The Nation Newspaper

Tag: empowerment

  • Focus on women empowerment, CSO tells govt

    Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) in collaboration with the State of the Union (SOTU) want African governments to invest more on capacity building for girl child education and women empowerment.

    They said adequate facility and policies to increase the level of girl-child education would remain an essential catalyst for greater women empowerment in the continent

    CISLAC, in partnership with SOTU, recently organised a one-day validation workshop in Lagos on the African Union (AU) Conventions, Instruments and Framework in Nigeria to articulate the level of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) involvement in Nigeria’s compliance with the conventions.

    Speaking on how the conventions and decisions of AU validation workshop would provide a platform for key CSO working on AU instruments to review, amend, recommend and validate the draft Compliance Report, CISLAC‘s Executive Director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa, said there was an urgent need for implementation of laws and policies considered inimical to discouraging discrimination against women in the AU instruments in Africa countries.

    He said: “We urge African governments to invest more on capacity building for girl child education because facility and policies to increase the level of girl’s education would remain an essential catalyst for greater women empowerment in the continent.

    “We call on states governments in Nigeria to enforce the affirmative action which expands the space for greater women empowerment and participation in politics to make political parties more internally democratic and gender friendly.”

    The AU instrument, he explained further, recommended that budgetary allocation to the health sector needs to be increased to attain the 15 per cent commitment required resource allocation in addressing the per capita expenditure on health, (WHO minimum per capita health spending is $60) and develop innovative financing mechanisms in collaboration with the private sector.

    “The Federal Government need to show more commitment to the health and wellbeing of citizens of Nigeria by taking health initiatives and not leaving the health sector virtually in the hands of donor agencies,” he said.

     

     

     

  • Aregbesola supports 500 widows with empowerment materials

    Wife of Osun State Governor and President, Sheri Care Foundation (SCARF), Mrs. Sherifat Aregbesola, has assisted about 500 widows selected across the state with empowerment materials that would enhance their income generation activities.

    Aregbesola, while speaking at the distribution of the materials to the beneficiaries in Osogbo, Osun State capital, said the main purpose of the programme was to “reach out to some of the very critically needy in our communities.”

    Some of the beneficiaries were supported with materials for soap making, production of adire, baking of akara (bean cake), preparation of eko (pap), tailoring and petty trading.

    Mrs. Aregbesola said, “being made a widow could be very devastating, especially when one lives in a country where social security system is yet to be put in place.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Widows of violence; Police Empowerment in war and peace

    Widows of violence; Police Empowerment in war and peace

    It is difficult to write anything meaningful with so much deliberate kidnapping, murder of orderlies and the carnage in the rank and file of the police recently just outside Lafia where, in 1975, I did my NYSC in the General Hospital. It was a pleasant memorable posting and we worked very hard for the people at that time. The recently bereaved police widows receiving a token N1m, or stopping traffic with protest dirges are very real and their pain is excruciating. That pain is no different from the pain of all the other widows of this new vicious violence in the country. Many get no compensation at all except from friends and family if they are lucky. We painfully add these 40+ new widows and their children and the police families to the long list of unsung suffering relations of bomb blast victims and those violently slaughtered on a daily basis in the brutal herdsman’s war against the farmers from many states on the North-South cattle corridor. We add the families of those killed almost like clockwork at the rate of 10 murders a day in the well-engineered bloody Hausa Fulani settler Vs indigene Plateau State crisis.

    Of course the police are no saints and many will remember the odious events of Odi and numerous other incidents including accidental discharge and checkpoint killings going back to ‘Kill and Go’ days when the citizen was on the receiving end. Recently it has been revealed what the police go through to get into the police service like purchase of the application form with maybe N30,000 and also the extreme hardship in training exposed by the award-winning Channels TV Corporate Social Responsibility Project documentary.

    We all know what it is like losing a breadwinner in a family when there is no ‘social network’ to provide the daily needs of sickness and education, housing and feeding.

    Almost every Nigerian police station had to sell its soul and start to put up shops along their perimeter fence during the years of the locusts. Of course the police officers women got involved, selling shops to each other and taking years of rent in advance from traders. Now the police is facing an unpredicted security breach as there are thousands of shops right on their doorsteps available for rent by anybody as few security checks are possible in Nigeria where we specialise in ignoring databases like the INEC, Passport, cell-phone SIM card registration, ID card and road safety databases and we destroy computer based systems to allow corruption.

