Humanity Watch

  Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba said that Nigeria has an estimated 10,193,918 Out-of-School Children, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Nwajiuba stated this during the inauguration of “Better Education Service Delivery For All (BESDA)”, in Katsina on Monday. The programme started in 2018. According to him, the Nigerian Education system is characterised by high illiteracy level and infrastructural decay. “We have inadequate number of qualified teachers, inadequate infrastructural facilities/resources and poor funding,” he added. Nwajiuba congratulated the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, on his giant stride to reposition education in the state. He said this is a clear demonstration of high leadership quality and personal commitment to education. The minister stated that BESDA focuses on 17 states in the country, including all 13 states of the North-West and North-East geo-political zones. Niger, Oyo, Ebonyi and Rivers are also included. Masari commended the

The group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,  Mele Kolo Kyari,   has justified the plan to buy a 20 percent stake in the $11 billion Dangote refinery. “There is no resource-dependent country that will watch a business of this scale, which borders on energy security and has implications for fiscal security of the country, and you don’t have a say,” Mr Kyari said on Tuesday. He spoke in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, while also disclosing that the NNPC planned to borrow to pay for its shares. “For the Dangote refinery, we are not taking government money to buy it, which is the mistake that people are making,” he said. “We are borrowing on the back of the cash-flow of this business. “We know that this business is viable, it will work and it will return dividends. It has a cash-flow that is sustainable because refinery business, in the short term, will continue to be sustainable. “That’s why banks have come forward to lend to us, so we c

  The Federal Government has arrested the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu. The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), who made the disclosure to journalists on Tuesday, revealed that Kanu was arrested and brought back to Nigeria on Sunday. Malami said Kanu would soon be brought before the Federal High Court where he jumped bail. Malami said Kanu would soon be brought before the Federal High Court where he jumped bail. Kanu was first arraigned on 23 November 2015 in an Abuja Magistrate Court for the first time  for charges of “criminal conspiracy, intimidation and membership of an illegal organisation” by Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS). The charges violate “Section 97, 97B and 397” of Nigeria’s penal code.  Chief Magistrate S. Usman had, at the last adjourned date, berated the Department of State Services (DSS) over its failure to produce Kanu in court on the two consecutive times the m

  Decades after adopting the National Gender Policy on 35 per cent Affirmative Action for Women, Nigeria still lags well behind most countries across the world in female representation in parliament, cabinet and court. Despite advocacies to promote gender equality not much has been achieved. With the ongoing process of review of the 1999 Constitution, expectations are rife that, unlike previous times,  the proposed amendment to the constitution would address the concerns of  Nigerian women. Josephine Ejeh who spoke with renowned women activists championing the course for equal participation of women in governance in Nigeria, re-echoes their views in this special report.       Nigeria's National Assembly complex in Abuja. Globally, Nigeria has been touted as the giant of Africa. In terms of abundance of natural resources, it is second to none in the whole of Africa. It is also the envy of many countries because of its rich cultural and ethnic diversity. In the area of human resourc

    Rural communities face the worst deprivation from the effect of the COVID 19 pandemic. Billions of Naira earmarked as COVID-19 funds to cushion the devastating effect of the pandemic were not accessed by rural communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Research conducted by CITAD with support from Actionaid Nigeria under the Youth Digital Engagement (YDE) project shows that only an insignificant percentage of the population in the communities benefited from the COVID-19 palliatives in the FCT, Josephine Ejeh reports. For years, Kadijah Sani survived from proceeds from sales of waterleaf which she uses to support her family until the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus which subjected her to the worst ever experience in her farming business.   All over the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the livelihood of people especially the aged and young. For young persons, the pandemic led to more job losses and widened the social exclusion gap. Young women and men occup