Paris Forum secures $40 billion commitment to advance gender equality

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By Usman Aliyu

The Generation Equality Forum (GEF) on Friday closed in Paris with a close to $40 billion commitment from stakeholders to advance gender equality.

In a communique signed by Margaux Bonnet, Head, GEF Press Office, the Forum also launched a global five-year action journey to accelerate gender equality by 2026.

The Forum, held between June 30 and July 2 engaged nearly 50,000 people in a mainly virtual format to generate action for the rapid advancement of gender justice.

The Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality was designed by six Action Coalitions – multi-stakeholder partnerships that have identified the most critical actions required to achieve gender equality in areas from gender based violence and technology to economic and climate justice.

The Forum also launched a Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action, and announced new gender equality initiatives focused on health, sports, culture, and education.

Reflecting on the Forum, African Union Goodwill Ambassador on Ending Child Marriage Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, said, “This week, I relived the experience of 1995, when I was a young women’s rights activist at the Beijing Conference.

“The COVID-19 context and other barriers are now an even greater inspiration for innovation, solidarity and inclusion.

“I am grateful for the commitments made this week. Now it’s time to invest in girls and young women even more – for resources to reach rural and marginalized communities, for technology for public good and available to all, and for member states greater accountability to human rights of women and girls.”

The Forum also confirmed ambitious policy and programme commitments from governments, philanthropy, civil society, youth organizations and the private sector.

“The monumental conclusion comes at a critical moment as the world assesses the disproportionate and negative impact COVID-19 has had on women and girls.

“Gender equality advocates have pressed for gender-responsive stimulus and recovery plans to ensure that women and girls are not left behind as the world re-builds,” the communiqué said.

Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women was quoted as saying that the Generation Equality Forum marked a positive, historic shift in power and perspective.

“Together we have mobilized across different sectors of society, from south to north, to become a formidable force, ready to open a new chapter in gender equality.

“The Forum’s ecosystem of partners – and the investments, commitments and energy they are bringing to confront the greatest barriers to gender equality –will ensure faster progress for the world’s women and girls than we have seen before.

“UN Women will maintain a critical role driving the Forum’s 5-year action journey, overseeing the implementation of commitments to ensure accountability and progress over the next five years,” she said.

Speaking to mark the close of the Forum for the Government of France, the host of the Paris Forum, Ambassador and Secretary General of the Generation Equality Forum Delphine O said, “After two years of collective work with Member States, civil society and philanthropic and private organizations, we succeeded in raising the largest amount of investment to advance gender equality and women’s rights ever.

“By implementing a new way of tackling global issues through efficient multilateralism, the Generation Equality Forum reversed the priorities on the international agenda and made gender equality, for too long underestimated, a long-term issue for the international community, along with climate, education and health.

“France will continue to be at the forefront to accelerate gender equality progress.”

Meanwhile, in addition to the significant commitments unveiled at the opening ceremony, the final two days of the Forum saw the unveiling of a wide range of commitments from every sector.

The Government of Burkina Faso expressed commitment to work with Benin, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Togo to develop shared commitments related to family life education; free care for pregnant women and children under five years; and pursuing legal and social change to end gender-based violence including FGM and child marriage.

The United States Government also committed to a range of significant policies and investment requests including an investment of $1 Billion to support programs to end violence against women, and $175 Million to prevent and respond to gender-based violence globally.

Open Society Foundation’s commitment was at least $100 Million over five years to fund feminist political mobilization and leadership among others.

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Colloquium: Experts task Nollywood on fight against harmful traditional practices via movies

By Usman Aliyu

Theatre arts experts have called on Nollywood artistes to use their movies in the fight against harmful traditional practices that violate human rights.

The experts spoke during a colloquium organised by Igbinedion University to mark the 50th birthday of renowned Nollywood film maker, Lancelot Imasuen, on Thursday in Okada, Edo State.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the colloquium was entitled “Cultural Revival through the Screen”.

Prof. Irene Agunloye of the University of Jos, Plateau State, in her presentation, noted that some cultural practices posed a threat to the empowerment of women and their rights, hence the need for cultural transformation through a medium such as film.

The professor of African Drama, Gender, Women and Film Studies said since culture is man-made, it was amenable to transformation, particularly in those areas that violate women’s rights such as Female Genital Mutilation, among others.

While analysing the Imasuen’s production titled: ”Wede”, Agunloye said the Nollywood director demonstrated commitment to women-centred issues which he projected unequivocally in the movie.

“His message in this film is that though leadership in our society is generally patriarchal, it does not imply that women are powerless, passive, silent and ineffectual.

“In challenging the repressive traditional culture of female genital mutilation, Imasuen shows that social change is inevitable in every society.

“He advocates for a constructive and contemporary use of tradition. Imasuen has shown his commitment in using film to campaign against harmful cultural practices that inhibit women from developing their full potentials,” she said.

Prof. Barclays Ayakoroma of University of Africa, Toru-Orua, Bayelsa State, said Imasuen had carved a niche for himself in the Nollywood industry because his contributions remained indelible as they are words on marble.

According to him, if there are 10 of Imasuen, the Nollywood will be strategically elevated and will not be second to Bollywood in terms of production quantity, but second only to Hollywood in terms of production quality.

Ayakoroma, who is the Head, Department of Theatre Arts of the university, said Imasuen was the first movie director to initiate cross-border relations in film making in the country.

Ms Brandi Callum, Founder, Brandi Callum Group International, Georgia, United States of America, in her lecture, applauded the celebrant for creating dignity for African culture through his movies.

Callum, who noted that no Hollywood movies represented Africa in right way, said the celebrant was making the kind of movies she would have loved to make as a black woman.

Earlier in his address, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said the occasion was to provide a unique opportunity for students of Theatre Arts to come face-to-face with veterans.

He said that the creative arts and profit from the Master Class would follow as a major outcome of the colloquium.

The theme of the colloquium, he explained, was carefully chosen to reflect the contemporary challenges plaguing the time-honoured cultural values.

”As reflected in the modes of dressing, speech mannerism, and the general behavioural patterns.

“Today, as a university upholding creativity as the honing device of every human developmental quest, we deem it fit to expose our students.

”Particularly those in the Departments of Theatre Arts, English and Literary Studies and Mass Communication to the world.

”Of experiences garnered by the great Nollywood stars here present – a reflection of our Academia-Industry interface endeavour,” he said.

He also said: “It is instructive that all of Lancelot’s filmic endeavours and the creative impetus injected into them are valued within the academic circles.

”And indeed, by others within and outside the country. They have received at several times, global acclamations.

“As the premier private university in Nigeria, Igbinedion University’s commitment to academic excellence and scholarship remains unshaken,” he said.

Ezemonye said that no amount of recognition was too much for the celebrant because he had given so much to the society by effecting social edification and sustainable national cohesion.

In his remark, the celebrant, Imasuen, commended the university for the honour, pledging that he would be more committed henceforth to pursue social change through the screen.

He noted that there was hope for better Nigeria because the youths are not lazy, but industrious and creative.

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Smallholder women farmers achieving high productivity via sustainable agriculture practices

By Usman Aliyu

Small-scale farmers, with less than two hectares of land under cropping, produce the larger percentage of the food in Nigeria with women peasants making the chunk of the farming population, studies indicate.
However, the prominent role of these farmers in the agricultural value-chain in the country, still faces heaps of challenges leading to problems in crop yield and realisation of cash.
Agronomists observe that this situation would persist unless smallholder farmers employed sustainable farming practices to protect land, water, soil and genetic resources or precision farming practices.
The experts argued that except the farmers adopted practices that are more resilient to natural occurrences, they would not be able to produce enough food to feed their families or meet public demands.
The claims of these experts are largely substantiated by the experience of some smallholder women farmers in Kwara, before they gained knowledge on climate resilience and sustainable agriculture practices, courtesy of the Centre for Community Empowerment and Poverty Eradication (CCEPE).
CCEPE is the state-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), which focuses on respecting, promoting, protecting and fulfilling the rights of the poor and excluded people by focusing on their empowerment.
The NGO, few years ago, organised a training for the women on how to mitigate the impact of climate change by improvising with inorganic materials to improve on agricultural productivity at a near zero cost.
While relating her past in agribusiness, Mrs. Iyabo Babatunde from Gbago community in the Asa local government area of the state, recounted her perpetual yearly shortage due to lack of requisite knowledge on sustainable practices.
The situation, she said, affected her outputs and consequently earned her abysmally low income, the earning which was always insufficient to meet her ends needs and sponsorship of her children’s education.
“Until we were trained, I never realised how much I had missed in the business. The challenges were too many for me because I was bereft of better farming technique. This invariably affected my production yearly. I was also restricted to subsistent farming system where I could only produce to feed my family and rarely, able to make surplus for sale because of low yield. This training, however, changed the narrative,” she said.
Babatunde said since she could not afford to buy inorganic fertiliser to enhance the growth of her crop, she quickly found solace in the use compost manure which she learnt at the training.
“As soon as I applied the lessons in agriculture practices, I began to earn in higher income from improved productivity.
“I am now able to send my children to school as well as to take care of my personal needs,” she said.
The experience according to Mrs Rukayat Ibrahim from Apa community is similar to that of Babatunde, but said that the sustainable farming practice has turned her to a queen among her contemporaries, who had no opportunity of attending the exercise.
“The moment I began to apply the techniques, I became a queen before my colleagues because I begin to recover from the losses,” she said.
Besides, she added that the training also exposed her to rights and responsibility between the rights holders and the duty bearers as it related to agriculture practices.
Sharing the same sentiment, Mrs Rashidat Dauda from Ipetu community, said she was nearly dispirited at a point from the farming business because her time and efforts were not reasonably justified by the output.
“For instance, anytime I harvested cassava, the produce would be meagre; the same thing with maize, guinea-corn and others.
“I was advised to always apply fertiliser and pesticide, but where was the money to procure them?”, asked Dauda, who said she had been a farmer for more 25 years.
She boasted she could conveniently make organic fertiliser from yam peel, cow dung and compost among others, thereby hastening the growth of her crops when applied.
“When I put this to practice, it increased my harvest across all crops, tubers and vegetables. It was a huge surprise to all of us that benefitted from the training.
“On pest control, we were tutored on how to soak cassia leaves (botanically known as Cassia fistula, golden shower or Indian laburnum) in large volume of water and add little detergent or kerosene to it for usage. I applied it on my farm. Ever since, I do not have recurring problem of pest disturbance.
“All these among other factors cumulate in the bumper harvest I now experience each farming season and the ensuing improved earnings. We have extended the training to our contemporaries for them to enjoy the benefits,” she said.
Dauda, nonetheless, urged government to assist women farmers by addressing other challenges such as herdsmen attacks, lack of access to land use, lack of access roads and storage facilities, saying these were inhibiting the huge potentials of women farmers towards ensuring national food security.
“They should never underrate our capacity. We produce and sell at local markets; we do not export our produce. We should be assisted to produce for national food sufficiency,” the woman farmer said.
Calling on the government to lead the charge of embracing the use of organic fertiliser, Mr Abdulrahman Ayuba, the Chief Executive Officer of CCEPE, explained that apart from saving huge resources usually spent yearly on bogus purchases of chemical fertilizers, it was climate friendly, thus increasing resilience and adaptability of smallholder women farmers to the environment.
“It will help in restoring the environment and balance the ecosystem as well as ensuring production of safe, chemical free, and healthier crops (food) that will not be rejected at the point of export,” he said.
He urged governments to embrace climate smart agriculture and agroecological practices, with an appeal to other NGOs to join in efforts towards increasing productivity of quality and healthy crops at reduced costs.
The methods, he noted, would reduce practices that lead to global warming and climate change and build the women farmers’ resilience to effects of climate change.
The CCEPE boss expressed delight that the training was able to achieve the desired aims and objectives among the women farmers group.

How mobile clinic project is proffering solution to rural health problem

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By Usman Aliyu

One of the major challenges of life in rural communities in developing countries such as Nigeria is lack of access to basic amenities. Facilities such as power supply, motorable roads, schools as well as equipped hospitals for quality and affordable health care services are not readily available in these remote areas like in urban areas.

Experts blame the situation for the countryside experiencing a higher prevalence of chronic conditions like heart diseases, respiratory diseases, stroke and diabetes among others.

Limited health promotion, disease prevention programme and healthcare services, the experts noted are responsible for a higher rate of mortality and disability among the rural dwellers, than in the urban communities.

A development association in Diaspora, Igbomina Community in North-America (ICNA) in 2016 launched a mobile clinic project for quality healthcare delivery to their kinsmen at home. They are acting on the importance of health.

Mobile clinics are aptly put as vehicles, designed to be fully functional primary care clinics. Whether they are aircrafts, buses, boats or trains, they come complete with examination rooms, wheelchair lift and the same medical equipment and technology that can be found in a clinic.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) corroborates that mobile clinics offer flexible and viable options for treating isolated and vulnerable groups, thereby improving access to local, on the spot primary health service for people living in underserviced communities.

Therefore, the initiative by the ICNA which is tagged “Igbomina Mobile Clinic seeks to take healthcare services to the doorsteps of the residents of local government areas that make up the Igbomina clan in Kwara.

Chief Olaitan Oyin-Zubair, the Secretary and Coordinator of the project, explained that the intervention, which started in Ifelodun, Irepodun and Isin local government areas, afterwards, enjoyed partnerships from the state government, corporate entities and development unions of neighbouring communities such as the Offa Descendants Union (ODU).

Oyin-Zubair asserted that the project had catered for the health needs of about 400 Igbomina communities in Offa, Oyun, Ifelodun, Isin and Irepodun local government areas of the state through the provision of a first line of medical care services to the people.

“The initiator is in partnership with the Landmark University Omu-Aran, where it donated a mini-mobile clinic bus to the institution to impact healthcare services in the localities.

“The focus of the mobile clinic is to highlight and provide preventive care in the areas of major silent killers such as diabetes, hypertension, malaria and other ailments.

“In the short period of operation, the project has impacted and saved many lives. Precisely between July and September of 2016, over 4,500 patients were seen and cared for,” he said, recalling how a baby’s life was saved in one of the covered communities due to a timely intervention of volunteer doctors and medical practitioners.

Meanwhile, Mr Emmanuel Adewuyi, Chairman, Project Implementation Committee while expatiating on the mode of its operations said a roster was prepared for the clinic to cover the nooks and crannies of Igbominaland.

“The committee ensures that come rain or sunshine it dutifully executes its mandate of twice a month outreach programme that has effectively touched over 10,000 lives while providing medications in excess of over US $2 million at open market value.

“This programme has indeed become a model that many across Kwara South Senatorial District depend on for their health services. In its short life, the clinic has set a high standard and distinguished itself as a great life-saving programme while demonstrating the power of collective will for a singular purpose and agenda,” said Adewuyi.

Justifying the sponsorship of the free health care initiative, Chief Nurudeen Adeyemi, the Chairman of the ICNA said that such intervention became necessary because ailments such as malaria, diabetes and high blood pressure among other killer diseases were common among the people.

Adeyemi said he was elated that many lives had been saved through early diagnosis and treatment, describing the gesture as the organisation’s only way of giving back to the society.

He decried the huge deficiency in the health sector, particularly in the rural communities, and called on the three tiers of government to fix the challenges inhibiting quality health care delivery among the people.

Adeyemi, who is a United States of America-trained automobile engineer and vehicle designer, announced a plan to use a larger platform to extend the services to other parts of the state. He attributed interest in community development and humanitarian activities for the efforts to improve the health lot of the people in many Kwara communities.

One of the beneficiaries, Mr Samuel Akanji described the programme as non-discriminatory, which caters for medical care of everybody, including herdsmen living in remote villages.

Akanji commended the initiators of the health scheme and the volunteers for their community services with attestation that that singular effort has saved the lives of many residents particularly the down-trodden. He thereby urged “well-to-do” individuals of Igbomina origin to help in ensuring sustainability of the initiative.

Also appraising the project, Oba Abdulrauf Oyerinde, the Oniwo Of Odu-Ore in Isin local government area of the state, said the health project was the best thing to have happened in the land in recent years.

Oyerinde noted that the zeal and high commitment of the sponsors, mobilisers and medical volunteers towards the implementation of the health programme was worthy of commendation.

However, the project coordinator said the intervention needed more funds for continued services, and medications. Medication according to him are purchased from the United States and shipped to Nigeria, with complementary medication for malaria purchased locally.

“About $10,000 worth of medication is required every 3 months for about 4,000 patients (about $2.50 per patients). This laudable programme is a continuous project with urgent needs for medications,” he said, calling on other well-to-do individuals and corporate bodies to support the applauded life-saving programme towards improving the life expectancy of the Igbomina people.

The South South Professional Women Association (SSPWA), an NGO, has asserted that books are great sources of knowledge with tremendous potential to transform lives and societies.
The SSWPA’s National President, Mrs Maryam Haruna, made the assertion at the launch of the annual Read-A-THON- Gift -A-Child-A-Book Educational Project in Benin.
The occasion was part of activities to mark the 2021 World Book Day.
She said: As an organisation, we recognise that education is a fundamental human right which ensures access to knowledge.
“This knowledge builds your capacity, and helps you develop relevant skills for improved lifestyle and the society.”
Haruna was represented by the association’s Edo Coordinator, Dr Nosa Aladeselu.
She said the project was one of the association’s flagship educational projects “which seeks to revive the reading culture and encourage young people to take pleasure in reading.
“We join others around the world to celebrate the World Book Day which was constituted by the United Nations Education Scientific Organisation on this day in 1995. ”
She noted that the body decided on this project in response to a 2014 British Council’s Report of Girls Education in Nigeria.
According to that report, less than 15 per cent of girls in the South South have no education, compared to their contemporaries in some other parts of the country.
Haruna said there was need to be deliberate and intentional about the formal education and empowerment of women and girls.
“In our strategic plans to ensure that our youths, especially the girl- child, benefit from the knowledge derived from consistent reading, SSWA launched the maiden edition of its annual READ -A-THON challenge and Gifted-a-child book programme.
“With the support of friends, associates and networks, our organisation procured and also received book donations and other supplies.
“These are currently being gifted to children and distributed in targeted community schools in seven states including the FCT.”
She listed the states to include Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Rivers, and Lagos.
“By establishing this annual event in the South South region and Nigeria, SSPWA hopes to arouse and sustain deep interest in learning, reading and writing in our girl-children.
“Other educational interventions to position the girl-child for sustainable growth and development include, writing competitions, writers’ workshops, literary and debating clubs, spelling bees, STEM programmes, book drives, and more,” she said
Haruna added that the body had designed book banks across the country, where books and educational accessories could be lodged for subsequent distribution to schools
“Today, we celebrate the winners of our maiden ‘Reading and Summarising Competition’ which had about 200 participating scholars from three states.
“The success of these competitions and award ceremonies across the region has given us the needed impetus to institutionalise this programme as an annual education event,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that six students, who emerged overall winners from three different senior secondary schools in Benin, were named SSPWA’s Students Ambassadors.
The winners, Aisosa Osayande, Ugbo Happiness, Nwodo Augustina, Aifuwa Ehinomen, Nzeadibe Diamond and Blessing Ebi from, Idia, Itohan and Iyoba colleges, are expected to pioneer SSPWA’s reading clubs across the country.
The highlights of the occasion were presentation of books and plaques to winners and certificates to students who participated in the competition.

By Kevin Okunzuwa

Constitutional lawyer, Chief Richard Oma-Ahonaruogho, has advised the Federal Government to take adequate steps upon completion of due investigations into Friday’s military helicopter crash, to protect its military hardwares and personnel.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said gave the advice in a condolence letter he entitled “Ironic as it may sound, death gives meaning to life” made available to newsmen in Benin.
Oma- Ahonaruogho described the death of the late Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, as one death too many for a nation at war with the Boko Haram insurgents and other criminal elements.
He however, said Nigerians and family friends were relieved that the late COAS’s wife erreanously reported to have crashed with her husband turned out as false.
He said “while the nation mourns the death of Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and others who died in a military helicopter that crashed in Kaduna, yesterday, May 21, 2021;
“The relief that his beloved wife, Mrs Fati Attahiru, who was earlier but erroneously reported as one of the dead is alive, came as a soothing balm for a beleaguered nation.
“There is no gain saying that the air mishap, is one too many for a nation at war with the Boko Haram insurgents and other criminal elements at this time in our nation’s history.
“And it is hoped that adequate steps would be taken upon completion of due investigations to protect our military hardwares and personnel.
“With twenty days to his fifty-fifth birthday on Aug. 10, 2021, the life of the late Chief of Army Staff, whose appointment to that highly exalted office, lasted barely four months (116 days) from his appointment as the 25th Chief of Army Staff on Jan. 26, 2021, to May 21, 2021.
“That may be considered short lived, but he no doubt lived a significant life and died in the line of duty for his beloved nation for it takes love for one’s country to enlist in the armed forces.
“Being too grief stricken for now, a nation in mourning, will hopefully awake to a brighter and better tomorrow from the sacrifice of the life and times of the late Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru who was a highly decorated Officer.
“As we mourn his demise on the one hand and contemporaneously celebrate the life of his wife, Mrs Fati Attahiru, ” adding that “Nigeria shall overcome.”

Resident doctors in Edo donate blood for indigent patients

By Usman Aliyu

Members of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) Edo State Hospitals Management Board on Monday donated blood for the use of indigent patients who may be in urgent need of blood transfusion.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the donation was part of the first quarterly Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) of the association in 2021.

Declaring the event open, Dr Moses Imologomhe, the Managing Director of the Central Hospital, Benin, commended the association’s leadership and members for deeming it fit to donate for poor patients.

The gesture, he said, was timely because the public was not keen to blood donation.

Imologomhe decried shortage of blood in hospitals and urged the public to cultivate the habit of periodic donation of blood to save lives.

He added that “blood donation is good because it helps the donors to know their health status, as well as treat any observed ailments.

“We are happy that the ARD is keying into the very good things happening in this hospital.”

The President of the association, Dr Osayande Edorisiagbon, told NAN that the donation was conceived to ameliorate the financial burden on indigent patients whenever they came to the hospital.

The blood, the president said, would be used for poor pregnant women who may need it, indigent children in paediatric clinic, among other emergencies. 

He said “we do between three to four OGMs every year and we usually have scientific conference where we invite professionals in particular fields to come and educate us more so that we can improve our knowledge and skills on management of our patients.

“But this time around, we decided to bring this together where we can invite doctors and other well meaning Nigerians to come and donate blood so that we can have it in stock.

“In case we come across any of these patients, we can make the blood available to them as much as possible at no cost to them at all.

“That is why we have been able to put this programme before our business session tomorrow to be able to get people together, get doctors together and even non-doctors alike to come around and donate blood for this purpose.

“This will be our own humanitarian service or free service in respect of what we do in the clinic to the general populace.”

Edorisiagbon asserted that the donation would be a continuous event as all donors could not be taken in a day.

He said that the association would also take the blood donation campaign to public places and offices to educate the public on the benefits of blood donation.

He explained that “one of the benefits of blood donation is that you have the opportunity to do general screening because you cannot donate blood when you are not fit.

“When you come to donate blood, screenings are done to know your health status.

“This can help to reveal the kind of treatment you need at that time, and saves one of cardiac diseases”. NAN

By Usman Aliyu
Malnutrition is an issue that no country can afford to overlook. Literally, malnutrition connotes ‘bad nutrition’ and aptly describes the imbalance between the body’s supply and demands of nutrition.
Nutritionists describe it as an abnormal physiological condition caused by inadequate, unbalanced, or excessive consumption of macronutrients, micronutrients, or both.
From 2019 statistics of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), malnutrition is a direct or underlying cause for 45 per cent of all deaths of under-five children in the world. The data rate Nigeria as the second country in the world with the highest burden of stunted growth among children, an impaired development evidently caused by malnutrition.
The studies noted that the national prevalence rate of stunted growth in Nigeria is 32 per cent of children under the age of five. The findings further revealed 2 million as the estimated number of children in Nigeria that suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), while only two out of every 10 children affected are currently reached with treatment.
Similarly, seven per cent of women of childbearing age, according to the UNICEF, report, suffer from acute malnutrition in Nigeria.
Nutritionists identify the four broad sub-forms of malnutrition as wasting, stunting, underweight, and deficiencies in vitamins and minerals and these conditions make children, in particular, more vulnerable to disease and death.
It is because of this ugly situation that some public hospitals in Kwara devised a means to help in the fight against incidence of malnutrition.
Civil Service Hospital, Ilorin is one of such hospitals that have adopted food demonstration for nursing mothers as a way to check cases of malnourished children in the society.
Since poverty is said to increase the chances of malnutrition in a family, the hospital teaches mothers how to improvise with locally available ingredients to form balanced diets for their infants.
Mrs Margret Olayinka, is a Community Health Officer and the Head of Department (HOD), Immunisation Unit of the hospital, a section that spearheads the food demonstrating activities for nursing mothers during visits to immunise their children.
Olayinka explained that the decision to engage in the activities was taken following the discovery of cases of malnourished children among infants who came for immunisation some years back.
“There is something we call growth monitoring that we carry out for a child from birth until he or she is fully immunised.
“From growth monitoring like checking weight and arm circumference, we discovered children that are underweight for their age.
“When we interviewed their mothers especially of children of six months and above on what they feed their children with, some would say breast milk while others could not give satisfactory answers.
“From this, we decided to introduce what we call fortified pap to them. Fortified pap is a semi-solid food they can give to the children once they reach the age of six months in order to guide against malnutrition,” she said.
The senior health officer adjudged that the effort had been very fruitful as no case of malnourished child was reported since the introduction of the demonstration.
“This is because what we taught them to be doing is characterised by a form balanced diet. All the nutrients that a child needs are found in the foods we asked them to make.
“Besides, the fortified pap we always talked about is cheap and economical, even for the mother and the family at large to consume.
“It is made from guinea corn, soya beans, crayfish, and fish. Even fish and crayfish may not be really necessary for whoever that does not like their aroma.
“The most important ingredient is soya beans because it is highly proteinous. So adding it to the pap makes it more nutritious for babies. It helps them to develop well”, said Olayinka.
She also said mothers were trained on how to introduce and make family foods like beans, amala, semo, ewedu and moimoi for babies in a different way from for the adult’s.
“We teach them how they can peel the back cover of beans, cook it and make it very soft and give to the children.
“We teach them how to make moimoi for children; how to prepare solid foods like amala, semo as well as how to make ewedu with crayfish or mashed fish.
“All these ingredients will make babies derive the necessary nutrients they need. We also teach them how to match fruits together like doing smoothies for babies for vitamin acquisition”.
Testifying on the benefits of the food demonstration sessions in the fight against malnutrition, Mrs Bola Mohammed, a nursing mother and resident of Ilorin related how she used fortified pap learnt at one of the training sessions to save her malnourished daughter.
“Since we were told that our breast milk would no longer be much useful after six months without complements, we need food supplements.
“We were taught ways to prepare supplements with natural and locally available ingredients if we do not want to use those package baby foods.
“My little girl, she was malnourished and suffered weight loss. When I brought her here, I was asked to buy ingredients like guinea corn or millet, soya beans and add groundnut or dry fish if I like and grind them together to make fortified pap.
“As soon as I fed her with it, I began to see changes. This food is cost effective because right in our household we consume pap.
“So when we prepare pap, we can use it for our breakfast. So it will save us the labour of cooking another thing to eat in the morning”, she said.
Mohammed commended community health workers in the hospital engaged in the demonstration, saying it was really helping the society in many ways.
Corroborating the stance, Mrs Abisola Olayemi said the fortified pap and tom-brown she learnt through food demonstration had proven effective in nourishing her children and improving their growth.
Olayemi, who demonstrated how fortified pap and tom-brown were made, laid emphasis on the need to carry out the preparation under a very hygienic environment to avoid contamination.
She said the foods were devoid of any preservative that could be harmful to children.
Notwithstanding this, Olayinka, the sectional head of the unit, identified lack of money as the major challenge that always threatened the continuation of food demonstration.
“As we all know, money is the alpha to everything. We buy all the ingredients we use – guinea corn, soya beans, crayfish and fish among others, even the cooking gas.
“Our major challenge is financing the demonstration from time to time. With inflation, price of everything has soared.
“Nobody is giving the money, we leverage relationships to finance the food demonstration”, she said.
She, however, assured that the unit would continue to improvise to ensure that the programme does not stop.
She explained that immunisation is free, hence it would be difficult to levy nursing mothers, but says that the unit would source for resources within its means.
Another challenge for the programme is the Covid-19 pandemic. The Kwara senior health officer said the outbreak of the pandemic changed the routine at the hospital.
“Covid-19 has stopped us from meeting people in groups. We used to carry out the demonstration in groups of 20 mothers; it was a kind of group discussion.
“But Covid-19 has forced us to stop this gathering. We do attend to our patients now one after the other. We don’t even want them to wait. At a point, we stopped the demonstration.
“As a result of this development, some new mothers have not been able to witness the demonstration or benefit from this training”, she added.
The unit head, nevertheless, said arrangements had been concluded to resume the demonstration in line with the new normal.
“We have concluded arrangements to resume the food demonstration services, but with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols.
“We will have to reduce the number of participants per training session. This place used to be crowded, but that cannot happen again”, said the senior community health worker.
She called on private hospitals in the state to introduce the programme, saying its benefits for mothers and infants were important to their well-being.
In her reaction to the efforts of public hospitals in Kwara, Mrs Chinwe Ezeife, the Nutrition Specialist at the Kaduna Field Office of the UNICEF, commended the health workers for their proactiveness in the fight against malnutrition.
“It is my biggest joy is that they are integrating nutrition services as part of their routine. The food demonstration services will give the practical skills to pregnant and nursing women on how to prepare complementary foods, which they have to introduce to children of six months and above.
“The counselling on maternal nutrition will build their skills and enhance their capabilities for optimal infants and young child feeding practices,” she said.
Ezeife, thereafter, called on policy makers in Nigeria to see nutrition as a human capital development.
According to her, policy makers must know that nutrition is not just a health intervention of well importance but a human capital development issue that requires head-on attention.
“In fact, this is in line with the SDGs of which nutrition is very important,” she said.

