Category: General

The First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, has advised wives of officers and airmen of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to prioritise their mental health while discharging their domestic responsibilities.

Tinubu gave the advice on Saturday at the Mental Health Awareness Walk and TalK in commemoration of NAF@60 celebration 2024, organised by the Nigerian Air Force Officers Wives Association (NAFOWA) in Abuja.

She was represented by the wife of the Minister of State for Defence, Hajiya Aisha Matawalle.

The first lady said that as wives of officers, there were unique demands placed on their shoulders between supporting their families, managing households and navigating the uncertainties of their husband’s careers.

‘It is easy to let our well-beings fall by the wayside. So, we have to be very deliberate about our health and mental well beings.

‘Therefore, the theme: ‘Step by step Embracing Mental Wellness Through Movement’, is timely.

‘Regular exercise does not just tone our muscles and boost energy levels. It is a t
ool for mental well being.

‘By prioritising our well being, we become not just healthier individuals but better wives, mothers and role models.

‘We can handle challenges of life with greater resilience and radiate poor positive energy that uplifts those around us.

‘Taking care of ourselves is not selfish, it is essential to our general well-being,’ she said.

Tinubu congratulated NAF on attaining 60 years of service and dedication to protecting the nation’s skies and ensuring national security.

She also described the wives of NAF personnel and NAFOWA as the true heroes behind the scenes, serving as pillars of strength for their families and championing the well being of their spouses and wider community.

The President of NAFOWA and Wife of Air Chief, Mrs Rakiya Abubakar, said the event was organised to raise awareness on mental health as well as embrace and promote conversation around the issue.

Abubakar said the theme was coined to buttress the pertinence of mental health and advocate for mental wellne
ss through fitness.

She said the event was to also commemorate the 60? Anniversary of NAF.

She added that the association deemed it necessary to remind them that mental health and wellness remained a critical part of living a healthy and fulfilling life.

She said that it impacts on their relationship, work and daily activities, ad ding that ‘it remains one of the most under-discussed and undervalued aspects of our lives.

‘Our walk and the talk we are about to have is an amazing opportunity to change the narratives and start important conversations about mental health.

‘We hope this event provides the avenue to de-stigmatise mental health concerns and to rally together in support of those who may be struggling with their mental health,’ she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the highlights of the event include free medical test, health walk and talks by medical professionals.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Members of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) 26 Short Service Course (SSC) Association, have donated food items, toiletries and other consumables to Abuja Children Home, Karu.

The General Secretary of the association, retired Brig.-Gen. Bassey Etuk, in a statement on Friday, said the gesture was part of their humanitarian activities to give back to the society.

Etuk said the visit and donation to the orphanage was part of activities to mark the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association codenamed, SSC 26 Nigerian Army (NA) Biz.

He said the association had in 2023, introduced humanitarian activity into its AGM where spouses of members visit orphanages.

Etuk said the 2024 AGM was the 12th in the series, adding that their spouses visited the Abuja Children Home (ACH) in Karu where various items were donated.

According to him, the items include bags of various types of grains, cartons of biscuits and Indomie noodles, sanitary tissues and used clothing items.

‘The Forum was formed to enhance espirit-d
e-corps, foster bond of friendship, promote cordial relationship and look into the welfare of retired members and their families.

‘The Association’s next AGM will be its 13th and also the 40th Anniversary of members of NDA 26 SSC since they were commissioned as officers into the Armed Forces of Nigeria,’ he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, FCT Administration has trained agricultural field officers to provide efficient services to farmers, towards achieving bumper harvest in the territory.

The Mandate Secretary of the secretariat, Mr Lawan Geidam, said at the training in Abuja on Friday, that the training was designed to improve the capacity of the officers to provide technical support to farmers.

Geidam, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs Grace Adayilo, said that the training tagged, ‘Prevention, Identification, Diagnosis, and Management of Common Crop Diseases,’ would equally cut post-harvest losses.

He explained that a significant number of famers recorded huge losses due to ignorance of good agricultural practices in mitigating crop diseases, pest infestation and poor storage management techniques.

He urged the field officer to build the needed knowledge and capacity to be able to teach farmers how to combat crop diseases that impede productivity.

The mandate secretary
reassured farmers of FCT Administration’s commitment to support farmers with a view to boost agricultural production.

‘The Minister of FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike, and the Minister of State, FCT, Dr Mariya Mahmoud are taking proactive steps towards achieving the collective aspiration for food and nutrition security for all residents of FCT,’ he said.

The Permanent Secretary also highlighted the importance of integrating traditional methods with modern agricultural practices to get the best of the planting season.

Adayilo said that the integration was necessary considering the difficulties small-scale farmers face in accessing advanced agricultural technologies.

She assured the farmers of the full support of the Agriculture Development Project, adding that the project was a grassroots initiative to ensure that government programmes achieved the desired impact.

Mr Ofili Beneath, acting Director, Department of Agricultural Services, said that the department would continue to engage farmers across the 62 wards of th
e FCT and provide them with critical information.

Ofili expressed confidence that the training would strengthen knowledge-based agricultural practices and bring prosperity to the FCT farmers. (NAN)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

On May 14, the High Powered-Presidential Committee on Nigeria’s Extended Continental Shelf Project was in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The committee came to brief President Bola Tinubu on recommendations given to Nigeria regarding its submission for an extended continental shelf by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS).

The briefing was led by veteran diplomat, Amb. Hassan Tukur, the Chairman of the committee.

The update with the president featured technical presentations by Prof. Larry Awosika, a renowned marine scientist and Mr Aliyu Omar, Member/Secretary of the Committee and former staff of the National Boundary Commission (NBC).

Omar also served as the Desk Officer for the project office in New York for several years.

Worthy of note, Nigeria’s request to have it continental shelf extended was approved by the CLCS in August 2023.

The project, which aims to extend Nigeria’s maritime boundaries in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS), has granted Nigeria sovereignty over an additional 16,300 square kilometers of maritime territory.

This is roughly five times the size of Lagos State.

The CLCS is mandated to, inter alia, consider the data and information submitted and provide recommendations on the outer limits submitted by the coastal state.

Article 76 of UNCLOS (1982) allows a qualifying coastal state to extend its continental shelf up to a maximum of 350M (350 nautical miles) or 150m nautical miles beyond its traditional Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 nautical miles.

Continental shelf is the natural submerged prolongation of its land territory.

The journey to extend Nigeria’s continental shelf project began in 2009 with the country’s submission to the CLCS.

The project faced delays due to a lack of funds and administrative challenges; in 2013 the Senate of the Federal Republic in its resolution of Feb. 14, 2013, urged the Federal Government to fund the project and set up an independent body to handle it.

However, it w
as only in November, 2015 that the then President Muhammadu Buhari revitalised it.

Subsequently, he appointed the High-Powered Presidential Committee (HPPC), headed by the former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Malam Abubakar Malami, to oversee the project.

The HPPC operated as an independent technical body, effectively managing the project by cutting down on government bureaucracy.

Omar had led the Nigerian Technical Team through the question-and-answer sessions with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS).

He was also the Member/Secretary of the HPPC with strong institutional memory of the project, highlighted this during the committee’s briefing to President Tinubu on May 14.

Omar said that when the HPPC briefed Buhari in 2022 on the status of the project, the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) was still considering Nigeria’s submission and having technical interactions with the HPPC.

‘These interactions and cons
ideration have now culminated in the approval for Nigeria to extend its continental shelf beyond 200M (200 nautical miles).

‘As it stands now, the area approved for Nigeria is about 16,300 square kilometers, which is about five times the size of Lagos State’, he said.

Nigeria’s extended continental shelf is in an area that is referred to as the ‘Golden Triangle of the Gulf of Guinea’ due to its abundance of natural resources such as hydrocarbons, natural gas, and a variety of solid minerals.

