Heritage Adoption Support And Advocacy Group Holds Conference On Adoption

The Heritage Adoption Support And Advocacy Group held its first conference recently with the theme, “The Power of Adoption”. Special Guest of Honour at the event was Her Excellency, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo, wife of the Vice President of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria.

Speaking at the event, the wife of the Vice-President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo urged Nigerians to adopt saying, “We must choose to fight the negativity that is around adoption and raise our voice to speak out against the stigma, uncertainty and fear attached to adoption.

According to the Managing Trustee and project coordinator of the group, Eme Akenzua, “The aim of this conference is to change the negative perception associated with adoption and thereby make it more acceptable to childless couples and any responsible and God-fearing adult that has the heart and resource to adopt. By so doing, we would achieve our aim of getting all abandoned and needy children into responsible, God-fearing homes.”

The Heritage Adoption Support And Advocacy Group is an offshoot of The Heritage Homes orphanage founded in 2006 by Pastor Ituah Ighodalo. The vision of the group is simply to change the negative perception of adoption in the society and render support to prospective adopters, adoptive parents and adoptees and advocates for better adoption laws.

Speaking at the event, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo said “Adoption would depopulate our streets of children who can easily fall prey to all kinds of vices and become criminals and ultimately a threat to the society. Adoption transforms the lives of both childless couples and adopted children. Through adoption, loving and caring parents are able to fulfill a lifelong desire of having their own child. The culture of shame and stigma associated with adoption in our society must stop.”

He said adoption can be embraced by people who have biological children, but they should have the heart and resources to take another child off the street. He appealed to all government authorities to make it easier for people to adopt children without compromising on the stringent checks and balances to prevent trafficking. He called for the co-operation of religious organisations, government and non-governmental organisations (NGO), corporate entities, the press and all Nigerians to take it as a collective responsibility to promote adoption.

The aims of the conference were to dispel the negative impression of stigma and shame associated with adoption in the society, garner support for the adoption cause, enlighten the general public on the subject of adoption and to let prospective adopters, adoptive parents, adoptees and the entire adoption community know there is a support and advocacy group they can be a part of.

The conference highlighted the issue of infertility in the Nigerian society, which affects about 25% of married couples in the country. The conference noted that while some infertile couples will respond to different types of fertility treatments, some sadly will not and fortunately for such couples, adoption offers an opportunity to have a family. Unfortunately though, because of the stigma and shame associated with adoption, this is usually shrouded in much secrecy. It is this stigma and shame that the group seeks to dispel by enlightening people appropriately on the subject of adoption.

TIMELESS Magazine Offers Mouth-Watering Advert Rates Cut For The 'Ember' Months

Google Trains One Million African Youths In Digital Skills In 11 Months

Reporting by Ayodeji Jeremiah

Juliet Ehimuan Chiazor, Google Country Manager Nigeria and Vanessa Morris

Mayowa Oshindero, Segun Aboderin, Vanessa Mbaramah, Tele Aina and Vanessa Morris

Bunmi Banjo, Head of Google Africa and Mrs. Moni Udoh,
Director of ICT. Ministry of Communication

Titi Akinsanmi, Policy and Govt Relations Mgr Google and
Taiwo Kola Ogunlade, Communication Mgr. West Africa, Google

On April 12, 2016, Google Nigeria announced an initiative that will provide free digital skills training for one million youths (between ages 18 and 35) within a one year period. The programme was designed to address the issue of unemployment especially amongst young people and provide opportunities for them to succeed in today's digital economy.

Google convened a media briefing in Lagos recently to announce that it had achieved the one million milestone albeit in 10 months. At the event witnessed by partners, the media, participants and Google executives, Google Country Manager for Nigeria, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor in her welcome address said young people accounted for 60% of unemployed people on the continent; "it's very important to empower young people with the right digital skills for them to create opportunities for themselves and take advantage of the digital economy.”

Titi Akinsanmi, Google Government and Policy Relations Manager moderated the panel discussion that included Mrs. Moni Udoh (representative of the Ministry of Communications), Mr. Smart Akande (from the office of the Special Assistant on the SDGs to the Vice-President) and Mr. Tayo Olosunde (from Mind The Gap, one of the major training partners on the initiative).

