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Saturday, April 30, 2016
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
ASFRAD seeks to empower 500 fishery millionaires
The Anambra State Fisheries Revolution and Development (ASFRAD) programme is expanding partnership to empower 500 fishery millionaires,
reports NaijaAgroNet.
ASFRAD, NaijaAgroNet gathered had recently embarked on a lot
of research, trainings and youth empowerment programmes to achieve this goal.
Sources to close to the government of Anambra State
confirmed to NaijaAgroNet that a youth empowerment and entrepreneurial
initiative being managed by the Special Adviser to Governor Willie Obiano on
Fisheries, Mr. Emeka Iloghalu, was held with the objective of making Anambra
State Nigeria's number one in fish-farming.
NaijaAgroNet, equally gathered that recently, two major
investors in the Fisheries sector, Chief Akai Egwuonwu of Stine Industries,
Amichi and Chief Ben Egonu of Osummanu Fish Estate and Tourism Ltd, Ossomala,
joined the Governor's programme of creating a minimum of 500 young millionaires
from the fisheries sector in the next 1 year by sponsoring the training and empowerment
of young fish farmers.
The first batch of 500 persons, NaijaAgroNet reports, are
currently at the world-class Osummanu Fish Estate and Tourism Resort at
Ossomala, Ogbaru Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra State undergoing
necessary training in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture,
Mechanization, Processing and Export.
Pix by Emeka Iloghalu and Arinze Awogu
Sunday, April 24, 2016
'Ghost fishing’ technologies to reduce environmental damage
New technologies to facilitate easier recovery of lost
fishing gear are giving a boost to efforts to reduce so-called "ghost
fishing" and its harmful impacts on fish stocks and endangered species,
reports NaijaAgroNet.
These technologies include, coded wire tags (CWTs), Satellite buoys with solar power,
Active pingers, passive sonar
reflectors and LED.
NaijaAgroNet reports that advances in marking technology are
offering new possibilities for efficient tracking and recovery of lost gear and
are changing the way the problem is being tackled, citing for instance, the Coded Wire Tags (CWTs) are being
tested as a potential tool for reducing entanglements of marine mammals,
turtles and other large marine animals. The nano-sized, laser-etched CTWs are
implanted in fishing ropes with no effect on fishing performance but making
them detectable to special sensors.
Also, NaijaAgroNet learnt that satellite
buoys with solar power are
now commonly used in industrial purse seine operations, providing unlimited
range and extra-long operating time. While other sensors, like Global
Positioning System (GPS) receivers, could be attached to a radio buoy and used
to transmit data.
Acoustic technology is equally another add-on, which takes
advantage of the sound transmission properties of seawater, also has
applications in locating lost gear. Whereas the Active pingers emit sounds at certain frequencies once in the
water, the passive sonar reflectors capture
and reflect sound energy back to its source.
Just as the lights have long been an integral part of
fishing gear markers for the night but today energy-efficient Light-Emitting
Diode (LEDs) are
being fitted with solar panels, amplifying their effectiveness.
This follows growing concern over this problem, coupled with
the increasing availability of these technologies, NaijaAgroNet reports, led
FAO to begin developing international guidelines on the effective tagging of
fishing gear as a way to cut down levels of troublesome sea trash.
Known as the abandoned, lost and otherwise discarded fishing
gear (ALDFG), NaijaAgroNet reports that abandoned fishing gear makes up a
significant portion of all marine debris, a growing problem in marine
ecosystems.
Levels of ALDFG, NaijaAgroNet reports, have gone up
significantly in recent decades as a result of increases in the scale of
fishing operations and the extensive use of long-lasting synthetic materials.
At present, it accounts for about one-tenth of all marine litter, translating
into hundreds of thousands of tonnes annually.
This abandoned gear is one of the most problematic types of
marine debris, since it can remain in the oceans for years, often continuing to
carry out the capture process it was designed for, entangling fish and other
marine animals in its nets and killing them - a phenomenon known as ghost
fishing.
"The effective marking of fishing gear in busy
multi-user sea areas is key to preventing its loss and protecting marine
ecosystems," according to FAO Fishery Industry Officer Petri Suuronen.
"Fishers can also benefit from the use of new gear tagging technologies
which will allow them to minimise loss of potential catch and expensive
equipment, and save time searching for lost gear," he said.
