DAILY TRUST
Thursday, January 13,2011
Environment
Fire razes National Theatre THE New Year has started on a bad n9te for ten male dancers working with the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. In a fire incident that occurred at the male block of the artiste carop of the National Troupe of Nigeria on Monday at about 1O.20arn, five of the rooms were gutted and property worth thousands of naira destroyed. No life was lost but property which the artiste-occupants of the block, who are currently observing their annual leave, left behind were completely burnt before the arrival of the National 111eatre Fire Service men who did their best to stop the fire from spreading to the other blocks, particularly the two new blocks that are currently being renovated for habitation. . An eyewitness, Omoayi Kotun Abiodun, a gardener at the hostel said the fire was unfortunate. "I was outside in the compound when I saw smoke coming out of one of the rooms. There are five rooms and two male dancers live in each room, so this fire affected ten of them. I called other people to come to assist me but before we could do anything, the fire has spread to other roOms. This fire started about 1O.20aro, we thought we could quench it but we could not:' The fire destroyed laptops, desktops, printers, household goods like fan, blenders, books, clothes, caroeras, cooking utensils, stoves, gas cylinders, beddings, travelling bags and other equipment. "The dancers went on leave and we have contacted them about the
fire, this is unfortunate as they will come back and, apart from losing their property, they will also not have anywhere to stay, this year has indeed started on a bad note for them; we are grateful though that nobody died, if not the story will have been worst:' When contacted, officers of the fire service at the National Theatre who requested anonymity said the fire was caused by a power surge. "Inunediatelywe heard about this fire about past 11 :00, we organised menandwegottothescene,butitwas too late as all the rooms and the property inside have been gutted by fire, we tried our possible best to put it off. We suspect that the fire was caused by a power surge, because the people we spoke with said the fire started after they heard a loud sound, so it was a power surge but there was no loss of lite;' the officer said. The Artistic Director, Martin Adaji and members of management tearo who visited the scene of the fire incident expressed surprise at the incident. "This has never happened before. I understand that effort was made to put out the fire before it spread but the windy weather aided its spread. But we thank God that no life was lost We will set up a committee to investigate the cause ofthe incident:' he said. Although the cause of the fire has not yet been established, Shaibu Husseirri, an official of the troupe stated that a preliminary enquiry indicated that it would have been caused by power surge in one of the rooms at the block
...Destroys shops in P/Harcourt ·FIRE bas gutted some shops on Umuoji Stree~ near Mile I Market in Port Harcourt destrOying about 10 shops stocked with paints, building materials and electrical parts. Although no life was lost, one person fainted and was rushed to a nearby b.ealth centre. Smoke waS still billOWing from the mops as at 7.20 a.m. after fire fighters had put out the fire. Mr Chinedu Nwagha, a residentofNo. I, Umuoji Stree~ said that the inferno started at about 4.40 a.m. at No. IB, Umuoji Street, Diobu. '1\t about 4.40 a.m., traders who came to buy pineapples started mouting fire!, fire!, fire!. We caroe out and saw the fire. 'We immediately telephoned the State Fire Service and they arrived within 20 minutes, but it was rather surprising to us that thetearo later left without doing anything. 'i\s the fire kept bunting, we called emergency number 112 and at about 5.30 a.m., Agip oU Company Fire Service carne and put out the fire~ he said. Mr David Mtrilla, the leaderoftheAgip firefighters, said that theyrecclved information from their control room at 5.48 a.m. that fire had gutted partofMile 1 market "Sut when we arrived at the place, we observed the fire was bunting the shops close to the market and I deployed my tearn topulit out , 'Six shops stocked with paints, building materials, electrical parts and partof a two storey building close to the shops were affected;' he said. (NAN)
Climate change: Community benefits from environment project From Hir Joseph, Lafia DAUDU, a community in Benue State is reaping from a pilot project. Building Nigeria's Response to Climate Change, being executed by Greenwatch Initiative, one of the implementing partners of Nigerian Environmental Study/ Action Team (NEST). The BNRCC project - funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and managed and implemented by a consortium of CUSO-VSO and Marbek Resource Consultants in partnership with the Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST) - was evolved in 2007 by Nigerians to build the cOl.lntry's capacity to adapt to the current and anticipated effects of climate change. By this, the project aims the reduction of the negative impact of the environmental disaster on the livelihood of vulnerable people particu-. lady women and children. Through·Grs pilot project, "Promoting Climate Change Adaptation Sest Practices"j community members are however taking ~ction to respond positively to climate chang~',to introduce strategies that will
address the .devastating effects as well as end such practices that encourage the change in the climate condition. The cost of the project, according to Tembe, is N13.8 million with CIDA sinking NIl.S million. One oftpeareasofimplementationistheintroduction of improved varieties of maize, soybeans. rice and cassava wit,h drought resistance, early maturing and high yieldiilg characteristics, which Greenwatch distributed to Daudl.l farmer in June, taking community memhers t~rough adaptation best practices. Greenwatch's Executive Director. Emmanuel Tembe tola Daily Trust that all crops distributed to comml\l1ity members have been harvested with an impr'eskive result that is attracting farmers who doubted them initially. Tembe.said "the improved varieties of crops introduced in Daudu community by Greenwatch Initiative are on the verge of sending the local varieties into· extinction. thus alleviating food shortage and poverty conditions of the community members:' "Other members of the community who could not benefit from the distribution of the improved varieties now exchange a higher quantity of their local produce for a lower quantity of the improved varieties which they nick name Greenwatch': he added.
Summi.t on climate change, food security holds Jan 27 By Ben Atonk~".
.federation.· oil companies, farmers
. and agriculture institutions. THE first international summit Announcing the conference in on climate cfiange and food secu - . Abuja, the chairman of the national rity in N~eria is to hold on 27th prganising committee and presiJanuary;Z0I~dent of AGAN, Comrade Egbuta The surnri)it is organised by the Michael said professionals and Agriculture Gtaduates Association ·organisations like Oyet Gogomary of Nigeria (A(iAN) in collaboration .. of Oando, ECOWAS Commission, with the Fed~hil Ministry of Envi- . University of Agriculture Makurdi, ronment. ·.Exxon Mobil, FAO, Israeli el"bassy AGAN is:workingwith relevant ·.inNigeriaandDFIDwillmakepresgovernment organisations towards entations. finding lasting solution to the food On the need for this summit, and unemployment problems in .. Egbuta explained, "Now, it ,is apparNigeria. .' e n t that climate change which is a The suramit is for the 36 com- result of global warming Itas bUsted misSiollers of agriculture across the the outbreak of infectious disease in
hwnan and livestock and worsens shortage ofwater and food in vulnerable countries and created an army of climate refugees fleeing uninhabitable regions and zones. This scenario becomes worse in regions and countries where there is crude oil exploration as a result of fossil fuel pollution:' He maintained that the situation is particularly worrisome in subSahara Africa where there is overwhelming dependence of farmers on climate and rain-fed agriculture. . AGAN draws its membership from graduates of agriculture. The association has a functional farm in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (Fer).
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