Experts engage Kaduna communities on hazards

Ungwan Bulus community in Chikun, threatened by erosion

The media, environmentalists and stakeholders led by officials of Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency, during the week, successfully concluded a-weeklong monitoring exercise of the ongoing hazard identification and profiling, being conducted by field officers recently trained and posted to all the 23 local government areas of Kaduna state.

The exercise, which is the brainchild of the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), was put together to strengthen systems on coordination and response in the event of emergencies in the state, particularly at the grassroots level.

While in Chikun, Kajuru Local Government Area, Senior Assessment Officer of the Agency, Mubarak Zakari explained that the monitoring exercise was going on simultaneously in all the 23 Local Government Areas of the state, adding that the monitoring by all the stakeholders was to ensure that accurate data were collected to facilitate planning and budgeting towards tackling possible disasters in the state.

"The monitoring is also to address the challenges being faced by field officers to ensure accurate data collection. The entire exercise is community-driven and meant to get information from the people directly affected by disasters to enable the agency to plan better", Zakari said, expressing satisfaction over the presence of all key stakeholders, including people with special needs as well as women.

He revealed that the project was being carried out in collaboration with Nigeria Early Recovery Initiative (NERI) with full funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

On her part, Gloria Kasang Bulus, a leading Environmentalist and a consultant to the project, who monitored Jema'a, Kaura and Zangon Kataf and other neighboring Local Government Areas, expressed delight over the success of the exercise and commended field officers for their commitment and dedication to their primary assignment.

In the same vein, one of the Field Officers, Mr Yusuf Ishaku Goje, who facilitated the exercise in Igabi Local Government Area, commended SEMA for a laudable initiative of ensuring a bottom-top contingency plan against emergencies, revealing that "the most disturbing hazards in the area are banditry and kidnapping".

Also, Mr Dangwa Abbas Danjuma, the Field Officer deployed to Zangon Kataf Local Government Area, assured that the data being generated across the state would be useful to both state and non state actors in their work with communities across the state, pointing out that the hazards identified by community members threaten development, food security, peace building and sustainable growth.

Comments

TRIBUTE: Dr Bala Takaya 1930 - 2018

Bala John Takaya (2nd Left) at a function recently By Nasiru Jagaba Again, with rude shock, death has come upon us in the early hours of Sunday, 27th May, 2018. It is with deepest regret that the Middle Belt Youth Wing of Middle Belt Forum mourns the death of our President, Father, Mentor, and a tireless advocate of equity, fairness and justice, Dr Bala John Takaya, the President of Middle Belt Forum has silently closed the door of life and departed from us, never to return. 68 years old Takaya, an unparalleled University Senior Lecturer, a distinct politician who served as the Secretary to State Government of the old Gongola State, a member of the 1987 Political Bureau. On the fight to restore democratic system of governance, he worked hand in hand with Chief Solomon Lar. Also, in 1999 he was the governorship candidate of the All People’s Party, APP later ANPP. He is much esteemed in the community of Middle Belt and generally recognized as on...

Jema'a Council boss seeks support of civil society on OGP

I n his bid to institutionalize the ongoing local government reforms in Kaduna state especially the principles of Open Government Partnership (OGP), the Chairman of Jema'a Local Government Council has solicited support of civil society in promoting transparency, accountability and improve service delivery that would impact positively on the lives of the people in his local government. Council Chairman, Hon Danjuma Peter Averik, who made this known when he paid a courtesy visit to officials of Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn(PERL/DFID) in their Kaduna office, said his visit became necessary to solicit for partnership against the backdrop of his passionate desire to engender transparency and accountability in his administration. "I am here to seek for collaboration that can help in institutionalizing key local government reforms especially the OGP and Local Government Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (LFTAS) program towards improvin...

Kaduna Citizens embrace Open Government

Participants listening keenly during the engagement T ransparent and citizen-based democracy have been identified as a vital catalyst to good governance in Nigeria. Dropping the hint while speaking at a one day capacity building programme for Open Government Partnership(OGP) Kaduna, State Team Leader, Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn(PERL-ECP), Mr Abel Adejo, disclosed that OGP is operating in no fewer than 75 countries in the world. " Kaduna is the only state in Nigeria operating OGP; the one of the very few sub-nationals in Africa. In Africa Nigeria and Kaduna state were second to be registered in Africa", Adejo volunteered, tracing the origin of OGP in Africa to 2014 when Kenya and Tanzania keyed into the programme. While stressing that "transparency and accountability" remain the watchwords of open government partnership, Adejo informed that the initiative was not an abstract thing but essentially designed to benefit the people. Also spe...

Kaduna CSOs move to track 2020 Budget implementation

A n elaborate template for budget tracking and monitoring of the 2020 budget - with special emphasis on procurement status, level of compliance, budget source documents and payments - have been put in place to identify bureaucratic bottlenecks, militating against optimum budget implementation in Kaduna state. This renewed impetus of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), was a fallout of a 2-day partners budget reflection meeting for all stakeholders working around budget in the state - put together by Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn in collaboration with UK aid - touched on trend analysis of budget in key service delivery sectors of Health, Education and Infrastructure, between 2016 and 2020 as well as a comprehensive review of citizens' engagements around 2020 budget development process with a view of making 2021 more effective and result oriented. Dr Elisha Auta Menson, who is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics of the Kaduna State Univer...

2023: Key stakeholders harp on issues-based campaign in Kaduna

From (L) Hayatudeen Makarfi (PRP), Jonathan Asake (LP), John Ayuba (PDP) & Andrew Duya (APGA) A s the kick-off of electioneering and political activities draw near, members of the electorate and civil society organizations, in collaboration with political observers have emphasized the need for issues-based campaign towards the forthcoming 2023 general elections. The stakeholders made this known at an agenda-setting dialogue with governorship candidates in the state, organized by Partnership for issues-based Campaign in Nigeria (PICAN) supported by Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL/FCDO) in conjunction with Legal Awareness for Nigerian Women (LANW We-You Pro). NATIONAL ACCORD reports that the 2023 gubernatorial election in Kaduna state would be critical as citizens through various accountability mechanisms during the week engaged the candidates of four political parties on issues which touch on insecurity, healthcare, poverty alleviation, education, social protectio...

Cubinks NEWS

Search This Blog