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Tag: UNESCO
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Nigeria to benefit from $47m UNESCO water study
@seunakioye
Nigeria is among 16 countries that would benefit from a ground breaking research on Emerging Pollutants in Wastewater Reuse.
The project is a collaboration between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
The project titled: “Characterization of pharmaceutical pollution in the aquatic environment of Nigeria and their potential ecotoxicological effects”, is being implemented by Lagos State University and involves a scientific study into pollution of the Lagos Lagoon.
It began in July 2015 and would end in the first quarter of 2016.
According to Claire Lynga, a research advisor at SIDA, the project is estimated to cost about $47 million over four years.
She said the issue of wastewater reuse is becoming a popular phenomenon globally and thus important that major research be carried out on the problems of pollution.
Programme Specialist , International Hydrological Programme at UNESCO, Sarantuyaa Zandaryaa said the ground breaking project aims to support UNESCO Member States to strengthen their scientific research and technical capacities to manage human health and environmental risks caused by new and emerging pollutants in developing countries.
Zandaryaa, who spoke at the sidelines of the World Water Week in Stockholm said new and emerging water pollutants include broad range of substances, including pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, domestic and industrial chemicals.
” These pollutants are released to water bodies and the environment because they are usually not removed in conventional wastewater treatment facilities. Scientific knowledge and understanding on potential human and ecosystem health risks posed by emerging water pollutants is still very scarce as well as their presence in water resources,” Zandaryaa said.
She said the Lagos Lagoon was identified as a major source of livelihood for thousands of fishermen in Lagos and pollution of the lagoon will have a negative impact on thousands of people who depended on it.
Zandaryaa said at the conclusion of the project, UNESCO will put pressure on policy makers to address all the problems that have been identified.
“ What we intend to do is that as soon as we have scientific evidence about the pollution in the Lagos Lagoon, we will put pressure on police makers on what is needed to be done to reverse the trend,” she said. -
ANCOPSS seeks adoption of UNESCO recommendation
The All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) has suggested the adoption of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO’s) 26 per cent of budgetary allocation of developing countries to education.
Also, ANCOPSS seeks more realistic education policies which should be diligently implemented.
Chairman of the Sokoto State chapter of ANCOPSS, Alhaji Abdullahi Marafa, who stated this in Sokoto, explained that such allocations should also be released regularly for effectiveness.
According to Marafa, doing so would prompt governments into realising their aims of bolstering education standard in the country.
He noted that education standard in the country had since nose-dived while stressing that” this approach will also help greatly in boosting the provision of schools’ infrastructure like structures, facilities, library materials and other sundry needs.”
Marafa, who is also the Principal, Sani Dingyadi Unity Secondary School, Farfaru-Sokoto, called on corporate organisations to do more to complement governments’ efforts in funding education at all levels.
“Such organisations like commercial banks and other wealthy individuals should assist immensely in funding education at all levels,” Marafa said.
“Development partners and other crucial stakeholders should also do more in the above direction, as the era of leaving the funding to government alone had passed.
“There should be strict enforcement of the subsisting fiscal regulations to ensure transparency and accountability in expending funds meant for the funding of education,” Marafa, added.
Marafa, who lamented inconsistency in such policies, also called for the recruitment of competent and qualified teachers, as well as routine training and re-training.
“The government should also ponder on re-introducing certain motivations to the teachers like responsibility and hard line allowances,” he urged.
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Librarian gets UNESCO appointment
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has appointed the Registrar/Chief Executive Officers of Librarians’ Registration Council of Nigeria, Dr Victoria Okojie, as a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Programme.
UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme is an international initiative launched to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, the ravages of time and climatic conditions, and willful and deliberate destruction. It is administered by a body known as the International Advisory Committee (IAC) whose 14 members are appointed by the UNESCO Director-General.
In a statement, LRCN’s Chief Information and Protocol Officer, Mrs Ngozi Oboh, noted that Dr Okojie’s appointment came as a result of her in-depth expertise in the field of safeguarding documentary heritage, taking into account a fair geographical representation.
Dr Okojie’s appointment was conveyed via an e-mail dated June 22, 2015 and signed by Iskra Panevska of the UNESCO Memory of the World Knowledge Societies Division, Communications and Information Sector.
Reacting to the news, Dr Okojie said it was a great honour to be recognised by a United Nations Agency, the UNESCO.
“It is a clear signal that our efforts are gradually gaining global recognition. The task sounds interesting and being a Nigerian, I am optimistic that some of our national monuments and cultural heritage will qualify to be listed in the Memory of the World International Register,” she said.
Dr Okojie has served as the President of Nigerian Library Association; Advisor in Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Global Library Committee and is a Fellow of the United States of America International Visitor Leadership Programme.
She is the Chair, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Africa Section and an Associate of IFLA International Leaders Programme.
