The Nation Newspaper

Tag: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

  • U.S. donates 1.6m bed nets to Nasarawa

    The United States President’s Malaria Initiative ( PMI ) jointly implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development ( USAID ) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) have donated 1.6 million bed nets for distribution in Nasarawa State.

    A statement by the U.S. Embassy on Friday in Abuja quoted USAID/Nigeria Mission Director, Stephen Haykin, saying the nets were worth 4.5 million US Dollars.

    Haykin said that the nets would be distributed in all local government areas of the state.

    “The U. S. Government also provided additional 1 million US Dollars for logistics, including transportation community mobilisation, and training of workers on how to distribute the bed nets.

    “The nets and logistics support provided for their distribution are a gift from the American People to the People of Nasarawa State.

    “Every year, PMI supports two to three states in Nigeria with such campaigns.

    “In 2017, PMI supported Kogi, Sokoto, and Adamawa States,” he stated.

    He said the support was to increase access to malaria related health services, scale up access to malaria prevention within every household especially the poor, and for sustainable investment that can bring about great economic returns.

    “Malaria is one of the leading killers of children and cause of illness in Nigeria, particularly during the rainy season when mosquitoes multiply rapidly.

    “Eliminating malaria in Nasarawa State and throughout Nigeria as a whole is possible if we all work together to achieve that,” he said.

    He said since 2011, USAID and CDC had supported PMI with the procurement of over 31 million Bed nets for distribution, and delivered to more than 60 million people.
    “Since 2011, the U.S. Government has spent more than 420 million US Dollars to control malaria in Nigeria.

    “Over 50 per cent of U.S. Government funding for malaria goes into procuring and distributing insecticide treated bed nets, malaria diagnostic kits, and malaria medicines.

    “In addition, the U.S. Government supports advocacy and mobilization to encourage members of the community to sleep under the bed nets every night, and trains health workers to test for malaria before treatment,” he added.

    NAN

  • Insurgency: USAID trains 7,169 teachers in Borno

    Insurgency: USAID trains 7,169 teachers in Borno

    The U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) says it has trained 7, 169 teachers in Borno to mitigate the shortages of teachers caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in the state.

    Malam Isa Gusau, the Special Adviser to Gov. Kashim Shettima on Communication and Media Strategy, made this known in a statement on Saturday in Maiduguri.

    Gusau said that the figure was disclosed when the Director of the USAID’s Education Crisis Response Project (ECR), Mr Ayo Oladini, paid a courtesy visit to the governor in Maiduguri.

    He said that the training was provided sequel to the advocacy by Shettima to encourage support toward rebuilding and rehabilitation of the education sector ravaged by the insurgency.

    Gusau said that the exercise was designed to expose teachers on post crisis and pupils’ centred methodologies, adding that the participants were drawn from Biu, Jere, Kaga, Konduga and Maiduguri local government areas.

    “USAID has completed training of 7, 169 teachers in the state under its Education Crisis Response Project in five local government councils of the state.

    “The project has so far enrolled 15, 197 displaced children in 304 temporary schools, to enhance access to basic education in conflict and crisis environment‎.

    “USAID also engaged 30 local education authority officials as mentor teachers, while 130 facilitators were deployed to 304 learning centres, to enhance management, monitoring and evaluation services.

    “ECR is a three year project funded by USAID. The project is being implemented in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe and Yobe States.

    “ Currently, providing basic literacy programme to 47, 722 children and youths in 731 learning centres in the North East,” Oladini was quoted as saying in the statement.

    ‎Gusau said that the Borno State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) was collaborating with ECR to expand the scope of participation in the teacher training exercise.

    Shettima also commended the USAID over the gesture and reiterated government’s commitment to training and recruitment of additional teachers in the state.

    The state government had reconstructed and rehabilitated thousands of classroom blocks and schools vandalised in communities liberated from Boko Haram insurgents.

    The government also embarked on construction of 22 model mega school designed with a 2, 000 students-capacity each, to expand the scope of school enrolment.

    Statistics from the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) showed that 1, 400 schools were destroyed; 2, 295 teachers killed, while 19, 000 teachers were displaced by the insurgency in the North-East.

    The UN agency added that an estimated 3 million children were in need of emergency education support at the start of the new academic year in the region.

