NERC leads in FOI ranking, security agencies score low
UN says Nigeria needs N5b to tackle hunger in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa
AS public institutions continue to strive for full disclosure of information, in compliance with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011, the same cannot be said about security agencies.
According to the National Freedom of Information Ranking, which was launched yesterday in Abuja by the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), the Federal Fire Service topped security institutions with 22.5 points.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) came first with a cumulative of 67.5 points accruing from partial proactive disclosure, timely response to request for information, FOI training, and full disclosure of requested information.
However, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) tied with 57.5 points in the second position.
Earlier in her address, the Chief Executive Officer of PPDC, Nkem Ilo, stressed the need for access to information, stating that it would positively impact on the management of public resources, as citizens would have the necessary information to actively participate in governance.
Ilo disclosed that the ranking was aimed at entrenching accountability and transparency in public institutions by ensuring that Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAS) liberated data, and citizens had timely and unrestricted access to information.
She said, “In April 2019, PPDC, in its effort to improve the rankings by giving it more visibility and credibility, reached out and formed partnerships with (pilot) civil society organisations who make use of the FOI Act and work in the transparency and accountability space.”
ABOUT N5 billion is needed to procure 258,950 cartons of ready-to-use therapeutic food that would be used to tackle Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, says the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
It added that an estimated 258,950 children are to suffer from SAM in the three states by 2020.
UNICEF nutrition specialist, Aminu Usman, disclosed this yesterday at a Media Dialogue on Child Malnutrition organised by the UN body and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, with support from the Department for International Development (DFID) in Maiduguri, Borno State.
He said that funding had been secured for 29,314 cartons, while there is a funding gap of N4.4 billion.
Usman observed that persistent crises and influx of internally-displaced persons were exacerbating the situation, stressing the need for a contingency plan to tackle malnutrition.
He disclosed that DFID had given £35 million (about N15 billion) for flexible integrated timely response in the North East and £5 million for the wind project in Yobe.
Another UNICEF nutritionist, Abigail Nyukuri, noted that 2.5 million children under the age of five suffer SAM in Nigeria, adding that about 44,000 children in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe suffered acute malnutrition in 2019.
She stressed the need for an integrated approach towards tackling malnutrition in the North as well as adequate resources to deliver comprehensive nutrition to children.
According to Nyukuri, malnutrition had severe consequences in the life a child and leads to inestimable brain damage and compromised intellectual capacity in adulthood.
She noted efforts being made to detect emerging, deteriorating malnutrition related crises in Borno through an agile nutrition surveillance system and timely response through the implementation of an integrated basic nutrition package.
THE United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has spent over N8 billion and $11 million (N3.97 billion) in five years to refurbish dilapidated structures in health and education sectors in Adamawa State.
On a visit to Governor Ahmadu Fintiri yesterday in Yola, the Chief of UNICEF, Bauchi Field Office, Mr. Bhanu Pathak, disclosed that the two sectors affected mostly children and women in the state.
He said that from 2014 to 2019, with support from donors, UNICEF provided cash support to the government through Ministries, Departments and Agencies to the tune of N8 billion, and supplies totalling $11 million.
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