Folarin Kehinde

Kenny Folarin, Abuja

As part of effort aimed at empowering the girl-child to become self-reliant and financially independent, the Butterfly Project has empowered 25 girls on skill development to ensure financial independence and unearth hidden potentials among the girl-child.

Project Coordinator, the Butterfly Project, Samantha Umar while speaking in Abuja over the weekend at the Butterfly Project Exhibition and Maiden Edition for the first 25 graduands stated that project is contributing her own quota to curbing poverty in the lives of girls by empowering them with skills so that they can become financially independent, support themselves, their family and the society at large.

According to Umar, the Butterfly Project, was initiated to solve the problems that girls are facing in the society such as child marriage, period poverty, lack of access to good and quality education which is as a result of poverty level in the society.

Umar explained that the project which is in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 1 (Eradicating extreme poverty for all people everywhere by 2030 is a pivotal goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development) also aims at addressing the cycle of poverty by allowing girls to intern under the trusted leadership of a mentor to learn a skill and further empowering them with social support to build a network of self-reliant young ladies.

According to Umar, the Butterfly Project has been able to make the girls unearth hidden skill-set, passion and potentials that would have been wasted if not harnessed.

” We have many things keeping us back as girls, we have not been able to explore who we are, explore potentials within us, so the butterfly project is aimed at harnessing the skills that are in girls, breaking them out of those barriers that are keeping them and giving them ab inito sly into their dreams and be the woman that they envision to be, the women that we envision to become”.

She alluded that women and girls have the
ability to contribute to the society’s long-term development, and removing
economic barriers is one approach to assisting them in advocating for their rights.

“This is the driving force behind the Butterfly Project, a platform dedicated to
breaking down ‘cocoons’ (barriers) and empowering girls to achieve their full
potential”.

Umar however encouraged the girls that they are enough and have everything to be a great woman and envisioned destiny fulfilled through hardwork and dedication.

Deputy Coordinator, Global GLOW Nigeria, Blessing Archibong explained that the butterfly project was birthed by 5 girls who were selected from different states including the federal capital territory initiated how poverty can be tackled among the girl-child.

Archibong explained that the girls went through 3 month internship and afterwards the exhibition.

She noted that empowering a girl-child is key to herself, family and the nation at large.

“This is the maiden edition, this will be sustainable, if we can empower girls, from where you are with what you have, you can empower a Girl-Child because we believe if you empower a Girl-Child, she will go back and empower her family, community and nation”.

Communication Lead of the Butterfly Project, Haruna Anita stated that the butterfly project has impacted the girls by giving them the opportunity to participate in the communities on different skills also selling their products to support their education and their wellbeing.

She advised that ” Every girl should not rely solely on their parents, every girl is supposed to have a skill that will build her up to be a better person in the future and the future starts now”.

One of the mentors with Global Glow, Elizabeth Emecheta on her part stated that most of the issues the girl-child faces is caused mainly by the poverty level in the society.

Emecheta noted that beyond schooling, parents should do more by giving them the opportunity to acquire skills that they are passionate about, they should not push their children about on what skills to learn, rather ask them what they are passionate about and guide them.

” So if a girl acquire this skill they will be able to break out of poverty because look at what the girls have displayed they make money, fend for themselves and their families.

” For those that have benefited from this project, they should not end it all here, they should duplicate these skills with other girls”. She added.

Skills displayed at the event include Hair Styling, Baking, Fish Farming, Tailoring, Catering, and Make-up.

Others include, Photography, Shoemaking, Fabric Design, Writing and Poetry.

Nigerian singer, Kizz Daniel, has been confirmed as one of the headline performing artistes at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The World Cup organisers, FIFA, made the confirmation on Friday as they listed the five official performing artistes for the event.

In FIFA’s list of headliners for the FIFA Fan Festival during the World Cup, Kizz Daniel is the only African artiste performing alongside five international award-winning singers.

For the lineup, American DJ and Music Producer, Diplo, will perform on November 22 while Kizz Daniel’s performance is slated for November 23.

