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WHO, UNICEF Call for Equal Access to Breastfeeding Support

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF, have called for the improvement of breastfeeding support to reduce health inequity and protect the rights of mothers and babies to survive and thrive.

The call was made in a statement on Thursday signed by Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General and
Ms Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director.

This year’s World Breastfeeding Week is with the theme, “Closing the gap: Breastfeeding support for all”.

The organisations said that in the last 12 years, the number of infants under six months of age globally, who were exclusively breastfed had increased by more than 10 per cent.

“This means 48 per cent of infants worldwide now benefit from this healthy start in life.

“It translates to hundreds of thousands of babies whose lives have been saved by breastfeeding,” it said.

“While this significant leap brings us closer to the WHO target of increasing exclusive breastfeeding to at least 50 per cent by 2025, there are persistent challenges that must be addressed.

“When mothers receive the support they needed to breastfeed their babies, everyone benefits. Improving breastfeeding rates could save over 820 000 children’s lives each year, according to the latest available data.

“During this critical period of early growth and development, the antibodies in breastmilk protect babies against illness and death.”

According to WHO, this is especially important during emergencies, when breastfeeding guarantees a safe, nutritious, and accessible food source for infants and young children.

“Breastfeeding reduces the burden of childhood illness and the risk of certain types of cancers and noncommunicable diseases for mothers.

“WHO and UNICEF are emphasising the need to improve breastfeeding support as a critical action for reducing health inequity and protecting the rights of mothers and babies to survive and thrive.

“An estimated 4.5 billion people that’s more than half of the world’s population do not have full coverage of essential health services.

“So many women do not receive the support they need to optimally breastfeed their babies.

“This includes access to trained, empathetic and respectful health advice and counseling throughout a woman’s breastfeeding journey,” they said.

According to the organisations, reliable data collection is key to tackling healthcare inequalities and ensuring mothers and families are provided with timely, effective breastfeeding support.

“Currently, only half of all countries collect data on breastfeeding rates.

“To support progress, data also needs to be available on policy actions that make breastfeeding possible such as family friendly employment policies, regulation of the marketing of breastmilk substitutes, and investment in breastfeeding.

“Improving monitoring systems will help boost the effectiveness of breastfeeding policies and programmes, inform better decision-making, and ensure support systems can be adequately financed.

“When breastfeeding is protected and supported, women are more than twice as likely to breastfeed their infants,” the organisations said.

The organisations called for increasing investment in programmes and policies that protected and supported breastfeeding through dedicated national budgets

WHO and UNICEF also called for implementing and monitoring family friendly workplace policies, such as paid maternity leave, breastfeeding breaks and access to affordable and good-quality childcare.(NAN)

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Yuletide: Bode George Urges Tinubu to Reduce Petrol Price

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Chief Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged President Bola Tinubu to reduce the price of petrol   to N300 per litre ,to make things easy for Nigerians during the festive season.

George, the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, made this plea at an interactive session with newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos.

The price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, is currently above N1,000 per litre.

According to the elder statesman,Nigerians  are going through hardship, the President should give an order to reduce fuel price, specifying time frame the people will enjoy such window of relief.

He said that the federal government as well as well- meaning individuals and businesses could bear the cost of such price slash , to bring happiness to all Nigerians.

The PDP leader, who noted that December and January are  special months , said that such gesture could start from the  middle of December and run through January.

“I have been thinking, as a Nigerian, what can we do because the anger and the hunger are almost equal on the streets of Nigeria.

“What am I suggesting is that Mr President should sit down with his managers and give an order that from the middle of December to the end of January, the cost of petrol will be N300 per litre.

“The government can absorb the losses in the interest of the suffering people.

“If they (government) want others to contribute, let us know how much that is going to cost and ask people to donate, to bear the cost.

“We will be sending a lot of messages of happiness across the tribes and homes.

“Everybody in Nigeria will be happy because it will positively impact on this period of the year. It is a challenge and he (Tinubu) can do it.

“We need this in this December and January to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians, ” George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) life member, said.

Advising the President to take further measures to bring relief to the people, he said that the gesture would crash prices of essential commodities and services for the benefit of all .

He said that government’s efforts should be concentrated on reducing high inflation rate, unemployment, poverty and youth restlessness  in order to create a better future for Nigerians

Speaking on the recent presidential election in Ghana, George noted that Nigeria’s electoral system  needed reforms to guard against electoral frauds and manipulations.

According to him, the nation will continue to grope for development if the system fails to encourage best candidates  to emerge.

Stating that election must reflect the wishes of the people and be devoid of  religious and tribal sentiments, George said that Ghana election should be a wake up call for Nigeria.

“INEC performance must improve. The commission must make sure that the voice of the people is  heard in elections.

“Electoral offenders should be made to face the music and sent to jail. We must be very firm about due process, credibility and transparency in elections,” he said.

Urging the President to revisit resolutions in the 2014 Constitutional Conference, George said that the current constitution was not federal in principle and practice.

“We should not deceive ourselves, the constitution is a problem. It is a military constitution, it is not democratic,” he said.

George called on the National Assembly to ensure devolution of powers and electoral reforms that would do away with manual collation of election results and mandate electronic transmission of election results from polling units.

George disagreed with political watchers saying no  vacancy in  presidency in 2027.

On the dwindling strength of the former ruling party, George, who noted that all organisations had its ups and downs, said that selfish interests and disregard for  party rules remained PDP’s major challenge.

He said that PDP could bounce back and win presidential election if the leadership decided to elevate national interest above selfish interests and adhere to the party’s constitution.

“We will tell ourselves some serious old truth. We messed ourselves  up. ” he said.

Stating, however, that the PDP was not dead, George said that lack of justice, equity, fairness and the inability to adhere to the  party’s zoning and rotational principle cost the party victory in 2023.

Calling on the party’s founding fathers alive to wake up and rescue the party, George said that Nigerians were still waiting for the former ruling party to take over power and put things right. (NAN)

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Tinubu Set for Groundbreaking of Renewed Hope City in Lagos 

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President Bola Tinubu, is set to perform the  groundbreaking of 2,000 housing units of the Renewed Hope City in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, in the next few weeks.

Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, announced this during an official assessment visit, on Wednesday in Lagos

Dangiwa said Lagos would represent the South-west, while the president would do that of the North-West in Kano, before doing that of the four other regions.

“Arrangements is already on ground, we have gotten sites, and work has commenced for 2000 houses in the Renewed Hope City that we intend to build in Ibeju-Lekki,” he said.

Towards achieving the set goal, the minister said the visiting team also paid a courtesy visit to Gov.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu to discuss area of collaboration between the federal and state governments.

He disclosed that the federal and Lagos state governments had agreed to set up a Tripartite committee and ensure all the issues of concerns between the parties were resolved amicably for the benefit of all.

Earlier, the Minister embarked on an assessment visit of deplorable Federal Government buildings and assets across Lagos state in a bid to commence rehabilitation on them in a few months.

Dangiwa said the rehabilitation was necessary as the deplorable buildings posed a challenge and security concerns to the Lagos state government. (NAN)

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Gov. Alia Presents N550.1bn as 2025 Budget Estimate to Benue Assembly 

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Gov. Hyacinth Alia on Wednesday presented the sum of N550.1bn as the 2025 appropriation bill to the Benue State House of Assembly for consideration and passage into law.

Alia told the lawmakers that out of the total budget size, N175.4 billion is for recurrent expenditure while the N374.

7 billion is for capital expenditure.

The governor said that the total estimate represented a 47.

5  per cent increment over the 2024 revised and approved figure of N373 billion.

He stated that the appropriation bill tagged “Budget of Human Capital Development, Food Security, and Digital Economy” was to consolidate the gains made in 2024.

Alia further explained that the proposed recurrent expenditure of N175.

4 billion was 13.55 per cent higher than the previous year.

According to him, budgeted capital expenditure of N374.7 billion represents a 71.5 per cent increment on the 2024 revised capital expenditure.

“The budget breakdown indicated that the sum of N212.2 billion, representing 38.52 per cent is for administration; N196.6 billion, representing 35.68 per cent is for the economy; law and justice will take N26.6 billion, representing 4.84 per cent while social welfare will gulp N115.5 billion, representing 20.96 per cent.

“We have the vision. We have the will. And most importantly, we have the people ready to work alongside us to turn this vision into reality.

“Together, we will build a state where every citizen has the opportunity to succeed, where food is plentiful, and where the digital economy opens new frontiers of opportunity for all,” he said.

The governor said the intention of the government was to stay within the limits of its recurring revenue to build the state without accruing unnecessary debts for generations unborn.

He, however, said that since the 2025 budget was a deficit one, it proposed a borrowing plan of a conservative sum of N26bn, representing a modest 4.7 per cent of the proposed aggregate expenditure for 2025.

“This is lower than the state’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 8.2 per cent which is within the benchmark of the 25 per cent debt sustainability threshold.

“Despite these favourable debt ratios, I want to reiterate that borrowing will only be considered as a last resort and for regenerative investment purposes,” he added.

Alia stated that the problem of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) remained a challenge, adding that they have reasonably improved their living conditions.

He said the Bureau of International Cooperation and Development has elicited substantial grants from donors, totalling N85bn. (NAN)

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