The Nation Newspaper

Tag: North

  • Insecurity in North will soon be over, says IGP

    Insecurity in the North will soon be over, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Muhammad Dahiru Abubakar, has said.

    He added that normalcy is returning to Kano.

    The police boss said he was in Kano yesterday as part of the assessment tour of the country to ascertain the security situation.

    Abubakar, who noted that commercial activities are increasing, said his command would ensure peace and stability.

    He urged the police to be vigilant.

    “Peace is returning to Kano State. Security is improving and normalcy is being restored,” the IGP said.

    He added: “We are now putting in place additional measures to ensure that Kano is calm and secure. Commercial activities are increasing.”

    Abubakar thanked Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso for renovating some police structures.

    The governor said his administration would collaborate with the police to ensure that peace returns to Kano.

    He decried inadequate equipment, particularly operational vehicles, adding that logistics is hampering the performance of the police.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Northern traditional leaders battle polio

    •Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar

    The Federal Government has stepped up its effort to eradicate wild polio virus (WPV) in the country, with focus on endemic states in the North, but it was traditional rulers in the region who drove the campaign.

    The government kicked off the latest activities in Sokoto State through the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) whose personnel were in the state capital to sensitise residents on the need to immunise their children.
    Personnel of development partners such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organisation (WHO), among others, were also at the seat of the caliphate to help halt the spread of the polio virus in the region.

    Traditional leaders, however, played a leading role, with the respected Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III coordinating activities.

    Emirs and chiefs from the region, under the auspices of Northern Traditional Leaders Committee on the Eradication of Polio, were actively involved, with no fewer than 35 of them present at the one-day sensitisation session which held at the Sultan’s palace.

    The committee questioned the exclusion of some children under five years old from polio vaccination and routine immunisation programmes.
    The 10 endemic states under the committee’s focus are Kano, Kaduna, Borno, Yobe, Sokoto, Jigawa, Katsina, Niger and Zamfara.
    Sultan Sa’ad asked: “Are some people hiding under polio eradication to feed fat at the expense of our collective effort to fight it? The welfare and health of our subjects are fundamental to us. We are role models to them.”

    Head of Immunisation and Polio vaccine unit of the NPHCDA, Dr. Zubairu Mahmud, urged concerted efforts to stamp out the scourge.
    Dr. Ado Muhammad, Executive Director of the NPHCDA, said optimistically that Nigeria will halt the spread of the WPV by 2015.
    He noted that the major challenge of the crusade lies with local government areas where prevalence is high.
    “We want to vaccinate those settlements by ensuring maximum coverage,” he said.

    The Sultan told reporters that all necessary mechanisms were being put in place to ensure effective implementation of the crusade, which he said “cuts across 209 ward settlements”.