Clean-up in Aghoro, Odimodi gains momentum says Shell - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has recovered over 95 per cent of spilled oil from the recent spill incidents  on  sections of the Trans Ramos Pipeline (TRP) in Aghoro community, Bayelsa State, and in Odimodi community in Delta State, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The pipeline, which has remained shut-in since the incidents, supplies crude to the SPDC Joint Venture-owned Forcados Oil Terminal in western Niger Delta for export.

In a statement,  a spokesperson for SPDC acknowledged the spills as very regrettable, adding that in line with the standard operating procedures of SPDC, the TRP was shut down immediately the incidents were reported and the Oil Spill Response and the Emergency Response teams were activated to manage the incidents and prevent further spillage.

“As soon as clean-up and site assessment are completed, we are committed to starting the immediate remediation of the impacted areas in Aghoro and Odimodi,” the spokesperson said.

According to the spokesperson, details of the cause and impact of the spills will be captured in the Joint Investigation Visits (JIV) reports, which will be released after sign-off by all parties.

“The JIV is a multi-party exercise involving the regulators, the community, representatives of the state government, security agencies, and representatives of SPDC. The outcome is then signed off by the stakeholders to authenticate the findings,” the spokesperson explained.

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NEPAD names Yvonne Chaka Chaka nutrition goodwill ambassador - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The Princess of Africa, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, internationally-renowned singer and humanitarian has been appointed as the NEPAD Agency’s Goodwill Ambassador for TB and nutrition, reports NaijaAgroNet.

“I am pleased to confirm your appointment as NEPAD Agency Goodwill Ambassador with effect from 1 August 2018. Your commitment to supporting the NEPAD Agency through advocacy and communicating to a broad public will undoubtedly raise the profile of our continental projects,” Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, NEPAD Agency’s CEO stated in his message to Yvonne Chaka Chaka.

Considered a role model throughout the African continent, Yvonne has demonstrated compassion for others throughout her career. She has promoted literacy, women and children’s rights, and is also a champion in the fight against malaria.

Yvonne established the Princess of Africa Foundation in 2006 to complement her humanitarian work. Through this non-profit organisation, she has continued to advocate for various causes and mobilise resources towards projects for people in need.

As the implementing body of the African Union, the NEPAD Agency’s strategic impact areas are industrialisation and wealth-creation; shared prosperity and transformed livelihoods; human capital development and transformed institutions; and environmental sustainability. Given Yvonne’s strong commitment to the values and principles of the NEPAD Agency, she will be an excellent and eloquent advocate of the continent’s development agenda.

As Goodwill Ambassador for the NEPAD Agency, Yvonne Chaka Chaka’s public policy advocacy focus will especially be the promotion of food security and good nutrition as key response components in the fight against TB, as well as public awareness on the challenges and solutions to ending TB in Africa.

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1.6m children to experience severe acute malnutrition @Sahel - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

An estimated 1.6 million children are expected to experience severe acute malnutrition in the Sahel region of Africa, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said that the Sahel is on lean season which ran from June to August, 2018 nears its close, latest estimates showed that nearly 6 million people will have been severely food insecure in this period.

“Of these, almost half – or 2.7 million people – are pastoralists or agropastoralists. Up to 1.6 million children are expected to experience severe acute malnutrition,” official FAO press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet read.

Today, the three UN agency heads, whose organizations are working in partnership within the UN system-wide support to the Sahel, will underscore joint efforts aimed at addressing poverty, underdevelopment, the impacts of extreme weather events and migration - factors that have all contributed to the region’s critical humanitarian and security situation.

These heads of the Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development(IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are on official working visit to Niger on a three-day working visit between 15-18 August 2018, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This visit, NaijaAgroNet gathered will see these chiefs highlighting regional efforts to address the critical food and nutrition security situation in the Sahel.

The trio including FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo, and WFP Executive Director David Beasley, will meet Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou as well as Prime Minister Brigi Rafini and other members of the country’s government.

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Sahel’s hunger attracts UN Food chiefs head to Niger in support - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Three heads of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are headed to Niger on a three-day working visit between 15-18 August 2018, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This visit, NaijaAgroNet gathered will see these chiefs highlighting regional efforts to address the critical food and nutrition security situation in the Sahel.

The trio including FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo, and WFP Executive Director David Beasley, will meet Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou as well as Prime Minister Brigi Rafini and other members of the country’s government.

