The Nation Newspaper

Tag: group

  • Group fetes teachers Oct 20

    A Non-governmental Organisation, the Concerned Parents and Educators (CPE) Initiative has scheduled October 20, 2018 as its special day to honour teachers at the ST. and T Regency School in Ikeja, Lagos.

    Founder of the group, Mrs Yinka Ogunde, said the event was conceived to encourage and inspire teachers and to demonstrate how valuable they are to the society.

    Mrs Ogunde said teachers were deserving of the honour because of their crucial role in the education sector.

    “We cannot talk of reforming the education sector without looking into the welfare of teachers, their training and remuneration and image.

    “It is important that government, parents and the society realise that our education sector cannot progress beyond the level of our teaching force,” she said.

    Over 500 public and private school teachers are expected at the event.

  • Group urges Buhari to disregard rumours

    The Integrity for Northwest (INW) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to disregard rumours and propaganda designed to heat up the polity and disorganise his political consolidation ahead of the 2019 elections.

    A statement by the spokesman, Comrade Isah Bulama, insisted that “no amount of propaganda and blackmail will stop the Northwest from ensuring that our own President Muhammadu Buhari and the progressive governors from being re-elected in 2019”.

    The statement reads: “The recent trends in the political landscape have opened a leeway for political fugitives to use their weapons, including blackmail, to heat up the polity.”

    He recalled a video of a governor receiving N5 million bribe, which was published online, describing it as “a calculated attempt by those who lost in the primaries to cause confusion”.

    INW urged the media to be “bold enough to name the culprit-governor.

    “Nigerians are aware of how fraudsters and desperate politicians can clone video clips to achieve their unpatriotic agenda.

    “We urge President Muhammadu Buhari and discernable Nigerians to disregard the fictitious story, and advise political destitutes who orchestrated the blackmail to face the realities on ground.

    “We also declare our continued support for the Change Agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari and his merited re-election in 2019.”

  • Group calls for quality, affordable medicine

    The Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy has made a passionate case for safer, affordable medicines and treatment regimens for diseases that afflict mankind, especially those that are endemic in the region.

    Stating this at the annual investiture ceremony of the professional body in Lagos recently, the academy president, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, said this is a vehicle they created to give enduring impact to research and development in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical space.

    He said: “It is for this reason that research is central to our operations and that is one of the major reasons the academy came into being. We want to complement local and international efforts that support scientific research and research activities.

    “Much of the work we have done in this regard has been in the area of advocacy, in engaging government and policy makers on the essence of scientific research and why it is critical to providing better funding and other moral support to scientific research focused institutions as well as individual researchers.”

    The occasion was marked by the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to Chief Oludolapo Ibukun Akinkugbe, for his huge contribution to the growth of the pharmaceutical sector in Nigeria, while General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma bagged an Honorary Fellowship of the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy.

    The academy’s Research and Innovation Centre was also named after Akinkugbe.

    Adelusi-Adeluyi described the award bestowed on Akinkugbe as a token of the body’s appreciation for his enormous strides not only in the Pharmacy profession, but in all other aspects of human endeavour.

    He added that as the recipient turns 90 in December, it was only fitting and proper that his number one constituency, Pharmacy, kicks off the celebration of an illustrious role model whose legacy of love, sacrifice and service would be forever etched in the hearts and minds of pharmacists.

    “It was in the same vein that we inducted General Danjuma as only the second ever Honorary Fellow of the Academy. He remains one of the most passionate supporters of the Pharmacy profession and a most generous benefactor of scientific research,” he added.Professor Ernest Benson Izevbigie, a distinguished scientist and former Vice Chancellor, Benson Idahosa University, in his keynote lecture titled, ‘From Plant to Patient: Driving Research and Innovation for Industry’ called for the translation of research findings into societal values.

    Izevbigie, whose ground-breaking work on the use of bitter leaf- Vernonia Amygdalina  – in cancer and diabetes management, has commanded critical acclaim globally, provided critical research insights into how he has used bitter leaf in the management of breast, prostate and cervical cancer with results better than western drugs.

