Category: Niger Delta

Rivers State Deputy Governor, Dr. Ipalibo Harry-Banigo has called on Christians to rally supports for the Nation of Israel in order to fulfil God’s mandate.

Dr. Banigo made the call at an event to mark this year’s end-of-the-year programme of Christians United for Israel Prayer Outreach (CUFI), in collaboration with All Lovers of Israel. The event held in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

Harry-Banigo, who was the Special Guest at the event, said it is the will of God that Israel is given maximum support in her quest to recover her inheritance, stressing that God promised to bless anyone that blesses Israel.

She said:  “I thank God for your love and passion for the nation Israel and pray that He gives you the grace to carry on the responsibility of upholding Israel in prayer, encouragement and support for them as they go through the struggle in their sojourn on earth.

“I enjoin all Christians in Rivers State to key into the vision of CUFI by identifying with the Israelites and pray for them until God’s glory is revealed in the land,” she said.

Corroborating Dr Banigo’s assertion, the Coordinator of the group, Pastor Lekan Rotimi said:  “One of the things God commanded Christians to do is to pray for peace in Israel, adding that anyone that obeys the commandment shall be blessed.

“It is on this premise that Christians the world over came together under the aegis of CUFI to declare solidarity for the nation of Israel, to pray for her peace and for them to get all the blessings and inheritances that God promised them on earth,” he said.

Rotimi further said 12 years ago God spoke to a clergyman from the United States of America (USA), to mobilise Christians across the world to give supports to Israel, while she goes through the battle to save her soul. He noted that the vision was in line with His (God) instructions in the Holy Bible.

“In 2006, God instructed Pastor John Hagee of the USA to go and inform the Body of Christ all over the world that He has seen that all Christians have abandoned the nation of Israel; no one wants to identify with her, and that there was the need for all Christians to rise up and support Israel as they travail on earth,” he said.

“When we pray, support and encourage them in what they are going through, God said He will bless us and establish His covenant with David upon our lives.

Environmental Activists under the aegis of National Coalition on Gas Flaring and Oil Spill in the Niger Delta (NACGOND) have advised Nigerians in general and people of Niger Delta in particular to engage in activities that will ensure protection of the environment from the effects of climate change.

The group gave the advice during a one-day workshop on the Niger Delta Environmental protection Summit and official launch of State Climate Change Policy Framework and Action Plan.

The theme of the workshop was “Safeguarding the Niger Delta Environment through State Climate Change Polices and Action Plans”. The event held in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

NACGOND is a civil society organisation whose interest is on oil spill and the environment.

The group engages in research and evidence-based advocacy to ensure that issues of oil spills and gas flaring are quickly addressed. It also advocates that techniques and procedures used by international oil companies (IOCs) for oil exploration activities, clean-up and remediation of despoiled soils and water meet international best practices.

Speaking at the event, the National Coordinator of NACGOND, Rev. Fr Edward Obi said: “It is our responsibility, the elites of our society; it is about you acting from your own house, within your family, within your community, local government, your state and then the region. It is we who can change the tide of this climate change.”

According to him, the impact of the climate change is already severe in the Niger Delta because within the last six years, the region has experienced two major floods which indicate that the sea levels are rising. This means that there is more water than the region can handle.

He said: “We have to change the old ways of doing things. When you drink your sachet water, do not throw it on the ground to block the drainage; put it in the trash can. That way, we can save ourselves of the waves that come with climate change.

“We are our Environment and our environment is us”, he said.

He accused government of not being supportive on the issue of curtailing climate change in the country, especially the Niger Delta. He stated that the region do not have to wait for a major catastrophe before reacting or preparing for climate change.

Rivers State Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Damiette Minna who was represented by Henry Ashiri said: “It is an indisputable fact that the Niger Delta region maintains the nation’s economy and Rivers State as a major stakeholder in the oil and gas sectorial activity bears the sectorial bunch of the devastation, environmental impact, neglect and total abandonment in association with oil and gas activities.”

Contributing, the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Environment represented by Mrs. Comfort Tom Asuquo, Director, Climate Change and Awareness, Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, urged everyone to preach the gospel of the Niger Delta Climate Change in the pulpits because it will go a long way in saving the unborn generation from calamities emanating from Climate Change.

Also speaking, Abia State Director of Pollution Control and Environmental Health, Ikechukwu Ukaegbu reeled off loss of land to the sea, loss of livelihoods, increased frequency and risk of water borne diseases, loss of physical infrastructure, among others, as some of the  effects of climate change, even as he called for effective collaboration in finding lasting solutions to them.

The maiden edition of the South-South Agriculture Expo has held in the Akwa Ibom State capital city, Uyo. The theme of the fair was “Repositioning Agriculture for Sustainable Development.”

The event was organised by the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Agriculture in conjunction with two private firms Tafric Invest Nigeria Limited and Leadway Initiative for Rural Development. Other partners included NAIC, TATA, LIFRD, San Carlos, El-kanis & Partners, Ease-West Seed and others.

Due to adequate publicity, the Ibom Hall, venue of the event was busy with exhibitors, farmers, equipment fabricators, food production enterprises, co-operatives, young business people seeking ideas and shoppers. The venue was full of activities throughout the five days the event lasted. Participants came from Kano, Lagos, Abuja and other states.

The attendance, which had the popular Ibom Hall auditorium filled to its capacity, indicates how much participants were eager to participate.

Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem.

Governor Emmanuel reiterated his administration’s commitment to food sufficiency, entrepreneurship and wealth creation as parts of the Governor’s policy thrust. Inspecting the stalls of exhibitors, the SSG expressed amazement at the passion with which Nigerian agribusiness entrepreneurs went about their businesses; a confirmation that this was a typical ‘Dakkada’ spirit which refers to Emmanuel administration’s socio-economic re-orientation ideology.

The Keynote Speaker, Prof. Mohammed Yahaya, acknowledged that the agric sector is still in transition in Nigeria, even as it is a major economic sector.

“Agriculture has been serious business for the government so much so such that agricultural promotion policies have been made and even many had borrowed from banks and injected into the sector over the years” he said.

Commending the government over its commitment to support farmers and ease the difficulties they face in farming, he added: “In five years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has been quite active in trying to make sure the farmers get the input they need and the plant varieties.”

On his part, the Executive Chairman of Tafric Invest Nigeria, co-organisers of the event, Engineer Ntiense Ubon Israel, expressed appreciation to the participants and the Akwa Ibom State Governor, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment represented by Mrs A. P. Umoh and the Minister for Budget and National Planning represented by Mrs. A. O. A. Olatunji.

Exhibitors, many of whom are regular trade-fair participants, expressed their excitement not only at the patronage they got from buyers, but also the fact that the organisers made it possible for them to participate as well as the new ideas and information they were able to acquire which they would go back home with to improve their farming and businesses.

Over the years, the development of the Niger Delta region has been a contentious one. Various governments have taken several steps towards bringing development to the region without much to show for the billions of Naira sunk for the region’s development. But the government is committed to genuine development of the area. MIKE ODIEGWU reports that to get the region workable, the Federal Government has evolved new approach to Niger Delta development.

The Niger Delta Region has been described as a volatile one. Experts have maintained that the volatility of the region results from human capital, economic and infrastructural underdevelopment. Those indigenous to the region claim they are short-changed as they do not benefit from the resources in their milieu which are said to contribute up to 80 per cent of Nigeria’s wealth.

It is not as if the Federal Government is not committed to the development of the region, as successive administrations have taken some steps to ameliorate the debilitating situation.

Billions of Naira had been invested in the region, yet there is no equitable development. Instead, the money meant for development of the region is alleged to have been misappropriated by those in charge of affairs.

While the wealth of politicians in the region grew in geometric proportion, the general interests of the Niger Delta is said to drag in arithmetic progression. But the government is committed to genuine development of the area. It is in this regard that stakeholders agree that the formula must change.

They believe that there must be a different approach to developing the region and money meant for projects in the Niger Delta must be used for the purpose it was meant. The desire to evolve a new template for development compelled Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari to tour states in the region. The tour gave rise to the Niger Delta New Vision.

The new vision

Stakeholders who attended a conference organised recently by the Office of the Vice-President in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, observed that the New Vision was not a talk show. It is a product of the 16-point agenda submitted to the Federal Government by the Chief Edwin Clark-led Pan- Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and the Buhari’s 20-point agenda for the region.

The new vision is likened to new pills developed by the Buhari/Osibanjo administration as antidote to the region’s endemic poverty and underdevelopment.

At the workshop, which was attended by civil society groups and journalists, resource persons demonstrated the practicability of the new vision. They also explained the Strategic Implementation Work Plan (SIWP) for the new vision.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta, Mr. Edobor Iyamu, explained the vision and gave reasons for the new approach in tackling underdevelopment in the region.

He said: “There hasn’t been a coherent strategy in what is happening in the region. How do you hold agencies accountable in what they are doing? Billions of Naira had been invested in the region. But you don’t see the results.

“The government decided to change the delivering modalities; new ways of doing things in a way that can be verified and encourage citizenship participation. We must rethink our institutions’ process of delivering; holding them accountable; tracking development and avoiding duplications of projects”.

Explaining the work plan, he added: “It is a tool that focuses on objectives and outcomes. It lays out what every agency say they will do. All the 16-point agenda were assigned to responsible agencies. Issues that have to do with fiscal federalism and other political issues are not reflected in the plan”.

He said that 475 projects were captured in the work plan, adding that each project was assigned to a responsible ministry or agency. Iyamu further explained that the projects amounted to over N2 trillion. He said the agencies and ministries meet periodically to review progress made on each project.

As a result of the importance attached to the projects by the Federal Government, he said the Vice-President is the Chairman of the inter-ministerial committee.

“The Vice-President chairs the inter-ministerial agencies. He holds every minister accountable. This is to demonstrate the importance we attach to the development of the Niger Delta. We want to see overall improvement in the quality of lives and promote economic activities,” he said.

Iyamu noted that in the new vision, all stakeholders and levels of government were expected to play various roles. He said communities must be disposed to peace by identifying and weeding off troublemakers within their ranks. “This is because without peace, there will be no development”, he said.

The presidential aide enumerated the giant strides already attained in the region under the new vision. He cited the Maritime University, Okerenkoko Delta State as one of them. According to him, the work plan ensured commencement of academic activities in the university following the admission of 300 students.

Modular refineries are springing up at different parts of the region under the new vision, Iyamu said.

“I have visited three of them. They are at different stages of completion. Some will be completed before the end of the first quarter next year. One may be inaugurated before the end of the year”, he said.

Iyamu also referred to the Ogoni clean-up as one the achievements under the new vision, saying the actual cleaning would commence soon. He said the workshop was organised to sensitise the people and solicit their co-operation in changing the Niger Delta narrative.

Modular refineries 

It was clear at the workshop that following the promise of Osinbajo when he toured the region, the Federal Government intended to make communities in the Niger Delta hubs of oil and gas activities. One of the projects being vigorously pursued to realise the objective is establishment of modular refineries.

Really, modular refineries are springing up in the region. Engineer Rabiu Suleiman, the GED/Senior Technical Adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, on Refineries and Downstream Infrastructure, exposed the participants to series of activities to bring such refineries on board.

He said: “There is very serious commitment ongoing. Government is determined to establish refineries in the region. In Bayelsa State, there is Azikel Refinery and for the fact that about two of these refineries will soon be inaugurated, it is an indication that the project is winning.

“One is at Kwale in Delta State. It is owned by one company called OPAC. It is a 7,000-barrel capacity refinery. Currently, it is about 90 per cent mechanically completed.

“Another one is in Rivers State. It belongs to the Niger Delta Petroleum Development Company (NDPDC). The company made the first conventional modular refinery of 1,000 barrels that has been running for about four-and-half years. The company is now building two other modular refineries. One is 5,000 and the second one is also 5,000.

“The first 5,000 is also mechanically being completed. If you go to Onne Port in Rivers State, 47 containers of refinery shipment belonging to the company is already at the port and they are undergoing clearing. At the end of December, they will be in possession of all these materials and finish installations for the final mechanical completion of these refineries.

“We just went to Imo State where Walter Smith, a marginal field operator, is putting 5,000-barrel capacity refinery. We went for the ground-breaking ceremony about a month ago. They have already sent him the parking list of all the equipment. They are passing it through custom clearing to collect the waiver that is required so that they don’t pay custom duty as approved by the government. So, it is a reality. This is a promise fulfilled by the government.

“Nigerians are somehow impatient. Refinery is something that you design, get the site, do environmental impact assessment, which requires two seasons. It means it takes at least one year before you can say that a place is good enough to site a refinery.

“Then you go into the design, processing, manufacturing, securing the funding which is the key challenge. Everybody wants to do modular refinery. The assumption is that it is easy, it is cheap. But it is a very serious engineering and technology-intensive thing that requires time”.

To underscore its seriousness, Suleiman said the Federal Government waived custom duties for anybody building modular refineries. He said $8 million customs waiver was granted to all imported equipment for modular refineries.

“We have reduced the licensing period. It takes only two weeks. There is no ambiguity. We have further secured $500 million with Nexim Bank to give financial assistance to such operators”.

Suleiman, a former Managing Director at the Port Harcourt Refinery said the objectives of the modular refinery initiative were to promote availability of petroleum products in the country and promotion of socio-economic development and employment generation in order to stop restiveness, thereby sustaining peaceful co-existence in the Niger Delta.

Aside those benefits, the Minister’s aide said it would also increase local content in the Niger Delta and mitigate or eliminate negative environmental degradation associated with illegal refinery activities, crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism. He said it would further help to conserve foreign exchange utilisation for the importation of petroleum products.

Ogoni  clean-up

Under the new vision, the Federal Government has mapped out modalities to comprehensively clean Ogoni land. In his presentation, the Coordinator, Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), Dr. Marvil Dekil, said the project was relocated to the Ministry of Environment. He said the government also changed its governance structure.

He noted that not all Ogoni land was impacted by oil spill, adding that the project focused only on degraded environment. He said the indigenes were brought into the project. According to him, most of them had been trained as scientists.

He said: “We started with impacted communities. Our work is gradual and we are expanding. It is not correct to say that all body of water in Ogoni is contaminated. Our mandate is to focus on impacted communities. There are many business opportunities involved in this.

“We have trained high level manpower in Ogoni to manage the activities. We trained Ogoni scientists. We did further engagements with stakeholders. It is wrong to say that nothing is happening in Ogoni land. The scientists are now working to provide potable water for the communities. All the water facilities have been identified and more than 90 per cent are not functional”.

New Vision Website 

Unveiling of the New Vision Website formed the highlight of the event. It contained the Niger Delta projects. A click will reveal all the projects being executed in the region, their locations, costs and contractors. It will further reveal their levels of completion.

The initiative is part of the new vision which was aimed at introducing transparency into activities in the region. Unlike before, projects can be monitored by stakeholders and money released to the region can be tracked by anybody. The website was inaugurated by the Special Assistant to the President on Communications Projects (Niger Delta), Office of the Vice-President, Mr Arukaino Umukoro.

As part of activities to mark its 5th anniversary, management of the Kada Plaza Cinema and Entertainment Centre opened its doors to fete 120 orphans and disabled persons.

It was the first time the beneficiaries would be entering the plaza.

The orphans, drawn from four different orphanage homes, were given opportunity to enjoy various entertainment packages offered at the centre along with other kids.

They were treated to free games ride at the Playtime Arcade section after which they watched a movie entitled The Nut Craker and the Four Realms. At 2:00 p.m., the management of Kada Plaza took the orphans on a guided tour of facilities and later treated them to lunch.

Managing Director of Kada Plaza, Mr. Trevor Pillay, said it has become a tradition for the firm to always commemorate its anniversary with the less privileged in the society.

Pillay said it was a way of making the less-privileged feel a sense of belonging to the society.

Other activities to mark the 5th anniversary, according to Pillay, included free health check for members of the public at the Kada Health care and Pharmacy, Budweiser Party and Spend and Win promo.

Pillay said Kada Plaza identified with the vision of the Edo State government in job creation as it has helped to reduce the state’s unemployment burden.

He described the entertainment industry as a huge potential for job creation in Nigeria.

Care givers of the orphans thanked the management of Kada Plaza for extending love to them.

There are fears that the rate of unemployment among the youth is becoming alarming. People are worried that the situation may become volatile. There are views that the current crime rate is a fallout of the youth being unemployed; therefore they engage in several anti-social vices such as robbery, kidnapping, internet scam, bullying and cultism, among others.

Individuals and corporate organisations have joined forces with government at all levels to improve the situation.

However, experts maintain that until youths-friendly policies and programmes are evolved to tackle what has been termed chronic unemployment situation, policing efforts to halt the development may be a mirage.

They also argue that for criminal activities engaged in by the youth to be curtailed, there is need for crime prevention, which they said is the attempt to reduce and deter crime and criminals. They agree that governments must go beyond law enforcement and criminal justice to tackle the risk factors that cause crime because it is more cost-effective and leads to greater social benefits than the standard ways of responding to crime.

Stakeholders also maintain that crime prevention is the most potent attempt to reduce or deter crime and criminals. There should be measures intended to reduce or inhibit criminal activity, especially by implementing programmes to deter potential offenders.

In the circumstances, Northwest Petroleum and Gas has joined forces with government and communities in Cross River State in evolving ways through which youths would be meaningfully engaged to prevent them from having criminal tendencies.

This it did through sponsorship of this year’s Northwest Unity Cup Soccer competition in Ishie Town; a community in Calabar Municipality Local Government Area.

For the town, it is another moment of excitement as Northwest Unity Cup competition kicked off in the area penultimate week.

This year’s edition of the soccer fiesta is the third. It was aimed at checking the crime rate among youths in the various communities in Calabar Municipality, as well as the state in general.

Chairman of the organising committee of the tournament, Ntufam Donatus Etim said: “One of the reasons we introduced this tournament was to engage the youth. Traditionally, Calabar is a football city. The football tradition was getting gradually diminished. But having understood what strength soccer has in the lives of the youth as well as the elders, especially the spectators; we deemed it necessary to bring back the culture of football.

“In the present crop of Super Eagles players, you will find out that you don’t have one player from Cross River State. Why is it so? Even when the children have strong talents, they cannot go further because they do not have anyone to encourage them. In Calabar currently, football pitches have turned into residential areas.

“Secondly, you will recall that Calabar Municipality was known in a very negative form, where cultism, kidnappings and all sorts of vices took the front burner. So, we thought if we brought these boys together and they have a sense of purpose, they can be playing. All through the period the tournament ends, you will not witness any form of crime in any part of the municipality.”

Etim said the competition has succeeded in curbing crime in the state as well as boost youth participation in sports.

“This is also a platform for these young men to launch themselves and it is courtesy of Northwest Petroleum and Gas. We are grateful to them and the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Dame Winnie Akpani. If she did not approve of the competition, it would not have held. From the tournament, talents have been discovered and they have moved to Rovers Football Club of Calabar and other senior teams. It is a breakthrough and a platform for these boys to launch themselves,” he said.

Etim, who said the competition, hosted at the Ishie Town Stadium, had 10 participating teams, representing the 10 wards of Calabar Municipality, said the event has also boosted economic activities in the area.

“However, the players can come from anywhere. Football does not understand any other language than love and unity and that is why we are here,” he said.

A representative of Northwest Oil and Gas, Salihu Labaran, said they would continue to sponsor the annual event, even as he pledged to consolidate on the gains already attained.

He called on other corporate organisations to emulate the gesture so that “together we can develop the country.”

A representative of the State Government, Mr Eric Anderson, who is also the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, praised the initiative, saying it would take a lot of young men off the streets.

“This is fantastic. It is happening from my own state constituency and local government and deserves every support. It is good for us because you can imagine how many teams you have and how many young men are involved in it. This will help us take some of them off the streets.

“The engagement is wonderful. Once you are able to bring someone out to prominence on a personal ground, the person shies away from ills such as drugs and so on. Once someone is known as a good footballer or even plays at all, he knows that he is in the eye of the public and would shun vices. So, we need more of this kind of event to engage the youth,” Anderson said.

Ex-Nigerian International, Mr Etta Egbe, who is also the Technical Director Rovers Football Club of Calabar, said the third edition of the tournament was a remarkable improvement from the last two editions.

“We hope we can improve upon it and achieve the aim of this competition, which is to discover younger talents that would do us proud in the future. Some players from the previous editions have migrated from here to the leagues. We have a lot of them that have passed through this exercise that are playing in the bigger leagues now. I am impressed with the standard of play. If we continue like this, we would go places,” Egbe, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the organising committee, said.

Head Calabar Free Trade Zone, Godwin Egbe, an Engineer, urged youths to take sports seriously, as it is one way to create unity, find new friends and also keep the body fit and strong.

Member Representing Calabar Municipality in the Cross River State House of Assembly, Ntufam Efa Esua, praised organisers of the tournament, which also seeks to expose talents.

 

The Ebom Community in Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State has debunked media reports that they invaded their neighbours, the Usumtong Community last week.

A community leader of Ebom, Chief Irem Enyim-Egu, who spoke with reporters in Calabar, said they were not part of the destruction of houses and loss of lives in a devastating attack on Usumutong.

He said people from the Ebom Community had been variously attacked and abducted by trespassers in recent times, adding that they had reported the matter to the government and to the police.

According to him, some young men had attacked the Ebom Community on Wednesday, and were repelled by the youth.

The community leader further said the invaders were chased until they ran into Usumutong, where they retreated.

“There was an attack on the Ebom community. There was a reaction because of the attack. We had to chase the invaders and we discovered that they ran back to Usumutong community.

”We have continued to hold our peace. They went and reported that many villages attacked them and they included Ebom.  We did not attack any community. There was no plan to attack them because having reported to government; we were still waiting for the government to act.

“We had to defend ourselves when people invade our community. We did not chase them into their own community because elders had instructed our youths to be of good behaviour.

“Reports that the Ebom people attacked Usumutong are fabrications.”

Enyim-Egu urged the government as well as security agent to look into the crisis in the area with a view to ensuring lasting peace.

“There is no gain when people run into crisis. We lose a lot of things. Currently, we cannot visit our farm lands because of fear that we would be ambushed,” he said.

The Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON) has canvassed for the liberalisation of restrictive abortion laws in Nigeria to enable women access appropriate health care.

President of the Society, Prof. Oluwarotimi Akinola, who addressed reporters in Calabar after their 52ndAnnual General Meeting and Scientific Conference, said evidence all over the world has shown that the number of abortions do not increase due to the liberalisation of the law.

Akinola also said 120 Nigerian women die every day from pregnancy-related complications.

“If 120 people die in plane crashes every day, you will realise the government would have grounded that airline. But because the incidences are all isolated, the attention is not there and we think it is not right. Every effort should be geared to saving these women because we believe they should not lose their lives while trying to give life,” he appealed.

He said that the present Abortion Law passed around 1931 in England and reviewed on a regular basis, is still what operates in Nigeria.

His words: “The last tinkering was probably in 1968. The Abortion Law in Nigeria simply says that it is illegal to procure abortion except in very strict condition to save maternal life, and that law forces our women because what they say is that when a woman is convinced that the pregnancy she is carrying cannot continue, there is almost nothing you can do. She would procure abortion whether you offer it safely or not. All we are saying is that when there is a need to procure abortion, please let it be done safely.

“The whole world has shown that even when you say abortion law is liberal, it has not increased the number of people who go for abortion. It has been demonstrated all over the world that liberalisation of the law does not lead to a greater uptake of abortion.

So, we now define abortion as safe and unsafe. “An unsafe abortion is when it is done in an environment that is not proper, done by somebody who is not skilled and not using appropriate technology and it is a major contributor to maternal mortality ratio in Nigeria,” he said.

He appealed to journalists to ensure that policymakers are sensitised to the need to save these women from dying.

Akinola pointed out that cervical cancer is also another scourge which women experience.

“We have discovered that when our women do not die from pregnancy-related issues; when they survive and reach the age of 38 and above, we condemn them to die from cervical cancer. We also lose 10 to 30 women daily to cervical cancer. It is a very debilitating disease. It is a major issue. More should be done by the government, and the mass media should help in addressing these issues.

“Technology is devising ways to make it possible. We are now aware and that is one of the things we did at this conference, we have the technology to prevent cervical cancer because if you vaccinate a young woman, she is not likely to develop cervical cancer. That is proven and that is why we are committed also to eradicating cervical cancer. We are talking to the press, the government, the women groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). We intend to step up our efforts in building these collaborations,” he said.

He said the group has provided free treatment for over 400 women who suffer from different health conditions as well as provided free cervical cancer screening for over 300 women in two different communities.

Among resolutions adopted at the meeting was the need for partnerships and strengthening systems to reduce maternal mortality in Nigeria.