Foreign News
UNDP Grants Nigeria $30m For North-East Development
The UN Development Programme (UNDP), has released 30 million U.S. dollars to Nigeria from the regional stabilisation facility for the humanitarian crisis in the North East.
UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria, Mr Mohamed Yahya disclosed this on Friday, in Abuja at the first inaugural meeting convened on the way forward in actualising the ‘Nigeria window’ of the Regional Stabilisation Facility.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Regional Stabilisation Facility was launched in July in Niamey, Niger at the second Governors Forum to contribute support to the affected regions of Nigeria,
NAN also reports that the project was expected to be implemented between Sept.
1, 2019, and Aug. 31, 2021.Governors from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad, and regional stakeholders attended the meeting in Niamey under the auspices of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).
Those who pledged to deploy funds in Niamey to support the project, which will be monitored by the UNDP and the African Union (AU), include the governments of Sweden and Germany and the regional governors from Borno, Adamawa, Yobe (Nigeria), Lak, Hajder-Lamis (Chad), Diffa (Niger) and Far North and North regions in Cameroon.
NAN reports that the UNDP is expected to provide seed funds to run the facility yearly.
He said the regional stabilisation facility is aimed at providing rapid response to support immediate stabilisation in the three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe affected by insurgency.
He also said that the ‘Nigerian window’ was expected to receive over 30 million USD which would facilitate recovery and stabilisation interventions including; livelihood support for communities, massive civil engineering works and strengthening of local security structures.
Yahya, said that the board had two years to provide work of stabilisation in the affected states.
He said that the entire facility might not work if there was no local authorities such as the military and the police, adding that more work needed to be done in terms of coordination.
Also speaking, Minister of Finance,Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed said that the government of Nigeria was optimistic that the facility would support in addressing the immediate stabilisation needs in the newly liberated areas.
She said this would also sustain development in the region and allow the return of Internally Displaced Persons to their various permanent place abode.
According to her, the facility will in no doubt assist the government to demonstrate its value to the citizens in providing resilience and stabilisation for the population affected by Boko Haram insurgency in the north east.
She said that the Ministry would collaborate with UNDP, the three affected states and all relevant stakeholders to ensure accountable utilisation of the stabilisation facility fund.
Similarly, the Executive Secretary, Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), Amb. Mamman Nuhu expressed the Commission’s readiness to provide strategic regional guidance for the implementation of the regional stabilisation strategy at the national and state level through the facility.
He said the commission would provide enabling environment by mobilising regional support to ensure coordinated approach yo the challenge.
“Our transboundary mandate provide us the requisite platform to mobilise the political and strategic spaces available across the region for the success of the regional stabilisation strategy.
” Our objective is to ensure local, national and regional ownership in the implementation of the regional stabilisation strategy through the regional stabilisation facility.
” We urge all national partners to ensure consistent coordination with the Lake Chad Basin Commission through the Secretariat of the regional stabilisation strategy” Nuhu said.
According to him, Nigeria is the worst hit country, with the biggest humanitarian and development needs of all the four affected countries.
“It is therefore expected that Nigeria should demonstrate not only in the fight against boko Haram but also in ensuring that the thousands of people affected across the three front line states are supported to live a life of dignity” he said.
The Governors expressed their readiness to ensure effective implementation of the regional stabilisation facility.(NAN)
US President Donald Trump announced he will be seeking $1bn (£730m) in damages from Harvard University in his administration’s ongoing feud with the institution.
The news comes after the New York Times reported that the Trump administration had to backtrack from its demand for a $200m payment in negotiations with the university.
Trump cited the story in a Truth Social post late on Monday, blaming Harvard for “feeding a lot of nonsense” to the New York Times.
Trump officials have accused Harvard of not doing enough to tackle antisemitism during pro-Palestinian protests. Harvard has rejected the accusation.
Harvard has been a central target in the White House’s campaign to stamp out what it calls “woke” and “radical left” ideologies on American campuses.
In April last year, Trump revoked around $2bn in research grants to Harvard and froze federal funding.
The university sued the Trump administration over the move, saying no government “should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”.
A US federal court later overturned the billions in funding cuts, ruling the government had violated university’s free speech rights.
The White House vowed to immediately challenge the “egregious decision”, saying Harvard remains “ineligible for grants in the future”.
Before Monday’s announcement, the government had been in discussions with Harvard over a potential deal to unfreeze federal funding.
“We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,” Trump wrote on Monday.
He accused Harvard of “serious and heinous illegalities”, but did not clarify how he believed it had broken the law.
Trump has previously threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status and take control of the university’s patents stemming from federally funded research.
Three other Ivy League universities, Columbia, Penn and Brown, struck deals with Trump to preserve funding that was at risk due to similar claims by the administration, rather than go to court.
Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s Prime Minister, said on Tuesday at the World Government Summit in Dubai that access to social media for minors under 16 would be banned.
Sanchez added that all platforms will be required to implement age verification systems.
“Our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone.
“We will no longer accept that.
We will protect them from the digital Wild West. ”He added that his government would also introduce a new bill next week to hold social media executives accountable for illegal and hateful content.
Australia in December became the first country to ban social media for children under 16.
It’s a move being closely watched by other countries considering similar age-based measures, such as Britain and France.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to sue Grammys host, Trevor Noah after a joke he made about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on stage.
Trump blasted the comedian as a “total loser,” adding: “It looks like I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.
C., and suing him for plenty of dollars. ”Trump criticised Noah’s joke, made after the song of the year gong was handed out at the ceremony on Sunday night.
Writing on Truth Social, in a post strewn with uppercase words, Trump said: “Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!
“I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media.
“Noah, a total loser, better get his facts straight, and get them straight fast.”
He added: “Get ready Noah, I’m going to have some fun with you!”
Trump also blasted the ceremony saying: “The Grammy Awards are the WORST, virtually unwatchable! CBS is lucky not to have this garbage litter their airwaves any longer.”
This was an apparent reference to Disney taking over the broadcast rights for the award ceremony starting in 2027.
He has also engaged in legal action with the New York Times, Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal.
Last July, U.S. media giant Paramount, which owns CBS, agreed to pay Trump 16 million dollars to settle a lawsuit over a 2024 CBS interview with Kamala Harris, the former vice-president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.
Noah, 41, is a South African-born comedian and TV personality who hosted “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central in the U.S. for seven years.
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