Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe

Maize farm By Abdallah el-Kurebe In ending poverty in Africa, one overriding theme in declarations is “the need for modernization and optimization of Africa’s agriculture. At the same time, it ensures the productivity of the very ecosystems that underpin agricultural productivity are safeguarded for future generations,” editorial of African Development magazine. Ending poverty in Africa requires strict adherence to continental blueprints, which include Mapoto and Malabo and AMCEN Cairo Declarations, the AU Agenda 2063, etc. Although FAO views Africa as having strode in tackling hunger by a 30 percent propotional drop of its people that were facing hunger between…

Read More

Participants at the training workshop By Abdallah el-Kurebe The Cassava Weed Management Project of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is training African researchers on advances in weed science, drawing from the expertise of US and Nigerian researchers, thereby enlivening the legacies of Charles Darwin and making him proud. Launched in 2014, the Project, as part of its sustainability program, is building bridges across researchers from developed and developing countries with a view to narrowing the knowledge gap and, by extension, raising the capacity of weed scientists through training and knowledge sharing. A press relelase issued by Godwin Atser,…

Read More

By Abdallah el-Kurebe In Ghana, many people, especially women, who live along the coastal areas are engaged in fish smoking, known as ‘Namhowfo’ in Akan, one of the languages spoken in the country. As a means of living, fish smoking as it were, was done by traditional, inefficient smoking stoves. This method affects both human health and the environment. < Wire mesh  According to the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), in Ghana like in other countries, traditional fish smoking stoves had exposed women to harmful smoke. This causes 16,600 deaths annually, in addition to environmental degradation, which comes in form of…

Read More

Ghana’s President Mahama By Abdallah el-Kurebe Accra, Ghana – May 23, 2016: Ghana plans to install a total of 56,000 solar systems, two million solar lanterns and 200 mini-grids in pursuance with achieving the global target of access to affordable and clean energy by the year 2030. The country has already 80 percent energy access, acting Director, Renewable Energy at the country’s Energy Commission, Kwabena Otu-Danquah has disclosed. Otu-Danquah, who represented Ghana’s Ministry of Power, stated this in a Keynote Address at the opening of a Smart Villages West Africa Regional Workshop organised by the Smart Villages Initiatives in…

Read More

By Abdallah el-Kurebe One hundred beneficiaries in Sokoto on Thursday received resettlement starter packs and cash incentives through the National Directorate of Employment (NDE’s) Community Based Training Scheme (CBTS) Artisan Resettlement and Mentoring Scheme (ARMS). Under the CBTS, 50 trained youth received starter packs for skills acquired in knitting, barbing, dyeing, dibila/snacks and sobo making machines. According to the acting Director-General of NDE, Kunle Obayan who was represented, “one hundred persons previously trained by the NDE but were not immediately resettled, will receive cash enhancement in the form of soft loan to improve their already existing businesses under (ARMS).” He…

Read More

Sokoto IPP Plant Under Construction By Abdallah el-Kurebe The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) said it has invested N3.3 billion worth of equipment to boost power infrastructure in Sokoto state. The project, executed under the Federal Government’s Integrated Power Projects (IPP) scheme, achieved substantial success because of the tremendous commitment shown by the state government to it’s success, a General Manager in the firm, Alhaji Muhammad Bunza, has said. “The N3.3 billion expenditure has resulted in the construction of three power substations in three locations in different parts of the state. The locations are Gagi and Farfaru in Sokoto…

Read More

Opinion piece by Reuben Maigwa, President of the Tobacco Association of Malawi (TAMA) LILONGWE, Malawi, May 16, 2016/ — The below opinion piece by Reuben Maigwa, President of the Tobacco Association of Malawi (TAMA) (www.TAMAlawi.com), was published today in the Nation. The SADC Regional Vulnerability Assessment estimates that an alarming 16% of the region’s population are food insecure. The effects of the current El Nino phenomenon have further deepened food insecurity in Malawi and the region more broadly. Indeed the volatility of climate change presents arguably the greatest threat to food security and, by extension, human security in sub-Saharan Africa.…

Read More

JAP interaction with LG UNICEF Consultant, NTRC in Sokoto South LG By Abdallah el-Kurebe Sokoto state government in collaboration with Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have created special teams to capture missed children during the Immunization Plus Days (IPDs) at strategic locations across the state. The special teams include Ardo, which target Fulani itinerant settlements and those that target children in hospitals and markets. These are in addition to house to house teams, health camps, fixed posts and other special teams. In Sokoto South local government, Ardo teams, supported by CDC were posted…

Read More

Northwest Governors at the meeting on Agriculture in Kaduna By Abdallah el-Kurebe Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state has said that closer collaboration among all stakeholders as well as regional integration were key ingredients for the expansion and sustenance of agricultural activities in the Northwest geo-political zone of the country. Speaking during a high level meeting of the governors of the region on Agriculture action plan in Kaduna on Sunday, the governor said that working together would ensure states’ access to finance and improvement of infrastructure that would support the sector. The meeting, coordinated by the Usman Bugaje-led Arewa Research…

Read More

By Abdallah el-Kurebe The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with Sokoto state government have introduced certain interventions as Nigeria engages in the final fight against Poliomyelitis. Although it has been delisted from countries with endemic polio disease, efforts were being made towards certification of Nigeria as polio virus free country by WHO in the next two years. JAP members monitoring May IPDs At a meeting with Journalists Against Poliomyelitis and for Immunization (JAP), UNICEF disclosed that the Fund had Health Camps, Doctors Against Polio (DAP), Community Mallams, Qur’anic Mallams, Polio Survivors, Village Community Mobilizers (VCMs), etc as interventions…

Read More