  • USAID trains 1,200 bee farmers, women on pollination services

    USAID trains 1,200 bee farmers, women on pollination services

    The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) says it has trained no fewer than 1,200 bee farmers on bee-keeping pollination services.

    Mr David Musa, Team Leader, USAID Bee-Keeping Pollination Project, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, that the beneficiaries were drawn from eight states.

    The training came under USAID’s Maximising Agricultural Revenue and Key Enterprises in Targeted Sites II (MARKETS II) programmes.

    “MARKETS II is a USAID five-year project aimed at promoting smallholder farmers’ access to increased income, ready markets, better inputs, adequate finance and better water and pesticides management.’’

    Musa, who is also the Public Relations Officer of Nigeria Apiculture Platform, said that the training was geared toward empowering women to provide pollination services to target value chain commodities such as cocoa and soyabeans.

    He mentioned identified Kaduna, Niger, Benue, Ondo, Cross River, Imo, Abia and Edo as the benefitting states.

    Musa said the interventions was designed to achieve coordination, integration of women through user-friendly beekeeping technology, promote eco-diversity balance through use of bees, increase food production and food security.

    The team leader said the programme was also targeted at boosting food security through generation of honey and boosting plant crop yields through pollination service delivery.

    Musa said that the programme, which was launched in 2012 would be wounding down in 2017.

    “The key objective of the bee project is to increase bee hive products and food security through prevention of bee pests and diseases.

    “The key tool for achieving this is establishing well-organised, verifiable and traceable bee-keeping producer groups or clusters that can be easily positioned for improved outputs and community impact.

    “Social research has revealed that the most accountable sector of rural African society is also one of her most vulnerable, women.

    “This is why development funding is prioritising gender-specific and women-driven economic activities.

    “Pollinators numbering 330 were also trained to form at least 30 well-organised beekeepers’ cooperative groups, strengthen and mentor these groups to produce honey and hive products,’’ he said.

    NAN reports that USAID, under MARKETS II, also executed an agricultural productivity programme in 26 states to boost nutrition and food security on seven value chains of rice, cocoa, cassava, sorghum, maize, soyabeans and aquaculture.

  • U.S donates $9.5m food aid to women, children

    The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has provided an additional $9.5 million to the United Nation’s World Food Program (WFP). This is to ensure that more than 175,000 mothers and children under five do not suffer from malnutrition during this year’s “lean” season.
    The grant from USAID’s Health, Population, and Nutrition Office, is to supplement the ongoing support for the humanitarian assistance in Nigeria by its Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and Food for Peace (FFP).
    In a statement made available to the Nation, the USAID/Nigeria Mission Director, Stephen Haykin, said it is also seeks to bridge a funding shortfall announced by WFP late last month. The grant according to him will fund a blanket supplementary feeding program to protect the nutrition status of children aged six months to five years and lactating women in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and host communities of Borno State through provision of specialized nutritious foods.
    He said: “In response to the call by the WFP to meet a severe funding shortfall, USAID is pleased to play a part in making sure that the most vulnerable of those impacted by the Boko Haram conflict are taken care of”, adding this support will go to nine areas where the needs of mothers and their children are the greatest.
    According to him, the assistance will help WFP reach an additional 110,000 children under five and 65,000 pregnant and nursing mothers with specialized nutritious food commodities in nine local government areas (LGA) in Borno State.
    WFP he added launched what is known as a Blanket Supplementary Feeding Program aimed at preventing further decline in nutritional status among young children suffering from moderate acute malnutrition, as well as protect the nutritional status of others who are not yet malnourished but are at high risk.
    Haykin said the program, which would distribute the nutrient-rich food monthly through the end of the rainy, or “lean,” season in August, is expected to significantly reduce the burden on the health system related to treating malnutrition as well as other health conditions related to under nutrition, consequently preventing related mortality.
    USAID he said partnered to end extreme poverty and promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing security and prosperity. He said in its partnership with Nigeria, the United States strengthens social stability through social services, supports transparent and accountable governance, promotes a more market­led economy, and enhances Nigeria’s capacity as a responsible regional and trade partner.
     
  • U.S. donates $5.5m mosquito nets to Kogi residents

    U.S. donates $5.5m mosquito nets to Kogi residents

    The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has presented over 2.2 million treated mosquito nets to Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi for distribution to the residents of the state.

    The U.S. Embassy said in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja that the nets, valued at 5.5 million dollars, would be distributed in the 21 local government areas of the state.

    It quoted USAID’s Director for Health, Population and Nutrition, Nancy Lowenthal, as saying that U.S. also provided an additional 1.1 million dollars for logistics, including transportation of the nets, community mobilisation and training.

    Lowenthal said the nets and support for the distribution were a gift from the American people to the people of Kogi.

    The director said that the U.S. was supporting the efforts of the government and people of Kogi to protect the health of all, particularly the young and most vulnerable members of society.

    “I believe that eliminating malaria in Kogi and throughout Nigeria as a whole is possible if we all work together,” she said.

    According to her, malaria is one of the leading killers of children and a leading cause of illness in Nigeria, particularly during the rainy season when the mosquito population increases.

    She said sleeping under an insecticide-treated net every night was the best way to prevent malaria.

    “Bed nets put a vital barrier between people and the mosquitoes that carry malaria, particularly during the hours from dusk to dawn.

    “Nightly use of insecticide treated bed nets prevents infections, which in turn prevents the spread of malaria.

    “Since 2011, the U.S. Government has spent more than 420 million dollars to control malaria in Nigeria.

    “Over 50 per cent of U.S. government funding for malaria goes into procuring and distributing insecticide treated bed nets, malaria diagnostic kits and malaria medicines,” she said.

    Lowenthal said that the U.S. government supported advocacy and mobilisation to encourage members of the community to sleep under the bed nets every night, training of health workers, and test for malaria before treatment.

  • Health tops US support for Nigeria

    Health tops US support for Nigeria

    Funding of health tops the United States ( US ) support for Nigeria in the grassroots and Non-Governmental Organisations.

    The Chief Information Officer of the United States Embassy, Nigeria, Mr. Russel Brooks stated this on Thursday during a courtesy visit to the head office of The Nation Newspaper in Lagos.

    According to him, the US spends the great majority of it funds in dealing with health situations such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria; even the current Cerebrospinal Meningitis outbreak in the Northern region of the country.

    “We have organizations in Nigeria that are focused on intervening on health situations such as the U.S. Agency for International Development – USAID, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and also the Walter Reed medical centre.

    “In fact, the Walter Reed Medical Centre’s office located in Nigeria is currently the only one there is on this continent; this shows the importance that the U.S. places on Nigeria and the particular health problems that is prevalent here. Health is a major issues and it concerns the entire world, not just the United States and Nigeria. For that reason, it is so important to us,” Brooks said.

    He added that the US also partners with Nigeria in education where it continues to engage the people, especially those at the grassroots level.

    “EducationUSA is a department through which thousands of Nigerians get information about the possibility of studying in the United States – at the undergraduate, graduate level, and even community colleges. By taking advantage of that opportunities, and bringing back skills and information to the country, obviously, we are helping the development and future prosperity of Nigeria.

    Concerning Cultural/Academic exchange between the two countries, Mr. Russel spoke on the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), of which the Mandela Washington programme is an offshoot.

    “We have the Mandela Washington fellow, the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, and some others. It is obvious that the US assistance here to Nigeria and its people is broad, varied, and extremely helpful. It contributes to the strong leadership that we have not just on a governmental level, but on a people to people level.

    “The Mandela Washington Programme is one that provides an opportunity for fellows from Africa to visit the United States each year and do a variety of things – attend academic institutes, colleges, and university. The Mandela Programme is only one component of YALI.

    “There are other programmes related to YALI that take place on this continent.  We have some leadership institutes here that help find internships for returning Mandela Washington fellows. We also look for opportunities to engage with corporations in businesses here on the continent.

    “Pertaining to the fellowship programmes, it is true that when administration changes, there is a possibility of a change in policy, but at the moment, there has not been a diminishment of our interest or support for the Mandela Programme. Thousands of Africans went for the programme last year, there are thousand going this year, and the largest number of Africans attending the programme comes from Nigeria. Slightly over a hundred Nigerians are going to participate in this programme.

    “We believe that it is a wonderful programme, and has paid tremendous dividends for Nigeria. Therefore, there is no reason to stop supporting the programme. The administrative change from Former President Obama to President Trump does not affect the programme.”

    Brooks was accompanied by the Deputy Public Affairs Officer of the agency, Mr. Frank Sellin, and Mr. Temitayo Famutimi, Information Specialist to the United States Consulate General, Lagos.

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