Gender discrimination: We can’t be silent, Minister tells Senators’ wives, others

The Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, has charged wives of Senators and all other stakeholders to intensify advocacy on gender based issues, stressing that women cannot be silent over the increasing violence and discrimination against them across the country.

Tallen gave the charge Tuesday, while receiving the wives of Nigerian Senators who paid a courtesy visit on her office at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.

According to Tallen, it was imperative to make the lives of women and those of children yet unborn better, stressing that the  Senator wives have strategic roles  in ensuring that this aim is achieved.

• 

She called on the Senator wives to be assertive in making their husbands understand better the need to change the ugly treatment of women and girls, adding that if they didn’t achieve this children will not be proud of them in the future.

“We cannot afford to be silent even as ordinary women no one can ignore the ills against women. Look at the majority of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s) are women and children, there are IDP camps everywhere because of insecurity, communal clash, unrest which is uncalled for.

“Imagine in this 21st century some communities still practice Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and just recently a beautiful woman was allegedly killed by her husband from domestic violence and we say we have laws?,” She queried.

“I commend you for starting this journey, it is not just for ourselves but for our children even yet unborn and if we do not work harder to ensure a better society for them they will not be happy with us  so we need to strategize on better ways to addressing issues affecting us in  the society.

“It is sad that Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, made her presence felt at the National Assembly (NASS) when the bill was read yet they refused to sign the bills.

“You are all representatives of the the larger society and you can see the low percentage of women representatives, we should all join hands to help push the women agenda forward,” the Minister stressed.

Earlier, the Chairperson, steering committee of the Senators Wives Association Barrister Hauwa Kabir Gaya, noted that Nigeria is currently suffering from different types of vices from gender based violence to insecurity which includes banditry, kidnapping amongst others.

Gaya disclosed that the association is praying fervently and calling on all Nigerians to pray daily for things to change for the better, while they use their influences as wives of the lawmakers to encourage their husbands to pass the gender bills into law.

“We intend to use our influence as wives on our husbands, we will encourage them to get certain things they are ignoring or feel is a threat done. We will explain to them more, the need for them to approve because it is for the good of all,” she said.

“We are praying and you all know that when a woman prays it goes directly to God so we urge all women to join us pray for the nation every day. Let’s all go down on our knees every day and seek God’s intervention,” she stressed.

(Blueprint)

Breaking: NFF appoints coach banned for bribery, others to head national teams

The Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee for the appointment of Salisu Yusuf as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles B (otherwise known as the CHAN team) as well as the U23 (Olympics) team.

Yusuf was previously banned for collecting bribes as an Assistant Coach of the Super Eagles after he was caught on camera in August 2018 accepting cash from men who posed as football agents to select two players for his Morocco 2018 African Nations Championship squad.

He was subsequently banned for one year and ordered to pay a fine of $5,000 by the federation following the NFF Ethics and Fair Play Committee ruling that the coach received $1,000 from the men.

• 

The NFF reinstated the coach in 2019 after serving his punishment and later approved his return as Assistant Coach of the Super Eagles and Head Coach of the Super Eagles B team, with effect from November 1, 2021.

Salisu’s appointment was contained in a statement on Thursday by the NFF’s spokesperson, Ademola Olajire, titled, ‘NFF appoints Salisu, Bosso, Ugbade, Bassey to head male National Teams’.

The NFF also stated that “a new Head Coach for the Super Eagles will be announced and officially unveiled once the processes for his engagement and contract-signing are concluded”.

Yusuf, who was Head Coach of the Super Eagles B when the team emerged runner-up of the African Nations Championship in Morocco in 2018, will work with Kennedy Boboye (Assistant Coach); Fatai Osho (Assistant Coach); Abubakar Bala Mohammed (Assistant Coach); Fidelis Ikechukwu (Assistant Coach); Eboboritse Uwejamomere (Match Analyst) and Ike Shorounmu (Goalkeepers’ Trainer) and Suleiman Shuaibu (Goalkeepers’ Trainer 2).

In other appointments, Ladan Bosso retains his position as Head Coach of the U20 Boys. He will work with former U17 Head Coach, Fatai Amao (Assistant Coach); Oladuni Oyekale (Assistant Coach); Jolomi Atune Alli (Assistant Coach) and; Baruwa Olatunji Abideen (Goalkeepers’ Trainer)

For the U17 Boys, Golden Eaglets, Nduka Ugbade was named Head Coach. He will work with Ahmad Lawal Dankoli (Assistant Coach); Omoniyi Haruna Ilerika (Assistant Coach); Yemi Daniel (Assistant Coach) and; Mohammed Nasiru Isah (Goalkeepers’ Trainer). Ugbade captained Nigeria’s first cadet team that won the FIFA U16 World Cup in China in 1985.

For the U13/15 Boys known as Future Eagles, Patrick Bassey will be Head Coach and will work with Abdullahi Tyabo Umar (Assistant Coach); Mohammed Kalli Kachalla (Assistant Coach); Ifeanyi Uba (Assistant Coach); Alh. Mohammed Kwairanga (Assistant Coach) and; Abubakar Abdullahi (Goalkeepers’ Trainer).

(Punch)

UNICEF Task FG on School Safety, says 11, 536 Shutdown Since 2020

By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday called on the authorities in Nigeria to make schools safe and provide a secure learning environment for every child in Nigeria, especially for girls, to increase girls’ enrolment, retention, and completion of education.

This was contained in a statement released by its Communication Specialist, Samuel Kaalu, to mark the 8th Anniversary of the Abduction of 276 students at Government Girls’ Secondary School Chibok.

According to UNICEF, a total of 11, 536 schools were closed since December 2020 due to abductions and security issues and these school closures have impacted the education of approximately 1.3 million children in the 2020/21 academic year.

The statement said the interruption of learning contributes to gaps in children’s knowledge and skills and may lead to the loss of approximately 3.4 billion USD in these children’s lifetime earnings. This, risks to further perpetuate cycles of poverty and inequality.

It stated that “UNICEF, with generous funding from donors, is collaborating with the government of Nigeria to protect children’s right to education in a safe and inclusive learning environment. This involves building the capacity of School-based management committees (SBMCs) on school safety and security and strengthening community resilience”.

The UNICEF representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, said unsafe schools, occasioned by attacks on schools and abduction of students and the brutal violation of the rights of the victims to education, are totally unacceptable.

He stressed that attacks on learning institutions render the learning environment insecure and discourage parents and caregivers from sending their wards to schools, while the learners themselves become fearful of the legitimate pursuit of learning, adding that the invisible harm school attacks inflict on the victims’ mental health is incalculable and irredeemable.

“Girls have particularly been targeted, exacerbating the figures of out-of-school children in Nigeria, 60 percent of whom are girls. It is a trajectory which must be halted, and every hand in Nigeria must be on deck to ensure that learning in Nigeria is not a dangerous enterprise for any child, particularly for girls,” said Hawkins.

Hawkins disclosed that in Katsina State, government and communities have fenced some schools, and that has encouraged girls to attend school, underscoring the reality that collaboration is required in addressing insecurity in schools and making schools safe, especially for girls.

The statement further reads; “Today marks eight years since the first known attack on a learning institution in Nigeria on 14 April 2014, in which 276 students at Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in north-east Nigeria were abducted by a Non-State Armed Group. Since then, a spate of attacks on schools and abductions of students – sometimes resulting in their deaths – has become recurrent in the last two years, especially in the north-west and north-central regions of Nigeria. Since December 2020, 1,436 school children and 17 teachers have been abducted from schools, and 16 school children lost their lives”.

“In Katsina State, 300 SBMC members have been trained, and schools, supported through the Girls’ Education Project (GEP3) funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK, have developed Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans to mitigate the impact of potential and actual threats.

“Multi-sectoral task teams on school safety have also been established across all the 34 LGAs of Katsina state to provide timely and efficient networking among actors on school security, with particular focus on the safety of girls. Additionally, 60 Junior Secondary Schools have developed emergency plans and tested the plans in evacuation drills”, said UNICEF.

UNICEF reiterated that althoughh Nigeria has ratified the Safe Schools Declaration, schools and learners are not sufficiently protected, hence the need to pay greater attention in protecting children, teachers and schools, else they will continue to come under attack. Urgent, coordinated action is needed to safeguard the right to learn for every child in Nigeria.