The Nation Newspaper

Tag: UN

UN, Doctors Without Borders pull out of Rann

Humanitarian workers of the United Nation and Doctors Without Borders have been pulled out of Rann after a nearby attack by Boko Haram militants killed at least three aid workers.

Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) António Guterres announced evacuation of all humanitarian personnel and the temporary suspension of all humanitarian deliveries in the area.

He called on the federal government to apprehend and prosecute attackers.

Condemning the incident, the UN chief recalled that attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure violated international humanitarian law.

“Those responsible for these and other atrocities in Nigeria must be apprehended and prosecuted,” the UN scribe said.

The Secretary-General called on all the parties to ensure at all times the protection of all civilians.

According to the UN, at least one other aid worker remains critically injured and another three are still missing while eight members of the Nigerian national security forces were also killed.

The UN chief said: “At the time of the attack, over 40 humanitarian workers were in Rann. All humanitarian personnel have been evacuated from Rann, and all humanitarian deliveries in the area have been temporarily suspended.”

The Secretary-General expressed his deepest condolences to the affected aid workers, their families and to the Government and people of Nigeria.

The UN scribe wished those injured a swift recovery.

Doctors Without Borders, in a statement, also announced medical activities in Rann were suspended and 22 Nigerian and international staff evacuation.

Three UN aid workers, four soldiers and four mobile police were among the dead in the attack on a military base in Borno.

Another UN aid worker is missing.

Doctors Without Borders treated nine wounded patients, according to a release.

It’s still unclear exactly how many people were killed and injured.

“We are deeply shocked by the loss of three humanitarian colleagues in Rann,” said Doctors Without Borders International President Dr. Joanne Liu in the release.

“These tragic deaths reflect the ruthless violence which the people trapped in Borno face daily.”

Prior to Thursday’s attack, the roughly 40,000 people living in Rann were relying almost entirely on Doctors Without Borders’ services to access health care, the group said.

“Leaving our patients, which include 60 children currently enrolled in our nutrition program, without medical assistance, is an extremely painful decision,” said Kerri Ann Kelly, Doctors Without Borders emergency coordinator in Nigeria.

“We will continue to evaluate how the situation evolves and we will return as soon as the conditions allow.”

March 4, 2018
UN warns lions, tigers, leopards going into extinction

The United Nation (UN) has called for the protection of big cats species such as lions, tigers and leopards, warning that they are fast going into extinction.

The UN spoke against the backdrop of the 2018 World Wildlife Day, celebrated every March 3, with the theme: “Big cats: predators under threat’’.

According to the UN, the big cats are under increasing threat, mostly caused by human activities.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “This year, the spotlight falls on the world’s big cats. These charismatic creatures are universally revered for their grace and power, yet they are increasingly in danger of extinction.”

Guterres said just more than a century ago, some 100,000 wild tigers roamed Asia while fewer than 4,000 remained today.

According to him, all the big cats are collectively under threat from habitat loss, climate change, poaching, illicit trafficking, and human-wildlife conflict.

“We are the cause of their decline, so we can also be their salvation. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include specific targets to end the poaching and illegal trafficking of protected species of wild fauna and flora.

“Ultimately, the solution to saving big cats and other threatened and endangered species is conservation policy based on sound science and the rule of law,” he noted.

Guterres pointed out that by protecting big cats we also protect the landscapes they inhabit and the life they harbour, adding “it is a gateway to protecting entire ecosystems that are crucial to our planet’s health.

“Wildlife conservation is a shared responsibility,” he said, calling on people around the world to “help raise awareness and to take personal action to help ensure the survival of the world’s big cats and all its precious and fragile biological diversity.”

In his message, Yury Fedotov, Executive Director, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said that while “the cheetah is the world’s fastest land animal, like other big cat species, it cannot outrun the threat of extinction.”

According to Fedetov, across the world, lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars, as well as many other big cat species, are under pressure due to poaching, lost habitats and disappearing prey.

“UNODC is working to help countries criminalise wildlife poaching and trafficking as a means of protecting animals, including big cat species, and halting their tragic disappearance into history.

“Our collective roar of defiance must be aimed at the poachers, traffickers and all those who would destroy our natural heritage. We must not let them succeed,” he urged.

The Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed also lamented that “biodiversity is disappearing at a thousand times the natural rate’’, saying that the varied causes could be linked to the 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda.

“Protecting ecosystems and ensuring access to ecosystem services by poor and vulnerable groups are therefore essential to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger,” she said.

Mohammed said conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biological diversity was “an effective anti-poverty strategy,” and emphasised the need to better maintain the natural resources on which billions of people depend, especially the world’s rural poor.

“They say cats have nine lives. Our big cats are on at least number eight,” she said, observing, however, that in many cases, poverty, hunger and biodiversity loss are intrinsically connected.

March 4, 2018
UN demands release of 110 Dapchi schoolgirls
Probe panel begins sitting

Air Force explains action

‘Don’t withdraw pupils’

The United Nations (UN) yesterday demanded that the abductors of the 110 pupils of the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State should release them immediately.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he “very much hopes that the perpetrators will be brought to justice, and just as importantly, that the girls will be found and returned to safety”.

“I think the fact that these young women were abducted in an educational setting, where they should have been safe, where they should feel safe, just adds to the horror of the story.”

In a statement by his spokesperson, Mr Stephane Dujarric, Guiteres said he was gravely concerned over the situation.

The UN chief urged the Nigerian authorities to swiftly bring those responsible for this dastardly act to justice.

Guterres reiterated the solidarity and support of the UN to the Nigerian Government and other affected countries in the region in their fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

The UN had earlier described the abduction as “another horrific incident where young women and girls are targeted by terror groups”.

Yesterday in Abuja, National Security Adviser (NSA) Babagana Monguno inaugurated a 12-man panel to look into the circumstances leading to the kidnap of the girls, which he said did not portray Nigeria in good light.

Monguno said: “The abduction of the schoolgirls by the terrorists is a worrisome incident that requires deliberate, urgent and relentless efforts on the part of government.

“There has been conflicting reports from various quarters on the event that led to the abduction, the number of persons abducted, as well as their identity.

“This does not portray the country in good light. There have also been reports, especially in the social media, which tend to support some level of inactivity by relevant organisations.

“Therefore, there is a need to verify the circumstances surrounding the abduction of these girls from the Government Girls Secondary School.”

Monguno listed the committee’s terms of reference. They are:
- determine the circumstances surrounding the abduction of the students from the school on the 18th of February;
- determine the exact number of persons abducted alongside their identity as there are conflicting reports in this regard;
- confirm the presence, composition, scale and disposition of security emplaced in Dapchi, as well as the school itself before the incident;
- ascertain the existing communication in the Dapchi and their functionality;
- suggest measures that can lead to the location and immediate rescue of the abducted girls; and
- to recommend measure to be emplaced in preventing future occurrences, and any other detail the committee may deem necessary.
“Considering the importance of the issue and the urgency required to promptly address the terms of reference and associated concerns, you are to commence sitting immediately and submit your report to me in two weeks, “ Monguno told the committee.

He urged the members “to be objective in their findings in order to address this ugly development”.

The NSA went on: “I must emphasis here also that there is a lot of cynicism outside in the wider society.

“This is not the first time such incident has taken place. On the 14th of April, 2014, a lot of girls were abducted from a secondary school in Chibok.

“A committee was set by the previous administration to look into the circumstances that led to the abduction of those girls.

“What I want to emphasis to you is that this investigation has to be done with all the seriousness it deserves. This is not going to be another exercise in futility. We are using the money of tax payers to carry out this assignment and they are entitled to getting results for whatever this committee does.

“Again, the inclination to push things under the carpet, to be sympathetic to groups or organisations will not be tolerated. You must unravel everything. Where people are culpable, it should come out in your report.”

The NSA said “the report also will be followed by a white paper”. “The President is extremely concerned about this incident which I have already told you, is beginning to cast a dark shadow on not just the administration but the country.

“The truth of the matter is that security is all-embracing. It is not just for agencies of government.

“There is always an interface between the wider society and security agencies, especially in the context of the 21st century issues of insecurity. This time around, your work is going to permeate into the population, not just in Yobe State, probably in Borno, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe states and so on and so forth.”

He added that “the basic motivation in this very exercise is to get result. I want results; this is not just going to be something theoretical, paper or suggestions that will end up on someone’s desk without anything happening.

“We must let the people of Nigeria know that we have taken this incident with all the seriousness it requires and we are going to solve this problem.

“I wouldn’t want a situation whereby you are going to be suppressed by any individual, any group or organisation or agency because we are not going to allow anybody to cover up anything in this matter.

“These are people’s children, our children and we must be seen to be doing the right thing.”

The chairman of the committee, Real Admiral Victor Adedipe, assured the NSA of the members’ commitment to ensuring that the findings are authentic and unbiased.
March 1, 2018
Boko Haram carried out 60 suicide attacks in Cameroon in 2017

Boko Haram carried out 60 suicide attacks in Cameroon in 2017, UN Assistant-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Ms Ursula Mueller has said.

The UN deputy relief chief stated said this on her arrival in Chad for a two-day visit to see first-hand the humanitarian situation in the country.

Mueller would assess efforts of the humanitarian community to respond in a context of chronic underfunding, multiple humanitarian crises and development challenges in the country.

She said that Cameroon was the country most impacted by the regional extension of the Boko Haram conflict.

“In 2017, there were more than 60 suicide attacks in the Far North representing a 50 per cent increase compared to 2016.

“Some 3.3 million people need urgent humanitarian assistance. In the Far North, one out of every three people is facing crisis and emergency levels of food insecurity.

“But Cameroon’s Humanitarian Response Plan has only received five per cent of the U.S. 305 million dollars required to respond to the most urgent humanitarian needs,’’ she said.

Mueller is expected to meet with Chadian authorities, humanitarian and development partners as well as impacted populations.

She would visit the Lac region on Saturday to see for herself the humanitarian consequences of the Lake Chad Basin crisis in Chad.

Her visit aims to generate greater international visibility and donour support for humanitarian needs in Chad.

According to her, a third of the population or 4.4 million people need humanitarian assistance in 2018.

Before travelling to Chad, Mueller wrapped up her visit to Cameroon where she called on the international community and the government to step up support for humanitarian action in the country.

NAN

February 26, 2018
Anti-depressants do work: study

Anti-depressants do help lift people’s mood, although their effects vary, according to a recent study published in the London-based medical journal The Lancet.

The study, which analysed data from 522 trials involving 21 common anti-depressants, found that all tested drugs were effective in treating depression.

Drugs were deemed effective if symptoms were reduced in at least half of patients over two months.

Lead author Dr. Andrea Cipriani said he was “very excited” about the findings, which he said provided a “final answer” to the controversy over the effectiveness of the drugs.

The study also gives a comparison of the 21 types of anti-depressants.

It says that agomelatine, amitriptyline, escitalopram, mirtazapine and paroxetine were the most effective anti-depressants among the ones that were tested.

Meanwhile, the well-known brand Prozac, or fluoxetine, was one of the least effective ones.

Led by Oxford University, the study hopes to settle doubts and debates over anti-depressants, which has been described by some people as conspiracies of big firms or no more effective than placebos.

WHO says depression is a common illness worldwide, with more than 300 million people affected.

The world health body said depression is different from usual mood fluctuations and short-lived emotional responses to challenges in everyday life.

WHO also said close to 800 000 people die due to suicide every year. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in 15 to 29-year-olds.

The UN organisation also warned that the burden of depression and other mental health conditions is on the rise globally.

A World Health Assembly resolution passed in May 2013 has called for a comprehensive, coordinated response to mental disorders at country level.

Xinhua/NAN

February 23, 2018
Herdsmen/farmers conflict inimical to agricultural policy – Commissioner

The Taraba Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr David Kassa says the lingering clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the country is derailing the Federal Government’s agriculture programmes.

Kassa said this at an interactive session with newsmen in Jalingo on Tuesday. According to him, the conflict if not checked can plunge the country into a food crisis.

The commissioner noted that the Federal Government’s appeal for people to go back to the farms in order to divert attention from oil had become counterproductive because of the lingering herdsmen/farmers crisis.

“The Federal Government should treat this issue as a national emergency.

Read also: I won’t stop talking on herdsmen killings – Ortom

“People have to go to the bushes to practice agriculture, but now, millions of farmers can’t go to farm because of herdsmen attacks, and food crisis is eminent in this country.

“Taraba and Benue are known for food production, but today millions of farmers in these states and beyond can’t go to their farms.

“It’s a thing of concern and the Federal Government must act fast to avert food crisis in the coming year,” he said.

Kassa appealed to the Federal Government to consider putting a legislation that would encourage establishment of ranches as permanent solution to the killings.

According to him, the open grazing prohibition law enacted by the Taraba government is part of deliberate efforts to end the incessant clashes between herders and farmers.

“The Federal Government, the UN and other agencies can come in and provide incentives for people to go into ranching, which is the best practice of cattle rearing all over the world today.

“Government can do that by encouraging herders to form cooperative societies as its being done in other crop practice to make it easy for government and the international organisations to easily identify them for intervention,” he said.

NAN

January 30, 2018
Two senior UN officials in Somalia to help tackle food insecurity

Two senior UN officials arrived in Mogadishu on Tuesday to underline the immense challenge of persistent food insecurity and the new approach to addressing it.

Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Achim Steiner will also meet with senior government officials, humanitarian and development partners.

“The UN principals will highlight the need to continue life-saving humanitarian assistance as an urgent priority,

while simultaneously addressing the root causes of Somalia’s recurring humanitarian crises and encouraging investment in the untapped potential of the country,” the UNDP said in a statement on Tuesday.

Read Also: 13,000 UN employees in Gaza protest amid Trump funding freeze

The Horn of Africa nation averted a famine in 2017 when the government and partners heeded early warning reports and ramped up the response.

“The drought and ongoing conflict, coupled with the resultant displacement of a million people last year, has left six million people in need of humanitarian assistance,” said the UNDP.

The UN agency said recurrent drought and subsequent famine risk have become a devastating and unsustainable cycle in Somalia, noting that 4.5 billion dollars have been spent on emergency responses to save lives in the years since the 2011 famine.

NAN

January 30, 2018
Why CSOs and Journalists must work together

I remember having to ask Edetaen Ojo what is the difference between Civil Society Organisations ( CSOs ) and Non-Governmental Associations (NGOs). It was a long throaty laughter he gave when he tried to explain the difference.

This was the first time I will be in a meeting of both Journalists and Civil Society Organisations, and Edetaen Ojo, who recognised the dilemma in my question, was quite patient to explain the difference.

In his opinion, NGOs and CSOs are the same. However, Civil Society Organisation is the broader term used in characterising what the advocates of social justice and good governance do. Not to forget that Non-Governmental Individuals (NGIs) do exist; they are in Barrister Onyinyechi’s explanation, “the unscrupulous individuals that attract bigger funding from external bodies for a purpose, and end up sharing the money equally amongst themselves without using the fund attracted for its initial claim.” Social Justice is of no meaning to them, as they are in the business for the advancement of getting personal gain for themselves

May be that was the reason the Federal Government sought to scourge them and fight them with several policies like the anti-NGO bill, threatening the core of their existence. The meeting facilitated by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) made me to understand that the media and CSOs are both advocates for social justice and good governance, employed in the service of the well-being of the greater good for the people.

Thus, I wasn’t too surprised to see several organisations under the Civil Society Organisations. Initially, one would pass them as activists, probably noisemaking eloquent individuals that like to speak good English on TV. I was in an interview with an activist once and I knew how strictly I had to sanitise that report lest it rescinds into a libellous claim against the government and my organisation.

CSOs are an integral part of the society. They have all the sources to the grassroots and public donors but they face one problem with the press. What Barrister Onyinyechi of the South Saharan Social Development Organization outlined as visibility. That is the area in which they need the press to help project their work to the people and the world beyond. In a society like Nigeria, where it is difficult to share human issues that people deal with on a personal basis, it is quite hard to go public for many reasons. Shame is a major part of the problem. Then there is fear, victimisation and stigmatisation. Coming out to talk on real human issues of abuse, Female Genital Mutilation, Rape, VVF, HIV/AIDS to mention a few is frantically impossible.

Read Also: “Civil societies are the third sector of the society”- Edetaen Ojo

With Civil Society Organisations, your secrets are safe. Some of the issues never cease to worry them in the least. They are ever willing to share and help. But must these CSOs then pay for press coverage? Bearing in mind that some members of the press could be owed salaries for months with their employers doing nothing to salvage the issues?

Must they pay the press for coverage of the ideals that will promote human good, social justice and good governance? Do CSOs not have funding for Media campaigns?

Many sides vary in this argument. But the most important aspect is that both sides must work together and generate a meaningful relationship beyond just transactional journalism to highlighting the real issues affecting people. People that both CSOs and Journalists have sworn to protect.

What are the metrics of social justice and good governance? Is it the quarterly inflation rates of the UN, UNESCO, and other regulatory bodies that are churned out as reports daily? Over 6 million people lost their jobs in Nigeria last year. Is this the viable economy that our Ministers and Heads of State always push and propagate about?

Social Justice and good governance is for the people. If the people are well taken care of, the Government will be applauded. Is it not the mandate of the people that the Government must obey? Social Justice is the link between the grassroots and the people. The CSOs must join hands with the fourth realm of estate as espoused by William Burke to bring the development to the Nigeria of our dreams we have always talked about.

Let the Journalists and CSOs now work together. This way, the government will feel the due pressure to fulfil its numerous promises, be accountable to the people and good governance will ensue.

January 29, 2018
13,000 UN employees in Gaza protest amid Trump funding freeze

Official says 13,000 employees of the UNRelief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on Monday began a one-day strike, protesting U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze funding to the agency.

Secretary-General of the UNRWA employees’ union Yousef Hamdouna told reporters that the aim of the general strike is to force donor states to pressure the U.S. to reverse its decision.

The UN agency maintains 267 schools and 21 health centres in the coastal enclave, which has suffered massive economic collapse, worsened by infrastructure damage during three wars with Israel and a lack of supplies.

The U.S. earmarked 60 million dollars for the agency for 2018, saying that 65 million dollars were withheld for “future consideration.”

Read Also: Communication – Between Obasanjo, Trump and Buhari

The agency, which supports some five million Palestinians in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and West Bank, has launched a global funding campaign in the wake of the funding cuts.

According to spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, meanwhile, a hospital in the Gaza Strip shut down on Monday amid fuel shortages, disrupting health services for 60,000 people.

The ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra said that 66-bed Beit Hanoun hospital in the northern Gaza Strip stopped operating for not having enough fuel for its back-up generator in case of power failure.

Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade on the Gaza Strip, citing security concerns, since the Islamist militant group Hamas seized control of the Strip in 2007.

Reuters/NAN

January 29, 2018
Africa to witness economic rise in 2018 : UN

Africa’s economy is expected to grow by 3.5 per cent in 2018, representing an increase of 0.3 percentage points from 2017, a United Nation’s official, has said.

Speaking at the 30th AU Summit being held in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, Vera Songwe, Secretary-General of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), said the growth uptick will be underpinned by strengthened external demand and moderate increase in commodity prices.

She said the growth will also be supported by more favorable domestic conditions, including restoration of oil production in a number of countries and expected recovery in 2018 and 2019 of major economies, like Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa.

She however, said the growth would not be enough for the continent’s rising population of more than one billion, 70 per cent of whom are categorized in the youth group.

Songwe said: “adjusting for population growth, the projected economic growth remains inadequate for Africa to make significant progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the eradication of poverty and hunger.

“Although poverty level is reducing, it is still intolerably high at an average of 40 percent for the continent. As Such, there’s need to upscale efforts at structural reforms, prudent economic management and promoting regional integration.”

Nevertheless, UNECA projects the uptick in economic growth to continue for some time with 3.7 percent economic growth expected in 2019.

SDGs are a universal set of goals, targets and indicators that UN member states will be expected to use to frame their agendas and political policies until 2030

January 26, 2018