Nation
UNICEF, WHO Want Imo To Scale Up Breast Feeding Programmes
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have urged the Imo State Government to scale up breastfeeding programmes in the State.
This is contained in a statement by UNICEF’s Head of Enugu Field Office, Mr Ibrahim Conteh, in Owerri last Saturday to commemorate the World Breastfeeding Week.
The 2022 World Breastfeeding Week has the theme: “Step up for Breastfeeding: Educate and Support.’
The week is officially celebrated from August 1 to 7 annually since 1992, to generate public awareness and support for breastfeeding.
According to Conteh, the exclusive breastfeeding rate in Nigeria is 29 per cent, an indication that over 70 per cent of infants in the country are denied the benefits of breast milk in their formative years.
“During emergencies, including those in Afghanistan, Yemen, Ukraine, the Horn of Africa, and the Sahel, breastfeeding guarantees a safe, nutritious and accessible food source for babies and young children.
“It offers a powerful line of defence against diseases and all forms of child malnutrition, including waste, and acts as a baby’s first vaccine, protecting them from common childhood illnesses,”he said.
Conteh, however, noted that only nine per cent of organisations had a workplace breastfeeding policy, indicating that working mothers lacked the enabling environment to optimally breastfeed their babies.
He called on governments to allocate increased resources to protect, promote and support breastfeeding policies and programmes, especially for the most vulnerable families living in emergency settings.
“Protecting and supporting breastfeeding is more important than ever, not just for protecting our planet as the ultimate natural, sustainable, first food system, but also for the survival, growth and development of millions of infants.
“The emotional distress, physical exhaustion, lack of space and poor sanitation experienced by mothers in emergency settings mean that many babies are missing out on the benefits of breastfeeding to help them survive.
“Fewer than half of all newborn babies are breastfed in the first hour of life, leaving them more vulnerable todisease and death,” he said.
Conteh said only 44 per cent of infants were exclusively breastfed in the first six months of life, short of the World Health Assembly target of 50 per cent by 2025.
“The results are high stunting rates of 37 per cent of children under five, of which 21 per cent are severe, and wasting among children under five years of age ( seven per cent). They continue to present severe consequences for the child,” he said.
He urged governments, donors, civil society and the private sector to step up efforts to prioritise investing in breastfeeding support policies and programmes, especially in fragile and food insecure contexts.
He also urged government to equip health and nutrition workers with facilities in the communities with the requisite skills to provide quality counselling and practical support to mothers to successfully breastfeed.
He further called for the protection of caregivers and health care workers from the unethical marketing influence of the formula industry by fully adopting and implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, including in humanitarian settings.
Nation
Council Boss Impeached 48 Hours To LG Polls In Katsina
The Chairman of Malumfashi Local Government Council of Katsina State, Maharazu Dayi, has been impeached.
Maharazu Dayi was impeached yesterday by 11 out of 12 councillors, barely two days before the local government elections in the State.
The councillors reportedly took action following allegations of misconduct and poor governance against the chairman after a dispute over the distribution of the council’s Paris Club funds.
The development has sent shock waves across the local government area, especially as the impeached chairman is among those who failed to secure the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest in the forthcoming election.
Nation
Association Tasks Fubara On Rumuwoji Market Phase Three
The Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association, Mile 1, Port Harcourt, has urged the state government to utilise the available spaces within the area to build phase 3 of the Rumuwoji Market in order to solve the ever increasing needs of traders.
The association, which said this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt, also described as a welcomed development the decision by the state Governor to open the phase 2 of the market for business.
According to the association, “We consider it as an answer to the various cries of the people, because he is a man on a mission who is out to place the interest of Rivers people first. It is a dream come true for the first time for the market to be dully allocated and open for business”
Chairman of the association, Hon Godspower Wobo, who briefed the press shortly after a meeting of the association in Port Harcourt, also urged the public to disregard the activities of some persons whose stock in trade is to cause disaffection in the market.
He said the attention of the association was drawn to the activities of some strange fellows who went about misforming the people about situation in the market, stressing that apart from his association, no other group exists in the market except subdiary unions.
Wobo also tasked the reallocation committee to tread with caution so as to avoid being deceived by any group.
According to him, time has come for the state government to engage in robust discussion with aggrieved shop owners who went to court and those who paid monies to the state coffers and issued with allocation certificates for the overall interest of peace.
He also advised the public to deal directly with his association, stressing that the meeting was to review activities for the last year as well as unveil their new Constitution.
Also speaking, former Chairman of the association, Deacon Kenneth Eze urged the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara to open the phase 2 of the market, as it is long overdue.
Eze who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the association also urged the public to do business with only the Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association as it is the only union recognised by the traders.
Nation
AfDB President Denies 2027 Presidential Ambition
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwunmi Adesina, has debunked reports linking him with the race for Nigeria’s presidency in 2027.
Reacting to the report on his X handle yesterday, following a recent interview with Arise TV, the AfDB boss said his quotes were misrepresented and misinterpreted in several Nigerian media reports.
However, the AfDB president denied the media reports, stating that he never said that he wanted to contest for President.
“A segment of my recent interview on @Arise TV has been both misinterpreted and misrepresented in several Nigerian media outlets. What I said was, “I will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including my own country.”
“A listen to the substantive and robust interview, which is available online, will show this to be the case. For clarity and for the record, I did not say that I am running for the office of President of Nigeria,” Adesina said.
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