Category: Northern Reports

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) Hussaini Adamu Federal Polytechnic Kazaure, Jigawa chapter, said it has recorded 100 per cent compliance after joining the nationwide two-week warning strike.

ASUP Chairman, Dr Abdulazeez Ibrahim, made this known in a chat with reporters yesterday in Dutse.

“It’s well-known that the National Executive Council of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics had, on May 15, 2022, decided to embark on a two-week warning strike effective from May 16, 2022.

“In line with this decision, the Hussain Adamu Federal Polytechnic Kazaure chapter of the union has shut down its academic activities completely for the period.

“We call on all stakeholders and well-meaning citizens to support the union to press for its demands, so that people in authority will do the needful.

“We’ve recorded 100 per cent compliance, as nothing like teaching and learning is taking place,” Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim urged the parents and students to exercise patience as the union is mindful of their situation.

According to the ASUP chairman, the strike remains the only option left for the union.

“We also urge the students to study their books at home before the union receives a positive response from the government,” the chairman said.

A coalition of advocates for true inclusion, zero prejudice and peaceful co-existence under the auspices of Diversity Bridge Builders Collective (DBBC), has said Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal should not be vilified over the unfortunate developments in the state, arising from the heinous murder of Deborah Yakubu by some irate Muslim youths.

Miss Yakubu, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education Sokoto, was killed by a mob over allegations of blasphemy against the Muslim religion and the subsequent arrest of some of the alleged perpetrators led to a protest in the Sokoto metropolis, that has necessitated a declaration of a 24-hour curfew by the state government.

Apart from the curfew, other measures initiated by the governor, aimed at addressing the matter are said to be afoot in the state.

DBBC, in a statement yesterday in Abuja by its National Coordinator, Dr Fend Mancha, said what’s happening in Sokoto since the sad incident, especially the tendency in some quarters to turn the protest into a violent riot and wanton destruction, is reprehensible. He urged religious or political leaders in the region and Sokoto in particular, must come together to ensure the restoration of peace and unity among the people, irrespective of faith and ethnicity.

He said though Governor Tambuwal is a politician with presidential ambition, the developing incident in his state should not be politicised in an attempt to either hurt his aspirations or used to secure political capital by political adversaries to the detriment of the people.

The statement noted that religious matters in the Northern states are always very delicate and sensitive, thus, must be handled with tact and utmost diplomacy. These, the statement added, may lead to more grave problems of catastrophic dimension that may not be in the interest of the people.

So, it implores the people to be more circumspect, in making inflammatory utterances, but rather appreciate the efforts of the governor, rally around him and the people of Sokoto State in pursuit of lawful resolution of the issues.

According to DBBC, the proactive steps taken by the governor in declaring a 24-hour curfew and other steps, in conjunction with religious leaders in the state to prevent further breakdown of law and order, should be supported and commended. He said the respected Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Dr Hassan Kukah and the Northern Governors’ Forum should be commended for what they have done in their respective statements.

Kano State Executive Council has adopted the White Paper Report of the Visitation Panel to the State University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudil part of which included the constitution of an Inter-Agency investigative panel to look into the issue of unremitted KUST members of staff pensions contributions.

The Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, who briefed reporters on the outcome of the council’s weekly meeting held at the council chamber of Government House, Kano, stated that the council directed that a panel should be constituted to investigate the entire outstanding liabilities and audited accounts of the university to recover lost resources and sanction erring officers.

He said the governing council has also been directed to institute disciplinary procedures against the Vice-Chancellor and Bursar in line with Public Service Rules and extant laws of the university.

Malam Garba revealed that the council has also adopted the recommendation of the Draft White Paper on the Visitation Panel to Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education, Kumbotso for the upgrade of the college to the State University of Education (KSUE).

The commissioner further said the council has approved the proposed bill for the establishment of Muhammadu Abdullahi Wase Teaching Hospital under Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano and the transmission of the same to the state House of Assembly.

To advance health delivery in Nigeria, the Governance Innovation Accelerator, Ekiti Team said it has won the technical support for Health Solutions from a leading American University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Governance Lab (MIT GOV/LAB) CC Hub.

This was made known in a statement by the Information Officer, Ekiti State Ministry of Health and Human Services, Wale Obelewaji, which was made available to reporters at the weekend in Abuja.

The Ekiti State Government had partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Governance Lab, MIT/GOVLAB, and launched the Governance Innovation Lifecycle Challenge and Accelerator in December last year.

The programme, which spanned six months, ushered in technology-driven solutions to address quality of care, epidemiology and surveillance issues and improve health service delivery in Ekiti State.

The Ekiti State Commissioner for Health and Human Services Dr Oyebanji Filani said Innovation Framework is a process that public sector organisations must adopt to accelerate delivery service and advance innovative solutions in Ekiti State.

He said: “The Innovation Framework (GIF) is a process that public sector organisations such as the Ministry of Health can use to improve processes in the public system. This will enable us to birth and sustain innovative solutions that respond to the needs of the Ekiti people and improve service delivery.

“Civil servants are the drivers of policy implementation in the public sector and they have great potential to improve the way they solve problems if given the opportunity and trained accordingly. Our aim is to build the capacity of our civil servants because they are there for the long haul.”

The Associate Director of Innovation at MIT GOV/LAB, Carlos Centeno said: “The Qualicare team that won the challenge will receive full funding and technical support to implement their solution, certificate of accelerator completion from MIT GOV/LAB, and an opportunity to present their solutions to other development organisations in Boston, USA.”

The Lead Design for Health at Co-Creation Hub, Dr Temi Filani, pledged that it would continue to advance innovations to improve the health of the Ekiti people and Nigeria at large.

The Sani Bello Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has offered complementary and alternative treatments to 500 patients in Kontagora as part of its humanitarian services to communities and societies.

In a chat with reporters during the medical outreach at the General Hospital, Kontagora, the Director-General of the Sani Bello Foundation, Dr Zakari Ikani said the foundation decided to try out the complementary and alternative medical treatment due to several demands from people who did not get complete treatment from the conventional medical treatment.

He said the five-day medical outreach has treated 500 people, adding that the foundation is considering running the conventional and alternative medical programmes as part of its annual medical outreaches which are usually held twice a year.

Ikani said the medical outreach is part of the foundation’s humanitarian services to communities and societies, adding that the foundation is partnering with the Usman Chiroma Alternative and Chinese Herbal Treatment Hospital to offer these services to the people in and around Kontagora.

“Now, we will have two medical programmes running in Kontagora as part of our annual medical outreach which would include the alternative and complementary medical outreach and the conventional medical outreach.

“Those that cannot be handled conventionally will be handled with alternative medicine. We now have option B in what we are doing. All these are meant to improve the health status of the people and provide treatments that would be beneficial to them,” he stated.

The Medical Director of the Usman Chiroma Alternative and Chinese Herbal Treatment Hospital, Dr Usman Chiroma noted that complementary and alternative medicine is long overdue to be integrated into the Nigeria medical system while other countries have integrated it as a field of medical health care.

He said there is no limitation on the type of disease that can be cured with complementary and alternative medicine.

Chiroma said if alternative and complementary medicine is integrated into the health system, it would reverse the trend of medical tourism. He further said that there are trained professionals in the practice and they need the legal backup that would enable the treatment to be recognised and widely accepted.

He called on the National Assembly to pass the Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicine (TCAM) Bill which will give room for those in this practice to integrate it into the health care system in the country.

“The National Assembly should speed up the passage of the bills so that we can have the Council of Physicians of Nigeria so that Nigerians can stop going outside the country for medical tourism as this aspect of medicine will take care of what the conventional medical aspect cannot handle.

“We have the manpower; we have the professionals in Nigeria. The government should encourage us so that Nigerians will stop spending resources that can be used to develop the medical field in the country by embarking on medical tourism to other countries,” he said.