£1.2m Chaperones Project: United Kingdom Backs Scheme To Keep Pupils Safe

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January 3, 2022

Schools in areas of high crime in the West Midlands are taking part in a Home Office-backed scheme.

Children are being helped by adult chaperones on their way to and from school in high-crime inner city areas.

The £1.2m project is being piloted in the West Midlands with support from the Home Office and the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Participating schools were selected on police intelligence about criminal activity in their neighbourhoods.

Among the schools taking part in the scheme – called Step Together – is The Ark Boulton Academy, a secondary school in the inner-city Sparkhill area of Birmingham.

The chaperones come from groups who already have a presence in the areas they operate in, as well as a relationship with the schools.

In Sparkhill, they come from the youth development programme, Make A Difference. They do an hour pre-school and several post-school, as well as a day’s work in-between.

The Ark Boulton Academy was chosen, along with more than a dozen others in the West Midlands police force area, because there have been problems with anti-social behaviour and gang crime nearby.

At the beginning and end of the day a small group of adults gather at the school gates to act as chaperones for the children as they walk between home and school. Others are stationed in nearby parks.

The school’s head teacher, Danny Richards, hopes the scheme will provide pupils with added reassurance about their safety.

The West Midlands has been blighted by attacks on teenagers in the hours after school in recent years.

The scheme is being assessed and new schools will join the pilot this term.

The project is based on a successful scheme which helped reduce crime in the US city of Chicago. If it is a success, it is hoped chaperones could become a more common sight elsewhere in England and Wales.

Ethiopia Inaugurates State Of Art Public Library

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Precious Obazee

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January 3, 2022

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Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has inaugurated Abrehot (enlightenment) Library in Addis, one of Africa’s largest public libraries, which can accommodate over 2,000 readers at a time.

During the inauguration ceremony, Abiy stated that the Abrehot Library is the key to unlocking the nation’s many untold histories and facilitating ways to create wealth.

He said that knowledge is the way out of ignorance and ignorance is darkness, and one who is in darkness cannot think rationally.

He added that a nation is built by knowledge. “We can prosper if we lay the groundwork for our children to understand our history and the meaning of freedom. The key to this is knowledge,” he declared.

He further explained that Ethiopia is one of the 18 countries in the world that have its own alphabet and is the only country in Africa with its own alphabet.

Addis Ababa Mayor Adanech Abebie, on her part stated that the four-storey Abrehot Library is the first of its kind in East Africa, and was built under the initiative of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD).

She said the library is one of the top ten libraries in Africa.

The library covers an area of 19,000 square meters and has a 1.5-kilometer shelf and can hold 1.4 million books. The library also has over 240,000 electronic books and 300,000 research papers.

It was built with a budget of over one billion Birr.

Mayor Adanech Abebie said that the library has a place for parents to read with their children, a children’s reading and playing areas, adequate Braille books for the blind, and a modern cafeteria and conference room. It also has eight bookstores and an amphitheater.

2021 Examination: WAEC Liberia Withholds 32 Percent of Results, Cites Malpractice

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Precious Obazee

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January 3, 2022

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The West African Examination Council (WAEC) Liberia Office has released its 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WAESSCE) result, withholding more than 30 percent of examination results based on malpractice and collusion.

The Head of WAEC Liberia National Office Dale G. Gbotoe, made the disclosure at WAEC Headquarters in Congo Town.

According to the WAEC boss, the 13,454 candidates that were found in examination malpractices and collusion, have been placed into several categories.

Gbotoe said 73 schools from eight counties, accounting for 8,536 candidates representing 63.45 percent out of 13,454 candidates’ results are being withheld due to alleged involvement with collusion.

He said 637 candidates’ results are being withheld for their involvement in several types of examination malpractices.

Also, 47 schools with a total of 4,281 candidates representing 31.82% of the 13,454 candidates’ results are being withheld because of the submission of unreliable school grades for WASSCE.

Gbotoe added that three examination workers named Williams A. Kpennie, Amolah Marshall and Peter Walker aided and abetted examination malpractice.

According to Gbotoe, the 2021 WAESSCE was administered at 322 centers in the 15 counties from September 10 to 30, 2021. Nine subjects were offered during the examination with the Arts students sitting for seven of the nine subjects. Also, the Science students sat a minimum of eight of the nine subjects.

NAFDAC Warns Against Performance Enhancing Drugs

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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January 3, 2022

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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned Nigerians to desist from using performance enhancing substances known as aphrodisiac in order to impress their female partner, stressing that consumption of such substances could lead to stroke or sudden deaths.

The Director General of the agency, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye gave the admonition in her Christmas and New Year goodwill message to Nigerians, where she decried the preponderance of performance enhancing drugs otherwise known as ‘Manpower in the local parlance, in the Nigeria market.

This was contained In a statement by NAFDACs Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, in the statement Prof. Adeyeye lamented that many men have died using performance enhancing drugs and their relatives would blame their death on some imaginary witches in the village.

According to Prof. Adeyeye, most of the performance enhancing drugs are not registered with NAFDAC. That they are smuggled into the country. If they were registered, the producers and peddlers alike would not be doing what they are doing in the supermarkets, social media platforms and on the streets.

The NAFDAC boss also described as false the claim by the producers of the products that they have no side effects, insisting that majority of the products did not go through the approval process of the Agency. She however, warned that the Agency would not relent in running after the peddlers of such dangerous drugs until they are brought to book for violating the regulations.

According to her, unbridled use of aphrodisiacs has a lot of implications in the entire body system, noting that the use of the products could potentially affect the blood pressure of the body. She stressed that when one have a disproportionate flow of blood to a particular part of the body and lasting longer than normal, they tend to disrupt the normal flow of the circulatory system.

Prof Adeyeye further warned that aphrodisiacs could also interact with other drugs in the system, explaining that the liver is responsible for breakdown of drugs while the byproduct of all waste goes down through the kidneys. When these things are used especially with some herbal medicines that don’t have dosage and professional prescription, it can lead to internal organ damage. It can hurt the liver and the kidneys, leading to untimely death.

She urged Nigerians to eat right and drink right to avoid health complications after the annual festivities.

South Africa holds state funeral for Archbishop Desmond Tutu

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Henry Williams

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January 3, 2022

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The funeral mass for South African anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu has taken place at the Anglican cathedral in Cape Town.

Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped end the racist regime in South Africa, died last Sunday aged 90.

In his eulogy, President Cyril Ramaphosa described Tutu as “the spiritual father of our new nation”.

Tutu had insisted there should be no “lavish spending” on the funeral. He wanted “the cheapest available coffin”.

Family, friends, clergy and politicians were among those who gathered at St George’s Cathedral for Saturday’s service, which had limited numbers because of coronavirus restrictions. Tutu’s widow Nomalizo Leah sat in a wheelchair at the front of the congregation wearing a purple shawl – the colour of her late husband’s clerical robes.

Richard Leakey: Kenyan conservationist dies aged 77

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Henry Williams

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January 3, 2022

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Richard Leakey, a world-renowned Kenyan conservationist and fossil hunter has died aged 77.

His groundbreaking work contributed to the recognition of Africa as the birthplace of humankind.

He also spearheaded campaigns to stop poaching in Kenya, famously burning the country’s stockpile of poached ivory.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Leakey had “served our country with distinction”.

Leakey served in various positions in the Kenyan government including the National Museums of Kenya, the Kenya Wildlife Service and as head of the civil service.

South Africa parliament: Man arrested over massive fire

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Henry Williams

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January 3, 2022

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A man has been arrested after a large fire severely damaged the Houses of Parliament in the South African city of Cape Town.

The suspect, who is not a parliamentary employee, will appear in court on Tuesday, facing charges of arson, housebreaking and theft, police said.

Firefighters worked for hours to extinguish the blaze.

President Cyril Ramaphosa called it a “terrible and devastating event”, as he vowed parliament’s work would continue.

Footage from the scene on Sunday showed a plume of black smoke filling the sky, with huge flames coming out from the roof of the building.

Officials say the fire started on the third floor offices and quickly spread to the National Assembly (the parliament’s lower house) chamber, reports the BBC’s Nomsa Maseko in Cape Town.

The parliament is not currently in session because of the holidays, and no-one was injured.

Sudan coup: Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigns after mass protests

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Henry Williams

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January 3, 2022

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Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has resigned after another day of mass protests rocked the capital Khartoum.

Thousands marched against a recent deal he had done to share power with the army, who staged a coup in October.

Chanting “power to the people”, protesters called for a return to full civilian rule. But military forces again responded with force, leaving two people dead.

Mr Hamdok’s decision to quit leaves the army in full control.

It is another blow to Sudan’s fragile attempts at a transition to democratic rule after a popular uprising led to the overthrow of Sudan’s long-term authoritarian President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

In a televised address, Mr Hamdok said the country was at a “dangerous turning point that threatens its whole survival”.

He said he had tried his best to stop the country from “sliding towards disaster”, but that “despite everything that has been done to reach a consensus… it has not happened”.

NAFDAC To Reduce Drugs Importation To 30% By 2025

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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January 3, 2022

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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said it is working on reducing the importation of drugs from its present 70 per cent to 30 per cent by 2025.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, told the Newsmen in Lagos that this could be achieved through increased local manufacturing of drugs.

Adeyeye said that increasing local drug manufacturing would help curb the prevalence of substandard drugs and ensure drug security in the country.

“We are using multifaceted approaches to curb substandard and falsified medicine in the country. So, we want to change the 70 per cent importation of drugs into the country to 30 per cent by 2025, so that as a nation we can say we have drug security because we don’t have that now. A country that is not drug secure is not secured in other facets”, She said.

The DG noted that the agency had also tightened the belt around the shipment of drugs into the country.

“We have read our riot act to drugs manufacturers who bring their drugs to the country if they want to be friends in trade with Nigeria.

“If they want to be friends with us, they should do what we want and not send what will kill our people, and that is why we have tightened shipment of drugs into the country.

“We have been to China and India and now we deal with the lab directly not the agents like what it used to be before,” Adeyeye stated.

SERAP urges Buhari to probe alleged misuse of security votes by govs

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Henry Williams

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January 3, 2022

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Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and appropriate anti-corruption agencies to investigate allegations of systemic mismanagement of security votes by state governors since 1999.

SERAP also urged Buhari to instruct Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to jointly track and monitor spending of security votes by the 36 state governors.

The body said: “Probing the spending of security votes and ensuring accountability for any cases of corruption would improve the ability of your government to deliver on promises to ensure the security of Nigerians.

The organisation recalled that Buhari, in his 2022 new year message, raised concerns about persistent insecurity in certain parts of the country and promised to remain resolute in giving utmost attention to the problem.