    And when one dies, truth may just turn out to be a lie, someone must be wrong no matter how his argument is strong. Two groups carrying weapons paid for by Nigeria confronted each other over oil bunkering- Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC and the Police. We know the Police well and their track record. NSCDC is also not an unknown quantity. In fact rumour has it as largely incorruptible. Who was right?

    The police are fond of contradicting the body count and contesting it with NGOs and the mortuary. Hear them say ‘Only 22 died’. Meanwhile 50 families are searching the mortuaries and are fatherless, brotherless, motherless or childless as a result of the ‘Only 22’. The police’s ability to limit casualties is only matched by their spectacular ‘sirening’ around the country in their new vehicles. Recently yet another State Police Fund for a federal force was inaugurated. Does the federal government have no shame? With N884 or so billion/month can it not spare N5 or 10b to quickly equip the police to help fight this escalation unrest in Nigeria before we descend into total anarchy? Already the police are ‘legitimate’ targets of undeclared war in some states. As the police belong to the federal government, does the federal government not have any conscience or responsibility to finance and empower its own frontline security employees? It is shameful for the federal to expect the states to prop-up the police. The security vote in most states is a secret fund, probably illegal, a hangover slush fund from the military. It is time the security vote becomes part of the state budget, simple! It was pathetic to see the commissioner of police in the state introducing police trust fund again and inviting corporate Nigeria and concerned citizens to contribute. We have been down that road many times and after five or 10 vehicles have been bought the rest of the money always disappears down the malignant hole of corruption. So who is a fool and who is the criminal? Indeed many real criminals are wealthy and will also donate loudly to the fund for protection. Paradoxically we were told that the murdered police in Nasarawa State were well-equipped.

    The federal government needs to declare some form of police emergency to empower it to bring the police up to international standards starting from the on-going refurbishment of basic training facilities to databases and forensic laboratories. That would help solve unemployment. It is not only Aso Rock, governor’s offices, NASS and State assemblies that need furniture and equipment and transport and electric power. Watch the TV to see what police stations around the world look like, even South Africa with clean painted exterior and interior, good quality furniture, computers, stationery, camera, video camera, communications and internet linkages -all available in Nigeria but unused. As the nation hangs in the vicious balance between war and peace, what is planned role for the police?

     

  • Kano spends N30m on youth empowerment

    •Trains 600 women in farming

    The Kano State Government has spent N30 million to empower its youths in various programmes to make them self-reliant.

    Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso spoke yesterday in Kano at the graduation ceremony of 600 women trained in poultry management.

    The governor said the women were drawn from six local governments for the one-month programme held at the Poultry Training Institute.

    He explained that the programme was to make them self-reliant and enable them contribute to the development, the and welfare of the state as well as their families.

    According to him, women are vulnerable and if they are not economically empowered, there will be a setback that can cause a serious challenge to the society.

    Kwankwaso said this was the reason his administration began to train the women on various skills.

    The governor said the country was facing myriad of socio-economic problems because the nation’s leadership has neglected the role of agriculture in the in national development, especially in job creation and food for the nation.

    “When agriculture is given the required attention it deserves, I assure you that the Nigerian economy would grow with increased development in many sectors of the nation’s economic life,” he said.

    Kwankwaso urged the beneficiaries to use well the experience, knowledge and skills they acquired during their training to improve themselves and the well-being of the state.

    He said: “Our small holder poultry training approach, as a solution to poverty alleviation and economic empowerment, focused on women empowerment and poverty alleviation.

    “Since the inception of this administration, the government is convinced on the need to prioritise agricultural development in order to reduce poverty among the state’s teeming population to increase in revenue generation and ensure food security in the state.”

    The governor said 70 per cent of Kano population was into agricultural value chains, adding that this informed the government’s decision to increase the funds for the sector in this year’s budget.

    Women are important to nation’s building because if you trained women, automatically you have have trained a nation, he added.

    The Commissioner of Agriculture, Hajiya Baraka Sani, hailed Kwankwaso for ensuring that women in the state were not left behind in the administration’s programmes.

    Hajiya Sani noted that since the inception of the Kwankwaso administration, over 2,200 women have benefited from dividends of democracy.

  • Youths hold rally for empowerment

    GovernmentS at all levels have been urged to empower the youth to secure their future and improve national productivity.

