By Lucy Ogalue

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) will collaborate with partners in the aviation industry to explore all options to enhance the sustainability of the continent’s aviation industry.

Acting Executive Secretary of the ECA, Antonio Pedro, in a statement issued on ECA’s website, said this while speaking on the Sustainable Development of Air Transport in Africa.

Pedro spoke at a high-level side event on the margins of the 36th Ordinary Summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa.

According to him, for the air transport industry in Africa to recover from its various shocks and remain sustainable, partnership will be key.

The executive secretary said this partnership could be in the form of interlining, which allowed a passenger to travel on an itinerary involving multiple airlines using one travel document.

He said, “it can be in the form of code sharing, which allows an airline to market the seats flown on aircraft operated by a partner airline under its code.

“It can be by alliance membership; which may include code sharing, shared use of airport facilities and staff; Franchise, subsidiary, or joint ventures, which involves shared ownership.”

Pedro highlighted the various options which he said were vital in achieving sustainability in Africa’s air transport.

According to him, harnessing African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and access to finance is critical for the recovery and sustainability of the industry.

“We strongly believe that AfCFTA will provide the impetus for growth in the industry.

“The disproportionately low financial support to African airlines suggests their recovery process is more difficult, and they cannot compete favourably with airlines from other regions.

“African airlines need to consider other financing options for their survival and growth.

“That is why the interest of the African Development Bank, Afreximbank and African Finance Corporation to develop platforms to foster leasing opportunities for African carriers is welcome,” Pedro said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Grace Yussuf

By Ahmed Kaigama

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Bauchi State has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with transport unions to facilitate smooth movement of personnel and materials in the upcoming general election.

The parties to the agreement are: Nigeria Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO).

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Alhaji Mohammmed Nura said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Bauchi.

He said the agreement was initially sealed at the national level and replicated at state and local government levels.

The commission, he said, was in partnership with the unions to ensure timely and effective transportation of personnel and election materials to polling units across the 20 LGAs of the state.

He said the commission had so far distributed non-sensitive materials to the local government areas while distribution of sensitive election materials will begin on Thursday.

The REC said the commission had trained 622 Collation/Returning Officers and thousands of other electoral officers to facilitate smooth conduct of the elections in the state.

He listed the trained election officers to include Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs), Presiding Officers (POs), Assistant Presiding Officers (APOs), Technical Personnel (RaTech), among others.

Nura said the commission was engaging relevant stakeholders, especially the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), to ensure safe delivery of election material and peaceful conduct of the elections.

While reitrating commitment to free, fair and credible elections, Nura urged voters to conduct themselves peacefully during the election exercise.

“We are ready to go and appealed to the people of the state to conduct themselves orderly and peacefully during the elections.

“People should turn out en masse to excercise their franchise in a peaceful atmosphere,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Rabiu Sani-Ali

By Ikenna Osuoha

Save Our Heritage Initiative (SOHI), an Abuja-based NGO, has urged Nigerians to exercise patience, hope and peace, in the face of difficulties.

Ms May Ikokwu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), SOHI, made the call on Monday in Abuja during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in commemoration of World Social Justice Day.

Ikokwu said though the country was passing through difficult times, including the hiccups created by the naira re-design and cashless policy, the citizenry should be hopeful for a better future.

She said that peace, hope and patience were paramount to realising the social contract between the people and government.

Ikokwu who spoke on the theme: “Overcoming Barriers and Unleashing Opportunities for Social Justice”, said only social justice would engender renewed trust on government.

She urged the Nigerians not to despair but to continue to renew their faith in the government.

Ikokwu, however, advised government to create an equitable and fair society that would guarantee prosperity to all irrespective of race, ethnicity or religion.

“Social justice makes societies and economies function better and reduces poverty, inequalities and social tensions.

“In a society where social justice is tenable, there is fairness, security, hope, prosperity and patriotism which are essential to humanity,” she said.

The social justice advocate described social justice as a very important tenet of peaceful and prosperous nation aimed at attaining more inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development paths.

