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Toyin Saraki Again: Gets New UN Appointment

Published

5 years ago

June 13, 2019

Editor

In a significant high-level global gender and rights commitment, Founder-President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) Toyin Saraki has accepted the official invitation of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) the United Nations’ foremost sexual and reproductive health rights agency, to join the International Steering Committee of the International Conference on Population and Development, taking place in Nairobi in November 2019.

Convened by the Governments of Kenya and Denmark, and the UNFPA, the ICPD25 Summit in Nairobi from 12–14 November 2019 will bring together heads of state and ministers, parliamentarians, thought-leaders, technical experts, civil society organizations, young people and people with disabilities, business and community leaders, faith-based organizations, international financial institutions, academics and thousands of others interested in the pursuit of reproductive health and rights, in order to mobilize the political will and financial commitments needed to deliver on the commitments made by 179 governments in Cairo in 1994 at the landmark International Conference on Population and Development, the ICPD.

Mrs Saraki joins the ICPD International Steering Committee with a focus on mobilising global and country commitments around five themes:Universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights as a part of universal health coverage, financing required to finish the ICPD Programme of Action and to sustain the gains made, drawing on demographic trends to drive economic growth and achieve sustainable development, ending gender-based violence and harmful practices

as well as upholding the right to sexual and reproductive health care even in humanitarian and fragile contexts

Having commenced her new high-level global commitment during multi-lateral meetings at Women Deliver in Vancouver last week, Mrs Saraki commented:

“We stand on a gender precipice, from which we must urgently act to transform the lives of women and children. Together with my fellow members of the ICPD International Steering Committee, I envisage a world where every individual and couple, everywhere, can decide freely when to have children, and has the information, education and means to do so. A world where no woman or girl dies from preventable complications in pregnancy or childbirth: where no woman has to give birth without the help of a midwife, nurse or doctor. We must forge a world where no one is subjected to violence because of their gender, where no girl is forced to marry, where no girl or woman is subjected to female genital mutilation or other harmful practices.”

“We are far from the world envisaged by the conference in Cairo 25 years ago. 830 women die every day while giving life, mostly from preventable causes. 33,000 girls are forced into child marriage and 11,000 girls face genital mutilation every day. 5 million pregnant women have been displaced by conflict or disaster and are in need of medical care. They all deserve a better world, across the life-course, from birth to age”

“I am therefore delighted to serve as a member of this important global committee, bringing Africa’s voice to the fore. I look forward to deepening Nigeria’s pivotal national consultations on gender, population and development, in conjunction with the UNFPA Nigeria country office, alongside the International Steering Committee’s global terms of reference.”

Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director, commented: “As we celebrate the remarkable progress we have made in advancing the health and rights of women, we must redouble our efforts to reach those who have not yet benefited from the promise of the ICPD. The Nairobi Summit will help us rally a broad coalition of stakeholders to protect the gains made and advance the ICPD agenda to ensure that no one is left behind.”

Mrs Saraki has also served as a pioneer member of the United Nations African Women’s Leadership Network since 2017, and is a contributor to the 2019 UK-France Governments’ International Consultative Dialogue for Prevention of Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI). Mrs Saraki is the Global Goodwill Ambassador for the International Confederation of Midwives and a Special Adviser to the Independent Advisory Group of the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa.

The UNFPA as core advocacy partner, seeks to catalyse and accelerate progress towards ‘the Three Zeros’ – three strategic results that it will work to achieve by 2030: zero unmet need for family planning; zero maternal deaths; and zero violence and harmful practices against women and girls, including child marriage and female genital mutilation.

Headline

Breaking: Wike Plans to Attend Thursday’s PDP NEC Meeting

Published

2 days ago

April 17, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The immediate past Governor of Rivers State, and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, may have concluded plans to attend the much advertised National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), billed to hold on Thursday, in Abuja.

Impeccable source, who is in the know, told The Boss that the minister, whose membership of the PDP is yet to be revoked even as he frolicks with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and serving in the President Bola Tinubu government as a minister.

The Source told The Boss that Wike’s impending presence at the NECeeting on Thursday is not unconnected with plans, already hatched with some governors, to weaken the opposition PDP.

“Yes, we have on good authority that FCT minister, Wike is planning to attend the NEC meeting tomorrow all in a bid to weaken the fabrics of the PDP, and pave the way for the continuation of the Tinubu administration come 2027, and by extension, relapse Nigeria to a full blown one party state.

“From every indication, Wike and his co-travellers, are bent on unleashing the same crisis ravaging the third force, Labour Party, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s Nigerian National People’s Party (NNPP) on the PDP for the APC to remain the only political party in the country, and ensure that Tinubu has no challenger, come 2027,” the Source said.

It would be recalled that Wike has boasted over and again that there’s no opposition against Tinubu’s re-emergence in 2027, and that they have made sure of that. He has been compensated with the Ministerial job after he withdrew support for his party, and supported the APC and Tinubu to emerge as national government.

The Source further revealed that in the attempt to actualize the intended one party state, a lot of funding is ongoing to ensure that concerned stakeholders are ‘settled’ handsomely.

Wike, prior, during and after the 2023 general elections, has been floating in between the two major political parties; the APC and the PDP. While he claim to still be a member of the PDP, he is functioning as a minister in an APC government, mocking the inability of his party to discipline him.

Political stakeholders have concluded that the outcome of Thursday’s PDP NEC meeting will determine the path Nigeria’s political trajectory will take, and that it may portend the end of multi-party system and political democracy if Wike succeeds in his plan.

Headline

Bribery, Corruption: APC Suspends National Chairman, Ganduje

Published

4 days ago

April 15, 2024

Eric

The All Progressives Congress ward in Ganduje, Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area, has suspended the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.

The party ward legal adviser, Halliru Gwanzo, announced the suspension while addressing newsmen in Kano State on Monday.

Gwanzo cited allegations of bribery against Ganduje levelled by the Kano State Government as the reason for the suspension.

“We decided to suspend Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje from the party due to the seriousness of the allegations against him,” Gwanzo said.

Meanwhile, efforts to contact the Chief Press Secretary to the APC National Chairman, Mr Edwin Olufo, failed as his mobile phone was unreachable.

Headline

Akpabio Commits to Collaboration with Tinubu, Governor Umo Eno

Published

1 week ago

April 12, 2024

Admin

The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has stated his commitment to working closely with Nigeria’s President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Governor Umo Eno to ensure the delivery of democratic benefits to the people of Akwa Ibom State.

Akpabio stated this in his country home, Ukana, Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom, while briefing his constituents on the journey so far as their representative in the red chamber.

He assured the people of Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District of his commitment to their welfare in appreciation of their total support for him, President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in last year’s election.

The Highpoint of the constituency briefing was the distribution of over 10,000 bags of rice and other essentials for his constituents from the wards, to the local governments.

A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, quoted Akpabio as saying, “I am here once again, to thank you for standing by me, our President and the party, before, during and even after last year’s elections. I have come to say thank you and also bring Renewed Hope to you all.

“As the President is doing his own, the Senate President is also doing his bit and being complemented by the state governor, Akwa Ibom would be the better for it. We have finished elections and politics, we are now into governance. The governor of the state must touch you, because he is the governor of all the people in the state irrespective of political affiliation.

” As I am touching you now from the political angle, I will also touch the state without any political party affiliation. Most of the projects we are putting in place would be used by people resident in the state. Relax, things are getting better.”

The former Governor of the state, assured his constituents that his current position as the Senate President would be used for the development of the state in collaboration with the President and the Akwa Ibom State Governor.

Hear him: This Senate President is not the one that would be fighting the state government. I will collaborate with , I will collaborate with , to make the state better for us all. We cannot be out of government for a long time. You have to go to a government that carries you along”

Akpabio promised to work for his constituents and Nigeria with all his strength, noting that, “as the President of the Senate, I am for the Southern region and the entire country. I may not come here regularly to tell you what I have been doing for you, but you will be feeling the impact on way or the other. Our unemployed youths would be gainfully employed. I will construct a mini stadium in all the local governments in the district, for our youths to develop their sporting potentials. ”