Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state.

As schools resumed on Monday, the Kano State Government said it would deploy additional teachers to fast track revision for exit students writing their West African Senior School Certificate Examination.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government had given a directive for the reopening of schools on Aug. 10, for the exit students in the state.

The government had so far fumigated 538 public and private schools as well as distributed Protective Personal Equipment (PPE), to protect teachers and students in the schools.

The Commissioner for Education, Muhammad Said, told newsmen in Kano that the schools comprise 199 public and 339 private schools.

Said disclosed that additional teachers would be deployed to public schools for revision to assist students achieve academic excellence in the examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

He said the schools were reopened after they obtained permission on clean bill of health from relevant government agencies.

According to him, more than 24, 000 candidates are expected to write the examination in designated centres in the state, with over 11, 000 of them being in from public schools.

Said said the state government had adopted proactive measures to ensure strict compliance with COVID-19 protocols, adding that the low number of the candidates facilitated effective social distancing in the schools.

He said: The Ministry of Education directed principals to reduce hours of work/revision to four hours per shift; strict adherence to social distancing, in classes, laboratories, libraries and hostels.

Consistency of temperature monitoring and provision of emergency isolation rooms for identified suspected cases before handing of the affected case to the health authorities.

Resumption dates for other examinations and rest of the classes including SS I; SS II and JSS I-III as well as primary schools will be announced in due course.

The ministry is encouraging schools to continue the e-learning education programme using the Google classrooms, radio, televisions and other platforms until normalcy returns to the academic environment, he said.

While commending Gov. Umar Ganduje for his support and commitment to the free compulsory education initiative, Said urged the principals to ensure effective utilisation of the PPE to stem spread of COVID-19 pandemic in the schools. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

President Muhammadu Buhari

By Ismaila Chafe

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met behind closed doors with the six governors of the North East Zone and security chiefs at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was also attended by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha.

The National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno, and the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, also attended the meeting.

The affected governors, who were led by their Chairman and governor of Borno, Prof. Babagana Zulum, included Ahmadu Fintri (Adamawa), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi State), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe State), Darius Ishaku (Taraba) and Mai Mala Buni (Yobe).

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin, Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas were equally at the meeting.

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, and the Director General, Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi, were also in attendance.

The Director General, National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Rufai, the Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, and the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammad Dingyadi, also attended the meeting.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Lucy Osuizigbo-Okechukwu

An Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Dr Abosede Lewu, says men and women, who smoke cigarettes experience high infertility rate than nonsmokers, due to health risks associated with smoking.

Lewu, Team Lead at Girlsaide Initiative and Convener, Keep All Mothers Alive (KAMA) Project, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday that such smoking men and women were smoking away their babies.

She said that cigarette contained many harmful chemicals such as nicotine, cyanide and carbon monoxide that could affect fertility in both men and women negatively.

In women of childbearing age, smoking can speed up the loss rate of eggs, and they would not conceive as efficiently as nonsmokers.

In pregnant women, smoking can cause miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, anomalies in babies, damage babys lungs, and also cause preterm contractions and even make baby small for his or her age.

Later in life, sons of smoking mums can have low sperm count.

In men, smoking can reduce sperm count, affect ability of sperm to move, causes abnormal sperm with damaged DNA, reduce volume of semen and decrease the sperms ability to fertilise egg, she said.

Lewu said that a smoking man or woman could also put their partners at risk through second hand smoke and they could suffer all the associated health risks.

She, however, said that quitting smoking was one of the best natural ways to boost fertility.

According to her, if you quit smoking, fertility will improve, but does not reverse the decreased egg supply in women.

Sadly, most people are not aware of the reproductive risks of smoking.

And, we need to start educating and making people understand that smoking is a risk factor for infertility. So, they need to stop, Lewu said.

Source: NAN News

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, Imo State, Gov. Hope Uzodinma, at roll out of inputs to farmers in Imo

By Cecilia Ijuo

Federal Government in its bid to help cushion the effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) has supported smallholder farmers in Imo State with 20,000 Cocoa seedlings and other improved seeds.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, in a statement issued by the Director of Information, Mr Theodore Ogaziechi, said this on Sunday in Abuja.

