Minister appeals to developed countries on technology transfer

Minister appeals to developed countries on technology transfer
Written by Chris Ochayi
Tuesday, 30 October 2007

ABUJA—Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Halima Alao has pleaded with the industrialized nations to assist developing countries with cheap technology transfer and provision of adequate financial support that would enable them to stem the aftermath of climate change.



The Minister who stated this at the opening of a three-day preparatory meeting of the “African Group Negotiators in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol (KP) yesterday in Abuja, pointed that Africa nations are most vulnerable and of least capacity to combat the negative impacts of climate changes.

She said, there is need for enhanced human, institutional and systemic capacity building initiatives from developed countries.
According to her, there is need for increased level of Least Developed Country Fund (LDCF) as well as deployment and fostering the use of sustainable, less carbon intensive, cheap-energy and climate friendly technologies are important from mitigation and adaptation view points”.

She added that Africa remains the least to benefit from this arrangement due to lack of capacity to negotiate within the larger group our needs to face the challenges of global warming and climate change.

“African countries must effectively address the challenges posed by the adverse impacts of climate change and climate variability on our national development efforts as well as provision of adequate and predictable financial and technical assistance to assist our perspective countries to effectively implement adaptation and mitigation projects consistent with national sustainable development priorities”.

“Our ability to implement climate change activities to enhance our sustainable development largely depends on availability and access to fund and technology for the implementation of climate change activities”.

The Minister stressed further that provision of funding and transfer of technology would not only enable the continent to attain Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) but enhance efforts towards the implementation of the Convention and the Protocol.

Article taken from the online version of Vanguard newspaper.

30 die in Lagos-Ibadan road crash

30 die in Lagos-Ibadan road crash
From Charles Coffie-Gyamfi and
Adeyemi Adepetun, Abeokuta
Tuesday, October 30, 2007

THE Lagos-Ibadan highway has once again lived up to its billing as Nigeria's gateway to heaven, no thanks to its army of pot-holes and craters.

In a fell swoop, the road on Sunday night claimed no fewer than 30 lives in a ghastly accident involving a fuel tanker, four buses and two cars.

The Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Apapa, told journalists yesterday that the death toll could even be higher.

The accident occurred at about 11.00 p.m. near the Conoil fuel station, a few metres from the Sagamu interchange in Ogun State. The highway straddles Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states.

An eyewitness disclosed that the tanker was coming from Lagos. In an attempt to avoid a pothole, the tanker tipped on its side, spilling its fuel content on the road.

According to the source, as soon as the tanker fell, it caught fire and the fire started spreading with a lightening speed.

The fire caught all the six vehicles that were directly behind it, consuming most of their 90 passengers.

A doctor at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu where the survivors were rushed to, told The Guardian that 10 of the victims who received various degrees of burns were on admission. He said that some of the cases were very serious.

The Police Commissioner told reporters: "The driver of one of the affected buses after the bus caught fire, in desperation, drove into the bus but none of the victims in that bus survived."

The Guardian learnt that the accident involved the aides of the Minister of Power and Steel Development, Alhaji Sarafa Tunji Isola. The aides were said to have seen off the minister who was in Abeokuta at the weekend to the Lagos Airport on his way to Abuja and were returning to Abeokuta when the accident occurred.

Two of the aides who were said to have received injuries were among those being treated.

Only last week, another accident on the same road claimed 17 lives early last year, an accident in which a fuel tanker fell in a similar manner, resulted in burning of about 15 vehicles and the death of several persons.

A source told The Guardian that there was no survivor in a 14-seater bus. All its passengers, including the driver were burnt to ashes.

One of the victims was a pregnant woman who sat in the front of one of the 18-seater buses. She was also burnt to ashes.

A long line of queues of wailing sympathisers formed at the scene yesterday morning, all decrying the poor states of the inter-city highway

Nigeria needs N3 trillion to end outage

Nigeria needs N3 trillion to end outage
From Anietie Akpan, Calabar
Tuesday, October 30, 2007

FOR erratic power supply to become a thing of the past in the country, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) will need a sum of N3 trillion.

Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Ransome Owan gave the figure in Calabar the Cross River State capital shortly after the commissioning of the Presidential Retreat and International Conference Centre at the Obudu Ranch Resort by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

"We need N3 trillion investments for the country to have improved power supply. The country will have vast improvement with such injection of money. I am happy to report that as of today, we have granted licenses to 21 companies that are going to generate over 8,200 megawatts", he said.

According to Owan, the electricity sector in the country is undergoing tremendous changes for the collective interest of the nation. He noted that the Commission is working hard to ensure that electricity is made affordable.

