Yeah Okay dear alumni dear students wherever in the world you are and of course dear other Interested audience very welcome in this second alumni seminar or online alumni seminar of UNESCO IHE My name is Martin Siebel. I'm moderating today this session Next to me you see already our guests Jovita Gupta, who will be the presenter Before we start the presentation and before I introduce Jovita I want to emphasize that if you have questions during the presentation and afterwards You can use your Twitter account as indicated on the screen the hashtag Alumni OS from online seminar and That question then will come up and they'll be distributed here Internal by a technical team behind us to pick out the most interesting questions to be passed on to Jovita Gupta Let me introduce Jovita First before she starts her presentation. Jovita is professor of environment and development in the global south at the Amsterdam Institute for social science research of the University of Amsterdam as Well, she is professor of at UNESCO IHE Institute for water education in itself here she leads the program group on governance and inclusive developments and She is editor-in-chief of yeah, and then there's a long list of journals Which I will not all repeat to you, but she does a lot of Editing in chief work. You can be very sure of that a very important feat to mention is that she was lead author in the international intergovernmental panel on climate change with one the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with El Gore and of the Millennium Ecosystem assessment Which one deserved second price? She's co-chair of UNEP's global environmental outlook and is on the scientific steering committee of international programs and again, there's a very long list of Activities that she is involved in and I will not repeat that that Her CV is on our internet internet of UNESCO IHE and probably also of Amsterdam There you have all the food details so Jovita without Wasting too much more time. I would say wasting that would not be very nice, but spending more time on Details, I'm happy to give the word to you for your presentation Hello everybody today. I'm going to talk about sharing our water water justice issues in the context of the Anthropocene The Anthropocene is a new geological era during which humans have been Overusing the earth's resources next sheet Basically what I'm going to argue is that in this Anthropocene there is limited water for human use and Human use must stay within ecosystemic limits and this water ultimately needs to be shared between users and users but parts to present patterns of water ownership pricing and water pollution as Well as the impacts of climate change are exacerbating water related injustices at local through to global level next So my first question to you is at what administrative level should water be governed Now I quickly take over you're going to be invited to respond to this question using Kahoot Kahoot will appear on the screen in just a minute Go on your mobile and type in the browser Kahoot dot IT There you will see a question on the number that you need to type in in order to be connected to this particular little quiz You can move on You have to push it down a little bit because I am in the top on the right hand side You see the number that you have to put in as well You are invited to put in your name and maybe your country where you're from So go ahead Type in your browser kahoot dot IT and there we see the That we see the players already coming in massively very beautiful We see all the names we do not see countries yet max but be Mexico Colombia is there another max And well, we made maybe a few more minutes for a few more people to join in Kahoot dot IT and type in the number 7099 448 Okay, let's start with the first question that Joeita just asked and you're invited to Answer using your mobile phone where each of the potential answers is indicated by a color area on your phone So should water be governed a global level community level National level or at the multiple levels of government and The counter on the left you see picks away seconds. You have still 13 seconds left to answer the question and As soon as the counter is on zero you will see who have answered the question Time is up there. We see the answers So thank you everybody It's very interesting to note that you all a lot of you think that it should be governed at multiple levels of governance However, there are still some of you who think it should be governed only at community level or at national level or at another level If I move to my next sheet what you will find is that through history They're running water Early on the governance took place through Next sheet Early on the governance was through Civilizations then religious processes tried to govern so you had Hindu water law you had Islamic water law Then through conquest or colonization water law moved to different parts of the world Communism gave a new type of water law and then as you find that time moves on to the current century We are now being influenced by globalization and with that the spatial scale of governing water has gone from local All the way to global But this doesn't mean that you only govern at global level It means that you need to govern at all the levels simultaneously make sheet I'm going to first look at the topic of water supply being less than demand and the issue of conflict Then I'm going to talk about next That conflict is governed through fragmentation and then that if fragmentation is inevitable next Constitution is necessary All right. Now, let's go to water supply is less than next sheet then demand Next sheet here on this particular sheet what you see is there's a picture of the earth Then you can see a small blue ball That's all the earth's water including from the oceans Then there's a smaller ball and that shows all the earth's fresh water and then there's an even Tiny a little ball which shows the fresh water in our lakes and rivers and this is a visualization of How much water there is on earth? It's not that much next sheet So if we have a limited amount of water on earth This could be referred to as an water environmental utilization of space or water equal space The question is which rules should govern this next sheet So now my question to you is how should we see or frame water? You're again going to get a question on cargo So the question is how should we deal with water and you're going to have again four options to choose from As a gift of God that cannot be priced or second as an issue managed in line with own values third as a heritage that has to be governed in the public interest and Force as a commodity Bottle the pipes making sellers richer Which of the ones you want to choose? Two more seconds left and there you see how you have answered this particular question And now you see that most of you think that it should be seen as a heritage that has to be governed in the public interest But some of you also think that maybe it is important to treat it like a commodity Some of you think that it should be an issue that is managed with your own values and That every person's value can have a different Dimension to water governance and some of you also see it as a gift of God that cannot be priced All these answers are in a sense correct answers But the question is can we make the right choice and through this lecture? I'm going to try and tell you what my choice is and I'm quite curious to see what your choice will be subsequently next sheet So I'm arguing now that if you have on the x-axis Time and on the y-axis land and freshwater then these two resources are more or less fixed next And what you're finding is with rising population and demand it keeps next it keeps growing Once more and so that basically means that our demand for fresh water resources is higher than what is available next and This means that we need to start sharing especially also If we want to take into account the unlimited Ecosystems services that our existing water can give us if it is sustainably managed next So what you see is water gives us supporting services because they cycle nutrients. They next they give us a Food water fish provisioning services next they regulate our climate and our floods Of course, they provide us cultural services. So this is the good news that if you manage it properly We will get all these services continuously into the future and free of cost next the bad news is next That we are crossing planetary boundaries. We're using one and a half times our earth annually next and as you can see Next Worldwide fund for nature says we're using more than we have available on earth next So now I'm going to move to my next argument Which is that this conflict because water supply is less than demand is essentially governed through fragmentation and Pragmentation means that there are many many different ways of governing. So the first next Next choice is that people say, okay, if you have a little amount of water, let's price it Let's use markets that the markets distribute it. This is your neoliberal capitalist approach to water governance next What you find over here is my next question to you, which is how should we price water? And there we turn again to our Kahoot game where you can again give your view on how we price water Or what it should be priced and Again, you're gonna have four options Which you can see in just a little minute at a price of cleaning the water or At the monopoly price if the water is owned by a monopoly at market price based on the mountain supply Order the price that allows maintaining its ecosystem services and again 15 seconds left In order to put in your answer and then we see what the total answers So you're all very much up to date because you want a price that allows maintenance of the ecosystem services But you realize that if you have such a price that possibly people can't afford it So there is a clash between our understanding of how we should value water, but also where the water is affordable Next sheet Actually, if you look at various international Processes we find that today we have a large number of water service contracts Dealing with water basically privatizing water Also, damn financing leads to people having control over the dam and who gets access to irrigation water and under what? Circumstances and for what prices but even contracts on biofuel or mining will affect water biofuel contracts will lead to extraction of water Mining contracts will lead to extraction as well as pollution of water So what you're finding is that there's a whole world of contracts that are now intervening in this water area Which may be not so beneficial for water itself next sheet I'm going to give you two examples of cases one case is happening in India right now. It's coca-cola buying Land in India to put water from the ground water into their coca-cola bottles Apparently me they need about four liters of water for one liter of coke and they also have a lot of pollution But as a result of which the local people can't get any water So there's this whole discussion taking place within the court systems in India and they have still not finished this case Because they don't know what to do with it But it's not just happening in a developing country like India. It's also happening in the United States Here we see Nestle that goes to the United States and buys land or Property there and then puts the water into water bottles And of course as a result that you also get a lot of plastic waste But you also get less water for local communities So how are we going to deal with this? Are we going to allow people to continuously raise resources? From the ground water system and put it into bottles and pipes or do we find a different way to manage our water next sheet? In fact, it's getting very worrying because what we are now seeing is just simply bottled water is Growing so fast that there's so much money to be made in it But the privatization of the sector is going to be a big problem for those of us who would like to govern water in accordance with ecosystem services, which is what most of you would like to do next sheet and Of course, we just don't drink water. We have water in milk water in coffee water in oranges water in apples wine and even Hamburgers and you can see how much water is required for all these different products next sheet And then of course you have the problem of when municipalities would like to get access to water So here is the case of kocha Bamba kocha Bamba did not have enough water. So they wanted to Invite multinationals in and they asked the International Monetary Fund for a loan and the monetary fund said Okay, we'll give you the money but as long as you privatize water Next sheet and as a result of that entire process The foreign company came in the price of water went up and people went on to the streets and there was a huge protest against this process and Finally, there had to be a court case in New York Bechtel versus Bolivia The good thing about this story is ultimately the company paid Was only paid a very small amount in symbolic damages because it leaked out to the press and everybody got very upset but technically speaking contracts are secret and arbitration on contracts is secret So most of us don't even know how much water is being promised away when such contracts are made and even when there is a Problem with the state. We don't know what has been decided because the court cases are secret next So the first choice was using a neoliberal capitalist approach The following choice is using a hegemonic approach in a hegemonic approach the state decides How it's going to share the water the state basically says I own the water and this brings me to how do the states next sheet do it? So in bilateral treaties, you find that sometimes countries say we own the water and we can prove it based on a bilateral treaty And they're not going to share the water with others Alternately alternatively countries will say even if there's no bilateral treaty We own this water and because we desperately need this water We're not willing to share it equitably or take responsibility next sheet So my question to you is who should own water? And we go for the last question to our Kahoot game where you can again ventilate your opinion for answers landowners level provincial level city level national level Roughly 20 seconds left to Put in your answer Okay So I didn't give you the choice that perhaps no one should be allowed to own the water But within the choices you've got now you see some of you a majority of you choose for national level some of you choose a city level some of you choose a provincial and very few of you choose at land owners level But in fact in the bulk of the world Water is owned by the land owner and in some parts of the world States claim that they own water next sheet So if you take the case of the Nile, then you'll find that next sheet in the Nile Next sheet we have agreements between Sudan and Egypt made during colonial times Where we find that Egypt is given the bulk of the water and Ethiopia is not given any water in that agreement And the question is why should Ethiopia be bound by that? Is this a legal possible a legal agreement or is it not? now International law would basically say yes, it's a legal agreement. It's not fair anymore, but it's still a legal agreement Similarly in the case of the Coca-Cola and the Nestle case that I've discussed with you earlier when they buy land They often get access to the groundwater as a result of it So what you're finding is that all rules and all laws of the past are still used today But this can create major problems in the future next sheet And of course, it's not only because of who owns the water But there's also a very strong link between water and economic growth For example through energy and you can see if the bulk of the world is using coal or nuclear power They need huge amounts of water. It's only if they go in for wind Perhaps they use very very little water So in fact if you need energy to drive the economic growth of your country, you need water So countries don't want to share next sheet And you also find from a different perspective that because of climate change or climate variability Today we have an increasing number of floods and droughts worldwide And this also has an impact on people's lives next sheet and The question is does this affect the economy of countries? Yes It's not just developing countries that suffer from this the United States Japan are also suffering heavily from these kinds of losses So we also need to look at the risks with respect to water next sheet In addition to capitalist approaches or stage-based approaches We also have polycentric approaches and polycentric approaches are let's get everybody in the world to participate In governing water and let them all do different things and I think this is a good idea But as I told you earlier, we don't have much water So we need to be very careful and my personal preference is for the fourth and last Which is basically trying to look for transformative governance multi-level governance Perhaps using the sustainable development goals as a starting point for this governance process next sheet So in my world, we would have rules and different kinds of rules and within these rules We would allow next We would allow within this this sustainable rules We'd allow a neoliberal process to function But the markets the pricing and the privatization will be subject to some Governance rules and the contracts and the arbitration and water would no longer be secret Next we would find that you would allow states to under manage their water resources But you would not allow them to Securitize it and say we are willing to go perhaps to war to fight for this You'd allow some kinds of limited sovereignty and of course Thirdly, we would allow polycentric actors to participate in the governance process But I think it's really important that we start thinking as a glow as to whether we are going to let people Put all the water from our rivers and our canals and our groundwater systems into bottles and pipes And that then we have lost control over the ecosystem services Perhaps the people who buy those bottles will have a monopoly control and these will be already problematic So next sheet my basic story is we have to start thinking about how do we ensure access? I come back to your answer to my earlier question, which is you said we must price water So that we take into account ecosystem services Yes but then what happens to those who cannot afford it and this brings me to the issue that perhaps we have to ensure that Everybody gets access to at least four forty liters of water per day for their survival and then we look at the risk distribution of water amongst other issues energy Agriculture industry transport etc. And then we need to look at how can we get better understanding of property rights with respect to water? state responsibility and risks So to end my presentation this morning I go to my last sheet and I think it's very important that We accept that there will be fragmentation because the world is very big and we need to have spaces for different solutions But at the same time I think we need to have some basic ideas That protect the human rights of people that protect the ecosystem services of water and that do not allow the continuous commodification of water and I think that should be part of a global constitution. So that was my message for today Thank you. Thank you very much Juita for your enthusiastic presentation about an extremely complex topic You're given a lot of information and insights and Developed a series approach on at what level water should be governed Maybe as a first question before we see if questions came in over Twitter What type of government should make the right decisions in order to Distribute the governance of water who should take decisions and say to a country Hey, the waters should be developed or governed in your country in this way in this country in this way And how should we work with international companies operating in various countries? So I think that the first thing to realize is that I'm not I Understand that we should allow governance which means we should allow a large number of actors in society to function But I think that if you do not have government and inter governmental agreements about water Then we will never be able to control the story about how we are going to manage water So for me government and investing in government is very very important in dealing with this resource secondly Why governments think world's why that they have control over their own water sources Actually, what we find is that inter governmental agreements on trade or on investment or on contracts made in completely different areas of governance is now actually Governing water and that's a real problem because those who think they're managing water are being bypassed By those who are making agreements on contract law or investment law or trade law So in some ways we have to have a way to link up water with trade investment Contracts at the intergovernmental level to bring it together and that's why I was talking about the Constitution So it shouldn't just be in the water domain, but across all the relevant domains Okay, but maybe a question and link to it and maybe a bit more direct at what level should this be Started this discussion on how to distribute to the governance of water Is that an issue for the United Nations or can be put certain maybe regional? Governments together like in the EU put an EU player role here saying inside EU We are going to do it like this inside the US. It has to be like this It's already happening inside the EU. You already see that there is a much clearer definition of how water is going to be governed In the United States, it's a little bit more complex because in the United States It's a federal state and each country can make its own rules and they each a province state can make its own rules and What you're finding is that you can never In the meanwhile, you'll find that every country is making its own rules But what ultimately you need is a debate between states and the intergovernmental level because you need the Collaboration between states and other states to come to a solution Nothing stops us in a region that has taken a first step in this area to move forward But what we need to realize is that the situation in the US and in Europe and maybe also in Australia Is very different from the situation in the developing world where lots of people cannot afford water Where pollution is going beyond manageable levels. So perhaps we need a different sort of governmental Regulatory system for those countries, which is also affordable for them Okay, moving on to that Would you suggest maybe five or six steps of government to start thinking and Legislation in a certain direction so that water governance becomes a more equal business for the poor anti-enterprises I think that the a key question today is are we going to allow Ownership of water and for how long and I think the fact is that people already own water So if you take away their ownership rights, you have to compensate them and that's not so easy But at least the discussion about who owns water should become something that all states have to engage in and start to discuss and The next part of the storyline is how do we price water and there also we need a discussion about