Road safety: Kids raise funds to kit Okada riders
The children of Salvation International School GRA Ikeja Lagos have appealed to public spirited Nigerians to support their effort to raise funds to enable them purchase luminous safety jackets for commercial motorcycle operators (okada) in their immediate community, Ladipo GRA Ikeja.
The children were said to have decided to embark on the project as their own way of helping to reduce the spate of accidents involving okada riders in the area.
Mrs. Olayinka Somoye, Administrator of the School in a statement said “It was during one of our social responsibility classes that the children decided on the project as their own way of showing concern for a social problem in their neighbourhood. They have been witnesses to a number of accidents involving okada riders and were moved by pity for the children of those involved.”
The fund raising event was attended by eminent personalities including officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
Salvation International School was established in 1995, under the umbrella of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Salvation Parish, GRA Ikeja. It comprises of a crèche, nursery and primary sections.
The school is committed to offering a total and dynamic education to children while maintaining high academic standards and providing a wide range of extra-curricular activities, with an international perspective.
Enugu: Abandoned coal mines are our major environmental challenge, says Commissioner
The Enugu State commissioner for environment and mineral resources, Mr. John Egbo has said that his greatest challenge is the threat posed by the abandoned coal mines in the in and around Enugu, the state capital.
Egbo who was speaking in an interview recently after attending a two-day stakeholders forum organized by the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (Nesrea) in Abuja, said the abandoned mines are now a threat to human lives in the city.
According to him, “What you now discover is that many of these abandoned coal mines have running water that are poisoned with lead and mercury and methane gas and this poisoned water is running into some major streams around Enugu like Asata River, Enyama River and Ekulu River which the people drink from and for other domestic uses.
He said the state government is already working on the modalities for meeting the ecological funds for assistance. “We want to sure we clean up these abandoned mines that are posing health problems to communities and residents of Enugu State. His Excellency, the Governor is personally interested in this and he has given us the go ahead to put the documents together. Not many people know that without coal Nigeria would not have gotten her independence. Coal was the sole mineral that fuel the economy earning foreign exchange for the country for almost 60 years. Unfortunately that same mineral that was once the mainstay of the nation has now become a threat to the life of the people because we abandoned it.”
He commended the commitment of the state Governor, Bar. Sullivan Chime on issues concerning environment. In his words, “Our governor is in the fore front of revolutionary activities. If you check the Federal allocations that are coming into the state you will see that Enugu is in the bottom three or four but if you see the level of infrastructural development and the good things that are happening in the state, you will wonder where the money is coming from, it is because of prudent financial management of the governor. Enugu is actually first, second or third state in terms of utilizing the resources they are getting from the Federal Government and the little they are generating internally. So I would say that Enugu has made environment one of the key issues, that is why I was sent here to make sure that I continue the good work he is doing. We have also provided a place for Nesrea in the same place as the Ministry of Environment so we can stay closer together and work with synergy to make our society better.”
On the forum he said, “I feel that Nigeria is coming of age where we are now talking about enforcing environmental laws. I am happy because the collective knowledge that is being shared here will be very vital and instrumental to actually make Nigeria a better place for all of us.
“As I return to Enugu State, I am going home with the valuable information I have garnered here to apply them in my day to day work to make sure that I am in the fore front of enforcing environmental laws in my state.”
Etisalat restates commitment to support SMEs
Wael Ammar, Etisalat’s Chief Commercial Officer has said his company is committed to the growth of small and medium scale businesses in Nigeria. Ammar who was speaking at the end of a series of workshops facilitated by the Fate Foundation for small and medium enterprises and sponsored by Etisalat, “Etisalat is proud to partner with a reputable organization like Fate Foundation to boost capacity in the management of businesses for sustainable development. We believe that the Foundation’s mission which is to assist entrepreneurs in establishing and growing successful businesses by equipping them with the necessary tools, skills, networks and financing required, is in line with Etisalat’s vision to extend the reach of businesses of all sizes.”
The workshop with the theme ‘Strategic Marketing, Tools, Advertising & Promotion was recently held at Dennis Hotel Abuja and attracted small and medium scale business owners and entrepreneurs.’
According to him, “Etisalat is committed to providing the needed support for all of its customer segments, one of which are the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) as it believes in them lies the economic development of the nation.”
Also speaking on Etisalat’s rationale for supporting SMEs, Bidemi Ladipo, Head, High Value Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, said the company cares about the small and medium enterprise segment, and even developed a special product for them called SME Prepaid.
“The product is actually designed to help small and medium entrepreneurs save costs because we know they are growing and need to save as much cost as possible. Taking it a step further, we decided to partner with the FATE Foundation to also train small and medium businesses so that they can become big businesses in future,” Ladipo said.
Etisalat’s Elite World sponsored workshops were designed to build long and short term engagement opportunities within its defined target audience. On the Elite World SME prepaid package, customers can purchase a minimum of 3 lines on its Closed User Group (CUG) offer and get free 500 minutes of talk time to other lines within their group when they recharge their lines with N1, 000 monthly and also get 100 free SMS to each other monthly, resulting in huge savings for their business.
Plateau seeks support to reclaim mining ponds
The Plateau State Government says she will need the assistance of the ecological funds to help her reclaim the thousands of mining ponds that are scattered across the state.
Mrs. Sarah Yusuf, the state commissioner for environment who stated this recently in an interview said there are over 2000 mining ponds on the plateau most of which are now death traps.
According to her, the state government alone cannot shoulder the cost of reclaiming the ponds. “Just recently we were in Abuja to seek support from the ecological funds to see if we can get recourses to reclaim those that can be reclaimed and those that can be put into other uses like fishery and other useful commercial ventures, we put them and those that cannot be used for any useful thing we would totally reclaim them.”
She said the state government is doing a lot to keep the environment clean. As she puts it, “In the 17 local government areas of the state we have street cleaners. Each local government has approximately 150 street cleaners.
“The only problem we have is dump site. It is like you evacuate refuse from one point and you dump it on another point, but the governor is working towards that, the state will have a dump site. Already we have a federal dump site that is supposed to take solid waste from Bauchi, Plateau, Benue and Nasarawa States now it is left for us to acquire a state dump site and we are working towards it, also each local government will have a dump site. We want to go into recycling but without a dump site you can’t go into recycling of waste.”
She said Nigerians need to change their attitude towards the environment. “We take things for granted a lot, an average Nigerian is like that so we need to change our attitude,” she said.
ERA/FoEN bags Ford’s $500,000 award for transparency
The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has been named recipient of the maiden Ford Foundation Jubilee Transparency Awards.
ERA/FoEN along with the Nigerian Popular Theatre Alliance/Theatre for Development Centre, a network of organizations that use performing arts as a means to improve participatory development process, were announced as winners, at an event held recently in Abuja.
Ford Foundation initiated the Jubilee Transparency Awards as part of activities to mark its 50th year of operation in West Africa. Each of the winners will receive $500,000 to enhance the scale and impact of its work.
The two organisations that made the selection process were arrived at through an open call managed by the Development Initiatives Network (DIN), a development organization working on public interest issues in Nigeria. A nine-member National Awards Committee chaired by highly respected Bishop, Matthew Hassan Kukah worked with DIN to screen over 100 nominations.
Dr. Adhiambo Odaga, representative for Ford’s West Africa office said: “These exemplary organizations demonstrate the pivotal role that citizen involvement and good governance play in securing a just, sustainable and democratic future for Nigeria and West Africa.
“They are a shining example of the potential for West Africa to leverage its extraordinary human and natural resources for the common good.”
The Ford Foundation explained that the Transparency Award was launched to achieve two objectives: first, to recognize innovative projects and programs that promote transparent, effective and accountable governance at the community level in Nigeria; and second, to showcase the impact of these projects as models for deepening democracy, good governance and anti-corruption across the country.
Etisalat wins Ecofest award
Etisalat Nigeria, telecommunications company was recently presented with an award in recognition of its environmental-friendly initiatives by Ecofest Nigeria, an organization involved in championing causes related to conservation of our natural resources and innovative alternative-energy technologies which help to preserve our eco-system for future generations.
Speaking on the receipt of the award, the Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Wael Ammar said, “As an organization with innovation as one of its key business strategies, we are always looking to pioneer ways to ensure that our activities positively affect the environment. This is one such initiative, and we are pleased that it has been well received and is being commended.”
The award presented to Etisalat was in recognition of its innovative initiative with the production of eco-friendly SIM cards, which was recently launched in the Nigerian market. Manufactured with 50 per cent less plastic, the new SIMs generates only 8grammes of carbon (CO2) emissions thus reducing its footprint by half compared to a classic SIM card which generates 16g of CO2 emissions per card.
By using just half of the normal quantity of plastic in older type SIMs, the new SIM card from Etisalat also reduces waste. The procedure, patented by Oberthur Technologies, allows for the manufacturing of two SIM cards with the same amount of plastic otherwise used to manufacture one. Until the introduction of this innovation, individual SIM cards were produced on sheets of plastic cut out from plastic the size of a regular credit card.
In his remarks on the vision of the organization, Chuxx Anijah-Obi, the Director/Co-ordinator of Ecofest Nigeria, said that part of the programme to preserve the environment was to plant one hundred and fifty five million trees in Nigeria. He said, “Although this may appear like a very lofty aspiration, it is very achievable if every Nigerian decides to plant a tree. This will in no small measure contribute to protecting our eco-system, and ameliorate the effects of other destructive actions on the environment”.
Airtel inaugurates Green-sites
Leading telecoms operator, Airtel Networks Limited, has taken thee lead in the race for a green environment in Nigeria when it recently inaugurated the first of its green sites in Nigeria.
The Green-site is an initiative designed to enable the company harness solar energy to operate its base stations.
Mr. Deepak Srivastava, the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, while conducting journalists round the newly inaugurated Green-Site in Lekki, Lagos recently announced that Airtel has invested over $600 million in the past one year to expand the capacity and enhance the robustness of its network in pursuit of world class Quality of Service (QoS).
Srivastava recalled that Airtel recently announced a landmark deal with Ericsson to upgrade 250 diesel powered stations in Nigeria to Green-sites.
According to him, the Green-Sites will contribute to a considerable reduction of carbon (CO2) emissions and prevent network outages associated with inconsistent power supply.
Srivastava regretted that non-availability of regular grid power supply to sites across the country is responsible for over 70 per cent of down time resulting in poor QoS, adding that the Green-Site would go a long way in addressing this critical challenge.
He hinted that the company was exploring other options including a partnership with the World Bank to address the nagging issue of power supply especially to the remote communities.
“Even as we pursue the Green-Site solution”, he revealed “Airtel has in the last six months installed dual generating sets in 200 sites and installed high back up batteries in 600 sites, while noting that an additional high capacity back up batteries and 500 new Generating Sets are to be deployed by March 2012”.
He lamented that in some other countries, operators are concerned with managing customer experience rather than keeping the sites up as is the case in Nigeria, where power outages, fibre cut and community issues have combined to undermine the integrity of the network quality.
Experts call on media to promote CSR
Three experts have called on the media to ensure the development and compliance of businesses to the international principles of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility. The experts which include: Oladimeji Belo, a CSR & Sustainability Expert from the United Kingdom; Ini Onuk, Lead Consultant, ThistlePraxis Consulting and Toni-Kan Onwordi, Managing Partner, Radi8 re-iterated this whilst facilitating sessions on a range of topics in a competence development initiative tagged, Effective CSR Reporting for Media Professionals.
The training which was organised by an Assessment and Strategy firm, ThistlePraxis Consulting Limited and held in Lagos, Nigeria recently was put together to build and strengthen human capacity for the Nigerian and African media industry on corporate social responsibility and sustainability reporting.
The experts also espoused the role of the media in fulfilling her constitutional obligation as a social watchdog which will ensure that corporate organisations stay accountable to the societies in which they operate in.