  • Group threatens IG, PSC over special promotion

    PLANS by the Police Service Commission (PSC) to reverse the special promotion of police officers, who were promoted for “gallantry and superlative performances” between 2016 and this year, is running into more trouble.

    A non-governmental organisation, the Initiative Against Human Rights Abuse and Torture (IAHRAT), is threatening Inspector-General Ibrahim Idris and the Police Service Commission (PSC) with contempt of court over the matter.

    Idris has formally written to the PSC, arguing against implementation of the plan.

    IAHRAT’s lawyer Mr. Maxwell Okpara told The Nation that any attempt to take whatever step against those given special promotions might lead to contempt of court against the PSC Chairman and the IG.

    “The matter is before Honourable Justice A.O. Adeniyi at FCT High Court. We filed the action for enforcement of fundamental human rights because there has always been special promotion in the history of the Police and it is usually given to those who have distinguished themselves, including the likes of Chioma Ajunwa, who won international laurels for Nigeria and many who contributed gallantly in the nation’s fight against Boko Haram.

    “It has been given over the years and nobody complained. But now, some people say they want to cancel special promotions and demote some beneficiaries. To reverse such promotions, if you are not starting from the beginning of the history of the police force, you should be starting from 1999 when the current democratic dispensation began; look at all those who got special promotions and demote them.

    “Why just pick some recent promotions and start thinking of demoting them? That is why we are suing against discrimination because if you really want to reverse the promotions, you should extend it to all those who have been given special promotions from 1999 till date.

    “But when you want to begin picking people because their special promotion came during President Buhari’s tenure or because of IG Idris, without applying same to those promoted under ex-IGs Onovo, MD Mohammed, Suleiman Abba or Arase, why contemplate discriminatory reversal that’ll affect only those promoted under IG Idris?

  • Group to monitor rights abuses in detention centres

    The Federal Government has constituted a committee to monitor detention centres nationwide to ensure the protection of detainees’ rights.

    Presidential Committee on Prisons Decongestion and Reform (PCPDR) Chairman Justice Ishaq Bello made this known in Abuja while inaugurating a working group to monitor the implementation of Section 34 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

    The group will work with judges in implementing the provision.

    Section 34 of the ACJA requires a Chief Magistrate to pay periodic visits to detention facilities within his/her jurisdiction to ascertain the state of detainees.

    Bello, who is the Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said: “We are concerned about the way detainees are treated and the condition under which they are kept.”

    He said the challenge of lack of access to legal representation by indigent detainees also contributes to congestion in prisons and other detention facilities nationwide.

    Bello noted that the problem was prevalent in states like Kebbi, Yobe and Sokoto states where many detainees are unable to procure the services of lawyers. He urged the Legal Aid Council (LAC) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to provide pro bono (free legal services to the poor detainees.

    He added: “As a country we have to continue to try to measure up to international standard and best practices. It is my hope that the inauguration of the working group births the change we want to see in the observance of human rights of persons in police stations and other detention centres.

    “Police stations and detention centres across states should be in compliance with the provisions of the ACJA. This working group will also act as a monitoring mechanism and also enhance transparency on what goes on in these detention centres.

    In essence, this working group, per Section 34 of the ACJA, is to ensure absence of brutality, ill-treatment, scuttling of human rights in any conceivable manner, while a suspect is behind bars, whether in a police cell or any confinement by any investigatory or prosecutory agency.

    “This working group is being tasked to come up with strategies for the effective implementation of this project. The proposed police stations visit will provide a platform to introduce a Legal Advice Scheme to ensure that suspects and victims have access to free legal advice, and that they are kept in humane conditions as the ACJA anticipates.

    “What that means is that the conditions under which suspects are detained must represent a human environment in terms of cleanliness, with a conducive atmosphere, where human beings are required to habitate.

    “For these benefits, and many other more, which I am sure practice and experience would reveal in the course of time, it is with great pleasure that I inaugurate this working group, saddled with the responsibility of supporting the work of judicial officers as they move to ensure the full implementation of Section 34 of the ACJA 2015.

    “The particular section actually deals with the promptitude in handling the affairs of suspects behind bars to ensure that no human rights abuses and that the environment to which they are confined is fit for human habitation. That, in essence, is the responsibility of this working group,” Bello said.

    Members of the working group are drawn from the LAC, Federal Ministry of Justice, Nigeria Police Force, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and some civil society organisations (CSOs), including the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC).

  • Group seeks ways to boost jobs

    THE Association of Micro Enterprises of Nigeria (AMEN) President, Prince Saviour Iche, has called on the government to support the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector.

    Speaking in Lagos, Iche, also Chief Executive Officer of Bright Future Hope Enterprises, an indigenous cosmetics company, said SMEs remained the catalyst for socio-economic change, employment and wealth creation.

    He added that  SMEs have been unable to achieve the competitiveness that would allow them to drive manufacturing sector and overall economic growth, employment and poverty reduction.

    He attributed this to problems that SMEs face in accessing adequate financing and business development services.

    With job creation, one of the biggest problems faced by Nigeria today, Iche noted that the industry needs a sustainable plan to convert some job seekers into job creators.

    According to him, Nigeria needs to reduce barriers and provide support what will accelerate entrepreneurial growth and enable entrepreneurs to satisfy an existing demand, create jobs for people.

    If Nigeria is to tap the entrepreneurial talent of its people, he urged the government to enact significant reforms that increase support for new businesses in the formal sector.

    He said the sector needs a multi-pronged approach that will address key constraints to SME financing and development by focusing on the creation of a more enabling policy/regulatory and institutional framework for SME finances.

    According to him, there was a need to help banks gain better access to longer term financing for lending to the sector; strengthening business development services and market linkage programmes for SMEs.

    He urged the government to improve SME access to finance and business development services, thereby fostering growth, competitiveness and employment creation.

  • Group stages rallies to support Ambode’s re-election

    Members of a group, Human and Consumer Rights Advocacy Centre, staged rallies yesterday in various parts of Lagos to support Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s re-election.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the group staged rallies at Ojota, Ogba, Berger and Iyana Ipaja, chanting solidarity songs in support of Ambode.

    The rallies are coming against the backdrop of speculations that Ambode had fallen out of favour with his political godfather and All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

    The former Lagos State governor is said to be currently rooting for a former commissioner, Mr Jide Sanwo-Olu, who has declared his intention to contest the governorship on the platform of APC, where Ambode also belongs.

    Analysts view the development as a trying political season for Ambode, who has since announced his desire to seek re-election.

    Asiwaju Tinubu has dominated the politics of Lagos State, Nigeria’s economic capital for many years.

    Members of HACRAC chanted solidarity songs as they moved from one place to another in the city, clutching placards with various inscriptions.

    The placards read: “Let the good man continue”; “Asiwaju, Ambode is your son”; “In solidarity with Ambode” and “Ambode is a resilient responsible governor.”

    Others read: “Governor Ambode is our man”; “Asiwaju, please, leave Mr Actualiser”; “Let the good job continue” and “Let Ambode continue his good but unfinished job.”

    On September 14, a group, Ambodemania Movement/Support Worldwide, staged a similar rally in Lagos to celebrate what they called “good governance in Lagos”.

    One of the leaders of the rally, Mr Alex Omotehinse, told reporters that the rallies were holding simultaneously at Ogba, Iyana-Ipaja, Berger and other areas to drum support for Ambode.

  • Group launches ‘A million clean hands’ programme in schools

    Keeping hands clean is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. Many diseases and conditions are spread by not washing hands with soap and clean, running water. When kids come into contact with germs, they can unknowingly become infected simply by touching their eyes, nose, or mouths. And once they’re infected, it’s usually just a matter of time before the whole family comes down with the same illness.

    Hand washing is by far the best way to prevent germs from spreading and to keep kids from getting sick. Good hand washing is the first line of defence against the spread of many illnesses — from the common cold to more serious infections, such as meningitis, bronchiolitis, the flu, hepatitis A, and most types of infectious diarrhoea.

    A leading personal and home care product company, Saponaria Industries, which is committed to help in creating better awareness in the community to drive home the need for good hygiene and sanitation, has launched “A Million Clean Hands  initiative” in public schools in Nigeria.