She said social justice is important in attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially at a time when the achievement of those goals seems difficult.

According to her, this year’s theme of “Our Common Agenda” aims to strengthen global solidarity and to re-build trust in governments.

Ikokwu expressed the imperatives of shared values and goals aimed at identifying the means to respond to people`s aspirations and needs.

She said social justice is one of the cornerstones of the renewed multilateralism required for a more efficient global system.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Feb.20 is set aside annually to commemorate World Social Justice Day. (NAN) www.nannews.ng

Edited by Ayodeji Alabi/Uche Anunne

By Sumaila Ogbaje

Abuja, Feb. 20, 2023 (NAN) The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor has reassured Nigerians that the armed forces and other security agencies are ready to provide safe and secure environment for the 2023 general elections.

Irabor gave the assurance while briefing newsmen shortly after meeting with service chiefs and heads of security agencies on Monday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the closed-door meeting was attended by Service Chiefs, Inspector-General of Police, Directors General of Department of State Services (DSS) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA), and the Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI).

He said the purpose of the meeting was to review security arrangements for the elections and develop action plans to ensure that the exercise hold under a peaceful atmosphere.

“We have just finished the meeting. The service chiefs, the Inspector General of Police, the DSS, represented by the Director of Operations, the DG, NIA and the CDI.

“Looking at the security for the elections and as you know, the police is the lead agency for elections security, we have compared notes and assessed the entire situation and we are good to go.

“The assessment is that we are set on all fronts.

“We got representation from the Independent National Electoral Commission, who of course you have interacted with, and has also told Nigerians and the world that they are ready for this election.

“By and large, we are good to go and I like to use this opportunity to assure Nigerians that on the security front, we are good to go on all fronts,” he said.

Irabor also gave assurance that the security agencies would cover every part of the country to ensure peaceful elections, so that all eligible Nigerians exercise their franchise.

He added that contingency actions had been taken to address areas with peculiar security challenges.

The CDS warned those that intend to cause trouble during the elections to have a have rethink, “because they will have a bloody nose”. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Benson Iziama/Maharazu Ahmed

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By Segun Giwa

A social cultural group, Atunluse Initiatives, has warned its members against selling their votes in the forthcoming general election, urging them to vote for candidates based on personal attributes.

The Chairman of Atunluse initiatives, Otunba Akinsola Akinbobola, gave the warning on Monday in Akure during a meeting with members of the group from all the 18 local government areas of the state.

Akinbobola charged them to examine the character and capacity of the candidates of the various political parties, and vote for candidates that will lead the country to the dreamland.

He admonished members to educate members of the public on the dangers of vote buying.

“We must start thinking of breaking this hardship circle in Nigeria, by doing what is right. Reject their(politicians) money on elections’ day and vote for candidate with credibility and capability to deliver,” he said.

Akinbobola revealed that the group was ready to work with any political party that has people’s oriented programmes in its manifesto.

He explained that the organisation stands for building a better Nigeria, where the masses would have access to affordable health care, qualitative education and other basic amenities.

According to him, Atunluse Initiatives is “a big umbrella” with membership across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Akinbobola also said the leadership of the group will only work with political party that recognised what it stands for, which is a birth of a new and better Nigeria.

“Looking at the parties, the Labour party is the only party that share the same ideology with our group, nevertheless, we are going to x-ray the parties and adopt the best for the masses after further consultations,” he said.

In his remarks, the Coordinator of the group, Mr Shalom Olaseni, urged members to remain focused, saying that “better Nigeria is possible if we can all do away with tribalism, ethnicity and other negative vices.”

Olaseni assured the members that the leadership of the group will always protect their interest. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Tayo Ikujuni

By EricJames Ochigbo

A food scientist, Dr. Tony Bello, has recommended dehydration of fresh food produce as a solution to the annual post-harvest losses worth N3.5 trillion in the country.

Food dehydration is a process of reducing moisture of food to low levels for improved shelf life by adding one or more forms of energy to the food

Foods can be dehydrated by various means: the sun, a conventional oven, an electric dehydrator, a microwave oven (for herbs only), air drying and solar drying.

Bello, who is the Chairman and Co-Founder of Shine Bridge Global, a U.S- based food and agro-allied services company, made the recommendation in an interview in Abuja on Monday.

Statistics made available by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development put the economic cost of post-harvest losses in Nigeria at N3.5 trillion annually.

Bello said that though the root causes of post-harvest losses were linked to lack of storage facility, dehydration of fresh farm produce was the way to go.

“The root causes of post-harvest losses may very well be highly correlated with the lack of structured investments in storage infrastructure through reapplication of proven food science, engineering, and technologies.

“Dehydration processing remains the key to adding value to agricultural fresh produce for shelf-life extension.

“Unfortunately, investors in Nigeria and Africa at large are yet to uncover the economic and financial returns on investment opportunities in this segment.

“It will go a long way to help eliminate losses through market demand for processing into industrial food ingredients; more investments in storage infrastructure through public-private partnerships are needed to combat the challenge of post-harvest losses,’’ he said.

Bello stressed the need for farmers to sell food directly to processors or engage in value addition, such as food preservation and storage to increase profit margins and returns on investment.

He said that farmers selling directly to consumers is primarily driven by easy access to markets near the areas of production.

According to him, to command high value, additional investment in food preservation and food processing is needed.

“This often requires access to affordable financing; the better option would be direct access to food processors and consumer-packaged foods manufacturers to command high value and pricing.

“The good news here is that, our farmers are better prepared to do just that since the time of Dr. Akinwumi Adesina as Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria,’’ he said.

Bello said that he remained optimistic that the Nigerian farmer would continue to strive beyond subsistence agriculture into commercial scale mechanised farming best practices.

According to him, it will take the food surpluses produced by Small Holder Farmers (SHF) and commercial farmers to achieve the needed growth of the agribusiness industry in Nigeria.

Bello said that security of farmers, ever than before, is also another critical issue, combined with the challenges of lack of infrastructure and finance.

He said that farmers were mostly in need of coordination of access to industrial food processors and consumer-packaged goods manufacturers to derive higher-value on investment.

“This is of course beyond the obvious lack of finance for mechanised farming, improved seed technologies, and the likes.

“The latent global demand for Nigerian staples remains high; we must first process our staples into shelf-stable industrial food ingredients for manufacturing of consumer-packaged foods.

“We must continue to engage our farmers while we reapply proven food science and technologies such as dehydration processing to eliminate or minimise post-harvest losses in Nigeria and Africa at large,’’ he said.

To maximise food production potential in Nigeria, Bello said there was the need to invest in commercialising research findings and innovation to boost yields.

According to him, this will transform African staples into high-value consumer new food products.

Bello called on policy makers, scientists and researchers to focus efforts on applied research, from seed multiplication, mechanisation, to food preservation and processing.

“Multidisciplinary approach will be the key for a successful application or reapplication of science and technology solutions in the transformation of Africa’s food and agriculture sector.

“Our focus on agriculture as the toolbox to increased food production should continue to be emphasised, but not at the expense of food preservation, food processing and consumer-market development, which are the keys to economic prosperity for all stakeholders in the agricultural value chain,’’ he added. (NAN)

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Edited by Isaac Aregbesola

By Aisha Cole

Seventeen passengers escaped death by a whisker on Monday, as a ferry conveying them en route Ebute Ero from Ikorodu in Lagos State capsized.

The General Manager, Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA)., Mr Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, said this in a statement in Lagos.

Emmanuel said that they were rescued by first responders, including officers of the LASWA

The general manager said that the incident happened at about 7:a.m.

He said that the incident, which occurred around the Third Mainland Bridge, close to Bariga ferry terminal, involved a commercial passenger ferry named Fazma logistics.

He said that the boat was recovered immediately while the boat captain was being  interrogated and investigation ongoing (NAN).

Edited by Nick Nicholas/Oluwole Sogunle