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  • Boost for rice output at UNDP forum

    Boost for rice output at UNDP forum

    How to improve rice production, among others, topped discussions at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) rice value forum held in Minna, the Niger State capital. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    How to enhance rice production dominated discussions at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)   forum held in Minna, the Niger State capital.

    Held under UNDP’s Agribusiness Supplier Development Programme’s (ASDP’s) Rice Supply Chain, the roundtable was organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, UNDP and Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).

    Rice farmers, processors, marketers and researchers, representatives of some stakeholders proffered solutions to problems.

    They listed weaknesses in the value chain as fragmented and small- scale production, poor application of advanced science and technology and low level of mechanisation of production stages, adding that post-harvest technology was not being given proper attention.

    They said rice seeds used by farmers were left overs from the previous season; and the ratio of farmers using certified rice seeds has remained low. These problems, the participants said, led to high cost of production, low quality and poor competitiveness.

    UNDP Inclusive Growth Unit Team Leader Dr Robert Asogwa said the forum aimed to provide solutions to the problems to ensure a secure future for the rice sector.

    Asogwa said UNDP would continue to contribute to rice farming with enhanced agronomic practices and technologies for smallholder farmers.

    He said UNDP was ready to work with the government and the private sector to boost rice production through crop improvement, disease and pest management, sustainable and profitable farming, and capacity building  for farmers.

    According to him, the organisation had made some headway in cassava and had started getting positive results from the projects farmers were undertaking.

    He expressed the hope that the joint effort would improve the productivity and practices of thousands of smallholder rice farmers.

    NIRSAL Executive Director Awoshafe Babatunde said the organisation facilitated the N65 billion loans to farmers.

    To address the problem of agricultural finance, he said NIRSAL was working with banks and microfinance institutions to make long-term commitments of capital for developing agricultural markets.

    For him, credit alone is not enough, but that an holistic approach is needed, including a range of financial and non-financial services.

    He added that NIRSAL supports  value chain finance (VCF) approach and that efforts have been  made through creative financing and partnerships to facilitate investments in agricultural finance.

    Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Chief Audu Ogbeh said implementation of government programmes would help reduce post-harvest losses.

    Represented by the Director of Planning in the Ministry, Musa Alhassan, Ogbeh said: “The Federal Government has banned the importation of rice and there is surplus across the country. This means there is result and it shows that the farmers and all government’s policies are aiding agriculture produce.

    “We are rice sufficient in the country by 2017. Nigeria will be self-sufficient in rice production. We are getting close as there is improvement on what we have been getting before. This will boost our economy,” he added.

    Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Nigeria Office Programme Officer Dr Umar Halilu said a significant increase in rice productivity and production could only be achieved through improvements in production systems, so,  the techniques farmers use must be enhanced.

    He urged farmers to adopt affordable processing technologies provided by the agency to  enhance the rice value chain, reiterating JICA ’s commitment to providing technical support and advice  to rice farmers.

    Niger State Agricultural and Mechanisation Development Authority  Acting Managing Director Abubuka Sadeeq said rice was the key crop grown by mostly smallholder farmers in Niger.

    He said the state was ready to collaborate with UNDP and other agencies  to enhance capacity building and efficiency in rice production, ensure farmers adopted technologies and innovations in rice farming.

    ASDP has three-fold objectives: first, to improve the quantity and quality supply of agricultural products by farmers and SMEs to markets; second, to provide smallholder farmers and SMEs with support in accessing the agricultural supply chains of lead firms; third, to contribute to national economies by developing agricultural products that meet market quality standards, ASDP Agribusiness Specialist, Dr Nelson Abila said.

    The approach for a rice multi-stakeholder platform recognises that  producers, processors and retailers should not compete as individual entities, rather, they should collaborate as strategic value-chains competing with others in the market place.

    Senior Lecturer, Department of Agricultural Economics, Dr Opeyemi Ayinde, maintained that with increasing challenges in rice farming, including limited arable land, impact of climate change, labour shortage and limited resources, there was the need to harness innovative solutions and farming technologies.

     

    Milling

    The majority of successful mills are large scale located away from most rice farming areas.

     

    Adding value

    According to the participants, adding value to rice would increase income and  encourage more farmers to add value to the produce.

     

    Credit

    Farmers often lack access to independent credit, both for farming as well as after harvesting. The forces them to sell immediately after harvesting, when supply is abundant and prices low.

     

    Production

    Women Rice Co-operative Union Co-ordinator, Kogi  State, Mrs Esther Audu, said farmers cultivated rice/cotton on plots ranging from an hectare to a few.

    To grow rice, she noted, many farmers relied on family or hired labour. Some farms are mechanised, using the latest technology to optimise fertiliser application and minimise superfluous irrigation.

    She emphasised the need for the  government to make tractors available for farmers and also distributed seedlings, fertiliser and other inputs to improve their productivity.

    Mrs. Audu identified lack of mechanisation, low quality inputs and poor funding as hindrances to rice production.

    According to her, peasant women play a key role: planting, weeding, transplanting and harvesting.

    With the deluge of cheap imported rice in the market, rice farming is slowly becoming non-viable, and with the loss of it various farm jobs women do.

    According to her, many farmers are not benefiting from the Central Bank  of Nigeria’s (CBN’s)  Anchor Borrowers programme.

    Other farmers of the scheme decried the late disbursement of input, which they said, affect their harvest during the rains.

    For agriculture to improve and for the nation to attain inclusive growth, participants noted that  banks should lend to agriculture.

    External Relations Director, Nigeria Markets11, Mr Godson Ononiwu, said the country has agricultural potential, though the price, quality, and supply of its rice were yet to meet international standards. The main problems facing the industry, he said, were a lack of adequate warehouses and seeds, as well as an inefficient market system.

  • BoI, UNDP seal $2m solar energy deal

    BoI, UNDP seal $2m solar energy deal

    The Bank of Industry (BoI) yesterday signed a $2million deal with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the implementation of solar electrification projects in some select off-grid rural communities in the country.

    The $2million deal is part of the UNDP/BoI Access to Renewable Energy Project aimed at implementing the second phase of the solar power electrification projects in some select communities.

    Presently six communities among the six geo-political zones where the bank has subsisting relationship for the development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), are already benefitting from the pilot phase.

    The pilot project involved provision of long-term financing for the installation of micro-grid and stand-alone solar solutions in the benefitting states.

    BoI’s Acting Managing Director, WaheedOlagunju, said the signing of the Cost Sharing Agreement (CSA) with the UN agency, would facilitate the replication and scaling up of the solar energy projects in more communities across the country.

    He said: “The blend of BoI’s contribution in the sum of $1.4 million as debt financing for the projects, with UNDP’s grant contribution of $600,000 will provide the much needed stimulus to scale up the projects in view of the attendant reduction in the cost of deployment and enhancement of its overall viability.

    “BoI’s contribution and UNDP’s grant will be deployed to provide solar energy solution in states where both BoI and UNDP have existing collaboration.”

  • UNDP boosts standard of living in former Boko Haram territories

    UNDP boosts standard of living in former Boko Haram territories

    About 2,000 residents of Gaya Silkami and Fa’a Gaya village in Hong Local Government Area in AdamawaS have benefitted from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) project.

    The project is aimed at improving access to clean energy services by harnessing the solar energy resources for electricity generation in communities ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    The Deputy Director of the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), the technical partners of the project, Okon Ekpenyong, said the project was tailored to boost the energy need of communities and enable them undertake their day to day activities as the economic status of the communities were totally destroyed by the insurgent attack.

    “People in our communities have daily energy need for lighting their homes, communities. They also require water for daily household chores. This project is multifaceted to make life easy for the community”.

    Ekpenyong explained that after a need analysis was conducted and data obtained from different households, that the data was instrumental in the execution of the project which was carried within one month.

    “In the course of our survey, we discovered that one of the communities have two primary health centres. The lack of power supply to the communities affected the delivery of basic healthcare. Immunization rate was very poor as health workers have to travelled for about two hours to collect vaccines from the local government headquarters. The vaccines also have to be in good condition before they are administered. There was no place to store vaccines and keep them viable.

    “The project involves the provision of a solar-powered refrigerator to keep vaccines in good condition, solar-powered water borehole with 10,000 litres capacity for provision of portable water, solar lamps that can last for 44 hours and street lights in two strategic locations in each communities”.

    The Village Head of Gaya Silkami, Mr. Jafaru Biyama described the execution time of the project as a thunder lightning.

    “In the past politicians will promise us heaven on earth but none of their promises will be fulfilled. Even after Boko Haram attacked our village twice in February 2015 and we fled to the mountains. It was hard returning back to resettle when the Nigerian Army reclaimed our village from the terrorist. How were we going to live our lives? Before now, this village has never ever been connected to power supply. But just within the blink of our eyes, UNDP has changed our lives for good.

