Reports say pro-Russian forces may launch targeted strikes on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol if Ukrainian forces there do not surrender, the Interfax news agency quoted Donetsk separatist commander Eduard Basurin as saying
Russia and separatists say they have encircled the city of 430,000 located on the Azov Sea coast.
The Director General of National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr. Gambo Aliyu, has donated four ambulances to Jigawa State Government on Wednesday.
The DG who presented the vehicles to Governor Muhammad Badaru, said that the gesture was to assist the government to strengthen its health system.
He lauded the state government for the efforts toward controlling the spread of HIV in the state, noting that “Jigawa is one of the states with a low prevalence rate in the country.”
According to him, the state is also one of the first states to institute premarital tests for HIV by making sure that intending couples are tested before getting married.
He added that “this is what we’re advocating nationwide; that people should come forward and demand HIV services. The day people start demanding HIV services will be the end of HIV/AIDS.”
“We’re here to appreciate the Jigawa Government and look at what we’ve done together and at the same time present these ambulances to help strengthen the health system, coming directly from the Global Fund in Geneva.”
According to Aliyu, about two million people are living with HIV across the country.
He, however, said that the agency had identified about 1.8 million such people and placed them on treatment.
“We’re now trying to identify other people who are living with the virus to make sure that they demand and access HIV services.”
This, he noted, was to enable the agency to identify all carriers and place them on treatment.
“Once the agency is able to identify and place carriers on treatment, the prevalence will be controlled, the same way polio was controlled.”
In his response, Badaru commended the agency for its contributions to the improvement of the health sector in the state.
He explained that with the provision of the ambulances to the state government, it would now use the fund it earmarked for the purchase of such vehicles for other projects.
He said, “the donation of these brand new full equipped ambulances will enable Jigawa Government to use funds earmarked for the same purpose to other social services for the benefit of the people.”
Badaru said that his administration keyed into the best practice and the policy of one functional primary healthcare centre per ward to ensure that people had access to quality healthcare services.
In a bid to stop child abuse in schools, the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) of Lagos State and the Office of Education Quality Assurance have commenced plans to implement the safeguarding and child protection programme.
The Executive Secretary of Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA), Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, disclosed this at a one-day sensitisation programme held recently at the Adeyemi-Bero Auditorium, Alausa, organised to educate Principals, Administrators and Heads of Schools on the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy of the State Government.
In her welcome address, the Executive Secretary said apart from homes and communities, children also experience abuse and exploitation in organisations that provide them with support and services.
According to her, research has shown that physical, emotional abuse and neglect in child-focused organisations and institutions are less systematic and usually unplanned, adding that they stem from poor conditions, bad work practices, and negligent management.
Vivour-Adeniyi added that all child centered institutions must adopt and ensure full implementation of a Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.
The school representatives and other participants present at the event were given the relevant tools required in ensuring they can effectively establish and implement the policy in their institutions.
Also speaking at the event, the Director-General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, highlighted the need for schools to recognise the role they play in ensuring the wellbeing and safety of children, especially as children spend a significant time of their day in school.
She urged participants to take advantage of the free online course; “Introduction of Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy,” which she noted has been completed by over 10,000 educators.
Two Child Protection Experts and Facilitators at the event, Taiwo Akinlami and Modupeola Saheed-Adebambo, provided an overview of the Executive Order on Safeguarding and Child Protection programme.
Adebambo recommended certain critical measures schools should adopt in ensuring the safety of their students.
She listed the measures to include safer recruitment procedures, adopting a safeguarding policy, having a designated safeguarding officer, and establishing reporting, recording and feedback mechanisms.
The other child protection expert, Taiwo Akinlami, gave an insight into what child’s rights entail, societal and cultural perceptions of children, as well as norms and beliefs that encourage child abuse.
They dwelt on the issue of corporal punishment, while reminding participants of the State Government’s ‘No-Caning’ policy.
The new initiative may not be unconnected to the recent cases of alleged bullying, molestation, and physical assaults on young school children reported in some schools in the state.
According to the state, the programme will be implemented in all education districts.
1575 Indian Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Bengali army at the Battle of Tukaroi
1857 Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China
1861 Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs and granting them the full rights of free citizens
1887 Anne Sullivan begins teaching 6-year-old blind-deaf Helen Keller
1917 1st major strike of the Russian “February Revolution” starts at the giant Putilov factory in Petrograd
1921 Toronto’s Dr Banting & Dr Best announce the discovery of insulin
1939 Mahatma Gandhi begins a fast in Mumbai (Bombay) to protest against autocratic rule in India
1943 Battle of the Bismarck Sea: Australian and American air forces devastate Japanese navy convoy
1991 Los Angeles police officers severely beat motorist Rodney King, the beating is famously captured on amateur video and later leads to riots when the police officers are acquitted
Historical Events Today
Today In Film & TV
1985 “Moonlighting” with Cybill Shepard & Bruce Willis premieres on ABC TV in the US
Today In Music
1875 Georges Bizet’s last and greatest opera “Carmen” premieres in Paris
Today In Sport
1956 Dutch swimmer Cockie Gastelaars breaks 20-year old world record for 100m freestyle (1:04.2)
Do You Know This Fact About Today?
1873 US Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any “obscene, lewd, or lascivious” books through the mail
Would You Believe This Fact About Today?
2013 A 2-year-old US girl becomes the first child born with HIV to be cured
Zimbabwe has evacuated 118 students from Ukraine to safer places following an ongoing military operation in that country and will provide them with air tickets for their return home.
This is according to Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa during a post-Cabinet briefing on Wednesday.
Zimbabwean embassies in Russia and Germany are facilitating the evacuation exercise in Ukraine after an outbreak of war with Moscow.
The Minister Mutsvangwa gave a breakdown of the 118 students who have been relocated to the following safer places; Romania 28, Hungary 15, Slovakia 26 and Poland 49.
She said a Mission official is currently based in Poland to assist those that need to be repatriated, adding that everyone will continue to be updated on the situation of students in Ukraine.
Last Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade assured parents and stakeholders that the Government was engaged with the evacuation of its citizens from Ukraine.
All students in Ukraine were being urged to cross the border to neighbouring Poland where Government intervention was guaranteed there.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has commenced evacuation of 2,090 Nigerians stranded at neighbouring countries surrounding Ukraine.
Recall that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Godfrey Onyema, had said there were about 8,000 Nigerians in Ukraine, 5,000 of whom are students, adding that the Federal Government had tipped Air Peace and Max Air to airlift Nigerians, who wanted to be evacuated.
However, in a press statement by the permanent secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Gabriel Aduda, he said the chattered flights from Max Air and Air Peace will depart on Wednesday, March 2, 2022 to pick up Nigerian evacuees back home.
Ambassador Aduda said the records of evacuees received by Nigerian embassies show 650 persons from Hungary, 350 from Poland, 940 from Romania and 150 Nigerians from Slovakia.
He, however, stated that the first batch of evacuees is expected to arrive Nigeria on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
He said the capacity and route of the airlines are as follows: Max Air to Romania to airlift 560 persons, Airpeace to Poland for 364 persons and Airpeace to Hungary to evacuate 360 persons.
Aduda reassured Nigerians that government is working round the clock to see that Nigerian citizens are brought back home safely.
There have been social media messages calling for peace, after an image of a murdered Russian opposition figure, a newspaper editorial demanding President Vladimir Putin “stop this war.”
As Russian forces pound Ukraine’s cities, the sentiments might not be surprising. Their source is — they come from rich Russians, including billionaires close to the Kremlin.
Russia’s war on Ukraine has sent shockwaves through the global community of wealthy Russians, who face sanctions that threaten their London mansions, Mediterranean yachts and children’s places at elite European private schools.
Some have begun, albeit tentatively, to speak out — though it may be too little to end the war, or to protect their Western fortunes.
“It’s very cautious steps, but nevertheless you can see they are already thinking of the future and trying to save whatever they can,” said Elisabeth Schimpfössl, author of the book “Rich Russians.”
The meeting between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has again ended with the lecturers asking the government to act on its demands.
The Federal Government fixed a timeline of six weeks for the new committee set up by the Federal Ministry of Education to round off everything on the conditions of service for the university lecturers.
President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, at the resumed meeting with federal Government team on Tuesday in Abuja, said all ASUU members, students and Nigerians wanted to see was action from the government.
The ASUU leader said its members want to see the federal government release money for revitalisation, pay the earned academic allowances, put a stop to proliferation of universities among others.
He said the money that ought to have been used to fund education was being lost to other countries.
The ASUU leader called for a declaration of emergency in the sector to solve the problem.
Prof Osodeke: “The education sector in Nigeria is in crisis and money is being lost in the primary, secondary and tertiary education levels.”
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige at the end of the marathon meeting on Tuesday night, expressed hope that ASUU would call off its ongoing four-week warning strike this week.
Ngige told reporters that the meeting agreed on many things and put timelines for the implementation of the agreements.
The Minister said ASUU agreed to go back to its members with the government offers and report back to him before the end of the week.
He said that many of the items in the 2020 Memorandum of Action (MOA) had been dealt with exhaustively while some were being addressed.
Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, is currently faced with challenges that include funding.
The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, disclosed this while addressing newsmen on the occasion of his 365 days in office.
He said, “There is a dire need for a significant infusion of funds for the upgrade of our physical environment, especially when considering that this university is among those universities that started without a take-off grant from the government.
“The University experienced a lot of slowing down due to paucity of funds which is a major brick wall to the university’s desire to change the state of her infrastructure and physical facilities.”
According to him, the university pays dearly for fuel and diesel and has lost two students due to the poor condition of the federal road there.
In spite of these and more, the VC described his one year in office as “a year of experience and impact on the hard and soft components” of the achievements of his administration, adding, “the past 12 months have been tough but we are making headway”.
He highlighted the soft components to include digitalisation of university processes, information dissemination, students and staff welfare, alumni welfare, partnerships and Memoranda of Understanding, conflict resolution, and research and innovation.
The hard components, he said include multiple infrastructure development, commercialisation of the university through bread, biscuit factory, filing station, commercial fish ponds, and agricultural land equipment.
He noted that under his administration, inaugural and other public lectures have been sustained, while students of the University had excelled in public debates and quiz competitions.
“It has been a bittersweet one year, one that accommodated the good, the bad and the ugly. While we relish the good, we must find ways to confront the bad and the ugly head-on by working hard and diligently,” the VC said.
He also reiterated that the efforts of his administration would be hinged on “prudent management, fairness, friendship and partnership, physical development, research and innovation, staff and student’s welfare and information and communication”.
The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday passed two bills to establish a Federal University in the Federal Capital Territory and Rivers State.
They are the FCT University of Science and Technology Abaji (Establishment) Bill, 2022; and Federal University of Environmental Technology, Koroma/Saakperwa Tai Ogoni, Rivers State (Establishment) Bill, 2022.
The bills were passed after the consideration of two separate reports presented by the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND.
Vice-Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sandy Onuh, in a presentation on behalf of the Chairman, Ahmad Babba Kaita, said the bill to establish the Federal Capital Territory University of Science and Technology, Abaji, would provide the legal framework needed by the institution to close the knowledge gap in science and technology.
According to the lawmaker, the bill to establish the Federal University of Environmental Technology would allow for academic and professional programmes leading to the award of first degrees, post-graduate degrees, and diplomas with special emphasis on environmental technology and research.
Both bills to establish the two federal universities were passed by the chamber after consideration by the Committee of the Whole.
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