The minister said the Federal Government was committed to improving agriculture.

Nanono said this during the official roll out ceremony of the distributionof free agricultural inputs to farmers in Imo State.

Nanono added that over5,000 oil palm sprouted nuts and 1,500 kilogramme of cashew seedswere distributed to the farmers.

He stressed that yam farmers through their national association and other cooperative groups would be supported with20,000one node vine cuttingsand10,000 foundation seeds of yam and 200 litersofpathway organic growth enhancer.

Potatoes farmers will benefit from1,500 bundles of orange fleshed sweet potatoesthat were distributed at the occasion, and200 liters of pathway organic solution for the yam farmers, he said.

The minister reaffirmed governments commitment to ensuring that smallholder farmers across the country had access to quality seeds.

According to him, having access to quality seeds was a foundation to attaining food and nutrition security and industrialisation of the agricultural sector.

Through this effort and other complementary interventions by different stakeholders, government hopes to increase quality seeds, resilience of farmers, accessibility and national food systems in general.

The ministry is supporting breeder and foundation seeds production and linking up with private seed companies to make certified seeds available to farmers.

This is coupled with our effort to improve rural infrastructure and other value-chains supports to contribute to attainment of Mr. Presidents desire to ensure easy access to quality food and nutrition by Nigerians,he said.

The minister said that different categories of seeds, seedlings of cocoa, sprouted nuts of oil palm, vines of orange flesh, sweet potatoes, one node vine cuttings of yam and its seeds and groundnut seeds were distributed to farmers.

He stressed that the this is part of the ministrys intervention to reduce effect of COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural production in Nigeria and prevent food scarcity in 2021.

The ministry is also supporting groundnut farmers through the Groundnut Producers, Processors and Marketers Association (GPPMAN) withimproved 3 metric tonnes ofgroundnut seeds.

These seeds, seedlings, nuts, vines and other inputs are being given to farmers free.

The minister said that priority was given to women farmers, adding that, at least 35 per cent of the agricultural inputs are targeted at women farmers.

This in line with the targets set in our National Gender Plan and Policies aimed at ensuring increased opportunities for women.

This has been communicated to the farmer
associations accordingly.

The next major roll-out of support to farmers will take place in Borno State.

The government is set to support farmers in the state with mproved wheat, groundnut and rice seeds as well as gum Arabic seedlings among other things.

In his remark, the Imo State Gov., Hope Uzodimma, lauded the agricultural policies and visionary leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari in job creation, food sufficiency and economic growth.

He said: Imo State will buy into the agriculture policies because the state has agricultural potentials.

These potentials will create jobs for the teeming youth population and boost the Internally Generated Revenue(IGR) of the state and Nigeria in general.

The Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Imo State, Dr Lambert Orisakwe, said that Imo State is predominantly an agrarian society where every family is engaged in one form of agricultural practice or the other.

He said the coming of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to distribute agro-palliative to farmers in the state was a welcome development.

This August and memorable occasion is very refreshing and calls for celebration.

The Commissioner of Livestock Development, Imo State , Hon. Obiageri Ajoku, called for robust synergy with the federal ministry of agriculture toward achieving food sufficiency and good nutrition in Nigeria.

The Director, Federal Department of Agriculture in the Ministry, Mrs Karima Babangida, thanked the governor for gracing the occasion.

She assured that the Federal Government would continue to work to boost agriculture in Nigeria.

Source: NAN News

INEC

By Emmanuel Oloniruha

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday began the use of its dedicated election result viewing portal, known as The INEC Result Viewing (IReV) for publication results for polling units.

Mr Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, said IReV would enable Nigerians view polling unit results in real time as voting ends on election day.

Okoye said that the commission at the meeting, approved the introduction of a new step to further strengthen its election management process and enhance transparency of the system.