    “I am so grateful because we don’t need to buy fuel before we can power our borehole or use generator to power our health centers or keep our vaccines cold. The sun that shines in this village is our fuel. Our women no longer have to travel back and forth to the streams in search of drinking water. During dry season, it is hard to get any clean water from the stream. But that has changed now. Our community is lighted at night. We can see who is coming in and out. This is like a dream but it is for real”, he added.

    The Health Officer at Gaya Silkami Health Center, Mr. Javan Zakari, said the project has resulted in increased attendance of antenatal classes, immunization rate and improved health operations at the health center.

    “The whole health center has now been wired and connected to solar energy. There is power supply 24 hours daily. No excuse not to attend to patients. In the past we use lanterns to perform some surgical operations but now the whole place is lighted,” he appealed.

    A youth in Gaya Silkami village Jimmy Yakubu said after the insurgent attack he had no means of livelihood but the street light in the village is boosting his business. “Many people now hang out at night and this means more sales for me. I am happy and proud of my village,” he said.

  • Insecurity hinders Nigerian development — UNDP

    The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has said the challenge of insecurity which surfaced in the country during the last administration greatly impacted on the various development efforts of the country.

    It noted that despite efforts by this administration, insecurity still constitutes a major threat to peace and development in view of the fragile economic climate occasioned by dwindling oil earnings, compelling shift from over-reliance on oil and gas sector to other sectors.

    This position is contained in this year’s National Human Development Report for Nigeria, with the theme: “Human Security and Human Development,” launched in Abuja yesterday by the UNDP.

    Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, who made a public presentation of the report, hailed the UNDP and other development partners for their supports for the country’s effort to overcome its myriad of problems.

    Udoma, who assured that the Federal Government was committed to ensuring people-centred development, said the government has set aside N12billion in this year’s budget as part of its effort to ensure the resettlement of those displaced in the North East.

    This, he said was in addition to the N500billion Special Intervention Fund and Victims Support Fund contained in the budget.

  • Insecurity hinders Nigerian development – UNDP

    Insecurity hinders Nigerian development – UNDP

    The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has said the challenge of insecurity which surfaced in the country during the last administration greatly impacted on the various development efforts of the country.

    It noted that despite efforts by this administration, insecurity still constitutes a major threat to peace and development in view of the fragile economic climate occasioned by dwindling oil earnings, compelling shift from over-reliance on oil and gas sector to other sectors.

    This position is contained in this year’s National Human Development Report for Nigeria, with the theme: “Human Security and Human Development,” launched in Abuja yesterday by the UNDP.

    Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, who made a public presentation of the report, hailed the UNDP and other development partners for their supports for the country’s effort to overcome its myriad of problems.

    Udoma, who assured that the Federal Government was committed to ensuring people-centred development, said the government has set aside N12billion in this year’s budget as part of its effort to ensure the resettlement of those displaced in the North East.

    This, he said was in addition to the N500billion Special Intervention Fund and Victims Support Fund contained in the budget.

    “From the report, it is clear that human security in Nigeria is mainly constrained by threats of economic access, high unemployment rate and low perception of job security. It demonstrates the wide disparities in human development, as measured by human development index across the country.

    “The findings contained in the report lay strong foundation for not only addressing poverty, reducing unemployment and inequalities, but also rebuilding communities and regions that have been adversely affected by insecurity,” he said.

    Udoma assured that this year’s budget, which aims principally at reflating and repositioning the economy, is intended to address the challenges that have placed millions of Nigerians in positions of lack, deprivation and  low human security levels.

    UNDP Nigeria Resident Representative, Ms. Fatma Samoura, that the report highlights the link between human security and human development with a proposition that there can be no human development without human security and that, perhaps, insecurity in the country, as in many parts of the region, is a mirror image of the persistent development deficit.

    Ms. Samoura said: “We consider the report a timely intervention that should stimulate the robust application of human security framework in the human development approach at national, state and local levels.”

    It was noted, in the report, that despite a robust economic growth of about seven per cent between 2010 and 2014, a large proportion of Nigerians still lives in poverty and are exposed to various vulnerabilities. It added that an estimated 61.3 per cent of Nigerians are classified as poor with 48.8 per cent of them classified as multi-dimensionally poor.

    Among the recommendations made by the report include addressing social security through the establishment and support to institutions and initiatives that help individuals with low levels of human security; including the access of the lowest-income groups to food and of low-income groups to various forms of social security.