it because you can't Change things overnight, but we need a process by which these two elements are made central in the Debate and discourse you can't force people to change things overnight So you have to but at least you have to start debating about in it talking about the pros and cons So for me, this is more important Let me answer the first question on Twitter Which is how to include the poor and disadvantaged people in this context where more powerful actors are involved Okay, so when you look at this one of the big things that you find is that if you transfer ownership of water To those who have large land ownership or to large multinationals Then you're suddenly transferring the power over the water issue to either big multinationals or to international Business law investment law in which case your government will not even have any control So if you really want to include the poor and the disadvantaged in this context, you have to start changing the way Water is governed inside your country But very often you can't do that because of globalization and because globalization is allowed for Trade and investment in water. So you have to actually try and fight this at the international level I think the SDGs the Sustainable Development Goals and the framework of Goal number six gives us the possibility to do so and also the fact that the human right to water Has been adopted at the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council So you are seeing that through the rights-based approach. We might be able to tackle the role of the multinationals which essentially means that NGOs bringing people together and forcing and Developing a force would be a right tool to come to actually get water distributed fairly equally correct You have four agents of change the first agent is a leader at the top So you could for example think of the new secretary general trying to lead on this issue You can have policy entrepreneurs. These are people inside ministries who push these issues You can have social movements like Martin has put up that the social movements try to change the way people think And you can have epistemic communities or scientists who table these issues and give you the evidence in order to make your decisions Thank you very much for that answer to the first question from an alumnus in the Latin America And the second question is how can we stop contracts from being secrets? Now that is a million dollar question What has happened up till now is contracts are always secret because people don't want to give up their recipes So coca-cola's contract is secret because they don't want to let you know how to make coca-cola And that's how that in that contract is also all the details of how much water and pollution etc. Comes out of it Also, how much they paid for the land and so on so under contract law the entire storyline is secret The I think the way we want to move this forward is to say that when we are talking about things like water Which is a public good or should be seen as a public good Then we should have no secrets But the problem is suppose they say okay all water contracts are not secret, but biofuel contracts are secret then again you have no Solution because biofuel uses water in fact, I can't imagine any production process worldwide Not using water and that would mean that we want to open up all the contracts for all the production processes All the distribution processes and all the consumption processes perhaps And that's going to be a major battle. That's where we need Martin's social movements. I think so plus we need lots of time to do so Yeah, thank you very much for this question from I presume someone from Africa I'm happy to see that Twitter questions are entering. Please folks We are with 41 in the listing and keep it up Put as many questions forward as you like this is your chance to be part of this discussion and be move with that To the third question which is about ownership of water and whether transboundary water resources can be treated peacefully You know up till now the bulk of transboundary water resources have been managed more or less peacefully you cannot correlate transboundary conflict with water mostly people fight on Identity issues, but not on water issues Having said that in the context of the Anthropocene if there is really a shortage of water and we need water for every Single production process plus for creating the energy in society You can imagine that countries will see that water Leads to growth so the more water you have the more economic growth You have and that will make them more and more unwilling to share the water and This is going to lead to more stress along the boundaries I'm not saying war but I think it's going to lead to more stress and for this reason we have to stop thinking in terms of Sharing our water resources, but it's a different discourse than the discourse which says we must become More rich all the time we must have more and more GNP today There is a growth race worldwide But what we are suggesting over here is to slow down the growth risk race and to push for Well-being and to ensure that the ecosystem services of nature are maintained, but that's quite a novel idea It's not something that governments will accept easily And you very much again Joe Eta for this question from Suvash Tapa from Nepal and there may be even more questions coming but let me Put one in between if we talk about water management and keeping water clean then the oftentimes In my opinion sort of confused the fact that we need lots of water to pass it through in terms of the once through approach We use it. We make it dirty and it goes out. How about if from the international? Institutions we push much further to the Opportunity of keeping water as clean as possible and thus being able to Return water all the time continuously in order to make that bit of water that we have globally much and much Larger because we recycle non-stop. How does that come in? You can recycle if you can maintain the water, but what you should not do in my view is put the water into a pipe Use it put it back into a pipe clean it and put it back into the pipe Because if you keep it continuously inside the pipe, you're disturbing the ecosystem service of nature So essentially what you need to do is to clean up the water and return it to the ecosystem and then retake it up But I want to add a little anecdote to Martin's question because I hear now that fracking in the United States leads to dirty water So you recycle that water But after a point you can't recycle it So people are now getting dirty water which they put into their groundwater systems and they wait They are waiting for the price of water to go up before they will clean this water and again They're getting back into ownership of dirty water and monopolies of dirty water And I think those are not the ways to move ahead Which is possibly exactly the reason behind the present fighting in South Dakota Where they are fighting to keep an oil line out of their property because they feel exactly what Jovita is saying With good reasons. Unfortunately. We have lots of proof We move on to the fourth question. How can we integrate traditional and scientific knowledge for resilient water governance? Well, this is a very interesting question now the two parts to this question. I'd like to answer As you probably know in the intergovernmental panel on climate change We only allow scientific knowledge and we don't allow traditional knowledge in the intergovernmental Platform on biodiversity. We thought, okay, let's allow traditional knowledge But then how do you know when the traditional knowledge is just an old Old grandma's story which has no scientific basis or it is something which is does have scientific basis So separating out the good and the bad from the traditional stories is very important So you ultimately have to understand and analyze this knowledge But then this mix brings up a risk and the risk is that you take over the knowledge from the traditional people You put it through a laboratory over here And then you say it's now my knowledge and then you want to get paid for that knowledge that you created out of the knowledge It already existed that's a bit problematic But I think that it's very very important to try and link these issues together to the best of our ability But I and I but there are challenges as I mentioned just now And maybe as a little comment on that Joita One thing that we could learn from the older generations and the traditional knowledge is to be economical with water Something that we have globally gotten about absolutely Thank you Angela for this very fascinating question We can move on to the fifth question already Should we deal differently with these issues in urban versus the rural settings? And if so, why? Okay, I think there are two issues over here because the urban areas often Drink up the water from the rural areas So what you find is that because people in the cities are richer or the slums are more Problematic for the rich people in the cities They start to pump out the water from the rural areas into the urban areas causing problems for the rural areas And I therefore think that the urban areas have a real response pretty back To the rural areas to try and make sure that there is a fair deal between the urban and the rural that's the first point Secondly, I think in the urban areas. There's probably more possibility for Taking drinking water supply, but not always developing sanitation issues And so the question is when they don't develop the sanitation aspects and delete they throw out dirty water This in fact pollutes the surrounding rural areas So I think urban areas need to be very careful about taking water and sanitation Together and make it an integrated storyline. I also there are many more issues, but I think I'm going to keep it there Since we are getting a whole list of new questions. It is it is flying in wonderful the next question from The annexes Probably in the nation What do you think about nexus approach to solve water problems and how to integrate the nexus water energy food environment In you the planning system in different level So the nexus approach is different from the integration approach because in the integration approach And I'm giving you a caricature is when you have the Ministry of environment water telling everybody else What they should do and that didn't work Because the Ministry of environment did not have the power and a mandate to govern the others Also for true integration, you need so much data and then you get a very beautiful result on your computer But it's not the same thing as trying to negotiate that with the people on the On the streets and as I told you earlier a lot of the water is owned by people and there's pricing of water And it's really difficult to take away that water and put into a model and say okay now We're going to do it differently the nexus approach allows us to do it slightly differently It allows us to look at small connections between water and different sectors of society and to see whether we can address those in Sectors individually, so you've got here for I gave you another one I did water and investment and water and private sector and for me the issue was how can we get the contracts changed? Or how can we get the pricing changed if you were to do water and energy? It would be maybe how can we move to wind energy which requires less water than coal which requires too much water If you're doing water and food you could say how can we go to a wheat rather than rice because rice requires more water So you can try and do it in small bits and pieces.  I actually should not only focus on water But you'd have all these sites areas it connects to water which we probably to some extent to question number seven And that comes from an alumnus from Sudan Is it better to develop fairness concept in water share or equity? It doesn't matter whether you call it fairness or you call it equity But a friend of mine calls it access and allocation because he says it's less politically problematic People get allergic to a word like equity. They may be more willing to talk about fairness But I'm going to tell you a little story about a professor from a negotiator from the United States Who was a visiting professor with us some years ago and he said why should somebody who has worked very hard all his life and Earned a lot of money Suddenly give up his resources in that particular area because you did not work hard enough and did not make enough money So his idea of fairness was that it was not fair to Americans if the developing countries wanted something from America Because in fact they had worked hard and the developing countries had not so, you know fairness can be used in many many ways Thanks great answer to a great question and we move to the next one which I cannot exactly read from here water rights promote a Universalization notion can be conflicting with local distribution mechanisms. How to deal with this? Water rights in terms of human rights only promise you around 40 liters if at all so it's really only enough for your drinking water and cooking and That's all that they promise you It's not a larger amount in theory It doesn't mean that you have to get 40 liters as long as there's a local distribution mechanism That ensures that no one goes without water So that's not the problem a problem comes around when we talk about farming and farming rights or Mining and mining rights to water. So just the human rights to water is not an issue Thank you again. Do you wait for that answer and Compliments to all the guys putting in these questions and being part of the discussion. It starts flying really fast the next question That is no next question It's coming the question is coming. It is still flying somewhere between Africa and Europe or not exactly from mr. Mohan That's who dar can the realignment of political boundaries according to catchment boundaries resolve or Minimize the water governance issue Very good question very novel question. In fact between the Netherlands and Belgium We have now realigned our political boundaries to take into account the changing flows of the rivers and that was fairly easy to do Within the context of two countries that have enough water and that area was not occupied by people But it's a much more complicated issue, especially in the context of climate change with climate change You're going to see the river flows will change sea level will go up and you're going to find a lot more Changes into the actual boundary issues and boundary issues are Challenging for three reasons first is because of the places where people live So if you live in another in one country, you don't want to be moved to another country simply because the catchment boundary has changed Secondly it has to do with access to water and Thirdly it has to do with access to the resources within the water and things like fish or transport So what I'm trying to get at is that? Aligning the political boundaries is happening. So it's happened now between the Netherlands and Belgium It's also happened between India and Bangladesh But not in relation to catchments there in Indian Bangladesh But it is in in theory a very difficult issue to do and I'm not 100% sure that it can resolve or minimize water governance issues. It might create more equity problems Would realignment do it outweigh the chances of the opposite? The war scenarios of water between countries realignment can't solve the problem of shortage of water Clear answer, which is always the case if there are war situations. Thank you. We move to the next Question we do not move to the next question Okay Then we have a bit of time to finalize this first of all, Joe Eta, thank you so much for this Wonderful presentation and it's a very exciting topic Which I believe is in the heart of the for sure interest of our Institute and its alumni students and Hopefully an large population around it. Thanks for your enthusiasm in sharing your knowledge in this area What I can already tell you is that in 2017 and now I direct myself directly to those in the audience the larger population behind that they have in 2017 for online seminars on topics of general interest Like the particular one that we had today and the one that we had last month with Professor Hupkeisen from Zimbabwe The next presentation that we are planning is in March 2017 and Maria Laura our Alumni officer will announce in time again when the exact date is going to be and who will be the presenter and The format will be very similar like this where we After roughly half the time give it lots of time for you to jump in with questions and to be part of the seminar Last bit of least thank you for all that have contributed to making this and So Thank you to all of those that have made this seminar possible There's a whole army of people selecting questions and having the technology correctly as it was working today very well Thank you all and also. Thank you for those sitting in room a one of this particular Institute that have followed in the house This this seminar. Thank you


Eh, how do you say? My spoiler's ahead. Whenever I turn to preparing videos about narrative-driven games, I first begin by thinking, how do you write about something so rich in story without giving the whole thing away? A synopsis is as good a place to begin with as any. But telling you about how a Monsieur de Rune is forced to take care of her brother Hugo was the tourdogedly hunted by the Inquisition for the secret to the plague ravaging France, which lies in Hugo's blood threatens to be a little bit in the boring side, doesn't it? Or perhaps selling you to subscribe and ring that bell for further notifications, my do? Probably not. A look at the gameplay as a soft introduction to the world is also not of the table, usually, but playtales mechanics are the fundamentals of the stale genre crossed with a streamlined take on the Last of Us' crafting system, as well as with an elegant slingshot which will function as your weapon at all times. It's hard to say something other than it is often enjoyable to shoot a chemical poultices whose effects tend to make steel dissolve and rust explode, but it is not why you'll be playing this game. So there we are, not much to begin with if we look to gameplay for inspiration on talking about a plague tale innocence. So instead of doing that, any of that, I will talk about the emotional punch this game delivers and it is a big one. There's something special about the narrative and it's taken me a little while to put my finger on it but I think I finally got it. A plague tale innocence manages to get the player to care about the game's characters and then proceeds to place them into some of the most horrific circumstances a narrative can plan for its protagonists in 14th century plague-ridden France. I know the bit about France had me scare shitless too, I mean it. This is one of the very few games that manages to create not just near constant tension but outright horror and importantly the type of horror that doesn't rely on jump scares. It's this horror that makes gameplay sections feel a whole lot more immediate. This immediacy fueled by a desire not to see Amicia or Hugo eaten by a swarm of daily rats or stabbed by inquisition soldiers. A plague tale innocence as a narrative game lives and dies by its protagonists. Amicia viewer is a wonderful example of a teenage girl written right. Someone forced to grow up in order to survive and protect her brother Hugo. Let me tell you this about Hugo as well. He's the most realistic five-year-old in video game I can think of. The way he's written and acted out, may I add, makes for a great child character in an industry which isn't known for its amazing portrayal of other lessons. The way Amicia and Hugo are trusting to the world makes for excellent storytelling, far outside the comfortable life of mine and ability they grew up knowing. These siblings are now forced to run and fight for their lives A task made no easier for the fact that Hugo has been six since birth. His disease inexplicably connected somehow with the plague. The quality writing evident goes beyond the protagonists to the several supporting characters. The apprentice alchemist Lucas whose administrations of Hugh keep the boys' disease at bay and allow Amicia to survive more than one of her run-ins with rat swarms and inquisitors. A pair of thieves, a brother and sister, make for a lot of both tense and comedic moments and others I will not mention for fear of spoilers. Might I add, the voice acting is stellar. All the characters speak in English with strong realistic French accents which honestly shouldn't work as well as it does. The writing encapsulates Oso, the way in which society breaks down during a time of plague, captures well the panic, the anger, the madness in water without a doubt, some of the most memorable scenes of a play tell innocence. I spoke of the horror and I have to admit, a big part that makes this title as horrifying as it is has to do with the rat swarms. Rats are a force of nature in this game, stopped only by the rim of light provided by a torch or pit fire. I can't describe to you the stress of knowing your branch is about to burn as your five-year-old brother is clutching to your side in several hundred or even thousand.  It's quite horrifying alright. In terms of presentation, the game looks great. Character models are detailed and while this isn't a AAA game, if you ignore the occasionally blurry textures, you will remain impressed with character models as well as the world at large. Lighting in particular is amazing especially in the beginning, you will be struck by the way the developers use it, to set up tone at first hopeful warm and then dark sinister foreboding.  It's far from subtle but it strikes an emotional chord, so too does the music. These two elements audio and visual deliver such a wide extent of different occult from the darkly grotesque to the magnificent, all of them memorable. Throughout, there is a feeling of veracity kept with 13th century France, the look of it that we might get from history books. This is well researched. Ultimately, this is one of the best narratives of 2019 in gaming and it tells a story that is well worth seeing for yourself, drama, love, terror, friendship, sacrifice and so much more. The French developer, Asobo Studios, deserves commendation on what might very well make it a studio worth looking out for. One lone weakness the game has, has to do with the villains who are, while not uninteresting, definitely tending towards the one-dimensional. I will say no more for fear of spoilers but there is definitely the feeling that more could have been done to flesh out the Inquisition's leaders. That said, making use of one-dimensional characters is something that most stories do, so I do not in fact take anything away from Plague Tale's innocence enjoyment due to the villains. My score for the game is a brilliant 8 out of 10. I am looking forward to seeing the next narrative outing coming from the studio, which it has been teased might be a continuation of the Plague Tale motif. And last but not least, if you come away from the last of us and Hellblaze's newer sacrifice, having enjoyed one or both of them greatly, the odds of fear that this game will appeal to you as well. Thank you for watching, I will see you next time. If you enjoyed this video, please like, share and subscribe. Bye!


