General
Cape Verde to Make Right-to-Food Constitutional
By Dipo Olowookere
Cape Verde is advancing in the process of national ownership of the Right to Food with the support of FAO.
During the Ordinary Meeting of the National Council of Food Security and Nutrition, nearly 40 stakeholders discussed on the current status of the Right to Adequate Food in the country in order to advise the government on the policies that need to be implemented to guarantee this right.
The meeting, the first of the IX Legislative Term, was chaired by the Minister of Agriculture and Environment, Gilberto Silva, and included FAO presentations on a Diagnosis of the food rights and laws in the country.
Cape Verde has ratified most of the international conventions and legal instruments related to the Right-to-Food which, yet, is implicitly recognized in several articles of its constitution.
In addition, in the current legal system, several decrees-law have been passed that protect the access to food in the country, in all dimensions of food security: availability, access, utilization and stability.
The government has enabled the environment for the Right to Adequate Food, including it as a priority in the political programme of the current Legislative Term and adopting several national policies, including the National Strategy for Food Security and Nutrition (ENSAN 2020).
It is also aligned with the Strategy of the Portuguese Speaking Countries Community (CPLP), the National Action Plan for Food Security and Nutrition (PANSAN 2014-16), National Plan on Food and Nutrition (PNAN 2015-20) and the National Program of Schools Meals (PNAE 2012-20).
Cape Verde has not experienced severe famine since the 1950s and the economy has grown progressively until it graduated as Least Developed Countries (LDC) in 2008 and accessed the World Trade Organization. Nevertheless, food insecurity remains as a national issue affecting over 20% of the population and there are serious nutrition problems, particularly affecting children such as a high rate of iron deficiency anaemia.
The Diagnosis presentation highlighted the importance of strengthening the current legal instruments to protect the Right to Adequate Food and the effective operationalization, monitor and evaluation of the current policies to tackle food insecurity in the country. Likewise, it recommended to reinforce the information and education campaigns to make the population more aware of the right to food, as well as the engagement of Civil Society Organizations and Non-State Actors, enabling the conditions for their participation in regular consultations with the government specialized agencies.
A law proposal, elaborated with FAO support, will be presented at the next meeting of the National Council of Food Security and Nutrition scheduled during the second quarter of 2017.
Minister Gilberto Silva explained some of the key challenges of the sector, including the access to credit, informal structure of the agricultural production and need to register and certify the sector, water scarcity, land tenure, post-harvest treatment, sustainability of marine resources and others. The Minster also explained current initiatives that the Government is taking to overpass them, such as the densification of the food security networks in the country and the involvement of the local structures led by the Municipal Governments in these networks. The reinforcement of the national statistics system is another priority of the government in order to have accurate data for elaborating effective evidence-based policies.
Post-COP22 actions
The Government also organized a public conference on the theme “The challenges for the implementation of a public agenda for Food Security and Nutrition”, with the participation of the Prime Minister of Cabo Verde and the FAO Representative.
The Conference brought together nearly hundred stakeholders from the main public institutions working on Food Security, majors from several islands, and representatives from the International Organizations, Diplomatic Missions, Academia and Civil Society.
Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva assured that Food Security is a national priority at highest level and recognized FAO’s role in enhancing Food Security and Nutrition in the country. “We are determined to end food insecurity in Cabo Verde; our policies have a special focus on increasing productivity in agriculture and fisheries, as well as the income generated bythese activities ”, said the Prime Minster.
FAO Representative in Cabo Verde, Rémi Nono Womdim, highlighted the political will of the country to tackle food insecurity and the need to increment the investments to reinforce the environmental and economic resilience of the small farmers and fishermen. “We are committed to continue supporting the country, providing technical assistance in the formulation of policies, strategies and projects for development in areas such as nutrition, agriculture, fisheries, forestry and land and natural resources management”, he underlined.
Some of the recommendations emphasized the need to articulate Food Security and Nutrition objectives with socioeconomic development, the national definition of Food Sovereignty and Right to Adequate Food, the implementation of a systemic Food Security policy, and the establishment of governing mechanisms of the Food Security and Nutrition.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A former Chief of General Staff, General Oladipo Diya (rtd), has been reported death by his family.
