Oil subsidy regime in Nigeria, time to go!

Opinion@NaijaAgroNet: 

REMMY NWEKE in this piece canvasses that the best of gift or better still democracy dividend in the first of President Muhammadu Buhari is to let go of the oil-subsidy.

Historically in 1978 fuel pump price was 15kobo per litre and increased to 60k in 1990. Two years later in 1992, it added 10k to become 70k and barely a year subsequently jumped to N3.25k per litre and later same year added N6.75k to become N11 per litre which remained for a while.

Since Nigeria was then under military it was mass anticipation that once there is democracy, it could scale down, but alas, it became the first casualty in the list of democracy dividend as in year 2000 pump price moved up to N20 and before December 2000 added N2k to become N22.

Also in 2001, the federal government under President Olusegun Obasanjo increased pump price to N26 and three years later in 2004 scaled it up to N40 with the rhetoric political promise that the subsidy removed hitherto would be ploughed into bettering the lots of Nigerians. Incidentally the supposed pump prices have never been used to sale fuel in the south east.

Major fear among Nigerians on this subject is that the cost of pump price may go up to about N150 per litre, but as proponents of removal like former governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, now Emir Mohammed Sanusi II and Dr. Ngozi Iweala; it would curb corruption in the oil sector, especially within Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and enable economic planning for all as Nigeria today does not fix oil prices.

For instance, the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) as storehouse for all subsidy funds by then Head of State, General Sani Abachi to enable government intervened promptly.

Therefore to nail vices in oil sector, President Muhammadu Buhari must exhibit the political will to remove oil subsidy as the best gift APC-led government can give Nigerians at this time.

 @NaijaAgroNet
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SOTU urges Malawi government to ratify RACCNNR

NaijaAgroNet

The Executive Director, State of the Union (SOTU), Edward Chileka Banda has called on government of Malawi to ratify the Revised African Union Convention on Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (RACCNNR), NaijaAgroNet reports.

He made this call at SOTU programme in Malawi in collaboration with community leaders, local government officials, and students over the weekend petitioned President Peter Mutharika and his government to address issues of Climate change.

SOTU’s petition which was on conservation of natural resources; climate change; disaster management and preparedness  was presented to Mutharika through the office of the Chikwawa District Commissioner, Bester Mandele, who promised to deliver the petition to central government.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that prior to the petition, the CSOs held Stakeholders Conference under the theme; "Fight Climate Change, avoid Natural Disasters, Safeguard the Future". Consequently it was observed that environmental degradation is worsened due to poor land management policies, over population and lack of alternative energy sources.

Banda said there is need also for government to create evacuation Centers in floods prone areas to avoid disrupting school classes during disasters. In the petition, NaijaAgroNet learnt they have also asked President Mutharika to depoliticize management and conservation of natural resources such as forest reserves. During the conference, Paramount Chief Lundu commended the youths for the initiative of engaging people directly affected by floods in the Lower Shire.

Lundu said the community participation and empowerment would be key in addressing environmental challenges. Eye for Development (EFD) organised the event under SOTU Platform which are championing the AU charter on nature and natural resources.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

 
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FAO D-G extols agency founding fathers

ITRealms:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director General, Graziano da Silva, has praised the vision of the agency's founders, ITRealms reports.

Silva was speaking at the Chateau de Frontenac on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River where heads of states gathered in 1945 for the first FAO Conference and pledged to unshackle humanity from hunger.

“Their vision has allowed for agriculture to be considered as the key to human development and for the world to realize that the international community is able to address the problem of hunger and malnutrition globally,” Silva said.

Ensuring better nutrition for all and transforming the world’s food systems to ensure their future sustainability represent the two greatest challenges facing FAO as it renews its mission to free the world from hunger and malnutrition, the UN agency's José Graziano da Silva said at the ceremony commemorating the 70^th anniversary of FAO's founding in Quebec City, organized by the Quebec government, ITRealms gathered.

“Our responsibility is growing day by day, and today our mission and mandate remain more relevant than ever,” referring to the new global goal of ending hunger by 2030 adopted by the international community in September.

“And FAO has proven its ability to adapt to a changing world and respond to new challenges,” he added.

The FAO Director-General, ITRealms informs, began his speech by expressing sadness and shock at the recent terrorist attacks that clouded the ceremony on Saturday: “They took place in Paris and Beirut, but they hit all of us around the world, regardless of where we are and of whom we are. My solidarity goes to the victims and their families,” he added.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ED, OPs

 
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Opia Kumah advises Nigeria to take advantage of MDG lessons in implementing SDGs

NaijaAgroNet:

The Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office in Nigeria, Mr. Opia Kumah has advised Nigeria to take advantage of lessons learnt from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to tackle implementation of the recently promulgated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reports NaijaAgroNet.

