Nutrition: 67,500 pregnant women to get supplements in Kaduna State
By Sani Idris
The Kaduna State Primary Health Care Development Board (PHCB), says it will provide supplements to 67, 500 pregnant women in the state, to boost their nutrition and immune system.
The Executive Secretary of the board, Dr Hamza Abubakar, disclosed this on Wednesday when the Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), a Non-governmental Organisation, paid him an advocacy visit in Kaduna.
Abubakar who was represented by Dr Neyu Iliyasu, said that the intervention would also save the lives of the unborn children.
According to him, the pregnant women will be given ion and folic acid, as well as Sulphadoxine Paramitamin to prevent malaria.
“The ion, folic acid and SP will also prevent anaemia among the pregnant women,’’ Abubakar said.
He assured that supplementing the targeted 67,500 pregnant women within 2021 would be achieved considering the number of facilities in the state.
On malnutrition, the secretary noted that it has lingered in the state due to many reasons, but assured that the government has the political will to address the situation.
According to him, the intervention for nutrition has been scaled up in Kaduna State, with the government releasing N1 million monthly to all local governments to support nutrition interventions.
Abubakar also said that nine facilities in each local government were utilising the minimum packages for nutrition services.
“We usually have an annual operational plan which we can’t disclose now, but the plan is also to scale up nutrition, we usually do the planning with Civil Society Organisations.
“We thank the media for availing us the opportunity to be updated based on the new priorities coming up in the state.
“It is an opportunity for us, if we don’t meet the target we want in terms of capacity building, then it will be chipped into the annual operational plan.
“The annual operational plan is not just a document for the state, but for partners and CSOs to use and understand where the state is heading’’, Abubakar said.
He thanked the group for its advocacy and assured that the board was committed to improving the nutrition status of women and children.
“We have enjoyed a lot of support from various partners especially CS-SUNN that has been in the forefront in ensuring that nutrition is supported in Kaduna state’’, he said.
Earlier, the project officer of CS-SUNN, Mary Makanjuola, said that the objective of the advocacy visit was to follow up on basic minimum packages of nutrition in the state.
“We want to know the gaps, lapses, and challenges of the minimum package of nutrition in the state’’, she said.
Also, the CS-SUNN Advocacy Chairman in Kaduna State, Mr Steven Odawn, commended the board for the progress so far recorded in addressing the scourge of malnutrition.
He urged it to continue to increase interventions and reach out to more malnourished children with treatment and preventive services across the state. (NAN)
Africa’s most diversified manufacturing conglomerate, Dangote Group has revealed that it has suspended exports from its commissioned export terminals.
The Group made this move in an effort to cut the country’s cement supply gap and keep cement prices low in Nigeria.
According to a news report by The Punch, the Group Executive Director, Strategy, Portfolio Development and Capital Projects, Devakumar Edwin made this revelation while speaking at a press briefing in Lagos this week.
The Director explained that the surge in the demand for cement products has led to a supply gap of about 40% in the country’s cement market, and like every other player the Dangote Group is working actively to close out this gap.
The demand and consumption of cement in the nation currently outstrips supply, and this can be pegged on the growth in the country’s population, and the strong appetite for real estate investment and construction as investors consider them a good hedge against falling local currency.
In a bid to close down this gap, players in the industry have commenced measures aimed at expanding cement production infrastructure in the country.
What has been done so far to close down the supply gap?
Despite suspending exports from its recently commissioned export terminals, thereby foregoing dollar earnings, Dangote Cement has also reactivated its 4.5million mtpa capacity Gboko Plant which was closed 4 years ago.
While BUA Cement on the other hand signed a contract with Sinoma CBMI of China to build three additional production plants with an installed capacity of 3 million metric tonnes each.
These plants when completed in 2022, in addition to a 3rd cement line of 3 million mtpa in Sokoto which has been booked for commissioning in mid-2021, are expected to increase the total installed cement production capacity of the company from 8 million mtpa to 20 million mtpa.
In recent times, allegations have been made against the Cement company on the ground that it increased its ex-factory price. Devakumar Edwin revealed that these allegations are untrue as the company had not increased its ex-factory prices on its cement product since December 2019, despite the recent increase in production costs.
He explained further that over the past 15 months, DCP’s production costs had gone up significantly as about 50% of its costs were linked to the dollar.
Omokolade Ajayi is a graduate of Economics, and a certificate holder of the CFA Institute’s Investment Foundation Program. He is a business analyst, and equity market researcher, with wealth of experience as a retail investor. He is a business owner and a stern advocate of Financial literacy, who believes in the huge economic prospect of the Nigerian Payment channels and Fintech space.
The man behind what has been described by many as the biggest fraud attempt in US history has passed away in government custody.
Bernie Madoff was the architect of the biggest Ponzi scheme attempt in the United States. He was a famous Wall Street fellow who at a certain time was the Chairman of Nasdaq and CEO/Founder of the Wall Street firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
Bernie Madoff defrauded about 37,000 people in 136 countries over 4 decades according to US investigators. Included in his victim list are prominent Americans like movie director Stephen Spielberg and former New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon.
Bernie Madoff was arrested on December 11, 2008, following tip-offs. He pleaded guilty to 11 federal crimes and admitted to operating the largest private Ponzi scheme in history. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison with restitution of $170bn.
Death
Bernie Madoff passed away today at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina. His death was confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Madoff died apparently from natural causes, the AP reported, citing an unidentified person familiar with the matter. He would have turned 83 on April 29.
What you should know
Restitution is a payment made to compensate a victim for financial losses related to a crime.
Bernie Madoff’s family was badly affected by his fraud case. His older son Mark committed suicide according to CNBC.
JP Morgan Chase, the primary bank of Bernie Madoff was forced to pay $2.6bn to the US government in settlements.
SHYFT Power Solutions, which builds IoT and software to optimize distributed energy resource performance and operational efficiency in emerging markets, has announced an additional $3.1M in funding to bring its total seed round to $3.8M.
The funding round was led by the SoftBank Vision Fund’s Emerge Program and Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures with participation from other investors including Lofty Inc, Samurai Ventures, and Urban US Ventures.
SHYFT was founded by Stanford’s engineers to address the challenges in delivering and scaling clean, reliable, and affordable energy solutions in emerging markets that struggle with unreliable grids or energy access. SHYFT’s initial focus is in Nigeria, a country set to be the 3rd most populous after China and India, but were an unreliable grid has led to widespread dependence on generators, accounting for nearly 8x the capacity of the grid.
SHYFT is pioneering the digitization of the energy landscape in emerging markets like Nigeria. Its asset management solution delivers an integrated approach that uses algorithms to monitor, automate, and optimize how assets, as well as grid connections, are utilized individually and as an integrated system, aggregating a plurality of data streams while doing so.
By increasing visibility and control, the system helps users to make informed decisions about which sources they use, how long they use a source, and when they switch sources. This enables operators to scale distributed systems in a cost-effective way, particularly in remote markets. It has resulted in operators improving RoI, reducing emissions, mitigating downtime, and reducing operational costs, in some cases by up to 57%.
SoftBank Vision Fund’s Emerge Program was established in 2019 to provide select startups with access to the tools, networks, and support to take their business to the next level. Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures is focused on finding, funding, and fostering high-potential startups which will contribute to creating a low carbon future.
SHYFT plans to use this new funding round to double its team in West Africa over the next year with a focus on developing AI capabilities to use its data and algorithms for system optimization. The company will also look to build corporate partnerships and expand to additional African markets facing similar energy challenges.
SHYFT’s customers and strategic partners include some of the largest and fastest-growing alternative energy companies in Nigeria, including Daystar Power Solutions and Aspire Power Solutions. After passing critical IEC safety testing for their controllers, the company began ramping up sales across Nigeria over the past year with their customers. Today, they have over 2,000 kW of assets being managed by SHYFT technology and expect that to increase ten-fold by the end of 2021. Nearly every major bank in Nigeria has a branch using SHYFT technology, creating a path for SHYFT and its customers to deliver reliable power to the nearly 5,000 branches in the market.
What they are saying
Ademidun Edosomwan, Managing Director, Emerging Markets at Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures (TCNV), said: “Energy is an essential need for all, yet it is estimated that more than 3.5 billion people globally lack access to affordable and reliable electricity. SHYFT’s technology will play a critical role in a global movement to democratize the way people manage their power sources. They’ve developed data-driven software that enables homeowners and businesses in emerging markets to make smarter decisions on their energy use in order to cut costs and reduce emissions. We are delighted to support SHYFT’s momentum as Ugwem and the team continues to expand their impact and help build a better energy future for the world.”
Ugwem Eneyo, Co-Founder & CEO SHYFT said. “I founded SHYFT to build the technology that can enable and accelerate this transition, and ensure that on the path to reliable energy access, the use of cleaner solutions can mitigate carbon emissions as well. We are fortunate to have investors supporting us where their sector and global experience will be invaluable.”
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