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Tag: UN

  • UN, AfDB chiefs seek Africa’s economic growth

    Development impact on the continent and security in the Sahel topped discussions at a recent meeting between United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina in New York.

    Both leaders emphasised the need for deeper collaboration between their institutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, Guterres signaled his strong support for the African development.

    The bank’s flagship ‘Desert to Power’ initiative is expected to provide electricity to 250 million people. He offered to convene a special global meeting on Lake Chad, in consultation with President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The ‘Desert to Power’ programme, a $10 billion initiative to build a 10 GW solar zone across the Sahel –the largest in the world – aims to develop and provide 10 GW of solar energy by 2025 and supply 250 million people with green electricity, including in some of the world’s poorest countries.

    According to Adesina, “Secretary-General Guterres and I had a highly productive engagement and committed to enhance strategic and operational partnerships between the UN and the African Development Bank. I am encouraged by the Secretary-General’s generous support for the bank’s development initiatives, which we are certain, will bear fruit across the continent.”

    The two heads of institutions met following Adesina’s trip to the United States for the World Bank’s annual Spring meetings in Washington DC.

    Adesina also briefed the Secretary-General about ongoing discussions on the bank’s General Capital Increase (GCI-7), designed to address Africa’s growing lending demands. The Secretary-General committed to advocate “for the mobilisation of adequate resources in order to further the bank’s development goals”.

    Guterres and Adesina also discussed the bank’s inaugural Africa Investment Forum held last year in Johannesburg, South Africa, where projects worth $38.7 billion secured investment interest.

    The Secretary-General accepted the Adesina’s invitation to participate in this year’s edition of the event, to be held in November in South Africa.

  • UN calls for protection for women, men, children forced to relocate to Maiduguri

    Mr Edward Kallon, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, has called on Federal Government to protect up to 10,000 women, men and children who were forced to relocate to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, from a town 40km.

    Kallon in a statement by Samantha Newport, Head of Communications, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on Thursday in Maiduguri, the Nigerian military ordered the immediate departure of and relocation of up to 10,000 civilians in the middle of the night, without prior warning, from Jakana town.

    He said that the military transported the IDPs by bus or truck to Bakassi camp for internally displaced people.

    According to the military the civilians were relocated for security reasons ahead of planned operations in the area.

    “The entire town of Jakana was emptied, and people were forced to move to Maiduguri with very little time to collect personal belongings, some of them said they arrived in Maiduguri with nothing, not even with shoes on their feet.

    “The UN is urging the Government to urgently provide safety, shelter, food, water and medical care to the displaced civilians, in addition to information about when they will be allowed to return home,” Kallon said.

    The UN official also called on the government to adopt practical measures to ensure the protection of civilians and respect of the rights of individuals in accordance with its obligations under international humanitarian law; international human rights law and Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

    Kallon reiterated the commitments of the UN to provide humanitarian assistance to persons displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

  • Africa records decline in maternal deaths – UN

    The United Nations has disclosed that there is a decline in maternal deaths in Africa.

    The Gambia Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System, Ms. Seraphine Wekana, made this disclosure during the Pan-African Youth Conference holding in Banjul, The Gambia.

    According to her, the decline has been reduced due to improved health services and increase in the area of childbearing.

    “Africa has recorded significant decline in maternal death which can be attributed to improved health services in terms of access and quality. The age of childbearing has also increased significantly. “

    Seraphine, however, said that Africa still experiences the highest number of child mortality deaths urging governments at all levels to work towards reducing the indices.

    She lamented the high level of gender inequality in the continent saying women and girls continue to be disadvantaged in harnessing their potentials.

    “We need to accelerate our efforts to work at safeguarding the future of women and girls by enabling them to fully harness their potentials.

  • UNILAG team wins UN crime hackathon

    A team of three University of Lagos (UNILAG) students has won the Hackathon4Justice competition organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in partnership with Facebook and AfricaTeenGeeks.

    The trio of David Popoola, Eyitayo Ogunbiyi and Chukwudumebi Onwuli beat 47 other students from nine institutions shortlisted for the final at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Lagos last weekend.

    The students were challenged to employ technology to solve problems relating to achieving the rule of law in the areas of corruption, integrity and ethics; crime prevention and criminal justice; organized crime; human trafficking and terrorism and violent extremism after a 29-hour coding marathon.

