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Tag: Katsina

  • Sallah: 11 youths die in road accident in Katsina

    The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Katsina State has confirmed that 11 youths lost their lives in a road accident Sunday night while celebrating Sallah.

    Mr Godwin Ngueku, the Katsina Sector Commander of the corps, confirmed the incident to newsmen on Monday in Katsina.

    Ngueku said that the accident occurred when on a Peugeot Saloon Car carrying the youths had a head-on collision with a tipper truck along Katsina-Niger Republic highway.

    “The accident happened about 8:00 p.m. along the Katsina-Niger Republic international road. All the occupants of the Peugeot saloon car died at the scene of the accident.

    Read Also: Sallah disaster: 6-year-old electrocuted at Minna Murtala park

    “The corpses were evacuated to the Katsina General Hospital mortuary at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday evening. The family members of the victims have started picking the corpses for burial,”Ngueku said.

    The sector commander appealed to parents to caution their children against reckless drinking and driving along the highways.

    It was noticed that there were several minor road accidents during the Sallah celebration in the state.

    NAN

  • 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”

  • Katsina donates to disaster victims

    The Katsina State government, through the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), is distributing relief materials, including food, clothing,  cash, and others to victims of the rainstorm and fire in Katsina and Funtua councils.

    SEMA’s Executive Secretary Aminu Waziri, in an interview, said the agency had been visiting affected villages and communities to distribute relief materials.

    “We considered the victim’s cultural affinity by not relocating them far away from their environment. The injured were also given medication and N20,000, while bereaved families will be compensated in any little way the government can afford.”

    Waziri said building materials will be given to those who lost their houses.

    “SEMA is prepared to handle disaster and properly funded to respond to disaster management,” he added.

    Victims of the fire, which consumed five shops at Idris Memorial GSM market in Funtua council, got N2.5 million, representing 50 per cent of their losses of about N5 million, to enable them go back to their businesses

    Waziri noted that the agency is not out to totally compensate victims, but its primary focus is on disaster reduction, which is in line with Governor Aminu Masari’s restoration agenda.

    He said: “We considered the multiplier effect and the economic activities of not less than 100 people who are likely to benefit from activities of these traders, the traders presented their plight to the governor in a forum and the governor ordered the agency to intervene.”

  • Rainstorm kills 6, destroys Air Force Base, 583 houses in Katsina

    Rindstorms on Friday night killed no fewer than six persons following the first rainfall of the year in Katsina.

    The windstorms also destroyed buildings belonging to the 213 FOB, Nigeria Air force base in Katsina and 583 residential houses.

    Reporters that called at the Air Force base for pictures of the damaged buildings were turned back by the Officer- in- Charge who said he was not authorised by his superiors.

    The downpour, which started at about 5:30 pm lasted for about one and half hours, rendering thousands of residents homeless.

    The affected communities were Kukar-Gesa, Shinkafi ward A and B in Modoji village, Ambassadors’ Quarters, Makera, Company, and Kambarawa.

    Victims were seen squatting with friends and relatives in some communities with government yet to provide relief materials or temporary camps for them.

    The Executive Secretary of Katsina State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dr. Aminu Waziri, told reporters: “In Kukar-Gesa 100 houses were affected, Shinkafi Ward A and B 150 houses were destroyed, and Ambassadors’ Quarters 70 houses were also affected, while at Makera village 40 houses, Company 30 houses and Kambarawa Quarters 100 houses were completely destroyed by the rainstorm.

    “Other places affected by the heavy downpour are army barracks and the Nigerian Air Force base where a total number of 53 houses including the administrative block of the Nigerian Air Force nursery and primary schools were damaged.”

    The SEMA secretary further assured affected residents that necessary measures would be taken by the state government in no distant time to alleviate the suffering of victims in the affected villages.

     

  • UNICEF targets 501,749 out-of-school children in northern states

    The United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) says it hopes to expand access to quality education for 501,749 out-of-schildren in four states in the north by 2020 under its Cash Transfer Programme (CTP).

    The CTP is being implemented in Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara under the Educate A Child (EAC-CTP) and Girls Education Project phase 3 (GEP3-CTP) project across 18 Local government Area in the state.

    UNICEF Education Specialist, Azuka Menkiti, disclosed this at a two-day workshop for Education Correspondent in Sokoto, on Wednesday.

