Category: Foreign

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the COP26 climate change summit in Scotland, the Ministry of External Affairs confirmed on Sunday.

Modi’s presence will provide a boost for the summit that starts Oct. 31.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend and Chinese President Li Xinping is also unlikely to be present.

China, the U.S., India and Russia are the world’s largest emitters of planet-warming greenhouse gases.

U.S. President Joe Biden will be attending the leaders segment scheduled on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.

India has so far not announced any net zero target for emissions but is on track to meet its commitments made at the 2015 Paris conference.

READ ALSO: Vatican says Pope will not attend COP26 climate summit in Glasgow

India maintains that richer countries have to help developing countries to reduce emissions and adapt to global warming with technological and financial assistance.

India played a crucial role in negotiations during the Paris climate summit, where it used its influence to speak out on behalf on developing countries.

Modi would also attend the G20 summit in Rome on Oct. 30-31, after which, he would travel to Glasgow.

THE United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in partnership with the European Union Delegation and the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), yesterday launched a User’s Guide to the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 (TPA) as amended by the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act, 2013 (TPAA).

It is meant for use by law enforcement, security and judicial officials in their work to counter terrorism in Nigeria.

The materials assembled by UN and Nigerian experts for the User’s Guide are designed to serve as a quick and practical reference work for investigators, prosecutors, public defenders and judges working in this complex field.

The guide sets out clearly the elements of each offence and the evidential standards that must be met to successfully secure a conviction under the provisions of the Act. It also explains in detail all of the ancillary powers set out in the Act.

Within the context of the EU-Nigeria-UNODC-CTED Partnership Project to Assist Nigeria to Strengthen Rule of Law-based Criminal Justice Responses to Terrorism and Violent Extremism, UNODC has been actively supporting the work of the Complex Case Group of the Federal Ministry of Justice to help prosecutors prepare cases against suspected members of Boko Haram currently held in custody that can be presented before the Federal High Court.

It has also been working with the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACON) to ensure that these defendants have opportunity to mount a proper defence, and with the judges of the Federal High Court, who will adjudicate these cases.

Cécile Tassin-Pelzer, Head of Cooperation in the EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, commented: “The criminal justice system in Nigeria has made great strides in the past few years in bringing suspected members of terrorist organizations to justice, but there is always room for improvement in this most challenging of arenas. It is our earnest hope that the User’s Guide will greatly assist criminal justice professionals as they prepare their cases for court, and thus help to advance the swift and effective administration of justice for victims of terrorism.”

Prof. M. T. Ladan, Ph.D., Director General, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies added: “The risks and threats posed by terrorist activities require the adoption of proactive, integrated, multisectoral and multidimensional approaches to effectively combat it. It is, therefore, imperative for prosecutors, investigators and the Courts to understand and familiarise themselves with the provisions of the TPA, as amended.”

Mr. Oliver Stolpe, Country Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, welcomed the launch of the User’s Guide: “UNODC has been partnering with the European Union for almost ten years now to support the Nigerian’s government’s efforts to hold terrorists to account for their crimes, and the publication of this User’s Guide is just one more in a series of initiatives to support that goal. We hope that the Guide we are launching today will help in the administration of swift and effective justice in this most critical of public arenas.”

 

UNITED Kingdom (UK) aid funded programme, Propcom Mai-karfi, hosted a closing event at the Sheraton Abuja Hotel yesterday, along with key stakeholders in the agriculture sector.

At the event, the programme workers explained how the UK Government’s investment in agriculture expanded market access and catalysed private sector investments to create economic opportunities for smallholder farmers in Northern Nigeria.

Those who attended event included the UK’s Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, representatives of the UK Government and other donor agencies, commissioners of agriculture in implementing states, development sector partners, private sector stakeholders and civil society organisations.

The event provided a platform for Propcom Mai-karfi to tell its story of impact and to advance discussions on sustaining successes recorded over the years.

Strategies for promoting inclusive business models for the private sector, prospects for transformation of the public sector and opportunities for donors and development partners to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of development support into the region were shared.

Llewellyn-Jones said: “We are very pleased to be able to celebrate today with all our partners the impact Propcom Mai-Karfi has made in Northern Nigeria over the last 9 years.  Its success has only been possible due to the drive, motivation and willingness of our partners to adopt the market-driven approaches that ultimately create greater economic opportunities for poor men and women.  The UK remains committed to supporting inclusive and climate resilient growth in Nigeria, and we look forward to continuing these partnerships.”

In her remarks, Kaduna State Commissioner of Agriculture Hajiya Halima Lawal said: “I want to applaud the UK Government and to offer my congratulations to the entire Propcom Mai-karfi team for the considerable achievements in developing agriculture over the years, especially in promoting pro-poor opportunities and inclusive market growth in Northern Nigeria, and thereby improving the livelihood of citizens in our state and the region. As a state, we remain committed to facilitating and attracting investments and look forward with keen anticipation to future collaborations with the UK government.”