Promoting Inclusive Education among Almajiris, the Kwara FOMWAN Example

By Usman Aliyu

Koro Afoju is a popularly colony strictly for the blind in Ilorin. Situated in the heart of the Kwara State capital between Gambari and Ojagboro areas, its residents always referred to as “Almajiris” reportedly migrated to the area from different parts of Northern Nigeria to engage in street begging to meet up their daily needs.

Ibrahim Yakub is one of the blind Almajiris in the colony. He hailed from Kano State, but he said he had lived in Koru Afoju for almost 20 years.

“I came through my uncle who is not physically challenged as I am. He lives at Sango, another Hausa community. Though I was living with him before, I later relocated to this community where I can relate with people like me. We thank God that we have been living here for decades without any regret”, Yakub said.

Yakub’s situation is relatively similar to other members of the settlement. So for that, they, over the years, cohabit and share common history, heritage and particularly, a common goal of begging by going outside the community on daily basis to seek alms.

As time passed by, they began to intra-marry, and consequently, the population started to multiply. This led to an upsurge in the population of the community.

More often, these street beggars are assisted by their children, who hold their hands or sticks to guide them to various places in the city and even outside. However, the peculiarity of Ilorin Almajiri system is that while their counterparts in other parts of the North sleep on the streets, they have a colony they all retire to after their daily activities.

The Kwara State Government recently carried out interlocked pavement of the sloppy road leading to the colony from Gambari to Oja-Igboro and Awodi area. It made access to the colony easier.

Sadly, many of these Almajiri children lack access to education. Many grow up to join their parents in the alms-seeking activities, some turn to scavengers while others resort to illegal businesses and activities for a living.

Studies by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have shown that one in every five of the world’s out-of-school children is in Nigeria.

The studies explained that though primary education is officially free and compulsory in the country, about 10.5 million of the Nigerian children aged 5-14 years are not in school. These studies were conducted seven years ago. The numbers must have gone up as no remedial actions have taken place since then.

The findings added that only 61 percent of 6-11 year-olds regularly attends primary school while only 35.6 percent of children aged 36-59 months received early childhood education.

Koro Afoju was in the same situation until 2020 when the Kwara State branch of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) intervened. The federation shortly before the outbreak of covid-19 pandemic enrolled 200 of these children for elementary education to improve their chances at a better future.

These vulnerable children were enlisted at Karuma LGEA Primary School Ilorin, an educational centre 500 metres to their residence. They were provided with uniforms, textbooks and exercise books among other learning materials at a ceremony witnessed by some officials of the state government, members of the community as well as representatives from neighbouring communities.

Speaking on the rationale for the intervention, Hajia Halima Yusuf, Chairperson, Almajiri Education Committee for the Muslim women organisation, said the children observably constituted nuisance to the neighbourhood.

Yusuf, who is a former Commissioner for Education in the State and resides in the neighbourhood, described as worrisome the increase in number of Almajiri children in the streets without access to education.

She condemned how they were used for begging, mostly in areas like Gambari, Ojagboro, Oja-Oba and Post Office, among others, describing the idea as a violation of the right of children to education, health, security, food and dignity.

“They will be the one guiding their parents; holding their arms to various places in the town and outside the town. The children were so small; they are growing up to teenagers.

“We deemed it necessary to help them because the adverse condition being experienced by these children could deprive them of a bright future and their rights as citizens of the country”, the educationist said.

Besides, she noted that the intervention was in line with the principles of the Muslim women’s association of ensuring inclusive education for all children irrespective of origins, tribes and religions.

The former Education Commissioner stated that the move particularly became necessary due to the high rate of out of school children in the country and its resultant effects on the security of lives and property.

Sharing a similar sentiment, Hajia Maimuna Sheu, the Amira (President) of the Ilorin branch of FOMWAN said that the association was only able to adopt 200 children because of the financial burden involved. She said the committee had informed relevant government agencies and that the state government had expressed interest in taking over the sponsorship.

Sheu explained that basic education was free in Kwara State, nonetheless, students were being made to pay Parents/Teachers Association (PTA) levy. This, she said must be abolished if the progress made so far was to be sustained. The registration of these children, she said has reduced the number of the children in the streets.

While reacting, the traditional head of the community, known as Sarkin Makafi, Alhaji Muhammadu Thani lauded the intervention as he said they would not want the children to end up like them.

“We are always helpless to send them to schools because no assistance was forthcoming either from government or anywhere.

“Besides, we don’t have any health facility in this community in case our children fall sick. This is an aspect we would like the government to look into. Our houses, apart from the fact that they cannot contain all of us again, are fast dilapidating.

“If the government says we should stop begging today, we are ready to quit the business, but something has to be provided in return because begging is our only source of livelihood.

“It has been like that from time immemorial. We have been begging to feed ourselves. It is not our desire to continue to beg but we don’t have other means of feeding ourselves and our family.

“That is why we will forever be grateful for this intervention by the Federation of Muslim women’s associations in the country”, Thani said.

Hitherto, he said some of the children enrolled in several vocations and apprenticeship as automobile mechanics, tailors and shoe cobblers among others.

Mr Salihu Mohammed, a parent of one of the enlisted children, said the intervention would definitely redefine the future for the children.

Mohammed stated that the opportunity is a privilege and urged other Non-Governmental Organisations, government and well-meaning individual to emulate the step taken by the FOMWAN.

“I appreciate FOMWAN for this good job that they are doing for Almajiri people. We really appreciate the association and we will never take the gesture for granted”, he said.

The Headmistress of the school, where the children were enrolled, Mrs Halimat Lawal sees the intervention as timely. She said the children exhibited the zeal to learn.

Lawal assured that enlisted pupils would excel in their academic work, but urged other philanthropists to complement government’s effort in its policy of education for all.

In the remark of the State Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Mrs Susan Oyetunde, who is a Deputy Director commended the organisation for investing in the educational pursuit of the children. She described the effort as a great contribution to the education sector in the State, and urged well meaning individuals and organisations to imitate FOMWAN.

The senior government official sought more public-private partnership in the development of education in the State and Nigeria as a whole.

Hajia Nimat Labaiak, the deputy Amira of FOMWAN in the State and the State’s immediate former Coordinator for the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), identified payment of PTA levy as one of the challenges against the free basic education policy in the State. Unless the levy was abolished, she notes, many children from poor background may find it difficult to acquire western education.

According to her, FOMWAN wants to make the enrolment an annual event, but lean resources was a challenge. While the cardinal programme of FOMWAN had been to encourage and support children to have western education as well as to support the implementation of programmes that will gradually take the children off the streets, she urged other non-governmental organisation, corporate bodies and well-meaning individuals to assist in the programme.

“Education will save them from adverse health outcomes and empower them to participate in decisions that affect their lives”, she said, expressing optimism that the State government would take necessary steps on this in line with its policy of education for all.

FOMWAN’s action is a wake up come on other stakeholders in the education sector on ensuring inclusive education among the vulnerable Almajiri children. However, government still needs to fashion out a sustainable approach to this issue so as to ensure that the rights of vulnerable children to basic education as guaranteed in the Kwara State Child Rights Law (2008) and the Universal Basic Education Act (2004) are no longer violated.

By Usman Aliyu

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Feb. 3 approved establishment of 20 additional universities in Nigeria with a view to expand access to university education among the increasing admission seeking applicants in the country.

By accounts, this is the first time in the history of the country that the FEC would give approval to 20 private universities at a go. 

The approval has, therefore, taken to 190 the number of universities in Nigeria with the private sector leading the Federal and state universities combined number of 91 with 99 universities. The figure of private universities apparently accounts for 52 per cent ownership in the country.

While briefing newsmen in Abuja on the outcome of the meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister for Education, Adamu Adamu said that the approved universities would get their provisional licences from the National Universities Commission (NUC), which they would use for the next three years while monitoring and evaluation of the operations go on.

The geo-political spread of these new institutions shows that nine of the universities are located in the North-Central, three in the South-South, two in the South-East, five in the North-West and one in the South-West.

Meanwhile, no sooner that the news of the approval was made, divergent reactions began to trail the decision of the apex executive council in the country, particularly from the stakeholders in the university education subsector.

While some applauded the decision for the new universities would help in creating choices for candidates of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and increase the capacity of universities to absorb yearly seekers of higher education, others see the proliferation as a ploy to shift attention from the challenges facing the university system in the country especially the public one

In his argument for the approval, Prof. Gregory Ibe, the Chairman, Proprietors of Private Universities in Nigeria, described the establishment of the new institutions as a giant stride and commended President Buhari and the executive council for the development.

This singular action of the FEC, Ibe said would address the incessant patronage of mushroom universities outside the country by the teeming Nigerian youths who are in dare pursuit for university education.

“What this singular action entails is that instead of mushroom universities springing up outside Nigeria and patronised by our teeming youths without the NUC’s guidelines, it is better we have these universities licensed to operate.

“No doubt, the spread of private universities is looking good. I sincerely believe that the Federal Government in the future will do more and help private institutions receive grants,” he said.

Also justifying the approval, Mr Daniel Akpan, Executive Director, African Centre for Educational Development (CLEDA Africa) said the proliferation of private universities in the country would reduce stiff competition for admission into public universities.

Akpan argued that the step was a good development considering the huge population of youths seeking university education, which he said the establishment of more private universities is reducing.

“With fewer universities, if you do not know someone, who knows someone that knows someone, it is almost impossible to secure admission even when you pass the requisite examinations.

“But with more and more private universities springing up, the rich have the option of getting admission for their children in private universities.

“This is helping to free up some space for the children of the poor who can only afford public universities for their children,’’ he said.

With the establishment of 20 new private universities, he said access to university education in the country would significantly increase. 

“For example, JAMB had revealed that more than 1.2 million candidates sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in 2019, of which only 612,557 were admitted.

“In 2020, the number of applicants skyrocketed to 1.9 million and given the available space, more than a million will not be admitted”, he referenced, saying the newly established private universities would absorb more than 80,000 applicants if each of them admits at least 4,000 candidates.

Besides, he noted that the development would equally provide job opportunities for unemployed graduates in the country, who could be engage as academic and non-academic staff and others for security and cleaners among others.

