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FG, UNHCR take birth registration to IDP camps, targets 25m by 2025

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The Federal government in partnership with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has began birth registration in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The exercise which began on Monday in Abuja and being carried out by the National Population Commission (NPC) has so far registered no fewer than 970 births in two IDP camps in the FCT, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

NAN also reports that the exercise which moved on Tuesday to an IDP camp in Kuchingoro and billed for Wednesday in another camp in Durumi, had children as young as three days and older than 15 years being registered.

Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday at the Durumi Camp, Mr Temidayo Matthew, Director Civil registration and vital statistics, NPC, said the exercise was part of efforts to end statelessness.

He said that the focus for the commission was to ensure that all children were registered adding that the target was to reach 25 million children by 2025.

“This exercise is very important to the government and to the populace. For a while now we have been having the problem of statelessness and we need to address this problem.

“The immediate antidote to solving this problem is getting children registered at birth.

“Any child that is registered at birth and given a certificate, that certificate gives that child an identity and nationality.

“Whether is it an IDP camp, a refugee camp or a remote area, in as much as a child is born in Nigeria it is our responsibility to register that child.

“We are not even stopping at this, we are trying to raise a compendium of IDP Camps, not just in Abuja; where ever they are, we must get those children captured.

He said that although the commission’s intervention in IDPs and remote communities was majorly in the North East, efforts were in top gear to reach other such camps and communities.

He pointed out that the major challenges of registration were religious, cultural and traditional.

On the cultural challenge, he explained that in most parts of Nigeria, a child was not named at birth but from eight days to over 40 days after, decrying that many times parents, especially in rural areas, did not return to register such children.

He said that in many of the rural areas, there were neither access roads nor health facilities making it even more difficult for the commission’s staff members to reach the population.

He commended the efforts of the population commission and the UNHCR that gave information about the existence of such camps at the heart of the FCT.

“We have just developed a roadmap; by year 2025 we are going to get 25 million children registered and that will be just 80 per cent of the unregistered children.

“The subsequent year, we intend clearing the 20 per cent remaining.

“I am happy to let you know that the commission has started the process of automating and digitising our registration processes.

“This will make it easier,” he said.

The UNHCR’s Chief of Mission, John McKissick, commended Nigeria for taking the lead at ensuring an end to statelessness in Africa.

He said that it was gladdening that on the 60th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on reduction of statelessness, Nigeria was making giant strands at registering births that were unregistered.

He commended the nation for waiving the requirement that registrations be done within 60 days of birth, adding that the initiative would greatly advance UNHCR’s 10-year plan to reduce statelessness by 2024.

“I think this is a great initiative, that on the 60th anniversary of the 1961 convention on reduction of statelessness, we are here in Abuja registering children that are at risk of statelessness.

“I want to congratulate Nigeria for signing those two conventions: the 1954 Convention on the status of homeless persons and the 1961 Convention on the reduction of statelessness.

“It is so important that Nigeria has signed and is a leader in Africa in terms of signing conventions dealing with human rights and statelessness.

“Getting rid of statelessness is a human right of all Nigerians, so I congratulate Nigeria.

“The one thing I will call on the country to do is to also domesticate the legislation so that what they have signed onto in the convention is also national law,” he said.

He said that many of the children who were now being registered, had parents who were unregistered, explaining that the team had to interview the parents in order to register them.

A high point of the event was the identification of Mrs Liyatu Ayuba, a Traditional Birth Attendant, who claimed to have delivered over 185 babies at the Durumi camp in the last five years.

Mrs Ayuba, who is also the Woman Leader at the camp, told NAN that when she arrived the camp she met women who were in danger – not getting antenatal care or even safe child bearing.

She said that in her five years of rendering assistance at the camp, at no cost, she had neither lost any baby nor mother adding that in spite of their nonchalance, she ensured that pregnant women went for ante natal care.

“So far, I have delivered 185 children in this camp and a few settlements around this camp. This camp alone we delivered 108, but others around us came here to get delivered.

“Since I started, no mother or baby has died in this IDP Camp. God has been answering my prayers and that is what makes me happy,” she said. (NAN)

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Natasha Not Suspended for Sexual Harassment Allegation, But Violation of Standing Orders, Senate Clarifies

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The Senate has faulted pervasive claims that one of its members representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended for accusing the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio of sexual harassment.

Rather, the upper chamber clarified that Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended specifically due to her flagrant disobedience to Sections 6.1 and 6.2 of the Senate Standing Orders 2023 (As Amended) and her unparliamentary behaviour during its plenaries and proceedings.

The Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele made these clarifications in a three-page statement released on Saturday amid the deliberate misinformation and false narratives being circulated by certain media organisations.

Contingent on the report of its Committee on Ethics and Privileges, the Senate had suspended Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months over alleged misconduct and refusal to comply with its sitting arrangement during the plenary.

The Senate upheld her suspension with a proviso that if Akpoti-Uduaghan “submits a written apology, the leadership of the chamber may consider lifting the suspension before the six-month period expires.”

Rather than submitting to the Authority of the Senate, Akpoti-Uduaghan had been misinforming the unsuspecting public that she was suspended because she accused the senate president of sexual harassment.

In a statement he released on Saturday, however, Bamidele clarified that the disciplinary action against Akpoti-Uduaghan was unequivocally a response to her repeated violations of legislative decorum.

In the same vein, the statement further clarified that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition on sexual harassment failed to meet the clear and established procedural requirements for submitting petitions to the Senate.

The statement reads in part: “It has come to the attention of the Senate that some media reports are attempting to falsely suggest that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension was due to allegations of sexual harassment.

“This is completely untrue, misleading, and a calculated attempt to distort the facts. If Akpoti-Uduaghan had strictly followed our guiding principles, the Senate would have treated her petition based on merit in line with its practice. But she never obeyed the established practices of the institution where she was serving,” the statement said.

Specifically, the statement revealed that Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension was “a decision of the Committee of the Whole Senate, following the submission of a report by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges.”

The statement noted that the report found Akpoti-Uduaghan guilty of violating Sections 6.1 and 6.2 of the Senate Standing Orders 2023 (As Amended) and recommended her immediate suspension.

As established in the findings of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges, the statement pointed out that the disciplinary action was “a response to Akpoti-Uduaghan’s repeated violations of legislative decorum stated as follows:

” Refusing to sit in her assigned seat during plenary on 25th February 2025, despite multiple pleas from the Minority Leader and other ranking Senators—an act of open defiance and disorderly conduct.

“Speaking without being recognized by the presiding officer, in clear violation of parliamentary practices and procedures on 25th February 2025.

“Engaging in unruly and disruptive behavior, obstructing the orderly conduct of Senate proceedings. Making abusive and disrespectful remarks against the leadership of the Senate.

“Defying and refusing to comply with the summons of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges mandated to investigate cases of misconduct,” the statement highlighted violations of the Senate Standing Order 2023 (As Amended) by Akpoti-Uduaghan.

The statement, therefore, noted that these actions represented a direct challenge to the Authority of the Senate and a violation of the Senate Standing Orders 2023 (As Amended) that govern the business of the Senate and the conduct of all its members without any exception.

The statement noted that the disciplinary measure was imperative, necessary and justified to restore order and uphold the integrity of the Senate as the country’s foremost democratic institution.

“Contrary to the false claims being circulated, Akpoti-Uduaghan was not suspended for making any sexual harassment or for submitting a petition. Her petition was rightfully discountenanced because it failed to meet the clear and established procedural requirements for submitting petitions to the Senate.

” The rules of the Senate apply to all members without exception, and no petition—regardless of its subject—can be considered if it does not follow due process. To suggest that her suspension was linked to her petition is not only a distortion of facts but an intentional and malicious attempt to mislead the public,” the statement noted.

While thanking some media organisations for their reporting, the statement urged the media not to distort facts to suit a false narrative expressing dissatisfaction with an attempt to politicise a disciplinary action that was strictly based on clear violations of Senate Standing Orders 2023 (As Amended).

The statement said: ” This coordinated misinformation campaign is nothing more than an attempt to politicise a disciplinary action that was strictly based on clear violations of Senate Standing Orders 2023 (As Amended).

“It is reckless, misleading, and a disservice to the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who deserve truthful and factual reporting. We, therefore, urge all foreign correspondents and responsible media houses to correct these misrepresentations and avoid propagating falsehoods that undermine the integrity of Nigeria’s legislative process.”

 

 

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Bill To End HND, BSc Dichotomy Scales Second Reading In The House

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A bill to abolish the dichotomy and discrimination between Bachelor’s Degree holders and Higher National Diploma (HND) holders has scaled second reading in the House of Representatives.

According to the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, the bill sought to replace HND with Bachelor of Tech so that graduates of polytechnic would be able to compete favourably with other university graduates.

The bill, which was sponsored by a member, Fuad Laguda from Lagos State, also emphasised the importance of technical education.

Speaker Abbas said the position taken by all boards of polytechnics in Nigeria is “the abolition of HND and in place of it to have Bachelor of Technology so that at least graduates of polytechnics will be able to compete with those from universities”.

“At the same time, they are calling for hybrid supervision where the degree component of the polytechnic education will be handled by the NUC (National Universities Commission) while the national diploma will continue to be handled by the NBTE (National Board for Technical Education).

“Because of the degree component of this amendment, they felt that the qualification for being rector should also be upgraded to a Ph.D holder at the minimum since you will now be talking about degree programmes, it is only proper for such kind of establishment to have a Ph.D holder as the head of the institution,” he said.

Abbas subjected the bill to a voice vote and the lawmakers approved it to scale second reading.

 

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Tax Reform Bills: Senate To Consider Viable Opinions Of Stakeholders

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The chairman, Senate committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa, says the Senate will consider viable opinions of all stakeholders in the passage of current Tax Reform Bills .

Senator Musa who stated this during an interview with newsmen in Abuja emphasized the need for Nigerians to be patient for a tax regime that would be beneficial to all and sundry.

He explained that the red chamber would evolve a legislation that is workable in line with international best practices.

Senator Musa told newsmen that president TINUBU needs one trillion dollar economy adding that the proposed Tax regime would outlive every individual including the lawmakers.

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