Nigeria missing in fresh Mission 300 commitments, raises concerns by Remmy Nweke - ITREALMS

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Seventeen African governments have committed to bold reforms and actionable plans to scale up electricity access under Mission 300, but Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and most energy-poor nation, was conspicuously missing from the latest endorsements, reports ITREALMS.

The fresh commitments, announced at the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Forum in New York, saw countries including Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, and others adopt National Energy Compacts; blueprints designed to guide public spending, attract private capital, and remove bottlenecks in their power sectors. 

Afinni reaffirms commitments to serve Lagos Island residents - ITREALMS

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The legislator representing the Lagos Island Constituency II in the state House of Assembly, Hon. Olanrewaju Afinni, has assured residents that relevant suggestions raised during the 2024 stakeholders’ meeting, would be communicated to the Assembly for appropriate actions, reports ITREALMS.

Hon. Afinni made this assertion during the 9th Constituency Stakeholders’ meeting held at the Christ Church Cathedral Primary School with the theme “Ensuring Food Security For a Sustainable Future, Youth Participation and Home-Grown Farming.”

SDG digital unlocks commitments to leverage innovation, emerging technologies - ITREALMS

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The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and UN Development Programme (UNDP) have pledged support for innovative solutions to accelerate progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reports ITREALMS.

The two leading global voices representing diverse sectors of society gathered at SDG Digital: “A Digital Future for All" at United Nations Headquarters showcased digital solutions and announced new commitments to realize a brighter digital future.

New commitments towards elimination of cervical cancer - ITREALMS

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New country, policy and program commitments, plus nearly US$600 million in new funding, at first-ever global forum offer a chance to save hundreds of thousands of lives by 2030.

Governments, donors, multilateral institutions, and partners today announced major new policy, programmatic and financial commitments, including nearly US$600 million in new funding, to eliminate cervical cancer. If these ambitions to expand vaccine coverage and strengthen screening and treatment programs are fully realized, the world could eliminate a cancer for the first time.

ITU-led Partner2Connect records about USD 30bn in global commitments to bring the world online

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A total commitments worth USD 29.92 billion, about N13,314,998,400,00 trillion, have been pledged since March to bring the world’s hardest-to-connect communities online, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies.

The total commitments, coming in 578 pledges from around the world, include cash funding as well as policy, programme and advocacy efforts mobilized since the launch of a dedicated pledging platform to extend Internet reach around the globe.

PWYP calls for commitments on beneficial ownership disclosure - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Publish What You Pay Global (PWYP) Council has called for commitments on beneficial ownership of disclosure and protection of civic space, reports ITREALMS.

Director of Global Initiatives & Impact at PWYP, Duncan Edwards made this call, saying that income from the extractive industries (oil, gas and mining) could be an important source of revenue for a country’s development.

The director also said that in many countries which are rich in natural resources, the revenues generated from the extraction of these resources don’t benefit the country’s population.

Revenues, the council said, are sometimes lost through mismanagement; but in other cases, they are lost as a result of corruption.

“Secretly owned companies, where the identity of the beneficial owners is hidden, are a key mechanism through which money is laundered,” PWYP said.

Edwards also said the 18th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Copenhagen, Denmark, has placed a strong emphasis on the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 on peace, justice and open and effective institutions.

As the conference draws to a close, Publish What You Pay calls on all governments to systematically collect and make publicly accessible the information on the beneficial owners of extractive companies domiciled and operating in their territories, and to actively analyse and act upon this analysis. Governments should utilise information on beneficial ownership and politically exposed persons (PEPs) in assessments during the licensing process for new extractives projects as a safeguard against nepotism and cronyism.

Further, Publish What You Pay calls on oil, gas and mining companies to use beneficial ownership and PEP data in their due diligence of business partners and subcontractors to reduce the risk of corruption within their business operations and supply chains.

Nenye Dom/GEE

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Future of Internet: Experts warn against fragmentation

ITRealms:

Some 10 leading organisations responsible for the coordination of the Internet technical infrastructure globally ended its meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay reinforced their commitments, warning against fragmentation of future Internet.

Those at the meeting according to the Director of Global Media Affairs at the Internet Corporationn for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Mr. Brad White, in a chat with ITRealms include Adiel A. Akplogan, CEO, African Network Information Center (AFRINIC); John Curran, CEO, American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN); Paul Wilson, Director General, Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC); Russ Housley, Chair, Internet Architecture Board (IAB), Fadi Chehadé, President and CEO of ICANN; Jari Arkko, Chair, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF); Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO, Internet Society (ISOC); Raúl Echeberría, CEO, Latin America and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC); Axel Pawlik, Managing Director, Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) and Jeff Jaffe, CEO, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

ITRealms gathered that the meeting rose after considering and insisting that the Internet and World Wide Web have brought major benefits in social and economic development worldwide.

“Both have been built and governed in the public interest through unique mechanisms for global multistakeholder Internet cooperation, which have been intrinsic to their success,” they said.

The leaders also discussed the clear need to continually strengthen and evolve these mechanisms, in truly substantial ways, to be able to address emerging issues faced by stakeholders in the Internet.

The meeting further recommended that “They reinforced the importance of globally coherent Internet operations, and warned against Internet fragmentation at a national level. They expressed strong concern over the undermining of the trust and confidence of Internet users globally due to recent revelations of pervasive monitoring and surveillance.

“They identified the need for ongoing effort to address Internet Governance challenges, and agreed to catalyze community-wide efforts towards the evolution of global multistakeholder Internet cooperation.

“They called for accelerating the globalization of ICANN and IANA functions, towards an environment in which all stakeholders, including all governments, participate on an equal footing.

“They also called for the transition to IPv6 to remain a top priority globally. In particular Internet content providers must serve content with both IPv4 and IPv6 services, in order to be fully reachable on the global Internet,” they stated. 

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