Director General New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) Gloria Akobundu has called for an end to youth restiveness in Nigeria, promising to initiate programs that would positively engage youths.
Akobundu stated this in Isiala-Mbano council area of Imo, on Sunday, at the finals of her football competition organized for the six LGAs in Imo North, entitled “Partnership and Development Competition”.
She said NEPAD was saddled with the responsibility of implementing the African Union’s (AU) agenda of “Silencing the Gun”, adding that she planned to end youth restiveness through community partnership.
The director general said the football tournament was one of her initiatives, aimed at hunting talents, uniting the youths and curbing restiveness.
She listed the three main focal areas of NEPAD as Partnership, Prosperity and Productivity, adding that with community partnership, the three agendas would be implemented before the end of her four-year tenure.
“The youths must shun restiveness and embrace peace and unity. We want to silence the gun, curb restiveness through youth engagement and community partnership. So, I call on all the youths in Okigwe zone to embrace peace”, she said.
While assuring that talented youths would be assisted to develop their talents in the West, Akobundu pledged to sustain the competition annually.
The News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) reports that the keenly contested competition was eventually won by Ihite-Uboma team who defeated Obowo team. (NAN)
Israel has vaccinated one fifth of its population in 3 weeks -Health minister
Israel has vaccinated 20 per cent of its population in the three weeks since it started its coronavirus vaccination campaign, the largest in its history, the country’s health minister said.
“We have completed three weeks of campaign `Return to Life ‘with wonderful news,’’ Health Minister Yuli Edelstein tweeted on Sunday, saying that 1.817 million of Israel’s 9.2 million residents had received the first jab of the U.S.-German Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Edelstein were the first to receive the second dose late on Saturday, in the Sheba Hospital near Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu and his health minister received the first injection on Dec. 19, marking the start of the mass campaign that has seen Israel become the country with most inoculations per capita.
The government aims to vaccinate all residents of the country over the age of 16 by the end of March.
With a daily caseload swelling to around 8,000 since a second lockdown was relaxed in October, Israel tightened a third nationwide lockdown on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the first four infections with a new coronavirus variant, that originally appeared in South Africa, have been detected in Israel, according to the Health Ministry.
Israel has seen 3,645 COVID-19-related deaths since the novel virus was first detected in the country nearly a year ago. (/NAN)