Niger Delta
Bayelsa, UNICEF Partner On Children’s Nutrition
The Bayelsa State Government in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, says the era of malnourishment of children in the state would soon be over.
The duo gave the indication at a programme with the theme: ‘Prioritizing Investment in Maternal, Infant and Young Child and Adolescent Nutrition and the PARSNIP project —key to sustainable development’ held by UNICEF in partnership with the state government in Yenagoa.
The Tide reports that participants at the event include members of the Bayelsa State Executive Council, officials of UNICEF as well as legislators of the state House of Assembly, just as policy makers in both the health and agricultural sectors were also in attendance.
Speaking on the theme of the programme, ‘Investing in maternal, infant, Child and Adolescent nutrition — for sustainable development’, the UNICEF chief nutrition officer, Mrs. Nemat Hajeebhoy stated that in a poll of about 500,000 children studied in Bayelsa State, about 125,000 were discovered to have stunted growth and other problems due to poor nutrition.
She identified exclusive breast feeding as the panacea for adequate nutrition for children and infants, adding however that about 90 per cent of Bayelsa children were reported by their team to have gotten good breast feeding from their mothers.
Delivering his keynote speech, the state Governor, Senator Douye Diri represented by the Secretary to the Government, Dr. Konbowei Benson said the government was making concerted effort at winning the scourge called poverty.
He identified lack and want as the reasons for poor nutrition not only in the state, but in many parts of the nation, saying that the prosperity government under his leadership was more than ever committed to executing its mantra of prosperity for all Bayelsans through adequate planning and provision of enabling environment for all to prosper so as to end the causes of poor nutrition as identified by UNICEF in its report.
Diri lambasted the Federal Government for operating an imbalance federation, saying that the revenue accruing to the state from the federal coffers was not commensurate with the vault of wealth generated from natural resources tapped away from the state, hence, the government has been battling with just a few budgetary provisions for the running of the state which he identified as having contributed to the UNICEF report.
“Nigeria is a democracy, but the kind of system whereby resources are taken away from our state for the development of other parts of the country without giving us as a state what is commensurate with the amount of natural resources tapped from our land is our greatest worry”.
“These reports you’ve given us here ordinarily shouldn’t have been so if enough was coming to us as a state from the Federal Government. So we’ve to be doing away with the paltry sum that is given us from the much they take away from our land on daily basis.
“As a government, we’ll do our best to reverse the trend and create the enabling environment for our people to prosper so that our children can have better nutrition from their mothers”, he said.
Meanwhile, the wife of the Governor of Bayelsa State, Dr. (Mrs) Gloria Diri has said children of the state under her time as the first lady of the state would be given proper nutrition.
She stated this during her investiture by UNICEF as the ‘nutrition champion’.
The state first lady who commended UNICEF for the investiture stated that the programme was apt, noting that UNICEF was right to have chosen her for the investiture, just as she pledged her continuous commitment to bettering the lots of children with regard to their nutrition and wellbeing in the state as first lady.
By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa
Dufugha, however, expressed resentment over what he described as stringent measures against assessing the State’s Students Loan Scheme, especially for the common citizens.
He made the observations while briefing journalists at the Earliest Ikoli Press Centre, Ekeki, in Yenagoa, the State capital.
“I commend the Governor for the relative peace in the state owing to his approach to the security of lives and properties in the State.
“For now, the police in Bayelsa State is using drones to monitor red flag areas that can cause security breaches and that has really encouraged the peace in the State.
“The security situation has improved and we commend the government for that. We cannot deny the fact that there is relative peace in the State”, he said.
On the State’s students loan, the publisher accused the scheme of having elitist posture due to its accessibility process.
He argued that it would be difficult for the ordinary Bayelsan to provide a Level-17 civil servant as guarantor to be able to benefit from the scheme, describing it as a systemic denial of the less privileged.
He noted that the loan was supposed to be a succour to indigent Bayelsa parents and students who could not assess education easily, noting that such persons should not be made to face cumbersome situations before assessing the financial instrument.
On road infrastructure, the Niger Delta Herald Publisher and Editor-in-chief praised the Diri’s administration on the work done on the three senatorial district roads and tasked the government to do more.
Dufugha, who described Bayelsa State as a wealthy State, asserted that the oil rich state needed to see more developmental strides comparative to its current financial status.
“Bayelsa is not a poor state in terms of public revenue. We’re an oil producing state. We receive federal allocations. We receive derivation revenue. We have access to enormous public resources.
“We receive interventions. Yet, after all these years, the ordinary citizen is still asking, what exactly are we getting for our money? Where are the industries? Where are the jobs? Where are the functional health institutions? Where is the agricultural transformation? Where is the human capital development? Where is the economic diversification?,” he argued.
He enjoined the government to redouble effort in the education and health subsectors, adding that it would pay the state a lot if there were centres for the treatment of critical health cases such as cancer and others in order to save lives and avoid capital flight.
The Publisher urged the Senator Diri-led government and the public not to misunderstand his message as hatred or personal issues with the Governor, but see it as a constitutional and professional duty to hold government accountable.
By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa
Deputy Governor of the State, Dr. Peter Akpe, stated this rexently when he received the Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in ernment House, Yenagoa.
charge of Bayelsa and Rivers States, during a courtesy visit to Government House, Yenagoa.
Akpe said the general perception of those in politics has always been that of corruption, but noted that the position of the Douye Diri-led Prosperity Administration is non-tolerance for corruption.
Akpe, who frowned at the habit of writing unfounded petitions against individuals and groups, said the heap of petition files from Bayelsa State at the ICPC was several times higher than that from any other state in the country.
He reminded residents that writing unjustifiable petitions to anti-graft agencies is not only a bad culture, but also attracts jail penalty, and assured the ICPC of the state government’s support to improve public enlightenment.
“Our government is a government that believes in zero tolerance for corruption; that is why we are always open to interact with you and other anti-graft agencies.
“Usually, there is this issue of negative perception of politics and politicians. But it is not true that every politician is corrupt. We have a good number of people in politics that are not corrupt, and we believe that a good percentage of them are in this government.
“The issue of petitions at the ICPC: What we observed was that the heap of files from Bayelsa were 10 times higher than the ones from even Lagos, and 15 more times than the ones from Sokoto and other states.
“That is quite disturbing. More so, most of those petitions were ion, our people should also know that such frivolous petitions can land them in jail”, he saidfrivolous.
From a personal experience, I can tell you that most of the petitions are extremely frivolous. While we will never tolerate corruption, our people should also know that such frivolous petitions can land them in jail”, he said.
Earlier in her remarks, the ICPC Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner in charge of Rivers and Bayelsa States, Dr. Ekere Usiere, highlighted the statutory mandate of the ICPC, stressing that its mission was to carry out sensitisation on the ills of corruption in the Nigerian society.
Usiere, who expressed concern at the volume of petitions currently before the ICPC emanating from communities in Bayelsa over the management of the PIA funds, expressed the commission’s desire to partner the Bayelsa State Ministry of Information to carry out sensitisation programmes.
The ICPC Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner was accompanied on the visit by Assistant Chief Superintendent, Mr. Evans Peters; Principal Superintendent, Mr. Emmanuel Akpor; Assistant Superintendent, Mrs. Tamaraudoubra Ebebi; and the Administrative Officer, Mr. Frank Yileaziba.
By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa
The Director of Administration and Human Resources, Sir Kelechi Nwelue, gave the advice during a commission-wide staff interactive session with Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and insurance companies at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
In a statement signed and issued by Seledi Thompson-Wakama
Director, Corporate Affairs, Nwelue said the programme, approved by the Managing Director of the commission, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, was organised to sensitise staff on pension schemes and provide them with the knowledge required to make informed decisions about their retirement savings.
He particularly urged newly recruited employees to acquaint themselves with the operations and responsibilities of various PFAs before choosing an administrator to manage their pension contributions.
According to him, pension contributions deducted from employees’ salaries, alongside employers’ contributions, constitute long-term savings designed to provide financial support after retirement.
He urged staff to carefully assess the information provided by the participating pension administrators and choose the option best suited to their long-term financial interests.
Nwelue stressed that employees were at liberty to select their preferred pension administrator, noting that the interactive session provided an opportunity for the various companies to explain their products, services and benefits.
Also speaking, a Director in the Directorate of Administration and Human Resources, Mr. James Fole, said the programme was aimed at deepening employees’ understanding of pension, insurance and other financial instruments that could improve their financial wellbeing during and after active service.
Fole warned that inadequate preparation for retirement could expose employees to financial hardship in their post-service years.
He said: “That is not what the Managing Director, Executive Management and the entire management want for our staff. We want to see a situation where retirees enjoy a reasonable level of comfort, knowing that the Commission has contributed to their future.”
He added that equipping employees with appropriate financial knowledge while they were still in active service remained critical to achieving a financially secure retirement.
Several pension and insurance companies participated in the interactive session.
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