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Nollywood actress and film maker, Stephanie Okereke Linus has been invited to screen her movie, ‘Dry’ which was produced in 2014, at 2018 Ray Charles Week which will hold at the Dillard University, New Orleans, Lousiana, U.S.A on the 25th and 26th of October, 2018.

 

Stephanie Linus will also give a lecture at the university on Thursday, 25th of October, 2018 while the movie screening will be on Friday, 26th of October, 2018.

 

Stephanie will be speaking on “The Emergence of African Storytellers and Their New Narrative” at Dillard University. Stephanie will also be joining a list of speakers from previous editions, which includes Denzel Washington and Tunde Wey.

The movie ‘Dry’ was mostly shot in the Northern part of Nigeria and produced in 2014.
Credit: fabwoman.ng

The Federal Government on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, declared that it was working hard to come out with a policy that would limit the number of children that a mother could have in Nigeria.

It stated that traditional rulers and other leaders across the country were being engaged as regards this, adding that the move was aimed at addressing one of the “great challenges” in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the Federal Government.

The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, who disclosed this while responding to questions during a session at the 24th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, noted that the country’s population had been identified as one of the great challenges confronting the successful implementation of the ERGP.

Ahmed said,

“We have been engaging traditional rulers and other leaders. Specifically, we have found out that to be able to address one of the great challenges that we identified in the ERGP, which is the growth in our population, we need to engage these institutions.

“And we hope that with their support, we will get to a point where we can come out with the policy that limits the number of children that a mother can have because that is important for sustaining our growth.”

When asked about the sustainability of the ERGP by successive governments, Ahmed argued that the plan would be sustained as it was purely a document that focused on the development of the Nigerian economy.

Culled from punch.ng

Photo credit: Google

Rihanna has reportedly turned down an offer to headline February 2019’s Superbowl halftime show because of her support for Colin Kaepernick.

According to Us Weekly, the popstar told the NFL a big “no” because she didn’t agree with their stance. A source who spoke to them said:

The NFL and CBS really wanted Rihanna to be next year’s performer in Atlanta.

They offered it to her, but she said no because of the kneeling controversy. She doesn’t agree with the NFL’s stance.

The halftime show will instead be headlined by Maroon 5, who accepted the offer after she declined.

Credit: Bella Naija

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has suspended its Batch ‘C’ orientation course in Kaduna state indefinitely, due to the ongoing violence in the state.

The corps shared the news on its official Facebook, saying:

ATTENTION PROSPECTIVE CORPS MEMBERS DEPLOYED TO KADUNA STATE

The Management of National Youth Service Corps wishes to inform all 2018 Batch ‘C’ prospective Corps Members deployed to Kaduna State that the commencement of the Orientation Course earlier scheduled for Tuesday, 23rd October, 2018 has been suspended till further notice due to the current security situation and consequent curfew imposed by the State Government.

All affected prospective Corps Members are advised to remain at home until further notice from the NYSC Management.

However, all other prospective Corps Members deployed to other States and FCT are to report at the various Orientation Camps on Tuesday, 23rd October, 2018 as scheduled.

All inconveniences are regretted.

Thank you.

Signed
Management

Girls who live in less developed areas barely have access to these essential commodities while women who are low-income earners are finding it difficult to buy them.

Using the hashtag, #EndThe9jaTaxOnPads, these women are sharing their stories online to urge the government to end the tax on sanitary pads so as to make them more accessible.

See some of their tweets below:

SULEIMAN A. MUHAMMAD@SAMskilllz10

No girl child deserves to use rags or tissue because she can’t afford sanitary pads.
No girl child deserves to wear one pad throughout a day because she want to manage.
Sanitary pads should be affordable for every woman

 

 

 

 

 

Credit: Fab Woman

 

UNICEF Country Representative in Nigeria, Mr Mohammed Malick-Fall, disclosed this at the closing of a five-day workshop on Public Finance for Children in Abuja on Sunday, October 21, 2018.

“Public financing for children is important because development money is just the seed money compared to the needs in Nigeria.

“It is important for Federal and State Governments to release the funding that we need to meet the Social Development Goal (SDG),” Malick-Fall said.

Also speaking, Mr Gustave Nebie, UNICEF Regional Adviser, Social Policy, West and Central African Region (WCARO), described the workshop as timely.

“I think it was a good workshop, because what is important here is diversification of partnership.

“Usually, this kind of workshop is held for people in the social policy section only but fortunately, in Nigeria the senior management has decided to bring everybody along.

“The idea is due to the fact that public finance involves all sections of the organisation,” Nebie said.

He said that participants at the workshop had been equipped with various skills to work towards enhancing the wellbeing of children.

“For me, it was a very successful meeting and I was really happy to be part of it.

“It will kick start a process in which we have to work together in order to be able to move the public finance agenda.

“As we all know, we are working to achieve results for children and we need to make sure that we get more resources for the benefit of the children,” Nebie said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised for staff of UNICEF Regional offices in Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

Credit: Pulse, NAN

Dr Adamu Ningi, the WHO Bauchi State Coordinator, disclosed this at a meeting with the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Adamu, and the Chairman, Social Mobilisation on Immunisation and Emir of Dass, Alhaji Usman Othman, in Bauchi on Friday.

He said samples were collected from various locations on a monthly basis and it has been discovered that the polio virus type 2 was found at Gwallaga mosque area linking three wards of Makama B, Hardo and Dankade.

Represented by Dr Khalid Abubakar, the state coordinator attributed the new strain to non-compliance to immunisation schedules.

In Bauchi LGA, only 52 per cent of children are fully immunised, 29 per cent didn’t complete while 19 per cent have never been immunised.

“The latest strain of the virus are from isolated environmental samples collected from Gwallaga mosque area, Obonna Royal Hotel refuse site, Shafa bridge and FGGC drainage.

“The circulating vaccine derived polio virus is linked to the one earlier discovered in Hadejia, Jigawa State,” he said.

Also speaking, the state chairman, social mobilisation on immunisation, said the state has been without any reported case of polio for over five years.

Othman however regretted that it was unfortunate to record a new case despite efforts to prevent its resurgence from reported cases in Yobe and Jigawa states.

He noted that immunisation teams failed to report non-compliance cases in the past while supervision was poor.

The first class traditional ruler said the meeting was designed to engage the traditional institution and seek ways to contain the virus.

According to him, since the detection, WHO, UNICEF, the state government and traditional leaders have intensified efforts to check its spread.

In his remarks, the Emir of Bauchi emphasised the need for ward heads to always accompany house-to-house teams during immunisation plus days to avoid non-compliance.

While promising to support to eradicate the virus in his domain, Adamu however charged governments and the general public to intensify environmental sanitation and close supervision.

Speaking earlier, Dr Shakhawar Hossain, the UNICEF State Lead Communication Officer, said intense campaigns must be mounted and traditional leaders should be on ground to answer key questions on polio immunisation.

Credit: Pulse News

A group of United Nations agencies has issued a joint statement calling for a ban on tests meant to assess the virginity of any female.

The statement, issued during the World Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics in Brazil, stressed that such tests are both unscientific, and a violation of human rights. The UN agencies are: the UN Human Rights Office, UN Women and the World Health Organisation.

The group said, “so-called virginity testing also often referred to as hymen, two-fingers or per vaginal examination is a gynaecological inspection of female genitalia carried out in the false belief that it can reliably determine whether a woman or girl has had vaginal intercourse’.

In a global call to eliminate violence against women and girls everywhere, the UN agencies said that “this medically unnecessary, and often times painful, humiliating and traumatic practice, must end.”

The practice is a long-standing tradition documented in at least 20 countries, and spanning all regions of the world. Women and girls are often forced to undergo virginity testing for various reasons, including requests from parents or potential partners to establish marriage eligibility or even from potential employers.

It is mostly performed by doctors, police officers, or community leaders on women and girls, in order to assess their virtue, honour or social value. In their statement, the UN agencies explained that the practice has “no scientific or clinical basis” and that “there is no examination that can prove a girl or woman has had sex.”