    The workshop was organised by the Child Rights Information Bureau ( CRIB ) of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ).

    The CTP is a UNICEF Programme which hopes to increase enrollment in schools and also keep pupils in school by giving their parents money to provide human capital development for them children.

    The target under its EAC-CTP intervention is to reach 41,391 child beneficiaries and their female caregivers in four years: 31,044 in Kebbi State and 10,347 in Zamfara State.

    “The overall goal of EAC is to expand access to quality basic education for 501,749 out-of-school children (OOSC) by 2020 in Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.

    “Our main hope is that by 2020, we will be able to bring 501,749 into school. That is almost half a million who are missing education.

    “The project is being implemented in partnership with target state governments, which have a high-burden of out-of-school girls, in northern Nigeria.

    “Through its interventions, GEP3 aims to improve access, retention and quality ensuring that learning outcomes for girls improve,” she said.

    She identified poverty as a major reason why children, especially girls, are not attending primary schools in the north.

    According to her, the focus of UNICEF is to increase access of children in the north to education and to ensure that quality learning actually took place in primary schools.

    She said enrollment had increased in states where the cash transfer intervention project had been implemented by UNICEF.

    “Cash transfer comes quickly as a very good solution that will reduce poverty. The main purpose is to reduce the poverty related reasons that prevent boys and girls from going to schools.

    “Cash transfer addresses solely issues of enrollment. It is directed at addressing demands in education,” she added.

    Commissioner for Higher Education, Sokoto, Dr: Muhammed Kirgori, said the state governor, Aminu Tambuwal had declared a state of emergency on education in the state in order to address the challenges of out-of-school children in the state.

    The commissioner said the state government was concerned by the huge figures of children not going to school.

    This, he said, has made the government to come up with short, medium and long term solutions to the problem of education in the state.

    He also said the state government had released 500 million to sustain the cash transfer  Programme in the state.

    “We key into the cash transfer programme of UNICEF and other partners because of the impact it has made in the sampled local government.

    “We have introduced the Programme in all the twenty three local governments in the state,” he said.

  • Katsina Govt. lauds FG over ban on codeine

    Katsina State Government has commended the Federal Government for its recent ban on the local production and importation of codeine as a addictive cough syrup.

    Gov. Aminu Masari made the commendation on Thursday in Daura during a one-day zonal roundtable workshop on the phenomenon of drug abuse in the state.

    Masari was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Mustapha Inuwa.

    He described drug abuse as one of the illicit practices engaged by the youth which ruined their future and send them to the early graves or subject them to mental retardation.

    “ We need to put all hands on deck to curtail the menace,’’ he said.

    He disclosed that the state government had trained and empowered 1,000 youths on various skills.

    They include: ICT; poultry and fish production; vegetable oil extraction and tailoring, adding, “ we would recruit 5,000 youth as teachers under the newly-introduced S Power programme.

    The governor called on lawmakers, traditional and religious leaders, parents and wealthy individuals, among other stakeholders, to partner with the state government in curtailing drug abuse, stressing that youth are the leaders of tomorrow.

    He described the partnership between the Peace Builders Security Concepts, organisers of the workshop, and the state government in curbing the instances of youth restiveness and drug abuse, as appropriate.

    “The Peace Builders Security Concepts remains a good partner for the initiative,’’ he said.

    Read Also: Codeine ban: NDLEA arrests 17 suspects

    The Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Farouk, represented by the Turakin Daura, Alhaji Musa Abdurrahaman, lauded the state government for partnering with the NGO in the fight against drug abuse.

    He described the workshop as timely, and assured of the unconditional support of the traditional and religious leaders in his domain toward the success of the initiative.

    Malam Ibrahim Katsina, the Executive Director of the Peace Builders Security Concepts, called on the youth to shun practices that would destroy their future.

    Katsina also called for the cooperation of the youth and parents in detecting and arresting drug dealers, consumers and the barons.

    He said the NGO was collaborating with the NDLEA and other security agencies in checking drug abuse.

    Zainab Salisu, a participant, said the workshop was timely, as according to her, drug abuse and addiction had generated different diseases in the addicts.

    She said most cases of house burglary, rape and other criminal activities were usually committed under drug influence.

    NAN

  • Driver arraigned for allegedly breaking pedestrian’s legs

    A 32-year-old driver, Awalu Ibrahim, whose truck’s tyre removed on motion and knocked down a pedestrian, was on Monday brought before an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court.

    The accused driver, who resides in Katsina State, is facing a three-count charge bordering on reckless driving and manslaughter.

    Insp. Clifford Ogu, the Police Prosecutor, told the court that the offences were committed on April 22 on Akilo Road, Ogba in Lagos.

    Ogu alleged that the accused drove his truck recklessly and in the process, one of the tyres unscrewed itself on motion and hit the complainant, Mr Sikiru Lawal, and broke his legs.

    “The complainant was on his way home when one of the right tyres of the truck, driven by the accused, removed while on high speed and knocked Lawal into the gutter.

    “The accused was about to run away when some passersby apprehended him,’’ the prosecutor said.

    The offences contravened Sections 18, 19 and 26 of the Road Traffic Law of Lagos State, 2012.

    The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    The Chief Magistrate, Mr J.A. Adegun, granted the accused N100, 000 bail with two sureties in like sum and adjourned the case until May 16.

    NAN

     

  • Buhari arrives Katsina for APC ward congress today

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday arrived Katsina enroute Daura for the All Progressive Congress (APC) ward congress scheduled to hold today.

    The President, whose aircraft, an Air Force Jet 1, touched down at Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Airport at exactly 4.28 pm, was received on arrival by Governor Aminu Bello Masari and members of the state executive council, security chiefs, leading members of the political and business class, and the state chairman of the APC, Alhaji Shittu S. Shittu

    The Nation recalls that the APC had earlier fixed dates for congresses at all levels, contained in a statement released by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi.

    The party had previously scheduled ward congress for May 2; local government congresses, May 5; and state congresses, May 9, respectively, with the national convention scheduled for May 14.

    But in the newly revised time table, the ward congresses will now hold on May 5; local government congresses on May 12 and state congresses on May 19.

    Abdullahi further added that the date for the National Convention had been rescheduled to hold in June.

    Meanwhile, the newly constituted state congress committee, headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Mustapha Inuwa, has been holding meetings with members of the National Monitoring Committee to fine tune arrangements for a hitch-free ward congresses in the state.

  • ‘Masari has transformed Katsina’

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Katsina State, Ahmad Kabiru Abdullahi, has hailed Governor Aminu Masari for transforming the state within three years.

    Abdullahi, who addressed reporters in Lagos, said Masari had raised the bar of good governance through development projects in health, education and transport.

    According to him, his outstanding performance won him the 2017 Zik Prize for Good Governance.

    Abdullahi said the Masari administration built more than 500km of roads; spent over N10 billion to upgrade and rehabilitate public primary and secondary schools and re-equipped government hospitals with modern facilities.

    The government, through its liberal policy, brought many foreign investors to the state, he added.

    Abdullahi, who is the executive secretary of Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission, called on parents to support the government’s transformation agenda on public schools by sending their wards to school.

    He also advised the people to cooperate with the government so they could get more dividends of democracy.

  • Ramadan: Prices of foodstuffs increase in Katsina

    Barely three weeks to the start of the annual Muslim fasting period, otherwise referred to as Ramadan, the prices of foodstuffs have gone up in Katsina metropolis.

    A survey by our reporter in some of the markets on Monday in Katsina, showed that the price increase affected such staple foodstuffs as rice, beans, millet, maize and tapioca or garri.

    The prices of some of the foodstuffs have doubled while the costs of many other items have slightly gone up too in the markets”.

    For instance, the survey showed that the price of beans have doubled, as a 100 kilogramme bag of beans which previously sold at N20,000 now attracts N40,000.

    A 100kg bag of local rice, which was before sold at N22, 000, now attracts N45, 000

    The survey also indicated that a bag of millet that cost N8, 000 three months ago now sells at N16,000.

    Also, a 100kg bag of maize that formerly attracted N15, 000 now costs N32, 000 while a bag of garri that sold at N8,000 before now sells at N12,000.

    Alhaji Ahmed Musa, the state Chairman of Grains Dealers Association, told our reporter that the rise in the prices of foodstuffs was informed by the scarcity of diesel in filling stations.

    Musa also alleged that the drivers of heavy duty trucks were in the habit of charging high fares before they could bring goods to the markets.

    He called on the government to make diesel available in filling stations, so as to bring down the high cost of transportation.

    NAN