Commissioner for Health in Zamfara State, Alhaji Suleiman Gummi, has said no fewer than 80 people were killed by a cholera outbreak in the state in the last one month.
Cholera patients
The commissioner told newsmen on Tuesday, March 14 2017 in Gusau, the state capital, that 500 others were currently receiving treatment at various health facilities in the state.
He said the disease had spread to 10 out of the 14 local government areas (LGAs) of the state.
Gummi stated that the state government had established special camps and had deployed medicine and health personnel there to contain the situation.
He added that the state government had reported the case to the Federal Government and more medical support were being expected.
The commissioner appealed to the citizens of the state to keep their environments clean and also ensure to prepare their food under hygienic conditions.
The LGAs affected are Bungudu, Maru, Maradun, Talata-Mafara and Bakura.
Others include: Shinkafi, Anka, Kaura-Namoda, Birnin-Magaji and Zurmi.
Cholera is an infectious disease that causes severe watery diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration and even death if untreated. It is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae.
The Lagos State Government has urged motorists plying the Otedola under-bridge area to cooperate with traffic officials as traffic under the bridge will be narrowed to a single lane for four days starting from Wednesday, March 15 2017.
A blocked drainage channel in Lagos
This follows the commencement of excavation works of the ongoing construction of Omole Jubilee Estate/Agiliti drainage channel.
The excavation works is to give room for the construction of culverts to de-flood Omole, Magodo, Shangisha, Agiliti, Mile 12, Otedola under-bridge and parts of Alausa.
Motorists were therefore enjoined to drive carefully and maintain a single lane, starting from the commencement date of the excavation works.
The statement by the State Government adds: “Lagosians are assured of the determination of the Lagos State Government to ensure a flood-free Lagos.”
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Monday, March 13 2017 said it would not extend the period of registration of candidates for its 2017 all Computer Based Test UTME.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede
The board’s Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, revealed this to newsmen on the sideline of a stakeholders’ meeting attended by owners of CBT centres nationwide.
It was organised by JAMB at the University of Lagos, Akoka.
According to Oloyede, registration of candidates for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination will be for a period of one month running from March 20 to April 19, as against the previous three months period.
He said that the essence of reducing the period of registration from three months to one month was to eliminate all ills associated with prolonged registration of candidates.
Oloyede said: “There will also be mock examination for prospective candidates and this examination will be purely optional.
“Those who register for the mock examination will sit for it on April 8, but the UTME proper will commence on May 6 to May 20.
“We have put in place facilities that will make it easy for candidates to register.
“For instance, as soon as a candidate creates his profile on his mobile phone, automatically we will send our e-syllabus and e-brochure into his e-mail.
“So, even before going to pay for the mock, he already has all the materials that he will need for the registration.
“We are also talking to CBT centre operators not to extort candidates just as we are also asking candidates not to pay now for the mock examination, which is purely optional.”
Oloyede said the mock examination had been made free by JAMB for interested candidates, adding that the gesture was part of the board’s corporate social responsibility.
According to Oloyede, candidates would pay N700 to owners of centres where they would be posted at the point of registration for the mock examination.
He said: “We will not charge fees for the mock examination because we want to do it as our own way of giving back to the society.
“But the CBT centres will be allowed to charge a token of N700 for the mock and it is at that point that all prospective candidates for the mock examination are expected to pay.
“There will also be no cash transaction.
“Candidates can use their ATMs or if they must use cash, they can pay into the banks to avoid extortion of any kind.
“This is because there are people out there that want to take advantage of these candidates’ naivety.
“So it is important for candidates to keep passwords to their e-emails, ATM cards and even registration numbers to themselves and safe, to avoid being exposed to those who might want to take advantage of them.”
The registrar added that over 600 public and private centres had been approved for the conduct of this year’s UTME nationwide.
Oloyede said that, so far, the board was satisfied with the level of readiness of the centres for the examination.
He added that the board would not accredit centres jointly owned by associations, adding that accreditation was based strictly on individual operator and those accredited as owner of CBT centre.
