Day: May 12, 2023

The Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) has called on religious organisations to institute functioning counselling units manned by professionals to deal with the psychological, physical, emotional and social needs of members in difficult times.

The DOVVSU observed that many faith-based organisations have some kind of counselling services, yet they lacked professionally trained counsellors and logistics to make a profound impact in case of death, divorce, natural disasters, stress, and other socio-economic difficulties.

Chief Superintendent George Appiah-Sakyi, the Central Regional Coordinator of DOVVSU of the Ghana Police Service, made the appeal at a Gender-Based and Domestic Violence (GBDV) sensitisation forum for St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church Women’s Fellowship in Cape Coast.

Taking participants through the complexities of home-related abuses and reporting procedures, he said religious counselling was important as it focused on the mind, body, and spirit of the individual.

But for faith-based principles of forgiveness, patience, tolerance, kindness and peaceful co-existence, he said many troubled people would have remained a pale shadow of themselves and never regained self-confidence.

He stated that as much as people would want to protect their families, it must be understood that domestic violence was a crime punishable by law and for which one could be sentenced to a jail term if found culpable.

The religious community must rise to its religious responsibility and stimulate the desired motivational spirit of renewal and transformation towards effective nation building.

The growth of the faith-based organizations should be measured not only in the number of its followers, but also in the quality of its members who were dedicated to upholding the spiritual virtue of Jesus Christ and personal development, Chief Supt Appiah-Sakyi noted.

He said to help build a progressive and prosperous Ghana, religious growth must strongly anchor on the love for God and humanity.

‘The religious community must create the right environment to empower start-ups to deal with the growing youth unemployment and develop a culture of networking.

He said leveraging the competencies of their networks would help them to scale up and position their businesses to grow while dealing with emerging crisis.

On domestic violence, Chief Supt Appiah-Sakyi cautioned that husbands who intentionally cause their wives pain by refusing to eat their food risk a two-year jail or a fine of GHS6,000 as that constituted emotional abuse.

‘If your husband refuses to eat your food and that makes you unhappy and causes you emotional pain, you can report them to the police. If your husband comes home late and causes you to be unhappy, you can make a case at DOVVSU,’ he said

He warned husbands against molesting their wives in any way, even if they were being insulted, saying they should rather report their wives to the police.

He said refusal of sex was punishable under Ghanaian law, and wives should be reported if they denied their legal partners’ sex.

Chief Supt Appiah-Sakyi advised parents to report all cases related to child abuse, especially involving the girl-child, to DOVVSU and cautioned them to desist from attempting to settle defilement cases at home.

He identified other cases of domestic violence to include physical, psychological and verbal abuses, assaults, forced marriages, threats, rape, incest, sexual harassment and sodomy among others.

Madam Leticia Grant, President of St Paul’s Presby Women’s’ Fellowship, urged all women to resist domestic violence and seek appropriate redress to reduce the spate of homicide issues across the country.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) LTD, under its livelihood support programme of scholarship and skills acquisition scheme, has so far supported 503 students in Ghana.

The company also disbursed the Cedi equivalent of about $921,000.00 to ensure the youth in their host communities had equal opportunities to develop and achieve their potential.

Dr Isaac Adjei Doku, General Manager of Corporate Affairs, made this known when the company presented scholarship awards to 49 brilliant students in the Shama district of the Western Region.

He explained that the company’s livelihood support programme consisted of two schemes, a scholarship scheme and a skills acquisition scheme. He added that the Shama presentation was the ninth batch of students under the WAPCo scholarship scheme, which he said was yielding positive results.

‘We say without any equivocation that WAPCo in partnership with host communities is impacting the lives of the youth in our host communities one batch at a time ‘

Dr Doku said in administering their livelihood programmes, they ensured that their core values of diversity and inclusion and safeguarding fair representation from each community were reflected in the selection process for the awards, adding that out of 395 scholarship awardees given so far, 195 were females.

He said WAPCo’s investment was also to ensure that their host communities had the talents for their growth and development and noted that’ research indicates that there is a significant correlation between the cognitive abilities of a population and long-term economic growth, which is more potent than simply measuring their educational attainment’.

Dr Doku indicated that over the period, WAPCo-sponsored students have pursued more than 20 courses, reflecting the diversity of interest and pool of employable talents and skills being developed in the host communities.

He mentioned Doctor of Optometry, Medicine and Surgery, Nautical Science, Petroleum Engineering, Actuarial Science, law, and Environmental and safety engineering as some of the courses the beneficiaries pursued in 13 tertiary institutions across the country in the past three years.

He said the company would in the 2022/2023 academic year spend six hundred and forty-one thousand seven hundred Ghana cedis on scholarships.

‘We are proud to say that we have so far achieved a 100 per cent completion rate as all previous recipients of the WAPCo scholarship, except those in school, have successfully completed their programme and graduated. The academic excellence of these graduates is reflective of our One WAPCo core value of operational excellence’

He added ‘We are pleased to note the recent successful completion of the 6th batch of students from their various tertiary institutions of special mention is Christopher Amoasi, from Lower Inchaban in the Shama District.

HE Studied Law at the University of Cape Coast and graduated with First Class Honours and was adjudged the overall best graduating male Law student.

Mr Ebenezer Dadzie, the DCE for Shama District Assembly explained that such a scholarship would allow the beneficiaries to unearth their hidden potential to achieve their dreams to help develop the country.

He said the scholarship scheme would help accelerate the development of human capital to impact the much-expected growth of the country.

Mr Dadzie reiterated that the Assembly would partner WAPCo to help uplift the image of the district through education.

He appealed to the company to help train the youth to spearhead the energy revolution in green energy which is cheaper to help improve the socio-economic conditions of the people.

Mr Samuel Erickson Abakah, the Member of Parliament for Shama Constituency said education remained key in building a better foundation and was hopeful that WAPCo would increase the number of awardees to benefit many more brilliant students whose parents were having socio-economic challenges in catering for them.

He advised the beneficiaries to make maximum use of the scholarship to improve their lives and that of their families.

Nana Korba Aboo III, the Queen mother of Aboadze and Nana Nka Numako IV and Graveldo Nkyirkyir commended WAPCo for the scholarship scheme and advised the beneficiaries to take their studies seriously to justify their inclusion and to pave the way for others.

Nana Kwamina Wienoo II, the acting paramount chief of Shama Traditional Council encouraged WAPCo to continue with such a livelihood empowerment programme to help the district to achieve the needed human capital development to impact the growth of the district.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has expressed readiness to support green manufacturing to ameliorate the negative impacts of their production activities on the environment.

Otunba Francis Meshioye, President, MAN, said this at the maiden edition of MAN Strategic Dialogue Session on Environment and Green Manufacturing in partnership with Natural Eco Capital on Thursday in Lagos.

Meshioye, describing green manufacturing as the current global phenomenon said MAN was committed to guiding its members to make significant progress in this regard.

To achieve this, he said, that the association in January created the Environment and Green Manufacturing Unit with the responsibility of stirring awareness among MAN members on climate change issues and Environmental Management System.

He said the unit in providing members with strategies and necessary information needed to drive environmental sustainability was set to collaborate with relevant institutions and international agencies in achieving its mandates.

“This novel unit amongst other things would guide and encourage seamless transition of members manufacturing processes through the assistance of relevant agencies and organisations to an eco-friendlier production environment.

“This can be achieved through the utilisation of leading technologies and practices on the environment and create mechanisms for sustainable development.

“It will be supporting and facilitating the adaptation of clean and renewable energy by manufacturers while encouraging them to build and develop capacity in environment and green manufacturing,” he said.

In his keynote address, the Director-General, National Environmental Standards Regulations and Enforcement Agency, Prof. Aliyu Jauro, noted that air quality had become a major concern in many parts of the world.

This, Jauro said, led to the need for growing awareness to address air pollution and its impact on public health and the environment.

He said that Nigeria, like many other countries, was already experiencing the impacts of climate change such as increasing temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and more frequent and severe extreme weather events (floods and droughts).

Jauro, however, said that Nigeria had since taken steps to implement climate mitigation and adaptation measures, including the development of renewable energy sources and sustainable land-use practices.

“Since the ratification of the Paris Agreement, Nigeria has been very forthcoming in turning ambitions into implementable policies and aligning its environmental regulatory regime with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

“There is the need to prioritise the implementation and enforcement of environmental regulations, as well as the development of policies and incentives to promote a low-carbon economy.

“Industries switching to cleaner technologies and transitioning to low-emission development are indispensable for achieving sustainable economic growth through pathways that yield reduced greenhouse gas emissions and other social, economic, and environmental benefits,” he said.

Dr Eugene Itua, the Chief Executive Officer, Natural Eco Capital, said that the adoption of sustainable manufacturing was with enormous benefits and could engender competitiveness and a more resilient economy.

Itua noted that there was a spectrum of efforts to be made toward sustainable manufacturing such as the use of renewable materials, modification of production processes, and use of reusable, biodegradable products.

“Industries must change their manufacturing process to minimise waste, conserve raw materials, and capture and reuse waste materials.

“We must also utilise new technologies involves incorporating more environmentally responsible technologies and equipment into your production process,” he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Final year pupils in various primary schools across the country are in full focus as they begin their official end of year exams.

Common entrance and entree en sixième examinations begin this Thursday May 11th 2023 and candidates are doing final touches in group as well as individual studies in order to maximize their chances of succeeding the exams.

“I am Steve, pupil of Class 6 at Government Bilingual Primary school Babadjou Toumaka. I am preparing for my common entrance exams that will take place on Thursday. To succeed, I do revisions in school and at home,” a class 6 pupil told us 24 hours to exam time.

When asked if he is confident he will succeed, Steve tells us he is.

“I am sure I will succeed because I did succeed in the mock exams and the lessons are easy.”

On their part, head teachers and teachers are confident that their pupils will make them proud judging from their performances in the mock exams.

The head teacher of Government Bilingual Practicing School Babadjou Toumaka, says he knows that his pupils will be successful because all instructions given are respected to the letter and the school put in place a preparatory system that also involved the psychological aspects.

“The children are confident of themselves because we made them so. The psychological preparation is there. We tell them that what they will meet during the exam will not be strange. They are things we teach them everyday and in which they score high. To make sure our strategy works out, we do revisions,” Aloysius, head teacher of the school tells us.

“I will estimate a 90% success rate because you know many of our children are from the restive North West and South West regions. These children are traumatized either with the distances they cover each week to reach school or with the environment in which they find themselves. With this we only have to boost them morally and give them full psychological support, ” Aloysius adds.

Teachers on their part are aware of the stakes of the exams and say the instructions given by hierarchy are strictly followed.

“As you can see we are fully engaged in revising the mock exams. We don’t know what the real exam will reserve but we are hopeful that 90% of the lessons we revise will appear in the exams,” declares a class 6 teacher.

The Common Entrance Examinations are taken by final year school pupils in Cameroon as part of selective admissions process into secondary schools.

After the common entrance, the pupils will have a month before they face their final examination: the First School Leaving Certicate.

Source: Cameroon News Agency