ELVIRA’S PEN

MY DECEMBER  - Elvira Jordan Good Morning Beloved! I had a very hard time getting a message for today, probably because I’m in very high spirit and may have gone above and beyond.😂 But this will be my last message for the year 2024, as I will be going on a writing break, hoping that my cup is refilled with a fresh perspective in the coming year. (I got you there with the title 😏😉) While we are stylishly moving towards the Yuletide season, I want to remind us a few things.  Some things to note as we move into December: 1. Christmas and New Year may have pagan origins and some disturbing history, but doesn’t change the fact that we have chosen this period to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, to be grateful to God for the year and celebrate with family. Don’t let social media ideologies and rhetorics distract you from YOUR significance of Christmas. If you think Christmas has a problem, just keep it to yourself and allow us to flex.  2. Even though you don’t b...

  L-R - Deputy Executive Director of Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF) Comrade Bomoi Mohammed,  Executive Director of Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), Philip Jakpor, Hon. Adamu Omadefu, RDI Board Member, Tobias Lengnan Dapam, and Deputy Executive Director of Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), Comrade Alagoa Morris during the meeting with the lawmaker in Abuja earlier this week.  Environmental advocacy groups have given the thumbs up to the Nasarawa State House of Assembly for summoning Chinese firm - Multiverse Synee Mining Company Limited to appear before it today (Wednesday 27 November 2024) at the Assembly complex for questioning over mining impacts in Abuni community, Awe Local Government Area of the state. The groups – Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN) and Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF) had petitioned the Nasarawa State House of Assembly through the Chair, Committee on Environment, Honourable Adamu Omadefu o...

The incessant oil spills in Ogboinbiri Community in Southern Ijaw LGA of Bayelsa State has now  become a monthly occurrence, with the most recent happening on 15 November 2024. Since the Nigerian Agip Oil Company [NAOC] divested its shares in the Joint Venture totally to Oando, the company’s Ogboinbiri/Tebidaba pipeline within Ogboinbiri community environment has experienced four (4) spill incidents from four different spill points. The first spill occurred on 5 September 2024, and two incidents happened in October 2024. Following the report from the community on the 20 November, the EDEN team in Yenagoa led by Nimiemi Morris and Alagoa Morris mobilized and visited the affected area on the 21st of November 2024, and was led to the site of interest by community guides.   A native of Ogboinbiri community, Bosin Izonakpo who spoke to the EDEN team, stated that the community has been living in devastation because of the rate of spills in the area. He revealed th...

INTRODUCTION The Nigeria Green Academy is an initiative of the Heinrich Boll Stiftung, which is aimed at rising a new generation, with a trans-generational transfer of knowledge, for development advocates and activists in Nigeria, to effect the much needed change in the society and the world at large. After a process of application, screening and shortlisting, I was selected, along with 18 other youths from different parts of the country, to be among the 3 rd  batch of the Green Academy Cohort, 2024. The academy held from the 28 th  of October to the 1 st  of November, 2024 at WallGate Apartments, Jahi District, Abuja with 19 participants (fellows) in attendance. THE ACADEMY Day 1 of the academy started with a welcome address from the Acting Director of HBS, Abuja, Monika Umunna who spoke about HBS, its objectives and initiatives towards setting up the Green Academy. She welcomed the cohort and admonished participants to be sensitive to the knowledge afforded by the acade...

MAINTAIN JOY, PEACE AND LOVE - Elvira Jordan Good Morning Beloved!!! The year is about to come to an end, and I have noticed that the end of the year comes with different colors of temptations.  I don’t know if I am the only one who has noticed but right before the merriments of December, people seem to be at an edge, and sometimes unexpected things happen. This energy usually starts in September, thins down in December and becomes even more in January and February, when people are trying a new start. This period is very important because it’s a gateway to a new season and how you enter this season will determine how it will work out for you. People have gone through a lot this year, and some have been going through a lot for a long time.  Some people have had it hotter than others and somehow, people are carrying a certain level of stress, pain and unease within them, looking for an avenue to dump their emotional baggages. As we move into the festive season, it is important f...

Bullying, which is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggressively dominate, or intimidate others, has been identified as a psychological issue that requires attention and sensitization, especially among young people. Bullying cases have been recorded in numerous schools across Nigeria, without much attention given to remedies and sensitization against bullying. Repeated acts of violence and cruelty are not developed in a day, but are picked up by perpetrators at a young age and will continue in adulthood if not corrected and may lead to bullying in work environments, business places, churches and other public/ social environments. In a bid to tackle early bullying behavior and violence among teenagers and adolescents, the Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN) in collaboration with  Equality Development and Research Center (EDR Center) organized an “Anti-Bullying Training for Secondary School Students”, which held at Deeper L...

Civil Society organizations have been charged to engage in regular mutual capacity building and partnerships among CSOs and other stakeholders, to build a strong alliance towards organizational growth and sustainable development in the civic space. This was stated at the Mutual Capacity Strengthening of Organizations in Port Harcourt with the theme, “Organization Capacity Strengthening For Tax Governance Cluster and Other Emerging CSOs in Rivers State”, organized by Ofure Center for Peace and Development in collaboration with the Ududu Development and Peace Initiative, with support from Oxfam Nigeria, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC) and  Fair For All, which held on the 18 th and 19 th of November 2024 in Port Harcourt. The Executive Director of Ududu Development and Peace Initiative, Ngozi Anyawu while presenting the program overview, stated that the key element for sustainable organizational growth and maintaining excellence in the civic space can be achie...