     

  • UNDP Rep seeks structural reforms in Nigeria

    The United Nations Development Plan (UNDP) Resident Representative in Nigeria, Ms Fatima Samoura, has urged the Federal Government to embark on structural reforms to drive its economic growth among the federating states.

    The UNDP’s representative spoke in Lagos at an interactive dialogue on: Promoting Sustained Growth and Inclusive Development of States in Nigeria. It was organised by the Forum for Inclusive Nigerian Development (FIND) at the Protea Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.

    The United Nations, through its development agencies in Nigeria, noted that reforms and industrial clusters would promote growth among the states, especially as oil revenues continued to dwindle.

    Ms Samoura said successive governments formulated and implemented many policies and programmes to ensure that rapid economic growth, improved material prosperity and promote peace, harmony and social progress were achieved.

    The UNDP chief said growth performance had been good over the years but had not translated into significant declines in unemployment rates, poverty and income inequality.

    She said two out of every three Nigerians were living below the poverty line.

    Also, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Director Dr. Chuma Ezedinma said developing agro-industrial clusters in Nigeria had become necessary to achieve inclusive and sustainable development.

    Quoting UNIDO, Ezedinma said an industrial cluster is the geographic concentration of competing, complementary or interdependent firms and industries that do business with one another other and/or have common needs for talent, technology and infrastructure.

  • Gombe community gets BoI, UNDP solar power

    The Bank of Industry (BoI)  in partnership with United Nations Development Fund, (UNDP) has provided electricity for over 200 homes through  the national grid in Gombe State.

    Its Acting Managing Director,   Waheed Olagunju said the N44million rural electrification project is being financed by the bank and the UNDP.

    Speaking during the commissioning of the project in Kolwa, a rural community in the state,  said the rural electrification project was conceived by the bank not only to improve the living standards of rural dwellers, but also to boost economic activities in the areas.

  • Hope for all as BoI, UNDP partner on renewable energy

    Hope for all as BoI, UNDP partner on renewable energy

    Despite its huge energy needs, Nigeria has not made much progress in diversifying sources of power supply through renewable energy. However, the ongoing collaboration between the Bank of Industry (BoI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to invest in and utilise renewable energy resources may renew the hopes of electricity consumers, particularly the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

    Succour may soon come the way of industrialists, particularly operators of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The operators, most of who are weighed down by the rising cost of operation due the perennial unreliable electricity supply from the national grid, may soon heave a sigh of relief, courtesy of the ongoing partnership between the Bank of Industry (BOI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

    The partnership is on providing alternative source of power supply through renewable energy.

    Specifically, the collaboration is focused on increasing the national capacity to invest in and utilise renewable energy resources to improve access to modern energy services for MSMEs and households. This is in the hope of catalysing, promoting and supporting an expansion of off-the-grid renewable energy services for MSMEs to support private sector-led economic development.

    To achieve this, BoI as implementation agency for the project tagged: “BOI/UNDP Access to Renewable Energy Programme”, has already disbursed about N75.8 million to two alternative power firms. They are GVE Projects Ltd and Arnergy Solar Ltd. The firms would provide solar home systems to off-grid communities in six states, which come under the pilot phase for the take off of the project. The states include Anambra, Delta, Niger, Osun, Kaduna and Gombe.

    The intervention, according to BoI Managing Director, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa, would involve the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and local meter manufacturers. Olaoluwa, who spoke recently in Lagos while presenting cheques to the indigenous alternative power firms, explained that UNDP, which has 50 per cent stake in the project, contributed $1.6 billion. He said the project was divided into the Stand alone, which costs N31.6 million, and the Micro-Grid, which costs N44.2 million, making it a total of N75.8 million.

    The medium term vision is to have 100, 000 homes installed with solar systems in the next five years through a combination of micro-grid and stand-alone solar home systems. The overall objective of the project, The Nation learnt, was to build the capacity of MSMEs to incorporate renewable energy options either as a business in, itself, or as service for business development and encourage financial institutions to increase investment in renewable energy through better understanding and assessing of credit and financing risks of renewable energy investments and services.

    BoI and UNDP also hoped to encourage government to develop and implement renewable energy policies and regulatory frameworks that will facilitate renewable energy options for MSME development in Nigeria. This would ultimately open up the nation’s industrial space for more entrepreneurs most of who have, for long, been hard hit by poor supply of electricity from the national grid.

    Indeed, as Olaoluwa observed, the less than 4,000 Megawatts (MW) electricity supply from the national grid relative to the conservatively estimated 40, 000MW electricity demand for a leading African economy such as Nigeria, with a population of 170 million people, is grossly inadequate. He noted that most of the country’s old central power plants had lost their economies of scale and could no longer deliver competitive, cheap and reliable electricity to more remote customers through the national grid.