    A youth association, Youth for All Nations Empowerment Association (YOANEA), made the call during a six-day awareness rally across Lagos State, which ended on Saturday. The rally, the group said, would be extended to some other states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Jeff E. Joshua, a lawyer and chairman of the association, said youths had suffered a lot from the misdeed of the political class, adding that the group, a humanitarian organisation, aims to liberate the youth through empowerment.

    Joshua also called on youths in the country to take their destiny in their hands and rise against all the challenges confronting them, so as to draw the attention of the country’s leadership to its responsibilities.

    He further said there is need for the government to carry the youth along in its programmes if truly it sees them as the nation’s future leaders.

    “The purpose of this rally is to cry out to our leaders to have attitudinal change towards the youth. The theme of this rally is “crying out aloud for change” and the recovering of the lost rights of the youth,” he said.

    The group’s president, Comrade Babatunde Ifenuga, said the group was concerned about the plight of youths in the country, adding that it is on that basis that the group took upon itself the burden of empowering them.

    Lamenting that the nation’s leaders had long neglected the youth, Ifenuga said it was time government showed sensitivity to the plight of youths in the country to curb crimes in the system.

    He called on youths to shun social vices, as, according to him, his group “is tired of seeing youths being used by moneybag politicians in carrying out nefarious activities, especially during electioneering period.”

    Chioma Elejume, also a lawyer and the group’s vice president, said the group was formed in 2006, with 500, 000 members across 10 states in the country, warning: “Any country that fails to empower its youths will fail in all spheres of life.”

    She advised the youth to embrace patience and strive hard in whatever they do, but desist from all negative ways of life.

  • Yero votes N1b for youth empowerment

    Kaduna State Governor Muktar Yero said the government had provided N1 billion to empower youths under the Subsidy Re-investment Programme (SURE-P). He said this in Zaria at the inauguration of new executive members of National Youth Council of Nigeria, Zaria branch.

    Yero, who was represented by the Chief of Staff, Alhaji Yahaya Aminu, said the amount was meant to enable the youth in the state to get something doing.

    He charged them to be united and purposeful,in order to benefit fully from the scheme.

    The governor said the programme would train the youth on different trades, establish places of work and provide them with take-off grants.

    “The scheme will commence next month; this is a Federal Government programme; we will make sure that it starts on a sound footing with a view to recording total success.”

    He urged youths to always promote peace in whatever they did to sustain the prevailing peace in the state.

    The council’s Chairman, Alhaji Aminu Ya’u-Giwa, urged the youth to exhibit high sense of discipline, patriotism and ability to embrace all manner of people.

    He urged them to shun all forms of violence, remain law abiding and support government policies and programmes for the good of all.

    The officers inaugurated included Mohammed Lawal-Jibril, Chairman; Bala Ishaq, Secretary; Umar Idris, Treasurer and Isa Yahaya, Auditor.

  • A lawmaker’s passion for citizens’ empowerment

    A lawmaker’s passion for citizens’ empowerment

    The major responsibility of the legislature in most democracies is to make laws for the good governance of the society. Accordingly, those elected into the legislature are usually immersed in law making process to justify their mandate. However, some legislators with vision and progressive ideas veer into other populist activities that have the potentials and capabilities to touch the lives of their people.

    Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, representing Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency in the House, is one of the notable visionary legislators of the times. Ihedioha, who made his debut in the National Assembly in 2003 after leaving an indelible landmark as aide to several national flag officers including former (late) Senate President, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar has, apart from his legislative functions carved out a niche for himself as one with unassailable penchant for grassroots empowerment, wealth creation for citizens and attracting development projects to his area and beyond.

    Conscious of the economic predicament of the vulnerable especially women and youths in the country and Imo State in particular, worsened by rising rate of unemployment and the resultant societal ills such as kidnapping and armed robbery, the Deputy Speaker has commenced in phases, the implementation of a comprehensive Youths/Women Empowerment Programme through skill acquisition training. The programmes which cut across the 27 local councils of the state have in no small way brought succour and relief to the numerous beneficiaries drawn from all walks of life including the physically challenged, road transport unions, religious bodies, media, farmers, market women, tricycle operators, political parties, Civil Society Organisations, e.t.c in the three senatorial zones of Imo State.

    Working in collaboration with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Ihedioha flagged-off the empowerment programme which commenced on Tuesday, November 27 with hundreds of participants. According to him, the programme is geared towards providing an antidote to the embarrassing tide of unemployment and help to attain economic self-reliance for the beneficiaries. In many respects the training programme has been designed to ensure a high success level. For instance, it boasts of well-equipped workshops with tools and funds with highly experienced trainers who would take the participants through the programme for enhanced results. Hon. Ihedioha disclosed that a total of 20,000 Imo indigenes are targeted to be empowered through various training schemes in order to stimulate the economy, reduce poverty, unemployment and indeed crimes and other social vices.

    This large number of prospective beneficiaries is indeed instructive of the broad scope, high impact pedestal and inimitable success level of the exercise. The pilot programme according to the Deputy Speaker has been packaged to accommodate all relevant stakeholders and interest groups with assurances that arrangements have been put in place for starting up and sustaining successful trainees in entrepreneurship.

    It would be recalled that the Deputy Speaker recently facilitated an empowerment programme on Agro-Training Programme for 700 women and youths drawn from all over Imo State on improvement of root crops production and micro agricultural enterprise in collaboration with the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Abia State. The programme which held at Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri was indeed a huge success as participants were diligently trained on how to improve on root crop production and diversification for more productive use. Just two months after the programme, the state has started witnessing the benefits in the areas of food production and the concomitant effect of crime reduction, among others. During the grand finale of the agro-training programme, the Deputy Speaker promised to build three cassava processing plants in the three senatorial zones of Imo State to provide the needed mechanism for sustainability.

    It is necessary to mention here that Hon. Ihedioha’s humility, compassion, loyalty and meticulous nature have so endeared him to his colleagues in the House of Representatives and indeed made way for him to record the kind of unprecedented achievements since being elected to the hallowed Green Chambers. Drawing on this goodwill, he has continued to facilitate several development projects and programmes to his constituency and Imo State in general. For Instance, he facilitated the on-going dualization of the important Owerri – Elele road put at a cost of N23billion. Construction of the jetty/mini-wharf at Imo River along Owerri-Aba road in Ngor Okpala LGA is attributed to him. This project is 95 per cent completed and which when commissioned will open up the water ways transportation between the entire regions, create over 500 jobs which will tremendously stimulate the economic activities of the state and the country in general.

    Other projects facilitated by the Deputy Speaker include construction of several water schemes, primary health care centres, equipping of hospitals, building of school blocks, skill acquisition centres, ICT centres, among others. The 133kva/33mva electricity power substation sited at Ibeku, Aboh Mbaise LGA with over six injection stations is another project facilitated by him. This project which is 90 per cent completed, will boost electricity supply in Imo State and in indeed enhance the economic activities of all sectors in the state. It is noteworthy that in the past, he had self-financed the reconstruction of 14 schools in his constituency. Just recently, he facilitated the construction of Isinweke-Onicha Uboma-Imo River Boundary road in Ihitte Uboma LGA of Imo State. The construction which is being done by NDDC at the sum of N5.7billion has over four bridges and six culverts.

    These efforts by Chief Ihedioha, a Knight of the Anglican Communion has greatly impacted Imo State immensely. He is one leader that is regularly in touch with the people. Apart from regular visits home to feel the pulse of his constituents, he set aside since 2003 a special day, known as Annual Accountability/Constituency Briefing Day, every December to account for his stewardship and also take their feelers back to Abuja for further intervention.

    The passion and zeal which Ihedioha has applied in working for the development of Imo State since he was elected to the House has changed the face of representative democracy in the entire country.

     

    • Onyeukwu is media aide to the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives.

  • Williams’ sisters advocate increased empowerment for women

    Williams’ sisters advocate increased empowerment for women

    Visiting tennis champions, Venus and Serena Williams, yesterday advocated adequate empowerment of women in Africa. They said the presence of women in eminent positions around the world is a demonstration of the significance role which the female gender can play in the scheme of things.

    The duo, who spoke at a news conference in Lagos, said women have more to offer if they were adequately empowered and motivated to be the best they can be.

    They stated that women empowerment and equal opportunity for the girl-child were dear to their heart, which was why they supported the Breaking The Mould (BTM) initiative, a women’s empowerment programme aimed at advancing the cause of women in Africa.

    They added that they were excited to be in Lagos, which was their first visit to Africa while noting that the tour of Lagos would afford then the opportunity to meet and impact the lives of women and young girls through the BTM initiative.

    Venus, the older of the sisters, said for her, coming to Nigeria in particular was an exciting experience. ‘‘It is exciting to be in Africa. It’s been great to be part of the Breaking The Mould initiative. We look forward to meeting Nigerian women and learn from each other as women have so much to offer’’, she said.

    She said further that they were amazed by the rousing welcome they received from Nigerians, even as she promised that they would thrill the nation when both of them engage each other in an exhibition match tomorrow.

    ‘’We have played so many finals in different places and look forward to playing another final in Nigeria. I don’t know who is going to win between the two of us, but it’s going to be a good match. We feel the excitement all around us and it makes us feel so special, loved and encouraged to do better and win more matches.’’

    Serena explained that the visit was a great opportunity to inspire and motivate women and young persons. ‘‘It is an honour as this is our first visit to Africa and Nigeria in particular. We are more excited because we are here as a family and most importantly, we are here to do something different; to mentor the young women and young kids, and in general to understand ways of breaking the mould’’, she said.

    ‘‘We are here to let them know that, if you have a dream, you can achieve it, and that it is okay to break the mould. We are really honoured and proud to be part of such a great idea. We look forward to playing each other in the presence of our lovely Nigerian fans, who have been following our coming to Nigeria on twitter through their messages.’’

    Accompanied by their mother, Oracene Price, the Williams’ sisters described Africa as a great continent that has produced many great mould breakers, even as they declared that their African descent was never a disadvantage in any way.

  • Anambra to sustain women empowerment

    Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has said his administration will sustain the tempo of women empowerment.

    The governor spoke at the Government House in Awka when he received a delegation of the National Centre for Women Development.

    He noted that the empowerment and motivation of women would have a multiplier effect on poverty reduction and promotion of quality life in families.

    Obi said massive infrastructural development in rural communities has enabled women to have access to cities and boosted the rural economy.

    The governor said the collaboration with donor agencies and development partners has helped the state to fill budgetary gaps and accelerated the drive for the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

    The Commissioner for Women’s Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Henrietta Agbata, said the delegation was in the state to tour its skill acquisition projects in Idemili North, Ogbaru and Orumba South Local Government Areas.

    The commissioner said the delegation was satisfied with the quality of work at the centres.

    She said the Obi administration has given women stronger voice.

    The director-general of the centre, Mrs. Fatima Hassan Bertora, hailed the governor for his prompt response to the recent floods and providing succour for the victims.

    She said the projects were the centre’s contributions to the women empowerment programmes of the government to alleviate poverty.

  • Uduaghan and youth empowerment

    Uduaghan and youth empowerment

    SIR: When you want to assess governance at any level of administration, merely take a cursory look at the quality of lives of the governed and your assessment will not be far from being accurate.

    Looking down memory lane, there is no doubt that the Delta State of yesterday has changed for the better, going by the quality of life of the people. The average Delta man or woman who was unemployed can now boast of gainful employment courtesy of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan’s administration in the state.

    No wonder the barometer of anarchy has dipped giving rise to peace and tranquility in the once boiling heart of the Niger Delta.

    Prior to his tenure, the average Deltan youth was unemployed, hence his restiveness. His past time was hunting oil company executives especially expatriate, in exchange for ransom. His grouse was that the oil companies employing the executives had taken lot resources from their land and instead of making life better for him through provision of social amenities; his environment had been rendered improvement yielding little or nothing.

    Also there was rampant disruption of oil production activities in addition to oil pipeline puncturing, in the country’s creeks, a development which sent down crude oil production to an all-time low level of 500,000 barrels per day.

    All that now belonged to history as Dr. Uduaghan has restored the hope of youths in the state by creating employment opportunities in quantum such that their restiveness has since given way to peace with crude oil production level climbing to two million barrels per day. This explains why the youths rallied behind the governor to secure a second term in office. In this first term in office, the governor fashioned out a blueprint that emphasized the empowerment of youths in order to encourage them to abandon the trenches, live a productive life and contribute their quota to the development of the state.

    The administration still has over three years to go and at the pace it is going now, it is believed that Governor Uduaghan will go down as one ruler who has the interest and the welfare of the masses at heart. By the time he vacates office he must have put his name down in indelible ink and his administration as unparalleled in the history of Delta State. I believe that by the time he aspires for higher positions in the land, the governor has a ready constituency among the youths who will ensure his victory at the polls.

     

    • Jonathan Emevor,

    Irri, Delta State,