WNP@1: Five of the biggest pulsating stories in one year

Posted by Ahmed Iyanda | 2 years ago | 876 times



It is exactly a year today Western Nigeria Publica (WNP) kicked off editorial operations with its first published story on how Western Nigeria can develop a sustainable Agricultural policies, an interview with Akindele Akinola, an Agricultural Consultant, said that it is high time for South West to develop a Sustainable Agricultural Policy that will make the region independent of other region when it comes to food security.

While most of our publications during the last year were intended to offer news as a product to the public using a combination of traditional news values and its strategic principle of reporting what matters, we also thought of showing you our great 5 publications in the last year.  

As WNP celebrates its first ‘birthday’ today, we present you 5 of our biggest stories yet, carefully selected from over 200 compelling works.

1. How to overcome 'Omo Onile' land related crisis in Lagos

Undoubtedly, getting land in Lagos isn't as easy  as it could have been envisaged. Many have faced a dilemma either to buy land from the so-called 'Omo Onile(Son of the soil) or from a reputable Real Estate Company. But the truth is, to get land in Lagos isn't a child's play. 

If you live in Lagos and you know nothing about Real Estate, you will probably know how problematic the Omonile can be.

They are often a thorn in the flesh of people who want to purchase property, and often remain troublesome long after it has changed ownership.

The fact remains that the impediment isn't a Lagos thing alone, but it's a well-known hindrance to successfully selling or holding landed property in the state. In fact, this impediment could be found in other states, but a very rampant occurence in Lagos, hence the need for urgent attention.

2. Twitter Ban in Nigeria: What will the suspension mean for Business

The announcement was made by Segun Adeyemi, special assistant to Nigeria's Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, on behalf of the minister, via the ministry’s Twitter handle, on Friday, June 4, 2021. 

The minister said the federal government has also directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria. 

This suspension comes two days after the social media giant deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari for breaching its rule. Buhari’s now-deleted tweet referred to the civil war against the southeastern Biafra region that killed over a million people.

Note: After 222 days and economic losses of about N546.5 billion, the Federal Government  finally lifted the ban (12th January, 2022) on Twitter operations in Nigeria.

3. A call for action on tackling menace of dirty environment and open defecation in Nigeria

It is mind-boggling that over 172.7 million of Nigeria’s population lives in an unsanitary environment despite the nation being the giant of Africa with over 200 million populations. In a recent study carried out by a non-governmental organization (NGO), Clean-up Nigeria (CUN), in its 2021 report titled ‘The State of Nigeria's Environment Report’.

According to the report, only four states out of the 36 in the country, namely Lagos, Oyo, Abuja and Bauchi, have sanitary landfills: the remaining states operate open dumping. The report also indicates that Borno State is currently the dirtiest state in Nigeria, while Akwa Ibom State has retained its previous position as the cleanest state in the country.

This is accounted for by the spread of diseases like Lassa fever, Gonorrhea among others that have been rapidly growing in Nigeria ever since its outbreak in the country because of the dirty environment in which people live. Undeniably, in contrast to the Nigerian environment situation, major world cities like London, Washington, and Paris are famous because of the beauty of their sparkling clean environments.

The fact that it has been established that rats and Lassa fever have strong links through a species of rodent known as Multimammate rat, which breeds mostly in dirty environments in the country, should have spurred the need for the people to keep good hygiene and live in a clean environment in the country.

Read: People living with Cerebral palsy can aspire to greater heights; FUO special needs graduate, Abdulhameed narrates the ‘why’ behind his resilience, strive for success

4.What you need to know about CBN's digital currency(eNaira)

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced in June that it will launch its digital currency by the end of 2021. However, Nigeria has become the latest country to launch a digital currency as residents will be able to make payments using the eNaira from tomorrow.

E-Naira is a Central Bank of Nigeria-issued digital currency that provides a unique form of money denominated in Naira. eNaira serves as both a medium of exchange and a store of value, offering better payment prospects in retail transactions when compared to cash payments. eNaira has an exclusive operational structure that is both remarkable and nothing like other forms of central bank money. Read more here.

5.Educational inequity, bane of national development –Folawe Omikunle

The Chief Executive Officer, Teach for Nigeria,  Folawe Omikunle, has said that educational inequity is a great injustice to Nigeria's social development, according to her, there's a need to realize the purpose of education. 

In  an Exclusive Interview with Western Nigeria Publica, Folawe discusses the challenges in the educational system of Nigeria and how her organization has been tackling educational inequity.

In a recent report, Nigeria has about 10.5 million out of school children. This has however been a concern for the government and a number of private and non-profit organizations and has spurred quite a number of reasonable actions such as increment in the budget allocated to the education sector from 5.7% to 7.2% by the government and quite a number of resourceful and impactful programs launched by non-profit and private organizations all in a bid to bring these children to school.

Every birthday, they say, is like a new year. On this note, we welcome you to a new WNP year, which, to us, is a chance to tell more compelling stories on reporting what matters. 

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