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International Women’s Day: UNHCR Redoubles Fight Against Sexual Exploitation
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Filippo Grandi has affirmed the commitment of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to redouble its fight against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment against women.
Grandi made this known in a statement issued by the UNHCR’s Office in Geneva to mark the International Women’s Day and made available to newsmen yesterday in Abuja.
According to Grandi, this year’s International Women’s day comes on the heels of a powerful global movement for women’s rights, equality and justice with the theme: “Time is Now’’ very apt.
He said that the theme also echoes UNHCR’s firm commitment to uphold the rights of women and girls,
He said that in line with the theme, UNHCR would ensure that it works to secure protection and solutions for displaced and stateless people took full account of age, gender and diversity.
“International Women’s Day is also the right moment to redouble our commitment to stamping out sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, these are inexcusable.
“We at UNHCR, have been at the forefront of this fight and will continue to be and there is no place in our organisation for those who do not share and respect our core values.
“I urge victims to speak out and stand for their rights and I appeal to anyone who has witnessed sexual misconduct in the context of UNHCR operations to come forward and report it.
“We will continue to step up our support for victims and will strive to improve even further the ways in which we prevent, report and deal with cases of sexual misconduct”, Grandi said.
“ Societies that benefit from the full potential of women and men alike, and where the rights of displaced women and girls are fully upheld, are not just a distant aspiration.
“It is up to all of us to make them a reality now,’’ Grandi said.
Grandi said that the UNHCR aimed to build on the rich experience, capacities and aspirations of women and girls, and to help them realise their full potential through better access to education, decent work and legal and health services
He said that UNHCR was doing a very concrete work to advance these goals, noting that in Lebanon, women represent over 50 per cent of the outreach volunteers.
He said that in the Central African Republic, three centres were now helping displaced women to improve their literacy skills, address sexual and gender-based violence, and to earn a living for themselves and their families.
Grandi said that in Malaysia, sustained investments in leadership, communication, and gender equality training, had boosted the number of refugee women taking part in community decision-making by 43 per cent.
The UN Chief said in the listed countries and in the rest of its operations across the world, UNHCR was taking action.
Grandi said the agency believed that it had a profound responsibility to make sure that the distinct voices of women and girls were heard and reflected at every step, and in all aspects of its works.
He said that UNHCR has taken long-standing commitments on age, gender and diversity, and had deepened and updated them in a new policy to reflect the lessons learned.
He explained that this was to ensure that the UNHCR was fully accountable to women, girls and all those whom it served.
“The UN Refugees Agency will invest in better monitoring, so that it can mark its progress in pursuing gender equality in its operations toward reaching planet 50/50 by 2030.
The theme of this year’s celebration is “Press for Progress’’.
The International Women’s Day was first celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19, 1911.
Two years later, in 1913, it was proposed that the date be moved to March 8, with the original aim of the celebration being to achieve gender equality for women.
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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