Category: Features

By some estimates, over 37 million Nigerian girls and women lack access to menstrual hygiene products, including sanitary pads, mainly because of high costs. The country’s first-ever pad vending machine recently introduced by an indigenous reusable sanitary pads manufacturer, Pad-Up Creations Limited, is one of the solutions stakeholders are deploying to tackle the problem of period poverty in the country, ROBERT EGBE reports

Abuja-based journalist, Chidiebere (pseudonym), can still remember her first menstrual period. It came upon her like a bolt from the blue. Chidiebere told The Nation that she had already received some pep talk of sorts on it from home.

“My mother had already told me that my body would give me signs my period was coming and that I should be observant. But I don’t recall her telling me what exactly to look out for. But the day it finally came, I didn’t really feel anything. I was in primary six. One minute I was in class playing with my friends, the next, I felt a wet sensation around my pubic area and my uniform became stained with blood.”

Chidiebere said even now, over 20 years later, her period hardly gives her a proper notice before showing up. “It was tough getting sanitary pads in those days because there was no money,” she said, adding that she “often had to make do with whatever I could.”

Experts call Chidiebere’s difficulty in getting access to sanitary pads or menstrual products, ‘period poverty.’ Period poverty also includes a lack of access to hygiene facilities, waste management, and education.

37 million Nigerians lack access to menstrual hygiene products

On June 3, 2022, at a dialogue to commemorate the 2022 Menstrual Hygiene Day in Abuja, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Plan International Nigeria, said over 37 million Nigerian girls and women lacked access to menstrual hygiene products, including sanitary pads, mainly because of high costs. Plan International’s Country Director, Charles Usie, told stakeholders at the event tagged, ‘Menstruation Matters: My Period, My Pride,’ that the same global effort ploughed into the eradication of HIV/AIDS should be channelled to menstrual health such that “it will get to a point where sanitary pads will become free for young girls.”

The relatively high cost of menstruation products is a major contributor to period poverty. Most women have their menstruation for five days and may use about three sanitary towels per day. A pack of 10 sanitary pads costs between N500 and N2,000, and based on the menstrual flow, women may use more than one packet for a month. But because of the high poverty rate, not many families can afford such monthly expenditure.

The Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, on June 18, 2021 in Abuja harped on the consequences of period poverty and high cost of menstrual products. “This high cost of menstrual products which will in the long run be borne by women and girls will definitely affect school girls across Nigeria. It is a situation where women and young girls lack access to sanitary products due to financial constraints,” Tallen said.

She worried that the proposed National Diaper and Sanitary Pads Policy, which increases the import tariff on diapers and sanitary pads from 20 per cent to 55 per cent poses on menstrual hygiene management, will worsen the problem. “This policy will no doubt affect the availability, affordability and acceptability of sanitary pads in the country,” Tallen said.

N4b menstrual products imported yearly

As of 2019, Nigeria was importing menstrual products worth over N4billion yearly. The Federal Government, on June 12, 2019, expressed concern over the N4billion plus spent yearly on the importation of diapers, sanitary pads, wipes and napkins into the country, describing it as unacceptable. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, at a validation meeting on the Draft National Industry Policy, in efforts to encourage local production and stem capital flight, said increased productivity will meet local demand and export purposes, job creation, and economic boost through government industrialisation drive.

One of the firms at the forefront of the battle against period poverty is a Minna, Niger State based firm, Pad-Up Creations Limited founded by Olivia Onyemaobi. Pad-Up Creations is a social enterprise company with bias for the production of washable and reusable pads for women. Onyemaobi noted that getting pads to use during periods is a challenge to many girls and women.

She said her firm manufactured Nigeria’s first certified washable and reusable sanitary pads as a sustainable solution for girls/women. Last May, Pad-Up Creations launched sanitary pads vending machines in Niger State as well as an app for calculating menstrual cycle.

Onyemaobi told The Nation what the launch was all about. She said: “We rebranded the product packages. We wanted sanitary pads to have a different look; they don’t need to look like the conventional sanitary pads. People are already used to seeing the conventional sanitary pads, so anytime you find a girl with sanitary pads, people begin to think that oh, this is about period.

“We wanted it to wear a new look where people don’t need to feel absurd when they behold sanitary pads. So, we rebranded them and unveiled the new pack to the public. We also have other new products, like the padded pants and the baby diapers that were also unveiled.”

25,000 sanitary pads machines in schools

The CEO explained that the vending machine is not an electronic device. Onyemaobi said: “We made the machine to work without electricity because we know the challenge that we have here in Africa. The machine will work by dispensing sanitary pads on your second twist of the handle. Before you twist the handle, you unlock the handle with a coin, a regular vending coin. For every place that we install these machines, we will have the exact number of coins also given to the guidance counsellor in the school or whoever is designated to manage the machine. This helps us to track the usage of the sanitary pad. We design everything in such a way that when students are in school, and they lack access to sanitary pads or their period starts while they are in school, they can just go and meet the guidance counsellor and take a coin, go to the machine and get just one sanitary pad to use while in school.”

She revealed that the firm plans to install 25,000 sanitary pads vending machines in schools across the country. “We hope to install that across the 36 states and the FCT, Abuja. The students are not going to pay for this. That is why we want to make this open so that there can be partners like UNICEF, UNFPA; many international and government agencies, international organisations and other government agencies can key into this. We want to see that girls stay in school.

“Most times, we find out that girls do not know when their period would start. When it starts in school and the fact that they do not have sanitary pads with them, they cover their school uniform with their sweater, or their hijab or start hanging around behind the classrooms to avoid bullying. So, we don’t want them to say, ‘Ah, I didn’t concentrate in school because my dress was stained.’ We want a situation where once your period starts; you can access these sanitary pads while in school without paying a dime for it. That’s why we have the coins; these coins will help us to monitor the pads, so that teachers are not going to abuse this privilege, and that the students also are not going to abuse it,” Onyemaobi said.

One million girls, every two weeks

She explained further that each of the machines will take about 40 sanitary pads, which are going to be replaced as soon as the batch is exhausted. “We have a system that can help us pull this through. Recently, we started a project that we call Success Through Empowerment Project, and it is designed to create 1,503 jobs. Part of it is being sponsored by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. What we do is that we recruit these sales agents and they sell this product in micro units. For every product that people buy, we reinvest about 30 per cent of it into free distribution. This free distribution, instead of going to schools to start sharing pads and all that, we look at how we can still get these girls to build more confidence. So, if you are installing the 25,000 sanitary pads in school, in every two weeks it is going to service about a million girls in school, every two weeks.

That’s not all. She said the firm also unveiled a mobile app designed to help girls and women calculate their menstrual cycle, so they can easily include their last menstrual date and know when their next ovulation will be and when the next period will be. “So it helps to do that calculation for them. There is also another section on the app that provides for a psychotherapy session where girls and women, and possibly, the general public can anonymously meet some psychologists online who can talk to them about matters in real life, so that people can become confident to share with someone private issues like, “I have rashes on my pubic area, how do I handle it? These are sensitive and private problems that people have, that they don’t feel free to share in the public,” she added.

By deploying technology to accelerate the capacity development of officers under the robust Learning Management System (LMS) and introduction of webinars to complement the structured physical training programmes, the Lagos State Government is providing opportunities for career enhancement and personal and professional development of its civil servants. CHINAKA OKORO reports that the initiative, already accessed by over 42,000 members of staff drawn from various ministries, departments and agencies, is geared towards producing a highly professional, competent, motivated and creative public service.

Training and retraining are crucial in the civil service at the three tiers of government. This is so because they help the members of staff to become more efficient at performing their responsibilities. It projects the organisation as a preferred workplace to external or aspiring individuals. Besides these, they also enhance or stimulate civil servants’ creativity.

This may have informed the decision of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to make the training and retraining of civil servants in Lagos State a priority. Beneath this strategy lies the belief in equipping officers with necessary skills, given that knowledge and skills in the civil service play a significant role in efficiency and effectiveness in rendering service.

This belief is further accentuated by the fact that public servants are at the epicentre of implementing the six pillars of the development agenda that will push to meet the set strategic goals. It is perhaps fitting to state that never, in the history of the state public service, has it witnessed a massive and unprecedented staggering number of officers trained in a particular year which, to all intents and purposes, represents an apparent symbolism of the unwavering commitment of the state government to keep Lagos on the path of sustainable progress. The reason for the rise in figures is not far-fetched.

The first was the deployment of technology to accelerate the capacity development of officers under which the robust Learning Management System (LMS), as well as other technology-related platforms emerged. The second was the introduction of a series of webinar initiatives to complement the structured physical training under the learning and development programmes. The third reason was the provision of opportunities for career enhancement and personal and professional development programmes, which are predicated on producing highly professional, competent, motivated and creative public service.

In an elaborate form, one of the consequential outcomes of the public sector reform was the introduction of the Learning Management System, which is the first of its kind in the public service of Nigeria. It is a technology-driven platform for the training of civil servants, which is being used to drive radical change, address capacity deficits, and enhance efficiency and competence among civil servants.

The programme has a variety of learning content with over 4,000 free, self-enrolment courses and 8,000 courses from the LinkedIn Learning Library. Over 42,000 members of staff drawn from various ministries, departments and agencies, have access to these myriads of courses and programmes. From the platform, the state government is able to seamlessly administer, document and deliver educational courses and training for members of staff in the state’s civil service.

Despite the fact that the implementation of the Learning Management System means that the government is investing massively in information technology, a direct result of this initiative is the upsurge in the number of trained public servants as it has practically phased out the low training quota. Prior to the administration of Governor Sanwo-Olu, an average of 3,000 members of staff were trained in four years. Since the introduction of LMS in 2020, over 28,000 public servants, irrespective of cadre, have benefitted from online courses on an annual basis. This figure excludes training undertaken in some MDAs for which the Office of Establishments and Training gave sign-off as well as the structured physical training programmes.

Governor Sanwo-Olu said the innovation has raised the bar of service delivery among the civil servants, stressing that these innovations have exposed the personnel to a wide spectrum of opportunities for enhanced competence and efficiency. The Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Mrs Ajibola Ponnle, said: “The implementation of the Learning Management System was not about having a global trend but a radical change that was at the root of repairing public service failures in the state. For us, it is a game changer and I think the beauty of the process is also that we are able to mandate public servants to do certain courses.”

Under its structured training programme, the state government has conducted 165 training programmes covering diverse areas from 2019 to date which transcends the entire spectrum and hierarchy of the state service. In 2019, it organised 46 training programmes covering in-plant, conferences and certificate courses. A paradigm shift occurred in 2020 when the state government introduced webinar series as a consequence of the lockdown. In order not to disrupt the flow of training schedules, it adopted a webinar tagged “the Resilience Series” as part of its training modalities.

So, in 2020, it conducted 52 training programmes comprising virtual, webinars, conferences, and certificate courses. In 2021, the office organised 57 training programmes covering virtual, in-plant, certificate courses and conferences while this year, it has conducted eight in-plant training programmes. In the same breadth, a monthly online capacity development programme for Lagos State civil servants, which is called ‘EXCO Shares’ was introduced. In this webinar, a member of the Lagos State Executive Council takes the entire body of the civil service on a topic for the purpose of knowledge-sharing and enlightenment. While the programme is in its 11th edition, it has impacted positively on the generality of the civil service in terms of the approach to delivering quality service to the public.

Within the sphere of its internal capacity-building initiative, the state government has sponsored a significant number of public servants to various professional conferences and annual general meetings under the career enhancement and professional development programme since the beginning of the Sanwo-Olu administration as a way of building internal capacity. The objective is to expose public servants to global best practices and learn new trends and developments in their various fields. It is estimated that by the end of the Sanwo-Olu administration, all of the state’s public servants would have had one form of training or another. This represents a watershed in the training administration in Lagos State.

In the light of the transformation agenda, the state government initiated a programme with the acronym SHIFT (Simple, High Impact, Interactive, Focus and Transformational). It is a knowledge initiative with the mind of creating a 21st Century workforce which focuses on new thinking, new behaviour and new approaches to doing business in service. A product of this initiative was the identification and granting of special promotions to two officers in the state civil service. One of them developed a unique application (Alausa Sabi) for accessing the compendium of civil service rules while the other wrote a book entitled, 10 Harks for Working in Naija.