Awosika, a pioneer member and former Chairman of the CLCS, explained that the technical team’s work involved lengthy processes.

He said it also required highly technical steps in the acquisition, processing and analysis of extensive marine scientific data offshore Nigeria’s margin for the submission to the UN CLCS.

He said that the Nigerian team had to defend the submission with the CLCS which involved highly technical question-and-answer sessions and provision of additional data and information.

Receiving the repor
t, Tinubu commended the members of the technical team for working tirelessly.

He applauded their high technical and scientific expertise and solidarity to national cause throughout the eight years of service to the nation before an agreement was finally reached with the UN CLCS in August, 2023.

It is instructive to note that Tinubu highlighted the interactions he had with his predecessor, Buhari, on the project; given that it was him, Buhari, who set up the HPPC to oversee the project in 2015.

Tinubu recounted how Buhari briefed him on the importance of the project.

‘This is big congratulations for Nigeria. I commend the team and we must take advantage of this and invite you again to have a repeat of this knowledge exploration on geography, hydrography and the marine life.

‘Nigeria is grateful for the efforts that you put into gaining additional territory for the country without going to war; some nations went to war; lost people and economic opportunities.

‘We lost nothing but have gained great benefit
s for Nigeria; we will pursue the best option for the country,’Tinubu said.

Tinubu has also promised to ‘pursue the best option for the country’ on the project, even though the CLCS recommendations fall short of Nigeria’s submitted claim.

Perceptive observers say the achievement is a lesson on the importance of continuity in government projects. Abandoning projects due to changes in administration can lead to wasted resources and lost opportunities.

The extended continental shelf is a significant achievement of Tinubu’s administration and to Nigeria.

According to experts, this is something that has never happened in the nation’s history, and may never happen again.

By learning from the ECS project, Nigeria can improve its approach to governance and project management, ensuring that with perseverance and continuity strategic initiatives are completed despite challenges.

The ECS project, initiated in 2009, faced delays and funding issues but persistence through the efforts of the immediate past administra
tion paid off, and was finally approved by the UN in August 2023, shortly after Tinubu assumed office.

The country has taken note of articles 7 and 8 in the Annex II to the Convention on the Law of the Sea concerning recommendations received from the CLCS.

The project also demonstrates the importance of long-term thinking in governance.

Discerning stakeholders hold that while the project’s benefits may not be immediate, it will surely have a significant impact on Nigeria’s economy and maritime boundaries in the future. (NANFeatures)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Federal Government says agritourism development in Nigeria will strengthen food and nutrition security as well as encouraging industrialisation for wealth and job creation.

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi, made this submission at the 2024 World Agri-tourism Day on Thursday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that agritourism, a short form of agricultural tourism, is a form of tourism that involves visitors participating in or experiencing various aspects of agricultural activities.

The minister said that agritourism also aimed to enhance the current capacity and growth in the non-oil sector.

Abdullahi said the theme of the event, ‘Food Security for All’ was in consonant with President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of State of Emergency on food security.

He said that the theme was also in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of Tinubu to promote agritourism development in Nigeria which was geared towards an agricultural revolution.

Abdullahi expl
ained that agritourism encompassed a range of activities, including farm tours, agricultural festivals, farm stays, and educational programmes that connected visitors with the agricultural landscape.

‘It benefits both farmers, who gain additional income and tourists who gain insights into the agricultural world/activities relating to agritourism.

‘Agritourism ranges from farm tours and workshops to seasonal festivals and tastings of farm-produced goods among others.

‘Agritourism presents a unique opportunity to combine aspects of the tourism and agriculture industries to provide a number of financial, educational, and social benefits to tourists, producers, and communities,’ he said.

Earlier, the President, World Agritourism Organisation (WAO), Amb. Trust Ogboi, said that the enormous value in agritourism would generate huge foreign exchange to the Nigeria economy and beyond national boundary.