Canadian crooner, Nora Fatehi, will perform on November 29; American singer, Trinidad Cardona, on December 1 and Scotland’s Calvin Harris on December 10.

FIFA shared the lineup on its official Instagram page on Friday.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is set to hold in Qatar from Sunday, 20 November to Sunday, 18 December, 2022.

This is a dream come true for the singer as he once tweeted in June about his wish to perform at the World Cup.

Kizz Daniel has earned his mark in the industry as a viral hit maker.

His single, “Buga”, which he features Tecno, garnered recognition from around the world as world leaders and celebrities joined in the viral Buga Challenge.

In October, Kizz Daniel released yet another hit track “Odo” (Cough) which is currently a sensation on the Internet.

Kenny Folarin, Abuja

The National Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Data Protection Bureau, (NDPB) Dr. Vincent Olatunji has stated that the bureau would set up her own data protection certification body in line with incoming data policy act which will provide over 500,000 jobs in Nigeria.

Olatunji while speaking in Abuja on thursday at a press briefing noted that the local certification body is imperative to ensure global competitiveness and mitigate the dearth of qualified and certified data protection officers.

“In Nigeria we have over 500,000 data processors controllers each of the supposed to appoint 1 data processors officer (DPO)

“But in Nigeria, we don’t have up to 10,000 qualified and certified data protection officers, whereas we have 500,000 data processors controllers leaving a gap of 490, 000 jobs for Nigeria having passed through the normal requirements”.

“But the good thing is that we are trying to set up our own data protection certification body, very soon we will license our own data protection body for certified Nigerians on line with data policy act that will soon be enacted in that will make us to provide over 500,000 jobs”.

Meanwhile,. Olatunji stated that as the bureau awaits the legislative processes to move forward in due course, they are also carrying out compliance initiatives which includes initiating the National Data Protection Adequacy Programme (NaDPAP).

He explained that adequate data protection goes beyond a display of privacy policy and filing of compliance audit returns with the Bureau but consists in the implementation of Technical and Organizational Measures that ultimately safeguard the rights and freedoms of data subjects.

Meanwhile, Olatunji expressed dissatisfaction over non-compliance to data protection and privacy in the public sector.

He explained that the level of compliance in the public sector to data privacy and protection is just 4% unlike the private sector which is 49% but also understand the implication of data bridges hence doing the needful to ensure compliance.

Olatunji noted that the bureau had visited over 50 federal public institutions to preach the gospel of data protection and privacy and will not rest on its oars on awareness to ensure compliance on data privacy and protection

The convoy of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was attacked in Maiduguri, Borno State, on Wednesday.

In a video seen on social media, a group of people were seen running in different directions as gunshots rend the air.

The presidential campaign trail of the opposition party landed in Borno, an All Progressives Congress (APC) controlled state, on Wednesday.

Our correspondent saw vandalised vehicles in the convoy of Atiku at Ramat Square in Maiduguri, the state capital.

Spokesman of the Atiku Campaign, Senator Dino Malaye, blamed the attack on the ruling party in Borno.

Melaye lamented that more than 70 people were hospitalised.

“They wanted to prevent us from doing holding the campaign, as we speak, 74 people were injured and hospitalised.

“Several vehicles were vandalised by APC thugs.”

The APC is yet to react to Melaye’s allegation as of the time of filing this report.

Facebook owner Meta will lay off more than 11,000 of its staff in “the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history,” boss Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday.

He said the cuts represented 13 percent of the social media titan’s workforce and would affect its research lab focusing on the metaverse as well as its apps, which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.The tech industry is in a serious slump and several major firms have announced mass layoffs — Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk fired half its staff last week.
“I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here,” Zuckerberg said in a note to staff.

“I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.” He added.

Ad-supported platforms such as Facebook and Google are suffering with advertisers looking to cut costs as they struggle with inflation and rising interest rates.

Zuckerberg told staff he had expected the boost in e-commerce and online activity during the Covid pandemic to continue, but added, “I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”

The downturn has affected companies across the sector, with Apple and Amazon also recently announcing results that disappointed investors.

But Meta also faces some unique problems of its own.

Investors have been worried about Zuckerberg’s decision to devote billions of dollars to developing the metaverse, an immersive version of the web accessed via virtual reality headsets.

Zuckerberg renamed the company to Meta a year ago to reflect the commitment to the project, but the division working on metaverse technology has since made losses of more than $3.5 billion.

He has hinted several times this year that belt-tightening measures were just around the corner and said in his letter on Wednesday that staff layoffs were a “last resort”.

Meta would also keep a hiring freeze going into next year, he said, and other spending cuts were envisaged.

“Fundamentally, we’re making all these changes for two reasons: our revenue outlook is lower than we expected at the beginning of this year, and we want to make sure we’re operating efficiently,” he wrote.

Last month, Meta announced profits of $4.4 billion in the third quarter, a 52 percent decrease year-on-year, causing its stock price to fall 25 percent.

The slump in profits comes despite its platforms dominating the world in terms of users — Facebook alone claims to have around two billion people who log on daily.

AFP

The Federal Capital Territory Water Board has announced an increase in its services to the public. In a memo generated from the office of its General Manager, following due consultations with stakeholders, the Management of the FCT Water Board announced an increase in its tariff for domestic end-users.

In the statement from the General Manager’s office, there would be an increase for domestic end-users from N80 N110/m° while commercial end-users will now pay N300/m° instead of the old rate of N150.

The statement read, “PUBLIC NOTICE: Following due consultations with stakeholders, the management of the FCT Water Board hereby announces an increase in tariff for domestic end-users from N80 to N110/m° while commercial end-users will now pay N300/m° instead of the old rate of N150.

“The change is informed by the current global skyrocketing prices of water treatment chemicals and reagents. The tariff is however still substantially subsidized by the government, as water is an essential service.

“Customers are by this notice informed of the new water rates to enable them to enjoy excellent service delivery by the Board.”

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama has convicted the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Abdulrasheed Bawa for contempt of court in relation to his agency’s failure to comply with an earlier order of the court.

Justice Chizoba Oji, in a ruling, held that “the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is in contempt of the orders of this honourable court made on November 21, 2018 directing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abuja to return to the applicant his Range Rover (Super charge) and the sum of N40, 000,000.00 (Forty Million Naira).

“Having continued wilfully in disobedience to the order of this court, he should be committed to prison at Kuje Correctional Centre for his disobedience, and continued disobedience of the said order of court made on November 21st, 2018, until he purges himself of the contempt.

“The Inspector General of Police shall ensure that the order of this honourable court is executed forthwith,” the judge said.

Justice Orji rejected the arguments put forward by the lawyer to the EFCC, Francis Jirbo, to justify his client’s action.

Multi-million naira worth of goods and buildings have been destroyed in the fire that gutted the Chemical Market in Onitsha Head Bridge, Anambra State, with many people said to be trapped in the fire.

It was gathered that the fire started at about 12:10pm on Tuesday when the chemicals stored in some shops started exploding one after another.

Many people were also said to be injured as the chemicals were exploding and hitting people at various points.

The men of the Anambra and Delta states fire service are on the ground battling to put off the fire.

Details later…

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, to go to hell as he will not support his ambition ahead of the 2023 election.

The Governor lamented the killing of 18 people in his LG last week.

Ortom stated this on Sunday night when he hosted the party’s G-5 Governors comprising Nyesom Wike (Rivers); Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia); Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) in Government House, Makurdi.

“To hell with Atiku and anyone supporting him. They should go and tell him. You want me to be a slave for a Fulani. It’s better I die. Anybody supporting Atiku is an enemy of Benue”.

“My people are being killed and you want me to be quiet. My tenure ends in May and you can do whatever you want if you think you have the powers. I have written my will. When I gave it to my wife, she cried all night. If I die at 62, many of my mates have gone a long time ago and If I die today, I’m a fulfilled person but let it be recorded that I died resisting the invasion and killing of my people.

“I will never support a Fulani man to become president. If there is another person who is ready to work with me and ensure the security of my people, I will work with him,” he said.