The Nation Newspaper

Tag: USAID

  • Eko DisCo, USAID to sign MoU on technical assistance

    Eko DisCo, USAID to sign MoU on technical assistance

    Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on technical assistance with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

    Its General Manager, Corporate Communications, Godwin Idemudia, said the technical assistance agreement is from USAID under the US Government funded Power Africa Transactions and Reforms Programme (PATRP) Inc.

    The PATRP, which is designed to bring more electricity to sub-Saharan Africa through utilisation of transaction-centred approach, is a five-year USAID technical assistance project being implemented by Tetra Tech Inc.

    Speaking at the inaugural meeting between EKEDC and Tetra Tech Inc. in Lagos, the President of Tetra Tech Inc., Dean White, said Tetra Tech. has a rich background of experience of partnering and managing power utilities in Africa and as such, he looked forward to a successful partnership with EKEDC.

    Chairman, Board of Directors of Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Charles Momoh, said the company will continue to do everything possible to bring about the desired turnaround in the power situation.

  • USAID, NGO tackle gender-based violence

    The United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) has partnered with a non-governmental organisation (NGO), the New Initiative for Social Development (NISD) to develop a new strategy to tackle gender-based domestic violence in Southwest states in Nigeria.

    The strategy is a communication technology-based platform that offers victims of domestic violence fast channel to report and access help when in need. The platform also uses communication technology to create linkages to support, provide legal representation and create awareness about domestic violence in the geo-political zone.

    The DFID Acting South West Regional Coordinator, Mr Margaret Fagboyo and the NISD Executive Director, Mr Biodun Oyeleye, disclosed this at a workshop on generating innovative solutions to gender-based domestic violence in the zone which was held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    Fagboyo said the increasing cases of gender-based domestic violence in Southwest and the culture of silence among victims, particularly women, necessitated the development of the platform as a comprehensive response to the menace in the society.

    “This intervention will bridge the gap between the citizens and all relevant institutions on gender-based domestic violence so as to enable prevention and real time response to domestic violence,” she said.

    Highlighting the benefits of the platform, Fagbooyo said: “It will institutionalise in states in the Southwest political Zone, an e-based interactive platform for sharing data on gender-based domestic violence between citizens and government and Non-governmental organisations working on preventing domestic violence in order to elicit a real-time response framework.

    “It will help compress available relevant data on gender-based domestic violence into easily distributable applications for mobile telephones and web distribution as well as amplify citizens’ concerns in a sustained manner for policy makers, budget holders and duty bearers by project end.

    “It will also help generate evidence on prevalence of domestic violence for use by policy makers and duty bearers.”

    Corroborating the DFID chief, Oyeleye said lack of proper investigation of domestic violence, weak legal sanctions and enforcement as well as failure of victims to report acts of violence against them made the development of the platform pertinent.

    At the workshop were representatives of the Ministry of Women Affairs and other relevant government agencies from the six states in Southwest.

    Others included lawyers, activists, students and security agencies such as the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

    Stakeholders commended the NISD for the workshop and its unrelenting efforts to end gender-based domestic violence in the region.

  • Cross River, UNICEF, USAID seek end to violence against children

    Cross River, UNICEF, USAID seek end to violence against children

    As part of the measures to end violence against children in Cross River State,

    a two-day multi-sector workshop is being organized in Calabar, the state capital.

    The workshop was organized the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development and the United Nation’s Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

    Child Protection Specialist with UNICEF, Mr Tatenda Makoni, who decried the spate of violence against children in the country, classified them into physical, sexual and emotional violence.

    Makoni, while making a presentation of the findings of VAC survey in the country, said approximately six out of 10 children experience some form of violence.

    According to him, one out of two children experience physical violence; one in four girls and one in ten boys experience sexual violence; while one in six girls and one in five boys experience emotional violence.

    These, he said have far-reaching consequences on the children and the society at large.

    Speaking on the prevalence of violence in Nigeria, Child Protection Specialist UNICEF Nigeria, Enugu Field Office, Mrs Nkiru Maduechesi, stressed the need for all stakeholders to work together to end the scourge of violence against children in the society.

    Commissioner for Women Affairs in the state, Mrs Stella Odey, said the state, which already has a Child Rights Act in place, has zero tolerance to any kind of abuse against children.

  • USAID trains service providers on cocoa yields

    USAID trains service providers on cocoa yields

    The United States Agency for International Development USAID/Nigeria is training major service providers in key cocoa producing states on vegetative propagation to address the dearth of planting materials.

    The industry is faced with low productivity at less than 350 tonnes/hectare and needs cocoa seedlings to cultivate much-needed new cocoa plantations.

    According to experts, investments in new plantation are required to replace and expand existing cocoa estates, most which were cultivated in the pre-independence era.

    The Lead Facilitator, Dr Daniel Adewale of the Department of Crop Science and Horticulture, Federal University of Oye–Ekiti, Ekiti State, noted: “Nigeria is no longer getting full economic benefits from growing cocoa because most cocoa fields are old and small as well as the poor genetic qualities of the planting materials used.”

    To this end, he noted that the cultivation of cocoa is no longer a profitable crop for many farmers and as a result of this, the nation’s quantity and quality of cocoa is declining.

    Adewale, who is a former scientist with the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), noted that Nigeria produces less than 500kg of dry bean per hectare.

    “This very low level of cocoa production has made it necessary to change protocol of production,” he argued.

    He continued: “Vegetative propagation is the best way to ensure increased production of high quality cocoa pods or beans instead of seedling cultivation because it enables multiplicity and commercialisation of high-yielding strains.”

    The crop scientist further explained that vegetative propagation makes it possible to multiply desired cocoa varieties thereby ensuring “quick replication of highly productive planting materials, production of uniform trees with shortened gestation period and cocoa plants are protected against diseases.”

    Consultant to the USAID/Nigeria NEXTT project, Mr Remi Osijo, identified the massive investment opportunities in the cocoa and the possible of further growth if young farmers are supported to expand their farms from less than one hectare to about five hectares.

    “There was an urgent need to encourage investments in commercial cultivation of nuclear cocoa estates not just for increased productivity but because the scale of the operations and services that will be rendered. This will ultimately address quality issues of Nigeria’s cocoa beans as the fermentation, drying, ware housing and branding will be done appropriately and these services will certainly be extended to the atomised/local farmers around the estate.

    “Just imagine the scale and number of jobs that will be created from this venture with Nigeria earning more revenue as premium price will certainly be paid for such standardised cocoa beans all over the world,” Osijo said.

    A Senior Researcher at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Dr Ranjana Bhattacharjee, stressed the  need for Nigeria to quickly bridge the gap in its cocoa production.

    He said: “Globally, the chocolate and cocoa industry are in crisis due to low productivity which is failing to meet a growing demand that is increasing by two per cent annually,” hence the need for Nigeria to urgently seize this opportunity growing global demand by increasing its falling cocoa production.

  • Nigeria gets USAID’s N20b rural agric cash

    Nigeria gets USAID’s N20b rural agric cash

    An agency funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) called Maximising Agricultural Revenue and Key Enterprises in Targeted Sites (MARKETS) said it has facilitated N20 billion as rural agricultural loans in Nigeria.

    The agency added that it had mobilised Nigerian farmers to achieve N78 billion value of sales for MARKETS II commodities.

    Its Director, External Relations and Capacity Building, Godson Ononiwu who spoke yesterday in Kpada, Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State at the presentation of tractor to Anfani Kin Kpada Tifin Cooperative Farming Society Limited, said: “We are providing the tractor not only to support the cooperative society and its members in furthering their own production opportunities but also to allow them develop a commercial tractor business to service the other farmers in their communities.”

    The event was attended by local government chairman,  Alhaji Uthman Ndako-Kpada, officials of agro-allied institutions and outfits, other dignitaries and members of the cooperative society which is chaired by Alhaji Abdul-Gana Lukpada.

    Ononiwu said in Benue and Kwara states, MARKETS II had been providing agricultural and capacity building assistance to 70,139 aquaculture, rice and soybean farmers since April 2012.

  • AATF, USAID boost agric with $30m

    AATF, USAID boost agric with $30m

    The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has committed about $30 million to boost the agricultural sector.

    AATF Executive Director, Dr. Denis Kyetere, disclosed this at the inauguration of Confined Field Trial (CFT) facility for NEWEST rice project at the National Cereal Research Institute (NCRI) at the weekend in Minna.

    Kyetere said the ongoing investment was expended on cowpea (beans) improvement, Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), Cassava Mechanisation and Agro-Processing (CAMAP), Aflatoxin Project and NEWEST Rice.

    “So far, Nigeria has benefited from over $30m AATF investment in Cowpea improvement, Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), Cassava Mechanisation and Agro Processing (CAMAP); Aflatoxin Project and NEWEST Rice and is expected to benefit more in direct and indirect expenditure in the coming years,” he said.

     

    According to him, the Nitrogen-use Efficient, Water-use Efficient and Salt Tolerant (NEWEST) rice project is expected to reduce the cost of providing irrigation and fertiliser usage, thus reducing cost of production.

    Kyetere added that, “Planting of NEWEST will require less water and thrive on nitrogen depleted soils.

    “The project is therefore very important for Nigeria as it has great potential to increase rice production, improve incomes for farmers and strengthen national and household food security.”

    Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita lauded AATF for its intervention, restating President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to developing the sector through massive investments.

    Oyo-Ita, who was represented by the Director, Bio resources Technology, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Abayomi Oguntunde, said the technology would improve farmers’ yield.

    The HoS called for increased funding for agricultural research especially in research centres and universities.

  • USAID roots for law on Fistula repair

    USAID roots for law on Fistula repair

    Over 12,000 Fistula cases are recorded yearly. Many are wrongly repaired, leaving the patients in a lifelong trauma. But the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its Fistula Care Plus project is advocating standardised treatment for patients. Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha writes.

    To ensure standard treatment for fistula, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is advocating that only specialists should handle patients. USAID is campaigning for expert treatment in the wake  of many patients’s fistula being repaired wrongly, leaving them with more complications.

    USAID Fistula Care Plus Project Manager, Dr Habibu Sadauki, said Vesico-Vagina Fistula (VVF) remains a condition with devastating physical and social consequences for the patient. “Its successful management poses a significant challenge. Quick and accurate diagnosis is essential. Timely repair by an experienced fistula surgeon, adhering to fastidious basic surgical principles, will improve outcomes and limit the clinical insult and distress that a patient is caused,” he said.

    Sadauki added: “For instance, Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF) formation represents a condition with devastating consequences for the patient and continues to pose a significant challenge to the surgeon. Quick and accurate diagnosis, followed by timely repair is essential to the successful management of these cases. A thorough understanding of the pathophysiology and anatomy of the fistula, potential factors that may compromise healing and experience in the fundamental principles of fistula repair are the vital tools of the fistula surgeon. Not many people are trained in this specialty. Many patients, we discovered, have been ‘repaired’ but they still end up on our tables, during ‘the Pool Effort’ we carry out in the geopolitical zones because they are unprofessionally repaired. It is like a waste of time and inflicting more injury to the Fistula patients.”

    ‘Pool Effort’, is done by Fistula Care Plus to bring together people living with Fistula, for professional repairs, provision of consumables, allowances as well as other theatre materials needed for the surgeries amongst others to collaborating hospitals, in the sites/centres, in the geo political zones.

    A former Commissioner of Health in Zamfara State and certified doctors trainer on fistula repairs, Dr Sa’ad Idri, said the motion by the USAID Fistula Care Plus project to sponsor a bill that will ensure the passage of law forbidding non VVF repair specialists from carrying out any surgical repair for VVF patients nationwide is in order.

    Idris said: “Regardless of the technique used and the timing of surgery, the principles that underpin Fistula repair remain the same. The repair should be tension-free, watertight and uninfected. The tissues at the site of the repair should be healthy and a well-vascularized interposition flap should be used if required. For instance, the first attempt at VVF repair has the highest chance of success, making it imperative that surgery is well planned and performed by a surgeon skilled in fistula repair. But for pecuniary gains, we find out that medics not trained in fistula repair carry out same on patient, leaving her more damaged.”

    He said VVF repair can be approached transvaginally (through the vagina), transabdominally (across the abdominal wall), or in a combined approach if necessary.

    “The transvaginal approach offers a lower complication rate and a shorter post-operative recovery. The transabdominal route is preferred when the fistula site cannot be visualised or easily accessed per vagina, or when the VVF is complex. But anybody that is not trained in same cannot be skilled in carrying these out.”

    Meanwhile, the oldest Fistula Repair specialist in the country, Dr Ladan Hassan Warwickshire, with over five decades experience, expressed satisfaction that USAID Fistula Care Plus project is coming up with the proposal. Many patients have been discriminated at. They live perpetually in fear and self censorship. They are ostracised most of the time. Between 2007 to 2014, the USAID Fistula Care Plus project in Nigerian  had supported 9, 203 fistula repairs at 10 facilities, in partnership with federal and states ministries of health as well as women affairs ministries.

    Dr Warwickshire, a former Head at Geffe Fistula Centre, Birnin Kebbi said, “Fistula is common among young girls due to early marriage; prolong labour and harmful traditional practices. Consequences of fistula are life-shattering for the women who experience it and it leaves them with chronic incontinence, social isolation, ulcer, infections, possible paralysis or death. The Law is long overdue.”