Ogboi said that the Organisation was in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to establish Nigerian Agr
itourism Villages in the 36 states and FCT to ensure food security, job creation and attract investment.

He expressed hope that WAO would metamorphose into United Nations World Agritourism Organisation like the United Nations World Tourism Organisation(UNWTO).

In a remark, Prof. Garba Sharubutu, the Executive Secretary, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), said that food security and industrialisation of the economy was at the center of Tinubu’s administration.

He said that every Nigerian must work towards achieving the food security agenda of the Federal Government to ensure that food was available to all.

In a goodwill message, the Country Director, World Food Programme (WFP) in Nigeria, Mr David Stevenson, said the Organisation was humbled by the progress it had made in advancing food security and rural development in Nigeria.

According to him, agritourism stands as a beacon of promise for Nigeria, offering a myriad of benefits including heightened food production, rural community developm
ent, job creation, and bolstered foreign exchange.

‘As we commemorate World Agri-Tourism Day, Nigeria is presented with a golden opportunity to spotlight agriculture and agri-tourism as key drivers of progress,’ he said.

Stevenson was represented by Mrs Olabisi Ogungbemi, Lead for Government Relations, United Nations World Food Programme, Nigeria.

Also, the Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Mrs Abike Dabiri- Erewa, represented by Felix Imologhume, said that agritourism would help support local farmers and promote sustainable agriculture.

She said it would also empower small- scale farmers, rural communities, support local economies as well as community development.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), has advised youths in the territory to harness the vast potential of forest resources sustainably.

‘This is critical to conserving the biodiversity and ecosystem of FCT for future generation’, the Mandate Secretary, Mr Lawan Geidam, said during a sensitisation in Abuja on Friday.

Geidam, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs Grace Adayilo, explained that the sensitisation was organised to build the capacity of the youths on forest and wildlife exploration.

According to him, the conservation of biodiversity is critical to maintaining a healthy ecosystem that will serve the interest of all.

He emphasised the need for responsible exploitation of forest resources for sustainable livelihood and economic growth.

He affirmed the commitment of the FCT Administration to promoting initiatives that protect endangered wildlife species.

This, he said, was being done through sensitisation, training, and empowerm
ent of youth in economically viable ventures like honey production among others.

‘FCTA is dedicated to global action against practices that endanger wildlife species.

‘This includes promoting eco-tourism, sustainable timber harvesting, non-timber forest products, and carbon offset programmes.

‘Such strategies will not only secure the future of youths but also contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems,’ he said.

Similarly, the Permanent Secretary stressed the need for synergy with relevant agencies to address security threats in the forest to make them safer for productive activities.

She said that the FCTA was stepping up efforts to raise awareness and enforce stringent penalties for illegal wildlife trade activities.

This, according to her, is in line with the National Strategy to Combat Wildlife and Forest Crime in Nigeria 2022-2026.

While recognising the vulnerability of local hunters to engage in wildlife crime, the permanent secretary urged the youths to take advantage of lucra
tive bee production and other alternative livelihood opportunities.

Earlier, Mrs Caroline Opara, the Director of Forestry, FCTA, advocated for an awareness campaign against the poaching and selling of endangered species in the FCT.

Opara also said that the Endangered Species Act of 2016, stipulates stringent penalties for wildlife-related crimes.

‘This is a crucial tool in safeguarding dwindling populations of wild animals and preserving biodiversity,’ she said.

She emphasised that endangered species, when pushed to the brink of extinction by human activities, would disrupt the ecosystem balance.

‘The continuous killing of these species not only reduces their populations but also has far-reaching negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem health.

‘For example, the pangolin, known for its voracious insect-eating habits, plays a vital role in regulating insect pest populations, thereby benefiting agricultural productivity,’ she pointed out.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the sensitisat
ion was against illegal poaching and trafficking of wildlife species as well as capacity building on honey production.

The event had participants from the FCT Bee Farmers Association, and hunters and youth groups from the six Area Councils of the FCT. (NAN)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria