The United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF) has organised a workshop for journalists  on ways  to support the Federal Government on COVID-19 vaccination exercise in Nigeria.

Speaking during a  Two Day Media Engagement Dialogue on Demand Creation for COVID-19 Vaccine organized in collaboration with the Child Rights Information Bureau of the Federal Ministry of information and Culture in Kano, Communication Specialist for UNICEF Nigeria, Geoffrey Njoku revealed that the vaccination exercise was slow in some states because the government were reluctant to provide  logistics  for the exercise.

He therefore urged journalists in the country to use their various tools for advocacy to both Federal and state government to provide logistics and operational support for the delivery of vaccines to every part of the country. adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Njoku also added that Journalists have to be on the forefront of allaying fears amongst Nigerians who had  conspiracy theories about the vaccine, there creating vaccine hesitancy in many parts of the country.

While being optimistic that the workshop will avail the participants on the skills to use to ensure the increase of uptakes of the vaccine, Njoku urged the journalists to use data from World Health Organisation(WHO), UNICEF, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control(NCDC) and other reliable organisations to derive stories that will bring about positive impact on the vaccination exercise.

Also speaking while giving an opening remark, the WASH Manager, UNICEF Field Office, Kano, Rafid Salih stated that vaccine hesitancy have to be tackled hands down so as to avoid deaths caused by the virus.

Salih who was represented  UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Kano State, Maulid Warfa urged the journalists to use that same medium used to perpetrate misinformation about the virus, to propagate the fact to every part of the country.

The National Orientation Agency(NOA) has promised to work with the Participatory Communication Through Gender Development (PAGED) Initiative, a media and advocacy Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) to battle the issue of COVID-19 Misinformation in 19 Northern states of the country.

While the organisation paid a courtesy visit to the Agency, the Director General of NOA, Garba Abari stated that they were ready to collaborate with any organisation on the dissemination of information to curb the COVID-19 virus.

Abari who was represented by the Agency’s Director of Special Duties and State Operations, Mette Edekobi revealed that NOA was well equipped to carry out any awareness in the country as it has staff in all the 774 local government in the country.

“Our strength is the fact that we speak all languages. Our 774 officials are in their local government areas where they can speak the local languages and communicate with the people in the way that they will understand. We are predestined to do what we are doing,” he said.

Abari who lamented that the Agency had to battle with the issue of fake information about the virus and its vaccine, added that collaboration with other organizations would help a great deal as many Nigerians do not believe in their leaders, no matter what they tell them.

“So we need Nigerians to hear from other people that do not come from the government and maybe that will make them believe,” he said.

Earlier while stating the reason for their visit, the Programme Director, Paged Initiative, Ummi Bukar, said her NGO was there to ascertain the challenges NOA has encountered in the dissemination of information about COVID-19 and where the organisation can come in to assist curb the pandemic.

“In terms of COVID-19 media response, what we want from NOA is to know the gaps you have encountered that you will need the media to help address because there are still a lot of people who do not believe that COVID-19 exist. There is a lot of mis-information out there. We are have a lot of media partners across the 19 states that can help in this aspect,” she said.

Bukar added that her NGO in collaboration with European Union and Free Press have helped push for participatory development to ensure that the needs of the communities were met.

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Abdulrahman Obaje

Prince Abdulrahman Obaje is a Media and ICT Consultant, Journalist, online marketer, social media strategist, Mathematician and Computer Scientist based in Abuja, Nigeria. He is the Founder and the Publisher of The Informavores!. You can reach me on +234 805 939 5252 or send i-witness report directly to me on news@informavores.com.ng.

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A Professor of Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition, Professor Moses Awodun has reiterated the danger of continuous use of synthetic fertilizers in crop production to human life

The Professor observed that most terminal illnesses ravaging the society could be as a result of the consumption of various food crops including fruits produced with the aid of synthetic fertilizers.

Professor Moses Awodun made this observation while delivering the 129th inaugural lecture of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) titled The Nexus of Population, Food Security, Climate Change and Plant Nutrition: Organic Wastes as Alternative Fertilizer in Nigeria.

Awodun, said the risk of dying from cancer (brain cancer, prostate cancer, leukemia, intestinal cancer and lymphoma (non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, NHL) is said to be six times more when synthetic fertilizers are used on crops that are consumed by people. adsbygoogle || []).push({});

He also said synthetic fertilizers has also been associated with causing a condition which leads to difficulty in delivering sufficient oxygen to all body tissues, and is also linked to birth and development disorders such as the Blue Baby Syndrome.

Professor Awodun indicated that crops grown with high impact of fertilizers are less resistant, less nutritiously balanced and rot more rapidly than those which are naturally grown.

According to the Don the application of excess fertilizers is destroying the presence and balance of the Microbiome responsible for the production of nutrients in the soil thus making the farmer more and more dependent on this inorganic fertilizer.

Buttressing his points Professor Awodun referred to a report which stated that an individual today would need to consume twice as much meat, three times as much fruit, four to five times as many vegetables to obtain the same amount of minerals and trace elements available in the same food in 1940 because of the use of synthetic fertilizers.

Awodun said that with the rich endowment of abundant natural, mineral and human resources which characterize developing world and especially Nigeria, it is expected that they should be able to produce enough food to feed their people , generate foreign exchange earnings from the export and sales of surplus.

He said Nigeria soil should be the next Black oil in a world of climate change, adding that if as a country, it can curtail the vagaries in farm activities; it will go a long way in restoring life to the soil.

Awodun, a one-time Acting Director, Centre for Renewable Energy Technology (CRET) advised that to meet a state of equilibrium in food production in the face of an increasing population, food security and climate change, the government should invest in healthy living soils by channeling agricultural subsidies towards sustainable farming methods, stating that if this is done right ,agriculture can conserve the diversity of species found in soil, halt land degradation and desertification which in turn would help countries ensure future food securities and mitigate climate change.

He said farmers should be encouraged to obtain all their fertilizers from organic sources such as compost manures, green manures and legumes.

He advised that for health, commercial and environmental reasons it is clear that fertilizers should be used with caution. He said crop production for future food security will require sustainable fertilizer management, which might include more sophisticated decisions support tools, improved agronomic practices and cropping systems that require less fertilizer input.

In his remark the Chairman at the event and Vice Chancellor, Prof Joseph Fuwape, represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Development, Professor Philip Oguntunde described the lecture as a contemporary one to present happenings within the society.

He also commended the lecturer for his immense contributions to the body of knowledge in his field of study.

Author Profile

Abdulrahman Obaje

Prince Abdulrahman Obaje is a Media and ICT Consultant, Journalist, online marketer, social media strategist, Mathematician and Computer Scientist based in Abuja, Nigeria. He is the Founder and the Publisher of The Informavores!. You can reach me on +234 805 939 5252 or send i-witness report directly to me on news@informavores.com.ng.

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