Abandoned and lost gears are also a hazard to safe
navigation due to fouling of ship propulsion systems and propellers, and
marking can help prevent accidents and fatalities.
It can also be a tool in the fight against illegal,
unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, allowing control authorities to
monitor how fishing gear is being used in their waters and who is using it.
Hackers invade FAO headquarters
Last Friday, a group of Italian and international hackers literally invaded headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
in Rome for a United States (US)- government-sponsored ‘Fishackathon’ reports
NaijaAgroNet.
The Fishackathon, NaijaAgroNet reports, was aimed at cooking
up high-tech solutions to problems that have long plagued fishing communities
around the globe.
The Assistant Director-General of FAO's Fisheries and
Aquaculture Department, Árni M. Mathiesen, said that working in teams in a
marathon hacking session, the group of around 30 coders, technology students,
developers and designers will be asked to harness FAO data to develop creative
mobile applications, systems, and tools to help tackle key challenges facing
sustainable fisheries.
Mathiesen also said that these range from illegal,
unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, to overfishing and degradation of
fishing grounds, to post harvest losses of catches.
Teams of 2-8 people joined forces to brainstorm solutions
that responses to one of nine fisheries-related problem statements to be
provided.
On Sunday, FAO experts would judge the submissions and one
team will be chosen as the winner.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that the exercise now in its third
year, the Fishackathon was first launched in 2014 by US Secretary of State John
Kerry at the Our Oceans conference is an event taking place in 40 cities around
the globe.
The winners of each, including this weekend's Italian
edition, will move forward into a global contest whose final outcome will be
announced by the US government on June 8 at World Oceans Day 2016.
Last year's Fishackathon winners included a game to teach
children about sustainable fishing, an app to help consumers find and eat
sustainable seafood, and a reporting tool for marine mammal protection.
Friday, April 22, 2016
Earth Day Special on eWaste: 75% of ‘Tokunbo’ electronics in Nigeria unusable
NaijaAgroNet:
As the world celebrates the 2016 Earth Day, NaijaAgroNet reports exclusively that 75 per cent of used electronics devices also known in local parlance as ‘second hand’ or ‘Tokunbo’ electronics imported into Nigeria are unserviceable and unusable.
Confirming this, the assistant Secretary General of the Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN), Mr. John Oboro said that 75 per cent of these Tokunbo items are not usually functional and cannot even be fixed.
“I will tell you that we have greater percentage of those (second hand electronics) that cannot be used, than can be used. Honestly speaking, I can tell you that about 75% of these items are not usable,” Oboro declared.
Also speaking, the Director, Basel Convention, Regional Centre, Prof. Oladele Osibanjo decried that the burning of used electronic devices generally are very hazardous, and those working on this could be prone to cancer, especially in Nigeria.
This, he said, is because those set of workers could take-in components that are dangerous, so it cannot be distanced from the incidence of high cancer rate which is on the rise now in Nigeria.
Prof. Osibanjo insisted that most of these electronic items are not usable and warned on the impact of continuous exportation of used electronics to developing countries, which he said negates the global village theory of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
“We claim one global village, its important to ensure that countries from where these used electronics are being shipped from are cleaned up and the same goes to those importing nations, to ensure that eventually all sides are safe at the end of the day,” he advised.
NaijaAgroNet reports that exporters of these electronics, argued that Tokunbo devices extends the life span of these electronics and help in bridging the digital divide in the developing economies.
Further investigations by NaijaAgroNet revealed that large number of computers and electronics devices imported into Nigeria via Lagos, every month, are largely non-functional and non-repairable, hence they end up being stacked in private warehouses across the country, especially in the South-Western Nigeria.
Equally, NaijaAgroNet reports that very often these items are dumped in the residential areas at uncompleted buildings and invariably burnt, thereby realizing highly content pollutant into the atmosphere, air and water.
+Remmy Nweke +Naija AgroNet
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
As the world celebrates the 2016 Earth Day, NaijaAgroNet reports exclusively that 75 per cent of used electronics devices also known in local parlance as ‘second hand’ or ‘Tokunbo’ electronics imported into Nigeria are unserviceable and unusable.
Confirming this, the assistant Secretary General of the Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN), Mr. John Oboro said that 75 per cent of these Tokunbo items are not usually functional and cannot even be fixed.
“I will tell you that we have greater percentage of those (second hand electronics) that cannot be used, than can be used. Honestly speaking, I can tell you that about 75% of these items are not usable,” Oboro declared.
Also speaking, the Director, Basel Convention, Regional Centre, Prof. Oladele Osibanjo decried that the burning of used electronic devices generally are very hazardous, and those working on this could be prone to cancer, especially in Nigeria.
This, he said, is because those set of workers could take-in components that are dangerous, so it cannot be distanced from the incidence of high cancer rate which is on the rise now in Nigeria.
Prof. Osibanjo insisted that most of these electronic items are not usable and warned on the impact of continuous exportation of used electronics to developing countries, which he said negates the global village theory of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
“We claim one global village, its important to ensure that countries from where these used electronics are being shipped from are cleaned up and the same goes to those importing nations, to ensure that eventually all sides are safe at the end of the day,” he advised.
NaijaAgroNet reports that exporters of these electronics, argued that Tokunbo devices extends the life span of these electronics and help in bridging the digital divide in the developing economies.
Further investigations by NaijaAgroNet revealed that large number of computers and electronics devices imported into Nigeria via Lagos, every month, are largely non-functional and non-repairable, hence they end up being stacked in private warehouses across the country, especially in the South-Western Nigeria.
Equally, NaijaAgroNet reports that very often these items are dumped in the residential areas at uncompleted buildings and invariably burnt, thereby realizing highly content pollutant into the atmosphere, air and water.
Meanwhile, NaijaAgroNet reports that over one billion people in 192 countries will take action to
protect our shared environment; all across the globe, in big cities to small
villages and everything in-between, people are organizing, demanding climate
action, cleaning up their local communities, meeting with their elected
officials, planting trees, and teaching their children to protect their planet.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that Earth Day’s legacy makes it the largest
and most active citizen engagement campaign on Earth. This year's theme is "Trees for the Earth."
+Remmy Nweke +Naija AgroNet
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
Hilary Clinton petitions Congress over Zika virus funding
The United States
presidential hopeful, Senator Hillary Clinton has petition the Congress over lack
of adequate funding to check the spread of Zika virus across the world, reports
NaijaAgroNet.
Clinton in a petition
seeking some 500 signatories expressed worries about Zika virus, but lamented
that despite the concerns expressed by global leaders including President
Barrack Obama, the United Nations (UN), and every major health organization in
the world.
“But Congress has taken no action to provide funding
that could help us stave off this virus and ultimately find a cure,” she said.
According to her, over 2 billion people are at risk for Zika, which could cause serious health problems for pregnant women and babies, stressing that in the United States, estimated 800 cases have been documented so far, and in Puerto Rico, it’s possible that 1 in 5 people will be affected by the end of this year.
According to her, over 2 billion people are at risk for Zika, which could cause serious health problems for pregnant women and babies, stressing that in the United States, estimated 800 cases have been documented so far, and in Puerto Rico, it’s possible that 1 in 5 people will be affected by the end of this year.
“… That’s why I’m
sending members of my staff there this weekend to discuss what more we can do
to mitigate this crisis,” Mrs. Clinton said.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that the World Health Organization has declared Zika a public health emergency, hence, Mrs. Clinton noted that the United States needs to step up and do more about it.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that the World Health Organization has declared Zika a public health emergency, hence, Mrs. Clinton noted that the United States needs to step up and do more about it.
Also NaijaAgroNet
reports that President Obama had requested emergency funding from Congress two
months ago, but Congress has yet to give him the money.
“That’s
just unacceptable and together, we can do something about it,” Clinton assured,
stressing that there’s a lot the world is yet to know about Zika.
“How exactly it’s
transmitted, how far mosquitoes carrying the disease can travel, and the full
extent of the health risks involved. We need to move quickly on life-saving
research to develop a diagnostic test, a vaccine, and a treatment,” she said.
Pointing out that nothing really could be done until Congress approves the needed funding, insisting that with Americans’ health at risk, she said, Congress must take action.
Pointing out that nothing really could be done until Congress approves the needed funding, insisting that with Americans’ health at risk, she said, Congress must take action.
“I know petitions have
been a powerful tool to influence Congress - Change.org petitions have helped
prompt Congress to provide health care for firefighters who fight wildfires and
families affected by contaminated water at a military base,” she submitted.
Clinton, therefore,
urged people of good conscious to help by signing the petition so as to convince
Congress to do the right thing to confront this dangerous virus.
Pix: Hillary Clinton
Thursday, April 21, 2016
UNWTO saddened by tragic earthquake in Ecuador’s central coast
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has
expressed its sympathy to the people of Ecuador, reports NaijaAgroNet.
UNWTO Media Officer Rut Gómez Sobrino, said they are deeply
saddened by the tragic earthquake that struck Ecuador’s central coast on 16
April.
“On behalf of the international tourism community, UNWTO
conveys its heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims,
to the people and the government of Ecuador in this moment of distress,” Sobrino
said.
The Secretary-General, UNWTO, Taleb Rifai, was quoted as conveying
“I would like to convey to the families and friends of the victims, to the
people and the government of Ecuador, our heartfelt condolences and solidarity
in this tragic moment.”
Ecuador, Rifai said, is a tourism success story; a country
where tourism supports many livelihoods. UNWTO stands ready to work alongside
Ecuador in all the necessary measures to support the recovery of the sector in
the affected areas in the aftermath of this tragedy.
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Japanese assistance saving lives for victims of conflict in northeast Nigeria
Commentary@NaijaAgroNet:
Baby Zainab Mohammed, just twenty-five days old, is fussing
and crying. She is with her mother in a health centre at the Dalori camp for
people displaced by the conflict in northeast Nigeria. The baby has a slight
fever and while her mother tries to comfort her, a nurse removes her clothing
to help her cool down and counsels her mother to continue trying to breastfeed
her.
It does not help that the outside temperature at the Dalori
camp, where Zainab and her mother now live, has already reached 43 degrees
centigrade.
Zainab is one of the twenty one babies in the ward for
infants. All born into the conflict that has displaced more than two million
people – more than half of them children – in Nigeria and surrounding countries
since 2009. The Dalori camp, located some 15 kilometres outside the city of
Maiduguri, is currently home to more than 30,000 of those uprooted by the
violence.
Zainab’s mother Amina fled her town when insurgents attacked
and took it over. She was pregnant at the time and was fortunate to find
transport to bring her to the Dalori camp, although, she recalls, others were
not so lucky. Several pregnant women gave birth on the long trek to the camp – and
several others didn’t make it at all, succumbing to fatigue and ill health.
Thanks to a generous grant to UNICEF from the Government and
people of Japan, the Dalori camp has a fully-functioning health facility and when
her time came, Amina was able to give birth safely there. With Japanese funding
last year, UNICEF and its partners were able to provide primary health care
services in 108 health facilities in the parts of Nigeria most affected by the
conflict.
UNICEF uses the funds to establish, equip and stock the
health facilities – both in the formal camps for the displaced and in the local
communities that also host hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
There is a special antenatal and delivery room at the clinic
in the Dalori camp and this is where 40 year-old Amina delivered Zainab. “I see her as a kind of consolation for my
grandfather and my brother, who were killed by Boko Haram,” she says, as Zainab
finally calms and begins to take her mother’s milk.
Despite the temporary high temperature, which has almost
returned to normal after a couple of hours, Zainab is a healthy baby, and has
already had her first immunizations – also thanks to the Japanese funds. “I
think a lot of people here in this camp are alive today because of these
nurses,” says Amina. She would like her baby daughter to become a nurse when
she grows up, she says, “Zainab should save lives too.”
The
Government of Japan has just announced a further grant of US $ 4.5 million to
UNICEF to provide life-saving emergency assistance for people who have been
affected by the conflict in northeastern Nigeria. The assistance will include water, sanitation
and hygiene services, health and nutrition support, education and protection
services for children.
Caption: Baby Zainab, resting after
having recovered from her fever, sleeps as her mother Amina sits with her at
the health clinic in Dalori camp for the displaced, near Maiduguri, northeastern
Nigeria.
Credit: ©UNICEF/Nigeria/ Esiebo 2015
Caption: Baby Zainab, resting after
having recovered from her fever, sleeps as her mother Amina sits with her at
the health clinic in Dalori camp for the displaced, near Maiduguri, northeastern
Nigeria.
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Monday, April 18, 2016
Nigeria: Improving access to safe, clean water
In this report, Remmy Nweke underlines the importance of water to human life and dignity.
Preamble:
The efficacy of water in
human development cannot be over-emphasised, hence it is not surprising as the
economic reality dawn on Nigerians with the fall in oil prices, the cost of
things consequently went up and one of those remarkable items that skyrocketed
in the first week was a sachet water, otherwise known as ‘Pure Water’ in
Nigeria, which apparently goes for N5 now going for upto N20; an estimated
raise of 150 per cent, thereby making it extremely difficult and out of the
reach of the common man.
So, every March 22, for some
years now, Nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate the World Water Day
and 2016. Nigeria, NaijaAgroNet report, has been reputed as the most inhabited
country in Africa with a population of 162 million people and growing rapidly.
Experts said, as the population increases, remote communities are further cut
off and urban facilities become congested due to lack of sustainable deliberate
policies to steam lack of water and its associated social amenities to match
the growth.
Why
a World Water Day?
The World Water Day,
NaijaAgroNet reports is an international observance and an opportunity to learn
more about water related issues, be inspired to tell others and take action to
make a difference. Thus, World Water Day dates back to the 1992 United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development where an international observance for
water was recommended. The United Nations General Assembly responded by
designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.
This day, NaijaAgroNet gathered
has been held annually since then with each year, UN-Water, the entity that
coordinates the UN’s work on water and sanitation sets a theme for World Water
Day corresponding to a current or future challenge. The engagement campaign is
coordinated by one or several of the UN-Water members with a related mandate.
Better
water, better jobs:
This year, however, UN-Water
says the theme is ‘Better water, better jobs’ stressing that nowadays, almost
half of the world's workers, estimated at 1.5 billion people work in water
related sectors and nearly all jobs depend on water and those that ensure its
safe delivery.
Yet the millions of people
who work in water are often not recognized or protected by basic labour rights,
hence UN-Water said, the theme in 2016 of water and jobs focuses on how enough
quantity and quality of water could change workers' lives and livelihoods - and
even transform societies and economies.
Why
Water?
For a lot of concerned
portable water advocates, access to safe water is the first step to breaking
the poverty cycle.
According to official of
Nigeria’s Ministry of Water Resources, who sought for anonymous, “Water
accounts for approximately two-thirds of the human body and is responsible for
the proper functioning of many health systems needed for survival, including
the brain.” Just as about 70 per cent of the earth is water but less than 1 per
cent is drinkable, even as some 9 million people reportedly died last year from
lack of access to clean water.
Our source, says that those
alive today have the opportunity to help, especially the women and children,
which have economic impacts.
Economic
Impact of safe water:
Our source at the Ministry
noted that every $1 invested in improved water supply and sanitation could
yield $4 to $12 for the local economy, depending on the type of project, citing
for instance that the walk in search of water that used to take three hours,
now takes 15 minutes, which when translated in another words means that water
is now safe to drink.
While the extra time and new
water source, experts say could be used to start a vegetable garden to feed a
family, sell of the extra food at the market, children spend more time in
school instead of walking for water, even as once educated, children could
become teachers, nurses and artisans and entrepreneurs. Even as there is no gain
saying that health and sanitation will improve with anticipated reduction in
death from disease as a result of improving water quality.
Investigations launched by
NaijaAgroNet, showed that Sheri, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT) Abuja, also known as resettlement site, does not have portable water as
the community still spend so much time in search of water, while any slit in
fuel scarcity means local water suppliers may not get water to drink or use
because the boreholes at a distance from Sheri may not be able to pump water
into their tanks for sale.
Although, gratifying was the
bill at the National Assembly by Senator Mao Ohuabunwa and co-sponsors: Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, Sen. Theodore
Orji, Sen. Abu Ibrahim; for “Improvement of Access to Safe and Clean Water to
Nigerian Citizens in Recognition of the 2016 World Water Day.”
This step,
industry watchers say is a step in the right direction and a welcome development.
Water central to human survival:
In his message to the World
Water Day 2016, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-moon
urged for global action, asserting, "We can take bold action to address
water inequity as part of our efforts to realize the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development." Even as UN-Water underscored the fact that 1 in
10 people lack access to safe water.
He said, nearly all jobs
depend on the availability of freshwater and pointed out that despite the
importance, water as a sector generally does not receive the attention it
deserves. Water is central to human survival, the environment and the economy. Arguing
that all workers could be harmed by poor water and sanitation, and noted that
of 2 million work-related deaths every year, nearly one-in-five are caused by
poor quality drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Also, Ban
Ki-moon said, people with the least access to water and sanitation often also
lack access to health care and stable jobs.
“This perpetuates the cycle
of poverty. I am especially concerned by gaps between cities and the
countryside, men and women, and rich and poor.
The basic provision of adequate water, sanitation and hygiene services
at home, at school and in the workplace enables a robust economy by
contributing to a healthy and productive population and workforce. We can take
bold action to address water inequity as part of our efforts to realize the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Sustainable Development Goal 6, on
ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for
all, addresses the need for access.
“On this World Water Day,
let us reaffirm our commitment to improve the quality, management and
protection of water resources as part of our historic campaign to achieve a
life of dignity for all people,” he urged.
For Head, Programme at Oxfam
Nigeria, Mr. Constant Tchona, who was speaking at 2016 World Water Day session
in Abuja, access to safe water and sanitation by Nigerians remains a key challenge,
affecting mostly women.
Tchona also expressed concerned
over looming water, sanitation and hygiene crisis in Nigeria, saying that about
3.5 million people die annually from water-related diseases, with about 1.7
million children under the ages of five among those who die annually from
diarrheal disease.
The Oxfam official, said, it
was time Nigeria realised that the world is in the midst of a global water,
sanitation and hygiene crisis considering that nearly 800 million people
globally have no access to water. He decried that Nigeria, even as the most
populous country in Africa, still has about 39 per cent (63 million people) of
her population still lacking access to safe or clean water sources, while
nearly 112 million people are without access to improved sanitation, pointed
out that water and sanitation coverage rate in the country is still amongst the
lowest in the world.
“The water and sanitation
challenge
s in Nigeria go beyond questions of access. Young
girls are forced to drop out of school due to a lack of sanitation
facilities, and women are harassed, or assaulted as they trek long distances
through the bush paths to collect and
carry water home, or when going to the bush to defecate due the lack of
access to a public toilet,” he said, whereas blaming the level of development
on poor governance, weak policies and poor management that have affected the
provision of clean and safe water to Nigerians.
Impact
of dirty water in Nigeria:
Country
Representative, WaterAid Nigeria, Mr. Michael Ojo, recently said that the
impact of dirty water and unsafe sanitation is having high impact on the lives
of African and Nigeria is not an exception.
This,
he said, has claimed the lives of nearly half a million Africans every year, with
attendant economic cost estimated at $50 billion annually, blaming lack of
access to clean drinking water, basic sanitation and hygiene services.
According
to him, the latest figures showed that a third of Africans are still drinking
water from unsafe sources, with over 1 in 10 from surface water, but staggering
70 per cent of Africans lack access to basic sanitation and nearly a quarter
are practicing open defecation.
In
Nigeria, he said, the statistics showed how far the country still has to go
because there are about 36 per cent without clean drinking water and 72 per
cent are lacking access to basic sanitation.
The
Abuja-based international organization, Water Aid Nigeria also informed
NaijaAgroNet that 57 million people in the country do not have access to clean
and safe water, leaving in its wake, huge effects which include that over 130 million
people don't have access to adequate sanitation in Nigeria, two thirds of the
population, while over 25,000 children were reported
dead every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation in
Nigeria.
Conclusion:
As the World Water Day is
commemorated this year, the Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Water Resources needs
some calibration beginning with their website which has absolute obsolete
information at this era, let alone feed Nigerians both home and abroad what the
activities of the ministry is, especially on this all important day, to the
extent that it was last updated in 2015 with former Minister still in office.
The enlightenment on how to
better use water, especially by the working class resonates more at the work
place where even the little water available are allowed to waste due to
inability of government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to fix their
taps, after all as some observers had said, government business is no one’s
business, but forgetting soon that charity begins at home.
Though it was disheartening
that Sheri, a resettlement centre near the FCT cannot have portable water for
its community in the last 16 years of democratic rule in Nigeria. Using this
scenario, confirms why we could have many Africans and Nigerians lack water and
dying of water related diseases, where it do exist artificially.
Good news, however is that
the like of Senators aforementioned are picking interest on improving access to safe and clean water to Nigerian citizens.
Only time shall tell what becomes of the proposed bill by these array of
distinguished Senators.
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