Nigeria has had a long-running battle with misinformation and disinformation. In times of health pandemics, misinformation, or false information shared unintentionally, becomes especially harmful. This was evident during the Ebola crisis in Nigeria; similar dynamics are coming to play with the current coronavirus pandemic. The Centre for Democracy and Development has been tracking misinformation from when the Ebola crisis hit [...]
The Foundation for Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND) says having stakeholders participate in the co-development of ideas, solutions and responsibilities is vital to deepening gender equality advocacy in the Niger Delta region. Tunji Idowu, deputy executive director of PIND, said this at a roundtable PIND organised in Warri, Delta state, to mark the 2020 International Day of Women (IWD), on [...]
Bill Gates, global health advocate and world's richest man for 18 years, says novel coronavirus vaccine could be ready for large-scale trials by June 2020. Gates, who is the co-chair of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also added that this virus has started to behave like a once-in-a-century pathogen. In a paper written for the New England Journal of Medicine, Gates said leaders [...]
Amina Mohammed, deputy secretary-general of United Nations, says poverty is declining in Africa but 428 million people are still living in it. Mohammed said this at the sixth session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD) in Zimbabwe on Tuesday. She said major scientific and analytical reviews show that the world is not on track to achieve the sustainable development goals [...]
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is 20 years old. On Monday, Bill and Melinda Gates share their 2020 annual letter, “Why We Swing for the Fences: Reflecting on the First Two Decades of Our Foundation.” The letter revealed how the foundation spent $53.8 billion and helped get vaccines to more than 760 million children and prevented 13 million deaths -- via the [...]
A new study says about two million Nigerian children under the age of five could die from pneumonia in the next decade. According to the report, Nigeria currently records more than 20 percent of childhood deaths from pneumonia globally. The report said boosting efforts to fight pneumonia could avert the over 2 million child deaths from the disease and other major diseases [...]
President Muhammadu Buhari says he is disturbed by the number of out-of-school girls in the country. Buhari spoke on Thursday while inaugurating the headquarters of the federal ministry of women affairs in Abuja. A statement by Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, quoted Buhari as saying that it is the collective duty of all to ensure that "mothers of today and tomorrow are educated, [...]
Some communities in Misau local government area of Bauchi state say they use donkeys and ox-drawn trucks to transport pregnant women and sick people to hospitals due to lack of motorable roads. The communities disclosed this on Wednesday when a NAN correspondent visited Babuwuri and Ngummachame settlements, which are tagged 'hard-to-reach (HTR)' in terms of healthcare by the European Union and [...]
Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote Group, says food producers in Nigeria are working with the government to hit a compliance level of 90 percent for food fortification by 2020. Speaking at the second annual Nigeria Food Processing and Leadership Forum in Lagos on Monday, Dangote, who chaired the forum, said since the first meeting in July 2018, the food producers have [...]
A bill seeking to make basic education free and compulsory for all Nigerians has passed second reading in the house of representatives The constitution amendment bill, sponsored by Femi Gbajabiamila, the speaker, scaled second reading at the plenary session on Thursday. With Nigeria having one of the highest children not in school across the world, the bill when passed would give individuals [...]
