BPE Honour Winners of National Essay Competition

The Bureau of Public Enterprises on Thursday presented cash prizes and other gift items to winners of its maiden essay writing competition.

The overall winner of the contest, Miss Onoh Chidiogo Jane, from Girls Secondary School, Abakpa-Nike, Enugu State, received the sum of N500,000.

Also, the first and second runners up, Miss Idem Roseline Etop of Topfaith International Secondary School, Mkpatak, Akwa Ibom State, and Miss Ngozi Deborah Ekwueme from Regina Pacis College, Garki Abuja, got N350,000 and N250,000 respectively.

The three students also received laptops in addition to the cash prizes.

Books were presented to the students’ schools, while some teachers who taught the students also got token cash rewards.

Parents of the students, who received the cash prizes on behalf of the winners, were urged to use the funds to pay their school fees.

A total of 94 entries were received from students of various schools across the country after the bureau announced the contest in July 2019. They wrote ‘The reason for government reforms and privatisation of public enterprises’.

The Director-General of the bureau, Mr Alex Okoh, said a team of evaluators assessed all the entries, using criteria such as content and technical argument, organisation/structure, grammatical accuracy and logical presentation to determine the winners.

Okoh noted that the competition was aimed at encouraging reading as a habit among students and other Nigerians at a time when the reading culture had dwindled in the country.

The BPE said the essay competition, which was in line with bureau’s Corporate Social Responsibility’s initiatives, was aimed at correcting “uninformed perceptions on privatisation by opponents of the programme.”


Meanwhile, Okoh has lauded the impact of the service compact (SERVICOM) unit at the bureau since it was inaugurated in 2008.

SWOFON Want Improved Provision in Extension Services

The Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), has called for the urgent need to improve investment in the provision of enhanced and effective extension services.

This will ensure effective access to extension services for smallholder women farmers across the country, the said.

In a communique issued at the end of the 2019 National annual farmers forum organized by SWOFON in Abuja at the weekend, the National President of SWOFON, Mary Afan said such investment will need to target the recruitment, training,and deployment of extension services personnel and equip them with the necessary means to deliver on their mandate.

She also said it will also strengthen advocacy skills by the women farmers, adding that there is need for deliberate and improved investment in research and development.

She further explained that they converged to provide an avenue for smallholder women farmers to interact with duty bearers and key stakeholders including donors in the agriculture sector on enhanced participation and involvement of smallholder women farmers in agriculture policies and programmes.

“To strengthen accountability of leadership and members of SWOFON at the National and state levels on SWOFON organisational processes and systems.

“To enhance the capacity of Smallholder Women Farmers in Nigeria for continued advocacy for improved farmers and citizens participation in budget processes and Procedures.

“To provide an opportunity for smallholder women farmers to effectively push their demands through the media,” she said.

Also, the Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Ene Obi who was represented by the Director Organisation Effectiveness ActionAid, Funmi Oyefusi observed that there are good accountability processes within SWOFON and that they are proud of its leadership.

The National Annual Farmers Forum is Organized by SWOFON and supported by ActionAid under the ActionAid Public financing For Agriculture Budget (PFA) Project.

JAP Network  2019

ActionAid Nigeria Unveils Project to Curb Infanticide in FCT

ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has launched a project to end the killing of newborn babies, especially twins, in the Federal Capital Territory.

The Country Director, Ene Obi at the Mobilising Actions Towards the Abolition of Infanticide (MATAI) project on Tuesday in Abuja expressed concern that twins and children who are generally products of multiple births are still being killed in communities across Nigeria.

Ene said the project is a collaboration between AAN, the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) and Vine Heritage Homes, which caters to over 150 children in Abuja who are in danger of being killed due to cultural practices.

According to her, the project is funded both by the European Union and AAN adding that AAN has been working with the National Human Rights Commission, traditional rulers, area councils, and the communities.

“ActionAid is working in this area, but we are not the government. We can only support the work that the government is doing. When we find people with this kind of vulnerability, we go there.”

https://www.blueprint.ng/actionaid-nigeria-unveils-project-to-curb-infanticide-in-fct/

Adeola Tukuru - JAPi member