Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe

Of GM Crops, Safety and Ignorance By Abdallah el-Kurebe  “Victims live by excuses and ultimately die by them” “Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, remain controversial, but like so many other politically hot topics, the controversy is more cultural than scientific,” – Dr. Steven Novella, a Senior Fellow and Director of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) Science-Based Medicine project. “The genetic modification of crop plants is the defining feature of the domestication of plants by humans for agriculture,” – Biosciences for Farming in Africa (B4FA). “As a result and contrary to popular misconceptions, GM crops are the most extensively tested…

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Good Governance, Corruption and Developing Nations: The Role of the Media By Abdallah el-Kurebe The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in a 1997 policy document described good governance as a measure that defines the processes and structures that guide political and socioeconomic relationships. The key challenges facing Nigeria today is lack of good governance.  Coupled with this, is one of the major obstacles that have consistently thwarted our national progress and the actualization of good governance – corruption. Governance is about making decisions and exercising power over people across the divides. Today, of global phenomenon is the word, ‘Good’, which…

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Our role in boosting resilience of smallholder farmer in developing world – Dupont Pioneer By Abdallah el-Kurebe The Director of Agriculture for Dupont Pioneer, Ms Lystra Antoine has explained the role that the seed company as a private sector is playing, is boosting the resilience of smallholder farmers, especially in the developing world. She said that the ways in which the company was contributing to the food and nutrition security of smallholders is by disseminating the company’s science-based technologies, such as hybrid seed. In a meeting with Farming First (a global coalition of organizations that works to articulate, promote a…

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Ebola: 25 year old tests negative in Sokoto By Abdallah el-Kurebe As the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) spreads across the country against the efforts of the Federal government to contain it, a 25-year old patient, who was brought to the Accident and Emergency Unit of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto with the symptoms of the disease, has been tested negative. According to part of a statement signed by the Medical Director of UDUTH, Dr. Yakubu Ahmed, a copy of which was made available to Newsdiaryonline.com in Sokoto on Friday, “The hospital has gotten the approval of the…

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GM not riskier that conventional technologies – Says Food safety boss By Abdallah el-Kurebe The Chief Executive of the Food Safety Authority Ireland (FSAI), Alan Reilly has said that conclusions from researches conducted on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) have indicated that GM technology was not riskier than conventional technology. The comments contained in FSAI’s newsletter, questioned where food safety concerns in regard to genetic modification is still justified. He explained that the more than 130 research projects, which involved more than 500 independent research groups and covering more than 25 years proved that genetic modification (GM) was not riskier than conventional…

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Ebola claims 5 lives in one mont, Says Dr. Gwarzo By Abdallah el-Kurebe The dreaded Ebola virus disease (EVD) has claimed five lives between July 20 and August 21 2014, Director of Port Health at the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Nasiru Gwarzo has confirmed. He stated this in Sokoto on Saturday at a one-day public lecture on the EVD, with a theme: “Ebola Virus Disease: The Facts,” organized by the State Ministry of Health in conjunction with Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto. Gwarzo explained that the deaths, recorded from the twelve confirmed cases of the disease, included…

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Inside the terror den of Area Boys By Abdallah el-Kurebe  Against the portrayal and use of popularity to garner votes of supporters, Nigerian politicians have over the years, resorted to the use of youths for political thuggery, a method seen by pundits not only as derogatory but also defeatist     “They use us because we are not educated and make all sorts of promises to us. Although they hardly fulfill their promises to us, we still engage because of the paltry amount of money they give us. They buy influencers for us to get charged and become lawless. We…

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N2bn Agric loan for Sokoto farmers By Abdallah el-Kurebe Governor Aliyu Wamakko has said that in addition to the N8 million agricultural loan disbursed to farmers in the past seven years, the state government was soon to provide N2 billion of such loan. He disclosed this in Rimawa, Goronyo local government of the state on Thursday when Rivers Governor, Rotimi Amaechi inaugurated an Agricultural Skills Acquisition Centre during a two-day official visit to the state. Wamakko added that the State government also procured assorted fertilizers during the same period under review worth N10 billion. “The state government had distributed over…

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