In the same direction, the state government sponsored a member of staff from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Dr Victor Adekunle, overseas to study Legal Medicine and Forensic Dentistry (at master’s degree level) in order to bridge an identified gap in the public service. Through this gesture, the state public service gained global attention and Dr Adekunle achieved the historic feat of becoming the first forensic dentist in West Africa as a result of the government’s investment in human capital development.

In the midst of all these innovations, the government was still able to come up with the idea of an Executive Coaching Programme for members of the State Executive Council. The initiative was in partnership with international accredited coaches, whereby cabinet members are offered one-on-one coaching by accredited experts in sessions to support in development of their personal, professional and political aspirations. The objective of the programme is to align the purpose of leaders with those of their MDAs in order to transform the state’s public service and the state in general.

These series of innovations, without any stretch of the imagination, have exposed officers to a wide spectrum of opportunities for competence and efficiency and have had a noticeable and positive impact on the skills and capacity of the state workforce. The revolution in the training regime, to paraphrase the Head of Service, Mr Muri Okunola, represents a paradigm shift in the administration of training in the state’s public service.

Having maintained a high quota in the number of officers trained per annum, the state government has come up with plans to deepen the accelerated training programme by focusing more on the technical skills and competencies of public servants. The exchange programme is being planned for officers where they will be posted to private organisations to avail them the opportunity of developing their practical knowledge and experience in various areas. The idea is for them to learn the best practices, new knowledge and new skills that prevail in the private sector. The exercise will take between two and three months to complete.

In the same breath, the office plans to change the style and methodology of training in the next phase of training programmes to workshop/experiential learning sessions. The workshop style approach is basically to ensure that trainees understand the key objectives of specific training and are able to apply and practicalise concepts learnt at workshops in their individual MDAs. It is interesting to note that the state government has entrenched a new order in the training climate in Lagos State. These medleys of training programmes are a result of deep commitment and conviction to change the training narrative and achieve the third pillar of the T.H.E.M.E.S agenda.

Mindful that quality education is crucial to the all-round development of humankind, the Corona Secondary School Agbara Ogun State places importance on excellence and brilliance in the training of its students. At this year’s graduation/valedictory ceremony held at the school’s premises, emphasis was placed on attitude that will engender rewarding development. CHINAKA OKORO reports.

The formation of the individual through teaching and learning for the development of society is the most credible legacy to bequeath to humanity.

The task of formation of the human person towards success is sometimes complex in nature.

When the issue of education is on the front burner, it is not just about literacy or the ability to read and write. It goes beyond that to be a situation in which an individual is given the ability to overcome the inhibiting factors of life and the ability to do things in a manner that is excellently different.

Experts have maintained that a country’s socio-economic and political advancement is tied to its level of manpower boost. This informs the decision of any society or institution that desires genuine growth and development to invest greatly in the education of the citizens.

The Corona Secondary School, Agbara, Ogun State believes in human capital development so much so that it spares nothing in ensuring that its students receive quality education in order to compete with their peers anywhere.

In the circumstances, the school, having imparted the requisite knowledge to the 2022 set of its students, rolled out the drums to celebrate their graduation in cognisance of their sterling achievements in character and learning.

The students, one after another, mounted the stage to receive their School-leaving Testimonials and respective individual award of excellence.

Addressing the graduating students, the Chairman on the occasion and Vice-Chancellor of the Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Ibiyemi Bello, who was represented by Prof. Martins Anetekhai, advised them to maintain the good character they have built overtime at Corona and resist every temptation to be influenced wrongly by peers in higher institutions.

He urged the students to remain focused, even as he stressed the need for a strategic life plan.

“Ask yourself, what is my goal? Do I want to be a musician or an actor? As you leave these walls, you will begin to enjoy academic freedom. It is at that point where you are enjoying academic freedom that you equally get exposed to social vices, such as cultism, that could truncate your dreams.

“However, a student that is focused will be able to resist the pressure, keep his head straight, and flee from those vices that could truncate his future,” he said.

He said the secret of success in modern-day life is the ability to apply the knowledge that one has been taught to every sphere of one’s life.

“By the time you combine your knowledge with its application, nothing can stop you,” he noted.

He stated that the Corona brand stands out because the management can apply their knowledge to the management of the school, as reflected in the brilliant performances of her students globally. He advised the graduating students not to derail from the Corona standard as they grow in life.

The high point of the event was the presentation of awards to outstanding students and the announcement of the top three best students of the set.

Somtochukwu Ike, George Nnona and Toluwanimi Sonuga were adjudged as the Valedictorian, Salutatorian, and the Third-best overall students of the 2022 set respectively.

Somtochukwu Ike finished top among his peers with a total of 90 per cent, topped the set with 6A-stars (scored above 90 marks) and 1A (scored above 80 marks) in the 2021 International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), scored 321 over 400 marks in the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), and scored 1,400 marks in the Standardised (scholastic) Aptitude Test (SAT). These feats earned him several endowment awards from the school.

Nnona, on the other hand, finished as the first runner-up of his set with 86 per cent. He had 6A stars in IGCSE, scored 307 in UTME, and 1,460 in SAT, while Sonuga was the second runner-up in the set. She scored 315 in UTME, and 1,330 in SAT respectively.

In a chat with reporters on the feat, Ike said it took a lot of hard work and dedication for the achievements.

The valedictorian, who said his immediate plan is to further his studies at Arizona State University and hopefully become a Biomedical Engineer said: “It’s nice to be the valedictorian because when you work so hard for something and you get it at the end, it feels so satisfying.

“It’s like all the work from the beginning, the extra reading, doing night preps, group readings, among others are all worth it in the end. I got all the awards and endowments and I’m really happy about that.”

On what stood him out, he noted that God’s grace is abundant in him, even as he stated that hard work, a good relationship with his parents and support from them made his success possible.

“God’s grace was upon me. My parents were also very supportive. They encouraged me to continue to work hard. The encouragement was also in the form of a reward system which always encouraged me to do better,” he said.

George Nnona, whose plan is to study Software Engineering at Staffordshire University, said being second overall best seemed to him a dream.

The Salutatorian, who doubled as the Head-boy of the set said: “It feels unreal to be the overall second-best student of my set. I know I put in a lot of effort, stayed up countless nights, taught and also got knowledge from my peers and even my seniors that have left the school,  but I’m only surprised that I managed to get this far and I’m really happy.”

He also said his parents are his backbone and best support system.

“At times when I felt that I couldn’t do it, they reassured me that I could do it. I thank God that I made it,” he said.

Still basking in the euphoria of being among the exceptional students in his set, Nnona acknowledged the peculiarities of his mates, and how they were able to turn out in flying colours against all odds.

Excited by her feat, Sonuga acknowledged that her wins were well deserved.

She said: “This is my last moment in Corona Secondary School. I feel happy, sad, and nostalgic, but it’s all for the better. My parting word for Corona is to look out for us in future. I thank Corona for showing us the right path to follow.

“I feel very happy because I deserve it. I worked hard for it. I’m glad that I’m getting rewarded for all my hard work.  My parents ensured that I had the necessary time I required to study and understand even when it meant that I had no time for other things. My immediate plan is to study Law at Afe-Babalola University.”

In a chat with reporters, the head teacher of the school, Mrs Chinedum Oluwadamilola noted that with focus, growth becomes possible and continuous.

She added that with focus, the students will know how to deal with distractions and keep their eyes on the ball.

“I hope they will continue to keep their eyes on the ball. You will not be able to score a goal until you take a shot.

“It’s always a pleasure to graduate students. It takes six years to groom children to enable them to be accomplished. When one listens to their citations, one wonders how they were able to accomplish all these in just six years,” she said.

Oluwadamilola said it was a collective effort of several people who helped the students to actualise their potential.

“I’m happy for the support of the parents because if they don’t support us to bring up their children, they wouldn’t be so successful. And these are children that we are raising to excel not just in learning but also in character; because that is very important to us,” she said.

On the recent academic achievements of the school, Mrs  Oluwadamilola said nine students of the school met the requirements of the ACCA Foundation Programme, making Corona Secondary School (CSS) the first and only secondary school in Nigeria whose students (now 27) have fully qualified for the ACCA Foundations.

She equally said six students out of seven that took the IELTS examination scored between 6.5 and 8.0, 13 students scored 6.0 in Mathematics at the 2022 Cambridge Checkpoint Examination, and six students scored a total of 300 and above with the highest score at 321 at the 2022 UTME, while 28 students scored between 250 and 279 respectively.

Among other achievements of the school, Mrs Oluwadamilola said her students got an average score of 1,112 on SAT, with the highest score being 1,460 out of a possible 1,600, as against the benchmark of 1,010.

She, therefore, advised the graduating students to be steadfast in their future studies and imbibe the act of discipline as they begin another phase of life

The United States is still reeling from blows the COVID-19 pandemic dealt its travel and tourism sector. In 2019, 79.4 million visitors came to the United States. That number fell to 19.2 million in 2020, a precipitous decline. Now, America is ready to welcome more visitors, writes United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU

Nicolas Olakunle, a Nigerian, has lived in Richmond, Texas, United States, for years. His wife and kids live in Nigeria where he has tried to get them to visit. But no thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down the world, the Olakunles and many across the world who wished to visit the United States have been stuck. Visa appointments have become difficult to secure in American embassies and consulates all over the world. However, student and emergency visas are prioritised.

This state of things has affected the travel and tourism sector in America. Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Industry and Analysis Grant Harris, at a briefing on Thursday, laid out plans to revive the money-spinning sector. Harris, who spoke with reporters at the New York Foreign Press Centre, discussed the National Travel and Tourism Strategy that the Department of Commerce released on June 6, which lays out an ambitious five-year goal of increasing American jobs by attracting and welcoming 90 million international visitors who, it’s estimated, would spend $279 billion annually by 2027.

Harris said the National Travel and Tourism Strategy focuses on increasing American jobs and growing the economy through travel, tourism, and outdoor recreation. More than two years ago, he said, COVID-19 forced an economic shutdown across the nation and the world, and that hit travel and tourism particularly hard. “The industry is still working to recover,” he said, adding: “In 2019, 79.4 million visitors came to the United States.  That number fell to 19.2 million in 2020; so it dropped from 79.4 million to 19.2 million, a precipitous decline.  The administration’s robust vaccine rollout efforts and effective travel policies, including a recent decision to eliminate pre-departure testing, have helped U.S. tourism start to rebound.  But we have a lot of work to do to return all segments of tourism in the United States to pre-pandemic levels and to grow beyond those levels as well.”

The strategy, he said, is to promote the United States as a travel destination, facilitate travel to and within the United States, ensure diverse, inclusive, and accessible travel experiences and foster resilient and sustainable travel and tourism. He added that the recovery of the travel and tourism industry has been uneven.  According to him, some regions and market segments in the United States, including business travel, will need more help to bounce back. Harris said the government would streamline the entry process to the United States.  He added that the government was working with Brand USA, a public-private partnership, to market the United States as a travel destination and provide products and offerings that are meant to encourage visitation to the United States and help visitors find the right tourism products for them.

The Biden-Harris administration, he said, seeks to revitalise the travel and tourism industry through the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration. The administration has distributed $510 million grants to states and territories in the District of Columbia to support travel and tourism and outdoor recreation. The Economic Development Administration, Harris added, is also in the process of announcing competitive funding.

“They’ll be issuing $240 million total in competitive grants, and they have announced so far a little bit over $90 million of that amount. This is a place where the administration has been incredibly focused on current needs, especially coming out of the pandemic, and where Congress has been an incredible partner in allocating these funds, appropriating them, so that we can work together to provide tourism economies and important partners the resources that they need when they need it most,” he said.

Visa policy

Entering the U.S. for foreign nationals was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. In almost all U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide, getting visa appointment has been difficult. Harris said the administration was thinking about how to get visa wait times down. “One of the effects of the pandemic, as it hit the globe very hard; it also hit our embassies and our consulates hard and caused a lot of closures. And as they are reopening, it’s caused wait times that are much higher than what we would hope for. We’re working with the State Department and with others in the U.S. Government to think about how those numbers can be decreased.  The State Department is very focused on this, and their consular affairs and their colleagues are looking at what can be done.  They’re an important part and an important partner in implementing this strategy.  This is going to be something that we want to continue to work on so that we are facilitating travel to and within the United States, just as our stated goal is, and something that we want to see progress on going forward.”

He said with the vaccine rollout and having dropped the pre-departure testing, the government anticipated greater numbers of visitors coming, adding that welcoming many African visitors as possible was a goal. “Africa will be a quarter of the globe’s population by 2050.  It’s a fast-growing, young, dynamic population.  It’s exactly the type of population we want to engage with, and we want to be thoughtful about welcoming as many visitors to the United States as possible,” he added.

He went on: “When it comes to international travel, as I was explaining, we’re seeing a lot of pent-up demand and a lot of desire to travel to the United States, and we’re really hopeful that these numbers will continue to pick up.  As I was mentioning also, there are a lot of different products, places to visit, price points, ways to travel around the country.  So we’re still hopeful that we can meet this ambitious number over the next five years, and we’re going to keep doing everything that we can to welcome visitors and hit that goal.”

According to him, the National Travel and Tourism Office put out vital data and statistics to the industry. “And those are used for the industry’s purposes to inform their private-sector decision making and their planning. This group is also responsible for many of the great policy ideas and the analysis that goes into things like this strategy, and they work day-in and day-out to enhance the international competitiveness of the U.S. travel and tourism industry. We are really focused on a widespread recovery in the travel and tourism industry. It’s going to take a lot of work across our government and with Congress and with stakeholders. And based on that, we think that we will be really well placed to tell a very compelling and strong story about the many offerings and tourism products across this great and diverse country. We hope to see a massive increase in international visitors.”

Besides having an unfettered access to quality healthcare and education, every child deserves to be seen, heard and respected. This was what the children presented to the elders during their ‘Festival of Childhood.’ OYEBOLA OWOLABI and JOLA AKINROGUNDE report

The children know and understand what they are worth and deserving; after all, it’s a world for everyone. They understand that children’s rights are human rights, and they are asking that their rights be protected too.

At the ‘Festival of Childhood’ organised by the Iyaniwura Children Care Foundation (ICCF), the children presented their demands to leaders from every sector of the society. The event gave them the opportunity to air their voices and interact with the elders. The event featured focus group discussions, stakeholders’ presentations, panel discussions as well as questions and answers sessions, where the children voiced their demands that their rights be protected at all times and at all costs.

The children conference had about 1,000 child-participants from the 57 local government areas of Lagos State. There were council chairmen, local leaders, technical experts, and other stakeholders in the child business to discuss innovative approaches to advance child rights through community commitment, identifying and exchanging good practices that can help build better friendship, relationship among children, and also to foster respect in an inclusive environment.

Ayomide Oyeniyi, a JSS 2 pupil from Oke-Ira Junior Grammar School in Ogba, Lagos, said: “We came here to tell our mothers and fathers that our rights should be protected. I have learnt that children have the right to education; no child should be kept at home attending to chores or hawking on the streets, which portends dangers such as rape, murder, etc. No child should be denied education.”

For Balogun Anthony, a pupil of Government Senior College, Victoria Island, also in Lagos, the right of every child, especially the girl-child, to education should be paramount. “I know that child rights should not be trampled on, especially the right to education. This is even more particular to the girl-child whom the society believes should stay at home cooking and doing other household chores.

“But with a programme like this, we have been able to tell our leaders that child rights should be protected. Everyone has equal rights to quality education, both the male and female children. Our security should also be of paramount interest to our leaders; no child should be exposed to danger of any kind.”

Ayewe Jubilee, a JSS 2 pupil of Oke-Ira Junior Grammar School, Lagos, described child rights as privileges given to children. “Child rights are human rights, and the rights given to children without disabilities are the same that should be given to children with disabilities, and these are right to life, right to identity, right to property, among others. This programme has further emboldened me to stand for my right and help others who need protection.”

Administrator-General and Public Trustee in the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Omotola Rotimi, gave a broader perspective to the Child Rights Law. According to her, the child rights law talks of human rights law, which pertains to children. “These rights become effective from when a child is born,” she noted.

She added: “…it starts from when a child is born. The first thing the child rights law says is that in any matter concerning a child, the interest of that child is paramount. So, basically, it is like a guidebook towards the healthy living of a child; how a child should grow, and the kind of environment the child should grow. For instance, the law says a child has the right to life, shelter, good living, good food, education, dignity, social rights, economical rights, and others that will assist a child to grow.

“Apart from these rights, there are also some don’ts which, if it happens to a child, it means the child’s rights have been violated. For instance, a child should not be sexually abused; a child should not be given out in early marriage; you cannot use a child in pornography; you cannot traffic a child; you cannot exploit a child by giving them as house help, or have them hawk.

“Basically, the law protects a child from birth till 18 years. And the good news is that the law is accessible everywhere. The Lagos State government also has a simplified pictorial version which is easier to understand for the children because every child in Lagos is expected to have a copy. In fact, a six-year-old child can pick the pictorial version and understand the message therein. I also understand that the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation gives out free copies so schools need to approach the appropriate ministry and get copies for their libraries. The law can also be gotten online so the children can download from there. So it is easily accessible everywhere.”

Rotimi also praised the children’s doggedness in speaking up. According to her, it shows they have a basic understanding of what pertains to them. “I’m amazed at the children’s presentation. It is evident they know their rights and are eager to see them protected. These children are intelligent, and all that is needed now is for the adults assist them in enforcing their rights.

“The way forward is, therefore, for every person, including parents, to be passionate about what we do with these children. We should take what the children have written; we shouldn’t just throw it on the table and leave it there; but we need to sit and ensure we enforce whatever the children have asked for. And the ones that cannot be enforced now, the law has to be amended to accommodate them.

“And let’s not forget that’s the world is evolving; different things are happening every time so we have to continue to amend the law to accommodate the new things that are going on in our society.”

The Ministry of Education is also not left out in the efforts to protect the rights of children and prevent abuse. Mrs. Olusola Somoye, a director in charge of Child Guidance, School Counselling and Special Education in the Ministry, reiterated that the government is always ready to take up any case of child abuse and prosecute it to any length to ensure justice. She added that preventive measures are also taken in schools to reduce the rate of abuse.

“As much as possible, we have guidance counsellors in our schools that the children can easily approach when they have issues. But any situation that surpasses the counsellor is passed on to the social workers who are stationed in every education district, and they in turn transmit the cases to the appropriate ministry. We have also ensured that the child rights law is broken down into understandable languages for the children.”

Founder of Iyaniwura Children Care Foundation, Mrs. Mathilda Otitoloju, said her foundation is at the forefront of fighting for the protection of children’s rights because it is the right thing to do. Mrs. Otitoloju stressed that “it is important to respect the rights of children in our communities since they are first of all citizens from the moment they are born.”

She described the ‘Festival of Childhood’ as an avenue to foster togetherness and bonding among the children, irrespective of their status and situation. According to her, the ‘Festival of Childhood’ was also an avenue to remind the adults that “children should be allowed to enjoy their childhood while it lasts; children need a safe haven to live life to their fullest potential because they take these memories into their adulthood and which can make or mar the larger society.”

Otitoloju added: “It is evident that children are the most vulnerable and most marginalised in the society; their rights have always been violated. But here we are saying children issues should be prioritised in the community where they live; they are the bedrock in every society, so issues concerning them should be paramount. It has also been proven that children’s early experiences impact them throughout their life, positively or negatively.

“So, it is more important now than ever to help the positive childhood experiences take root in our communities, just like plants need good soil to grow, positive childhood experiences in nurturing environments provide fertile ground for physical, mental health, learning, and social skills to flourish. It is important that we, as adults, help positive childhood experiences take root in our communities to ensure a better, safer future for all children.

“The basis for this conference is to provide a platform through which children can share their views, opinions, fears and concerns. This will give the children the opportunity to be involved and empowered to articulate issues that affects their wellbeing in Lagos, and the duty-bearers will appreciate, understand and uphold children’s right across the government at all levels, private sector as well as the households. The overall goal and objectives of the conference is to advance the right and well-being of children through local commitment and action to increase the importance of children in Lagos and beyond.

“At ICCF, we advocate for the promotion of child rights through enhancing the contribution of a wide range of stakeholders including children. Special focus should also be given to vulnerable children, such as those with disabilities, those living and working on the streets, those in conflict with the law, drugs and substance abuse etc. Every child has a right to survival, development, protection and participation, which is enshrined in the UN Convention on the right of the Child and the African Charter on the Right and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), which has been ratified and domesticated by Lagos and a few of others.”