Addressing the State-level workshop on ‘Data Mapping for the Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria” at the weekend in Kaduna, Mr. Kumah who was represented by the Economic Advisor in the state, Ojijo Odhiambo, described workshop as timely given its coming two months after the highly successful national-level meeting on the same subject held in Abuja and hardly two weeks after the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDGs Indicators Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand.

“As you are well aware, the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators which brings together member states of the United Nations, Nigeria included, and regional and international agencies, was created by the United Nations Statistical Commission in March this year with the mandate of proposing a global indicator framework,” he said.

The results of this global initiative, he said, will be considered by the Statistical Commission at its 47th session in March 2016. He stressed that the work of the group has nonetheless become an important reference point and input into national level activities related to data for monitoring and reporting on the SDGs.

While the Inter-agency and expert group is yet to complete its work, he pointed out that it is now clear that the international community favours a limited number of indicators for monitoring progress towards the SDGs.

“In the area of poverty, for instance, the group has just adopted the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) as an indicator for measuring progress towards the SDGs,” he said.

Emphasising that this is a clear testimony of the desire of the international community to capture and measure progress towards the SDGs in more qualitative and comprehensive terms. 

“As we deliberate on the indicators for measuring progress in Nigeria over the next two days, we should therefore keep in mind the need to evolve and adopt those indicators which are broad, qualitative and contextually relevant to our unique national situation,” he charged.

According to Kumah, regarding data for the SDGs implementation, monitoring and reporting, the critical challenge facing Nigeria is not the lack of knowledge of what needs to be done but rather how to apply the available knowledge and lessons learnt from the MDGs implementation over the past fifteen years.

“The country has learnt invaluable lessons from the MDGs implementation process. We fully appreciate the challenges that the country faces with respect to data. We know what works and what does not. We know where the gaps are. We know where the bottlenecks are. We know which indicators are particularly problematic to measure. We ought to use this rich knowledge base to evolve the most plausible implementation strategies for tracking, capturing and processing the SDGs indicators in a comprehensive, coordinated and efficient manner,” Kumah said.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) @ITRealms
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100 GEO members reiterate to unleash open data on global challenges

NaijaAgroNet:

Over 100 members of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) concluded its 12th Plenary session and fourth Ministerial Summit in Mexico City with reiteration to unleash the power of open data in effort to address global challenges, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is coming as they have also adopted a 10-year Strategic plans to run between 2016 and 2015 in addition to a Ministerial Declaration that focuses on harnessing critical environmental observations to enable leaders to make better-informed decisions for the benefit of humanity at a time of rapid global change.

Arising from the weeklong meeting of over 400 delegates from 41 GEO governments and 39 partner organizations, and included Ministers of Environment, Science and Natural Resources, held at the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia (INEGI), Mexico City, the leaders reaffirmed resolve to share data on earth observations at a time of exponential data growth, human development and climate change.

These decisions are coming on the heels of recent adoption of the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development and an anticipated global agreement on climate change, GEO launched several bold, new initiatives, including “A global Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON), including an Arctic to Antarctic network linking coastal observing centers in the Americas to measure species distribution and habitat.”

Also GEO resolved that AmeriGEOSS, a regional programme to share Earth observation data for agriculture; disaster risk reduction; water; and biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring.

The United States Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said, "As we near the historic Paris climate talks, it’s clear open data and international collaboration are key to countries moving the needle on climate change. We can and should share Earth observation data to help address climate challenges because science and open data are critical to understanding land, water, wildlife & climate change. They must be at the heart of every policy decision - no country can solve it alone."

European Commissioner Carlos Moedas said, "We have reached a tipping-point where GEO has to move its focus towards successful societal delivery. We should not underestimate this formidable challenge. The European Union, through its Horizon 2020 and Copernicus programmes will continue to be a driving force to help GEOSS reach its full maturity – a GEOSS which is designed for and accessible by all contributors and all users."

Communications Manager at Group on Earth Observations, Katherine Anderson informed NaijaAgroNet that GEO welcomed new Members Ecuador, Kenya, Somalia, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe, bringing the number to 100 nations; five new Participating Organizations: the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (BSC), International Research Center on El Niño (CIIFEN), Future Earth, Research Data Alliance (RDA) and The World Bank (IBRD/IDA); and four new Observers:  European Severe Storms Laboratory (ESSL), Inter-Islamic Network on Space Sciences and Technologies (ISNET), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the UN Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM).

She also said that the Thirteenth GEO Plenary will be held in St Petersburg, Russia in November 2016.

  
Isaac Oyimah/GEE +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +Nnenna Nwakanma +Open Data Center Alliance +Naija AgroNet 

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