Some of the highlights of the training were reviews of contemporary reporting standards drawn from media clips in the Nigerian Print media, Case Studies on leading corporations across the world and an open session with CSR/Sustainability professionals which featured representatives of Skye Bank Plc.
Participants, who were selected from different media houses in Nigeria after an application process, expressed their satisfaction and gratitude for the opportunity to engage with their counterparts on contemporary practices in CSR and Sustainability.
Topics discussed extensively include: The Future of CSR, Understanding CSR, PR and CSR, PR and Crisis Management, CSR in Africa, Writing Reviews, and Reviewing CSR Reports amongst other issues and taught with videos and group assignments.
Coca-Cola, Discovery Channel donate Digital Learning Centers
The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation (TCCAF) and Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership (DCGEP) have donated six Learning Centers to six public primary schools in Ikoyi area of Lagos State.
For the past three years, the Coca-Cola’s Learning Center project has equipped teachers from six public primary schools in Ikoyi to use educational media technology and programming to complement classroom learning for more than 2,000 students and 6,000 community members. The Coca-Cola sponsored public primary schools located in Ikoyi are Hope Primary School, Ikoyi Primary School, St. George’s Girls Primary School, Girls Modern Academy, Jinadu Primary School, and Ireti Girls Primary School in Ikoyi. Approximately 100 teachers from these schools have received three years of support and training which enables them to integrate educational video content in support of their curricular objectives. The training began in February 2008.
Each school received media technology including two television sets, two DVD players and a video library containing 180 educational segments that are designed to assist learners to better understand a broad range of subject matter and become active participants in the learning process. The schools also received generators to augment public power supply.
In addition to transforming classroom learning, the Learning Centers also operate as versatile community resources to benefit parents, grassroots organizations and health care workers who desire to receive and distribute information through TV and video.
“We are pleased to see that the Learning Centres have helped to significantly improve pupil enrollment, retention and academic performance in the six public schools” said Kelvin Balogun, Managing Director of Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited. “Education is a key driver of development, and investing in the education of our children and youth is part of Coca-Cola’s commitment to building sustainable communities. The success of this project speaks to the power of partnership between the private sector and government, and Coca-Cola is proud to have been a part of it.”
Aric Noboa, President of the nonprofit Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership said, “We would like to extend our gratitude to education officials in Lagos, and to the pilot schools themselves, for giving us the opportunity to work with them to advance their education goals. After three years working with these schools, we are proud of their achievements and we trust that the teachers, students, and parents – in collaboration with education officials – will continue to sustain this project.
COP17, a wasted of time, says ERA Boss
Nnimmo Bassey, executive director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), has described the recently concluded United Nations Conference of Parties on climate change, otherwise called COP17 which took place in Durban South Africa as a big waste of time.
Bassey who was addressing the media on his return to Nigeria after the conference said developing nations are now on their own in their fight against the effects of climate change. According to him, “The principle of equity and fairness contained in the Kyoto Protocol has been done away with. All nations, rich or poor are now to operate on the same level with no one holding rich nations responsible for the pollutions they are causing.”
He said at the end of COP17, the nations came out with a mandate to negotiate an agreement with legal effect by 2015 that will cover emissions reduction efforts to be taken by 2020. “This means that governments will now spend four years negotiating how far and how fast each country should cut carbon emissions either by changing technologies or by reducing polluting activities,” he said.
The ERA boss who was joined at the conference by Dr. Godwin Ojo, programmes director, ERA, said even though the Durban conference reached an agreement to make the Green Climate Fund operational, and set up a work plan to mobilize significant climate funds from both private and public sources, raising up to $100 billion per year from 2020, how this will be done remains vague until negotiations begin again.
According to him, “The Durban deal is a post-dated cheque with which only the incurable optimist would approach a bank. There were no agreements on any new quantified emissions reduction targets. There were no assurances that powerful polluting rich nations will peak their emissions by 2020 and work to bring them down significantly. Even if all goes to plan, any new targets won’t come into effect until after eight years.”
He advised Nigeria and other developing nations to take their destiny in their hands by doing something to reduce emissions and reduce the effects of climate change. He suggested that this is the time to invest more in research into renewable energy sources.
In a related development, the U.S. youth at the climate talks made a big play for justice on behalf of their generation during the last days of COP 17, claiming that the U.S. negotiators are putting their futures at risk.
Abigail Borah, a student from Middlebury College interrupted lead U.S. negotiator Todd Stern’s concluding plenary speech, pinpointing members of the U.S. Congress for impeding the progress of the summit. She also made a passionate plea to her government leaders to join the rest of the world in a fair and binding treaty.
Claiming that she was speaking on behalf of her country, Borah said that the negotiators themselves “cannot speak on behalf of the United States of America” because “the obstructionist Congress has shackled a just agreement and delayed ambition for far too long.”
Borah was ejected after completing her speech to voracious rounds of applause from the entire plenary of global leaders.
COP17: U.S, Canadian youth demand generational justice
The U.S. youth at the climate talks are making a big play for justice on behalf of their generation during the last days of COP 17, claiming that the U.S. negotiators are putting their futures at risk.
Abigail Borah, a student from Middlebury College interrupted lead U.S. negotiator Todd Stern’s concluding plenary speech on Thursday, pinpointing members of the U.S. Congress for impeding the progress of the summit. She also made a passionate plea to her government leaders to join the rest of the world in a fair and binding treaty.
Claiming that she was speaking on behalf of her country, Borah said that the negotiators themselves “cannot speak on behalf of the United States of America” because “the obstructionist Congress has shackled a just agreement and delayed ambition for far too long.”
Borah was ejected after completing her speech to voracious rounds of applause from the entire plenary of global leaders.
Ready for Change
Her actions, however aggressive, reflect the growing feeling of injustice among educated American youth who feel that their leaders have turned a blind eye to the facts at the expense of their own future on this planet. Afraid that each step of inaction will force them to suffer the worsening climate challenges that previous generations have been unable or unwilling to address, they are resorting to disruption.
Their list of complains isn’t restricted to inaction.
They also hold the U.S. responsible for foul play and claim that a few outspoken and misdirected Congress members, who continue to successfully hijack negotiations, are blocking progress. This has put off urgent pollution reduction targets until the year 2020, jeopardizing billions.
(Lack of) Public Activism
Some of them also believe that the American public is not outspoken enough. Mind you, these are kids seem to have done their homework: Overwhelmingly conclusive research shows that waiting until 2020 to begin aggressive emissions reduction will likely cause irreversible damage and suffering to the world they will inherit, including destruction of air and water, more severe weather patterns, worsening droughts, devastation to American communities, and a dismal outlook for the American economy.
“2020 is too late to wait,” urged Borah.
Earlier in the week, the head of the European Parliament’s delegation to the summit Jo Leinen expressed his frustration by the stalemate, also referred to by another official as a “ping-pong game” between the U.S. and China that is unacceptable and intolerable.
Leinen, who chairs the European Parliament’s environmental committee, noted that China had for the first time indicated that it might be willing to take on binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – but only after 2020. However, he did not see any such commitment from the U.S. “The one is not yet ready, and the other is not willing,” Leinen said.
On Borrowed Time
Todd Stern, U.S. special envoy for climate change, argues that “the Cancun commitments, and the ones made at Copenhagen (in 2009) cover 80 percent of global emissions and while they are not legally binding, they are politically and morally binding.”
Yet, the U.S. youth at COP17 claim that they are inheriting a big mess.
“An impossible burden is being put upon us,” says MJ Shiao, who is 26 years old and is a member of the youth delegation SustainUS. He thinks the U.S. operates on fear-driven politics rather than science and solutions.
“They are borrowing time at the expense of my generation. If we don’t peak our emissions in the next five years, what are we supposed to do? The main thing is that we just want to have a fighting chance by the time we are in positions of leadership.”
Canadian youth also made their presence felt at COP17 with several getting ejected earlier this week as Canada’s Environment Minister Peter Kent delivered his opening address. Just as Kent began his speech, six stood and turned away from the Minister revealing the message “Turn your back on Canada” prominently displayed on their shirts. These young people have challenged their leaders’ negotiation strategies, the close relationship between Canada’s climate policy and dirty fossil fuels, and the lobbying to lower fuel quality regulations to allow the expansion of the Alberta tar sands.
At COP 17, climate injustice is being addressed from all sides, including gender, race, geography, poverty, and the rights of nature itself.
The world’s youth are recognizing the magnification within their lifetime of all of the above, which is denying them the kind of world that has been enjoyed by those making — or not making — the decisions.
There might be hope. COP president, South African International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane assured that COP 17 would involve younger delegations. Already, more than 150 of them have been accredited. “The decisions we make today will not affect us, you will inherit that legacy,” she emphasized.
And the nearly 200 countries at COP17 have reached a deadline to broker a deal on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Connie Hedegaard, European climate change commissioner, says that countries unwilling to make commitments for the years to come are taking on ‘an almost unbearable responsibility’ for consequences that are sure to prove catastrophic.
Fashola hands over block of 21 classrooms to alma mater
Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) recently returned to his alma mater, Birch Freeman High School, Surulere to hand over a new block of 21 classrooms, acknowledging that his character was formed at the school.
The Governor who spoke at the School premises in Akobi Crescent, Surulere before a gathering which included Old boys and present students, said, “This was where I was made. My character was formed here. I learnt leadership and punctuality here as a school prefect.”
Governor Fashola recalled with nostalgia that in the course of his schooling years at Birch Freeman High School, he met a lot of good people and made lifelong friends many of whom he still keeps today.
“I was also privileged to have met great teachers; humanists, who were absolutely committed to the development of young people and enriching the human capital of this country.
“The school blocks and buildings were largely made of concrete foundation and wooden walls except the dining hall, the Principal’s block which contained the science laboratories and the new block behind it that later became the seniors block”, the Governor recalled.
The Governor however stated that nothing could prepare him for what he met, when he visited the site of his alma mater sometime in 2007 after assuming office as the Governor.
“Not only had the classroom blocks made of wood walls disappeared, the dining room, the Principal’s block and the Seniors Block were shadows of themselves. My treasured memories were shattered. A shocking and painful reality had supplanted it.
“It seemed that everything that I could point to as references of who I was had evaporated. All of it almost, except for one thing, the Old Boys. Some were my classmates, some my juniors and some my seniors.”
He said even in that broken environment, the presence of the Old Boys was a huge comfort because there was still a past made by boys who had become men, who refused to surrender their dream.
Environmental law offenders to wash public toilets in Lagos
Lagos street traders and other environmental law breakers got a stern warning from the government recently.
Such offenders will henceforth be committed to non custodian sentences to wash public toilets, trim over-grown verges and cart refuse to dump sites, among other punishments.
Two Commissioners – Tunji Bello (Environment) and Kayode Opeifa (Transportation) – dropped the hint at a press conference at the Alausa State Secretariat.
They expressed displeasure over the present state of the environment, especially the violation of sanitation laws by residents.
The officials said offenders, under the newly signed environmental law, would be summarily tried and be made to sweep the streets and do other community services to serve as deterrent.
Bello said there would be no room for sacred cows as all violators would be subjected to carry out the punishment, irrespective of their status. According to him, “We will ensure that every violator carry out this sentence under the watchful eyes of the media. It does not matter whether the individual is going to work or a party. Once you are caught littering the street without using the appropriate refuse bin, our law enforcement officers will arrest you and make sure you serve this punishment.”
He advised residents to comply with the government directives, stressing that Close Circuit Televisions (CCTV) would be installed in strategic locations across the state for effective monitoring.
The commissioner also spoke on the menace of commercial motorcycle operators (also known as Okada riders), stressing that their excesses had become worrisome. The operators, he noted, have failed to comply with the restriction placed on their operation in some designated areas.
He listed the sins to include “riding without using crash helmets; riding on road medians/kerbs and pedestrian walkways, disobedience to traffic rules and regulations, disrespect for traffic signal lights, plying the highways and operating in prohibited areas even at restricted time.
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