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(FLOWERBUDNEWS)No fewer  than 52 million people in 18 countries across southern, eastern and central Africa are facing up to crisis levels of hunger as a result of weather extremes, compounded by poverty and conflict.

Some areas are facing a second extreme drought in four years and worse than that sparked by El Nino in 1981.

In the South, parts of Zimbabwe have had their lowest rainfall since 1981 which has helped push more than 5.5 million people into extreme food insecurity. Zambia’s rich maize-growing area has been decimated and exports are now banned; 2.3 million people there are food insecure.

The situation is worsening including in Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, Namibia and Zimbabwe. There are reports of farmer suicides in South Africa.

Drought has also hit the East and Horn of Africa particularly Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. At the same time, record-breaking temperatures in the Indian Ocean have dumped ultra-heavy rainfalls into Kenya and South Sudan, causing flash-flooding especially along major river arteries. South Sudan has declared a state of emergency with more than 900,000 people hit by floods.

In Africa extreme weather events have hit many countries already suffering from ongoing conflict. Across the continent, 7.6 million people were displaced by conflict in the first six months of 2019, and another 2.6 million by extreme weather.

In the Horn, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan have simultaneously faced over 750 000 people displaced by conflict and 350 000 displaced by extreme weather.

Scientists have demonstrated how climate change is increasing the frequency or severity of many extreme weather events.

Over the last decade, these 18 African countries have collectively suffered average annual losses of 700 million dollars from climate-related disasters– and this is without counting the cost of these latest crises, says Oxfam.

However, there has been minimal progress globally in raising funds specifically to address loss and damage from climate change. Africa contributes less than five per cent of total global emissions but is suffering some of the most severe impacts of the climate crisis.

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Participants at the North-East Security Summit in a 14-point communiqué called on the Federal Government to urgently increase the funding of the Nigerian Armed Forces, the Nigerian Police and other security agencies involved in the fight again insurgency and other crimes in the North-East. (more…)

An Osogbo Magistrate Court on Wednesday remanded a 19-year-old boy, Lateef Adekunle, in Ilesha Correctional Center for allegedly in possession of substance suspected to be cannabis, popularly called India hemp. (more…)

(FLOWERBUDNEWS) A bill seeking to regulate social media in the country has passed first reading at the senate.

The bill entitled, ‘protection from internet falsehood and manipulations bill, 2019’ is sponsored by Mohammed Sani Musa, senator representing Niger east.

The proposed legislation was one of the 11 bills read for the first time on Tuesday.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja, the sponsor of the bill said Nigeria needs the legislation because it would protect its “fragile unity”.

“There has never been a time when Nigeria has been very fragile in terms of its unity than this period,” Musa said.

“It is not to stop people from going into the internet to do whatever they feel legitimately is okay to do but what we felt is wrong is for you to use the medium to document information that you know is false, just because you want to achieve your desirable interest.”

He said the bill proposes a punishment of N150,000 fine or three years imprisonment for any offender.

“If it is a corporate organisation that refused to block that false information despite the fact that they have been alerted by authorities not to disseminate that information for public interest and they still go ahead and do it, refusing to do that blockage will be penalised between N5 million to N10 million for those organisations,” the senator said.

“For example, MTN, Glo, 9 mobile etc. which we use their platform in transmitting these information, if nothing is done, we fine them and you will see that it will be a deterrent to others.”

In the previous senate, there was a similar bill sponsored by Bala Na’Allah, then deputy majority leader.

But the bill was withdrawn after outrage by some Nigerians.

Recently, Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, said the federal government was working on sanitising the social media.

EXECUTIVE Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Tunde Fowler, has said that Nigeria would earn at least 80 per cent of her revenues from the non-oil sector of the economy in the next three years. (more…)

(FLOWERBUDNEWS) The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has commenced the radiometric survey of the Bida Basin in Niger in line with Federal government’s aspiration to diversify hydrocarbon exploration across all the basins.

Mr Ahmad Shakur, the Director of DPR, disclosed this in a statement by Mr Paul Osu, Head, Public Affairs Department on Wednesday in Lagos on Wednesday.

Osu quoted Shakur as having disclosed this during a courtesy visit to Gov. Abubakar Bello of Niger, adding that the exercise would cover 12 local government areas of the state.

The director, who  said the objective of the radiometric survey was also to determine the hydrocarbon prospective of the Bida Basin, solicited the cooperation of the state government in sensitising the people in the affected local government areas of the survey to ensure the success of the project.

Shakur, who was in company of the agency’s survey team, noted that the sensitisation would ensure the safe conduct of the programme.

Bello, who represented by his Deputy, Alhaji Ahmed Ketso, promised to give DPR maximum support including the provision of adequate security for the survey team.

He said that the state government was delighted having DPR,the petroleum regulatory agency, to carry out the survey in state.

The governor expressed optimism that when operational, project would boost the economy of the state by way of job creation among other advantages.

In the same vein, Shakur paid a courtesy visit to the Emir of Bida, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar where he also solicited for the cooperation of the monarch to ensure the success of the survey.

Receiving the team, the emir assured it of sensiting the people for the success of the project. (NAN)