    They winning team developed a software, ‘Let’s Fight Trafficking’ (TFL), to unmask traffickers.  It features an e-learning planning platform on human trafficking; a facial recognition system that matches feed from webcams and other images to determine existing case with similar images in the database; a portal for victim’s close friends to file reports about trafficking in their area and a heat map, generated from report data to let users know where trafficking is most prevalent and take preventive measures.

    The feat gives the winners a ticket to the Global Hackathon for Justice event to hold at the Google Headquarters in Silicon Valley in August, where they will participate as mentors.

    A team of four students from the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso came second.  They designed ‘Athena’ a mobile application that allows people to report crime, emergencies and detects location of users and composes a report.  It also helps users learn about their rights and provides anonymity for whistle blowers.

    Students from Caleb University, Covenant University, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Benin, Babcock University, and the Yaba College of Technology also participated in the final.

    The students were mentored by were Iyinoluwa Samuel Aboyeji, Co-founder of Nigerian startup Andela and founder of Flutterwave and a number of Software Engineers from Facebook.

    Commenting on their win, David said the Hackathon was a learning experience.

    “So many thanks to the organisers, mentors and sponsors at the Hackathon4Justice for their time, attention and the opportunity to be a part of the event.  The hackathon gave us the opportunity to test our skills and learn even more.  This is not the end.  We will keep the same energy and continue providing solutions to the problems of our world,” he said.

  • UN commends Africa’s developmental, digital efforts

    UN commends Africa’s developmental, digital efforts

    The Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Ms Amina Mohammed, has commended the developmental efforts and steady progress in digital technology across Africa, despite challenges and the need to do more.

    She spoke yesterday at the opening of the Ministerial Segment of the 52nd Session of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in Marrakech, Morocco.

    Mohammed said Africa was on the move, especially when compared to progress in other regions.

    “Africa is on the move. Africa is leading by example. Even where some part of the globe are sliding and getting complacent, Africa is emerging as the continent of hope,” she said.

    Her segment attracted participants including Ms Vera Songwe, the UN Undersecretary and Executive Secretary of the ECA, and Moustafa Yousif Holi, State Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of Sudan, who was also the chairman of the Bureau of experts.

    Duvvuri Subbarao, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform of Egypt; and Omar Hilale, Vice President of the UN Economic and Social Council; among others, were also present.

    Mohammed, however, cautioned that Africa simply cannot resist opportunities to enhance its inclusive growth efforts.

    Read also: FG denies export racketeering allegations against Amina Mohammed

    “We need to be creative and innovative in our methods. The (UN) Secretary General (Antonio Guterres) has assured that the UN is ever ready to help Africa surmount its challenges. We are going to work with everybody in ensuring that no one is left behind. The UN agencies on ground will continue to channel their energy in realising regional integration and sustainable economic growth, just as the ECA is doing in Africa.

    “In this regard, one must appreciate the efforts of Ms Songwe and her team for the admirable ways they have been going about in ensuring that desired goals are met in Africa. In our drive, we must ensure no one is left behind, especially young girls,” she said.

    The former Nigerian Minister of Environment said that Africa must be conscious of the need to create about 250 million jobs in the next 10 years.

    According to her, the digital world is moving very fast and the challenges faced require a multidimensional approach, while various ministers of finance, development and planning have a lot of job to do.

  • UN, EU special envoys hail multinational task force troops

    THE United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) have sent special envoys to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) troops against Boko Haram terrorists in the Lake Chad region.

    It followed the success recorded by the regional military body.

    The special envoys, who visited the headquarters of the MNJTF in N’Djamena, Chad, described the success recorded by the troops against Boko Haram terrorists as encouraging.

    According to a statement issued by the Force spokesman, Colonel Timothy Antigha, the special envoys met with the MNJTF Commander, Maj-Gen. Chikezie Ude, applauding the feat of the troops in quick succession.

    Colonel Antigha said: “A high level United Nations and European Union delegation comprising the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General to Central Africa, Francois Fall, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General to West Africa and Sahel, Mohammed Ibn Chambas and the Special Representative of the European Union to the Sahel, Angel Losada, have visited the MNJTF Headquarters in N’Djamena, Chad.

    “Speaking during the visit, Special Representative Fall thanked the Force Commander for the successes recorded in the ongoing ‘Operation Yancin Tafki’, noting that the progress made so far was encouraging.

