Day: June 4, 2023

The Black Princesses of Ghana have been crowned champions of the maiden Under-20 West Africa Football Union (WAFU) Zone B Girls Cup after beating the Falconets of Nigeria 3-1 on penalties at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi.

A 39th-minute spot kick by Skipper Stella Nyamekye was not enough as Flourish Sebastine managed to grab an 85th-minute equalizer for the visitors.

It was a tough start for Coach Basigi’s side who kept their lines clean from dangerous Nigeria, who had secured 19 goals in four matches coming into the clash.

The visitors took Ghana through an intense drill, sending in long crosses towards top scorer Esther Ajakaye, who was eager to grab an early goal to extend her goal-tally.

The Ghanaians kept their mentality high, giving the Nigerians no breathing space to dance through their defense.

A clumsy tackle by Flourish gave Ghana the advantage in the 39th minute as Stella Nyamekye beautifully left Nigeria’s Anderline Mberchi in a state of confusion to break the virginity of the game, ending the first half 1-0.

The Ladies in green came into the second half as wounded lions who were seeking to redeem themselves with an attacking plan to beat the hosts.

It was an impressive partnership between Stella and Maafia Nyame who proved to be big names on the continent, keeping the defence of the Falconets busy with their skillful play.

Ghana’s Abena Opoku was assigned to give Esther Ajakaye a bitter experience in the clash, as she completed her mission leading to the substitution of the prolific striker.

Just when the fans had given up, Afi Amanyeku came to the rescue of the Princesses in the 72nd minute to make sure she played an instrumental role in the host and win mission.

It was Taiwo Afolabi and Amina Bello of Nigeria who teamed up to divide Ghana’s defense to give Flourish Sebastine a chance to grab an equalizer in the 85th minute.

The dying minutes of the game was a shooting practice for the Ghanaians who packed up behind their opponents 18-yard box, looking for a chance to secure a winner.

After an exciting 90 minutes of exciting play, the game finally ended 1-1 as Ghana completed the task on penalties, beating their perriniel rivals 3-1.

Stella Nyamekye was adjudged the player of the tournament with four goals to her credit.

Northern Ladies’ Afi Amanyeku was also handed the Goalkeeper of the tournament award after an exciting campaign.

Esther Ajakaye also had the top-scorer award after scori g six goals in the competition.

Source: Ghana News Agency

On May 25, the International Women’s Peace Group (Chairwoman Hyun Sook Yoon) participated in HWPL’s 10th Annual Commemoration of the Declaration of World Peace and Peace Walk, simultaneously held in Seoul, South Korea, along with approximately 70 other major cities in Korea and abroad.

Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a peace cooperative organization of IWPG, announced the Declaration of World Peace on May 25, 2013. As this year marks 10th anniversary of this declaration, joint statements were announced all around the world.

In her commemorative remarks during the event, IWPG Chairwoman Hyun Sook Yoon said, “Chairman Lee proclaimed the ‘Declaration of World Peace’ in 2013, and the youth started peace walks all over the world. The following year, on January 24, 2014, with the mediation of Chairman Lee, a civil peace agreement was signed, a war ended, and we are witnessing with our own eyes the reality that a culture of peace is taking root.”

Chairwoman Yoon also added, “IWPG also celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Together with IPYG, it has become one of the two wings of HWPL and has been striving to spread a culture of peace while reflecting on the spirit and inspiration of the ‘Declaration of World Peace’. Every year, we participate in CSW, the Committee on the Status of Women held by the United Nations. In addition, April 26th of this year marked the 4th Annual Commemoration of International Women’s Peace Day where the ‘International Women’s Declaration of Peace’ was proclaimed. The 10,000 women from 54 countries that participated in this event promised to implement Article 10 ‘Dissemination of a Culture of Peace’ of the DPCW and achieve the SDGs.”

The event included a Peace Walk to urge for the introduction of the DPCW as a resolution in the UN General Assembly and a DPCW Support Signature Campaign in which various women from all over the world participated.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The government of Cameroon is looking forward to boosting and modernizing food production in the three northern regions.

The revelation was made at the launch of the 2023 farming season in Guider, North Region on Friday, June 2, 2023, by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Gabriel Mbairobe.

According to the minister, the launch and donations are to help in improving the productivity of farmers and help them achieve food self-sufficiency.

Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development indicate that the Far North Region is the biggest producer of onion, rice, beans, and different species of millet in the country.

While standing tall, these cash crops including others like maize, sweet potatoes, a variety of vegetables, and fruits are cultivated under difficult climatic conditions marked by low rainfall levels and prolonged dry season.

It is in this context that more improved methods like fertilizers and pesticides, better farming tools, and training are being brought in to minimize enormous post-harvest losses.

The launch comes at a time when the government is stepping up efforts to increase food and crop production in the Far North Region in the face of reoccurring food insecurity.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

An estimated 40,000 Cameroonian artifacts are still in Germany according to a recent study jointly carried out by Cameroonian and German researchers.

Prof. Albert Gouaffo, of Dschang University and Bénédicte Savoy, a professor at the Technische Universität in Berlin headed the study and during their presentation, stated that the number of Cameroonian objects spread across German museums was far more than the meager 6,000 which are housed in Yaounde.

Germany colonized Cameroon from 1884 until her defeat in the First World War in 1918 and during the 34 years of German rule, colonial troops carried out at least 180 “punitive expeditions” to secure land, laying waste to villages and farms and looting or destroying cultural heritage.

The artifacts in German museums include textiles, musical instruments, ritual masks, royal stools, thrones, manuscripts, and weapons mostly taken from the Grassfields of Cameroon where German rule was strongly resisted.

Among the objects listed in the study are a beaded stool from Baham in the present-day West Region, looted during a punitive exhibition and brought back by German army officer, Hans Glauning. The stool is now in the Linden Museum in Stuttgart; a wooden carved drum, also a war trophy now kept at Berlin’s Ethnological Museum, and a beaded cap belonging to a Cameroonian traditional leader, now in the Linden Museum, that was one of 237 objects plundered over nearly 3 years by Glauning.

Cameroonian authorities at the Cameroon embassy in Germany have begun talks with German authorities to discuss a process of restitution for the items.

In June 2022, German authorities announced that they were returning the Ngonnso, a deity of the Nso People in the Grassfields of Cameroon, forcibly taken by German authorities in the early 1900s. The announcement was widely celebrated and the Ngonnso has since been returned to the Nso People.

Germany’s colonial past has come to haunt the country and discussions are underway to return these objects taken from Cameroonian villages and tribes over 100 years ago.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Nigerians have been urged to continue to have trust in various government policies and programmes established to ease their daily life challenges.

Hajiya Saratu Shafi’i, Chairman of Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal (CCPT), stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

She said that the efforts of government to make life comfortable for Nigerians led to the establishment of agencies and commissions that would directly impact on them.

Shafii said that the CCPT was such body charged with reviewing the decision of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and other sector regulators.

The Tribunal consists of the Chairman and six members from the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

It is a court of record set up to review the decisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and other sector regulators on matters relating to Competition and Consumer Protection.

Shafii said that the CCPT was such body charged with responsibilities of providing ease of seeking redress and justice to both service providers and consumers.

“Once Nigerians realise and enforce their rights as consumers, service providers and producers will sit up and give better services to them, and the Tribunal will ensure justice.

“As a pioneer chairman, I will want to leave a Tribunal with a strong law, procedure rules, dynamic institutional framework and efficient workforce that will position and maintain the Tribunal as a veritable tool in National Development Spectrum.

“My tentative plan is to position the Tribunal in a pedestal where justice to the producers/service providers, justice to the consumers and justice to Nigeria will not only be done but will be seen to be have been done,” she said.

Shafii said that many expectations followed her appointment as the chairman of the tribunal as a person with lofty objections and visions.

“As a person that went for a 29 years training and retraining such as leadership skills, workplace ethics, value proposition, creativity and innovation, I felt the need to up the game in the new establishment.

“I joined CAC as a Senior Legal Officer and rose through the ranks to a Director. One would inevitably assumed that I must have built knowledge capital, social capital and emotional intelligence overtime.

“Therefore, the expectations is that of an integrated toolkits full of resilience and critical thinking as expected of a pioneer Chairman that must lay a solid foundation to achieve the Tribunal’s mandate.”

She said that the Tribunal was established with the normal challenges of building something from scratch, adding that the members of the tribunal were all committed to the take off due to its importance to Nigerians.

“Generally speaking, I had no challenges in its strict sense. However, where a new Tribunal is established as a novel agency with no existing Rules, Practice Direction or manual to function and you as a Chairman have the directive of the Federal Government to commence work immediately, then this must indeed call for a strategic and critical actions which some people may think as challenging.

“In this case, with my background as a Legal Practitioner I leverage on my educational background, professional network, the partnership of my six members of the Tribunal and the team spirit of my pioneer staff to come up with an action plan, set a milestone and provide an implementation strategy,” she said.

Some of the CCPT mandate under section 39 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018 is the mandate to adjudicate on all matters prohibited under the Act.

The CCPT mandates include the following; To adjudicate on all matters bordering on Unfair Competition, Unlawful Merger, Price Fixing, Monopoly and Consumer Rights Protection.

To hear appeals from or review any decision of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) taken in the course of the implementation of any of the provisions of the (FCCPA) as may be referred to it.

To hear appeals from or review of any sector of specific regulatory authority in a regulated industry in respect of competition and consumer protection matters, issue such orders as may be required of it under the (FCCPA).

And make any ruling or such other orders as may be necessary or incidental to the performance of its functions under the (FCCPA).

The Chairman added that the Tribunal was proud of four judgments since its establishment and would do more in the future as well as undertake the amendment of the Act.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria