By Angela Atabo

The European Union (EU) has reiterated its commitment to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy as well as to promote inclusiveness in governance.

Ms Olawumi Laolu, the EU’s Programme Manager for Democracy and Rule of Law, said this in a statement at the end of a two-day retreat for the EU-SDGN cohort in Lagos.

Laolu said that the EU through its Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) funded programme, also work to deepen its engagement with young people, women, and persons with disabilities, through its cohort.

“The EU-SDGN programme provides support to institutions of government and supports, in particular, the Nigerian electoral process.

“It provides funding and technical support to targeted beneficiaries.

“The six EU-SDGN component areas include: Support to INEC; Support to the National Assembly and the Judiciary; Support to Political Parties; Support to Media; Support to Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities and Support to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).”

Laolu said that the retreat assessed the interventions of the cohort in the last 12 months, with a view to understand what worked and what didn’t work, identify the challenges encountered, and chart better ways to address them.

She stated that it was important to introspect on the just concluded elections, and urged the EU-SDGN cohort not to lose sight of states like Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo who would be having election in just over 100 days.

“Over the last 12 months, we have had an intense work plan where different members of the EU-SDGN cohort have been delivering several activities and technical support to critical stakeholders that we have jointly identified.

“The retreat, therefore, sought to see whether the interventions that we have planned for the next couple of months would help us address the challenges that we have seen in the period leading to the elections, and the immediate aftermath of the election,” she said.

Laolu said that the retreat created an opportunity for all the partners to discuss their intervention areas, the precise actions they undertook during the elections and what the cohort considered the critical issues that needed to be addressed moving forward.

“In terms of what we are doing around capacity building, one thing to really highlight is the fact that the EU-SDGN programme is Nigerian-led and is mainly implemented by civil society organizations. And that in itself, is our way of contributing and building the civil society space in Nigeria.

“How do we provide a platform with which civil society can better engage with the government and build capacity to ensure that they are focusing on the issues, and they are operating within an environment that helps them properly harness the voices of ordinary Nigerians, and better serve the needs and the will of Nigerian people?

“So, that in itself for me, I think is a huge positive. But in doing this, we are engaging with all identified critical stakeholders as well. And when I say this, I mean, the government, civil society, and the public.”

Laolu said that the EU was working with the government within the electoral management body, to provide technical assistance.

She said that EU was also working with the judiciary through its trainings and engagement with Judges, as well as other officers of the court.

She added that the Union was also working with the media to promote a conducive legal environment for media to operate and for the Broadcasting Commission to also efficiently promote pluralism in the media and civic space.

“Of course, I think it’s very important to stress here that we have Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo state elections in just over 100 days from now.

“So, the priority is to build trust with the Nigerian public by ensuring that those elections are conducted in a way and manner that further instills confidence in the electoral process in Nigeria,” she added.

She said that the members of the EU-SDGN cohort included: DAI Global, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Yiaga Africa, Kukah Centre, International Press Centre (IPC), Institute for Media and Society (IMS), Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), ElectHER, and TAF Africa.

Other included :, National Peace Committee, SOS Children, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), Justice Development and Peace Initiative, and Justice, Development and Peace Movement. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Inuwa Ali-Baba

By Naomi Sharang

Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), a civil society group has called on mining companies and operators to keep to agreements signed with host communities.

The group’s Programme Manager, Mr McDonald Ekemezie made the call at a town hall meeting held at Mpape, Bwari Area Council of the FCT.

The town hall meeting had “Community step-down training on negotiation and understanding of Community Development Agreements (CDAs)’’ as its theme.

According to Ekemezie, CDA is a major element in natural resource governance, especially when it involves communities.

He said the meeting aimed to step down what CDAs meant to mining host communities.

“It is stepping down of knowledge of CTAs to communities for them to build their capacities to be able to negotiate beneficial community agreements.

“This is the second year of the implementation of the project.

“ Funded by McArthur Foundation an international NGO through Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education, it promotes the rights of original inhabitants of the FCT,’’ he added.

Ekemezie noted that agreements were often signed by a few people in host communities, whereas a larger majority of such communities had no knowledge of the signatories and did not even have access to the agreements.

“When agreements are signed, the mining companies, often times do not actually implement what is agreed upon,’’ he said.

Ekemezie added that most mining companies signed agreements and carried out operations that were not understood by host community members, leaving the communities devastated.

“The essence now is to get communities involved in signing CDAs that are beneficial to them.

“For instance, they need to know the process; they need to own the process; they need to be part of it; they need to be represented enough.

“The needs of the community need to be accommodated in whatever agreement is being signed and there has to be timeframe and they have to monitor implementation,’’ he stressed.

Ekemezie explained that the project was being implemented at Mpape and Kubwa (Bwari Area Council) and at Karshi and parts of Garki (Abuja Municipal Area Council).

He said the communities were selected through a baseline study which showed that a lot of mining activities were carried out in those areas.

A Youth Leader in Mpape, Mr Joshua Kato appreciated CTA for the training and promised to step down knowledge gained to members of his community.

Kato decried challenges faced by his community which included lack of potable water and absence of standard schools. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Alli Hakeem

By Naomi Sharang

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has appointed Senator-elect Ahmed Wadada to coordinate the party’s caucus in the 10th National Assembly.

The appointment is contained in a letter in Abuja on Saturday signed by the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Shehu Gabam, and National Secretary, Dr Olu Agunloye.

Wadada will represent Nasarawa-West Senatorial District in the 10th Assembly.

The letter reads: “The NWC of our great party, the SDP, at its meeting decided to appoint you to lead and coordinate the caucus of all SDP members elected to serve in the national and state assemblies throughout the country.

“The purpose of this is to bring all elected members of the Social Democratic Party to the common objective of promoting the unity and ideals of the party.

“The caucus is expected to lead to significant mutual benefits to the party and the assembly members who constitute the prime rank of our great party.” (NAN)
(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Kingsley Kubeyinje