The registrar said the essence of the stakeholders’ meeting with owners of centres was to put finishing touches to the state of readiness ahead of the examination.
Oloyede said: “I started this morning by interacting with transporters, after which I met with the state coordinators and later with banks and now with CBT centre operators.
“The essence is to ensure that everybody involved in the preparation for registration of candidates for the examination will have adequate information and is carried along.
“We are equally distributing materials to centres all over the country; for instance, the e-syllabus and e-brochure will be distributed to every prospective candidate among other things.’’
No fewer than 400 CBT centre operators nationwide participated in the meeting.
The Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) has said that it will begin the sale of the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination forms on March 20.
Dr. Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Head of Public Relations
Dr. Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Head of Public Relations, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Bwari, the Federal Capital Territory.
Benjamin said the date was fixed following an agreement that was reached on the harmonisation of the examination timetable at a meeting with other exam bodies on January 24.
Benjamin said: “We will begin the sale of the admission forms on March 20, while UTME is scheduled to hold in May.
“We are ready to commence the sales of the 2017/2018 admission forms for UTME and Direct Entry forms on the said date.”
NAN reports that JAMB recently emphasised that it would organise an optional mock examination before the 2017 UTME.
Based on information published on its Twitter handle: @JAMBHQ, the date of the Mock examination will soon be announced.
According to the board, the purpose of the mock examination is to allow candidates “FEEL” what the main examination will be like.
The board, however, said the mock examination would be “completely optional” as it would not be a pre-requirement for writing the actual UTME.
It added that candidates can choose to either take the mock examination or not.
The board also disclosed that Interswitch Payment on the e-Facility portal has been temporarily disabled and that the list of its accredited centres soon be announced.
Manchester United manager, José Mourinho, has pointed the finger of blame at referee Michael Oliver, claiming the 32-year-old official had now cost his team four times this season, following the red card shown to Ander Herrera, during Monday night’s 1-0 FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Stamford Bridge.
José Mourinho
Thanks to Chelsea’s N’ Golo Kante’s 52nd minute bolt, which surprised De Gea and skidded past him into the far corner.
Herrera was dismissed in the first half for two fouls on Eden Hazard, following what looked like an edict to target the Belgium playmaker.
After Herrera finally accepted his fate, after much argument with the referee and teammates, the fourth official Mike Jones had to keep apart Mourinho and Chelsea’s manager, Antonio Conte, who engaged themselves in a touch-line argument.
After the dramatic match, Mourinho said: “Mr Michael Oliver, a referee with fantastic potential, Manchester United were a bit unlucky. In four matches, three penalties and one red card in such an early moment of the game, but again l cannot change that.”
According to statistics, Michael Oliver had this season refereed four Manchester United matches thus: won none, drew two, two losses, three penalties and one sending off.
Meanwhile, the draws for the semi-final matches, which was held immediately after the Manchester United /Chelsea match, will see Arsenal do battle with Manchester City, while Chelsea will face Tottenham.
Barcelona coach, Luis Enrique, has said that he got himself injured while celebrating his team’s stunning comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League battle.
Barcelona coach, Luis Enrique
Barcelona were 4-0 down to PSG from the first leg, but produced one of most memorable fight backs in recent memory to win 6-1 last Wednesday night.
Sergi Roberto’s winner sealed a 6-5 aggregate victory for the Spanish giants and sent the Nou camp into frenzy.
But Enrique, who will leave the club at the end of the season, revealed that he hurt himself in the chaos. “It was worth it. I was brought to my knees. It is a difficult night to explain with words. It was a horror movie, not a drama with a Camp Nou that I have seen very few times as a player or coach,” he explained.
Barcelona are the first side in the Champions League history to over turn a four-goal deficit from the first-leg, their 6-1 win over PSG featuring three dramatic late goals.
Even Manchester United did not need that many to make history there in 1999.
Of the Superstar trio, Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez, it was Neymar who did most to make the miracle happen, scoring two goals and winning a penalty before showing impressive composure to loft a pass into the path of Sergi Roberto in the final chance of the tie.
Indeed, the coach Luis Enrique, who has won an astonishing eight trophies out of a possible 10 over the past three seasons, is now looking for a for 11 from 13 by June, Top of La Liga, Copa del Rey favourites and still somehow – in the hunt for yet another Champions League trophy.
Tennis whiz-kid, Serena Teluwo, stunned the crowd with her superlative performance as she prodded herself to a dramatic 9-7 point victory over Reya Holmes of Britain at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club at the weekend.
Serena Teluwo
The 10-year-old Methodist High School (JSS1) student began the game with optimism as she won the first set with effortless ease.
However, Reya Holmes, a team mate of Teluwo in Coach Paul Moses stable, staged a dramatic comeback and fought her way back into contention. Teluwo looked well composed as she strived to overcome her rival, who showed no sign of tiredness as they drew 5-5 midway in their enthralling encounter, which drew plaudits from the tennis aficionados.
Urged on by her mother, Joy Teluwo, who was on the terrace, Serena assumed complete control as she coasted home 9-7 to win the U-10 Junior Tennis Circuit Cup, organised by a conglomerate of Oil companies, under the auspices of SNEPCO.
The tournament drew over 200 participants from many parts of the country, vying for honours in five different categories.
On Saturday, March 11 2017, the year’s edition of the NNPC/SNEPCo Junior Open Tennis Championships held at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club.
Lagos Liaison Officer, Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports, Dr. Segun Olaitan; Most Outstanding Female Player, 13-year old Rebecca Ekpeyong in the U-14 category; and the Human Resources Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, Mr. Obinna Anaba, during the presentation of trophy to Ekpeyong at the finals of the 2017 edition of the NNPC/SNEPCo Junior Open Tennis Championships held at the Lagos Lawn Tennis ClubLagos Liaison Officer, Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports, Dr. Segun Olaitan; Most Outstanding Male Player, 16-year old Phillip Abayomi in the U-18 category; and the Human Resources Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, Mr. Obinna Anaba, during the presentation of trophy to Abayomi
Speaking at the Community Forests Training held at Old Ekuri, Cross River State, on Saturday, March 11 2017, Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), says that the proposed Superhighway project met local, national and international outrage because of the threat it poses to the last tracts of rainforests in Nigeria
Monitoring-Protest (change to and use: Activists protesting over the proposed Superhighway)
Communities are best placed to monitor their forests because they live in the forests, depend on forest resources and readily notice threat and changes that occur in such forests. When the communities, such as yours, are especially dedicated to preserve forests, monitoring becomes a top priority. It is with this understanding that Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) is engaging in the training of forest monitors in your community. This exercise is a follow up to our earlier forest dialogues and training on forest EIA. We believe that you will further train other monitors so that we build a strong network of forest watchers and defenders.
The monitoring training is developed in modules covering aspects including what forests are, the laws and regulations cover our forests, the health impacts of forest degradation, tools and methods for forest monitoring, reporting and ecological defence. In the training process, we will also stress the fact that a plantation is not a forest. This is something you know very well because a plantation is an enclave of monoculture and cannot provide the services that forests provide. Moreover, plantations are often out of bounds to communities except for individuals sometimes employed to provide cheap labour on them. The expansion of oil palm plantations in this part of the country is already impacting on the Cross River National Park (CRNP) and community forests. This monitoring training will equip communities to document changes, unauthorised entries/encroachments and duly bring such to the attention of relevant government authorities.
This effort is being conducted with the support of the Small Grants Project of the Global Environment Facility (SGP/GEF) and is targeted at ensuring that the pristine community forests of Cross River State, Nigeria, as well as the CRNP are not degraded, destroyed or converted through any action or activity inimical to the interests of the people and the planet. The immediate threat to the forests in the Cross River State is the proposed six-lane Superhighway project that is supposed to stretch over a distance of 260 kilometres and connect a proposed sea port to Katsina Ala town in Benue State, Nigeria.