The executive director further observed that the new universities would also increase the production of manpower and human resources needed to efficiently exploit the untapped nation’s abundant natural resources.

“Even the host communities will witness socio-economic transformation and urbanisation,” he said.

Speaking in the same direction, Mr Ike Onyechere, Founder, Exam Ethics Marshall International, explained that the available carrying capacity in higher institutions was not enough to absorb qualified applicants, hence the need for more universities.

Onyechere argued that there was a need to provide more private university alternatives in view of incessant strike actions in public universities.

“Irrespective of reasons and justifications for strikes, the reality is that strikes have made public universities the last resort of those who have no other options.

“Establishing more private universities will also drive down their cost, based on the law of supply and demand. As it stands now, only rich people can afford private university education,” he said.

He, however, advocated integrity of the accreditation process so that only institutions with minimum infrastructural, academic and human resource standards were approved.

This, he said was because some of the private universities that have been granted approval in the recent past are nothing more than glorified community secondary schools.

The educationist added that without the appropriate standards, the new universities would just be degree mills and the goals would be defeated.

On his own, Mr Nathaniel Adamu, Acting Policy Advisor, Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), said the approval of the additional 20 private universities would create a positive impact.

Adamu said many candidates who applied for courses of their choice but were not offer admission due to fewer vacancies would likely have the opportunities for admission.

He asserted that the approval of the universities would close a gap for admission demand in the country, while also stressing that standard must not be compromised.

Nonetheless, Adamu called on the NUC to monitor closely the activities of these universities to ensure education standards were never compromised.

Notwithstanding these justifications, some other stakeholders in the sector have raised concerns over the proliferation with warnings that such increase would rather cast a setback on the education, if the prevailing challenges inhibiting efficient and effective university system is not properly checked and addressed.

This set of stakeholders believes that nothing was enough to justify the approval, when the existing universities were neither adequately funded nor properly monitored to ensure compliance, with appropriate guidelines.

In his argument against, Prof. Monday Omoregie, the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Benin chapter, said that he had begun to see approval of more universities as political patronage, despite warnings, to the relevant authorities, on the inherent danger.

Omoregie said that expanding the existing universities would perform the functions the new ones were established to do.

According to him, education remains the vibrant instrument for development, hence the need for the government to do the needful in ensuring that the schools are run the way they are supposed to.

“Education is a social service, but these private universities are established by investors, who believe in profit making.

“The guideline is that private universities must be run for 15 years before any plan of making profit, but which university can do that”, he asked, saying that within a year of establishment, many proprietors would begin to crave gain.

Sharing a similar sentiment, Prof. Monday Igbafen, Chairman of ASUU, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, said that establishment of more universities, without proper recourse to the challenges facing the existing ones, was what the union had been trying to criticise.

“How do you justify the existence of additional universities, when there is this cry that even the private universities that are running now lack proper monitoring, to see if they comply with the NUC guidelines and what is required to run a university.

“They are all just centres of where they collect people’s money. That is why most of us are getting worried about the education system in the country”, he said.

Igbafen claimed that the excuse that those universities were established to expand access to university education in the country is not tenable as one university in this country if properly funded might take a half of the population of prospective university students.

“Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria can cater for almost half the population of students we admit in this country, but there is nothing on ground to sustain an ideal university.

“When you carry out objective assessment of these universities, you discover that they are not really universities; they are just there to divert our attention where the rich ones can send their children, whereas they will not be properly trained in terms of developing minds.

“It is all about just dishing out degrees; not necessarily interested in the content and quality of the product. It is just about giving out first class and what is important is to get money. I think it is necessary for government to reflect on some of all these decisions that they have taken.

“If we have to advance the course of our educational development in this country, it is not through proliferation of both private and public universities”, he said.

Also reacting, Benjamin Egwu, the President of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) at the University of Benin said that the proliferation of private universities would soon cripple the standard and patronage of public universities.

“The attention of students is being diverted to the private universities, because the situation of our public universities is worrisome. The incessant industrial action by the ASUU is one factor, while lack of proper funding is another.

“There is no need for the approval of more universities for now. These private universities are to shift attention from public school, because there is no much care about facilities in the public universities.

“The public universities are dying and if the situation is not properly checked, it will lead to what is currently happening to public primary and secondary schools in the country.

“If you compare public and private primary and secondary schools, the difference is clear.  It is affecting the system negatively and that is now moving to the higher institutions.

“It is getting to a situation where commoners would also not want to train their children in the public universities because of the environment”, he said.

Egwu bemoaned the obsolete state of facilities in the public university, saying “when you walk into any public university, whether state or federal, what you will see in its library are books of 1980s, 1990s.“There are no update-to-date books in the libraries as we speak. Just ask the librarian when last they updated their shelves.

“The auditorium we are using at the University of Benin was built in 1981; about 40 years ago, without maintenance”, Egwu said. 

Obviously, the arguments of the two sides are genuine, considering the different perspectives to issues in the university education in Nigeria. 

Nevertheless, the latter argument observably outweighed the former as nothing could reasonably justify establishment of more universities in the country where these existing ones are struggling to compete with their contemporaries across the globe.

Hardly has Nigeria University in a recent time been rated high among its counterparts in Africa not to talk of in the global world. This enough calls for serious concern and action among the relevant stakeholders. 

With the perceived lapses, one can unmistakably aver that university system in Nigeria is currently bereft of requisite wherewithal to effectively and efficiently deliver on its mandates, and as such, its proliferation can never be said to be the best alternative at this critical time. Rather, efforts and resources should be deployed to better equip and expand the existing ivory towers in the country for efficiency and global competitiveness. 

The Federal Government through its relevant ministries and agencies, therefore, needs to holistically address in earnest the prevailing mess in the system and by extension the education sector at large.

In the end, this will, inarguably, guarantee the university system with the environment conducive for research, steady academic calendar and turning out of quality and employable graduates. Upon the achievement of these, Nigeria can, then, be deemed fit for more universities than it is, at the present.