The Nation Newspaper

Tag: CSOs

  • Niger CSOs fight HIV in kids

    With more than 50,000 children born with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria annually, and the country also posting about 60 per cent of new HIV infections in Western and Central Africa, health practitioners and stakeholders are justifiably alarmed.

    That was why Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Niger State have set up a platform to reduce and eliminate the virus among children.

    The coalition, Society for the Elimination of HIV Among Children (SEHAC) seeks to eliminate the new HIV infection among children and work towards keeping their mothers alive with minimal stigmatisation.

    At the Inaugural meeting of the coalition in Minna, the Zonal Coordinator of SEHAC, Dr. Ismailia Garba said that 32 percent of all cases of mother to child transmission of HIV in the world occurs in Nigeria adding that if there is enough sensitisation, which is one of the main objectives of the coalition, infected mothers would know how to protect their unborn babies from the virus.

    He said that there is need for more hands to be on deck if Nigeria will attain its targets in eliminating the disease, adding that by ensuring children are not born with the virus will enable the next generation effectively manage the HIV virus.

    The Niger state Coordinator of SEHAC, Mrs. Mary Jalingo said that Nigeria is said to be the largest burden of mother to child transmission of HIV in the world lamenting that the number of pregnant women visiting health facilities across the state remains low.

    She stated that the number of facilities providing prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV across the state is also low stressing the need to encourage women to come forward to prevent their babies from being born with HIV.

    “With an estimated 260,000 children from 0 to 14 hard living with HIV, only 12 per cent have access to antiretroviral drugs. This is what thisnCoalition Seeks to address.”

    Jalingo added that the Coalition will embark on advocacy for the availability of drugs and sensitise the community and mothers with HIV on how to reduce mother to child transmission stating that there is a general believe that children everywhere can be born free of HIV with their mothers remaining alive.

    “We intend sensitising leaders, providing leadership and innovation programme delivery, strengthening the capacity of women living with HIV, men and couples with HIV, prevention treatment programmes for mothers and children.”

    Jalingo emphasised the need to ensure continuous care of infants and young children of HIV positive parents.

     

  • ‎Ill Health: CSOs Pass Vote Of Confidence On Buhari, Caution Nigerians To Shun Falsehood 

    A coalition of Civil Society Organisations under the banner of the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations for Good Governance (CCSOGG) have passed a vote of confidence on President Muhammadu Buhari and his abilities to continue to steer the affairs of state despite his current health challenge.

    Arising from a two day consultative meeting, the over 40 CSOs in a communique also expressed worry over what it said was unnecessary distraction from the issue of governance over the health of the President, stressing that Buhari has mandated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to carry out the necessary state assignments as required by law.

    The communique which was signed jointly by Rev Steven Onwu, Chairman, Communique Drafting Committee; Joyce Adamu Secretary, CDC and Asogo Venatius Torkuma, a member of the drafting committee urged Nigerians to stand by the President despite all odds as the country needs him to carry on with the surgical operations that most sectors are undergoing under him.

    While urging Nigerians to shun falsehood surrounding the state of the President’s health, the coalition accused some people of planting fake news about President Buhari’s health in the cyberspace for the very intent of later citing them as the source of their information to misinform Nigerians about President Buhari’s health.

    According to the communique, the coalitions have observed that no organ of state is suffering directly or indirectly as a result of Mr President’s health situation,  adding that the able appointees of Mr President are running the various aspects they are entrusted with successfully.

    The communique reads partly, “the meeting, following extensive deliberations resolved as follow:

    To call for prayers and urge Nigerians to do same so that God will grant the President quick recovery and the country healing from the wounds inflicted by saboteurs.

    “Urge Nigerians to stand by the President despite all odds as the country needs him to carry on with the surgical operations that most sectors are undergoing under him.

    “Caution those spreading falsehood to desist from such especially in view of the negative consequences their action can have on citizens’ morale nationwide. Reactions based on this falsehood, like pressuring the President  to proceed on medical leave, must be discontinued. Nigerians should only respond base on facts as conjectures would only complicate things for the country.
    Admonish those waiting in the wings to cash in on a situation that will never happen and counsel them to go and recover their humanity since it is sinful to wish another human being evil or death.”

    Some of the representatives of the 40 CSOs included the New Initiative for Credible Leadership, the Advocates of Social Justice for All, Lawyers of Mercy, Media Without Border, Beyond Leadership Legacy Foundation, among others.

  • CSOs urge Fed Govt to support NYSC on-line registration

    CSOs urge Fed Govt to support NYSC on-line registration

    The Coalition of Civil Society Groups (CCSG) has urged the Federal Government to boost the success recorded by the National Youth Service Corps on-line registration initiative.

    The coalition said the on-line registration had largely aided and made corps’ mobilisation easier across the country.

    The coalition, after a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, told reporters that given the success recorded, it was dismayed that some persons were calling that the programme be scrapped.

    President and Secretary of the Coalition, Etuk Bassey Williams and Ibrahim Abubakar, praised the NYSC management for introducing such a scheme, adding that an opinion poll conducted in June by the group depicted an overwhelming acceptance by Nigerians, including students and parents.

    “We specifically note that the NYSC on-line registration project was a decision  taken by stakeholders at a meeting and these included  schools, parents, students and other stakeholders where N3,000 was agreed on and it is not even  compulsory as prospective corps members can go to schools and collect call their call-up letters.

    “ This initiative, powered by Siemach Technologies Ltd, has proven not only to be highly dependent and successful, but has also reduced risks, such as deaths occasioned by travels and other risks associated with logistics during service years. What the Federal Government must do is to ensure funding and support for this project as clearly it marks a departure from the clumsiness of corps members’ participation in the past,” Etuk Williams said.

    He called on stakeholders to support the project and not be distracted by a few whose interests seem unclear, noting that civil society organisations, such as theirs which seek to protect the rights and privileges of Nigerians ?will continue to loud government policies consistent with the overall interest and development of Nigerians and the nation while also not hesitating to frown at policies that are inimical in this regard.

    “So far the NYSC on-line registration scheme has proven to be a huge success and there can be no further way of endorsing this project but by calling on the government to continue this noble idea and ensure that resources, whether manpower or material, needed to further boost the success of this initiative, are provided for”, the Coalition said.

  • CSOs hail TUC, NLC faction for shelving strike

    The Stand Up Nigeria (SUN) and a coalition of over 50 civil society organizations have commended Nigerian workers for shunning the strike being called upon by a faction of NLC, describing it as a needless
    venture that was arranged to service the interest of a few minority.

    National Coordinator of (SUN), Comrade Philip Agbese, while reacting to the outcome of the meeting between the Federal Government and labour, said it is obvious that patriotic Nigerians have resolved to support the current administration’s deregulation policy. He said the action of the Federal Government at the first instance is in the best interest of the larger population of the people and no amount
    of intimidation should cow the President into submission. According to Agbese, Nigerians have since realized that a strike action is not in their best interest, adding that the anti-deregulation proponents are economic saboteurs who are working against the interest of the generality of Nigerians

    Agbese, said by standing on the side of the people and supporting the deregulation policy, Ajearo, has shown that he is the true leader of the NLC and should lead the labour movement in Nigeria without any further delay. He accused the Ayuba Wabba faction of not doing anything to protect workers rights. Saying “workers are being owed several months salaries and the NLC did not go on strike.” He argued that subsidy only enrich a few and impoverished the larger population. According to him, the N1.2 trillion paid out as subsidy in 2015 budget, if properly invested in other sectors could have built more infrastructures and created jobs.

    He said, “As I speak to the press tonight, we have received the casket that signifies the final death of “subsidy” which has been used to milk the resources of this country by a certain minute minority and it shall be formally interned by 2pm today in the full glare of the Nigerian media for all to see that this epidemic will never visit us again in thenearest future.”

    He also commended the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) who he said saw reasons and pulled out of the strike.

  • Lagos commissioner advocates government funding of CSOs

    Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Hon. AbdulLateef AbdulHakeem, has advocated for government funding of the activities of civil society organisations.

    AbdulHakeem made the call while speaking at the inaugural meeting of Lagos State office of Civic Engagement with Civil Societies and NGOs which held at the Secretariat in Ikeja over the weekend.

    Noting that government at all levels must make conscious efforts to fund the activities of civil society as a way of strengthening them, the commissioner further described the civil society as the most virile arm of government, adding that it is in recognition of their role that the office of civic engagement was set up by the state government.

    He said, “No arm of government is as virile as the civil society when it comes to checks and balances. Civic engagement is the liaison office between the Legislature and Executive. Civil society is to limit and control the power of the state and also perform oversight on the three arms of government. Governments must, therefore, empower civil society to perform these roles effectively. Civil society is the organ of government above every other organ.”

    While calling on CSOs to support the anti-corruption crusade of the Buhari-led administration, AbdulHakeem added, “They must speak out against corrupt lawyers and judges and ensure that criminals, including electoral fraudsters are punished and jailed to serve as a deterrent and discourage people from further engaging in such acts. Until we do that, we might not move anywhere.”

    In his speech, Special Adviser to the Governor on Civic Engagement, Hon. Kehinde Joseph, said the state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, created the office to, among other things, ensure “governance of inclusiveness, which brings us to the engagement of various groups within the political, economic, religious, educational, cultural and social cycle.”

  • CSOs: build public toilets in Ekiti

    Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Ekiti State have called on the Ayo Fayose administration to build toilets and make water available in public places to reduce open defecation and outbreak of diseases.

    They also canvassed for laws to punish any landlord who builds a house without a toilet.

    The laws, they stated, should also compel existing landlords to face similar punishment if their houses were not provided with toilets within a given period.

    These were parts of resolutions reached in a communique at the end of a two-day capacity building workshop for CSOs organised by the European Union Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme in collaboration with Ministry of Public Utilities held at the weekend in Ilupeju-Ekiti.

    The CSOs called for the rehabilitation of toilets in public buildings, such as schools, hospitals, ministries.

    This followed the recent report that Ekiti has the highest rate of open defecation in the Southwest.

  • Time to regulate CSOs

    SIR: All over the world, the role of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) is essentially in three coordinate parts namely: to facilitate the design of strategies for development; to act as service providers under the aegis of community and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs); and lastly, to be watchdogs in order to make government accountable for its commitments.

    Perhaps the description of Connor is more succinct and explanatory: “Civil society is composed of autonomous associations which develop a dense, diverse and pluralistic network. As it develops, civil society will consist of a range of local groups, specialized organizations and linkages between them to amplify the corrective voices of civil society as a partner in governance and the market” (Connor, 1999). In effect, CSOs should promote transparency, and sustainable growth of the economy either in partnership with government agencies or as independent groups. In additionto providing leadership in the strategic areas mentioned above, CSOs are key players in the area of poverty reduction, debt relief and, of course, the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in their locations.

    The emergence of CSOs in the mid-90s was largely driven by the quest to open up the space for players outside government and other established sectors and at the same time promote efficiency in service delivery and ensure that projects meant for the people have significant bearing on their lives. CSOs also came about in relation to managing the fallouts of the several reforms including the structural adjustment programmes propagated by international funding agencies and development partners.

    An upshot of the foregoing is that CSOs are supposed to be the engine rooms for the enthronement of democracy, accountability, personal liberties and good governance. They have been largely successful in other climes because by their enabling nature, they are supposed to be leaner, adjustable, tighter and driven.

    How have the CSOs fared in Nigeria? Have their activities touched the lives of the people? Have they been true to their mandate? Have they done justice to their primary objectives? A critical evaluation of their activities will show that at best it’s been a case of mixed blessings. Whilst it is gratifying to note that some of the CSOs may have been people-oriented, progressive in nature and have stuck to their founding mandate, the same cannot be said of others. Rather than see the government as partners in making the country better, the latter group seem to antagonize everything from that direction. Even where there are opportunities to re-create and turn things around for the better, they seem fixated with the ‘business as usual’ approach of the past because of the pecuniary gains to be appropriated by them. Unfortunately, their activities have diminished the good works undertaken by those who have conscientiously pursued the primary objectives of the organizations. Clearly, they have lost track having traded their sacred raison detre for ephemeral things. Like a virus, the level of proliferation of this insidious group have multiplied exponentially and one only hopes that the sector has not been infiltrated by mindless zealots

    I am therefore asking that for the country to get the best from the sector, it is about time to regulate their activities and in the course of this exercise, the country will be in a position to remove the grain from the chaff. This is calling on the Buhari administration to sanitize the civil society organizations. The time to act is now.

    • Shehu Adamu,

    Jos, Plateau State.

  • How to achieve credible polls, by CSOs

    A coalition of Civil Society organisations has said for Nigeria to have a credible election in 2019,  the National Assembly must  amend the constitution so that the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) can implement electronic voting.

    They spoke at a post-election poll survey in Abuja organised by the Alliance for Credible Elections, (ACE) in conjunction with the MacArthur Foundation.

    Chairman, Partner for Electoral Reforms, Ezenwa Nwangwu, who spoke on behalf of the CSOs, said Diaspora voting will be easier with electronic voting.

    He said: “INEC has done its part with the conclusion of this year’s election. The Card Reader performed in the best way it could but we can still do better.

    “Electronic voting, if deployed in 2019, will assist with the lapses of the Card Reader and it is not too early to start preparing”.

    ACE’s board member, Yunusa Zakari Ya’u, who was the chairman of the occasion, said the survey was to address public perceptions about the conduct of the election.

    Ya’u said organised platforms in the country has the mandate to speak about what went wrong in the last elections, how they want it addressed, and how future elections should be conducted.

    The chairman stressed the need for the National Assembly to amend the constitution so that INEC can implement the electronic voting.

    ACE’s program officer, Abdulwahab Ekehide said the report was a random sample of 1000 respondents from all geopolitical regions.

  • CSOs hail electoral umpire over success of mock poll

    A group of civil society organisations (CSOs) – the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) – has hailed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a successful outing in weekend’s field test of the Smart Card Reader (SCRs) and the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the general elections.

    The group, in a statement yesterday, said the field reports from its deployed observers and other election observer networks from Anambra, Delta, Ebonyi, Abakaliki, Ado-Ekiti, Kano, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger and Rivers states showed that the SCRs were reliable.

    It said: “INEC’s demonstration of the use of the Card Readers and PVCs passed the integrity test and must be commended.

    “On the basis of the test and assurances of improvement, Situation Room calls on the full use and deployment of the Card Readers and PVCs for the 2015 Nigeria general elections.

    “It should be noted that the exercise was fairly successful. INEC officials performed their duties and functions in a professional manner in collaboration with security personnel.

    “No friction was recorded between INEC officials and the voters, and clearly, the voters fully embraced the card reader technology and cooperated with INEC officials.”

    The group urged Nigerians to give INEC all the supports to secure the country’s democratic process and future in free and fair elections.

    It also urged registered voters, who have not collected their PVCs, to avail themselves of the extension window announced by INEC to get their PVC’s.

    The Situation Room called on political parties, faith-based organisations, other civic groups and indeed all stakeholders to relentlessly continue in their implementation of programmes aimed at sensitising their supporters and the public.

    After a review of the mock election, the group recommended among others, that   INEC should intensify its efforts on voter education and civic education programme that fully educates the citizens as to why and how they must vote with PVCs.

    The statement reads: “We implore INEC to use all the resources at its disposal for voter education and leverage on its access to phone numbers of registered voters and communicate directly with them via SMS.

    “This must be regarded as high priority due to the low turnout of voters as most of them expressed their lack of knowledge of the functionality of the SCRs and the essence of the mock accreditation exercise.

    “INEC should endeavor to provide alternative SCRs and accessible on Election Day to avoid unnecessary delay in the accreditation process. INEC should develop a process of dealing with the issue of discrepancies of details on the PVC’s and the Card Reader in a way that the SCRs can be reconfigured in a timely manner so as to avoid disenfranchisement of any voter.

    “INEC should work on the processes and options that will facilitate and fine-tune the biometric authentication process. Adequate provision for transportation must be made for INEC staff    especially in the rural areas as delay in deployment of staff and materials on Election Day will be unacceptable.”

  • NILS, CSOs seek more women in National Assembly

    NILS, CSOs seek more women in National Assembly

    Until the number of women legislators in the National Assembly and Houses of Assembly increases, gender-based bills will continue to be difficult to pass, the National Institute of Legislative Studies (NILS) has said.

    The institute noted that the number of women lawmakers in the country, which is only seven per cent, is inimical to the interest of women and other vulnerable groups in the country.

    NILS Director-General, Dr Ladi Hamalai, who gave the figure yesterday in Abuja, regretted that the small number of women lawmakers was causing the failure of gender-based bills across the country.

    She spoke at an advocacy training programme for civil society organisations (CSOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs), organised by NILS in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Democratic Governance (for Development (DGD).

    The expert said there should advocacy for an increase in the number of women in the next elections to solve the problem.

    Hamalai said: “The low participation of women in politics, just seven per cent, is unacceptable. It is what makes it almost impossible to pass bills that are gender sensitive.

    “There is need for advocacy for more cooperation between female legislators and CSOs, especially those involved in women issues.”

    She urged women parliamentarians to engage CSOs and other organisations involved in the cause of women.

    In her presentation, a former director in the Presidency and Executive Director of Gender Awareness Trust Dr. Lydia Umar said the adoption of an increased quota by political parties is the quickest way to achieve a significant increase in the number of women in politics.