senator George Sekibo, Senator Barry Mpigi, Senator Lee Maeba, Senator Olaka Nwogu, Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani, former Presidents of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Onueze C.J Okocha, (SAN) and Okey Wali, (SAN), former Transport Minister, Dr. Abiye Sekibo, and…
Founder of No Hunger Initiatives, Professor Gbadebo Odularu, has a background in economics, with a special interest in food policy economics. He had additional training as an agricultural and rural development economist. That the experiences “solidified my interest in food issues, in hunger eradication, in malnutrition elimination”, he said. In an interview with PLAC Beam, a magazine of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Odularu speaks on hunger, health and the work of his organisation. On hunger Hunger is not only in Africa or Nigeria; hunger is a global problem. I’ve been teaching, consulting for government, international organisations and collaborating with my…
Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, appears to be at the centre of the protracted crisis that has been rocking the Rivers State wing of All Progressives Congress (APC) since the build-up to the 2019 elections. All does not seem to be going good in his camp ahead of the 2023 polls. Except he gives in to superior argument, APC might be heading to the waterloo again in the state. On the internal bleeding of the party in the state, accusing fingers are pointing at the direction of the minister from his top political associates. While as a sitting Peoples Democratic Party…
Despite high incidence of poverty and unemployment in Akwa Ibom State, one of the top oil states in Nigeria, the Udom administration is bracing to declare war on ‘’illegal’’ motor parks and markets in Uyo, the state capital. Though the administration angrily disputed a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that rated the state as the second-highest in terms of unemployment in the country, it is, however, not in doubt that there is huge unemployment and mass poverty in the state. The Udom administration claimed that the NBS report called for serious scrutiny for daring to list the…
In Nigeria, the annual food inflation rate rose for the 24th consecutive month to 20.75 per cent in October from 20.71 per cent in September, owing to further increases in the prices of basic food items, so says the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The data agency disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for October 2021, explaining, “this rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of food products, coffee, tea and cocoa, milk, cheese and eggs, bread and cereals, vegetables and potatoes, yam and other tubers.” While the Food inflation rate…
In the next four years, going by the fourth World Health Organisation (WHO) global tobacco trends report, the number of tobacco users is expected to drop to 1.27 billion. The 2025 target is coming as the number of tobacco users, according to WHO, continues to decrease globally, going from 1.32 billion in 2015 to 1.30 billion last year. Sixty countries are now on track to achieving the voluntary global target of a 30% per cent reduction by 2025, an increase from two years ago, when only 32 countries were on course. For WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, the numbers are very encouraging, but more work must be done, pointing out, “we still have a long way to go, and tobacco companies will continue to use every trick in the book to defend the gigantic…
She is busy empowering women and tearing down gender-based violence. She is Yuan Qing. Her father passed away when she was five years old. When her mother remarried and moved to another village, Ms. Yuan was raised by her aunt. In their small village in the Anhui Province, southeastern China, Ms. Yuan faced gender discrimination her whole life. She dreamed of attending university. But her aunt refused to finance her last three years of secondary school education. “Girls have to get married sooner or later, and it’s a waste of money to send them to school”, the aunt told her.…
Country Director for Action Aid and Convener of Situation Room, Ene Obi, in an unputdownable interview with PLAC BEAM, a monthly magazine of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) explodes on the role of civic groups in restoring democracy to Nigeria, advice for younger women, why the struggle for social justice is her life, and lots more. What inspired her into civil rights activism: I would say starting from secondary school. The issues of social justice confronted me very early in life. As a girl child growing in Northern Nigeria, life was a bit difficult. The education of the girl child was a troublesome one.…
The establishment of Nabo Graham Douglas campus of the Nigerian Law School has the approval of the Council of Legal Education, the Red Chamber of the National Assembly has said. Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, said they will visit the Port Harcourt campus of the Law School to assess ongoing construction work. Bamidele, stated this in his opening remark at a public hearing on Legal Education (Consolidation, Etc) Act L.10, LFN 2004 (Amendment) Bill 2021 (SB 820) at the Senate on Monday, pointing out that the intent and purpose…
In a bombshell report, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), says poverty is fuelling grave human rights violations in Nigeria. According to this civic group, there is a need to begin to address its mass poverty and widening inequality as a measure to increase the protection of human rights. In its latest monthly magazine, PLAC BEAM, the group argues that Nigeria’s wealth and resources, if fairly managed in place of the current plunder, can go a long way in achieving the objective. It illustrated for instance that Haruna Idris, a 21-year-old man who fled the Islamist insurgency in the North-East for…
Anambra State Governor-elect, Charles Soludo, has been given his first task by an online newspaper, The Southern Examiner. In its editorial, the newspaper wants the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate to handle the state airport as its own baby and try to surpass the achievements of the Obiano administration. According to the editorial, the Anambra International Passenger and Cargo Airport at Umueri, has unarguably come on stream in the Eastern Nigeria state of Anambra as a superstar project. A proud and accomplished Governor Willie Obiano, on November 1, commissioned this airport for use, bringing into reality a longstanding dream…
At last, the United Nations Climate Summit has come and drew the curtain with the Glasgow Climate Pact. But, beyond the political negotiations and the Leaders’ Summit, COP26 brought together about 50,000 participants online and in-person to share innovative ideas, solutions, attend cultural events and build partnerships and coalitions. The conference heard many encouraging announcements. One of the biggest was that leaders from over 120 countries, representing about 90 per cent of the world’s forests, pledged to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030, the date by which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to curb poverty and secure the planet’s future are supposed…
