By Aderogba George

A group of ladies on a platform tagged “A Woman With A Story (AWWAS), has begun efforts to encourage their fellow women to tell their life experiences/stories through creative arts.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the whole idea is about imbibing “creative expression and creative therapy” on women who have been abused and are dealing with emotional trauma.

The ladies, during their visit to Ushafa Pottery Centre, FCT, Abuja, where indigenous women are known for making local pots, stated that the idea was an initiative of Dankauna Foundation.

Miss Haye Okoh, the Project Coordinator for AWWAS, stated that the association intended to achieve an Africa where there would be no hiding place for any form of victimisation of women.

She said that AWWAS encouraged women to use different forms of creative expression like illustrative dance, photography, writing and other forms of creative arts to tell their emotional stories.

“So this year we are focusing on pottery as our creative arts because we know that pottery itself is a history marker.

“A lot of tribes and culture have used potteries to tell stories about their tribes, about their cultures, about different things that happened in their lives.

“So there are different tribes that have events that can be recounted on pieces of pot or ceramics; so we come here to Ushafa today to appreciate their craft.

“Ushafa women are known for pottery, their women are known to be potters, so we have come to do sort of fusion or a union between what we do as ours and what they do as potters.

“We are here to tell them that it is not just about making pots beautiful, but they must apply the techniques of story telling to their pots, to their creative arts.

“Expression of story on the pots whether good or bad gives the pots more value and makes it more long lasting,” she stressed.

She said that AWWAS was currently having discussion with some relevant organisations who were into dealing with domestic abuse against women, so that it could reach out to its targeted audience.

Mrs Tracy Isaac, the founder of Business Academy Africa, a partner with AWWAS, encouraged the women to continue the good work and make it more skillful and lively for the generation unborn.

Isaac who is also the initiator of “Sheboss”, a project meant to encourage women businesswise, appreciated the pottery women for possessing a unique and unusual skill.

According to her, the women have unusual and unique way of expressing their culture and heritage through the pot making.

She said it was important they kept pushing and showing the world the version of themselves.

She said that the pot making was a sort of expression, unlike the other crafts, adding that local pots was still one of the crafts that still had some history and story behind its production.

She disclosed that local pots production had been a craft passed down from one generation to another, adding that the craft must be kept and made more lively.

“The current reality of the world now is that the world is evolving, your customers don’t really come to you anymore, you have to go to your customers.

“This women have unusual and unique way of expressing their culture and heritage, so it is important that they keep pushing, and showing the world the version of themselves.

“Business Academic Africa, we are partnering with AWWAS; we come here on a needs assessment base; we have seen the women and we have understood their pains/points.

“Now we will go back and seat with other team members and create a programme that will allow them to create solid businesses; Sheboss is helping female community entrepreneurs to solve problems In their community.

“One of the ways that we can help them is by giving them the means to be seen globally so that their arts can be shared by people here and people outside, and if they are able to make that, they will make more money,” she said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Idris Abdulrahman

By Oluwatope Lawanson

The Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, has urged Nigerians to vote for a visionary and credible leader like the first civilian Governor of the state, late Alhaji Lateef Jakande, in the coming elections.

Hamzat gave the advice during the 2nd year Remembrance/Anniversary Prayers for Jakande at Ilupeju, Lagos on Saturday.

The deputy governor praised the late Jakande for the numerous developmental and people-oriented programmes and policies he initiated and the indelible footprints he left in the state.

He stated that the country needed a visionary leader with integrity, selflessness, who was highly committed and passionate about the wellbeing of the citizens and growth of the country.

Hamzat, therefore, charged politicians in the country to emulate the virtues of late Jakande whom he described as a fantastic leader.

He said the late Jakande was a quintessential politician and an administrator par excellence who had the foresight on the development of the State.

The deputy governor also advised Lagos residents to ensure they did the right thing by voting for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State.

“APC government has done well and needs to continue what it has started so as to make life easier for all.

“I urge you to vote massively for the Presidential Candidate of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for his capability, antecedents, connectivity, and the boldness to move the country forward.

“Nigerians must desist from any form of sentiments and vote for a president that has a track record of success.

”Vote for a leader who can identify talents, skills, and intellect for the good of the people like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.

In his sermon, Imam Hakeem Awwal said the attributes of a good leader include being courageous, with listening ears to the yearnings and aspirations of the citizens.

He noted that a good leader must also have integrity, among others, which he said the late Jakande had.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that prayers were later offered for the repose of the soul of the deceased.

Prayers were also offered for the family, children, the state, and nation in general.

The highlight of the event was the launch of the Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande Health Foundation.

It was set up to assist the less privileged and needy in the society to access good health care and education. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Oluwole Sogunle

By Funmilayo Adeyemi

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says that over 1.16 million tertiary institutions admission seekers have so far registered to sit for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed this in Abuja on Saturday, during a  monitoring tour of some CBT centres in Abuja.

Oloyede, during the tour visited CBT centres located at Total Child International School, Dutse, JAMB Abuja zonal office, Life Camp, Global Distance Learning Institute and Sascon International College, Abuja .

He said that the board would not extend deadline for the 2023 Unified UTME registration, while warning centres against extortion of candidates.

“Registration is going on well except some of these schools.

“UTME is not a school based examination, it’s individual candidates and you can see  what some  schools  are doing collecting N30,000 from candidates in the name of JAMB and then end up missing up the telephone number of the candidates.

