3rd BR: ActionAid commends AUC, demands all-inclusive process through legislature – NaijaAgroNet

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The ActionAid Nigeria has commended the African Union Commission (AUC), Regional Economic Commissions (REC) and member states on the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP’s) Third Biennial Review (BR), but demanded for an all-inclusive stakeholder process through legislative backings, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Making this call in Abuja during a day session on the National Parliamentary Briefing on 3rd BR report, Food & Agriculture Programme Coordinator, ActionAid Nigeria, Mr. Azubike Nwokoye, noted that it has been observed that AUC strategy and procedure has not taken all stakeholders into account to ensure effective engagement and participation.

CS-SUNN commends Lagos over nutrition budget lines in 9 MDAs - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The Civil Society Scaling-up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) has commended the Lagos State government for creating nine budget lines for nutrition across its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), reports NaijaAgroNet.

Giving this commendation on behalf of CS-SUNN, its Executive Secretary, Mrs. Beatrice Eluaka during a courtesy visit to the Lagos State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Samuel Egube, on Tuesday at the State Secretariat, Alausa-Ikeja.

In addition she said that Lagos has what it takes to develop multi-sectoral policies that will stimulate nutrition in the state.

She also noted that Lagos was the first to sign the six months maternity leave into law, and congratulated ‘Eko’ for this fit.

The Executive Secretary further called for more positive actions in promotion of nutrition especially in children in Lagos. Stressing that the effect of malnutrition and stunting in the state, usually poses negative economic indexes should be addressed.

CS-SUNN also requested for approval of the state specific nutrition policy among other related plans by the State Executive Council (SEC).

In his response, the Commissioner, Mr. Egube, noted that nutrition problem is everybody’s problem.

“Everybody must come together. There is need to pull volunteers that will act together to deliver a society where basic nutrition is no longer a problem," he said.

NaijaAgroNet recollects that CS-SUNN launched in 2014, pursues her lofty goal by engaging government and non-state actors to raise awareness, sustain commitment and actions to effectively tackle under-nutrition in Nigeria.

The CS-SUNN delegation led by Executive Secretary, Mrs. Eluaka included the Sub-Committee Chairman on Research, Aji Rachael Robinson, Programme Manager, Mr. Sunday Okoronkwo, Lagos State CS-SUNN Coordinator, Dr (Mrs) Modupe Akinyinka and Secretary, Mrs Ebere Okey-Onyema, National Coordinator, Media Centre Against Child Malnutrition (MeCAM), Mr. Remmy Nweke, and in attendance of the Lagos State Director in the Ministry, Mrs. Otuyalo and State Nutrition Officer (SNO) Mrs Olubunmi Braheem.

Nenye Dom/Editor

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Malnutrition: Kim commends Senegalese Cellule de Lutte

NaijaAgroNet:

The President of World Bank Group, Mr. Jim Yong Kim has commended the Senegal-based Cellule de Lutte contre la Malnutrition over its activities to reduce malnutriton in the country, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Kim who is in the capital of Senegal, Dakar for a three-day working visit, said it was inspiring to meet the Senegalese commitment, which he described as great progress in reducing chronic malnutrition.

“In large part thanks to the community-based approach implemented by Cellule de Lutte contre la Malnutrition,” he said.

Kim also expressed delight over meeting with some of the people making it happen.

“We are proud supporter,” he asserted.

NaijaAgroNet further recalls that Mr. Kim was in Senegal for a three-day working visit.

This, NaijaAgroNet gathered, was in conjunction with the visit of President Emmanuel Macron of France.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that the visit follows the One Planet Summit which both Kim and Macron co-hosted in Paris in December 2017, and seeks to demonstrate commitment to joint action on adaptation to climate change.

President Macron and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim will also travel with President Macky Sall of Senegal to Saint-Louis, a historic town under threat from coastal erosion.

“I want to congratulate the Government of Senegal for its leadership on climate change mitigation and adaptation. I am looking forward to visiting Saint-Louis, where efforts to stop coastal erosion are a great example of how the Government can work with the international community to initiate collective action for the region. The World Bank Group is committed to helping Senegal, West Africa, and countries around the world address the effects of climate change,” Kim said.

During his visit, the World Bank Group President will hold bilateral meetings with President Sall and President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of Burkina Faso. He will also attend a high-level session on global education challenges.

Kim will reiterate the World Bank’s commitment to strong partnership with Senegal and with France in support of African development.

He will also seek the government’s leadership in improving educational outcomes and creating quality educational opportunities for all. “Human capital is essential for sustained long-term growth and rising living standards,”Kim said. “Transformational change in education will allow Senegalese to capitalize on technological change and leapfrog into the 21^st century economy.”

 Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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FAO boss commends PSMA, says it’s a landmark treaty

NaijaAgroNet:

An international treaty known as the Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, has been commended by the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Mr. José Graziano da Silva, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The PSMA, NaijaAgroNet gathered, according to da Silva, would soon have 48 parties, counting all 28 members of the European Union as one - with Japan and Montenegro about to join after having deposited their instruments of adhesion.

“This gives the one-year-old treaty added heft,” Graziano da Silva declared, adding that he was very confident more countries will join in the near future.

Speaking at the first meeting of the Parties, hosted by the Government of Norway to hammer out details regarding the implementation of the PSMA, Graziano da Silva said, noting that FAO-brokered treaty which restricts port access to fishing vessels that fail to comply with a set of rules, including proof that they have proper operating licenses and transparent disclosure of the species and quantity of fish caught.

