COVID-19 IN NIGERIA: WE SAY NO TO CHINA INTERVENTION

Can the world ever trust China again? Would Nigeria romance with the prime suspect of the current global crisis (COVID-19)? How can we? In 2012 China handed over a fully funded and built headquarters building in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to the African Union (AU). A great gesture of friendship and solidarity, perhaps. But not long after, it was alleged to have been bugged, leaking vital, confidential information of the Union to China in faraway Shanghai! True or false, the Union had to change its computer servers to check the alleged mischief. But issues of health are different. Misfiring means losing a life, or even lives. On a national scale, that can amount to thousands. Painful loss. Avoidable loss. The authorities must tread with caution here. Face masks, test kits, ventilators, vaccine and doctors - all from or of China. Hmmmm, caution we must exercise. Until now we have been using our indigenous doctors, and they have been doing well. WHY CHANGE THE WINNING TEAM? Please let us DISCARD this idea of Chinese intervention. WE DON'T NEED IT. Let us stay safe Stay indigenous. Stay Nigerian We shall overcome

Tuesday, 24 May 2016

UNICEF plans educational support for children in crisis-torn countries

The UN Children’s Fund has announced the launch of a new fund to better coordinate support for and drive investment in education for children and youth affected by humanitarian emergencies and protracted crises. The “Education Cannot Wait” fund has a funding target of 3.85 billion dollars over five years.
It aims to bridge the gap between humanitarian interventions during crises and long-term development afterwards, through predictable funding.
UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, presented the new fund at the World Humanitarian Summit, a two-day conference that opened Monday, May 23, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey.
He said, “Action now has to happen urgently because of the sheer scale of numbers of children impacted.”

Specifically designed for education in emergencies, the fund, he added, also aims to reach more than 13.6 million children and youth living in crisis situations, such as conflict, natural disasters and disease outbreaks, with quality education over the next five years.
“These young people are missing out on schooling and this is becoming a full-blown global crisis that will haunt the world for generations,” Brown said.
On an average, the UN estimates that less than two per cent of humanitarian aid currently goes to funding education.
Moreover, the UN says, education systems equipped to cope with protracted crises cannot be built on the foundations of short-term and unpredictable appeals.
Meanwhile, UNICEF warns that one in four of the world’s school-aged children – nearly half a billion, live in countries affected by crises and that as many as 476 million children and young people between the ages of three and 18 live in 35 countries affected by crises.
It says 80 million of them have had their education disrupted or destroyed by emergencies and protracted crises and over 16 million are in refugee, internally displaced and other populations of concern in these same affected countries.
UNICEF added that the situation for girls is even worse.
The UN also said that less than two per cent of all humanitarian funding goes to education every year since 2010, with a current estimated 9 billion dollar gap for education in emergencies annually.
UN also added that conflict, natural disasters, displacement, epidemics and other crises pose a serious threat to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals for education.

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