Nation
AU, Others Partner On Eradication Of Hunger
The African Union Commission (AUC), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Instituto Lula of Brazil, have announced a joint effort to help eradicate hunger and undernourishment in Africa.
The decision was reached at a meeting attended by AUC Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, and former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Honorary President of the Institute bearing his name.
The effort brings together the AUC’s leadership, FAO’s technical expertise and renewed commitment to fight hunger as well as the political backing of former Brazilian President Lula Da Silva.
Knowledge and support from other international, regional and national partners will also go a long way in enhancing this new partnership.
During the meeting at the headquarters of the AUC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the three parties agreed to convene a high-level meeting with African and International Leaders on “New, unified approaches to end hunger in Africa’’.
The meeting will be held in Addis Ababa between March 4 and 5, 2013.
Dlamini-Zuma, Lula da Silva and Graziano da Silva agreed on the importance of focusing efforts on strengthening the participation
of women in agriculture and food systems as well as investing in children and youth.
“Women are very much involved in agriculture, therefore, our programmes should take into account gender and youth participation,” Dr Dlamini-Zuma said.
“We also agreed to work together on one of the AU’s flagship initiative, the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), to promote infrastructure in the continent.
“Without infrastructure we can never reach our full potential in development.’’
The partnership will be based on the shared vision that a hunger-free Africa is possible and that concerted efforts can achieve tangible improvements in food security and nutrition reversing the rise in hunger that has seen the number of undernourished people in the continent increase from 175 million in the early 1990s to 239 million today.
Although many challenges remain in the African continent, Dlamini-Zuma, Lula da Silva and Graziano da Silva noted that there are many positive examples of countries making significant progress in food security and nutrition.
Their success as well as other positive examples, such as Brazil’s, can be used to learn and build on what works, they said.
The leaders agreed to attention on on the need to scale up and build on existing successful initiatives and to promote knowledge-sharing between countries among other areas.
They also stressed that high-level dialogue needed to be facilitated to reinforce political commitment in the fight against hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.
Nation
Rumuaholu Community Denies Land Grabbing Allegations, Accuses Obio/Akpor Chairman of Interference in Land Dispute
The Rivers State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Peters Nwagor, has commended the orderly conduct of the ongoing 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination in the state and urged schools to sustain the standard.
Dr. Nwagor gave the commendation on Tuesday during a monitoring tour of selected secondary schools in Port Harcourt and environs where the WAEC exam is ongoing.
The commissioner, who was accompanied by directors and monitors from the Ministry of Education, said he was impressed with the peaceful atmosphere at the centres visited.
“The students conducted themselves properly and wrote their papers under conducive conditions. Invigilators and supervisors also performed their duties professionally,” he stated.
Nwagor noted that the Rivers State Government had invested heavily to ensure the smooth and credible conduct of the examination across the state
He urged candidates to reciprocate government’s effort by shunning all forms of examination malpractice and focusing on their studies.
“Government has done so much to ensure successful examinations in our schools. Students should take advantage of it by remaining focused,” the commissioner said.
While no case of malpractice was recorded in the centres inspected, Dr. Nwagor warned that any principal, teacher, invigilator, or official caught aiding malpractice would face strict sanctions in line with regulations.
He also commended school administrators, teachers, WAEC officials, and security personnel for upholding the integrity of the process.
Centres visited included County Grammar School, Ikwerre/Etche; Government Comprehensive Secondary School, Borokiri; Government Secondary School, Borokiri; and Pabod Model Secondary School.