The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has started hearing on Israel’s continuing severe restrictions on the work of the UN and other international organisations in Gaza.The ICJ, which sits in The Hague and is the UN’s top court, is expected to hear from 40 states and four international organisations in proceedings slated to last all week.

Representing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, UN legal counsel Ms Elinor Hammarskjöld reiterated Guterres’ many calls for a ceasefire, for humanitarian aid to reach all people in need and for all hostages to be freed. A total of 13 UN entities are present in Gaza, Hammarskjöld noted, adding that 295 UN personnel have died in Gaza since the war began on 7 October 2023, following the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel.The UN legal counsel insisted on the special protections and immunities of UN agencies and personnel needed to implement its mandated activities all over the world, including in the said territories.These protections also apply during armed conflict, Ms. Hammarskjöld said, before highlighting Israel’s obligations as the occupying power under international law.“The overarching obligation is to administer the territory for the benefit of the local population and “to agree to and facilitate relief schemes.“In the specific context of the current situation, these obligations entail allowing and facilitating all relevant UN entities to carry out those activities for the benefit of the local population,” she said.The purpose of the hearings at the ICJ all this week is to establish what’s known as an “advisory opinion” on Israel’s obligations as the occupying power in Gaza and the wider territory, in accordance with the UN Charter.It follows a meeting of the UN General Assembly in December where Member States voted 137 to 12 to seek the view of the ICJ’s 15 judges, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment and dramatic aid shortages across Gaza.The ICJ judges’ advisory opinion is not binding as opposed to the legal disputes between countries on which it rules (so-called “contentious cases”)It, however, provides clarity on legal questions.Once the court has issued its opinion, the General Assembly would be open to pick up the matter again and decide on further action.Welcoming the hearings, the head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini, insisted that aid agencies were working “to address overwhelming needs”.The UNRWA Commissioner-General explained that the Israeli Parliament’s widely condemned “no-contact” policy banning any coordination with UNRWA official had obstructed the delivery of essential relief services and aid.The move is particularly significant because UNRWA is the largest aid agency in Gaza, where it has provided health, education and other vital public services for decades.But since these restrictions came into effect at the end of January, UNRWA international staff have not received visas to enter Israel, Lazzarini said.Inside Gaza, meanwhile, ordinary Gazans continue to face desperate food shortages linked to the 2 March decision by Israel to seal the enclave’s borders.“Today people are not surviving in Gaza, those that aren’t being killed with bombs and bullets are slowly dying,” Jonathan Whittall, local Head of Office for the UN aid coordination wing, OCHA said.He insisted that humanitarian agencies were unable to meet soaring needs following Israel’s decision to cut all commercial and relief supplies.“People here are being suffocated. What we see around us is endless suffering under a total and complete blockade.“It is a total closure that’s now lasted for almost two months while airstrikes, ground operations are intensifying and displacement orders that are pushing people out of their homes are increasing,” he said.(NAN)

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says it is building an Entrepreneurship Skills Development Centre to promote entrepreneurship education in secondary schools.Dr Mohammed Ladan, the Director/Secretary, FCT Secondary Education Board, disclosed this in Abuja on Monday, on the sideline of a two-day training of FCT teachers on innovation and entrepreneurship education.

Ladan told newsmen that the centre, sited at Government Secondary School Giri, was expected to be ready by end of the year. He said that the centre was being built in collaboration with Brunel University Business School, United Kingdom, which promised to furnish and equip it when completed. He explained that the centre would serve as hub for entrepreneurship education for the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.He added that the centre would also be used in the training of stakeholders and other entrepreneurship teachers in skill acquisition centres across the country.He said “we are tired of students graduating without a job; we are tired of saying no job, no job, no job. Our students, this time around, will begin to create jobs for Nigerians.“We want to tackle the problem of unemployment with Abuja as the lead.”The director explained that what the FCTA was doing was to prepare school children to identify societal problems that could be solved with resources in the environment. According to him, some of the students are already providing solutions, particularly in converting waste to wealth.He identified some of the products being produced by the students as interlocks using waste nylon and polyethene bags, toilet paper from used cartons, sweet syrup from date fruits, and flowerpots, among others. He added that the students were being equipped with entrepreneurial skills in welding and fabrication, fashion design, plumbing, brick laying, electrical fittings, shoe making, and hair styling, among others.The director explained that the teachers training was the third in the series of training conducted to reposition FCT schools for innovation and entrepreneurship education.“The first training was conducted for school principals, that is the administrators who are the accounting officers of schools.“The second phase of the training was conducted for vice principal academics, who are the custodians of the entrepreneurship curriculum.“The third batch, taking place today, is for teachers who would drive the programme and we have more than 400 of them from junior secondary schools, senior secondary schools and teachers from private schools,” he said.Ladan added that the fourth batch would be organised for artisans to help in deepening skills development and help school children to realise their potential. (NAN)

Gov. Monday Okpebholo of Edo has suspended the Executive Secretary of Edo Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Caulson Oahimire, over alleged financial infractions.This is contained in a statement by Umar Ikhilor, Secretary to the State Government, on Tuesday in Benin.

The statement directed the most senior staff of the Agency to take over pending the outcome of investigation by a special committee. “The Executive Governor of Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has ordered the immediate suspension of the Executive Secretary, Edo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Caulson Osoikhia Oahimire over allegations of grave financial and official infractions. “Consequently, most senior staff of the Agency will act in functioning capacity pending the outcome of a special committee to be constituted by government to investigate the various allegations,” the statement read. (NAN)