The NERC chairman said since the Federal Government alone could not take up the responsibility on account of scarcity of funds, it had entered into partnership with the private sector and had also created an enabling environment to partner with the Independent Power Plant (IPP).

"Right now, the national budget is about N2 trillion. The power sector alone can easily take that on any given day", he said adding, "so it is critical that those private investors come in and invest in the energy sector of the nation's economy".

Owan added: "We have what we call suppressed demand in the country, that is, the demand for power as a country is more than the supply of power. Experts tell us that today we can use up to 14,000 to 15,000 megawatts, but our capacity to generate is about 4,000 megawatts. The demand is so high that anybody can build a power plant today. We can buy all the power".

He said the efforts of government towards ensuring regular power supply in the country had the granting of license to 21 companies to produce the required 8,200 megawatts.

"One of the companies, Geometric in Aba , Abia State would perform its ground breaking ceremony on November 1, kicking off with the construction of an Independent Power Plant".

Some of the problems towards having regular power supply in the country, he noted, include weak distribution points, non-overhauling of the power plants for over 20 years and paucity of funds.

According to Owan, it a typical power plant of 200 to 300 megawatts requires at least two to three years as the gestation period.

The NERC chief was however optimistic that with all the requirements in place, the problem of blackouts in the country would soon become a thing of the past.

Four die as palace is torched in Osun

Four die as palace is torched in Osun
From Tunji Omofoye, Osogbo
Tuesday, October 23, 2007

IKIRE, the headquarters of Irewole Council area of Osun State was held by the jugular yesterday as irate youths took to the streets and set four persons, along with the palace of the monarch, the Akire of Ikire, Oba Olatunde Falabi on fire.

The angry youths, whose action resulted in the death of the four persons and destruction of vital artefacts in the traditional ruler's palace were said to be protesting alleged ritual killings of innocent people in the community.

Other sources said the youths were venting their anger against alleged political support given to a candidate by the monarch as against their popular choice at the concluded primaries of the council election in the area.

During the protest, which started in the early hours of yesterday, the youths reportedly combed the entire town in search of their perceived enemies.

The Guardian learnt that two of the four victims set ablaze were advanced fee fraudsters popularly called 419 who were operating in the town.

According to the sources, one of the fraudsters was apprehended and set on fire at Ode-Adie area while the other was overpowered and burnt to ashes at Sango, another location in the community.

It was gathered that the youths claimed that they had made a report of the rampant ritual killings in the town to the monarch without getting the desired response from him. The development allegedly sparked off the violent protest.

Falabi, whom they accused of not taking prompt action to stem the tide of loss of innocent people's life was outside the town when the violence broke out but his palace was torched while vital documents and artefacts were destroyed.

It was gathered that the mysterious disappearance of a woman whose corpse was later discovered at a remote location with her vital organs removed in the town at the weekend ignited yesterday's protest by the youths.

But another source, who craved anonymity attributed the cause of the violent protest to the disagreement arising from the local council primaries in which a candidate supported by the youths lost out.

The youths were said to be infuriated by the action of the monarch, who they accused of backing a candidate who contested and won the primaries.

The protest disrupted the social and commercial activities in the town for several hours before the police were drafted to restore normalcy.

It could not be ascertained as at press time the number of people arrested in connection with the disturbance but many residents were said to have fled their homes while other sought refuge in neighbouring towns.

Reacting to yesterday's development, Falabi who spoke on telephone from Lagos lamented the loss of lives and burning of his palace. He said the action by the youths had political undertone, which was targeted against him.

The Deputy Governor of the state, Olusola Obada, who visited Ikire accompanied by the Deputy Commissioner of Police and Director of the State Security Service (SSS) condemned the loss of lives and wanton destruction of property and traditional artefacts.

Obada visited the palace of Akire, which was still then burning and later went round the town to appeal for calm, adding that the people should report suspected criminals to the law enforcement agents instead of taking laws into their hands.

This article was taken from the online version of The Guardian Newspaper.

Three Nigerian dons on Nobel Prize-winning UN panel

Three Nigerian dons on Nobel Prize-winning UN panel
From Laolu Akande, New York
Tuesday, October 23, 2007

NIGERIA is sharing in the honour of this year's Nobel Peace prize.

This is so because two Nigerian professors from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, have been identified as active contributors and authors to the work of the United Nations (UN) Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC), which won this year's Nobel Peace prize alongside former United States' Vice President Al Gore.

A third professor had also been active in working out the detailed process of producing the UN convention on climate change, which is closely linked to the work of the Nobel prize-winning IPCC.

They are Professors Segun Adegbulugbe, Francis I. Ibitoye and Felix Dayo, all of who have been associated with the Obafemi Awolowo University at different times in their academic careers.

Adegbulugbe actually spoke at last month's UN summit on climate change attended and addressed by heads of states, including President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

A UN official at the UN Spokesman's office in New York, Yves Sorokobi, disclosed that over a thousand experts drawn from UN member-states and nations outside the UN had been involved over the years with the work of the IPCC and the names of some of the contributors were listed on the panel's website.

The panel has been formed and has been producing reports about two decades ago with none of the experts receiving pay for their work. Specifically, the panel has produced in the main four Assessment Reports-AR- numbered AR1, AR 2, AR 3 and AR 4.

According to a recent statement made by the IPCC secretariat in Geneva reacting to the announcement of the Nobel prize award, the honour goes to all scientists and authors who have contributed to the panel's work. The Nobel prize was given specifically for the panel's AR 4.

The statement reads: "The awarding of the Nobel Peace prize to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (jointly with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore) is a remarkable testament to the dedication and commitment of thousands of experts and participants who have produced the panel's rigorous and comprehensive assessments of climate change research.

Chairman of the panel, Indian Rajendra Pachauri added: "This is an honour that goes to all the scientists and authors who have contributed to the work of the IPCC, which alone has resulted in enormous prestige for this organisation and the remarkable effectiveness of the message that it contains."

Confirming his participation, Prof. Segun Adegbulugbe, a former presidential adviser on energy under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration said in an email interview that he had been involved in IPCC work for over a decade now. Adegbulugbe was identified as a lead author and expert on the IPCC.

"I contributed to the second, third and fourth assessment reports. In addition, I have contributed to two other special reports of the IPCC,"he said, adding that the Nobel prize award acknowledge "the work of many great minds who work tirelessly on IPCC publications. I learnt a lot from working with these guys."

He observed also "the hard work of the secretariat for coordinating the work of so many people. I am surely delighted to have made my small contribution and for the Nobel Committee to recognise our work."

In his own response, Francis I. Ibitoye, Associate Professor at the Obafemi Awolowo University's Center for Energy Research and Development in Ife, said none of the over 600 experts that produced the AR 4 of the IPCC "had it in mind that the IPCC was going to be a Nobel Prize winner."

But he noted that the Nobel prize has a recognition of IPCC's excellence, relevance and contributions.

He was involved with Prof. Adegbulugbe as authors in third volume (Climate Change 2007 Mitigation), a part of the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC, which was recognised by the Nobel prize committee for the prize.

According to Ibitoye, "while Prof. Adegbulugbe was a coordinating lead author in chapter 4 (ie. energy supply), I was a lead author in chapter 11 (mitigation from a cross sectoral perspective)."

Ibitoye also served as lead author in another publication of the IPCC, that is the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.

Prof. Felix Dayo, the third Nigerian expert to be associated with the IPCC work, said he was not as directly involved as Adegbulugbe and Ibitoye, but he also contributed actively to the work of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, (UNFCCC), while it was in process. The UNFCCC, as an international treaty had adopted the first assessment report of the IPCC as the basis for negotiating the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Prof. Dayo contributed to that process.

All three, Adegbulugbe, Ibitoye and Dayo are associated with the OAU in Ile Ife and the university's Centre for Energy Research and Development.

Adegbulugbe was the immediate Special Adviser to the President of Nigeria on Energy Matters between 2005 and 2007. Before then, he was the Director of the Centre for Energy Research and Development, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife between 1992 and 2005. He was educated at both the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, U.S.A.

Ibitoye is currently Associate Professor at the same centre at the OAU, while Dayo formerly of the same OAU is now partly based in the Pittsburgh, U.S, where he's Adjunct Professor of Engineering and Public Policy at the famous Carnegie Mellon University and also the CEO of Triple E Systems Associates in Lagos, Nigeria.

This article was taken from the online version of The Guardian Newspaper.

Pregnant women, children to get free medicare

Pregnant women, children to get free medicare (Guardian Newspaper)
From Collins Olayinka,
Abuja
Tuesday, October 23, 2007

TO ensure that Nigeria achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Federal Government will soon begin offering free medical care to pregnant women and children under five years of age.

This was disclosed yesterday by the Health Minister, Prof. Adenike Grange, while unfolding the President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua administration's vision for the health sector in the next four years.

According to the minister, the main thrust of government's plan in the health sector in the next four years include eradication of polio by next year, reduction of maternal mortality and reduction of diseases burden on Nigerians, especially the vulnerable groups.

She said: "It is possible to make free medical care available for pregnant mothers and children under five.

"Indeed, some states are doing that already and they are all good for it because they are generating confidence in the community and the community is coming forward more and more to make their own contributions.