    The BoI boss pointed out that renewable energy sources such as hydro (16 per cent), wind (three per cent) and solar (one per cent) are growing in relevance and commercial adoption on a global scale and that the recent Group of Seven (G7) meeting in June had agreed to de-carbonise the global economy by phasing out the use of fossil fuel by the end of this century, over the next 85 years, hence the need to embrace other source of energy.

    In opting for renewable energy, BoI also believes that the absence of reliable power and energy supply is an established challenge for MSME operations in Nigeria. The development financing institution observed that most private sector institutions rely on backup generators with high environmental and economic cost hence, improving MSME and household access to hydro, wind, solar power, biomass and geothermal energy supply to power enterprise operations is critical.

    If BoI succeeds in its latest move to provide succour to MSMEs through renewable energy, it would break Nigeria’s inertia in joining the league of other countries that have made significant progress in diversifying their energy sources. A number of African countries have embraced renewable energy, leaving Nigeria, which ironically has more energy needs given her population and economy size.

    For instance, about five per cent of South Africa’s energy supply is said to come from renewable energy. The Rainbow nation in April named preferred bidders for the fourth round of a series of renewable energy projects that will add about 1,000 MW to its power grid. Similarly, Kenya plans to triple its electricity generation by about 6,000 MW in the next five years, with more than 90 per cent of the planned output coming from renewable sources. Ghana is also said to be exploring renewable energy options including solar, wind, hydro and geothermal.

     

    Why BoI’s intervention is timely

    The rethink in favour of diversifying sources of power supply to guarantee improved electricity supply to Nigerians and operators in the industrial sector, especially MSMEs, is coming at an auspicious time. For one, the intervention is coming at a time the excitement and optimism that greeted the unbundling of the sector appears to have given way to frustration.

    The handover of the power assets to private investors has brought agony and frustration to consumers as there has not been any visible improvement in electricity supply almost two years after privatisation. Rather than improve, electricity supply has worsened and tariff gone up as high as 100 per cent in some parts of the country.

    However, BoI’s latest intervention appears to have renewed the hopes of electricity consumers, particularly MSMEs. As Divisional Head, Large Enterprises, BOI, Mr. Joseph Babatunde pointed out, there is a golden opportunity for rural communities to be empowered with affordable off-grid solar home systems that are operated on a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) basis rather than wait in vain for the national electricity grid.

    Head of Arnergy Solar limited, one of the partners, Mr. Femi Adeyemo, said the project would run for 25 years and would be effectively done so that Nigerians can benefit from it. His optimism stems from the involvement of several stakeholders in the project including renewable energy service providers, financial institutions, MSMEs, government and policy makers, multilateral donor agencies, investors (including venture capitals and private equity firms), and relevant professional associations.

     

    Govt’s efforts in renewable energy 

    The need to explore renewable energy is not lost on the Federal Government considering the fact that getting gas to fire the power plants has been a Herculean task. Unreliable supply infrastructure and pipeline vandals have continued to compromise its distribution to various plants. “Vandalism is taking a toll on us,” former Minister of Power Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said.

    Prof. Nebo, who spoke to journalists in Lagos, added that: “A situation where our own compatriots vandalise the oil and gas pipelines, especially the gas pipelines that supply gas to the power stations, since 70 per cent of our power generation is from gas-fired turbines and 30 per cent is from hydro is regrettable. We have not been doing coal, we have not been doing renewable; we have not been doing biomass, so we really are hamstrung. So, the government is now working on diversifying to ensure that we have a good and robust fuel mix.”

    He said Nigeria now boasts a draft National Policy on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, At the presentation of the draft policy at a stakeholders’ workshop in Abuja, Director of the Electrical Inspectorate Services (EIS) in the Federal Ministry of Power, Abayomi Adebisi, said under the policy, 8,188MW will be achieved with renewable energy by 2020 on a medium term, while the long-term target is on the realisation of 23,134 MW by year 2030.

    Adebisi said renewable energy would contribute 1.3 per cent this year to the national grid with a corresponding increase of 8 per cent and 16 per cent, between 2020 and 2030. “While large and small hydropower would contribute 2,121 MW and 140 MW to the renewable energy generation this year. It is also expected that solar accounts for 117 MW, with biomass electricity at 12.3 per cent,” he said.