“So once they keep the telephone number of candidates it is unlikely that the candidates when we are contacting them to make a change in their timetable, you send text to them and it will not get to them,” he said.

According to him, after they have graduated from the school and want to do change of course they don’t have access to it.

“And that is a way of extorting the parents and we will take adequate steps to make sure that we stop that,” he said.

“We will tell every CBT centre to stop doing bulk purchase of pin and bulk registration.

”So if a centre sells more than one pin to a source or collect money for more than one pin from a source, then we will sanction such centre,” he said.

He urged candidates to report cases of extortion, saying that there was a code for candidates to reach the board when they come across any case of extortion, while promising there would be a reward for such act.

Recall that the sale of the 2023 UTME commenced on Jan. 14 and will close on Feb. 14. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Constance Imasuen/Isaac Aregbesola

By Olatunde Ajayi

The newly-appointed Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig.-Gen. Yusha’u Ahmed has given assurance of safety to Youth Corps members during the general elections.

Ahmed gave the assurance during his official visit to the Oyo State NYSC Orientation Camp, on Friday in Iseyin, Oyo State.

He informed the corps members that he had on assumption of duty, visited all service chiefs in the country to get assurance from them for the protection of Corps members on election duties.

He, however, urged the Corps members to abide by the rules and regulations guiding their participation as umpires in the elections and desist from unauthorised journeys throughout their service year.

The D-G charged them to maintain high level of discipline and translate the sound training imparted on them into impactful service year as they assumed various roles in their Places of Primary Assignment (PPA).

Recounting his own experience as a Youth Corps member in Osun State, in 1995, Ahmed urged them to make friends and respect the culture of their host communities.

He further urged Corps members to relate well with the people so they could have a memorable and rewarding service year.

He said that NYSC scheme had zero tolerance for extortion and promised that security and welfare of Corps members would be his topmost priority.

The Oyo State Coordinator of NYSC, Mr Odoba Abel, in his welcome remark gave a report of the ongoing 2023 Batch A Stream 1 Orientation Course.

Abel, therefore, paid tributes to the participating Corps members and the NYSC staff working with him who made the exercise successful.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the visit of the new D-G, who assumed duty as the Jan. 22, was his first to the South-West.

He was accompanied by senior officials of the scheme from the Directorate Headquarters. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Abiemwense Moru/Grace Yussuf

By Oladele Eniola

Mr Ben Llewelyn-Jones, British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, has urged Nigerians to respect the electoral process.

Llewellyn-Jones gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He urged politicians to resolve their grievances in a peaceful manner and avoid heating the polity and inciting violence.

“My advice to politicians in the upcoming elections is that they should respect the process as the new technology is there to ensure that people can vote and that must be respected.

“If the politicians have problem or dispute, then the use of legal or peaceful processes should be carried out and if their supporters are angry, ensure peaceful protests and avoid any form of violence.

“Most importantly, politicians must desist from buying votes as the right thing is to tell people to vote for you because of what you would do and not by buying votes to convince them to vote for you.

“It is imperative of politicians and people to do the right things as the UK government is committed to issuing visa restrictions where it is aware of attempts to subvert the democratic process,” he said.

Llewellyn-Jones noted that since 2019, the UK government has spent over £10million working with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), institution capacity building and civil societies, amongst others.

He urged the public to cooperate and work with the INEC, noting that the commission has the capacity to deal with challenges facing it.

“We have been working very closely with INEC and we have spent over £10 million since 2019; not just on them as that money went into capacity building for Nigerian government institutions, civil societies and observers who have been working closely with INEC.

“We are impressed with steps that have been taken as we know there is still a lot do, especially in terms of logistic challenges, but INEC is very experienced and they would overcome the challenges.

“We encourage Nigerians to work and cooperate with INEC as there would always be challenges, but Nigerians should remain supportive,” he said.

The UK envoy noted that there should be inclusiveness of people across the board in elections.

He encouraged People Living With Disabilities (PLWDs), youths and women to contest various positions in future elections.

“We are strong supporters of the ‘Not-Too-Young-To-Run’ Movement, as we supported the act and encouraged more people to come forward to participate in the elections because we want to see more inclusiveness across the board.

“We want to see people with disabilities, people from different backgrounds and ages contest in elections but that is still a real challenge as we don’t see that.

“More women should participate in politics as you can look at the UK who has had three female prime ministers and we believe it is important to see more women participating as it would be a massive encouragement in general.

“It is important to have that identification process so we are actively supporting all of that to make that difference to happen,” he said.

Llewellyn-Jones expressed confidence that the forthcoming elections would be peaceful and fair.

He revealed that the UK government did not have preferred candidates noting that its concern was for the public to determine their preferred leaders.

“I have been watching elections in Nigeria since 2014 and every election since 1999 has been an improvement as there have been changes, improvements, development, assurance and more confidence from the voters.

“I’m certain that the upcoming elections would be a step forward and the technology that is being introduced is a big part that would ensure that people can’t rig the elections.

“We would be observing the elections and we are really hopeful that the elections would go smoothly.

“The key thing is that Nigerians vote, that they vote in a peaceful environment and that their votes count and the process is credible.

“The UK government is not bothered about who wins the elections but our focus is on the process and to ensure Nigerians choose their leaders,” he said.

The general elections will start with the presidential poll on Feb. 25.

Edited by Kamal Tayo Oropo/Kingsley Kubeyinje