The PSMA represents the capstone of years of diplomatic effort to combat the scourge of IIU fishing, which amounts to up to 26 million tonnes, worth some $23 billion a year, and represents a huge threat to all efforts to bolster sustainable fishing in the world's oceans.

NaijaAgroNet notes that parties to the PSMA currently account for more than two-thirds of the global fish trade.

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BAN says real harm by Intercon is toxic e-waste, commends Feds for arrest

NaijaAgroNet:

The Executive Director, Basel Action Network (BAN), Mr. Jim Puckett, has declared that the real harm by the owners of Chicago-based Intercon, led by the chief executive officer, Brian Brundage, reports NaijaAgroNet.

"The real harm perpetrated by Brian Brundage and so many others operating in the same way today is the assault on human health and the environment of poorer communities in Asia where our toxic e-waste ends up

Reacting to the recent arrest of Brundage and indictment on a four-count charge of tax evasion and six counts of fraud, BAN Director said it was not surprising, because Intercon Solutions was always a con and never a solution.

"But they fooled a lot of people and got very rich doing it. After we tracked their containers to China, we found out from former employees that they never actually did any electronics recycling at all but just packed and shipped offshore or to local landfills -- a complete fraud," he said.

Puckett pointed out that the arrest and indictment came after over five years since BAN as an international environmental watchdog organization, first exposed by the activities of Intercon Solutions and its CEO Brian Brundage.

He commended the United States Federal agencies, saying it is gratifying to see the wheels of justice turn at long last, but it must be understood that the true crime of Intercon was not a financial one.

"The real harm perpetrated by Brian Brundage and so many others operating in the same way today is the assault on human health and the environment of poorer communities in Asia where our toxic e-waste ends up,” he maintained.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the government is seeking forfeiture of 10 million dollars and each count of income tax evasion is punishable by up to five years in prison, while the wire fraud and mail fraud counts each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years.

According BAN chief, Mr. Brundage and his company Intercon was first caught exporting electronic waste (e-Waste) to Asia in 2011.

BAN, which takes its name from the Basel Convention -- a UN treaty that controls and prohibits the export of hazardous electronic wastes from rich to poorer countries-- has been a relentless watchdog on the issue for the last decade, working to halt the massive tide of toxic e-wastes to that flow each day to Asia by so-called "recyclers" in the United States. 

In 2009, he said, UN authorities created the e-Stewards Certification to offer an alternative to the weaker "R2" Certification created by a US EPA led negotiation, which continues to allow the export of toxic e-wastes to developing countries.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that since 2002, BAN exposed the highly dangerous and polluting offshore electronic waste operations operated by informal recyclers in countries like China and Nigeria that have poisoned thousands of workers and the immediate environs. BAN has worked with many business leaders to prohibit US exports; and, until that happens, they have created the e-Stewards Certification program for those customers that wish to find recyclers that refuse to participate in global toxic waste trade to developing countries.

Remmy Nweke/ED, Ops
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Dickson commends FG’s water project in Ogbia

NaijaAgroNet:

The governor of Bayelsa State, Hon Seriake Dickson has commended the efforts of the Federal Government leading to recent completion and commissioning of the Central Ogbia Water Project at Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area of the state, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Governor Dickson, who gave this commendation when the Minister of Water Resources, Engr Suleiman Adamu, paid him a courtesy call in Yenagoa, expressed delight that the project would meet the water needs of several communities in the area.

He stressed the need for those, who occupy positions of public trust to show true commitment to the completion of projects they inherited, pointing out that, the infrastructural deficit confronting most states and the Federal Government is as a result of reckless abandonment of government policies and programmes.

"This is the type of cross-party collaboration and continuity that should inform government policies. So, I like to thank the Federal Government for establishing this water project and the present administration for seeing to its completion for the beneficiary communities and people of this state to benefit," he said.

Highlighting the importance of water for both domestic and industrial use, the Governor said his administration would spare no effort to ensure the provision of potable water for the people of the state, despite the environmental challenges posed by the terrain and oil spills over the years.

He, however, called for more collaboration between the state, Federal Government and other development partners within and outside the country, noting that, the magnitude of work and financial resources required to meet the potable water requirements of the people was beyond the reach of the state government.

Governor Dickson, who also solicited the support of international organisations with the requisite financial and technical expertise, appealed to the National Assembly and the executive arm to carry Bayelsa along in their annual budgetary allocations for water projects across the country.

"If you look at Bayelsa from the outside, you will think there is so much water to drink. But the sort of water we have here, has its challenges because of the prolonged environmental issues that have arisen as a result of our being host to most of the oil producing companies.

"In the past four years that we've been here, we've tried a number of initiatives in terms of getting the right technology. So, we want to work closely with the Federal Government, its agencies and all partners across the globe, who have the capacity both in terms of financial muscle and technical expertise to ensure that we make potable water available to our people," Dickson submitted.

In his remarks earlier, the Minister of Water Resources, Engr Suleiman Adamu, who was accompanied on the visit by the House Committee Chairman on Water Resources, Hon Aliyu Pategi, the Managing Director, Niger Delta Basin Development Authority, Hon. Onoye Beredugo among other top officials said his team was in the state to commission the Central Ogbia Water Project, which was initiated by the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

He noted that, the project would be handed over to the state after the commissioning for beneficiary communities to use.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Pix: Governor of Bayelsa State, Hon. Seriake Dickson