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Representing Nigeria on WPFD2015
May 3 every year would always be an important date in the life of every journalists across the globe because that date is set aside to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom, evaluate press freedom around the world, defend the media from attacks on their independence and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives while discharging their professional duties.Without doubt identifying ones co-citizens is always an interesting endeavour at international events such as the World Press Freedom Day (#WPFD2015) where delegates from about 80 countries converge and exchange ideas.Interestingly, the pride goes to the United Nation Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO Nigeria) over Nigeria’s impressive representation at the recent World Press Freedom Day held in Riga, Latvia.The event, co-hosted by UNESCO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, started on Saturday, 2nd of May with a side event where participants discussed Media laws, restrictions on civil societies and internet freedom.At the event, it was as if no country was represented as everyone – black and white – wore the delegation identity card. Even the Nigerians hardly identified each other. But there were blacks.However, the event of Sunday, May 3 was totally different as Nigerians appeared at almost every session held at the Latvian National Library to celebrate the country’s independence.UNESCO also marked its 70th year of existence on that day which coincided with Latvian independence.While back in Nigeria it seemed nothing was happening about the international event, the first plenary session saw Mr. Musikilu Mojeed, the Managing Editor, Premium Times as he
L-R: Mr Edetaen Ojo, Fackson Banda and Ify Aronu a youth-newsroom delegate at the side event held at Stockholm School of Economic in Riga, Latvia discussed ‘Independent and Quality Media’ with others nationals on the panel.
The panelists agree that investigative journalism, in particular, relies on accurate, in-depth and critical reporting of matters of special public concern, which often requires long and difficult research.However, the question on the lips of many was: What could be done to strengthen investigative journalism?’While Mojeed was showcasing his prowess of digital media business, another Nigerian, Mr. Edetaen Ojo, the Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda, captivated the audience at another session with a topic: “Challenges for Freedom of Expression in the Digital Age.”Discussants at this session agreed that digital revolution is impacting on all spheres of public and private life.They maintained that more and more personal and public information is collected, stored, processed and shared through the Internet.At this juncture, the plenary observed that journalism interfaced with wider digital environment and the policy decisions about it while attempting to proffer solutions to how journalists and journalism schools deal with such restrictions that impact on the production and distribution of online news as described in UNESCO’s World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development (2014).What drew envious glances from participants at the event was the presence of yet another Nigerian at the Parallel session 2, this time a female, to discuss “Regulation, Sustainable Self-regulation and Professional Standards for the Media.
Ms. Ifeyinwa at extreme left Photo by David Lawal, Riga-Latvia Ms Anthonia Ifeyinwa Omowole is the National President, Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ).
She raised one key point at the session and that was “the more female journalists we have in the industry the more we would have at managerial positions.”No denial, this is vital to journalism in Nigeria considering the lack of regulations for the Nigerian cyber space that permits unregulated flow of information.More worthy of mention is that beside Latvia, the host nation that had about 12 young journalists and Finland, the host for 2016, which was represented at the event by eight budding journalists, Nigeria was the only country that had two young journalists at the forum.Ify Aronu, an on-air personality at SplashFM Ibadan, Oyo State, and David Lawal, Online Reporter and Social Media Executive at The Nation Newspaper, were the two young Nigerian journalists that joined the UNESCO Youth Newsroom to cover the event.Considering the challenges facing the Media in Nigeria – from traditional to digital – one would agree that the representation was worth it.Meanwhile, one thing that the world may be anticipating soonest is how the event influences the Nigerian media.It obviously cannot remain ‘business as usual’. -
Another Bangladesh blogger killed
Just approximately 9days after the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) celebrated World Press Freedom Day in Riga, the capital city of Latvia, an attack has been made against the profession.
There is no denial that an attack on a professional is an attack on the profession he or she practices. Sadly, a secular blogger was on Tuesday hacked to death in north-eastern Bangladesh.
According to local police, the death of Ananta Bijoy Das marks the third of such deadly attacks since the start of the year, saying that Das was attacked by a masked gang wielding machetes in the city of Sylhet.
Mr Das wrote blogs for Mukto-Mona, a website once moderated by Avijit Roy, who was also hacked to death in February for criticism on religious intolerance.
The publisher lost his life in a machete attack while he was visiting the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, as he returned from a book fair in the city with his wife (now a widow) who also suffered head injuries and lost a finger in the attack.
Lawyer and human rights activist, Sara Hossain, revealed to BBC that Mr. Das and Mr. Roy were on a list of targets for a while before they were attacked.
She noted: “They’ve always believed and written very vocally in support of free expression and they’ve very explicitly written about not following any religion themselves,” she told the BBC World Service’s Newsday programme.
“These last two have been part of a blog called Mukto-Mona (Free Mind), which is about free thinking and is about explicitly taking on religious fundamentalism and particularly Islamic religious fundamentalism. Their names have been on lists of identified targets.”
Last month’s attack on Mr Roy prompted massive protests from students and social activists, who accused the authorities of failing to protect critics of religious bigotry.
Sometimes in March, another blogger, Washiqur Rahman, was hacked to death in Dhaka for which an Islamist and two madrassa students were arrested over his murder.