Ogoni, the country home of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed along with eight other Ogoni activists by the General Sani Abacha military dictatorship, is currently on the boil again. Former President of Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ledum Mitee, and the leadership of the Ogoni mass movement, are at the moment working at cross purposes. Already, MOSOP has warned Mitee, Owens Wiwa and others not to cause crisis in Ogoni. The Ogoni group is branding last Saturday’s meeting of a purported Committee of Friends led by Mitee that was held at Bori-Ogoni and painted…
Humanitarian and sustainable food system activist, Michael Sunbola, says more Nigerians are plagued by food insecurity. Sunbola, a lawyer and founder of Lagos Food Bank Initiative was speaking in an interview with PLAC BEAM, a monthly magazine of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) On how the food bank started: We started out as the first indigenous food bank in Nigeria. The Lagos Food Bank is a hunger relief organisation based in Lagos, Nigeria. We work using the integrated food-banking system to help improve the nutrition of pregnant women and children, especially those who don’t have enough nutrition during breast feeding…
Spotlighting a rising tide of extremist violence as a continuously crippling force, the UN Security Council heard from the global body peacekeeping chief last weekend that the situation in Africa’s Lake Chad Basin region remains highly volatile. Lives are lost daily to terrorist attacks, millions are displaced and health care remains inaccessible – even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage. According to Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, “the fight against terrorism is one of the biggest challenges of our time, and the way in which the international community responds and attacks on its deep causes represents a decisive test.”…
Commandant General of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ahmed Abubakar Audi, says it’s no longer business as usual for private guard practitioners in the country. He said as Nigeria grapples with the challenges of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and asymmetric warfare from invisible enemies among others, the quest to make a difference in this sector must drive practitioners to advance their internal security nationwide. Spokesman for the Corps, Olusola Odumosu, said the civil defence high command was speaking while issuing 26 operation licenses to new private guard practitioners at the Corps’ national headquarters in Abuja, after scaling the hurdles of scrutiny…
Combative Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has blamed part of the crises that rocked his party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on his political foes. According to him, some of the PDP crises were spearheaded by people who, ‘’in secret meetings’’, plotted to bring him down. He asserted that all those who engaged in one clandestine activity or the other against his administration, to pull it down, have experienced utter disappointment, adding that no one of such persons have survived achieving their plots. Governor Wike made the revelation at the Special Thanksgiving Service organised to celebrate the appointment of Justice Simeon Chibuzor…
The United Nations Climate Summit in Glasgow, COP26, has run into overtime, as leaders and negotiators kept working to reach a deal that could spare the world from catastrophic global warming. “Without decisive action, we are gambling away our last chance to – literally – turn the tide”, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, had said ahead of the meeting. But why could it be our last chance? What is COP26? To be concise, COP26 is the biggest and most important climate-related conference on the planet. In 1992, the UN organised a major event in Rio de Janeiro called the Earth Summit,…
Area II Command of Nigeria Customs Service at Onne Port in Rivers State, says it recorded a revenue growth from N13.11 billion in September 2020 to N19 billion last October. The rising monthly revenue generation profile of the command indicated a steady growth on a monthly basis since September 2020. Customs Area Comptroller, Auwal Mohammed, broke the news during an interactive session with the Business and Maritime Writers Association of Nigeria (BUMWAN), in Onne, pointing out, “precisely in September 2020, when I took over, the command generated N13.11 billion, the highest since its creation 37 years ago. It had since…
In Glasgow, where crucial climate negotiations are in the final stretch, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has said governments need to show the necessary ambition on mitigation, adaptation, and finance in a balanced way, and they can’t settle for the “lowest common denominator.” Already, while 13 countries launched a new alliance to end gas and oil, and cities were the theme of the day, Guterres told delegates on Thursday that he was inspired by the mobilisation of civil society, including young people, indigenous communities, women’s groups, cities and private sector, highlighting that the climate action struggle requires all hands on deck. “We know…
Going by a new data released by the United Nations refugee agency, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as more people flee violence, insecurity and the effects of climate change, the number forcibly displaced now exceeds 84 million globally. UNHCR is a UN agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with over 17,300 staff working in 135 countries Its Mid-Year Trends report, covering the first six months of this year, revealed a surge from 82.4 million since December – largely…
A civic group, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), says a bill for an Act to repeal the Legal Practitioners Act 2004 and re-enact the Legal Practitioners Act 2021, has been slated for a public hearing on Monday, November 15. According to the group, the bill which provides for reforms and regulate the legal profession, passed the second reading in the Senate last October 6. The bill which is sponsored by Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti: APC) contains modified versions of some provisions of the extant law, as well as some new provisions. Clause 1 which establishes the Body of…
In both volume and value terms, the global food trade is zooming to hit an all-time record high, according to a new report by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). By the end of this 2021, just 48 days to go from this Saturday, the global food import bill should extend beyond $1.75 trillion, marking a 14 per cent increase from the previous year, and 12 per cent higher than the previous forecast. According to FAO’s new Food Outlook, trade-in foodstuffs has shown “remarkable resilience” to disruptions throughout the pandemic, but rapidly rising prices, pose significant challenges for poorer countries and consumers. Rising costs The increase is driven by higher price levels of internationally traded food…
Nnamdi Kanu’s American lawyer, Bruce Fein, is currently considering dragging Nigeria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over alleged gross violation of his client’s rights. Kanu is the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a separatist mass movement seeking a sovereign state of Biafra out of Nigeria. He is standing trial in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, for alleged terrorism. Fein who was in court on Wednesday to monitor the trial of the IPOB leader was denied access into the courtroom. The plan to drag Nigeria before ICC is coming as the Buhari administration says it is open to all kinds…