The Superhighway project met local, national and international outrage because of the threat it poses to the last tracts of rainforests in Nigeria and because the government also revoked your occupancy rights and that of individuals and other communities in the area lying within 10 km on either side of the proposed highway. The proclamation that the record-breaking land-grab was for the purpose of creating a development corridor was not bought by you or by other communities and the general public. HOMEF applauds your resilience and defence of your forests and our collective heritage. It is salutary that the government of Cross River State has announced that the revocation order has now been annulled. This is the sort of outcome that we can expect from frontline ecological defenders such as you in the affected communities. We use this opportunity to call on CRSG to issue a gazette affirming the annulment of the revocation order and declaring that the community forests and the CRNP must not be assaulted by any act of land use changes or infrastructure development. This is the way to protect our biodiversity for our good, for future generations and for the overall good of the planet.
We also call on the CRSG to assure the world that their threat to continue with the Superhighway project without an approved EIA was a grave error that would not be carried out. A situation whereby a state government flagrantly breaks the law would spell disaster for resource governance and could lead to a breakdown of law and order as the government itself would not have the standing to demand that project proponents within the state obey any of the state’s environmental regulations. We also note that the EIA in question has been shown to be unacceptable by the Federal Ministry of Environment and noted experts and groups including the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). As the WCS stated in one of their reports, “the listing of the small Indian mongoose and Chinese alligator [in the EIA] is truly shocking and strongly indicates that the consultants may not be competent or qualified to undertake a project of this magnitude and importance.”
We reiterate the call that the Superhighway should be realigned away from forests or, better still, the government should simply repair and expand the existing dilapidated highway. Above all, it is your commitment as forest dependent community people that can decisively stem the forces of forest degradation.
The Cece Yara foundation, an advocacy organisation, in line with its aim and vision to effectively tackle the menace of child sexual abuse, is set to open the doors of its ultra-modern relief and support centre in Lagos.
In recent times, research has shown that the incidence of child sexual abuse in Nigeria is growing exponentially, as statistics precisely state that one-in-four girls and one-in-10 boys experienced sexual violence before age 18.
As a response to these alarming figures, the establishment of the Cece Yara foundation is said to be a major breakthrough in the fight against child exploitation and sexual abuse. The Cece Yara foundation believes that childhood should be a phase of purity and complete innocence, a period when the character of an individual is formed. The phrase, “Cece Yara”, means “Save the child” in Hausa language.
The founder, Mrs. Bola Tinubu, a lawyer and a staunch advocate for children, believes that the future of every child, regardless of gender, race or social background, should be preserved. According to her, she is ready to take on the fight against sexual abuse amongst children, thus her drive and motivation for establishing and running the NGO.
The Cece Yara Child Advocacy Centre, it was gathered, provides a warm, safe and friendly shelter where survivors will be comfortable enough to rise above whatever experience they have been through. Having taken into cognisance the major problems which could arise from child sexual abuse, the centre is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities tailored to assist the psychological and physical healing process of the survivor with a fully operational 24 hour hotline ready to cater to those in distress.
The foundation strives to put in place programmes and campaigns aimed at preventing child sexual abuse, raising awareness on the issue and also giving the children a voice and a support system. One of the foundation’s recent accomplishments was getting justice for a six-year-old girl who was sexually violated by an adult male. The accused was reportedly detained and charged to court in October 2016. On the 16th of February 2017, the Cece Yara foundation was said to have claimed justice for the victim and the accused was sentenced to seven years imprisonment without the option of fine.
“The Cece Yara foundation played a pivotal role in bringing the sex offender to book while providing legal support and psychological healing to the ‘survivor’ and her parents, through its Victim Advocacy Program. The victory serves as a deterrent to perpetuators of child sexual abuse in the country and a source of succour to survivors and their families,” said Mrs Tinubu.
The centre will be opened officially to the public on the 19th of March, 2017.
