The Nation Newspaper

Tag: sensitise

  • ‘We’ll sensitise youths to militancy danger’

    The Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Nsima Ekere, has urged stakeholders to sensitise youths in Niger Delta to the danger of militancy.

    Ekere, who spoke when leaders of the Port Harcourt Club 1928 visited him at NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, stressed the need for peace and security, to attract investments.

    He advised members, who he described as strong opinion leaders, to join in sanitising Niger Delta.

    The NDDC chief executive officer said investors needed security.

    He enjoined the club leaders to advise youths that security will allow businesses to thrive, thus creating more jobs.

    Ekere regretted that the world’s biggest refinery is being built in Lagos by a private investor.

    He said: “Millions of dollars will be used to build pipelines to take crude from Niger Delta to Lagos. You can imagine the number of jobs that will be created if that facility were to be built in Niger Delta. Imagine the multiplier effect on the economy.”

    The NDDC boss said the board had been working hard to change the story of the interventionist agency since it took over 15 months ago.

    Said he: “When we came on board, we came with a very ambitious plan to restructure NDDC. We articulated what we called the 4-R strategy. To restructure our balance sheet because it was over-bloated. A lot of projects were abandoned and there was over-trading. We identified the fact that for us to progress, we must of necessity restructure our balance sheet.

    “We decided that we could not continue to add to the liabilities. So, in our budget for 2017, we decided to dedicate 70 per cent of the budget to ongoing projects to enable us concentrate on those projects and complete them. Only 30 per cent is dedicated to salaries, overheads and new projects. We also took measures to restore the commission to its core mandate.”

    Ekere said NDDC is concentrating on big projects which could lead to economic integration of Niger Delta, adding that it makes sense to focus on doing things to change the economy of the region by providing sustainable and meaningful infrastructure.

    He said NDDC had reordered its governance protocol, noting that the commission must be run as an international best practice organisation. The managing director said: “We should respect laws and policies. We must follow due process in awarding contracts. So, we have decided to strengthen the governance system of NDDC. We rededicated ourselves to doing what is right and proper at all time.”

    Chairman of the club, Dr. Diamond Tobin-West, praised NDDC for assisting the club, especially by sponsoring sporting competitions.

    He said the club had never had it so good in its relationship with NDDC, appealing for more assistance as it prepares for its 90th anniversary this year.

  • Engineers to sensitise on safety, prevent disasters

    Engineers to sensitise on safety, prevent disasters

    The Nigerian Institution of Safety Engineers (NISE) has embarked on efforts aimed at preventing disasters and improving safety awareness on fire, flooding and building collapse.

    According to its Chairman, Abiodun Oyedepo, the move became necessary after safety concerns were raised in several quarters on fire, flooding and building collapse.

    As part of NISE’s efforts towards sensitising the public on preventive measures, Oyedepo said NISE leadership had been paying visiting various organisations and agencies, such as Chevron, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) (Retail), Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Minister of Labour and Productivity, among others.

    At the places visited, Oyedepo said their responses were warm, with people expressing appreciation that Nigerian engineers had risen from their slumber.

    To this end, the NISE has slated its first conference, with the theme: “Assuring public safety in Nigeria: The roles of engineers”.

    The conference will hold from  November 7 to 10, at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos.

    “We are building a foundation for others to build on and are setting up chapters in more states of the federation, with the first one recently being inaugurated in Awka, Anambra State,” Oyedepo said.

    The Chairman of the NISE Conference Planning Committee, Seun Faluyi, said institution would work with regulatory agencies on capacity development programmes to address building collapse. He lamented that regulatory bodies were not sufficiently staffed.

    “Engineers know what to do if you want to prevent flooding even where there is plenty of rainfall. Where you design buildings and factor in safety during the construction, collapses can be prevented,” Faluyi said, adding that the assurance of safety is higher when qualified engineers are actively involved.

    The Conference Planning Committee Secretary, Kayode Fowode, said the NISE was sensitising the public on the need for housing construction supervisors in every state to take proper measures during construction to prevent building collapse. He said there would also be training courses for registered builders to identify problems during construction and address them promptly.

    A member of the committee, Oluwafemi Ogunseitan, asserted that for the entire value chain, from design to construction on site, NISE would support other regulatory bodies, adding that it would ensure robust safety checks through capacity building and necessary standards. He said the institution was not formed to compete with other safety bodies and agencies but to collaborate with all, to improve safety, as an engineering body.

    The NISE, a division of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), was inaugurated in January, last year. NISE is made up of engineers who are registered with the NSE and active in safety practice. Membership of NISE is open to engineers; persons involved in safety jobs are also welcome as associate members.

  • NGO to sensitise students on environment

    A Non-Governmental Organisation, Nature Protection and Environmental Improvement Initiative (NAPEIIN) will begin its 9jakidsgogreen project, which is aimed at addressing environmental challenges.

    This was disclosed at a technical summit organised by the NGO in Lagos.

    The project will be sponsored by the Aspire Coronation Trust (ACT) Foundation, an NGO that focuses on financing NGOs in Health, Entrepreneurship, Environment and Leadership. It is expected to begin  this weekend

    Lagos State, which has a population of over 21 million, is believed to be plagued by serious environmental challenges like non-renewable resource consumption, depletion of the environment, land degradation and waste disposal failures.

    Amid rapid population growth and urbanisation, which began with the oil boom of the 1970s, the state also suffers water, air and soil pollution, which has a negative impact on school children.

    NAPEIIN President Mr. Olusola Adekoya said: “The NGO has reached out to over 150 schools in the state, sensitising them on the importance of environmental sustainability and promoting tree planting by donating trees to schools.”

    Adekoya sought the support of stakeholders in pushing the message of environmental sustainability to schools, communities and the state at Large.

    Project Manager, 9jaKidsGoGreen, Dika Odum, said the project aims at getting Nigerian children involved in environment sustainability and climate change activities at an early age.

    “Our primary targets are children aged between 11 and 15 years  in government owned secondary schools in the state,” he said.

    Representing the Deputy Governor, Director-General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Ronke Soyombo, assured of the state full support.

    She said:“It is high time that we actually completely went green and something I really want to take up from NAPEIIN is the  fact they are starting with the children because if you want to make changes, it’s hard to make those changes with adults.”

    A representative of the Ministry of the Environment, Mrs. Anna Kolawole, commended the project as laudable and assured the ministry’s support to NAPEIIN.

  • ‘Sensitise the people’

    ‘Sensitise the people’

    Osun State Deputy Governor Mrs Titilayo Laoye-Tomori has called on journalists to use their profession to sensitise the people.

    Mrs. Laoye-Tomori spoke when members of the Association of Christian Journalists (ACJ) visited her in Osogbo. She said journalists were in a better position to influence the people, especially youths.

    She said youths should be enlightened on how to become entrepreneurs, instead of looking for white collar jobs.

    ACJ president Oludayo Ojewole thanked the deputy governor for her support and promised not to let her down.

    The high point of the visit was the conferment of the group’s life matron on Mrs. Laoye-Tomori.

  • Corps members sensitise youths on hard drugs

    Members of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Community Development Service

    (CDS) group of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Lagos have held a sensitisation rally to educate the public on the dangers of hard drugs.

    The event , which was held in Ojota, had the objective to create awareness on the consequence of intake of hard drugs and how it affects body system.

    The procession took off at New Garage Bus Stop. The Corps members moved round the streets and main road, talking to the youth and commercial drivers. The use of hard drugs, the admonished, endangers lives and wellbeing. The Corps members ended the rally at Ojota Bus Stop.

    Maureen Achugbu, a member of the CDS group, said some youths promised to change during the rally. She said: “We met some youths, who confessed to be using hard drugs and they promised to change after we educated them on the danger such conduct portends for their lives.”

    President of the CDS group, Olaitan Ogunwande, said: “Our aim is to sensitise Lagosians on the harmful effects of drug abuse. We have achieved some level of success but we hope to organise more sensitisation rallies in other cities, so that youths will drop the habit.”

    He said group had held rallies in areas, such as Surulere and Ojuelegba, adding that the Corps members intend to hold similar event in Mosun Okunola Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Ipaja.

    The Lagos commander of NDLEA, Mr Aliyu Sule, who was represented by a principal staff officer in Drug Demand Reduction Unit, Mrs Titilayo Ogunluyi, hailed the Corps members for the event, saying it would complement the agency’s effort to reach out to the public in eradicating use of harmful drugs.

     

     

  • Corps members sensitise kids on MDGs

    Members of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Community Development Service (CDS) Oyo State chapter of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) visitedUrban Day Grammar School, Adeoyo, Ibadan last Wednesday on a one-day sensitisation programme.

    The Corps members were led by their Schedule Officer, Mrs Oluwayemisi Otaru, to the school, which is the alma mater of the former Special Adviser to the Oyo State Governor on MDGs, Mr Taiwo Fawole. Pupils of the school were informed on the mission of MDG and the role they could play in achieving the programme.

    The programme started with a play, which helped the Corps members to raise awareness about the eight-point goals of MDGs. The drama was greeted with applause by the kids, whose attention who later drawn to the challenges in the society and how MDGs could come into place to eradicate the anomalies

    There was, however, a short presentation after the lecture, with each of the goals being represented by the Corps member one after the other. Through the presentation, the pupils were enlightened.

    The principal of the school, Mrs Oluwafunmilola Zacchaeus, praised the Corps member as she rounded off the programme, encouraging the pupils to participate in MDGs to help the society. The principal created MDGs group in the school at the end of the programme.