The Nation Newspaper

Tag: GOMBE

  • Protest – Over 500 vehicles trapped along Gombe –Yola road

    Some women from Billiri town of Billiri Local Government Area in Gombe state on Friday barricaded the Gombe to Yola highway, trapping passengers traveling along the road.

    The News men reports that the women, who painted their faces in black colour, are protesting the perennial clashes between communities in Billiri, Shongom and Kaltungo Local Government Arejawhat they fewer than 500 vehicles coming from Yola to Gombe were reported trapped on the roadi on Friday following the blocking of the highway by women protesters from Billiri Local Government Area of Gombe.

    An eye witness, Malam Hussaini Mbar, a staff of the News Agency of Nigeria who was on transit to Yola told our reporter on the phone, that the women, who painted their faces in black blocked the highway causing a grid lock.

    Read Also: FADAMA distributes farm input to 880 in Gombe

    The news men gathered that the women were agitating against what they described as the perennial communal clash between the Tangale speaking people of Billiri, Shongom and Kaltungo LGAs.

    The news men also reports that the motorists and travelers were stranded for several hours as they could not move out nor come into Billiri.

    Another eye witness who is a resident of Billiri, who pleaded for anonymity, said that schools in the area were closed down as a result of the protest while students were seen leaving their school premises en mass.

    The Police spokes persons in the area, DSP Mary Malum, confirmed the protest adding that a team of mobile police had been deployed to the area to ensure that normalcy returned.

  • FADAMA distributes farm input to 880 in Gombe

    The FADAMA III Additional Financing (AFII) Programme has distributed farm input to 880 households of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and their host communities in Gombe for the cropping season.

    The Communication Officer of FADAMA III (AFII) Programme, Malam Yakubu Mohammed,  who spoke in Gombe, said the farm input included insecticides, fertilisers and improved seed varieties.

    He said the farm input were distributed across the 11 local government areas, adding that aim of the exercise to boost food production.

    “We distributed the farm input to the IDPs because we want them to go back to the farm, in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s policy to encourage food production and reduce the people’s dependence on imported food,” he said.

    Mohammed said the programme also supported 120 IDPs who engaged in dry-season rice cultivation, adding that most of the beneficiaries had harvested their paddy.

     

  • Cholera kills prison inmate in Gombe

    An outbreak of cholera has claimed one inmate at the Gombe Central Prison with eight others hospitalised, an official has confirmed.

    The state Epidemiologist, Dr David Karatu, disclosed this in Gombe on Friday during a visit to the prison by officials of the state Ministry of Health.

    Karatu said when the prison officials noticed the outbreak they contacted the ministry for action.

    According to him, at the time of the visit, nine inmates had been infected, out of which one died and eight hospitalised.

    “Five of them were treated and certified free, and the remaining three are still on admission,’’ he said.

    The epidemiologist disclosed that the state has recorded 75 cases so far with five deaths.

    He explained that three deaths were recorded last week, with another earlier this week plus the one inmate, making a total of five deaths.

    The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that three children of Madaki Tsangaya Islamic School died of cholera and 27 persons were hospitalised last weekend.

    Presenting some preventive commodities to the prison officials, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Kennedy Ishaya, emphasised the need for personal hygiene, which he said is the major preventive.

    Read Also: Cholera claims 3 in Gombe, 27 hospitalised

    He said the commodities donated to the prison include disinfectants, antiseptic antibiotics, oral dehydration hypochlorite for cleaning the environment and personal hygiene.

    Ishaya said relevant agencies had been mobilised to evacuate the waste in the prison.

    Malam Mato Adamu, the state Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), commended the state government for the intervention and appealed to the prison authority to utilise the commodities judiciously.

    Receiving the item, Mr Haruna Lawrence, the Deputy Controller of Prisons, thanked the state Ministry of Health for the prompt response and intervention.

    He described the condition of the prison as pathetic because all the facilities were overstretched.

    He promised to make use of the items donated to the prison judiciously. 

  • $322m Abacha loot: Cash transfers to poor homes begin in July

    The Federal Government says it will commence disbursement of the recovered 322 million dollars Abacha loot through Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) to 302,000 poor households in 19 states in July.

    Mr Tukur Rumar, of the National Cash Transfer Office (NTCO), said this at a roundtable on assets recovery organised by the Swiss Embassy on Thursday, in Abuja.

    The event was organised to intimate citizens and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on the efforts both nations were making on asset recovery after the Post-Global Forum on Assets Recovery (GFAR) held in Washington D.C. in Dec. 2017.

    At the forum, Nigeria made commendable commitments on beneficial ownership, tax transparency, asset recovery, transparency management of recovered funds and payments to victims of corruption.

    The states are: Niger, Kogi, Ekiti, Osun, Oyo, Kwara, Cross River, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarrawa, Anambra and Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs) in Borno.

    According to Rumar, the benefiting households will receive N5,000 monthly and are derived from the National Social Register (NSR) that the 19 states are already on.

    He said the programme was designed to also train beneficiaries on livelihood skills, social skills and other programmes that would change their lives completely.

    Rumar, however, said that NCTO had been making payments to the 46,000 poor and vulnerable households across the 19 states since Dec. 2016, adding that the number had increased to 290,000.

    Mr Iorwa Apera, the National Coordinator, National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO), said 503,055 households were already on the NSR register from the 19 states, adding that by July, there would be a social register for all the states of the federation.

    He said that of the Abacha loot, about 302,000 poor homes across the 19 states would be mined by the NCTO to begin to receive the Abacha loot.

    Apera told the participants that the Federal Government would begin with those states, because they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NASSCO to put in place certain infrastructure to empower the national register.

    “Some of the states delayed, but the other ones were quick enough to set up infrastructure that allowed us to start work there, but all the states are now on board as they have set up their state operating offices and donated office equipment to us.

    “As states come on board, we enroll and so they extend to the beneficiary register, and presently we are generating data in all the states now,’’ he said.

    Read Also: EFCC launches probe as $500m Abacha loot goes missing

    Mrs Linda Ekeator of the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment said the Abacha loot was invested in the social investment programme, because it was a programme that was already supported by the World Bank.

    She said that before the money was returned to Nigeria, there was an agreement with the Swiss government that it should be used for alleviating poverty and this was to be done with the supervision of the World Bank.

    The Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Eric Mayoraz said the 722 million dollars of the Abacha family money that was hidden in Switzerland was fully repatriated in 2005.

    He also said that the 322 million dollars that was repatriated in Dec. 2017, was money that was frozen by the Swiss Attorney-General, but was not domiciled in Switzerland, but in other countries, mainly Luxembourg.

    He, however, said measures had been put in place to ensure that Swiss banks were not used to hide stolen funds from other countries.

    “For possible new cases, the Swiss legislation has fundamentally changed.

    “The law in Switzerland does not allow bank secrecy anymore, and all banks and financial institutions have a due diligence duty to ask everyone coming with money where it is coming from.

    “That does not mean that there are no illegal or stolen assets now in Switzerland, but then there is another instrument I signed myself with the Nigerian Ministry of Justice and Switzerland two years ago on mutual legal assistance and this is for new cases.

    “Now, this agreement with our own Ministry of Justice and Nigeria is that there will be direct communication and exchange on mutual legal request and we are really collaborating with EFCC and other agencies in Nigeria,’’ Mayoraz.

    The Executive Director, ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor, said for Nigerian citizens to not keep spreading rumours about the whereabouts of recovered loots, the government must be transparent in all the processes.

    He also said that CSOs should be given access to the social register to enable it monitor properly whether or not the beneficiaries received what was due to them.

  • Cholera kills three pupils in Gombe

    •27 hospitalised

    Three pupils of Tsangaya Islamic School, Madaki, Gombe State, have died of cholera. Twenty-seven others are hospitalised.

    Commissioner for Health Dr Kennedy Ishaya confirmed this yesterday during an inspection visit to Madaki Primary Healthcare facility where the victims are hospitalised.

    He said within three days, 30 children from the school had contracted the disease of which three had died.

    Ishaya added that 15 were treated and discharged while 12 were still receiving treatment at the facility.

    According to him, the government has stocked all health facilities with sufficient drugs and advised people to report any suspected case to the nearest facility.

    The commissioner also appealed to the health personnel to take necessary steps to avoid the risk of infection.

    He said: “Make sure you observe Nightingale principles – no chewing of kola or gum during working hours.

    “Come to the hospital with two pairs of clothing. When going home, drop the one you worked with and wear another one.”

    He also appealed to Muslim faithful to use water from a pure source for ablution to avoid contamination.

     

  • Cholera claims 3 in Gombe, 27 hospitalised

    Cholera outbreak at Tsangaya Islamic school, Madaki, in Gombe, has led to the death of three pupils while 27 others were hospitalised.

    Dr Kennedy Ishaya, Gombe state Commissioner of Health confirmed the outbreak to newsmen in Gombe on Sunday during an inspection visit to Madaki Primary Health Care facility where the victims are hospitalized.

    He said within three days, 30 children from Tsangaya Islamic school had contracted the disease out of which three had died.

    Ishaya said 15 were treated and discharged while 12 were  still receiving treatment at the facility.

    According to him, government has stocked all health  facilities in Gombe with sufficient drugs and advised people not to hesitate to report any suspected case to the nearest facility.

    The commissioner also appealed to the health personnel working in the  health facilities to take all necessary steps to avoid the risk of infection.

    “Make sure you observe Nightingale principles; no chewing of kola or chewing gum during working hours.

    “Come to the hospital with two pairs of clothing.  When going home, drop the one you worked with and wear another one ,’’ he said.

    He also appealed to Muslim faithful performing ablution to make sure they used water from good source to avoid contamination.(NAN)

  • NiMet predicts thunderstorms, rains on Thursday

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted prospects of thunderstorms with rains over the central states such as Makurdi, Jos, Taraba, Kaduna, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Abuja, Bauchi and Gombe on Thursday morning.

    NiMet’s Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office in Abuja on Wednesday also predicted day and night temperatures in the range of 26 to 30 and 18 to 24 degrees Celsius respectively.

    It added that Bida, Minna, Abuja, Lafia, Lokoja, Jos and Ilorin axis were envisaged to experience thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening hours.

    The agency predicted that the southern states would experience moderate rains over the entire coastal cities and southeast inland such as Enugu, Owerri, Awka and Abakaliki axis in the morning hours.

    It also predicted localised rain/showers over the coastal and inland states later in the day with day and night temperatures in the range of 28 to 30 and 21 to 24 degrees Celsius respectively.

    According to NiMet, northern states will experience thunderstorms with rains over Maiduguri, Nguru, Katsina, Kano and Dutse axis in the morning hours.

    “Sokoto, Gusau, Yelwa and Kebbi will have prospects of thunderstorm with rains in the afternoon and evening hours with day and night temperatures of 33 to 37 and 21 to 27 degrees Celsius respectively.

    “There are prospects of thunderstorms and rains over several parts of the country with varying intensities in the next 24 hours,” NiMet predicts.

  • NiMet predicts cloudy skies, rains, thunderstorms for Saturday

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudy weather conditions over the central states of Nigeria on Saturday morning with prospects of thunderstorms and moderate rains over Niger and Yelwa.

    NiMet’s Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office in Abuja on Friday also predicted day and night temperatures in the range of 28 to 36 and 17 to 24 degrees Celsius, respectively.

    It added that thunderstorms were expected to prevail over Mambilla Plateau, Abuja, Ibi, Yola, Lokoja, Makurdi and Ilorin in the afternoon and evening hours.

    The agency further predicted that the southeastern states would experience cloud weather condition in the morning with prospects of moderate rain showers over Port Harcourt, Calabar and Yenagoa with day and night temperatures of 31 to 33 and 22 to 26 degrees Celsius, respectively.

    Read Also: NiMet predicts cloudy skies, thundery activities for Sunday

    It also predicted thunderstorms and moderate rain showers over Ekiti, Benin, Akure, Osogbo, Enugu, Owerri and the coastal cities later in the day.

    According to NiMet, Northern States will experience cloudy to partly cloudy morning with prospects of moderate thunderstorms over Gusau, Katsina, Bauchi, Gombe and Kano.

    “Northern States are also expected to have day and night temperatures in the ranges of 34 to 42 and 23 to 27 degrees Celsius, respectively.

    “Cloudy skies with prospects of isolated thunderstorms and rain showers are expected over some part of the country with varying intensities in the next 24 hours”

  • Police recover Gombe assembly’s mace

    The Police in Gombe State announced, on Friday, the recovery of the mace of the state’s House of Assembly, forcefully taken away a scuffle by some members during plenary on Thursday.

    Police Commissioner Shina Olukolu, told newsmen in Gombe that the mace was found around National Industrial Court in the state capital early yesterday.

    The mace, the symbol of authority of the legislature, was whisked away by some aggrieved members of the assembly after a failed attempt to change their leadership.

    Olukolu said:“you will recall that yesterday, May 24, at about 1.30 p.m. the mace, the symbol of authority of Gombe state House of Assembly, was taken away by an honourable member of the house in the company of others.

    “The incident was allegedly occasioned by the dispute over leadership change of minority principal officers of the house.

    “On receipt of the information, the Commissioner of Police visited the scene and heightened the security architecture already in place in the command based on the directives of the Inspector-General of Police.

    Read Also: The stolen arts of Tola Wewe

    “The pressure made them consequently to abandon the mace by the National Industrial Court in the state and it was recovered early on Friday.

    “The mace is, therefore, today being handed over to the Speaker for his retention and use,’’ he said.

    Receiving the mace from the police, Speaker Nasiru Nono commended the police and other security agencies in the state for the proactive steps they took, which led to the recovery of the mace.