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Obiano receives Presidential Award on MSME, Assures of Greater Support to MSME

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The governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano has assured that his administration would continue to lend more support to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the state.

Speaking at the state Executive Council meeting in Awka on Monday while receiving the plaque awarded to Anambra State for emerging as the best state that supports MSME by the Presidency at the weekend, governor Obiano said that the award would spur him to do more in the support of MSMEs in the state.

According to him, his administration had perfected arrangements to access the N3.5bn MSME facility from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that would be ploughed into the funding of MSMEs in the state.

Governor Obiano explained that Anambra had over 2000 cooperatives covering agriculture, manufacturing, trade and commerce and services, declaring “it is my intention to support them more. We are getting about N3.5bn from the Central Bank, probably in the next few weeks that we are also going to use to support the people in this area; particularly for the growth of Efi Igbo, Ewu Igbo, Okuko and other farmers that are pioneering things in this area. It will go a long way in assisting the attainment of food sufficiency that we talked about.”

Anambra had edged out Lagos, Abia and Kaduna states to emerge as the Best State in Support of MSMEs in Nigeria.

Anambra’s impressive achievements in MSME came from Obiano’s foresight in establishing an agency known as the Anambra Small Business Agency (ASBA) which has been directly involved in the financing of the entrepreneurial dreams of so many businessmen and women in the state.

Since its inception in 2015, ASBA has provided over N2.5 Billion in single digit funds to Microenterprises and SMEs in the State, funding over 10,000 businesses and creating over 70,000 direct and indirect jobs in the process, empowering youths to become burgeoning entrepreneurs as well as sustaining established SMEs in the State.

Available facts indicate that in the period under review, Anambra State Government had disbursed the sum of N1.2bn to MSMEs in the state through ASBA.

Industrialization and manufacturing took the lion’s share of the disbursements with 49.69% while Agricultural value chain came second with 20.89%. Trade and Commerce took 11.42% while Oil and gas came next with 7.75%.

The records further show that the Agency also innovatively financed the US$2.2 Million (about N800 Million) Shoe & Leather Products Industrial Cluster in Nkwelle Ezunaka via its “Enabling Local Cluster Development Scheme”.

These shoe makers had through this intervention, collectively reaped huge financial benefits, creating trading linkages with buyers across sub-Saharan Africa and significantly limiting the influence of middle men. The shoe makers also generated impressive revenues as at year end 2018 for the state.

Riding on the back of the success of the shoe making cluster, ASBA has commenced the construction of a similar industrial cluster for Textile and Garments artisans which should be completed by December 2019.

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The Peruvian Government Has Officially Classified Transgender, Nonbinary And Intersex People As “Mentally ill”

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According to the country’s ministry of health, the controversial decision was made to ensure the country’s public health services could “guarantee full coverage of medical attention for mental health” for the trans community.

It also categorises “dual-role transvestitism,” “fetishistic transvestism,” and “other gender identity disorders” under the same bracket of mental illness.

The new law will change language in the Essential Health Insurance Plan (PEAS) to reflect the view of trans and intersex people as a mental health disorder.

Trans groups across Peru have loudly condemned the decision as a step backwards for the country’s already complex relationship with LGBTQ+ rights.

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Math Teacher Accused Of Having Sex With 2 Students And Getting Pregnant For One Tearfully Reveals The Baby Was Taken Away From Her

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The UK teacher who had a baby with an underage student while on trial for having sex with another teenage boy broke down in court after revealing her newborn baby girl had been “taken away” from her.

Manchester math teacher Rebecca Joynes, 30, sobbed to jurors over how her baby was taken “24 hours after being born” this past January — and now she only sees her for nine hours a week, Joynes told jurors on Monday, May 13, according to the Manchester Evening News.

“At the moment I have contact with her three times a week for three hours and that’s it,” she said through tears.

Joynes was arrested and released on bail on orders not to have unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 after allegedly grooming her pupil, known as Boy A in court, by buying him a $430 Gucci belt before bringing him to her apartment for unprotected sex.

She was suspended from school and eventually fired, but soon after, she began having a relationship with a 15-year-old boy, known in court as Boy B, whom she had a baby with in January.

Joynes, who has denied having sex with either boy when they were underage, told the court that when she learned of the allegations against her she had gone to the second boy in a “panic” and he deleted all of her phone’s content.

The former teacher denied having a sexual relationship with the second boy until after he turned 16 and she was already suspended from teaching.

According to her narration,

She said he had added her on Snapchat twice, which she only accepted the second time because she thought he “wanted to tell her something.”

Joynes said a friendship developed and he quickly became her “best friend” even though the boy would make flirtatious and sexualized comments toward her when he was drunk.

She told jurors that it wasn’t until after his 16th birthday that he messaged her saying “I’ve left school now” with a winky face.

After she received notice that she had been dismissed from her job, he went to her apartment, where following an emotional conversation, they had sex.

The two then entered a relationship that Joynes described as “quite toxic” telling the court how the teenager was “very controlling.”

After discovering she was pregnant, Joynes hid love notes for the boy to find around her apartment.

The notes eventually led to a piece of baby clothing that had the words “I love my daddy to the moon and back” written on it.

The court was told that she gave birth to their baby girl in January, but following an emergency court hearing, the newborn was taken away from Joynes.

Joynes has denied two counts of sexual activity with Boy A; two counts of sexual activity with Boy B; and two counts of sexual activity with Boy B while being a person in a position of trust.

Her trial is ongoing.

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First Man To Receive Pig Kidney Transplant Has Died

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The first Man to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died two months after the operation.

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), which carried out the procedure in March, announced Sunday, May 12, that Richard “Rick” Slayman, 62, has died.

They said there was no indication his death was a result of the transplant.

Transplants of other organs from genetically modified pigs have failed in the past, but the operation on Mr Slayman, who was suffering with end-stage kidney disease, was hailed as a historic milestone.

In addition to kidney disease, Mr Slayman also suffered from Type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

In 2018, he had a human kidney transplant, but it began to fail after five years.

Following his pig kidney transplant on March 16, his doctors confirmed he no longer needed dialysis after the new organ was said to be functioning well.

“Mr Slayman will forever be seen as a beacon of hope to countless transplant patients worldwide and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation,” MGH said in a statement.

Xenotransplantation is the transplanting of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another.

MGH said it was “deeply saddened” at his sudden death and offered condolences to his family.

Mr Slayman’s relatives said his story was an inspiration.

“Rick said that one of the reasons he underwent this procedure was to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” they said.

“Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure forever.

“To us, Rick was a kind-hearted man with a quick-witted sense of humour who was fiercely dedicated to his family, friends, and co-workers,” they added.

While Mr Slayman received the first pig kidney to be transplanted into a human, it is not the first pig organ to be used in a transplant procedure.

Two other patients have received pig heart transplants, but those procedures were unsuccessful as the recipients died a few weeks later.

In one case, there were signs the patient’s immune system had rejected the organ, which is a common risk in transplants.

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