Kevin Gager, National Team Leader, Propcom Mai-karfi said: “Defining and/or sustaining various paths to economic recovery and growth demands that existing knowledge and experiences be accounted for in the process. Propcom’s closing event offered up our wealth of experience for everyone to share in the future development efforts in Northern Nigeria.”

The programme deployed the ‘Making Markets Work for the Poor – M4P’ approach, which focuses on tackling the constraints that affect the markets that poor people participate in so that they can derive higher benefits and values from better functioning market systems.

It targetted market systems with opportunities for poor farmers. It identified factors causing them to perform poorly and facilitated relevant players in the markets to address those underlying constraints.

 

 

THE defence chiefs of NATO member countries agreed on a new set of capability targets yesterday, the head of the alliance announced.

Speaking to reporters after the first day of talks, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO defence ministers took decisions that helped the alliance’s “adaptation to a more complex and competitive world” and its efforts to ensure credible deterrence capabilities.

The ministers endorsed “a new overarching plan to defend our lines in crisis and conflict” and set new capability targets, Stoltenberg said.

“We have agreed to deliver more forces with higher readiness. We have agreed to have more forces which are heavier and with more high-end capabilities and technological advance.”

The defence chiefs confirmed that the alliance would continue to respond to Russia’s nuclear threat with balanced political and military measures.

“We will not mirror Russia’s destabilising behaviuor. We have no intention to deploy new land-based nuclear missiles in Europe,” Stoltenberg pointed out, stressing NATO’s commitment to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

The officials in the meeting also assessed the lessons learned from NATO’s 20-year presence and withdrawal from Afghanistan and discussed how to prevent the country from becoming a base for international terrorism.

“The crisis in Afghanistan does not change the need for Europe and North America to stand together in NATO facing growing global challenges,” Stoltenberg noted.

 

 

 

 

The landscape of healthcare services will continue to change, experts at the HLTH in Boston, United States have agreed. The conference, which took place from October 17 to 20, brought together major players in global healthcare.

Experts discussed transformations happening in the digital health space, such as patient-facing devices and the personalisation of care to meet patients where they are.

The CEO of mobile electrocardiogram device company AliveCor, Priya Abani, said: “Getting sensor data is step zero in my mind, and it’s fantastic that we already are. But then what do you do with the data? What do you expect the patient or customer to do with the data? This is the new age of medicine. This is the most transformative time.”

Abani was part of a panel discussion on “The Blurring Lines of Health Devices”. Abani said companies are much more focused on customers and the customer experience in the health tech space, influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. The next step is to focus the data and make it more intelligent.

Harpreet Rai, the CEO of Oura, said his company, a consumer health tech, produces the Oura Ring, which tracks heart rate and body temperature. Last year, the company and the University of California, carried out a study to predict the onset of COVID-19 symptoms using data from Oura Ring wearers.

For Eddie Martucci, the CEO and co-founder of biotech software company Akili Interactive, the landscape changed long before the pandemic.

“I believe we’re going to see a massive acceleration of good data on really futuristic technology that wouldn’t have happened a decade ago,” Martucci said.

A panel discussion on “Getting Personal with Digitally-Enabled Care” highlighted the importance of healthcare accessibility.

The conference availed Amazon the opportunity to unveil its hybrid care model. It said it would bring Amazon Care to Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and Los Angeles, among others.

Amazon Care Director Dr. Kristen Lloyd Helton said: “Employers want to retain their talent. They’re very invested in health and safety. We’re also looking at outcomes. We want to make sure the services we provide are improving health, but also eventually lowering costs.

“In doing that, we’re building trust that we’re going to solve whatever problem they have. It gives them the confidence to start virtual and know we will take them through that entire journey and deliver great care.”

Helton added that Amazon Care’s additions would be based on listening to what patients want, such as self-scheduling options and the inclusion of primary care. She said: “Those points of interface may happen later in the roadmap.”

On Wednesday, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the agency’s head, detailed some of its strategies during a virtual keynote at HLTH 2021, especially those targeted at the millions of people who are eligible for coverage through CMS programs but are not enrolled.

At another session moderated by Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, chair of the medical ethics and health policy department at the University of Pennsylvania, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure of CMS, said: “At the start of the administration, the president opened up a special enrollment period and really increased the education and outreach effort. And what we saw was a bump in enrollment. We take it for granted that people know that there is coverage available to them.”

Brooks-LaSure said his firm was looking at ways to better the implementation of automatic enrollment into health plans, adding that CMS is allowing lower-income individuals to enroll in marketplace plans throughout 2022.

A key CMS goal, Brooks-LaSure said, was health equity, which is about the providers that serve underserved populations.

“I’m really focused on making sure that we don’t move in what is overall a positive direction, but then leave behind the people who are most in need,” Brooks-LaSure said.

Speaking at a panel session, Dr. Luther T. Clark, the deputy chief patient officer and global director, scientific medical and patient perspective, at Merck, said: “Bringing the voice of patients into our decision making is critical to the work that we do. While there are a number of important considerations, what we have found is that…developing collaborations and partnerships with the community.”

