Nation
NOA, UNICEF Train Religious Leaders On Maternal, Child Health
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Niger State says it has started training for religious leaders on Faith for Life, to promote maternal and child health practices during the era of COVID-19 pandemic.
The Tide’s source reports that the two-day programme was organised in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The State Director of NOA, Malam Yahaya Gbongbo, told the religious leaders drawn from 25 Local Government Areas of the state, that the training was to abreast them on “Faith for Life”.
He said the initiative was adopted by Nigeria to communicate health issues using religious platforms.
The source also reports that “Faith for Life Initiative” was an adoption of a Kenyan strategy which uses spiritual teachings to address issues and create awareness on maternal and child health survival and development, especially in the era of COVID-19 pandemic.
Gbongbo explained that the role of the religious leaders was to help promote health issues such as infant and maternal health, child protection and environmental sanitation using religious scriptures.
“Both Quran and the Bible are very rich in all these aspects and considering our mandate as an agency in communicating government programmes with the support of UNICEF.
“We believe religious leaders play vital roles as their opinions are respected by their followers,” he said.
Also, Mrs Adeola Olunlayo, Social and Behaviour Change Specialist, UNICEF Kaduna Field Office, noted that ‘Faith for Life” was launched at national level to work with the leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Janaatu Nasril Islam (JAI) as religious umbrellas.
She said the religious organisations were to help promote acceptance and uptake of maternal new born and child health services across the country.
According to her, religious leaders are influential, powerful and have members and congregations that respect their instructions, hence the need to use them to promote women and children’s health.
“We have formed an alliance to use their platforms across different faiths to ensure that accurate and timely information on positive health-seeking behaviour are promoted while preaching to their members.
“The effort is to ensure that no woman loses her life due to any maternal health issue and no child is denied life-saving services that can enable them grow, survive and develop,” she said.
In their separate remarks, Pastor Raphael Okpwoye, Secretary of CAN in Niger and Alhaji Abubakar Bosso, Head of JAI, Niger chapter, described the training as timely as it would help improve health of families.
They promised to ensure that pastors and imams include health messages in their sermons and preaching’s.
Malam Bala Musa, Deputy Director, NOA and UNICEF Focal Person in Niger, said that one of the objectives of the training was to equip religious leaders with knowledge and skills to promote positive maternal and child health practices.
The Alliance Française Port Harcourt in conjunction with the Embassy of France Nigeria over the weekend joined the globe to campaign against the 2025 gender- based violence (GBV) with the theme: “16 Days of Activism Against Gender- Based Voice”
The event which took place at the event Hall of the Alliance Française Port Harcourt was in collaboration with the Female in Gaming Network, ( FIGN) and partnership with Nexal a body that seeks to promote online safety and responsible digital behaviour.
The Tide reports that the project which was aimed at promoting digital safety and girls inclusion in Gaming, with the initiative tagged ‘Gameover Gender- Base Violence’was part of the global campaign against gender- based Violence.
The activity which experienced a flavour of festivity was full of fun and excitements as participants took part in tournaments on popular digital games such as Mario kart and EAFC 25, with an intent to creating safer and more inclusive digital spaces.
The Director of the Alliance Française Port Harcourt, Mrs Marina Lacal said that these activities were designed to encourage inclusion of girls, team work and fair play on online gaming spaces, saying that the gaming world reflects these inequalities, where female players are often under represented.
According to her the main objectives of the initiative was to provide a supportive environment for girls and female in gaming network.
“GameOverGBV” is a project created to reshape this landscape by offering an innovative inclusiveness of girls on online digital Gaming community and digital environments that provide opportunities for creativity, learning and connection, but also fight against Gender-Based Violence Digital Gaming,”she said
She however, explained that the Digital Game, sport competitions, was launched to strengthen social and digital skills through games, workshops, and raise awareness among all young participants about respect, equality and digital citizenship.
The Tide News reports that in Port Harcourt, the competition brought together 100 young participants from three major universities: University of Port Harcourt, ( UNIPORT),Ignatius Ajuru University of Education(IAUE) and Rivers State University (RSU)as well as students from four selected secondary schools, Oginigba comprehensive Secondary.School, Vine lnternational, Virgo predicanda lnternational, and Excellent Montessori Secondary school.
“This is an approach where girls and boys can learn, play and collaborate in a more respectful and safe space for young women, while ensuring a safe, enjoyable and respectful digital environment. It also expose young women to cyberbullying, exclusion, sexist comments and online hate,” Mrs. Lacal said.
Earlier, a game developer Sophia Nei and her. team had engaged participants in an interactive session with the theme: “Can Video Games Be Safe Spaces For Girls?”
However, Mrs Nei and her team educated the girls on the benefits and violence on online digital gaming and urged them ( participants)to learn to say ‘No’ to Online hate, sexist and cyber bullying, while encouraging them(students) to stand up for themselves by reporting such issues to the appropriate authority.
Highlight of the competition was the awarding of prizes to winners by the Director of Alliance Française, Mrs Marina Lacal.
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