Connect with us

Headline

Use Money Saved From Subsidy Removal To Fund Education, UK Govt Tells Tinubu

Published

on

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, FCDO, of the UK government has asked President Bola Tinubu to use money saved from fuel subsidy removal to fund education in the country.

FCDO’s representatives, Ian Attfield, who made the call at the end of the Inclusive Education project In Nigeria, (Supporting Mainstreaming Inclusion so all can Learn Equally, SMILE), in Abuja Wednesday, said: “For the next five years or so, I’m certain we won’t be having discussions about how we can mainstream some of the inclusive education elements.

Advertisement

“There are many major economic changes taking place, such as the changes in fuel subsidy. It should start being deployed to support the human development of Nigeria to build education and services, among other things, that young people need.”

READ ALSO: British Council Increases IELTS To N107,500 For Nigerians From September

Also speaking at the event, Country Director of Sightsavers Nigeria, a nonprofit making organisation, Dr. Sunday Isiyaku, maintained that inclusivity in education remained the bedrock to national development.

Advertisement

According to him, government at all levels and communities need to ensure children with disabilities are included in the scheme of things as far as their education and future are concerned.

He explained how imperative inclusive education was to develop human capital, adding that the positive impact it had on the lives of children with disabilities and their families could not be overemphasized.

He said inclusive education was not only a basic human right, but also a powerful tool for achieving sustainable development.

Advertisement

READ ALSO: Subsidy: 12m Families To Receive N8,000 For Six Months – Tinubu

In his remarks, the Technical Director, Inclusive Education, Sightsavers Global Team, Liesbeth Roolvink, said: “We have trained many people, we have so many champions now that could take this process forward in different places in Nigeria and that is our dream and our hope.”

One of the panelists at the closeout discussion, the Chief Executive Officer and Founder, TAF Africa and Convener, Disability Inclusion Nigeria, Amb Jake Epelle, pointed out that there was lack of trained teachers on inclusive education.

Advertisement

Epelle also spoke on the need for awareness creation, funding and holistic education policy that disabused the mindset on having special schools for persons with disability but one school premises that would impact them positively and make it easy for them to integrate into the society.

He said: “When it comes to inclusive education, there is the need to increase the awareness because it is not many people that know about it. Many parents, especially parents of persons with disability, are hiding their children at home.

”How do we go to them to ensure that they are aware that these children they are hiding in their homes need education?”

Advertisement

However, he pointed out that special schools do not real make the desired impact on the education of children with disabilities because they find it difficult to be integrated into the society.

 

Advertisement

Headline

Gunmen On Motorbikes Kill 22 At Baptism Ceremony In Niger

Published

on

Gunmen on motorbikes shot dead 22 villagers in western Niger, most attending a baptism ceremony, local media and other sources said Tuesday.

The shootings happened on Monday in the Tillaberi region, near Burkina Faso and Mali, where jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group (IS) are active.

Advertisement

A resident of the area told AFP that 15 people were killed first at a baptism ceremony in Takoubatt village.

The attackers then went to the outskirts of Takoubatt where they killed seven other people,” said the resident, who requested anonymity for security reasons.

READ ALSO:Two Nigerians Face Jail Terms In Liberia’s Piracy Trial

Advertisement

Local media outlet Elmaestro TV reported a “gruesome death toll of 22 innocent people cowardly killed without reason or justification”.

“Once again, the Tillaberi region has been struck by barbarism, plunging innocent families into mourning and despair,” Nigerien human rights campaigner Maikoul Zodi said on social media.

Niger’s military leaders, who came to power two years ago in a coup, have struggled to contain jihadist groups in Tillaberi, despite maintaining a large army presence there.

Advertisement

Around 20 soldiers were killed in the region last week.

READ ALSO:Nigerian Jailed In US Over $6m Inheritance Fraud

Human Rights Watch has urged Niger authorities to “do more to protect” civilians against deadly attacks.

Advertisement

The rights monitoring group estimates that the Islamic State group has “summarily executed” more than 127 villagers and Muslim worshippers in Tillaberi in five attacks since March.

Meanwhile, the NGO ACLED, which tracks conflict victims worldwide, says around 1,800 people have been killed in attacks in Niger since October 2024 — three-quarters of them in Tillaberi.

Niger and its neighbours, Burkina Faso and Mali, also ruled by military coup leaders who claim to pursue a sovereignist policy, have expelled the French and American armies that were fighting alongside them against jihadism.

Advertisement

AFP

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Headline

Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy

Published

on

Serbian prosecutors filed an updated indictment on Tuesday against 13 people, including a former minister, over a fatal railway station roof collapse that has triggered a wave of anti-government protests.

The prosecution said all those indicted, among them former construction minister Goran Vesic, face charges of “serious crimes against public safety” over the tragedy that killed 16 people last November.

Advertisement

“The indictment proposes that the Higher Court in Novi Sad order custody for all the defendants,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The roof collapse at the newly renovated station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, became a symbol of entrenched corruption and sparked almost daily protests.

READ ALSO:FG Panel Indicts AFN In Ofili’s Paris Olympics Omission

Advertisement

Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad initially filed an indictment at the end of December, but judges returned it in April, requesting more information.

The accused were released or placed under house arrest following the decision.

Advertisement

The prosecutor’s office said it had complied with the judge’s request and had now completed the supplementary investigation.

READ ALSO:NDLEA Arrests Indian Businessman, 3 Others Over Alleged Trafficking Of N3.9bn Tramadol

The prosecutor specialising in organised crime and corruption in Belgrade is leading a separate, independent investigation into the tragedy.

Advertisement

That investigation is focused on 13 people, including Vesic and another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, who headed the Construction Ministry before him.

In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched a third, separate investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds for the station’s reconstruction.

AFP

Advertisement

Continue Reading

Headline

Kazakhstan Bans Forced Marriage, Bride Kidnapping

Published

on

Kazakhstan has banned forced marriages and bride kidnappings through a law that came into effect Tuesday in the Central Asian country, where the practice persists despite new attention being paid to women’s rights.

Forcing someone to marry is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Kazakh police said in a statement.

Advertisement

These changes are aimed at preventing forced marriages and protecting vulnerable categories of citizens, especially women and adolescents,” it added.

Bride kidnappings have also been outlawed.

REAS ALSO:What To Know About Albania’s AI Minister, Diella

Advertisement

Previously, a person who voluntarily released a kidnapped person could expect to be released from criminal liability. Now this possibility has been eliminated,” the police said.

There are no reliable statistics of forced marriage cases across the country, with no separate article in the criminal code prohibiting it until now.

A Kazakh lawmaker said earlier this year that the police had received 214 such complaints over the past three years.

Advertisement

The custom is also present in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where it mostly goes unpunished due to indifferent law enforcement and stigma surrounding whistleblowers.

READ ALSO:California Lawmakers Approve Ban On Face Masks For Authorities

The issue of women’s rights in Kazakhstan gained media attention in 2023 following the murder of a woman by her husband, a former minister, a case that shocked Kazakh society and prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to react.

Advertisement

“Some people hide behind so-called traditions and try to impose the practice of wife stealing. This blatant obscurantism cannot be justified,” Tokayev said last year.

AFP

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending