The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Bauchi State

  • Rate of death of newborn in Bauchi, alarming – UNICEF officer

    Mr Oluseyi Olusunde, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Health Officer in Bauchi said on Thursday that the rate of neonatal deaths in the state was alarming and called for urgent action.
    He stated this at a stakeholders meeting for situation analysis on newborn deaths in the state.
    “Out of every 1000 newborn, 161 are likely to die before their fifth birthday in Bauchi; this is far above SDG target.
    “For our newborn presently,we have about 11455 deaths of newborns every year in Bauchi, therefore Bauchi is number five in Nigeria in terms of newborn deaths,” he said.
    According to him, that is why the state government inaugurated a committee called Bauchi State Every Newborn Action Committee (BASENAC) to track implementation of policies that prevents newborn death.

    Read Also: 2.6m Nigerians under age five severely malnourished – UNICEF

    “With the partnership of UNICEF/EU and the state government, we will reduce newborn deaths in the state,” he assured.
    In his remarks, head of UNICEF, zone ‘D’Field Office, Mr Bhanu Pathak, said the state government had been doing its beat to reduce cases of neo-natal deaths, but added that there were some challenges that needed to be resolved.
    He said UNICEF would partner with the government to address the challenges.
    ‎Also speaking, Chairman BASENAC, Dr Robinson Yusuf, said the concept of the meeting was to sensitize the stakeholders on the bottlenecks identified as the cause of newborn deaths in the state.
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    “Investing in newborn and child survival and the most disadvantaged is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do,” he said.
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    Yusuf said the committee would subsequently come up with strategies and plan that would address the issues surrounding newborn deaths in the state.
    ‎Stakeholders that attended the meeting included traditional and religious leaders, health-related associations as well as personnel of ministries involved in efforts at reducing neonatal deaths, among others.

  • Execute people oriented projects – Abubakar

    Bauchi state governor, Mohammed Abubakar, has appealed to Corps members serving in the state to execute people oriented projects aimed at improving the living standard of the people.

    The governor made the appeal during the closing ceremony for 2018 Batch “B” Stream Two Orientation Course for Corps Members deployed to Bauchi and those dislodged from Gombe State jointly held at Wailo Orientation Camp.

    Represented by his Deputy, Audu Katagum, the governor said corps members as agents of positive change have contributed to the development of the nation in many facets, hence the need to intensify efforts on educational development of the two states.

    The governor, in a statement by the Director, Press and Public Relations, NYSC, Adenike Adeyemi, also appealed to the corps members to contribute their quota to the development of Information Communication Technology among students and youths in the country.

    The statement quoted the governor as saying: “Join hands with the government in rendering efficient services in the area of healthcare, education, social and infrastructural development and the promotion of sound Information Communication Technology knowledge among the youths.

    Read Also: NYSC boss praises Corps members’ honesty

    “You should remain focused and equip yourselves with the necessary entrepreneurial skills in a bid to actualize the industrial revolution drive of the country.

    “We shall continue to render necessary support to ensure that the trail blazing successes of the Scheme in all segments of our national life are sustained.”

    He urged them to pursue the post-camp component of the skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development training which would make them job creators and reduce unemployment.

    Bauchi State Coordinator of the scheme, James Afolayan, urged the corps members to be guided by the objectives of the scheme.

    He appealed to them to respect the culture and traditions of their respective host communities in order to contribute to their development.

  • ‘Lack of safe water affects children’s learning’

    A Community leader inJama’are Local Government area of Bauchi State, Alhaji Lawal Mohammed, says lack of safe water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene facilities affect children’s learning processes.

    Mohammed said this in an interview with our reporter in Azare, Katagum Local Government headquarters on Saturday.

    “We lack safe water in our communities, schools and the health facilities which affects learning process of children.”

    According to him, water scarcity in communities prevents many young children, especially girls, from attending school and receiving education.

    “They are expected not only to assist their mothers to fetch water, but also to help with household chores that are made more time-intensive because of the lack of readily available water.

    “Furthermore, the lack of clean water means the absence of sanitary facilities and latrines in schools, and so once puberty hits, this has a more serious impact on female children.

    “In terms of lost educational opportunity, school attendance drops or children skip class attendance day by day.”

    According to him, inadequate safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities affect the education, health, safety, and quality of life of children as children under the age of five die each year from diarrhoea.