 

 

Credit: LIB

Keri Hilson, American singer, songwriter, and actress, and Angelica Nwandu, Founder of The Shade Room, #1 black-owned independent media company covering entertainment & celebrity news, will join thousands of entrepreneurs and global leaders next week in Lagos Nigeria for the TEF Forum.

Hosted by the Tony Elumelu Foundation, the TEF Forum which is scheduled to hold on Thursday, October 25, 2018 in Lagos, is the largest gathering of African entrepreneurs and the broader entrepreneurship ecosystem which unites over 5,000 entrepreneurs, global investors, leaders from the African public and private sectors and developmental organisations at Lagos Nigeria.

Aside from the Founder’s Dialogue, one of the major highlights of the Forum, other speakers will include Dr. Awele Elumelu, Chairperson, Avon Healthcare, TEF Trustee and Gavi Champion for Immunisation in Africa; Eleni Giokos, CNNMoney Africa Correspondent and Mayeni Jones, BBC Correspondent.

So far, international and local media – CNN, BBC, CNBC Africa, Africa24, Ebonylife TV, NTA – have partnered with the Tony Elumelu Foundation to share the inspiring story of Africa’s most promising entrepreneurs with the world.

Last year, Angelica Nwandu on her panel on branding and marketing, shared insights on how she built the multimillion-dollar brand, Shade Room, from ground up.

 

Credit: LIB

Of the number, Alimosho Local Government Area has the highest number which was not diclosed.

Mrs Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, the Coordinator of the DSVRT, disclosed this on Thursday, October 18, 2018, at Roundtable with NGOs organised by the
European Union-sponsored Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) Programme.

She said:

“The number of reports from the *6820# platform from July to September were 667.

“There were 179 domestic violence reports, 201 sexual abuse reports, 143 reports on child abuse and 144 actual cases.

“The local government area with the highest reports is Alimosho followed by Kosofe, Ikorodu and Ikeja.

“From July to September, the DSVRT attended to 442 clients, 41 of whom were male and 401 female.

“The statistics of the ages of the clients from zero to 17 years was 27; clients of ages 18 to 45 years were 378 and ages 46 years and
above were 37.”

Vivour-Adeniyi noted that the purpose of the roundtable with the NGOs was to create a synergy between the organisations and the
DSVRT in fighting gender-based violence.

“We need a forum to share our successes and challenges as well create a centralised database of NGOs,” she said.

Also speaking, Mrs Jibola Ijimakin, the Coordinator of ROLAC, highlighted the purpose of the organisation which is to implement
the work of the justice sector in Nigeria.

“This is to be done in collaboration with key Nigerian institutions and partners. The purpose of ROLAC is to enhance good governance in Nigeria.

“This is to be done by contributing to the strengthening of the rule of law and curbing corruption, reducing impunity and improving
access to justice for women, children and persons with disabilities,”
 she said.

Ijimakin noted that ROLAC conducted an assessment of the implementation of the Domestic Law in Lagos in June and realised it had
low level of partnerships with NGOs.

She added that the meeting was to bridge the gap between ROLAC and the NGOs.

“The assessment was to note the priority areas the ROLAC should support.

“One of the key findings was that we needed to have more collaboration with NGOs beyond the DSVRT to share information with
NGOs about what we are doing,” she said.

In her address of welcome, Mrs Biola Oseni, the Director of the Directorate of Citizens’ Rights, said the roundtable  was to highlight the importance of NGOs in tackling the scourge of domestic violence in Lagos State.

“In its response to Sexual and Gender Based Violence, DSVRT has taken cognisance of the fact that the NGOs are the first port of call
for most survivors due to its mien.

“We are therefore not oblivious of the roles NGOs and Civil Society Organisations play in addressing issues of domestic violence
in Lagos State and indeed Nigeria.”

Oseni said the Lagos State Government intended to create a directory of NGOs that respond to Gender-Based Violence.

It is our earnest desire that after this roundtable there would be an improvement in synergy between NGOs and DSVRT.

“We hope to also create a directory of NGOs that provides Gender-Based Violence Responses in the state,” she said.

Credit: pulse.ng