The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NGO

  • NGO partners medical students to fight diabetes

    A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Hacey Health Initiative, has partnered the Nigerian Medical Students Association (NiMSA) to deliver free health care services to residents of Agege Local Government Area of Lagos State.

    Funded by Access Bank Plc, the project was held in line with the World Health Day, focusing on fighting diabetes.

    The outreach was held on the premise of the Agege Primary Health Centre, with residents turning out to benefit from the programme. Medical volunteers had a busy time attending to people, who came to check their blood sugar level and malaria parasite.

    Those whose conditions were critical were given referrals for treatment at state medical centres.

    The Project Director, Mr Isaiah Owolabi, disclosed that the aim of the event was to raise awareness on health challenges affecting the people.

    He said: “We need to appreciate Access Bank that financed the project to help people take charge of their health. Many people have died because of ignorance about blood glucose level, blood pressure and weight. Apart from test, we also counseled people on how to manage their blood glucose. Many have learnt how deadly diabetes can be. All these are free for them and we are happy that through this gesture, we are not just creating a healthy society, but a happy one as well.”

    Roland Ojo, a 500-Level medical student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), said the decision of the students to partner the NGO was in line with NiMSA’s objective, which he said, is to “stand out, help out and reach out”.

    Roland said: “Our plan is to improve the health status of people in the state. We believe that if we counsel people on diabetes, it would help a great deal to foster a healthy nation.”

     

  • NGO celebrates with workers

    A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Activista Lagos has commemorated this year’s May Day with workers in conjunction with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other trade unions. The event took place at the Onikan Stadium Lagos.

    The group used the May Day celebration to call on government to use tax payers’ money for the provision of roads, schools, electricity, health facilities and water. It said provision of such necessary facilities for the people is the only way the people could enjoy the benefits of democracy.

    Activista, which is known for its slogan ‘Up with Justice, Down with Hunger’ also urged the government to investigate,  prosecute indicted Nigerians who are involved in the Panama Papers scandal, even as it warned that the issue of Panama Papers must not be treated as another Halliburton.

    The group is also called on government to beam searchlight on those involved as they cheat the government by evading tax payment.

    Activista’s National Coordinator Nigeira, Oyinkansola Mabe-ko called on the Federal Government to ensure the security and welfare of the people, adding that the government must ensure that multi-nationals and big companies pay their taxes failure of which amounts to financial fraud.

    The celebrations were attended by senior government officials and labour unions officials led by the Chairman of the Lagos chapter of the NLC, Idowu Adelakun.

    Activista is Actionaid International’s global youth network comprising more than 250 ActionAid partners and thousands of volunteers in more than 25 countries.

  • Danjuma Foundation to train 100 women, youths on skills acquisition

    Danjuma Foundation to train 100 women, youths on skills acquisition

    No fewer than 100 women and youths are to benefit from a three-month skills acquisition programme by an NGO, T.Y. Danjuma Foundation, in Fugar, Edo.

    The T.Y Danjuma Foundation, in conjunction with Que Initiative, is to train people in the locality.

    Mrs Oluwatomi Ajayi, the Edo Coordinator of the foundation, made the disclosure at the flag-off of the programme in Fugar, headquarters of the Etsako-Central Local Government Area, on Monday.

    Ajayi said the training was to complement government’s effort at curbing the increasing rate of unemployment in the country.

    According to her, the objective of the programme is to create an alternative means of livelihood for the people who before now relied so much on government and white collar jobs.

    “This training is coming at a time when unemployment is becoming a threat to the security of lives and property.

    “The T.Y Danjuma Foundation, in partnership with Que Initiative, has taken a bold step towards bridging the gap through an alternative means of livelihood for unemployed women and youths in the country,’’ he said.

    The Executive Director, Que Initiative, Mrs Idufueko Abiola, said the women and youths would undergo three months training in bead making, tiling, hair dressing, cosmetology, phone repairs, catering, decoration services and making of household items.

    “The training scheme will equip the women and youths with an aggressive, up-to-date, marketable vocational and technical skills, to enable them to be self-reliant, self-actualised and self-fulfilled,” Abiola said.

    She said that participants were expected to be presented with certificates and starting kits at the end of the programme.

  • NGO canvasses national policy on cancer management

    Princess Nikky Breast Cancer Foundation, an NGO, on Thursday advised the Federal Government to convene a national council to produce policies on cancer diagnosis and treatment.

    The Executive Director of the foundation, Ms Nikky Onyeri, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    According to her, cancer treatment is commonly becoming rampant in the country.

    “The Federal Government should convene a Presidential Council on Cancer.

    “Cancer is highly expensive, it is capital intensive, there is lack of medical personnel and we do not in a country of 170 million have a functional cancer centre for the treatment of patients.

    “We need to establish more and standard cancer diagnosis centres in the country,” she said.

    She said the cost of cancer treatment and management was burdensome on NGOs that sponsor cancer patients and on the individuals as well.

    The executive director said that cancer treatment and management requires a national policy that would subsidise out of pocket expenses.

    “It is disheartening that a country like Nigeria does not have a single functional cancer centre, and the few ones that are functional instead of treating 20 to 30 patients, it is treating over 50 patients.

    “It means that the radioactive elements that are coming for the treatment of the cancer patients are not what it is supposed to be,’’ said Onyeri.

    She added that the morbidity rate of cancer cases was very high, which was engendered by lack of proper cancer care.

    However, Onyeri assured that there are some NGOs that are ready to partner with the government to ensure that cancer treatment and diagnosis was scaled up in the country.

     

  • NGO educates pupils on clean environment

    A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Friends of the Environment, has engaged secondary school pupils in Mushin, Lagos State, at a one-day seminar on the benefits of clean environment.

    The event with the theme: “Operation catch them young,” held at the Community Senior School, Mushin, was aimed at making the pupils to understand the importance of preserving their environment and the detriment of harming it.

    The Chairman on the occasion, Dr Samuel Akintayo, an insurance practitioner, said the event’s objective was to educate the pupils on their future.

    Akintayo said: “The youth are very important, so is our environment. Therefore, we are to keep our environment very clean to make Nigeria what it is supposed to be. Besides, to become something great in life, our environment matters. When these students become leaders of tomorrow, we will be certain of a clean environment, both in the financial, educational and economical sectors, among others. If all these institutions are clean, then we are assured of a clean nation. If we travel to other countries, it won’t be a new thing because we have a clean nation.”

    The Vice Principal of the school, Mrs. Ololade Taiwo, cautioned against acts that are capable of polluting the environment. She noted that the effects of noise and abandoned vehicles harm the social environment where plants, animals and humans live.

    Founder and co-ordinator of the NGO, Mrs. Iyabo Akinsiju said the organisation is aimed at upgrading the community and initiating a change of heart among the citizens.

    She said with their little efforts, children can change things for the better. “The environment is the only thing the rich and the poor share which cannot be dictated by the government; therefore, such a place needs to be given fair treatment. We believe if we get to the younger ones, we have reached the older ones. My advice to the young ones is to imbibe the habit of keeping a clean environment and try not to live in a polluted one,” she said.

    Happiness Nwankwo, an SSS 2 pupil at the seminar, said the eevnt has taught her the need for cleanliness and engaging in consistent environmental cleaning, both at home and school.

    Similarly, an SSS3 pupil of Itire Community Senior Secondary School, Itire, Blessing Okafor, said she has learnt the importance of maintaining a clean environment as well as the consequences of having a bad one.

    The pupils were also taught songs about the environment and were asked to teach their friends and colleagues, while the SS1 and SS2 class prefects were made ambassadors of the environment.

  • NGO gives health, nutrition tips

    No fewer than 10 model primary schools in Lagos Island Local Government, Lagos State have benefited from a two-year health and nutrition training, courtesy of a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Save the Children.

    Ahead of the event, tagged: “School health and nutrition end of project meeting”, and held at  Olive – Ace hall, Onikan, the organisers had donated  various equipment and facilities to beneficiary schools.

    The pupils, many of whom have joined the health clubs in their various schools and have been trained as Ambassadors of Change, were charged with improving the quality of their school environment and community to make it safe and clean.

    Aside the trainings, the NGO also renovated the schools’ toilet facilities, water supply and donated drinking water buckets and other cleaning supplies.

    Project Adviser for the organisation, Mrs Amaka Ifionu, said: “We take responsibility for the children around us, those ones entrusted in our care. Lagos Island is peculiar because these pupils see affluence around them but do not experience it. You will be surprised that they are more disadvantaged than pupils from lesser affluent environments.”

    She, however, pleaded with the government to increase the monthly operational and maintenance allowance given to head teachers of each school. She admonished the beneficiaries on maintenance culture of the items provided.

    State Universal Basic Education Board Chairman, Dr Ganiyu Sopeyin noted that the knowledge acquired by beneficiaries would yield fruits that would be useful to them.

    Sopeyin, who was represented by the Deputy Director of Special Education, Mrs Bunmi Oteju said: “Save the Children has since realised that the government cannot do it all alone and has, therefore, come to our aid. This gesture should be emulated by other organisations and individuals.”

    One of the trainees, a basic five pupil of St Mary’s Girls Primary School, said: “I am very happy with the NGO and company that have sent us these relief materials. I have learnt how to make my school and community clean and I am going teach my friends from other schools who have not had the opportunity of being taught like me.”

     

  • NGO petitions NJC on Anambra Central senatorial poll

    •Judge’s verdict faulted 

    A non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Campaign for Judicial Integrity (CJI), has petitioned the National Judicial Council (NJC) on a ruling by Justice Anwuli Chikere in a suit involving some chieftains of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

    A former APGA Chairman Victor Umeh and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi were locked in a legal battle over Anambra Central senatorial election.

    The judge allegedly ruled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) be represented in the election.

    The NGO demanded the NJC to investigate Justice Chikere to restore public confidence in the Judiciary.

    In the petition, dated May 1, and addressed to the NJC Chairman, Mr Justice Mahmud Mohammed, who is Nigeria’s Chief Justice (CJN), CJI described as worrisome Justice Chikere’s order to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 1 that the PDP be included in the election, which was scheduled to hold on March 5, even after its candidate in the original election, Mrs Uche Ekwunife, “had been disqualified and she had left the party”.

    The ruling allegedly disrupted the election, which was meant to find a successor to Mrs Ekwunife who, last December 7, was ordered by the Court of Appeal to vacate her Senate seat as the representative of Anambra Central on the platform of the PDP.

    The court order was said to be based on the admission that she did not participate in the party’s primary leading to the emergence of its candidate in last year’s general election.

    Mrs Ekwunife was to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) last January 8 and unsuccessfully sought its ticket to enable her to return to the Senate.

    In the petition to the NJC by Uzor Isichei, a Lagos lawyer, CJI argued that it was wrong for the Justice to insist on PDP’s participation in the rerun because the law forbids any party from presenting a fresh candidate unless its candidate in the original election is dead.

    The NGO cited legal provisions as well as pronouncements by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal over the years to buttress its argument.

    It regretted that Justice Chikere ignored Supreme Court’s decision in a 2009 case between the Labour Party (LP) and INEC and the Court of Appeal ruling in a matter between Tunde Isiaq and Okanlawon Soniyi, where the Appellate Court said: “Where there is a nullification of an election based on qualifications, all candidates who participated in the general election, excluding the candidate judged not qualified, can participate in the rerun.”

    CJI also wondered why Justice Chikere’s Federal High Court in Abuja entertained the case for the inclusion of the PDP in the rerun when the matter could have been handled by the Federal High Court in Awka, Anambra State or any other state in the Southeast, even though it said it recogniaed that all “Federal High Courts are treated as one in Nigeria”.

  • USAID, NGO tackle gender-based violence

    The United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) has partnered with a non-governmental organisation (NGO), the New Initiative for Social Development (NISD) to develop a new strategy to tackle gender-based domestic violence in Southwest states in Nigeria.

    The strategy is a communication technology-based platform that offers victims of domestic violence fast channel to report and access help when in need. The platform also uses communication technology to create linkages to support, provide legal representation and create awareness about domestic violence in the geo-political zone.

    The DFID Acting South West Regional Coordinator, Mr Margaret Fagboyo and the NISD Executive Director, Mr Biodun Oyeleye, disclosed this at a workshop on generating innovative solutions to gender-based domestic violence in the zone which was held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    Fagboyo said the increasing cases of gender-based domestic violence in Southwest and the culture of silence among victims, particularly women, necessitated the development of the platform as a comprehensive response to the menace in the society.

    “This intervention will bridge the gap between the citizens and all relevant institutions on gender-based domestic violence so as to enable prevention and real time response to domestic violence,” she said.

    Highlighting the benefits of the platform, Fagbooyo said: “It will institutionalise in states in the Southwest political Zone, an e-based interactive platform for sharing data on gender-based domestic violence between citizens and government and Non-governmental organisations working on preventing domestic violence in order to elicit a real-time response framework.

    “It will help compress available relevant data on gender-based domestic violence into easily distributable applications for mobile telephones and web distribution as well as amplify citizens’ concerns in a sustained manner for policy makers, budget holders and duty bearers by project end.

    “It will also help generate evidence on prevalence of domestic violence for use by policy makers and duty bearers.”

    Corroborating the DFID chief, Oyeleye said lack of proper investigation of domestic violence, weak legal sanctions and enforcement as well as failure of victims to report acts of violence against them made the development of the platform pertinent.

    At the workshop were representatives of the Ministry of Women Affairs and other relevant government agencies from the six states in Southwest.

    Others included lawyers, activists, students and security agencies such as the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

    Stakeholders commended the NISD for the workshop and its unrelenting efforts to end gender-based domestic violence in the region.

  • NGO trains oil palm farmers on modern production techniques

    The Partnership Initiative for Niger Delta (PIND) foundation has trained some oil palm farmers on modern techniques for oil palm production and processing.

    PIND, a Chevron Nigeria Limited funded nongovernmental organisation, said the training is aimed towards boosting oil palm production in the country.

    The farmers were shown high yielding oil palm seedlings and Small Scale Processor Equipment designed and fabricated by engineers at the Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR).

    NIFOR’s Director of Oil Palm Research, Celestine Ikunobe, warned the oil palm farmers against buying oil palm seedlings from road side hawkers or supposed agents of NIFOR.

    Celestine said manual oil processing produced 11 per cent extraction rate while machine oil processing has 15 per cent extraction rate.

    According to him, “NIFOR has no agent anywhere. People are using our name to defraud farmers. We do not want you to loose money.”

    “We want you to know that there is a ray of hope for the oil palm industry if you adopt modern processing techniques. Nigeria can double its oil palm production by doing the right processing, fertiliser application and proper processing method. Our farmers are not getting 50 per cent of their yields.”

    Market Development Project Manager for PIND Foundation, James Elekwachi, said the result sharing workshop was to showcase modern processing technology to farmers.

    Elekwachi told reporters that the new technology has been tested and that the results were efficient.

    He said: “With traditional method of processing, if you got one ton of oil palm bunches, you are going to extract 120 liters of oil palm but with the improved processing technology, the same one ton of bunches will give you 180 liters.”

  • NGO trains oil palm farmers on modern production techniques

    The Partnership Initiative for Niger Delta (PIND) foundation has trained some oil palm farmers on modern techniques for oil palm production and processing.

    PIND, a Chevron Nigeria Limited funded nongovernmental organisation, said the training is aimed towards boosting oil palm production in the country.

    The farmers were shown high yielding oil palm seedlings and Small Scale Processor Equipment designed and fabricated by engineers at the Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR).

    NIFOR’s Director of Oil Palm Research, Celestine Ikunobe, warned the oil palm farmers against buying oil palm seedlings from road side hawkers or supposed agents of NIFOR.

    Celestine said manual oil processing produced 11 per cent extraction rate while machine oil processing has 15 per cent extraction rate.

    According to him, “NIFOR has no agent anywhere. People are using our name to defraud farmers. We do not want you to loose money.”

    “We want you to know that there is a ray of hope for the oil palm industry if you adopt modern processing techniques. Nigeria can double its oil palm production by doing the right processing, fertiliser application and proper processing method. Our farmers are not getting 50 per cent of their yields.”

    Market Development Project Manager for PIND Foundation, James Elekwachi, said the result sharing workshop was to showcase modern processing technology to farmers.

    Elekwachi told reporters that the new technology has been tested and that the results were efficient.

    He said: “With traditional method of processing, if you got one ton of oil palm bunches, you are going to extract 120 liters of oil palm but with the improved processing technology, the same one ton of bunches will give you 180 liters. Some farmers are already showing interest. Twelve farmers have bought the machines.”

    An oil palm farmer, Felix Aigbe Omorogbe, said the training programme has exposed them to where to buy seedlings and the best varieties to buy.

    “We have been made to know that a cross breeder palm will not breed itself. We now know where to get good seedlings. The machine processing equipment is ideal compared to the manual ones we are used to. The machine processing is less stressful and more productive.”