    “Children in our communities go to schools which have no drinking water or clean latrines — basic things that many of us take for granted.

    ‎“Every child has the right to be in a school that offers safe water, healthy sanitation and hygiene education.”

    Read Also: Educate children on moral, lawyer advises parents

    ‎Mohammed stressed that providing quality water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in schools would reduce hygiene-related diseases and could help curb the schools days missed daily due to fatigue occasioned by search for water.

    According to him, girls are reluctant to continue their schooling when toilets and washing facilities are not private, safe, clean, or simply not available.

    The community leader, therefore, urged government, policy makers, school administrators, communities and parents to ensure that all children go to a school with child-friendly water, sanitation and hygiene facilities.

    He also urged decision-makers and key stakeholders to increase investment for WASH in schools, with the participation of communities, civil society, the media, students and children themselves.

    He said providing WASH facilities in schools would improve access to primary education, reduce child mortality and halve the proportion of people without access to safe water and basic sanitation.

    Mohammed commended the Network for Civil Society Organisations in Water and Sanitation (NEWSAN) and WaterAid Nigeria for launching the vote4WASH campaign, adding that it would go a long way in the quest for the provision of WASH facilities in the communities

  • Gov. Abubakar’s wife promises to tackle drug abuse

    The Bauchi State Governor‘s wife, Mrs Hadiza Abubakar on Friday promised to collaborate with stakeholders in the fight against drug abuse in the state.

    Abubakar made the pledge at the closing ceremony of two-day capacity building workshop for members of Bauchi state Drugs Control Committee and Ambassadors on Drugs Prevention and Substance Abuse in Bauchi.

    She said the workshop was organised by office of the governor’s wife and Ministry of Social Welfare, Youth and Sport, in collaboration with a Consultancy firm, House of Recovery, to create awareness on dangers of drug abuse among youth.

    Abubakar,who was represented by the wife of the deputy governor of the state, Mrs  Amina Katagum, lamented that cases of drug abuse by youth in the state was on the increase.

    “It is necessary for all stakeholders to be united in fighting the menace of drug abuse, which is capable of damaging the future of youths in the state,” she urged.

    Read Also: Lawyers hail Bauchi governor’s wife on award

    She said the workshop would reawaken the youth on the dangers of drug abuse as well as encourages them to engage in productive ventures.

    Earlier in her remark, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth Development, Mrs Lydia Shehu, had urged stakeholders not to remain aloof while youth that are the country’s future leaders destroyed themselves.

    “It is a collective responsibility of all to check the fast growing rate of drug abuse in the society, and not just the responsibility of government alone,” she said.

    ‎In her remark, the Chief Consultant of the House of Recovery, Mrs Hadiza Mohammed, said the workshop was aimed at creating awareness on the dangers of drugs abuse.

    ‎She urged the participants to be pro-active and work hard towards checking the menace in the society

  • Resignation: No personal issue with Saraki, says Senator Ibrahim

    The Senator representing Katsina South, Abu Ibrahim, on Monday said that there is nothing personal over his insistence that Senate President, Bukola Saraki, should resign his position following his defection to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

    Ibrahim noted that his resolve to ask Saraki to throw in the towel was a matter of principle which had no colouration whatsoever.

    The senator, who is also chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a party has taken over the push for Saraki to resign his position.

    He noted that since the APC has taken over the issue of Saraki, he would align with the party’s position on the matter at all times.

    The APC, he said, is bigger than all the members and should therefore spear head all issues affecting the party and its members.

    He said,”Our great party, the APC, is speaking for everybody on the issue of Saraki because the party is supreme. Since the party has taken over the matter of Saraki’s resignation, I have decided to align myself with the party’s position. There is nothing personal about the matter. There is no score to settle. It is just a matter of principle. Nobody is fighting Saraki, all the party is saying is that the right thing should be done at all times. Nothing personal whatsoever, it is rather a matter of principle.

    Read Also: Saraki: APC accuses PDP of falsehood

    “I align completely with the position of the party. The party is bigger than me. The party has effectively taken over the matter.”

    On the Senatorial by-elections in Katsina and Bauchi States which APC won, Ibrahim expressed happiness over the outcome of the elections.

    He described the results of the elections as a pointer to what will happen in 2019 general elections.

    The Katsina south lawmaker was particularly happy about the result of the Bauchi South election in a state where two senators recently defected from the APC to PDP.

    Senator Ibrahim is one of the senators who insisted that Saraki must resign his position when the Senate President defected from the APC to PDP.

     

  • APC candidate wins Bauchi South Senatorial by-election

    The All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, Mr Lawan Gumau,has won the Bauchi South Senatorial District By-election, held on Saturday.

    Announcing the result in Bauchi on Sunday, the Returning Officer, Prof. Ahmed Sarkin-Pagam, said Gumau scored 119,489 votes to defeat eight other contestants, amongst them, the immediate past governor of the state, Mr Isa Yuguda of the Green Party of Nigeria, who polled 33,079 votes.

    He said other candidates were Haruna Ayuba of ADC who garnered 1754 Votes; Aminu Tukur of APP who scored 11,717 votes; Usman Hassan of KP with 240 votes and Huseini Umar of NNPP who scored 22,896 votes.

    The Returning Officer gave the scores of the remaining candidates as Usman Chaledi of PDC, 1203 votes; Ladan Salihu of PDP,50,256 votes,and Mrs Maryam Begel of SDP, 3,800. votes.

    He said a total of 256,763 votes were cast, out of which 245,652 were valid and 11,111 invalid.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the by-election was conducted to elect a representative for Bauchi South Senatorial District, sequel to the death of Sen. Ali Wakili on March 17.

    With the outcome of the by-election, APC in Bauchi now has only one senator because the other two, Isa Misau and Nazif Gamawa, formerly of the APC, have defected to the PDP.

  • Bauchi gets new deputy governor

    Bauchi State House of Assembly has screened and confirmed the Architect Audu Sule Katagum as the Bauchi state Deputy Governor.

    The confirmation was made at a plenary session presided over by the Speaker Honourable Kawuwa Shehu Damina on Friday June 29,2018.

    Before his new appointment, Katagum was the Chief of Staff, Government House, Bauchi. He was nominated by Governor Mohammed Abubakar in June after wide consultation with stakeholders of the party, All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

    This followed a resignation of Engineer Nuhu Gidado in May as Deputy Governor.

    Read Also: Presidential team visits Bauchi

    Gidado was elected as Gov. Abubakar’s deputy after he failed to win the Governorship ticket ticket on same A.P.C platform at the primaries in 2015.

    The soft spoken Architect surprisingly, during the screening, spent less than five minutes answering questions by the 31member Bauchi House of Assembly.

    This happened barely after he was introduced. The Hon. Speaker Damina, declared the floor opened for members to ask the nominee questions.

    A member representing Bura constituency Abdullahi Sa’ad Abdulkadir, immediately, thereafter moved a motion that the nominee be cleared without much ado “because he is a well-known person in the state both within and outside government”

    The motion was seconded by Ibrahim Bello Katagum representing Katagum constituency after which the House confirmed the nominee as Deputy Governor.

    And adjoined he sitting for this week.

  • Those resigning from my govt. don’t want change – Bauchi Gov.

    Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, on Friday said that those resigning from office under his administration don’t want to embrace change.

    He spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He also said that there was nothing wrong between him and his deputy that resigned from office.

    He said “What transpired is in the letter of the deputy and I think people should read that letter. Read the entire letter and you will see that there was nothing bad that transpired between us.

    “His final paragraph is that he remains loyal to his leader and his brother. In my response I eulogized him and wished him the best in his future endeavour and assured him of the support of the good people of Bauchi State. There was no problem whatsoever.”

    On why it was easy for him to accept his resignation, he said “The word resignation connotes a will on the part of the person who has offered, he offered his letter willingly and there is no way you can force him to accept an employment when the time has come for him to look elsewhere.

    Read Also: Bauchi gets new judge

    Speaking on the working relationship between them, he said “We had the most fantastic working relationship. In his words and you can ask him, he has said several times that he is the most pampered deputy governor in Nigeria.

    On why other officials are leaving his government, he said “Because I have come to Bauchi state to endanger change and change is very very difficult for people to accept.

    “People are used to a certain way of doing business and I have come to change that way of doing business. Because, that way was destroying Bauchi State. So, we had to put a stop to it, we had to bring Bauchi state out of dungeon. I give people a chance and if you think you can go at my pace you stay and if you can’t go at my pace you resign.”

    When asked if his deputy resigned because he couldn’t go at his pace, he said “I don’t know.”

    Reminded that the spokesman to the deputy governor said on television that he resigned because he was not being treated as part of the government, Bauchi Governor said “I see. I think he is wrong. Go to the House of Assembly and check, I went on official leave twice since I took over and each time I transmitted a letter to the House of Assembly making him the acting governor of Bauchi.

    “Moreover, I gave him the most important ministry, ministry of education where I have been allocating the largest share of the budget of Bauchi state since 2008. That should answer your question.” he said

  • Bauchi residents paid N144 per litre of petrol in April

    The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says residents of Bauchi State bought a litre of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, at an average of N144.17 in April.
    The Bureau stated this in its PMS Price Watch for April 2018, released on Monday in Abuja.
    “Bauchi residents bought the product less than the approved price of N145 per litre in the month, while residents of Plateau bought the commodity at the approved price of N145,” the report said.
    It added that Abuja residents bought petrol at 144.95 per litre in the month under review.
    According to the report, states with the lowest average price of petrol were Plateau (N145.00), Abuja (N144.95) and Bauchi (N144.17) in the month.
    It named Kebbi, Kogi and Jigawa where petrol was sold at N163.71, N160.79 and N160.46 per litre, respectively, as states with the highest average price of the commodity.
    The report, however, stated that the average price paid by petrol consumers increased by 1.0 per cent year-on-year and -7.3 per cent month-on-month to N151.4 in April from the N163.4 recorded in March.
    Meanwhile, the National Household Kerosene Price Watch for April also revealed that the average price per litre paid by consumers for National Household Kerosene increased by 3.53 per cent month-on-month.
    The report, however, stated that the product’s price decreased by -0.82 per cent year-on-year from N268.99 in March to N278.49 in April.
    It stated that states with the highest average price per litre of kerosene were Abuja (N316.67), Cross River (N315.56) and Nassarawa (N309.52).
    The bureau stated that states with the lowest average price per litre of kerosene were Akwa Ibom (N247.22), Abia (N245.25) and Katsina (N244.87).
    Similarly, it stated that average price per gallon paid by consumers for Kerosene increased by 3.45 per cent month-on-month and decreased by -15.38 per cent year-on-year from N943.27 in March to N975.82 in April.
    It stated that states with the highest average price per gallon of kerosene were Jigawa (N1140.00), Yobe (N1100.00) and Kano (N1068.24).
    The bureau also added that states with the lowest average price per litre of kerosene were Abia, N900.00; Delta, N875.00 and Rivers, N844.74

  • ‘Codeine ban: A breakthrough in fight against drug abuse’

    Northern Governors’ Wives Forum (  NGWF  ) on Tuesday commended Federal Government for banning the production and importation of codeine syrup, saying it is a breakthrough in the fight against drug abuse.

    Hajiya Hadiza Abubakar, Chairperson of the forum and wife of Bauchi State Governor, gave the commendation in a statement signed by her Press Secretary, Rashida Yusuf in Bauchi.

    Yusuf stated that the governor’s wife expressed happiness over the ban, announced by Federal Ministry of Health on May 2, and described drug addiction among youths in the country as canker worm that had eaten deep into the fabric of societies.

    She quoted Abubakar as saying “the NGWF made the fight against drug abuse its priority intervention project.

    “The forum in collaboration with relevant stakeholders took holistic approach to curbing drug abuse in the country, particularly in the North where it was more pronounced.

     Read Also: Codeine: NAFDAC shuts Emzor, two Ilorin firms

    “Following training for northern governor’s wives from the six states of Benue, Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kogi and Bauchi, we are at various stages of implementing a work plan.”

    She said that the forum had set up a drug control committee, a drug community volunteer scheme, skill acquisition centres, as well as a female rehabilitation wing to eradicate the menace.

    She explained that the centres were expected to among other things; rehabilitate victims of drug abuse by counselling and providing moral support that would enable addicts to become useful members of the society.

    She urged stakeholders involved in the fight against drug abuse to ensure all hands were on deck to achieve the target of a drug-free society.

    She also urged parents to monitor their wards with a view to nipping detected untoward behaviours in the bud.

    NAN