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Press freedom day: Let journalism thrive
“Is the story well told, does it reflect all the sides to the story, but basically does it help the people to take informed decisions, does it advance society in a way, does it help for change.” These were the words of Mr. Musikilu Mojeed, a Nigerian delegate at the 2015 World Press Freedom Day (WPFD).
The event, co-hosted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, started on Saturday, 2nd of May in Riga, the capital city of Latvia, with a side event where participants discussed Media laws, restrictions on civil societies and internet freedom.
It was agreed that freedom of expression is a fundamental principle of any democratic state without which citizens cannot make informed decisions and international laws require government to protect this freedom, particularly in relations to the activities of media practitioners.
However, the Latvian National Library saw a large attendance as the major event took place with different but interesting sessions, which all hinged on the theme: “Let Journalism Thrive – Towards Better Reporting, Gender Equality & Media Safety in the Digital Age”.
Speaking on Media and gender equality, Ms. Ifeyinwa Omowole, President – Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) advocated for more women participation in the media. “The more women we have in the media, the more we are likely to have in managerial positions,” she stressed.
This session focused specially on the 2oth anniversary of Beijing Declaration and the platform for action. It would be recalled that the declaration, adopted by 189 governments at the 4th Women’s \conference, outlined 12 critical areas of concern that needed to be addressed. One of which is ‘Women and the Media’.
Mr. Edet Ojo, Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda in an interview submitted that the biggest challenge for the media in Africa is the availability of a lot of government and yet no government actors who attempt to restrict freedom of expression.
“They try to prevent you from saying things that they are uncomfortable about. But for other groups including terrorists groups, criminal organisations you find out that there are other forms of offline reprisals,” he observed.
In his opinion, the Scandinavian countries are the best in time of protecting journalists and freedom of speech saying: “They are open societies so they don’t really worry much about what their citizens say and maybe also, because the level of corruption in those societies are quite low so there is less concern.”
While the session on Regulations, Re-Regulations and De-Regulation came to the end, one point remained clear in the minds of participants, which is ‘If the media refuses to take up regulations for the profession, government will do because regulation is necessary anyways.’
Interestingly, the event this year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of UNESCO and equally the Independence Day of the country of Latvia at 25 years.
Thus, Ms. Anda Rozukalne, Chairman of the Latvian Association of Journalists disclosed that the country could not treat matters of press freedom with levity for what it means to them. “Press freedom is very important to us because it played a vital role in the acquisition of our independence,” she noted.
The next edition of the WPFD in 2016 will be co-hosted by Finland making it the first time the event is held in the Scandinavian region with the theme: Freedom of Information, the Right to Seek and to Receive Information.
It was noted that UNESCO intends to focus on this issue in Finland, as ‘Finland has been one of the strongest supporters of the freedom of information (FoI)’, Mr. Ming-Kuok Lim, Program Specialist in the Division for Freedom of Expression and Media Development of UNESCO.
The delegation therefore adopted the Latvian Declarations after the Finnish Ambassador to Latvia, Mr. Olli Kantanen, officially received the torch from the chair of the steering committee of Latvia, Ms Baiba Braze, in a handover ceremony
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Photo: WPFD 2016 goes to Finland
Mr Olli Kantanen of Finland welcomes WPFD 2016 from Latvian 
Ambassador Baiba Braze in Riga, Latvia. Photo by David Lawal
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WPFD2015: Focus on media ownership
The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), on Saturday held a side event as part of activities to mark this year’s World Press Freedom Day (WPFD2015).
The event, which held at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Latvia had delegates from across the globe including a youth newsroom of about 12 Latvian journalism students and young journalists who hosted 20 other young emerging journalists, photographers, videographers, podcasters, and social media specialists.
Like the problem media faces in many countries of the world, the key topic of discussion at the side event was ‘Media ownership’; The Nation Newspaper is ably represented at the event.
With Ms. Pavla Holove of Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Mr. Tamas Bodoky, editor-in-chief of atlatszo.hu, it was realised that one of the major challenges of creating a fair and independent media content is the issue of who owns the media.
Youth Newsroom team members during a brainstorming session. Photo by David Lawal According to a recent study conducted by OCCRP, political interests and even organized crime claim ownership of the largest media outlets in many regions of the world – Northern Europe in particular.
As the two major discussants engaged the topic, the question begging for answer was; “How can we ensure people will find the truth?”
WPFD is a UNESCO event to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
Among such journalists is Peter Greste of Al-Jazeera who was accused of aiding terrorists’ activities in Egypt and was therefore detained for more than 365 days. Greste after his release said: “Journalism thrives when reporters are able to work without draconian constraint. Free media is key to free society, free debate, free ideas.”
The UN General Assembly proclaimed the International day in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the 26th Session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991.
This, in turn, was a response to a call by African journalists who in 1991 produced the landmark Windhoek Declaration on media pluralism and independence.
The main event is scheduled to hold on Sunday at the Latvian National Library, Mukusalas in Riga, the country’s capital city.