The late military officer was the second-in-command to the late Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha, from 1993 to 1997, when he was arrested for an alleged treason.
In a statement, Mr Oyesinmilola Diya said the former Military Governor of Ogun State died in the early hours of Sunday, March 26, 2023.
However, he did not disclose if the 79-year-old Odogbolu, Ogun State-born army general suffered from any illness before his demise.
In the statement, he only stated that further announcements would be made public in due course.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government of Nigeria has assured that it is ready to fulfil the Paris Agreement on Climate Change to ensure effective gender inclusion.
This was disclosed by Mr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, during the inauguration and inception workshop of the project in Abuja tagged The Nigeria Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT), Just and Gender Inclusive Transition (JGIT) Project.
The project is aimed at helping countries to better assess the impacts of their climate policies and actions and fulfil their transparency commitments.
Mr Ngige said the objective of the inception meeting was to launch the ICAT Just Transition project and increase awareness among the national stakeholders for a better understanding of its implementation.
He said that ICAT, an International multi-stakeholder partnership of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), was supporting Nigeria in setting up Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) of a Just and Gender Inclusive Transition(JGIT).
The minister, represented by Ms Daju Kachollom, Permanent Secretary in the ministry, said Nigeria had signed a Project Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with the UNOPS, represented by the ICAT management.
According to him, the PCA is to firm up the process leading to the take-off and implementation of the project over a 12 months period.
“The objectives of the project, among others, include developing JGIT monitoring and MRV and ensuring it links with the sectoral MRV system.
“Another objective is to Enhance Transparency Framework (ETF) implemented by the Federal Ministry of Environment to achieve synergy, institutional memory, and stakeholder inclusion and cooperation.
“It will further enable a tripartite cooperation between government, labour, and employer associations to achieve a Just and Gender Inclusive Transition going forward with the implementation of the Paris agreement,” he said.
The minister said that the ICAT project would be implemented by a team of national experts and international ICAT consultants under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
On his part, Dr Yerima Tarfa, ICAT, JGIT Project Team Lead, said the initiative would help to increase the overall transparency capacities of countries and assess the contribution of policies and development objectives.
According to him, this is by providing appropriate methodological information and tools to support evidence–based policymaking.
Dr Tarfa noted that Nigeria was the largest economy and leading oil producer, and most populous in Africa.
“It faces the unique challenge of having to diversify its economy away from fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, and increasingly, coal) while responding to the unmet energy needs of its growing population.
“Nonetheless, Nigeria is turning this challenge into an opportunity by increasing the use of renewable energy, reducing its carbon footprints, and eliminating gas flaring.
“Nigeria’s National Determined Contributions (NDCs) is committed to a 20 per cent emission reduction by 2030 unconditionally and 45 per cent conditional, with focus on power and electricity, oil and gas,” he said.
The team lead said the highlights of the NDCs include ending gas flaring by 2030 and a 30 per cent energy efficiency level by 2030.
He said the inauguration of the inception workshop would provide the opportunity to create awareness and build a national cross-knowledge sharing that would provide a platform for key stakeholders to facilitate the implementation of the Nigeria ICAT JGIT Project.
He added that this would further set up an MRV of Just and Gender Inclusive Transition and its Roadmap for implementation in Nigeria.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
An appeal court sitting in Abuja on Friday upturned the judgment of the Osun governorship election tribunal, which removed Mr Ademola Adeleke as Governor of Osun State.
In January, the tribunal declared the former Governor of the state, Mr Gboyega Oyetola, as the authentic winner of the 2022 governorship election in the state.
While Mr Adeleke contested for the position under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Oyetola flew the flag of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mr Adeleke was declared winner of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but Mr Oyetola, who contested as a sitting governor, approached the tribunal to dislodge the winner.
He argued that Mr Adeleke won through an electoral fraud, over-voting and his prayers were answered, as the tribunal upturned INEC’s decision and declared him the winner.
However, Governor Adeleke appealed the judgement and today, a three-member panel of justices held that the election tribunal erred when it ruled that Mr Oyetola and the APC proved their allegation of over-voting.
The appellate court held that Mr Adeleke was validly elected as the governor of Osun State and restored his mandate.
