The Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) has appointed Wife of Nigerian President, Hajiya Aisha Buhari as UNAIDS Special Ambassador for the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Promotion of Treatment for Children living with HIV in Nigeria. The Communications and Global Outreach Officer of UNAIDS Nigeria, Mr Charles-Martin Jjuuk made this known in a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja. The Executive Director and Under Secretary General of the United Nations, Michel Sidibé, who will issue the official appointment letter to Aisha Buhari on Monday, March 19 in Abuja said that the appointment was in recognition…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
The world marks the 2018 World Glaucoma Week with a Consultant Ophthalmologist, Dr Charles Omale chiding the poor attitude of Nigerians to eye care. Omale, the Managing Director, Fortress Eye Hospital in Abuja said on Saturday that due to this attitude, most health interventions were forced on citizens. He confirms that many do not observe routine eye and general health check-ups “even with the continuous awareness creation, sensitisation and campaign by NGOs, public health and religious organisations.” According to Omale, although the awareness about glaucoma had improved over the years, it was still below expectation because of the general attitude…
Muftau Oladunmoye, a professor of Pharmaceutical Microbiology with the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) has said that natural products derived from plant and animal sources have the potential to prevent and treat challenging health issues such as cancer, diabetes, liver cirrhosis, heart related diseases and a number of ailments threatening the well-being of people globally. Speaking at the 96th Inaugural lecture of FUTA on the topic: Natural Products Derived Antimicrobials: The Myth and Reality, Oladunmoye cited various examples of scientifically proven efficacy of extracts from herbs and plants in the treatment of ailments. Explaining that extracts from mistletoe growing on cocoa…
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has selected 10 local government areas in Kano state for the implementation of its programme in 2018. The UNICEF Chief of Katsina Field Office, Mrs Padmauathi Yedla disclosed during a meeting with the Kano State Government officials in Kano on Friday that the Fund would implement its programme in the areas of addressing malnutrition in children, provision of safe drinking water, health, education as well as improving access to girl-child education. “We are going execute our education programme in six local government areas while the other programmes will be carried out in all the…
A Nigerian don, Dr Hemant Nitturkar has said that scientists and other experts in the agriculture sector were currently partnering to develop a sustainable cassava seed system in order to solve the problem of low productivity of the crop. Speaking on Friday at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan during the annual meeting of the project tagged: “Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Cassava Seed System (BASICS), Nitturkar, who is the Project Coordinator noted that the initiative was to set up a sustainable cassava seed system where improved seeds would be provided for farmers. According to him, the system would benefit the…
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has advised farmers in the North to plant early maturing and drought-resistant varieties of seeds so as to avoid yield loss in 2018. NiMet gave the advice in its 2018 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) in Abuja on Friday, in which the agency said farmers in Sokoto, Katsina, Yobe, Zamfara, Kebbi, Jigawa, Kano and Borno states were likely to experience severe dry spell in June. It explained that the dry spell might continue for 10 to 18 days after its onset and a moderate dry spell, which might last seven to 16 days, was expected in…
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the constitution of the Council’s membership, few days after he announced the intention of the Federal Government to establish a National Food Security Council. A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media and Publicity), Garba Shehu said that the Council, which would “be chaired by the President, will be inaugurated on Monday. It will have as members, the Governors of Kebbi, Taraba, Plateau, Lagos, Ebonyi and Delta States. “Other Members are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; the Chief of Staff to the President; the National Security Adviser and seven (7) cabinet…
The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs Aisha Abubakar has said that the Federal Government would exploit potential in the cotton sector by empowering producers to enhance their productivity. Speaking at the 16th African Cotton Association (ACA) Annual International Congress in Abuja on Thursday, she stressed that cotton was important to the economic development of not only the individual producing countries but also to the entire African continent cannot be over emphasised. Abubakar said that in Africa, the sector provided a means of livelihood to millions of smallholder farmers, whose economic lives revolved around the production, processing, transportation,…
The WFP Country Representative of the World Food Programme (WFP), Myrta Kaulard has said that the Programme would give food assistance to 1.5 million Nigerians in 2018. Speaking in Abuja on Thursday, she said that from 2017 to date WFP had spent 126 million dollars to give food assistance in various forms to 1.1 million people in the sixteen northern states of Nigeria. Naming the as Bauchi, Benue, Gombe, Jigawa, Plateau, Niger, Kebbi, Katsina, Kaduna, Taraba, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kano, Yobe, Borno and Adamawa, Kaulard said that the number of the affected people would be increased during the lean season between June and…
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) have warned against impending food shortage that could affect 3.8 million people in 16 northern states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The states include Bauchi, Benue, Gombe, Jigawa, Plateau, Niger, Kebbi, Katsina, Kaduna, Taraba, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kano, Yobe, Borno and Adamawa. The agencies issued the warning on Thursday in Abuja at a stakeholders meeting for the presentation of the results of the March 2018 Cadre Harmonisé (CH) analysis of food and security situation in Nigeria. The CH report said that judging from the current situation in the…