    Speaking at the flagship programme which was held at Dr Teslim Elias Model Primary School, Isale Eko, in the presence of teachers and pupils recently, the Managing Director, Saponaria Industires Limited, Ashish Misra, lamented that inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease worldwide. “We at Saponaria Industries believe that improving sanitation in Nigeria will have a significant beneficial impact on health across households & communities,” he said.

    According to Misra, keeping hands clean through improved hand hygiene is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others – and stop the spread of many diseases.

  • Group disburses N2.5m zakat proceed

    Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria Lagos Branch has distributed cash and equipment’s worth of N2.5 Million to indigent Muslims.

    No fewer than 23 persons benefitted from the gesture.

    The beneficiaries went home with cash and equipment including sewing machine, freezers, hospital materials, among others.

    The Zakat Committee Chairman, Alhaji Muftau Oriola said the disbursement is targeted to raise the economic status of the needy.

    Oriola urged Muslims to pay their Zakat to reduce the burden of the less privileged.

    “It is tasking to ask people to pay their Zakat with the current economic downturn but with the help of Allah, some donors responded positively and we are able to gather the money that we are disbursing today.

    “Also, We are making move to reach out to more wealthy Muslims so that next year proceed would help more indigent Muslims”, he said.

    He added that, most people that benefited from the Zakat disbursement were not member of the association.

    ADSN State Missioner Imam Zakariyah Muhammed Thanni said Zakat is an essential tool to reduce poverty in the society.

    He said: “It is enjoined by Allah on wealthy Muslims to take care of the less privilege in the society. If we give succour to the needy, we are creating harmony and tranquillity for ourselves. Likewise if we neglect the poor, they might end up committing crimes, which is common in our society today. It is incumbent on every Muslim to encourage and spread the message of Zakat.”

     

     

     

  • Group holds creative workshop

    THE Association of Women in Culture, Arts and Music Industry (AWICAMI) is organising a creative workshop  to help women acquire fashion and beauty skills.

    The workshop, taking place at National Gallery of Arts, National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos started on Monday, August 27, is the second edition of a series of workshops organised by Association of Women in Culture Arts and Music Industry (AWICAMI). The first edition of this cultural skill acquisition workshop was held last October.

    This year’s edition, which features Adire making, Ankara accessories, Make Up, Gele tying and Auto Gele promises to be bigger and even more exciting to participants.

    Speaking during the occasion, Mrs. Victoria Agodo, first Executive Secretary, National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) and Special Guest of Honour, applauded the initiative of AWICAMI to empower women through workshops like this one that brings home the extra income. Mrs. Agodo informed that skill acquisition is trending amongst educated women now as times have changed and conventional school education is no longer a guarantee for paid employment.

    The former NICO boss, who also was director in charge of Youth Development, Federal Ministry of Youth Development, emphasised that from little beginnings of Gele tying, Adire-making and Adire accessories, participants can be transformed into fashion line owners and exporters of cultural products if only they can dream big and remain focused.

    According to the President of AWICAMI, Mrs. Brigitte Yerima in her address, the essence of the association’s wrkshop is to empower women to make economic contributions to homes and society through skill acquisitions that bring in the extra money for individuals and families. She therefore enjoined participants to make the best use of this AWICAMI creative workshop experience.

    General Manager, National Theatre, Mrs. Stella Oyedepo, who was represented by Mrs. Yetunde Fasudo advised women to acquire skills and then use them wisely. Wealth and cultural skills, she exposed, will enable female public servants to survive when they retire eventually from public service.

    The Curator, National Gallery of Arts, Lagos, Mrs. Ekene Okoroma, expressed appreciation the speakers, all other invited dignitaries present and, in her capacity as chief host of the workshop, rendered a good advice to participants to maximise the learning opportunities, interact freely and have fun during the workshop.

    Amid pomp and pageantry, the event enlivened with scintillating cultural music and dance provided by Duguma’s Troupe – a cultural entertainment group, was declared open by the Special Guest of Honour, Mrs. Victoria Agodo in a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony.

    Dignitaries that attended the workshop’s opening ceremony include Mrs. Vim Bot Josephine; former Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP), Lagos Chapter, Ms. Faith Eki, Mrs. Lucy (Fascinator), Make Up, and Ankara Resource Persons, and 50 workshop participants.