They will also visit several projects where collaboration among FAO, IFAD  WFP, the Government of Niger and other partners, is providing people with new opportunities to feed their families, earn an income and build more resilient livelihoods through agricultural activities.

These initiatives illustrate the need to closely link humanitarian and development assistance within the context of building peace in the region. Similarly, FAO, IFAD and WFP are supporting the Government of Niger’s “les nigériens nourissent les nigériens” (Nigeriens feed Nigieriens) initiative which aims to reduce poverty and build resilience to food crises.

In Niger, as in many parts of the Sahel, climate shocks have resulted in recurring droughts with devastating impacts on the region’s already vulnerable populations, particularly those relying on crop and livestock production for their livelihoods and survival.

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Pix: FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva

Workshop participants confirm capacity gaps on cassava, maize, rice and cattle farmers - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Participants at a three-day workshop by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) rose affirm that there are capacity gaps on cassava, maize, rice and cattle farmers, reports NaijaAgroNet.

They also reaffirmed FARA readiness to leverage Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) programme to support the African Development Bank and the Regional Agricultural Transformation Programmes supported by the World Bank, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is in addition to partnership mapping of FARA’s Holistic Empowerment for Livelihood Programme (HELP), describing it as an opportunity matrix on available partnerships and training opportunities in Brazil, Cuba, Egypt & India, will be used to develop HELP country-based approach capacity building and innovation network that feed into the larger initiatives.

Speaking at the workshop, the Executive Director of FARA, Dr Yemi Akinbamijo, declared that the march towards a food secure Africa and meeting the overarching developmental targets requires holistic capacity development approach to strengthen individual, organizational and systemic capacities.

FARA he said, recognizes the South-South collaboration framework as an important vehicle, stressing that the philosophy behind HELP is the promotion of triangular collaboration involving the private sector, universities/research centres and policy makers among African countries and their counter parts in the so-called South, based on solidarity that breaks the traditional donor-recipient relationship, under a win-win situation.

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FARA, NEPAD in high level joint advocacy for nutrition in Africa - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

As part of efforts to promote Food and Nutrition Security for Sustainable Agriculture on the continent, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), have joined forces in a high level advocacy for nutrition in Africa, reports NaijaAgroNet.

They jointly organised a one-day high level advocacy event during the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) in in Cairo, Egypt, which saw notice on increased efforts and support from governments and stakeholders to improve nutrition and food systems are still needed.

The FARA Executive Director, Dr Abdulrazak Ibrahim noted that African governments and stakeholders have over the years been implementing several strategic interventions, among which include food fortification, dietary diversification, vitamin and mineral supplementation, public health interventions such as deworming and of late, biofortification.

He also said embracing food-based approaches should encompass biofortification in national and regional agriculture and nutrition policies, strategies, programmes and investment plans,’ was the theme of this event.

Chairperson of the PAP Committee on Agriculture, H.E Hon Kone Gognon, opened the meeting, saying that the theme for the meeting was pertinent, with a focus on ensuring food and nutrition security, pointing out that biofortification was already flagged as crucial in Africa.

Further, Dr. Ibrahim disclosed that FARA recognised the debilitating effects of hidden hunger, and highlighted FARA’s efforts, over the last years, in mainstreaming FNSSA within the National Agricultural and Innovation System (NAIS).

This was echoed by Dr Rose Omari, from FARA’s Building Nutritious Food Basket project, who elucidated the fact that micronutrient deficiency and its consequences are not widely known, as this is ‘hidden hunger.’

“Therefore, enhancing micronutrients content of staple crops during production is a critical intervention,” Dr Omari said.

Senior Advisor on Nutrition, Ms Bibi Giyose, who spoke on behalf of the NEPAD Agency’s CEO, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, brought to the fore the fact that nutrition should not be viewed as a technical issue, as it also has political, structural and numerous other dimensions that dictate the need to find multi-sectorial solutions.

Prof Francis Zotor from the University of Health and Allied Sciences and African Nutrition Society, expressed a similar sentiment with a call to strengthen synergies in moving the nutrition agenda forward on the continent.

Present at the event were legislators from the following countries: Central African Republic; Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Niger, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.

The meeting concluded that while hidden hunger is real, reversing it is also possible to increase micronutrient content of commonly consumed foods through biofortification, especially to improve nutritional status of low income households will go a long way in redressing hidden hunger.

African Parliamentarians were called upon to follow up on declarations made by governments to ensure their implementation.

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RecyclePoints makes top 10 @Zambezi Prize 2018 - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Nigerian startup, RecyclePoints, is in the top 10 finalist in the MIT Legatum Center and Mastercard Foundation finalists of the 2018 Zambezi Prize for Innovation in Financial Inclusion, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation, have announced the finalists of the 2018 edition of the Zambezi Prize for Innovation in Financial Inclusion, including RecyclePoints.

The Grand Prize Winner and  Runners-Up, NaijaAgroNet gathered, will be announced during the Open Mic Africa Summit in Nairobi on August 29th, 2018.

RecyclePoints  pride itself as a waste recycling and social benefit venture which commenced its beta edition in Lagos, operating an incentive-based scheme which collects recyclable materials from post consumers and in turn rewards them with “Points” which they could accumulate and use to redeem/shop for household items offered through our iRecycle store.

The prestigious competition, awarding a total of $200,000 in prizes, was established in 2015 to discover Africa’s most promising and innovative early-stage start-ups that promote and advance financial inclusion on the continent.

The selected companies are Apollo Agriculture (Kenya), Bidhaa Sasa (Kenya), FarmDrive (Kenya), Farmerline (Ghana), LanteOTC (South Africa)(https://LanteOTC.com/), MaTontine (Senegal) (ControlRisks.com), OZE (Ghana)(www.OZE.guru/), RecyclePoints (Nigeria), Tulaa (Kenya)( www.Tulaa.io), and Wala (South Africa) (https://getWala.com/).

“We are pleased to welcome the 2018 finalists into the MIT Zambezi family”, said Georgina Campbell Flatter, the Executive Director of the MIT Legatum Center. “They represent some of the world’s most innovative change agents.”

“The finalists demonstrated strong leadership and innovation in the way they are solving financial inclusion challenges”, said Ali Diallo, the Global Programs Manager of the MIT Legatum Center. “We also want to thank the hundreds of great startups that applied to this competition and shared with us their inspiring ventures, visions, and insights for advancing financial inclusion. We hope to keep them all engaged through our upcoming initiatives”.

The finalists will join leaders from the MIT and African tech ecosystems on August 28th and 29th at the 2018 MIT Open Mic Africa Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. The two-day event will include a VIP reception followed by the award ceremony at Strathmore University where the Grand Prize Winner will be awarded $100,000. Two runners-up will each receive $30,000 while the seven remaining finalists will each receive $5,000 in cash prizes. Additionally, the Legatum Center will award $5,000 to an African entrepreneur who demonstrated great leadership qualities to unify Africa’s tech ecosystem. All finalists will participate in cohort-building and mentoring activities with MIT leaders and Zambezi alumni companies during the event.

The winners will be invited to attend the Zambezi boot camp during the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC) (www.MITInclusiveInnovation.com) gala on the MIT campus in Boston on November 5th-9th, 2018. They also will be fast-tracked to the IIC global grand prize with up to $1 million available in funding for the winner. The IIC event is part of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy(http://ide.mit.edu/) and, along with the MIT Legatum Center’s initiatives, exemplifies MIT’s global commitment to the future of work(https://goo.gl/t6QRFb).

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Aurecon’s Lloyd elected into Emerging Water Leaders Steering Committee - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Lloyd Fisher-Jeffes, a Civil Engineer with global engineering and infrastructure advisory company Aurecon, has been elected to the Emerging Water Leaders Steering Committee of the International Water Association (IWA), reports NaijaAgroNet.

The election, NaijaAgroNet reports, recognised his outstanding role in coordinating a committee of 30 Young Water Professionals as part of the 8th International Young Water Professionals Conference (IYWPC), held in July in Cape Town.

Fisher-Jeffes will attend several global meetings where he will have the opportunity to influence how the IWA engages with young water professionals and contribute to the IWA’s current activities at an international level. Besides being able to network with various IWA leaders and committees, he will be able to contribute to best practice frameworks while developing his competencies as a leader and water engineer.

James Cullis, Aurecon’s Global Service Leader for Water, says Fisher-Jeffes’ election to the IWA’s Emerging Water Leaders Steering Committee is a reward for his exceptional ability as a young professional in the water sector, as well as a future leader in the industry.

“Lloyd did an excellent job as Chair of the local organising committee of the IYWPC. He is not only a critical part of our Cape Town water resources team, but will also be a key player in the future of Aurecon’s water consultancy,” says Cullis.

“One of the takeaways from the IYWPC event was the urgent need for Young Water Professionals to have a seat at the table,” says Fisher-Jeffes. “We need to be more involved in planning the future of water infrastructure in our countries. I hope that my role as the YWP Specialist Group Coordinator will allow me to facilitate and encourage Specialist Groups to invite YWP’s to become involved in their initiatives,”

He also hopes his role will help inspire other Young Water Professionals to take a more proactive role in infrastructure planning.

“I want to motivate Young Water Professionals to get involved in designing the solutions of the future. Water resource planning typically has a 30-year horizon and the current generation will either benefit from or suffer the consequences of decisions made in the sector today. As under 35-year-olds, we will be leaders 30 years from now, so it’s important to get involved in the decisions that will shape the infrastructure we will be managing and operating,” says Fisher-Jeffes.

He is currently working on a project advising the City of Cape Town on its drought response and future water resource planning. Some of his former projects include flood studies and 2D modelling. 

“As the IWA membership includes environmentalists, sociologists, activists, scientists and engineers, I’m looking forward to being exposed to diverse ideas and innovative thinking on water management. The diverse solutions that are presented on this platform will help me broaden my competencies and become a better water engineer,” concludes Fisher-Jeffes.

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Pix: Lloyd Fisher-Jeffes

UNICEF, LIXIL partner on sanitation for children - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The world’s leading children’s organization, UNICEF and maker of pioneering water and housing products, LIXIL are partnering to help vulnerable children gain access to safe and clean toilets, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The partnership, named “Make a Splash! Toilets for All”, NaijaAgroNet gathered will leverage the two organizations’ complementary strengths to support progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) of achieving access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, and end open defecation by 2030.

The UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, noted that “Nearly 800 children die every day from diarrhea caused by unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Through this innovative partnership with LIXIL, we hope to help keep every child healthy and alive.”

UNICEF and LIXIL have already successfully worked together in Africa to provide people in need of toilets with access to sanitation products, designed by LIXIL to fit local conditions. The success led the partners to explore ways to expand their collaboration to improve sanitation for all.

The new partnership is among UNICEF’s most ambitious to date. It signals a new way that UNICEF is working with companies that engage their core business, at various levels, to achieve significant advances for children. It is UNICEF’s first global shared-value partnership in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector, and the first of its kind with a Japanese company.

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Agricultural Research Council joins ‘FOI Hall of Shame’ - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Media Rights Agenda (MRA) on Monday named the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) this week’s inductee into the “Freedom of Information (FOI) Hall of Shame” for consistently violating the provisions of the FOI Act over the past seven years, thereby denying Nigerians the right to information in the agricultural development sector, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The ARCN was established by the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria Act of 1999 with its functions including preparingannual budgets for agricultural research, training and extension programmes of the institutes under its aegis and receiving grants for allocation to agricultural institutes for the implementation of their annual programmes as well as to universities and other bodies for special research or training projects.

Announcing the induction of the ARCN into the FOI Hall of Shame in a statement in Lagos, MRA’s Programme Officer, Mr. Idowu Adewale, highlighted several failings of the public institution regarding the implementation of the FOI Act which led to its censure by MRA.

He noted that although the ARCN has an active website, it has not taken advantage of this to fulfill its proactive disclosure obligations by publishing on the website the categories of information listed for proactive disclosure under Section 2(3) of the FOI Act.

According to Mr. Adewale, there is no information on ARCN’s website regarding the fund allocations for agricultural research purposes; the receipt or expenditure of public or other funds of the institution; the names, salaries, titles, and dates of employment of employees and officers of the institution; the list of files containing applications for contracts, permits, grants, licenses or agreements, among several other categories of  information, records and documents listed in Section 2 (3) of the FOI Act that must be proactively published by every public institution.

He criticized the ARCN for its lack of responsiveness to requests for information from members of the public, citing in particular, its refusal to respond to an application for information dated August 2, 2016, submitted to it by Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), a non-governmental organization based in Abuja, for a list of the contracts awarded by the ARCN in 2015 and its procurement plan for 2016.

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