Germany has pledged 1.15 billion dollars in support for Brazil’s new rainforest protection funds, providing fresh impetus to the global fight against deforestation and channelling resources towards Indigenous and traditional communities. Brazil will receive this fund over the course of the next decade until 2035. The announcement was made by the Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva on Wednesday at the UN Climate Change Conference in Belem. After the announcement, German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider and Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan said in a statement, “This is about protecting the tropical rainforests, the lungs of our planet.” The South American nation…
Author: Honesty Victor
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has unveiled an ambitious digital overhaul of the continent’s trading systems, launching the Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade (ADAPT) programme in partnership with the Tony Blair Institute, the IOTA Foundation and the World Economic Forum. The initiative, announced this week, aims to create a shared digital public infrastructure to replace the fragmented, paper-heavy processes that have long slowed trade across Africa. Removing barriers that hinder intra-African trade Global supply chains continue to rely heavily on paperwork, with an estimated four billion trade documents produced daily. A single shipment often…
The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to the safety and well-being of children by enhancing child protection mechanisms and advancing Child Rights Initiatives. Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, Minister of Women Affairs, stated this while commemorating the Universal Day of the Child and launching the State of the Nigerian Girl Report 2025 on Wednesday in Abuja. Organised in collaboration with Save the Children International (SCI), the event emphasised the need to honour Nigerian children and recognise their positive contributions to society. Represented by Dr Maryam Keshinro, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, the Minister highlighted the importance of documentation in child protection and…
The Federal Government has unveiled the National Digital Farmers Registry (NDFR) collaborative knowledge-exchange platform aimed at building a unified, efficient and secure digital agriculture ecosystem. Sen. Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, said this at the Stakeholders Workshop on Best Practices for the NDFR on Wednesday in Abuja. He said the launch aligns directly with government priorities for designing and implementing the national registry. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Heifer International. Kyari…
The Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) under the Social Investment Programme, on Wednesday, donated food items to 600 vulnerable persons in Imo as part of its ongoing national food outreach scheme. Speaking at the event in Owerri, the First Lady and National Chairman of RHI, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, expressed delight at the continued expansion of the RHI Social Investment Programme. Tinubu, represented by Hajiya Nana Shettima, said the food outreach scheme, launched in March 2024, aimed to ease hardship for persons with disabilities and their families. The first lady emphasised that the programme was specifically aimed at supporting persons with disabilities,…
The Federal Government has stressed the urgent need to improve access to clean and functional toilets across Nigeria to reduce the spread of diseases. Minister of Environment, Malam Balarabe Lawal, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mahmud Kambari, made the call in Abuja during a press briefing to mark the 2025 World Toilet Day. Lawal said inadequate toilet facilities in public places, especially markets, motor parks and schools, exposed Nigerians to health risks, promoted open defecation, and increased cases of cholera, typhoid and other sanitation-related diseases. “Access to a safe and clean toilet is a fundamental human right that protects health,…
The Advancing Children’s Rights Initiative (ACRI), formerly Almajiri Child Rights Initiative, is working to enroll 10,000 out-of-school children into formal education, the NGO’s founder, Mr Mohammad Keana, has disclosed. Keana, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja, emphasised the organisation’s focus on supporting and educating vulnerable Almajiri children. He also emphasised efforts to integrate them into mainstream schools while promoting literacy, numeracy, and social inclusion across Nigerian communities. “The initiative, conceived in 2019 at a United Nations programme marking a decade of action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aims to ensure children’s…
China said it has informed Japan of its decision to ban all imports of Japanese seafood, reported several media outlets, amid an escalating diplomatic dispute between the two Asian economies. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, is reported to have told reporters at a press conference: “Under the current circumstances, even if Japanese seafood were to be exported to China, it would find no market,” before adding that if Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, did not retract her remarks on China, they would have to take “stern and resolute” countermeasures. Tensions between the two countries arose after Takaichi said earlier…
The United Nations (UN) Women and the Sokoto State Government have called on community and religious leaders to lead the conversation against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Harmful Practices in the society. Ms A’isha Sani, Programme Officer for UN Women, made the appeal at a three-day Community Guideline Development on Harmful Practices and GBV on Tuesday in Bodinga local government area of Sokoto. Sani said their involvement would ensure good understanding toward creating a better society. ”We believe that religious leaders have a way of appealing to the consciousness of people. UN Women believes that religious leaders have vital roles to…
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has said hunger ending by 2030 would cost just $93 billion a year — less than one per cent of the $21.9 trillion spent on military budgets over the past decade. By 2026 a staggering 318 million people would face crisis levels of hunger or worse, more than double the figure recorded in 2019, the food agency reported in its 2026 Global Outlook. International support for the world’s hungriest people is “slow, fragmented, and Underfunded,” meaning that many living in the world’s trouble spots will likely be unable to receive sufficient help next year, underscored,…