    Adebisi added that the policy development was being facilitated by some partners with a grant from GIZ, a German agency. “We sourced for grants from GIZ, then we pooled over 30 documents from people who had once done something on renewable energy. We got a committee of experts to develop the policy, and the draft was approved by the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREE) in May 2013,” Adebisi explained.

    The power sector regulator, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has also come out with a number of incentives aimed at promoting investments in renewable energy such as a guaranteed market for renewables, simplified licensing process, land access and a feed-in- tariff.

     

  • UNDP provides solar-powered energy for five communities

    UNDP provides solar-powered energy for five communities

    The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has provided solar-power energy for five rural communities in Bwari Area Council in the FCT.

    The benefitting communities are Tokulo, Zhiko, Sunape, Youpe and Goipe.

    The gesture came under the “Expanding Access to Off-Grid Renewable Energy (Solar and Biomass) Based Sustainable Energy for All,’’ a project initiated by the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN).

    Prof. Eli Bala, Director General, ECN, said the UNDP provided the fund for the project, while the commission supervised the implementation.

    Bala, who spoke to newsmen after a two-day inspection tour of the communities, said the objective was to utilize in-situ (local) renewable energy sources to provide basic needs for the communities.

    He listed those needs as lighting, cooking, heating, water pump and health care delivery.

    “These rural communities are not grid-connected and even those which are grid-connected; supply is epileptic and not regular to sustain a good standard of living.

    “Fortunately, these areas are endowed with some energy sources referred to as renewable energy, like the sun, wind and the biomass’’ (plant-based materials).

    “They can utilise these with modern technology to enhance their standard of living.

    “What we did in these villages in Bwari Area Council is to provide them with clean water supply from underground through solar energy,’’ Bala said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that under the initiative, 400 solar home systems were installed in each community to provide lighting for every household.

    It would also enable the residents recharge their handset, while 14 solar street lightings were also installed in each village.

    Also, Primary Health centres in the five communities were not left out as solar power voltages were installed to provide electricity to run their vaccines refrigerators and provide lighting for them.

    Similarly, each community was provided with solar-powered water supply borehole with 10,000 litres storage tank.

    Bala said: “Remember that the entire world is now changing from Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    “The MDGs has so many goals, health, infant mortality and others but to drive this, energy is required and energy was never a goal in the MDGs.’’

    NAN also reports that under the initiative, the commission designed and installed 400 clay-based efficient woodstoves in every household in those communities.

    Bala explained that the commission’s research centre in Sokoto state designed the improve woodstove.

    According to him, over 65 per cent of the energy utilise in this country is for cooking and it is derive from biomass which is from the forest.

    “Now substitute has not yet been provided, so we cannot stop people from cutting the forest as a source of fuel.

    “We know the effect of cutting the forest, it increases desertification and erosion.

    “So, the best we can do for our people now is to provide them with cook stoves that are efficient and readily available.

    “That which they can manipulate by themselves, not high technology cook stoves and by this, we just modify the conventional clay type,’’ he said.

  • International Press Centre holds Media Tweet-A-Thon

    International Press Centre holds Media Tweet-A-Thon

    THE fifth edition of the International Press Centre’s (IPC) tweet-a-thon (tweet conference) series on promoting active media engagement and active citizens’ participation in the electoral process ahead of 2015 elections was held last week.

    The event which  is a monthly activity supported by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) lll Project and its international partners, the European Union (EU), UK Aid, the Canadian Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFTAD) and the UNDP.

    The theme: “Report of baseline survey of newspapers coverage of electoral issues ahead 2015 elections, Matters arising and lessons” according to the director of the centre, Mr Lanre Arogundade, “has been deliberately chosen to enable us deliberate on the findings of the one-month exercise, which involved six Nigerian national newspapers – The Punch, Thisday, The Guardian, Daily Trust, Daily Sun and The Nation. The survey was conducted between July 21, 2014 and August 20, 2014. The survey’s report will also be presented at this event.

    “The survey revealed the major strengths and weaknesses of the reporting of electoral issues ahead of 2015 elections by the concerned newspapers.

    It is expected that media organisations would welcome the recommendations arising from the survey. On our part, we will continue to integrate the outcomes into our media engagements including capacity building programmes on the professional, conflict sensitive, public interest and gender supportive reporting of 2015 elections.

    Mr. Ray Ekpu, a veteran journalist, co-founder of Newswatch magazine and former President of Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), led the presentation while Mr. Tunde Akanni, a communication lecturer, Lagos State University (LASU) was the lead discussant.