He said that the innovation would begin from the Nasarawa Central State Constituency bye-election in Nasarawa State, holding on Saturday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the by-election results for 26 out of 44 wards where the state bye-election took place had been published in the dedicated portal as at 6.35 pm on Saturday.

The results published were snapshots of recorded ward level results normally posted after sorting and counting of votes.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, earlier declared open the first virtual situation room for the Nasarawa Central State Assembly bye-election.

Yakubu said that the situation room was part of the commissions policy of making the processes more transparent, have interaction with the media and other stakeholders.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

COVID-19 updates by NCDC

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 453 new COVID-19 cases in the country, bringing the total infections to 46,140.

The NCDC made this known on its official twitter handle on Saturday.

The health agency noted that six more persons had died from the disease.

It said till date, 46,140 cases had been confirmed, 33,044 discharged and 942 deaths recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The NCDC said that the new cases were reported in 19 states and the FCT.

According to it, the FCT led new cases for the day with 75, followed closely by the countrys pandemic epicentre, Lagos, with 71.

It noted that Benue had 53 new infections , Delta and Borno 39 and 30 cases respectively with Enugu recording 25.

Others were Plateau 24, Osun, 20, Abia, 19, Oyo, 17, Kaduna, 16 while Kano and Ebony confirmed 13 new cases each.

The rest were Ogun, 9, Kwara, 7, Ondo, 6, Gombe, 3,Ekiti, 2, Akwa Ibom, 1, and Rivers 1.

The health agency said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, had continued to coordinate the national response activities across the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria had continued to increase inspite of concerted efforts to stop it.

The country, however, had reported fewer cases in August, compared to June and July when cases averaged more than 500 daily and hitting 745 on June 18.

Source: NAN News

Gov. Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State.

Gov. Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa says the Mobile Police Training School being built in the state would enhance security when completed.

Sule stated this on Saturday in Endehu community, Nassarawa-Eggon Local Government Area (LGA) while inspecting progress of work at the site.

This place popularly called many have gone is notorious for accident, kidnapping and armed robbery.

This is the same hill where my Deputy Governor, Emmanuel Akabe was attacked last year, Sule said.

He explained that the location of the Mobile Police training school was strategically chosen by the state government being a flash-point for criminality.

This site in Endehu hill was selected in Nasarawa-Eggon Local Government Area; its not in Lafia, where the Inspector General of Police (I-G) comes from, its not in my village Gudi, Akwanga Local Government Area, Sule said.

He said the Police training school meant for plateau (hills) training is the third of its kind in the country after the desert training camp in Gwoza, Borno state and Forest training camp in Ila, Osun state.

According to the governor, the land for the project was donated by the state government and compensation fully paid to the owners for the hitch-free execution of the project.

He added that the state government had worked out modalities for payment of compensation on additional land acquired for the project.

The governor pointed out that the project, apart from boosting the security of the area, would also create employment opportunity for the teeming youth and enhance the economy of the host community.

He explained that already the host community has started reaping the benefits of the project as more than 90 per cent of workers on the site were engaged from within.

He added that food vendors and petty traders from the host community were also benefitting from the siting of the project in the area.

He, therefore, assured the people of his administrations commitment to the security of lives and property through a robust collaboration with security agencies.

Source: NAN News

By Hamza Suleiman

Northeast Governors Forum (NGF) has called for deployment of more state of the art military hard ware to the troops fighting Boko Haram insurgents.

The body said this in a communique issued after its second meeting to discuss the challenges facing the sub-region.

The communique was signed by the Forums Chairman and governor of Borno, Babagana Zulum.

It commendedthe efforts of the Federal Government in fighting insurgency but urged the armed forces to intensify efforts to secure hard-to-reach areas in the region and ensure safe access to farm lands.

The Forum recommends that the manpower deficit in the Nigerian Armed Forces should be bridged by allowing the Police to carry state of the art weapons where necessary and be provided with strategic equipment like high velocity tear gas, trackers and Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC), the communique said.

It also called on the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to ensure that attention was given to recharging the Lake Chad from national water bodies and strengthening the river basins in the sub region.

The communique said that the six governors pledged to work together to foster regional integration, growth and development, especially in exploitation of its oil and gas potentials, mineral resources, agriculture and industrialisation.

The communique, however, called on the Federal Government to revoke selected road contracts awarded by the Federal Ministry of Works for years without progress and re-award same to more competent contractors with funding to ensure timely execution.

The communique further urged the Federal Government to ensure local content in the execution of the Mambila Hydro electric power project and other programmes of the North East Development Commission (NEDC) to ensure synergy with state governments.

It expressed the support of the governors for the management and board of NEDC and their determination to work together in producing a comprehensive strategic master plan for the region that would ensure sustainable development.

The Forum affirmed its commitment to support the Federal Government agenda of transforming the Almajiri system with a view
to strengthening both Islamic and western education as well as stopping street begging and prevalence of out of school children in the region as agreed by the Northern governors.

The Forum also nominated Zulum as Chairman of the Forum for a period of two years and the headquarters of the Forum will be located in Maiduguri, it said.

NAN reports that the meeting was attended bygovernors of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe,Taraba and Yobe States.

Source: NAN News

Kano State Government says it has begun the distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to 538 public and private schools in the state.

The government also announced plans to provide palliatives to teachers and non-teaching staff of private schools to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje disclosed this at the inauguration of the PPEs distribution exercise to the 538 schools in the state.

Ganduje, represented by his Deputy, Mr Nasir Gawuna, said the private schools owners had complained to government over the challenges their staff were facing occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He added that the Government would look into the issue and see the possible way out of it.

On the distribution of the PPEs, Ganduje said it was part of preparations for the resumption of secondary schools final year students.

According to him, the materials include face masks, hand sanitisers, hand washing facilities and infrared thermometer to check the studentss temperature.

Ganduje further said that the state government was on the verge of winning the fight against the highly contagious COVID-19 in the state.

He called on the residents to strictly adher to the laid down protocols by health experts in order to completely stop the spread of the virus.

The governor said the government had made use of facemasks mandatory not only in schools but across the state, noting that the enforcement would start soon.

He called on the Frontline workers, principals and teachers, to judiciously put to use the materials to curb the spread of the disease among students.

Earlier in his speech, Commissioner of Education, Mr Sanusi Kiru, said Kano State was the only state that had taken the responsibility of distributing the materials to the schools which had met the request of the Presidential Task Force (PTF).

According to him, out of 27,454 students taking final year West African Examination Council (WAEC) Examination in the state, 11,400 are from public schools and 16,460 from private schools.

The Commissioner of Health, Dr. Ibrahim Tsanyawa, said all students would be subjected to screening and hand washing.

He added that the provision of the materials was to ensure that nothing was taken for granted.

The representative of the Proprietors of Private Schools Association, Hajia Maryam Magaji, commended the effort of the government for the donation.

She however, appealed to the state government to waive off revenues from private schools for two terms, due to non-payment of school fees occasioned by the pandemic.

NAN recall that the state government had since embarked on fumigation and disinfection of 538 schools in the state ahead of resumption of schools on Aug. 10, for the exit students.

Source: NAN News

APC Logo

All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Ismail Danbaba, has won the bye-election for the Nasarawa Central State Constituency in the state House of Assembly.

Mr Iiyasu Umar, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer, announced the result of the bye-election conducted on Saturday in Nasarawa.

Announcing the result, Umar said the APC candidate scored 7,475 to defeat Mr Bage Nuhu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 4,608 votes.

He said that during the bye-election, 12,217 votes were cast, while 12,083 valid votes were recorded with 134 rejected votes.

By the power conferred on me as the Returning Officer of this election, I hereby declared the APC candidate the winner, having scored the highest number of votes cast, he declared.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)reports that INEC scheduled theNasarawa Central bye-election following the death of the member representing Nasarawa Central constituency at the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu (APC), on April 30.

Source: NAN News