Clark added that partnering with trusted community organisations and individuals was an effective way to engage patients in research and clinical trials, which would help ensure that products and treatments were tested among a diverse population.

Christina Speck, the head of product and employer strategy at BlueCross BlueShield of Rhode Island, guided decision making was vital to healthcare.

“There are 350,000 apps in the app store today just for healthcare and 19,000 of those have just been added in the last year,” Speck said during the panel. “That’s very confusing.”

Speck continued: “Navigation integrated with digital health, integrated with some of the care management programs that we put in place like second opinion, etc., could be very valuable if there is one point of contact in addition to a doctor that is trusted. In our world, in the payer world, we feel like that is the navigator.”

The co-founder of medical access app CarpeMed, Olaseni A. Bello Jr., said providing simple and digestible information to patients was key for achieving patient centricity.

“I’ll speak from my perspective: I’ve read [health] records and I have to ask ‘What does this mean? What does that mean?

“When we are talking about family history, having the ability to really share and disseminate information, that’s where you start to trust,” Bello said.

THE opposition candidate and former Cape Verdean Prime Minister, Jose Neves, has won Sunday’s presidential election, according to provisional results published Monday.

Seven candidates vied to replace Jorge Fonseca, who had reached the end of his two-term limit in the Atlantic archipelago nation.

Neves, 61, a member of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) and head of government from 2001 to 2016, won 51.7 per cent of the vote, an absolute majority needed to be elected, the official results shows.

Election officials said Neves won 99.4 per cent of polling stations putting him well ahead of Carlos Veiga, of the Movement for Democracy (MpD).

Veiga, 71, another former prime minister from 1991 to 2000, obtained 42.6 per cent of the vote, according to the results. Five other candidates won less than two per cent each.

The elected president, Neves, will inherit responsibility for stabilising the Island nation’s tourism-driven economy after the COVID-19 pandemic drove it deep into recession.

Cape Verde continues to battle an economic recession after output shrank by 14.8 per cent in 2020, partly due to the country’s dependence on tourism, which accounts for 25 per cent of the economy.

Neves said he wants to be a president “who unites, protects and cares”.

“I must say that it is a great responsibility to preside over the Cape Verdean nation in these difficult times, and I receive this victory with the great humility that has always characterised me,” he told supporters after his victory.”

The transfer of power will be the fourth between the MpD and PAICV since independence from Portugal in 1975, consolidating Cape Verde’s status as one of Africa’s most stable democracies.

THE Turkish government has opened a cultural centre in Abuja to deepen relations with Nigeria.

Director of the London Centre, Mehmet Karakus said there is a tremendous demand to learn new culture, new language, especially by young people to facilitate trade between both countries.

He spoke during a news briefing yesterday ahead of the official opening of the Abuja branch of the Yunus Emre Institute (Turkish Cultural Centre) on Wednesday.

He said the centre would afford Nigerians the opportunity to learn Turkish culture, language as part of cultural exchange.

Karakus said: “We are here because this institute will create opportunities for local people. When you learn Turkish, you can do business with Turkey. This is an opportunity for Nigerians to acquire a new circle.”

Also, the Director of the Turkish Cultural Centre, Abuja, Macit Koc said the centre would be opened to all Nigerians.

According to him, the Turkish government, through the centre, would like to contribute the educating Nigerians in Turkey.

“We are open to anybody from children to the housewives and from businessmen to the high school students. We would like to contribute to their education whether it is secondary, high school or university education,” he said.

Head of Human Resource, Babur Turna said the institute has 64 branches where it provides cultural exchange programmes to the people.

 

VICE President of the Asian-African Chambers of Commerce and Industry Mr. Anrinle Adekunle has hailed the initiatives of the French government in making millions of unemployed youths in Africa either gainfully employed or become employers of labour.

Anrinle, who spoke with reporters at the weekend after returning from France, where he led a delegation of agriculture entrepreneur, including youth agricpreneurs to a livestock summit, said it is necessary to ameliorate the menace of unemployment by creating an enabling environment through which the majority, if not all of the youths, are provided with the wherewithal to make them employed or better still become employers of labour.

Anrinle, who is also the Chairman of Rinllandded Nigeria Ltd, said the trip was in fulfillment of the promise by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, during his visit to Nigeria in 2018 and living to his promise during his meeting with stakeholders in commerce, agriculture, youth and industry during the visit.

He said during the meeting with the theme: “Ambition Africa”, which was the main business to business event between Africa and France, held in Paris with over 100 of youths across Africa, who were majorly young entrepreneurs, they were given opportunity to share ideas among their peers from France.

He said a livestock summit, which was organised, had in attendance many government functionaries from Nigeria, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade and other top political office holders.

Anrinle praised the outgoing France Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Jerome Pasquier, who, according to him, did a lot in promoting bilaterally cooperation between Nigeria and France.

He said he had passed the baton to Emmanuelle Blatmann, the new Ambassador of France to Nigeria.

“With this development, more cooperation is expected, as her wealth of experience is a blessing for both countries. We are using this medium to congratulate the new French Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann,” he said.