There's a part in the Course in Miracles where Jesus says an untrained mind can accomplish nothing And he also says at one point that you are much too tolerant of mind wandering So it's great. I always say give it to me straight Jesus if I'm Too tolerant of mind wandering if I've got compromise going on my life if I've got people pleasing if I'm avoiding something if I'm Trying to dance around something the prayer of the heart is Reveal this to me Exposed this to me How am I going to escape these ego games unless I get them brought to me sometimes like right into my nose? Like what we were talking about the break of the prayer Holy Spirit bring it on How he said be ready if you actually say those words with Holy Spirit because that's a wide open invitation to clear the mind I Even had a retreat I did in Spain on the island of New Yorker where it was a six-week retreat and I think somewhere around week four Somebody in the group threw their arms in the air and said bring it on Holy Spirit bring it on and then another one the whole group basically was throwing Their hands in the air and as loud as they could Could say the word was we're belting out Holy Spirit bring it on well that group Had quite a number of interesting experiences that came on we had somebody went Left in remission from cancer and all kinds of things that happened It was almost like a revival and then subsequently it's there's been all kinds of reverberations In people's lives after that But that's a good example about how the more willing we are the more open we are the more we can ask for help the more help can be given us and There's another part of the course where Jesus says it's not that you ask for too much You always ask for far too little That is this unworthiness this shame this guilt that we've held on to this Mostly unconscious that actually brings limits to our life experiences Where we're capable of huge openings of vast openings at times. It's like such a fear of Love and light. It's almost like holding up a little thimble with a shaky hand going Could I have a refill, please? Jesus is like saying yeah, get a bucket Get a bucket, you know, we're so Custom to thinking that we we just aren't worth That care and attention we may have all kinds of old programs running like oh god must be really busy He's not certainly doesn't care about me, but that's actually the opposite to what things really are There's all this love and light waiting to pour through our mind Waiting for us to be a conduit and yet we have to ask for it. We have to really prepare be prepared and ask for it


Okukpa's conviction will not demoralize me, says BtoB, as court finds DGOB Dati Presidential Campaign Council 13 million Naira for money laundering charges. And Air Force Battles, Zamfara Terrorists, 50 Bandits, Soldiers Killed, days after 28 persons were killed in Southern Kaduna. This is Plus Politics, my name is Sinyam Ghul, Aghaji. Welcome back. The Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obe, has said that the conviction of the campaign organization's director general, Dr. Doin Okukpa, over alleged money laundering would not break his resolve to be Nigeria's president. Obe said this during the interaction with journalist Inuyo at the Nigeria Union of Journalists of Acquire Bomb State Council Secretary on Monday. The Labour Party presidential candidate said he was undaunted by the conviction and will continue with his campaign and allow the due process of law to take its course. Okukpa was found guilty of receiving over 200 million Naira cash from a former national security adviser, Colonel Sambudasuki retired. He was there for sentence to two years by Justice Ojukku with an option of 500,000 Naira fine on each of the 26 counts for which he was found guilty. Joining us to discuss this is Mr. Abiodun Shoumi, a political analyst. It's good to have you join us today, Mr. Abiodun, welcome. Thank you for having me. Well, 67 days to the election and the drama gets more and more interesting, don't you think? Yes, it is. Getting more interesting. When you look at the whole situation, now things are evolving. We are beginning to see the only two in total perspective, particularly in relation to the Labour Party, which is not well known, like the other two leading political parties, the PDP and the APC. Many people have thought the Labour Party represents a new trend. Obviously, it is becoming the third force in Nigerian politics. It has a march in that way and there are a lot of hopes and expectations expected by Nigerians. Some Nigerians actually believe that the Labour Party will create a new Nigeria. When you look at all the events, the revelations coming out of the Labour Party, it's increasingly becoming clear that the dream of having a new party, the void of all the biases and the problems associated with the two older leading parties, seems to be a mirage. What do I mean by that in relation to the Labour Party? The party started on a very good note, only to end up with its national youth leader, again removed from the party for corruption. Then you would then have the Auguste term issue actually accused of the 20 million Naira meant for campaign. That was the first shocker for many people because as far as we are concerned, the slogan we don't pay shi shi has been sold to many people, including myself, but that was a shocker that also the Labour Party is paying 20 million Naira for rally, for people to attend rally. And if that was not bad enough, you now suddenly have the chapter accusing the national leadership of pollution doing a coup and that leads to the Auguste Labour Party chapter. Then we have the national public secretary, Dr Abhayomi Yara Bambi, coming up with new allegation, particularly that she is a court of appeal judgment that allowed certain things to happen in Naira. For me, that was two of times, I think it was not enough, we now have doing a coup and who is the chief operating officer of the campaign, charge the teaching of the campaign and who now being jailed or being convicted and sentenced to prison with a provision that he could send to prison by paying 500,000 in liu and at that stage, I now begin to wonder how many people are, is the dream scenario for Kukui, for getting himself involved in money laundering, which in any case, typifies Kukui, you then ask yourself, isn't it, does it mean that Pita will be did not carry out the utilitarian before appointing doing Kukui? Because all it simply needs to do is to Google stuff on doing Kukui, before his appointing. Does it mean that he knew that Kukui was undergoing trial and then appoints him as a friend, if he forgot to do due diligence, or whether he knowingly appointed of the question on a sense of judgment? I think he has depicted the process of judgment on this matter to so many people. He cannot hold to be responsible for the infractions committed by doing Kukui. At least, the fact that he was appointed while undergoing trial, it means to be at risk the embarrassment which the party has found itself in and we cannot escape the path of the blame for all. Okay. But how would you react to, okay, let me not use the word, how do you see the reaction of the Labour Party presidential candidate where he said that he is not daunted by whatever is happening. He will allow the law to take his course and then he will continue with his campaign the way he is doing it. So how would you rate that? What are your comments on that? Well, yeah, well, on his reaction to the conviction, that's another shocker in the sense that I would have said Obida has piled himself as a new mission willing to help, you know, reach out to a country to build a new Nigeria will immediately not behave like the other politicians. I had expected it to be to announce his replacement immediately to remove him as the campaign BG, even this embarrassment, but what he's saying is that the law to take his course, the law is taking his course, he has been convicted, he has paid fine in legal, that has not removed the conviction. It means today Obida has a BG of his campaign who is an S company, that is the meaning of what has happened. So what does Obida need to do before it can be replaced? Of course, I'm not oblivious of the fact that Obida is still referring to a possible appeal by saying that he will allow the law to take his course. I think that is totally unexpected and I don't think, I think that is condemnable. He does not show the signal or a pointer to the fact that Obida is the kind of a brand new politician. Mr. Showami, can you hear me? Yes. The report just reaching us now is that says that Doi Okope has actually resigned. We do not know whether he was made to resign or he resigned out of his own volition but he has resigned. Which means he is no longer the presidential campaign DG of Labour Party. So will your reaction or will whatever you feel about this whole issue change with that action? No. The reason is clear. He should have taken a stand in me and forget about giving his friend a soft landing. He should have sent a positive signal out to the people that when I make an error of judgment, I will correct it immediately. You do not need Okope to resign because what is called soft landing, even Okope soft landing on account of French is wrong, he should have started Okope himself. He appointed Okope and Okope committed serious infractions to the extent of being convicted then he should have started Okope. He should not have left it to doing Okope to resign because he pushed me. Ok. He should have appeared very strong and that would have played very well with the public like Okope other than aligning to resign which is like giving him a soft landing. Ok. Well, that very conviction we are talking about of Dr. Doin Okope. He was convicted of alleged money laundering in a way that for me was very funny. The case was in the morning. They said the decision will be taken about 1.30 that is after midday, the deadline was given within the same day to pay up or get locked up. Payment was made in the evening and everybody was home and dry. I don't know how would you rate that judgment, that whole matter. It came up that day, maybe the investigation has been going on, the case has been going on but it came up that day they had some rest till midday after midday after that the conviction came and they still gave time till 4.30 or thereabouts for him to pay up otherwise he goes to jail and he was able to pay and just leave like that. How does that tell us about either the justice system or everything around this case, the political scenario that is playing out here? Yes. For anyone that knows how the Nigerian court worked at the time when Okope was convicted he said he had a parallel knowledge that he would be convicted and be given a soft landing. There is no way you can get convicted in the afternoon and then you can perfect the bill almost immediately with a view of not going to prison. Our system does not work like that. I agree the way it has worked for doing it for good but that is not how it is working currently except you already have an advantage of what the Nigerian would be and what you need to do. Why is it amazing that the Okope could come up within a few hours, couple of hours to escape the same if it tells you, it stresses the question only about those who move into Labour Party when it will be moved into Labour Party, the same ruling class who have a mandate moving into Labour Party simply to take over the leadership of the party. It does not give any Labour Party who represent a new trend in our country. The idea of going into Labour Party is about power, turn of our country. There is nothing Labour would do that PDP or APC would not do, that's basically what it is. Now there are some conspiracy theories I would like to call them that have come up. Some have said that okay maybe he was guilty but why wait to this point at the heat of electioneering before you come up with what a lot of people have seen as a history judgement even though it may not be that but the timing seems to a lot of people to be wrong. Do you think apart from the fact that a crime may have been committed there are also some political undertones as well as some people are thinking? I have read about some of those comments people trying to allude to a kind of political undertones. We have heard issues like why is it now? Why are they trying now? Why is it that it's being convicted now? Now to me what is very clear is that the will of justice is very slow in Nigeria. That is totally unacceptable. But the fact of the matter is a crime is a crime. You can get tried at any point in time, tried at any point in time. Whether it has a political undertone or not, I'm not sure of that. Because what I know is that he has been on that trial. He was at any court when he was a PDP member and that is the point. Who he should have taken account of the fact that he was on that going trial at a point in time. He had the fact that he didn't pay the membership fees of the Labour Party. But from the local pay chapter, it's one of the allegations against him. That he was on the party, he didn't pay the other dues when he was being. So when you look at that situation, nobody can put an undertone to the condition. I don't think so. It was slow and eventually catch of fire case in the PDP. We remember the political. It's yet to be concluded to you now, acceptable. That is why we need to reform a judicial system. The cases like this should not take more than a year to liquidate. But unfortunately it has dragged on for so long. But I don't think there's any police. But in fairness, we have often said that you are not guilty until proven otherwise. And at the time of trial, we couldn't really say that you could call someone a criminal just because he was on the going trial. And especially in light of the fact that just recently, after this Kujep prison break, we also know that there were very high profile prisoners, as it were, inside that Kujep prison. One of them was a former governor. And he has been freed after even saving some time in prison. He has been freed. And they say all allegations have been dropped. So what if this is the same case that will happen to a coup? After a while, even after paying the 13 million, which is also like serving a jail term, he is now freed. So will you still blame the person who thought maybe there is some element of truth in what he's saying and he's denying or otherwise of committing this crime? Okay. There are two elements to it. The first element is somebody on the father you're facing trial does not mean you are guilty of any offending. And the law assumes that you are still innocent. Okay. That could apply when a coup was appointed as a campaign digital. He was yet to be convicted. Well, the truth of the matter is, whoever is making that appointment should realize that should he get convicted. He will be guilty of poor judgement.  You know, you need, you can, we have so many people can do the job. Don't forget the case of Professor Adinike Grinch, then Minister for Health, who was accused over the five million era Ghana and she had to step aside as a serving minister. She was eventually found innocent by the court. That should be a standard practice where once you're facing criminal charges, you say, you know, aside and clear yourself first. If eventually an appeal is cleared, also that would wipe off the blemish on his reputation currently. But until the court of appeals or a superior court who becomes convicted is an ex-convict today. Okay. Well, ex-convict, that means the IGP also in my thinking is an ex-convict as well. Maybe we are misinterpreting the laws because he was supposed to go to jail, but he stayed outside, made whatever he moves he was supposed to make, and then they obtained that judgment and said he was no longer supposed to go to jail. I don't know how that works. But that's not what my problem right now, because our time is up, but I'd like to pick your brain on something that happened today or yesterday as well. We woke up to the news that the governor of the central bank of Nigeria missed arrest just by a thin thread. DSS says that he's a terrorism financer, but a financier rather. But according to reports, they could neither present concrete evidence nor pass through the right channels, including consulting the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria before seeking the arrest of the chief of about the most sensitive institution. What would be your take on this case? Very briefly now, because our time is up, please. Yes. I read, I encountered a video and a press complaint addressed on that. And for me, we need to look for more evidence to substantiate the allegations. It's not just enough for us to actually reject it. Except some of this process through the criminal justice system, where you clearly establish evidence, it then becomes almost impossible to form judgments on the basis of allegation. Okay. Well, I'd like to thank you at this point, Mr. Xiaomi, even though you still have more to say, but this is how we have to drop it on this segment of the show. Thank you for being on the show. We'll go on a short break and return with something else. Mr. Xiaomi, thank you for coming. Thank you for having me. When we return, we will be looking at the recent attacks in southern Kaduna and Zamfara and the efforts made by the government to mitigate this. Just stay with us.


About the two greatest superheroes of all time. I Understand Everybody's got their opinion But I Gotta read this so read along with me Cuz the legacy in the script about says the first trailer for Batman v Superman Donald Justice has leaked and fans appear to be having mixed reactions Batman Superman Wonder Woman Warner Brothers Is it literally? Is it really surprising that the most powerful man in the world should be a figure of controversy a voice asked In the trailer which has Portuguese subtitles and was slated to debut on Monday Henry Cavill's Clark Kent Superman is seen in a slew of various shots as numerous voices Ask questions about the caked hero We as a population on this planet have been looking for a savior human beings have a horrible track record for following Yeah, for following people with great power. Maybe he's just a guy trying to do right the right thing followed by We know better now.  They come from the sky Holly Hunter's character a senator then says The world has been so caught up with what he can do that. No one has asked What he should do? This is just followed by a shot of stat of a statues of Superman with the words false gods crawled across the chest Into the voice of Batman's Alfred. I didn't know that played by Jeremy irons who others That's how it starts the feeling the powerlessness that turns good men cruel a New and approved Batman played by Ben Affleck that appears in an armored bat suit and confronts Superman tell me Do you bleed? Batman asks Superman You will Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman Jesse Heisenberg's Lex Luthor James Momo's Aquaman are not seen in the leaked trailer So how did fans react on social media? Some good some bad and plenty of shady comments Let's see Just seeing the Batman v Superman trailer man.  No parents.   It's terrible.    I rule Magnus of Potamia with an iron fist Post a comment down below.


The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Instruction and Control, Professor Mujizala Adiyeh, our host, the Director-General of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Dr. Obi Antigua, the Chairman of the Institute, Dr. John Alpha, conference lecturer, Professor Joseph Fortunak, the President of the NMA, ably represented by the first Vice-President, Professor Razak Dibayu, the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Vice-Chancellor of the Usman and Food University, Professor Lawal Suleiman Bilbis, the Vice-Chancellor of the Crystal University, Professor Chinigubabalala, other professors, Professor Olawali Tomori and the medical practitioners, present honored guests, ladies and gentlemen. Dr. Adiyeh, thank you very much for the kind invitation to me on behalf of the Governing Board and the Institute of National, of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development to be here. I also thank the Honourable Ministers of Health for their leadership in supporting this platform and several others and enabling the exchange of ideas on a health system on a regular basis. And also thank you very much, Professor Fortunak, for that incredibly informative and instructive lecture. I think that just sitting down there, I almost feel that I have become quite learned in drug production. And I hope as has been so relentlessly urged upon me by the Masters of Ceremony, the Masters of Ceremony, that we'll be able to turn this theory into practice. The COVID-19 pandemic was, for me, an eye opener in five different respects. The first is how some of the wealthiest and most developed economies of the world were tragically unprepared to handle a public health crisis on the scale and uncertainty of COVID-19, whereas countries with more modest economic profiles quickly deployed a public health framework that was responsive and effective. The second eye opener for me was that people, whether they are educated or uneducated from developed or developing nations, still have to be persuaded to take precautions to prevent them from contracting a deadly disease. So the farmer in KB State, the bus conductor in Lagos, the lawyer in Abuja, the stockbroker in New York, the teacher in Manchester, UK, will argue with you that there is no point in wearing a mask. The third eye opener for me is the danger of conspiracy theories and false information, especially in a public health crisis. Millions in the US, thousands in the UK, many all over the world based on false information. Of course, here in Africa, insist that vaccines are dangerous and that there is a conspiracy to change your DNA or put the mark of the beast on you or simply insert a chip into you to track you forever, wherever you may be. And sometimes you wonder, what are you going to track for? The fourth eye opener is that when there is a global health crisis on the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic, do not expect any or much help from anyone. Every nation is on its own. The fifth eye opener for me is that despite infrastructural weaknesses, we in Nigeria have an experienced and robust public health system, people by some of the best personnel anywhere in the world, but more importantly, that we have huge opportunities for becoming a leading nation in health care. And I'll speak to this aspect of the theme of the conference, but I think it's worthwhile to mention that these eye openers should be a guide to navigating the pathway to assuring health access and its accompanying socioeconomic development beyond COVID-19. So first, perhaps we should begin by asking how well our health system responded to the pandemic. Shortly after the first COVID-19 patient in sub-Saharan Africa was identified in Nigeria, and I always prefer to just get a sense for just assess how well we did first. What is it that's working? Because we are forever lectured on what isn't working and what isn't likely to work. So I really like to start from saying, okay, so what is it working? Where are we in all of this? So after this first COVID-19 patient was discovered, a sample of the virus was sent to the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases at the Redeemer's University in Nigeria. Of course, Professor Tomori was the first Vice Chancellor of that university in Ocean State. There, a team led by Professor Christian Happy analyzed the sample and was able within 48 hours to share the very first genome sequence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 from Africa with the global science community. Few knew that we even have that capacity or that the facility existed or had even been recognized internationally before this happened. Second, we were able to scale up on testing and case management capacity quickly, activating about 120 laboratories, at least at the end of last year, from just five before the pandemic. Most of them, public laboratories. Also, we expanded the footprint of our sovereign public health response capabilities at the sub-national level and in areas where previously such capabilities did not exist at all. One reason why we have been able to manage this pandemic, I believe, better than many expected, aside from the providence of the fact that we did not have the expected rate of infections that had been predicted, is that we had an existing public health infrastructure to work with. The Ebola outbreak of 2014 and our ongoing battle with LASA fever and our successes with polio eradication helped us to at least tighten our epidemic contingency plans, strengthen our emergency coordination and sovereign capabilities, and also to help us to invest in public health laboratories. One of the key lessons we learned, I believe from our response to the Ebola outbreak, was the need to build systems, as they say, in peacetime that can be used during outbreaks. So the Nigerian Center for Disease Control, the NCDC, which was founded in 2011, was made an independent government agency in 2018. Now, this is very crucial, because as we prioritize the strengthening of our public health infrastructure in that period, in 2018, no one, of course, expected that there will be a pandemic in 2020. So as it turned out, the NCDC's independence was important in its being able to function unrestrained by bureaucracy when the pandemic struck. And of course, it was able to attract, to a good extent, its own direct funding. With the NCDC's National Public Health Reference Laboratory in Gadoa in Abuja, it's state-of-the-art equipment and world-train scientists, it is evident to me that the NCDC is one of the best-prepared and resourced facilities, at least in South Sahara and Africa. Our COVID-19 response also witnessed the setting up of locally and internationally acclaimed presidential task force on COVID-19. As I said, we need to set the stage. What did we get right? I think the COVID-19 Interministerial and Interagency Team, led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustafa, which coordinated the national response, set the rules and briefed the nation daily for months, really did a great job because they were then able to swiftly do what was required to at least give the semblance of some order in the way that we approached the pandemic. The task force issued and enforced COVID protocols for travel and general movement. And when the first doses of vaccines came, the task force developed certain protocols and the public health system already, which was of course used to mass vaccinations, deployed across the country in every nuke and cranny of Nigeria so that the very first eligible vaccine candidates received their vaccinations seamlessly. So going forward, what do we need to do? I think flowing from what we've heard from Professor Fortuna, I'm from the eye-opener that every nation is on her own in a global pandemic and how vaccine-rich nations at some point even bound exports in order to meet their own local needs. It is clear that we must take our destiny in our own hands. And there is great potential. Last December, the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research launched a new set of COVID-19 test kits that produced results in 57 minutes. The new kit was designed by Joseph Scheibo, a molecular virologist at the NIMR. By the end of the year, the Africa Center of Excellence in Ocean State, the one I'd referred to earlier, which first sequenced the genome of the severe respiratory syndrome, will inaugurate the biggest genomics research center in Africa. Earlier this year, the center was selected by the Broad Institute of the MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University to be a part of the prestigious scientific coalition that will help set up an early warning system to prevent and respond to future outbreaks and pandemics. In September 2020, the World Health Organization named that same center, the Africa Center in Ocean State, one of two, the other from South Africa, specialized continental reference sequencing research laboratories for emerging pathogens, including the SARS-CoV-2. Professor Happi and his team have also produced a groundbreaking rapid test certified by the US FDA. And it costs, we're told, around $3, much less than the PCR tests that of course are recommended as standard. In addition, the test does not require highly equipped laboratories that tend to be too expensive. But more remarkably, they are developing also in Nigerian anti-COVID vaccine. At least they have talked about how much it will cost and they've laid out a plan. This center, this is the Africa Center of Excellence for neglected tropical diseases and forensic biotechnology, led by Professor Waike Ibrahim. That institute has been performing mass testing in collaboration with the Cardinal State Government and the University Teaching Hospital. They established a facility where COVID-19 samples are analyzed. The facility is also part of the Nigeria CDC National Testing Centers. At the onset of the pandemic, our host institute swung into action and developed a standardized hand sanitizer and made the formula publicly accessible for mass production. And we've heard quite a bit about that already. During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, between 2014 and 2016, the first case in Nigeria was confirmed and sequenced also at the Africa Center in Ocean State. The center was also instrumental in containing the epidemic in the sub-region by the development of a 15 minute rapid diagnostic test. This method was approved by the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration. Also in 2014, the center has developed a 10 minute rapid diagnostic test for LASA fever, setting in motion the possible development of the next vaccine for the disease. There's no question at all that we must build local capacity. And I believe that we're certainly well on the way. Again, I've referred to what happened at the onset of the pandemic when host institute, the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, was able to develop this hand sanitizer and made the formula, which I think is very important, made the formula publicly accessible for mass production. The institute has also constituted and convened the National Scientific Advisory Committee, which developed and launched the phytomedicine verification and validation protocol to determine the safety, effectiveness and quality of the care claims by traditional medicine practitioners who came forward with divergent claims of care for the COVID-19. The results of Niprit's testing and verification studies on some of these products guided the world in making informed decisions and prevented the exacerbation of a bad situation. This has helped to identify the products with potential properties and has promoted the credibility and international acceptance of pharmaceutical products developed here in Nigeria. Niprit, our host, has also developed an impressive variety of pharmaceutical products from indigenous resources. And both the Niprimune and the Niprimune Plus, both of which I had the pleasure of seeing, have been found to possess reasonable properties that are able to prevent or work against COVID-19. Both products, which have been registered by NAFTA, are currently undergoing various levels of clinical studies towards approval for production for emergency use. The Niprit DG, Dr. Antigua, has assured me that by this time next year, the institute will launch three new products currently under development, at its Nanomedicine Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Centers. It is this proactive approach that we must take to the slow pace of vaccine access in Africa and, of course, Nigeria. Although we receive from help from friendly nations and the COVAX Alliance, less than 4% of our eligible population will have been vaccinated by the end of this year. There's no question that we cannot afford not to have our own vaccine production facilities. Think what would have happened to India, which has reported the most number of infections in the world after the United States, if it did not have the capacity to produce its own vaccines. Where would its 1.3 billion people find the vaccines in the emergency that they faced? Today, India has given at least one dose to 65% of its 944 million eligible adults, and the necessary two doses to 22%. They expect overall domestic vaccine production to exceed one billion doses by the end of the year, which would, of course, be more than enough for their domestic needs. Nigeria, and I know that President Tomor is very well aware of this, is in talks with the World Bank on the private lending arm and other lenders to raise about 30 million to help finance a vaccine plant. Bio-vaccines Nigeria limited, chaired by Professor Tomori. 49% of the company is owned by the Nigerian government, but the balance held by May and Baker Nigeria PLC. And they have plans to begin construction of a plant, I believe in the first quarter of next year. The plant, which is supposed to be located in Ota in Auguste, will initially, we're told, fail and finish, which I'm also told means importing the raw materials for the vaccines and then packaging it for distribution. Some South African companies are already involved in doing exactly that. I believe Aspen Pharmacare and Bio-Vac Institute operate similar facilities. Full manufacturing, we're told, is expected to follow in the coming months or years. I'm not entirely certain why. So it's evident that the way forward is more funding for healthcare and research, for innovators and to develop solutions in pharmaceuticals and medical consumables. And I want to say that after some of the discussion that I held with Dr. Adigui about what to do and how to go about this, I think that I'm more than inspired, especially regarding not just the potential, but exactly how the how-to of getting the kinds of support that the pharmaceutical industry and especially our research agencies would require. To date, our administration has established the healthcare sector intervention fund facility, which has disbursed about 76.98 billion, that's about $185 million, to finance the acquisition and installation of critical medical care equipment, as well as the expansion of production lines in various pharmaceutical companies across the country. The CBN is also supporting a number of research and development initiatives in the health sector. In all, I believe the CBN has disbursed a total of $233 billion in grants that these have been disbursed to various companies. But I also want us to note what the president said in his Independence Day speech, and I believe that a reference was made to that by Dr. Adigui earlier, when he asked the question rhetorically, he said, should another pandemic arise in the future? Where will Nigeria be? Will Nigeria be ready? Should we have another pandemic in the future? What will Nigeria do? Will we be ready? He then committed to supporting pharmaceutical and research agencies to develop and manufacture vaccines locally. The president also reiterated his directive to the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, and also the ministries of Science and Technology, Science Technology and Innovation, to work with Nigerian and international pharmaceutical companies and research organizations to enhance Nigeria's domestic pharmaceutical capacity. And I believe that those meetings have to be held, those collaborations have to take place, and the Ministry, of course, has already been directed to go ahead and look at the funding implications. He also noted that the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority is raising $200 million, and this fund is for this initiative that will complement what the Central Bank of Nigeria has done and also our 85 billion health sector research and development intervention. This is to support local researchers in the development of vaccines and drugs to combat communicable and non-communicable diseases, including COVID-19. In our Economic Sustainability Plan, designed to mitigate and take advantage of the consequences of the pandemic, one of the cross-cutting issues identified for action was the development of Nigeria's capacity to become Africa's hub for the manufacture of generic drugs. And I think that Professor Fortunak's very informative lecture has really taken us through how that can be done and what the real advantages are. Today, as we've heard, China and India, India in distant second, lead the manufacture of generics. Both have large populations, like Nigeria. In fact, I believe they're number one and two in the world in terms of population. Nigeria will become the fourth largest nation in population by 2050. So there is a strong case for at least being self-sufficient in basic drugs and net exporters of generic drugs. This will, of course, be private sector-led with an enabling environment in terms of availability of long-term credit, facilitating intellectual property negotiations with drug patent owners, et cetera. I think it's very important to always bear in mind. And this is a frustration, I believe, that those who have to deal with when you're dealing with bureaucracy, almost invariably, how it sounds when it is announced is not how it works out in implementation. And we've just got to learn, and those of us who have to get things done just have to learn that you can't get frustrated, you know. Part of the business of getting this thing done is going through those frustrations, sometimes deception, sometimes people who want to be corrupt, who want to pocket money. There are all manner of obstacles on the way. But I think that we must never lose sight of the fact that these solutions that we're talking about are solutions that will affect us individually, collectively as a community, and as a nation. Those who have a different plan and purpose, those who want to subvert these very important plans, are people, they're Nigerians like you and I, it is important that those who want to get things done also mount the exact resistance and make sure that we get it done. There's no point throwing up arms in the air and say, this is Nigerian. No, it just won't work. There's every reason why we should get this done. And many of these things are within our reach. And in my view, we should not lose, no one should lose hope or think that, oh, it can be done here in Nigeria. It will be done, trust me, in this country. As I close, I think it's important to say that our healthcare system, our healthcare system of our dreams, as I've said, is ahead of us. We know what we want and what is possible. We have the men and women with the required expertise. What we need is more diligent and focused management. And only recently, the president established the Healthcare Reform Committee, which have the privilege of chairing. That may well be at least one of the vehicles for ensuring that we're able to get some of our dreams come true. Once more, let me commend Dr. Adewey, the DG of Niprit, and the innovative and hardworking team at the Institute for their groundbreaking work, despite the limited resources, and for this particular initiative. Well done, indeed. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Now, it now is my very special pleasure and privilege to officially declare this conference open. Thank you.