    “He observed that the Boko Haram problem requires more than a military solution, stressing that there is a need to also examine and address the socio-economic underpinnings of the crisis.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • UN agency warns against gender-related killings

    The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has drawn attention to what it calls the “disproportionally high risk” of women and girls in Africa falling victims to gender-related homicide.

    In a recent report on gender-related killing of women and girls found that globally, a staggering 87 000 women were intentionally killed in 2017. Even more worrying is that 60% of these killings were perpetrated by intimate partners or family members including parents, children or any other member of their family.

    The UNODC in marking the International Women’s Day, UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov had said, “While the vast majority of homicide victims are men, women continue to pay the highest price as a result of gender inequality, discrimination and negative stereotypes. They are also the most likely to be killed by intimate partners and family.”

    Out of the total of 50 000 women killed in 2017 by their current or former partners or by any family member, 19 000 were Africans. This makes Africa the region where women run the greatest risk of being killed by people they normally should be able to trust the most. In addition, they are vulnerable to honour, sorcery and witchcraft related killings.

  • UN, AU, ECOWAS to parties: exercise restraint on election results

    The UN, African Union (AU) and ECOWAS have urged political parties to exercise restraint as the Independent National Electoral Commission announces the results of the presidential and National Assembly elections.

    In a statement by the international bodies made available on Tuesday by the ECOWAS Commission, they also urged candidates to continue to exercise patience for the complete results.

    “The attention of the ECOWAS, AU and the UN has been drawn to the rejection of the results of the presidential election of Feb.23, 2019 by one of the participating political parties, even as they are still in the process of being released.

    “ECOWAS, AU and the UN call on all candidates, political parties and indeed all Nigerians to continue to exercise patience, calm and restraint, in order to allow for the full results of the election to be released by INEC.

    They further encouraged aggrieved parties and persons to resort to legal means to seek redress, in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws, as agreed in the Peace Accord of Feb. 13.

  • UN, foreign observers seek support for INEC

    The United Nations (UN) and international election observers who are in the country for the general elections want Nigerians to remain calm despite the postponement of the polls.

    They are also  encouraging  Nigerians to support the Independent National Electoral Commission  (INEC) in implementing the new election dates.

    The UN and the observers in a statement in Abuja yesterday noted that the postponement has caused disappointment  but stressed the need for Nigerians to keep faith with INEC.

    They said: “We, the Heads of the international election observation missions and the United Nations present in Nigeria, have taken note of the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the 2019 general elections due to logistical and operational challenges.

    “While we note that this decision has caused disappointment for many, we call on all Nigerians to continue to remain calm and supportive of the electoral process as INEC works to implement its new timeline.

    “We urge INEC to use this time to finalise all preparations and ensure that the new election dates are strictly adhered to. We encourage INEC to provide regular updates and information to the public on its preparations in the coming days and weeks to enhance confidence and trust in the process.

    “As we continue to closely observe preparations across the country, we stand in solidarity with the people of Nigeria in their desire for credible and peaceful elections.”

     

  • UN sues for calm, patience among Nigerians

    The United Nations has sued for calm and patience  in Nigeria ahead  of the elections.

    The  Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Mr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, commended “Nigerians for a pre-election period that had been largely, peaceful and participatory”.

    Chambas, who is also Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), “encouraged all Nigerians to continue to maintain calm and to exercise patience and restraint throughout the voting process and the announcement of the final results”.

    While welcoming the signing on February 13, of the Second National Peace Accord by Presidential candidates,   Chambas urged them to “mobilise their  sympathisers and supporters to adhere to the tenets of free, fair, transparent, inclusive and credible elections, devoid of hate and denigration of each other”.

    He called on “all Nigerians to firmly reject all undemocratic and negative voices that may seek to disrupt the elections and promote conflict between Nigerians”.

    The UN Special Representative encouraged Nigerians to come out in their numbers and cast their vote peacefully in exercise of their civic responsibility.

    He affirmed that the success of the polls is the responsibility of all Nigerians and relevant Nigerian institutions, particularly the Independent National Electoral Commission, security agencies, political parties, candidates, religious leaders, civil society.

    The UN Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel urged “all candidates and party leaders to seek redress of any grievances they may have through legal and constitutional means”.

    While calling on the all stakeholders to prioritise the interest of the country, Chambas hoped “that the successful conduct of peaceful, free, fair, transparent, inclusive and credible elections would set another example for the elections coming up in West Africa and Africa, and underscore Nigeria’s leadership in the region”.