Minister wants the sponsor of the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill to represent it to the Senate

Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, Sen. Aisha Al-Hassan, on Thursday urged the sponsor of the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill to represent it to the Senate.

It was recalls that the Bill, sponsored by Senate Minority Whip, Biodun Olujimi, was thrown out by the Senate on Tuesday.

Al-Hassan spoke on the sidelines of the 60th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN headquarters in New York.

"I received with mixed feelings, news of the rejection of the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill by the Nigerian Senate.

"The Bill would have addressed discriminatory practices against women, access to education, female entrepreneurship development, participation in governance, decision making and protection against violence.

"We had hoped that with its passage Nigeria would have made a significant leap in the advancement of women, in conformity with UN Conventions, and other related instruments on the rights and development of women.

"However, with due respect to religious and cultural sensitivities, we believe that the bill will be re-presented to the Senate, as soon as all contentious areas are addressed'', she said.

The minister assured Nigerians that the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development will always do its best to promote the protection of Nigerian women against violence and all forms of abuses.

She said Nigeria cannot afford to neglect women who constituted half of its population, and that there would be no meaningful development without the involvement of women.

"We will continue to urge the Nigerian Senate to reconsider its position to ensure a speedy passage of the Bill,'' she said.

She said in Nigeria, women represented 49 per cent of the population, yet they occupied less than six per cent of parliamentary seats at the national level.

These indicators, she said, negated International, regional and national benchmarks of at least 30 per cent representation for affirmative action.

Al-Hassan said with seven women out of 109 Senators and 14 out of the 360 Representatives; women in Nigerian 8th Parliament were clearly outnumbered by their male counterparts.

Nationwide, she said, in both Federal and State Legislatures, ``there are less than 100 women out of the over one thousand four hundred men in parliament.

"Nigeria is yet to be part of the African revolution although it is the largest economy and the most populous black nation.

"The low representation of women in parliament has been attributed to cultural, traditional, religious, and financial factors because politics is capital intensive.

Others are violence and inhibiting gender roles and capacity in internal party democracies.

The minister also said there was urgent need to fast track modalities for increased representation of women in parliament and other decision-making organs. 

(NAN)

South African teenager on holiday in Mozambique may have found part of a wing from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

Liam Lotter with a piece of debris he found in southern Mozambique Photo: AP

On December 30, Liam Lotter was strolling on a beach in southern Mozambique, near the resort town of Xai Xai, when he spotted a grey piece of debris washed up on the sand, he recalled.

It had rivet holes along the edge and the number 676EB stamped on it, convincing him he had found a piece of an aircraft. So he dragged the piece back to his family's holiday home.

"It was so waterlogged at that time, it was quite heavy. I struggled to pick it up," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

The curved piece of debris is about 3.3 feet (one metre) long, and about half that length wide, his father Casper Lotter said.

His parents dismissed it as a "piece of rubbish" that was probably debris from a boat, with his uncle making fun of him for dragging it around, but the 18-year-old insisted on bringing it back to South Africa to research the fragment.

"He was adamant he wanted to bring it home because it had a number on it," said Casper Lotter, adding that his son is not an aviation enthusiast but was simply drawn to the piece of debris.

"It just grabbed him for some weird reason," the father said.

Back home in Wartburg in KwaZulu-Natal province, the piece was stored with the family's angling gear and almost forgotten as Lotter focused on his final year in secondary school. His mother even tried to throw it out, he said.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 jet vanished with 239 people on board while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

It was only when Lotter read about another piece of possible debris from the missing airliner also found in Mozambique, about 186 miles from where he had made his discovery, that he resumed his probe.

"I was very shocked – Mozambique, similar colour, similar area," the teen said of the piece discovered by an American man. "He described it similarly to what I'm looking at right now."

Last week, Lotter's mother Candace contacted Australian aviation authorities and they said the number on the part indicates it may belong to a Boeing 777, according to Casper Lotter. Australian authorities contacted South African counterparts to have the part examined by experts.

The honeycomb structure indicates it is either the leading edge of a wing, or a horizontal stabiliser

"We have arranged for collection of the part, which will be sent to Australia as they are the ones appointed by Malaysia to identify parts found," Kabelo Ledwaba, spokesman South African Civil Aviation Authority, wrote in a text message to the AP.

Last month, Blaine Gibson, a Seattle lawyer and part-time adventurer, found what could be a piece of tail section from the missing Malaysian airlines flight. The piece Gibson found had "NO STEP" written on it.

The 58-year-old's search for the missing jet has taken him to beaches in the Maldives, Mauritius, Cambodia, Burma and the French island of Reunion, he told The Associated Press. Gibson also travelled to Malaysia to attend a commemorative ceremony held on Sunday by the families of passengers on board the airliner.

The South African teenager hopes his find will help the grieving families, and inspire others who may have found fragments of the missing plane to hand them over to authorities.

He said he would be pleased "just for them to know that we're finding evidence, finding out how it happened, where it happened, just to give them some closure".

Violent protests: Be careful Bernie, or my supporters will go to yours!" Trump warned

Trump, whose inflammatory remarks are allegedly fueling the potential for violence, refused to tone down his rhetoric on Sunday.

"Bernie Sanders is lying when he says his disruptors aren't told to go to my events. Be careful Bernie, or my supporters will go to yours!" the billionaire warned.

A large number of protesters -- many of them African Americans and Latinos angered by Trump's anti-immigrant stance -- clashed with Trump's supporters in Chicago on Friday night, forcing the billionaire businessman to cancel a rally there.

The cancellation, which came amid large demonstrations both inside and outside the event at the University of Illinois at Chicago, follows heightened concerns about violence in general at Trump’s rallies across the US.

Trump on Sunday described protesters at his rallies as "bad people that are looking to do harm to our country."

"When these people come into (my rallies), you know, everybody thinks I'm a bad guy," he said.

"If my people went into one of (Sanders's) rallies, they'd say, 'oh, this is a terrible thing.' They would be arrested and all sorts of things would happen to them," he added.

Trump wants the protesters who caused disorder at his rallies to be arrested.

Sanders rejected the idea that his supporters were responsible for the chaos.

He said the Republican candidate is “a pathological liar,” and is trying to distract the public attention because poll numbers show he will not win a general election.

"Trump's words must be taken with a grain of salt because I think as almost every knows, this man cannot stop lying about anything," he said.

"People in America know that we cannot have a president like Trump who insults Mexicans, who insults women, who insults Muslims," he said on CNN.

"People are catching on to Donald Trump. That's why he's getting reckless," Sanders argued.

Trump, who has never held elected office, is leading the race despite the fact that his campaign has been marked by controversial statements, including with disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants and Muslims.

He has won contests in 15 states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Vermont.

Student in Trouble for Modelling Without Underwear

A Polytechnic College student in Harare, Zimbabwe, who made headlines last week after images were leaked of her flashing her privates at adjudicators during a beauty pageant, appeared in court Monday.

Panashe Zhaware, 21, was charged with public indecency when she appeared before magistrate Blessing Murwisi.

She was remanded to October 21 for trial and released on $100 bail

Zhaware, who is represented by Harare lawyer Musindo Hungwe was not asked to plead when she appeared in court.

Prosecutor Patience Chimusaru told the court that Harare Polytechnic College held a modelling show in July this year.

Zhaware contested the pageant which was for the Miss Harare Polytechnic crown.

According to the prosecutor, nothing was reported amiss when other models went on stage.

However, when Zhaware's turn came, she went on stage without her panties.

The prosecutor said the model held her dress and stretched it wide open exposing her genitals to everyone in the room.

Photos of the model exposing herself were leaked to a Harare tabloid, leading to investigations by the police.

Zhaware was subsequently arrested.

We’ll never cover up corruption - Saraki

According to the statement by his Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Mohammed Isa, said the Senate is ever ready to partner with President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the success of the anti-corruption war.‎

The Senate President reiterated this, when speaking with a team of editors of the London based “The Economist” newspaper at the weekend.

The Senate, he said had already demonstrated such commitment through its interventions on many alleged corrupt transactions such as its swift investigation and adoption of a report on the management of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) that saved the nation about N7billion and the exposure of the inconsistencies in the 2016 budget.

The step, he said was a departure from the past where such reports were either watered-down or not presented for debate and adoption. He cited the report he presented to the last Senate on the over N1trillion fuel subsidy scam that never saw the light of the day.

In furtherance to the commitment, the Senate President said Nigerians would in the next few weeks be availed with the details of the National Assembly budget which will be a departure from the tradition of having one line item budget.

“For the first time we promised Nigerians to give out our budget breakdown. The committee will make its report available by next week. We are resolved to break the tradition of one line item,” he emphasized.

Saraki said though party differences exist between the senators, citing example of the leadership tussle, he, however said, national interest and the desire of each senator to fulfill the promises made to Nigerians have become the guiding principle of the senate in their team work.

On the economy, he said the Senate has embarked on series of legislative interventions to create conducive environment for the private sector, as he said, “it is only when the private sector thrives that the issue of unemployment will be addressed and the nation’s GDP will increase.”

“Few days ago, we received a report on the laws that need to be amended in order of priority importance to ease doing business and overall private sector participation in the stimulation of Nigeria’s economy. We will soon commence the implementation of the recommendations in the report in addition to pushing for the amendment of the Procurement Act to stimulate and protect our local industries,” he assured.

He blamed lack of firmness and consistency in policy implementation by the past administrations as the main obstacle for the growth of the private sector.

“If people have confidence that these policies have come to stay, nothing will stop them from coming to invest in the country,” he stressed.

He allayed the fears that the low prices of oil will have negative impact on the implementation of the 2016 budget, saying that, “what we need to do is to block leakages and show more transparency.”

“If we can block leakages, stop the wastage and institute a culture of transparency in governance, the revenue in-flow will not be substantially affected. Without these, even if oil is sold at more than a $100 per barrel, we will continue to witness a decline in revenue in-flow as we witnessed in the past,” Saraki said.