By Adeola Tukuru
Abuja
Worried by the alarming rate of malnutrition in the continent, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja II, has partnered wiThempower 54, a not-for-profit organisations, to create awareness and promote solutions to end the disease.
The Ooni lamented that the menace of malnutrition has crept deep into the fabric of the society and there is need to be tenacious in the fight against the ‘colossal beast’ by creating a better mechanism; adopt policies and strategies that are capable of combating its rapid expansion.
He said: “Africa is the wealth of the world with huge human and natural resources and we must form a consensus that would scale up nutrition projects for the greater developments of future leaders that are being crippled daily by our collective negligence.”
He further stated that as the co-chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRN) there was need for holistic and systematic global approach in addressing the shade of malnutrition in Africa.
He thereby applauded intervention of Empower 54 in subjugating the spread of malnutrition in Nigeria and across Africa.
“In an effort to forge greater participation, it is my sheer commitment and other global partners to advocate alongside the long-term collective aspirations of Empower 54 in championing malnutrition extinction roadmap in Africa.”
The Founder of the US non Profit Organization, Modupe Ozolua expressed worry over the recent statistics that one-third of Nigerian Children under 5 years old suffer from chronic malnutrition translating into a very disturbing statistics that the menace kills over 2.3 million children annually in the country.
Ozolua explained that Empower 54 Project Inc was designed since 2003 to provide humanitarian assistance such as health, education, empowerment, and IDP/refugee programs to underprivileged Africans.
She said “many innocent lives are lost due to lack of sensitization on early management of malnutrition and accessibility to free treatment”.
She disclosed that after Empower 54 evacuated the severely malnourished IDP children from Bama to Maiduguri on June 13th and 15th 2016, they realized that they needed to do more to save children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM),
She pointed out that beyond evacuating them from high risk zones for treatment there are countless non-IDP children suffering from SAM all over Nigeria and other parts of Africa that also need help.”
She commended the dedication of the Ooni to humanity, that caused him to lend his voice and passion to the campaign to eradicate malnutrition in Africa, starting in the countries Princess Ozolua further states: “Empower 54 currently work in; Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ozolua explained that the group will work closely with the Ooni of Ife Global Outreach Initiative to proffer solution on ways of ending malnutrition in Africa.
She noted that as a global goodwill ambassador for Empower 54,
The Ooni of Ife joins Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Hollywood actress, Kat Graham as Empower 54’s goodwill ambassador to work towards impacting lives of underprivileged Africans.
ACOMORAN, FG collaborate on Okada, Keke data collection
The Association of Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle and Tricycle Owners, Repairers and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN) is set to partner with the Federal Government in data collection of commercial motorcycles popularly known as Okada and tricycles known as Keke napep in the country.
The president of ACOMORAN, Babagida Shehu, who disclosed this at the weekend in Abuja said that the Associates data collection which started early 2017 has been fused into the federal ministry of transportation Road Crime Control Services (RCCS) for more effective management.
Babangida revealed that the association had already started the collection of data of commercial motorcycles and tricycles in some states in the North and in the South-West with over 500,000 members so far registered.
He said the association handed over its data programme to the government because “government planned data collection looks more elaborate, so we have decided to key in into RCCS which is better and bigger”.
Babangida noted that ACOMORAN was collecting data out of necessitation that arose due to the too many road crimes that Nigerian citizens had to endure in the hands of criminals who use ‘okada’ or ‘keke’ as a means to perpetuate evil.
“We were trying to do our best to reduce road crime when federal government brought RCCS as a means to control road crime in Nigeria, when we looked at the programme, we discovered RCCS is more elaborate, so we have agreed to key into the RCCS,” he stated.
It will be recalled that several weeks ago, a delegation from Road Crime Control Services (RCCS) had paid a courtesy visit to ACOMORAN soliciting their support in the fight against crime on Nigerian roads.
Chairperson of the delegation, Director for Road Transport and Mass Transit Administration in the ministry of transportation, Dr. Anthony Ekpa, solicited for ACOMORAN partnership in educating their members at the state and local government levels on the new policy.
According to him “We are here because the road transport sector have no regulations. Anyone who had money could wake up any day and buy 10 tricycles and he is already into transport business.
“Noting that the Aviation sector, the maritime and other transport sectors had good standards except the road sector,” he said.
Road Crime Control Services (RCCS) is a federal government planned programme designed to curb crime on the country’s roads using technology with a transport short code of *735# to ascertain the authenticity of all means of transportation before boarding.