Feedback from participants centered mainly on the realisation that most now knew what they wanted to do career wise; they could now be more productive online and they can use the present resources they have more efficiently.

One of the main goals of the MDGs (now replaced by the SDGs) is addressing poverty within the population. With the average age of an African being 19.5 years, the bulk of those that will be affected by poverty will be the youths. With this realisation and the fact that these young people still have their future ahead of them, empowering and educating these sub set of the population (which the Goodle Digital Skills Training provides) is crucial in addressing economic and political challenges on the continent. Bunmi Banjo, Google Brand Lead for Sub-Saharan Africa said “Having one million digitally skilled young people in Africa is good for everyone. If young people have the right skills, they will build businesses, create jobs and boost economic growth across the continent.”

Google is extending its committment by providing offline kits that don't need data to access the training, roll out the training using indigeneous languages, and go outside of their area of operations to reach local communities they ordinarily won't reach.                 

14th Timeless Magazine Anniversary Advertising Offer

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BELLAFRICANA ANNUAL CREATIVE EXHIBITION (ACE) AND AWARDS

“Celebrating Creativity and Innovation”

The management of Bellafricana has announced the first edition of the Bellafricana Annual Creative Exhibition and Awards coming up on the 17th of April, 2017. Termed the Bellafricana ACE Awards, the event is endorsed by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) and the Nigeria Britain Association and will take place at D-Venue, Water Corporation Drive, Off Ligali Ayorinde, Oniru, Lagos, Nigeria.

The event is for enterprising Nigerian MSMEs seeking wider access to both internal markets and international markets and investors seeking joint-venture partners. With the theme “Celebrating Creativity and Innovation”, the organisers believe the time has come to come together to recognise and encourage hardworking and highly skilled men and women who are making a significant impact through their various industries/sectors.

The event will be a three phase event with two of the phases running simultaneously while the third phase will be held as the peak of the event. The phases are the Exhibition, the Conference and the Awards Dinner. While the Exhibition and the Conference will be held simultaneously, the Awards will be held as a dinner to close the event.

The watch word at Bellafricana is quality, to this effect; the organisers have assured of the availability of top quality creative Afrocentric businesses for the exhibitition. Participants and visitors will be able to access a wide variety of discounted quality made in Nigeria products under one roof in five focus categories namely Arts & Crafts, Fashion, Health & Beauty, Home & Living and Food Produce & Snacks.

The conference will feature enlightening and engaging talks from renowned business men and women who have garnered experience in their fields with conference topics such as

• Marketing Your Creative Business Globally
• How to Monetize your Creative Idea
• Branding For Local And International Market
• Taking Your Non-Oil Export Global (Export)
• Financial Management For Creative Businesses
• Growing A Sustainable Creative Business
• How to Receive Payment Globally

The Awards opens for nominations in various categories. Participants are offered a unique opportunity to showcase their talents and to have their work judged by consumers and experts. Awards categories include:

1) Best Indigenous Textile Designer

2) Best Emerging Beauty Brand

3) Best Emerging Fashion Brand

4) Best Creative Solution (ICT)

5) Best Supportive Made-in-Nigeria Celebrity of the Year

6) Best Eco-friendly Product Innovation

7) Best Innovative Product of the Year

8) Best Pioneer Craftsman/Woman of the Year (Over 10 years)

9) Best Food Produce Innovation

10) Best Creative Kidpreneur

11) Best Creative Social Enterprise of the Year

Bellafricana is an initiative with a focus on Made-in-Nigeria (non-oil) products where customers and suppliers engage and transact to bridge the buyer-seller gap and create a wider outreach for Nigerian products locally and globally. Bellafricana has enabled creative businesses a platform to receive the recognition they have long deserved. They aim to laud the creative works of Nigerians, which makes open competition affordable and accessible. Bellafricana is always finding ways to help both budding and established creatives to harness the resources available to build their businesses.

Bellafricana founder, Bukky Asehinde

The event is an important annual occurrence aimed at attracting an audience that includes Captains of Industry, Investors, Upwardly Mobile Youths, Marketers, Trade Delegations & Missions, Procurement Officers, Brand and Business Managers, Art Lovers, Government Representatives and Key Decision Makers.

For partnership and sponsorship details, please contact the organisers: Call: +2348086363970 or +2348184457403 orEmail: info@bellafricana.com, community@bellafricana.com