"The Federal Government has already instructed the heads of various parastatals to come up with the mechanisms for doing it. In other words, we have to know the cost and plan for it. This is not an issue of putting in any amount. Apart from this, a lot more is being done at the primary and secondary care levels to prevent the high cost of medical care at the tertiary level."

Grange stated that the Ministry of Health has a package for the maternal and children health, which will guarantee a reduction in maternal mortality in a few years from now. She explained that all the strategies would be applied at various levels of implementation - Federal, states, local governments and the community.

She hinted that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has about 1.5 million enrollees on its stable with 32 Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs).

The Health Minister also painted a worrying picture of most Nigerians' inability to access qualitative healthcare, especially the vulnerable and rural dwellers.

Grange said: "Today there are about 32 HMOs looking after the formal sector both public and private with about 1.5 million enrollees. The role of the NHIS in defining and implementing the regulatory framework in order to achieve universal coverage of health insurance is laudable.

"However a vast majority of Nigerians (about 70 per cent) who are in the informal sector and rural communities cannot afford to pay for the health insurance premiums by themselves.

"The current widespread inability to take part in risk pooling and solidarity schemes continues to endanger this vast proportion of Nigerians as they are unable to access healthcare readily."

Proffering a way out of the disturbing situation, the minister said the National Health Investment Plan was designed to provide a subsidy pool that will be set aside to finance the poor and vulnerable groups.

Specifically, the Community Health Insurance Scheme shall be the platform on which demand-based and output-driven financing of the healthcare delivery system that will allow for better data sets for disease profiling and management will be achieved.

Missing links in Abiola's autopsy, by pathologist

By Bertram Nwannekanm

THE sudden death of the acclaimed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief M. K .O. Abiola has been revisited recently by an expert who declared that his demise ought to have been subjected to a coroner's inquest..

The expert, Prof. Albert Anjorin spoke at a lecture organised in honour of a foremost African professor of Forensic Pathology, Prof. William Olufemi Odesanmi on his 60th birthday by the Department of Morbid Anatomy and Forensic Medicine, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

Anjorin, an eminent professor of Pathology from the University of Ilorin, said that a forensic investigation would have revealed more facts on the cause of the death of the business mogul instead of relying solely on the post-mortem conducted by a team of Canadian pathologists.

He said: "It was not enough for the pathologist to conduct the post mortem and turn round to say that because of some disease in the blood vessel of the heart, the man deserved to die. If you go to Canada where the man (pathologist) came from and you examine the heart of a large number of Canadians, you will find the same level of disease in the blood vessel of the heart. Why are they not dropping dead?

"His (Abiola's) case is a classical example of how things are not always what they seem. The man was dead. What killed him? They said it was arterioscleroses. But was it arterioscleroses that killed him? Things are not always what they seem in forensic pathology."

Anjorin expressed regret that most sensitive deaths in Nigeria in recent times were never presented for coroner's inquest to involve forensic pathology.

The lecture, titled: Medicine and the law. . . Things are not always what they seem: A celebration of an African pioneer Forensic Pathologist, further revealed how forensic investigations would have helped in classifying such deaths into either natural, suicidal, homicidal, accidental, misadventure or simply to consign them as "open verdict," he said.

"If somebody dies, the forensic pathologist has the responsibility to establish whether this is a natural death, if the fellow dies of hypertension, diabetes, asthma, heart disease," he said.

The professor however attributed Nigeria's failure in utilising the expertise of forensic pathologists in resolving causes of many sensitive deaths and crime to factors such as the dearth of forensic pathologists in the country and the nation's poor premium on human life.

"I won't be surprised if the total number of Nigerians trained in forensic pathology and certified are not more than five. What has been happening is that if you are a morbid anatomist, you just take the body, dissect it and give your opinion. You are not a real and certified forensic pathologist. But it is better than nothing. At least you'll be able to give an opinion.

"But that is if the Police come back for the report. You can write your report, complete the coroner's form but the Police may never come for it. We have heaps of coroners form at Ilorin," Anjorin said.

He urged Odesanmi to help train more Nigerians as forensic pathologists before his retirement.

Odesanmi described his feelings on his 60th birthday as "mixed", saying he would have loved to see more qualified forensic pathologists in the country.

According to him, many states in the country do not have a forensic pathologist and therefore have to invite the experts from other parts of the country where the few forensic pathologists are located.

"After 30 years of service, I would have loved to boast of at least 20 forensic pathologists in Nigeria," he said, adding however that the gap could still be easily breached if government injected more funds into the medical schools to train more people.

A major highlight of the event was the fund raising towards the setting up of a library at the Department of Anatomy and Forensic Medicine of the university in his honour.