  • USAID votes $2m for entrepreneurs

    The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has set aside a $2 million Project Development Facility (PDF) for agro entrepreneurs to transform their innovative ideas into bankable investments, the body has said.
    The USAID Nigeria Expanded Trade and Transport Programme (NEXTT) Export and Business Development Promotion Team Leader, Mr Bob Ezumah, told The Nation that the programme would work with development partners and financial institutions to enhance agribusinesses.
    He said NEXTT would support agricbusinesss and other investments on the Lagos-Kano –Jibiya (LAKAJI) axis.
    The PDF provides seed funding to for feasibility study for bankable ideas and investments.
    He noted that the major challenges facing agro businesses is funding, adding that the programme would train entrepreneurs on investment projects’preparations and analyses n to attract investments.
    He said the project has also partnered with commercial banks, leasing companies, private equity and impact investors willing to provide necessary financing.
    He said it is up to the agricultural entrepreneurs to develop the sustainable and realistic business models that encourage investment.
    To be competitive in the marketplace, he said farmers’needs should integrated into the chain of production, from farm to fork, adding that USAID was facilitating this integration, enabling producers and rural industries to better connect with agricultural trade and market opportunities. Around the world, he said, businesses struggle to access the finance they need to expand.
    He said: “The US Agency for International Development’s Development Credit Authority (DCA) is working to address this by providing partial credit guarantees to mobilise financing.”
    With these additional resources, he said, lenders can take on additional risk, and small businesses benefit from additional access to credit.
    He said NEXTT supports the government’s efforts to expand trade in the Economic Community of West Africann States (ECOWAS) sub-region and beyond, and improve trade efficiency so that trade, particularly in agricultural products, can provide inclusive economic growth and development.
    Meanwhile, the Project Director, Cashew Adding Value to Africa, Prof Kola Adebayo, said lending to the sector is the least of total lending by the banking sector.
    He said commercial banks were yet to understand the agricultural sector, citing poor recovery rates, high risks and relatively high administrative costs as some of the reasons for low lending to the agricultural sector.
    He called on financial institutions to get more engaged in understanding the peculiarities of the agric system to provide the much-needed financial assistance to smallholder farmers.
    He said rather than allow rural farmers to continue to engage in subsistence farming, they should be supported to approach agriculture as a commercial venture to enable them to benefit from their toil.
    He also stressed the importance of agricultural extension workers in agricultural production chain, saying that technical information on the right use of chemical fertilisers and insecticides was crucial to the attainment of food security if it was made available to farmers at the right time.

  • USAID: HIV spreading in rural communities

    USAID: HIV spreading in rural communities

    The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has decried the spread of HIV/AIDS in rural communities.

    Its Country Director, Dr. Susan Coleman, spoke when she led a delegation of USAID Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH), and Family Health International (Fhi 360) on  an advocacy visit to the Government House in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday.

      Dr. Coleman said the disease was still rampart among rural dwellers and called for improved effort at fighting it.

     She noted the need for improved and sustained sensitisation and awareness in communities, as the disease seems to be spreading among them.

     “There is need to step up the control of HIV/AIDs in the rural communities; the fight against the disease is yet to be won. Many people in the rural communities are still being infected; therefore there is need for sustained sensitisation.”

     She said USAID had supported over 600,000 in Nigeria, especially orphans and vulnerable children in its 10 years in the country.

     The director said the agency would continue to partner the government and relevant stakeholders to ensure improved standard of living for orphans and vulnerable children.

     Five local government areas were selected for the test-run of the Agencies’ Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s (OVC), programme.

     The delegation was on its way to inspect the project sites for the take-off of the pilot scheme.

    Deputy Governor Dr. Ipalibo Harry Banigo said the government was concerned about the welfare of orphans and vulnerable children and pledged government’s partnership with the agency to ensure success.

  • USAID to spend N15bn on malaria prevention in Nigeria

    USAID to spend N15bn on malaria prevention in Nigeria

    The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said it would spend about N15 billion (75 million dollars) for the prevention of malaria in selected states of the country this year.

    Ms. Josephine Kamara, USAID’s Senior Development Outreach and Communications Specialist, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that the project was being funded under the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI).

    Kamara said that since the inception of project in Nigeria in 2011, the government had committed about 345 million dollars to malaria control.

    “The U.S. President Malaria Initiative (PMI) provides funding annually for malaria control in Nigeria. The current budget for 2015 is 75 million dollars.

    “Since the inception of PMI in Nigeria in 2011, the total funds the U.S. government has committed for malaria control is about 345 million dollars.

    “The budget includes cost of procurement of nets, diagnostics test kits and medicines,’’ she said.

    Kamara said that Sokoto, Bauchi, Kebbi and Nasarawa States had in 2013 and 2014 benefited from the nets, while Benue, Ebonyi, Cross River and Zamfara States benefited from the fund in 2015.

    According to her, plans are on to also send nets to Kogi and Oyo States in 2016.

    The USAID Communication specialist said that PMI’s support to Nigeria was being guided by the PMI Strategy as well as the National Malaria Strategic Plan.

    Kamara listed the key support areas to include malaria prevention through use of nets, indoor spraying, diagnosis of suspected fever cases and effective treatment with recommended antimalarial.