Children's Day In Nigeria: The History

CHILDREN’S DAY is one dedicated to celebrate “childhood”, it is On this day that tribute is paid to all children in the world.

Children are loved by one and all and they win over our hearts with their angelic eyes and innocent smiles.

Children’s Day is an event celebrated in many places around the world. The holiday is simply set to honour children and minors.

The International Children’s Day had its origin in Turkey in 1920 (April 23, 1920) and later in the World Conference for the Well-being of Children in Geneva, Switzerland in 1925.

Children’s Day was first celebrated worldwide in October 1955, under the sponsorship of International Union for Child Welfare in Geneva.

The idea of a Universal Children’s Day was mooted by Rubab Mansoor grade 8 and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1954.

First proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1954, it was established to encourage all countries to institute a day, firstly to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children and secondly to initiate action to benefit and promote the welfare of the world’s children.

It was also chosen as the day to celebrate childhood. Generally, children get all excited and eagerly await the day.

All the local schools go to their local stadium where each school has a special march which they perform.

The school with the best marching performance wins the honour for that year.

May 27 is traditionally the Children’s Holiday in Nigeria. First established by the United Nations in 1964, the day remains important in the lives of many Nigerian kids.

On this day every year, children are granted a holiday while several social activities are centered on them. Excused from school, most kids converge at stadiums and centers to commemorate the event.

It has also become the habit of some government officials and media organisations to honour some children with leadership opportunities.

Certain radio and TV stations do this by featuring child broadcasters on air and letting them anchor their programmes for the early part of the day.

Furthermore, information from UNICEF as at 2010 states that 6,332,000 childbirths occur in Nigeria annually. This shows how important they are in Nigeria’s national statistics.

One would wonder then if parents should not strive to ensure good parenting.

When parents are seriously busy, children can often spend more time with unpredictable maids, unrated media content and their peers than with their parents. This often instills bad influences into their lives and is the cause of misconduct.

As we celebrate another children’s day, parents should sincerely evaluate their parent-child relationships.

If in doubt that their efforts are adequate or that the children are heading in the right direction, they should make proper amendments.

They should do these things knowing that vagabonds do not grow from the soil and neither do terrorists fall from the sky.

Source: NTA

 

Vice Chancellor Invites SDGsACT LASU for Convocation Press Conference

 The Vice chancellor of Lagos State University on 7 May invited the SDGsACT LASU club for a convocation press conference. Read the report of the university press conference that was held on the 7th of May, 2018.

The University Management team, ably lead by the Vice Chancellor invited the executives of the SDGsACT LASU to the press conference.

The SDGsACT LASU Executives, lead by the campus coordinator Amb Kehinde Adebiyi and Five other executives were present at the press conference.

The Campus Coordinator was expected to give a speech 1 SDGsACT Lasu at the occasion, but he was unable to deliver his speech that day due to the time constraint. Instead, the hard copy of his speech was distributed to everyone present at the event including the members of the press present. However, the Vice Chancellor recognized and acknowledged the presence of the SDGsACT LASU Executives at the program and he advised the members of the press to have a discuss and an interview with the SDGsACT LASU Executives.
In the light of the above, vanguard newspaper, Lasu radio, daily times newspaper and 3 others had an interview with the Campus coordinator and the executives.

Amb Olaide O. Abiona
Administrative cord,
SDGsACT LASU.

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Anthropocene

What Is the Anthropocene and Are We in It?

Efforts to label the human epoch have ignited a scientific debate between geologists and environmentalists

Have human beings permanently changed the planet? That seemingly simple question has sparked a new battle between geologists and environmental advocates over what to call the time period we live in.

According to the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), the professional organization in charge of defining Earth’s time scale, we are officially in the Holocene (“entirely recent”) epoch, which began 11,700 years ago after the last major ice age.

But that label is outdated, some experts say. They argue for “Anthropocene”—from anthropo, for “man,” and cene, for “new”—because human-kind has caused mass extinctions of plant and animal species, polluted the oceans and altered the atmosphere, among other lasting impacts.

Anthropocene has become an environmental buzzword ever since the atmospheric chemist and Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen popularized it in 2000. This year, the word has picked up velocity in elite science circles: It appeared in nearly 200 peer-reviewed articles, the publisher Elsevier has launched a new aca­demic journal titled Anthropocene and the IUGS convened a group of scholars to decide by 2016 whether to officially declare that the Holocene is over and the Anthropocene has begun....

Continue reading at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/…/what-is-the-anthropocene-…/

Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University Support SDGsACT on Campus

PARTNERSHIP TALKS & T-SHIRT PRESENTATION SESSION with the "NUMERO UNO" OF LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY, OJO. (SDGsACT LASU CHAPTER)

 It was a very big step forward, on Monday(16th of April) when the executives of SDGsACT LASU were in a meeting with the VICE CHANCELLOR of LASU, in person of Prof. Adigun Olarenwaju Fagbohun.

It was at this distinguished session that the SDGsACT on Campus initiative was explained to the VC and some of the projects already implemented were presented.

It was a remarkable success, as the VC was full of praise for the executives and welcomed the idea, to be a part of this historical initiative. In his words, he assured us that "We will support, by WE, I mean myself working with the Dean of Students Affairs(DSA) will be a part of all your projects and we will make sure the SDGsACT is implemented in all other tertiary institutions with LASU as the pace setter".

It is on this note, we appreciate and celebrate the DSA for his professional and fatherly support and with no doubt, are proud of the VC for his high level of intelligence and leadership in wanting to be identified with such worthy initiatives. 

We say a VERY BIG THANK YOU.

Congratulations LASU

Congratulations SDGsACT LASU 

Congratulations SDGsACT Lagos Congratulations SDGsACT Nigeria 

Congratulations SDGsACT Africa

Tiamiyu Ibrahim Babatunde 

Media Coordinator, 

SDGsACT LASU Chapter

#SDGsonCampus.SDGsACTLAGOS.#SDGsACTNigeria.#ACT4SDGsNigeria.#Leavingnoonebehind

For inquiry and partnerships

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Nigeria: the pathway for a healthy people

 Today, 7th April is recognized by the World Health Organization as the World health day. This year, the WHO has coined a theme which is in line with the global advocacy for actualization of SDG 3 (Good health and well being). This article, written for the SDGs ACT Lagos Chapter is focused on the Nigerian Health sector as part of our social responsibility to advocate for the actualization of a greater Nigeria through the SDG platform and also as part of activities to commemorate the World health day. Nigeria  being the home base of the author and the organization. All views expressed are solely for the author. Enjoy your reading fellow compatriots.

Nigeria is a country with an estimated 180 million population and rapidly explosive population expansion due to high natality rates and immigration. The country's national budget for the health sector unfortunately continues to decline in relation to the overall budget size. In 2018, a meagre 4% of the proposed appropriation bill was allocated to health compared to 5.97% in 2012. Considering the status quo in which only about 30% of allocation to the health sector is allotted for capital projects and about 70% for recurrent expenditure largely involving payment of salaries and office running costs coupled with poor budget implementation over the years, making quality healthcare available for everyone looks increasingly impossible.

By all available indices, it is no longer news that health delivery in Nigeria has been and is still very poor. The country continues to battle with a rapidly explosive population growth. She also struggles to cope with the emerging dynamics and advances of global health. These challenges are so many and remain difficult to resolve especially in the face of dwindling revenues.

The health sector in Nigeria is faced with massive infrastructural deficit and in places of availability, they are often obsolete or overstretched. I had an encounter with a fresh graduate of one of Nigeria's highly glorified medical colleges and the result left my mouth wide agape!. The lady was so sincere to admit that she had never observed or gotten involved in a live dialysis session before except of course, in theoretical terms during her coursework. This, she said was due to the collapse of the dialysis equipment in the dialysis room. These equipment had been left unattended for years!. We can only afford to produce doctors who are not fully equipped with the skills to face the modern day health challenges. With advancing technological inputs in global health, we remain lagging behind in terms of basic human capital. What a pity!

In a recent survey conducted on social media, with all respondents being Nigerians, it became quite clear that a majority of Nigerians believe that we should prioritize issues relating to human capital development even ahead of building infrastructure. Little do we know that both go hand in hand. The adequate infrastructure will enhance the rate of absorption and further increase the quality of personnel. On Facebook, 56% of respondents favored enhancing medical education as a priority area ahead of building more hospitals. Similarly on twitter, 71% of respondents voted in favour of enhancing medical education as against 29% in favour of building more hospitals.

In view of the discussion, it is worthy to note that the WHO classifies Nigeria among the 44% of nations that have less than 1% doctors per 1,000 population. Human resource problems being so high in the country that we have only 7 states having specialist care for  cancer. Can you imagine?

What can we do?

The Federal and state governments in Nigeria need to work vehemently to increase their IGR as a way of increasing available means. Governments across all sectors need to display transparency and accountability in governance through citizen engagement, granting access to budget documents, giving regular budget implementation reports e.t.c. The public will gain more confidence in the system and will be ready to do even more to support the government especially when the government calls for private collaboration and investments in the health sector.

Government must make it easy to register and run businesses related to healthcare services especially for NGOs. Registration should not be a herculean task and also the government should attract investments within the sector while formulating reasonable policies to maintain community health.

Government should commit more funds to healthcare especially in areas of nutrition deficiency, infectious diseases control, maternal and reproductive health. A higher percentage of this funds should be channeled into capital projects within the sector especially with building of more community health centers and equipping of all health delivery facilities with adequate equipment to function optimally. Our tertiary colleges should not be left behind in this process.

The curriculum for medical colleges should be revised regularly to accommodate changes, invention and advances on the global stage. This will go a long way to improve human capital as our medical personnel will be equipped with adequate skills to cope with emerging health advances and challenges especially in relation to health emergency response and infectious disease control.

Government should also engage skilled doctors and other caregivers to train individuals (volunteers) in the local communities as health extension workers, caregivers, first aiders e.t.c. This will increase healthcare reach and definitely we can have qualitative healthcare, for everyone, everywhere.

AbdulBasith Sijuade Akinyemi-Eshilokun is a Community health educator and advocate. He is a volunteer for the SDGs ACT Lagos who is passionate about good governance in Nigeria.

amb AbdulBasit Sijuade Akinyemi-Eshilokun holding the goal 3 flashcard to demonstrate and sensitize people at the beach, during the organization World Water Day 2018 project.

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Visionscape Invites SDGsACT to her Land fill Site

  

To celebrate the World Water Day, Cleaner Lagos Initiative invited different NGOs working on environment sustainability and media personnel for a tour at Visionscape Eco park Landfill site at Epe.

The tour to Visionscape Landfill site as facilitated by Cleaner Lagos Initiative on 28 March 2018, we left Ajigidingbi Primary School, Ikeja at 9:30 am and arrived at the venue at 12:30 pm. The tour guide did brief introduction, Mr. Ashaolu Joel, the HSE officer for Visionscape gave out BPE materials and gave safety procedure to follow during the tour.

Mr. Sumeep Singh, the operation manager for Visionscape explained the process of weighing the waste collected at the dumpsite and how the tons of waste collected are calculated. Mr. Joel further explained the mode of operation of the landfill site. The site has received 80, 000 tons of waste in the last 6 months; the land size is 80 hectares and started operating as a dumpsite since 2009 with no records of waste dumped at the site since 2009.

The site operates 24/7 but the major challenge is that Visionscape just took over, work is still in progress to structure the landfill site to best practice, so the waste dumped at the site are not separated. Average of 350 scavengers work on the dumpsite everyday separating the recyclable materials and sell them to companies who recycle them. They are registered with Visionscape but not working directly with Visionscape.

 Mr. Kunle Akala, the tour guide from CLI project explained more about the how Visionscape won the bid to take care of domestic waste and black-spot in Lagos as stated in the MOU signed with the State. Due to court, case between Lagos State and PSP delayed their operation, which affected the operation of Visionscape; the company started operation officially in January 2018 and have been working 24/7. The company had to take up the waste collection of the whole state instead of black-spot as signed in the MOU due to the disengagement of the PSP by Lagos State government. The transfer-loading stations has been rebuild. Many of the PSP company has been recalled to commenced commercial waste collection e-waste, medical waste while Visionscape focus on domestic waste.

Questions, suggestion and recommendation came from NGOs, stakeholders’ and media personnel who were on tour. The future of the present dumpsite is projected to be an engineering landfill site in near future and the waste at the landfill will be use to generate energy.

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SDGsACT World Water Day at Elegushi Private Beach

Billions of people all over the world do not have access to drinking water, beyond that our people do not understand the importance of our natural following waters. People in the coastal communities and tourist who visit our beaches most time leaves the beach dirty.

The Lagos chapter of our organization this year celebrated the World Water Day at the Elegushi Private beach, this beach remains one of the most visited tourist site in Lagos and we were concerned about its usage and sustainability. The celebration of the World Water Day was aimed at:

• Aware campaign at the beach on SDGs
• Distribution of leaflet to educate tourist at the beach about the SDGs and how they can implement the SDGs in their locality.
• Tree planting exercise at the beach
• Video shoot by members to support the SDGs implementation
• Networking opportunities with youths at the beach and other tourist who will be willing to learn more about the SDGs and become members of SDGsACT.

At the beach hang out, we also had the opportunity of meeting new members and our monthly hangout meeting was held where we discuss further project coming up later in the year and how we can continue to support and implement the ambitious global goals at every communities in Lagos State.\

Our next monthly hang out will hold last Sunday in May, at Ikorodu. More information coming soon and how you can join us to pledge your support for the FUTURE WE WANT.

Follow us on social media to see more pictures of our World Water Day project.

For inquiry and partnerships

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IVD 2017: ACT FIRST

Good morning and Happy International Volunteer Day to us.

I just love this year's theme because it personally speak to me directly and I don't know if you also feel the same way. ACT FIRST and this theme actually reminds me of first law of motion... a body will remain in a state of rest unless acted upon by an external force.

There is no better time that the youth of Nigeria and rest of the world needs to act better than NOW. Truth of the matter is what are we acting on or for, you can't give what you don't have, and that is why skill acquisition, capacity building, mentorship and unwavering leadership qualities is very important of the youths of today and the understanding of delaying gratification.


By international stand, Youth/Young People are from 15-24 (UN, WHO, UNFPA) In Africa, its 18-34. The youth in that age bracket needs to start acting and be active in all sphere of development of this great nation Nigeria. The numbers should be to our favor not a demerit, but to shape the world, to attain Nigeria of our dream now, we must be involve, we must voice out, we must take part in the responsibility of changing the narrative of this great nation.

The act LG volunteering start with you, start from yourself, help you family, be concern about you community, think of what you can contribute to development of others, doing so you are helping your own self.

 The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others - Mahatma Gandhi and that starts with a smile, you can save the world with a smile,

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way... That is the spirit of volunteering.

Remember THOUGHT BECOME THINGS

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEER DAY.

Sheriff Gbadamosi
Coordinator SDGsACT
Lagos.
sdgsactlagos@gmail.com
gbadamosi.olalekan42@gmail

Whatsapp: 08093198572
Social Media: Facebook page I Instagram I Twitter : Sdgs Act Lagos

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SDGs 11

1. It's 11month of the year,  11th goal awareness, how do we make cities and communities sustainable?

 2. What is the different between city and community?

3. What impact does hunger and poverty have over cities and communities sustainability

4. Can climate change have short and long term impacts on goal 11?

5. If you are asked the question, what can you do to help achieve goal 11, what is the best possible answer you can give?

6. What are the roles of government on this goal?

7. How important is the goal to the lifestyle of people living in cities and communities?

8. What measure and approach do you think can be use to achieve this goal?

9. Who are the stakeholders to make goal 11 achievable?

10.  What are the negative impact that will occur and who will be most affected if we fail to achieve a sustainable cities and communities?

These are questions I was thinking about on my way home now as a SDGs advocate.

Every month since January, SDGsACT Africa look into each goals, starting with goal 1 since January, we carry out advocacy, awareness,  twitter chat,  Whatsapp group discussion, survey and assessment to enlighten the community on how we create the future we want through the global goals.

This month, we look into goal 11, we will be glad to have you as partner in progress to carry out more awareness about SDGs.

To be part of our humanitarian services, join any of the SDGsACT AFRICA in any of the states in Nigeria and other countries in Africa.

For more information contact

Olusola Adejoro
SDGsACT AFRICA
Coordinator for AFRICA
+2348162480704
sdgscampaigntour@gmail.com

Sheriff Gbadamosi
SDGsACT AFRICA
Lagos State Chapter
Coordinator,
+2348093198572
sdgsactlagos1@gmail.com

Youth from the home of late afro music legend advocate for quality education

EMPIRE YOUTH COMMUNITY
CENTRE FOR RESEARCH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND MEDIA DEVELOPMENT LIBRARY SCREENING EXAM FOR YOUTHS IN COMMUNITY.

In August to September 2016, the community embarked on a project for the development of the community with long vacation coaching for primary and secondary school children, amazingly we saw turnout from kindergarten children too with their parents and community people supporting with reading materials and refreshments for the kids during the long vacation class which was free for all the students.
The students also enjoyed moment of talks on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), quiz, debate, spelling bee competition, educative film show, Career and mentorship talk. To motivate the students more, we promised them that some of them who did well during the vacation class will be taking for excursion.
To fulfil our promise, we decided to give the children a screening test to select the best among them who will be going for the excursion and Centre for Research Information Management and Media Development (CRIMMD) Library, this library has in stock thousands of books children can learn from, also a photo library of rich histories of the country and it is one of the largest photo collection library in West Africa. The library also has a skill acquisition centre for women and girl child that train them on vocational skills for free.
The need to engage the youth on places like this was because of the background of empire community, which was known as one of the places drug abuse and sexual work started in Lagos when the late Afro legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti moved to the community and started a night band there, called the Kalakuta republic up till date.
On Saturday the 29th October, 2016 the screening started at 10:30am with General paper, English language and Mathematics and the exam lasted for an hour. After the exam, we have a pep talk with the children by Dr Vera Cruz Olasupo, a SDGs advocate and first ANTI AIDS club of University of Lagos, Nigeria. The talk was basically and introduction of all the seventeen United Nation SDGs to the children with the aid of IEC material supported by Sustainable Development Goals Action Africa (SDGsACT AFRICA) Lagos chapter. The children were able to learn all the goals and make commitment to start making a difference in the community.
A light refreshment came afterwards and it was time to storm the community with the kids advocating to their parents to support their education and listen to them, the walk was in an orderly manner as we all sing along as we march through the nooks and cranny of the community. We converge later at around 1:00pm for photograph session and the children all lead back to their home. The community development association applauded the event and pleaded that we do more of such programs in the community.
Written by
Sheriff Gbadamosi
Coordinator SDGsACT AFRICA
Lagos Chapter.
08093198572

MAKOKO: A CRY FROM THE FLOATING CITY

As the new month begin, Muslim Hands Nigeria an affiliate of Muslim Hands UK, an NGO giving out to the needy; interested in the orphan child, women and youth empowerment, education and health care set out his teams today to carry out a reconnaissance survey for its upcoming health outreach for Makoko community, Lagos in early next year, February, 2017.
Makoko, a coastline community in Lagos, stories has trend the news in the past and filled with agony, sorrows and pain yielding to calls to save humanity. In recent times, the stories are yet to change. Muslim Hands Nigeria project organizing team led by Shehu Toyyibat made a site visit to the area to assess the situation of community for proper event planning.

During this visit, Muslim Hands team met the Baale of the Community (Oko ilu), Youth leaders (Olori Odo) and others members of the community cabinet, who gave brief introduction of the community and detailed explanation on prevailing community problems, causes and likely solutions.
A home for foreign artisans, which most of its inhabitants on Makoko waterfronts, ‘house on water ‘ are either fisher man or woman houses majorly the less privileged who live approximately below 0.025 dollar per day, which confirms the rate of poverty to be extreme. Basic infrastructural facilities that make life worth living are absent; health centers (not even one),  public secondary schools, public toilets, access to safe water aside major issues in the country.  The prevailing health issues include malaria and cholera, which is majorly as a result of improper waste management.

Wondering how they cope? Residents engage in daily fishing activities, smoke drying and regular buying and selling. Use available water area as dumpsite and defecating, rain boots are used to walk through the streets due to bad condition of road, mosquitoes net and other local method for the prevention of mosquito bites and purchase drinkable water from borehole point.

Like Muslim Hands, many NGOs have supported the community in health area by providing free medical services, convincing the government to support the community in road construction (Erejuwa street) and a public open space, ‘better life’.  According to the head of the community, their most pressing need is the health center and public toilets alongside more recognition as being part of indigenous community by Lagos State Government.

As Muslim Hands prepare for its upcoming health outreach, 2017, it beseechs the support of the public to save humanity in Makoko community. The people of this community deserve a better life and have rights basic human needs.

For FinancialSupport:
Account Number: 0500134114 (Sterling Bank)
For more information about Muslim Hands:
Contact: 08156266007 – Husseni Muhammed (Social Media Campaign Manager)
Address: 34 College Road, Off Yahya Abatan, Ogba Lagos.

Visit our Facebook page: Muslim Hands Nigeria
Follow us on Twitter:@MuslimHandsNG

SDGsACT Ondo Conference

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DELAYING GRATIFICATION

According to Wikipedia : Gratification is the pleasurable emotional reaction of happiness in response to a fulfilment of a desire or goal.

Then I began to wonder, like all emotion is a motivator or behaviour and thus plays a role in the entire range of human social systems and in achieving our desire or goal in life, then some sacrifice have to be made to reach the climax. Perhaps there is an important fact that, the most important word in long-term thinking is sacrifice. Therefore delayed gratification is the ability to put of satisfaction in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term.
 In the world of today, youths are the most vulnerable because we tend to search for instant gratification rather than understand the concept of successful ending. Immediate gratification only makes you lose your vision, desire, yourself discipline and self esteem. You compromise your integrity for a short term gains and short term gain cause long term pain. You forget the consequences of the instant gain; you become concerned about the pleasing method and not the pleasing results.
 Successful people are concerned about long term consequences of their behaviour while unsuccessful people were more concerned with personal enjoyment and instant gratification. Ask yourself this most important question, why do you want to be successful?
 In other to be successful, knowledge and skill is required and the price you must pay is the sacrifice you MUST make to learn this skills, every skill to become successful is learnable. Goethe said everything is hard before it become easy, success is never ending and failure is never final, you must be ready to grow through pain. No pain no gain.
 The elevator to success is out of order, but the steps are always open – Zig Ziglar. This means that no shortcut to success, learn, read books, attend seminars, learn from expert, and get a mentor. Persevere and don’t stop doing what successful people have done.
 
The law of expediency factors says do the NECESSARY not the EXPEDIENT. Successful people make a habit of doing the things unsuccessful people don’t like to do. Discipline is what is required.
 Delay your gratification for your long term success, many successful people in the world has done it and achieve great success, Abraham Lincoln, Bill Gate, Mahatma Gandhi, The Wright brothers, Henry Ford, Lee Kuan Yew, Nelson Mandela, Mark Zukerberg and I. We all have definitive purpose and their integrity work it out for them, history never forgets them and history will never forget you if you choose the right path to success.
 Those who wish to see the end of the rainbow must go an extra mile.

Sheriff Gbadamosi                    
Coordinator SDGsACT LAGOS

EDITED BY HAJI

GENDER EQUALITY : PANACEA FOR QUALITY EDUCATION

When talking about gender, it’s a social construction of how the male and female sex are or wired. Taking about gender equality is highly controversial in nature
‬ According to new research, both men and women have better quality of life in countries with a high degree of
 gender equality than in those with less gender equality .We are all one just difference in makeup so why this
indifference
Quality education is just about the innovative combination of both forms of education.
There's more of gender inequality in most developing countries than developed countries and this is due to the
fact that in Africa we've been made to believe that some things should be done by a particular gender and not
the other,, take for instance,, it is believed in Africa that only the women should cook while the man sits and
waits for the food; Also it is believed that a man must be the one providing the food... If we look at this
critically.
This setting doesn't really work in most developed countries
The Organization also encourages mainstreaming gender equality issues in education at all levels
(From early childhood to higher education), in all settings (from formal, non-formal and informal), and in all
intervention areas (from planning infrastructure to training teachers).
Gender inequality in education takes many forms depending on the context. Though gender inequality affects
girls and boys, women and men alike, girls and women are still more often disadvantaged.
The truth of the matter is this; gender equality remains the most widely discussed issue around the world today
and this is because the question of equally draws on a variety of implications. Human beings can never be equal, no sentiments attached, however men and women should be given the same opportunities before that law, be
accorded the same volume of respect. Only in this sense can gender equality be sort; among the obstacles in the way of women’s and girls’ability to exercise their right to participate in, complete and benefit from education
 are poverty, geographical isolation, minority status, disability, early marriage and pregnancy, gender based
violence, and traditional attitudes about the status and role of women.
How can this same gender equality be a solution to quality education??
To move forward, every household must encourage their kids to treat the other sex just as they would want to be treated equally.
   
 SOLUTIONS
1. They should be a school in the home whereby evening Times. Parents and children discuss about lots
of things; it bridges the gap between what's learnt at home and school; parents should have time for their kids

2. The capacity of education, policy makers, planners, teachers and other education personnel regarding gender
sensitive approaches should be developed

3. Kids of today want edutainment not education really; the school curriculum should involve activities
 involving both sexes and highly interactive also

4. We need to understand what gender means, what are misconceptions, what are the challenges?
 How can we solve them?

5. Education begins at home. Regardless of whether it is quality education or not. The most important thing to
note is this, parents must endeavour to expose children to the right background to learning, only then can these
children begin to value education generally.
What are the most common mistakes made regarding gender? What policies are on ground to ensure this? How
receptive is this gospel at grassroots levels
Gender are social constructed roles the society expects men and women to play
They are entirely different from sexes
In Nigeria for instance, women are known to keep the house, cook, clean, take care of the children and it stops
 there. Well in most areas-While for men, they expect that he is the bread winner, he is educated to a level,
he is a worker and a protector, the head of the family in almost all parts of Africa
‬ Now the world has begun to change, norms are broken, stereotypes are not adhered to and the unusual is the
 trend. We see more number of women working, economically stable, owning properties and the likes which is
in contrast to the old way, the days of women in purdah in the northern states, where women have no business
in political affairs and in communicating with men... They hid their faces...they were regarded as the weaker sex
The stereotypes still exist but in bits, these were what expected of women then... But times are changing
Women are very important to the educational sector because they are more populated than men...which implies a strong resource base that needs to be taped
We have to understand that the restrictions placed on women steam from a stereotype idea that our forefathers accepted to be the truth. These kind of stereotypes are affecting the womenfolk more than some of us are willing
to admit. Until, the rest of Africa accepts to put a stop to the general notion, gender equality will just be another unresolved case.
So what are the solutions?
Emphasis is placed on them because they are vulnerable to all sorts of things... They are victims of bad cultural practices, they have little access to land or property , they are not economically stable compared to men and lots more... Gender equality does not imply that men and women are equal but it ensures for an enabling
environment for both sexes to thrive without being discriminated... Nigeria would be better if more women are
educated, if they are trained because educating the girl is educating a nation for she is a potential mother
Most of us here buy into the same stereotypes, truth be told. Our orientation has to change.
It means that women should be engineers too; It means that women should be barbers too
So mind set needs to be reoriented
To add, it is not just about Nigeria, but Africa in its entirety.
It means that women can perform any role a man can; Why can't guys also be a teacher in the home, that is the
 social reconstruction
It means that women have the right to be educated too. Maybe orientating ladies on stuffs like this will be more
appropriate.
 For gender equality to be a reality. Men must lead  this fight for it not only women but about them also.
Gender is neutral, Equal opportunities for both. Sad as it sounds, most women have themselves accepted to
remain in the background. They must let go of this inhibition.
Women are the vulnerable, in some African societies; boys don't go to school at all. The society must be willing
to go all out for the woman just as much as the woman must put herself out there.
The campaign for quality education is shrouded in the ability to embrace the challenge to gain knowledge and
subsequently put it to good use.
In Nigeria in the east they have more girls in school than boys... Who of course are involved in business?
They believe in training their daughters... but in the northern States you have more boys in school than girls. The girls are married off at an early age...they do not have the opportunity to finish school... So the issues is relative
 to location
Introduction of stipends for girls who hawk in the north to encourage them to attend schools. Scholarships for
 low income households who can't afford to send their daughters to school
In this case, our emphasis is on the girl child. She is the most disadvantaged given the kind of situation our
society forces her to go through.

IN SUMMARY;
1 .Reorientation of the mind is key; proper remuneration scheme for rural teachers to encourage them; training
of rural teachers in adherence to the required standard.
 2. It will be a boost for African youths to champion the campaign for an intellectual revolution.
3.  There should be a seminar for mothers educating them about their girl-child
4. Situations of crisis and instability. There a problem here too.
What we do, what we say and how we do or say what must send the right message. And if we fail to embrace
the same principle, as one body, we are doomed.
5. Are we all willing to do what it takes to encourage quality education for all classes of children?
6. Educate Girls builds a cadre of village-based youth leaders to work as champions for girls' education and
catalysts for school reform. It works in the schools as well as village communities spreading awareness about
girl- child education. It boosts enrolment, retention and learning outcomes for all girls.
  BY TERNA,MOHAMMED YAKUB,DEOLA,SAM,MOSES,HAJI AND SOLA
 COLLATED BY HAJI

RENEWABLE ENERGY AS AN SOLUTION TO CLIMATE CRISIS

The rate at which our climate is changing is alarming. This generation is witnessing the worst moment in the history of our climate. We have since the beginning of the century witnessed warmest second, minute, hour, day, week, month and year.
The year 2015 has been adjudged as the warmest since the recording of the global temperature started more than hundred years ago, and if the trend continues, subsequent years will be warmer and worst. When we experience a warmer day, the consequences are terrible. Intense precipitation in some places and a corresponding drought in others with rising sea level, flooding and heat wave; the situation is far from accommodating.
These are not spontaneous events; they are the consequences of decades and centuries of human quest for a better and comfortable life.  Temperature level of 2 degree Celsius is unacceptable. To reverse this trend and keep the global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius we must as a matter of urgency phase out carbon emissions for coal, oil and gas to zero now. In one of his recent article published by EcoWatch, James Hasen declared that "as long as fossil fuels are allowed to be held up as the cheapest reliable energy, they will continue to be the world's largest source and the likelihood of disastrous consequences for young people will grow to near certainty".
Our planet cannot afford further delay in the need for this phase out; it must be speedy with all commitment. From the recent study, it was found out that even if the pollution stops today the consequences will live with us for some centuries to come before we go back to a normal planet. We can't procrastinate. In my view, 2050 is too late for our phase out target.
The transition process will create massive number of jobs. About 20 million jobs have been estimated to come directly from this according Greenpeace in cooperation with the German Aerospace centre.
Among the greenhouse gases is methane which has a higher warming potential than CO2 in the short term. According to current estimates, the fossil fuel industry contributes about 22 percent of global methane emissions. According to Eco Watch, methane emissions from the global fossil fuel industry are upto 60 percent  greater than existing estimates from the new comprehensive analysis of global methane emissions.
Human quest for energy is as old as man himself. From the beginning of civilization until the mid-eighteenth century, humans used wood burning as their primary source of energy. It was used mainly for heating but also, to a lesser degree, for smelting and distillation. Owing to a smaller global population, the CO2 gas generated did not saturate the absorption capacity of plants and the oceans. Consequently, it did not have a significant negative effect on the environment.
Things began to change significantly when the steam engine was invented in 1750, historically sited as the beginning of the industrial revolution.
Coal has been since then the primary source of energy turning the wheels of our industries, expanding our global reach, increasing our yields and manufactured goods, shortening our distances and making possible transcontinental transportation either on land or by sea.
In 2013, the international energy agency (IEA) estimates the energy consumption at 9,301 Mteo or 3.89x1020 joules. This equals to an average power consumption of 12.3 terawatts.
The renewable energy enjoys a significant growth from 2000 to date faster than any other time in history during this period. This can possibly be attributed to increase in international investments in renewable energy. The demand for nuclear energy is decreasing, possibly due to the accidents in Chernobyl.
Dirty energy production and consumption does not only lead to the build of the green house gases but also increase the concentration of pollutants such as sulphur oxides, nitros oxides and particulate matter. The World Health Organization estimates that 7 million premature deaths are caused each year by air pollution.
Reporting in 2016, REN21 (Renewable Energy policy Network for the 21st century) said renewable energy contributed 19.2 percent to human global energy consumption and 23.7 percent to their generation of electricity in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
About US$286 billion is said to be the world wide investments in renewable technologies in 2015, with countries like China United States investing heavily in wind, hydro, solar and biofuels.
Renewable energy can be sourced from all geographical location, unlike the other energy sources, which are concentrated in a limited number of locations. Significant energy security, climate mitigation and economic benefits are achieved from the rapid deployment of renewable energy.
Now the first comprehensive treaty to address global warming will come into force in early November after several countries agreed to it ratification. we can now say by November, the Paris Agreement will become an international law.
A total of 72 countries representing 57 percent of greenhouse gas emissions had officially joined the pact. the aim is to limit the global temperature rise to well below 2 degree Celsius.
This is an awesome feat, particularly considering the fact that entry into force of the  pact comes 30 days after ratification. So our heads will be held high and our mind at rest as we prepare for Marrakech.
Achieving this feat should not be an opportunity to relax; we must keep on until all countries are on board as we can't afford further emission.

BY Musa Mohammad Tanko : Regional project Manager (Africa) ATO-ClimatEducate