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  • Covid-19: Face masks now compulsory for Nigerians, total lockdown in Kano -Buhari

    Covid-19: Face masks now compulsory for Nigerians, total lockdown in Kano -Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari has introduced total lockdown in Kano State while stressing that wearing of face masks in public places is now compulsory in the Nigeria.

    President Muhammadu Buhari has lifted the lockdown placed on the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun states after 28 days imposition.

    In a national address on Monday, President Buhari said he took the decision after recommendation from the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

    “Based on the above and in line with the recommendations of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the various Federal Government committees that have reviewed socio-economic matters and the Nigeria Governors Forum, I have approved for a phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos and Ogun States effective from Saturday, 2nd May, 2020 at 9am.

    However, this will be followed strictly with aggressive reinforcement of testing and contact tracing measures while allowing the restoration of some economic and business activities in certain sectors.

    He explained that the highlights of the new nationwide measures are as follows;

    Selected businesses and offices can open from 9am to 6pm;

    There will be an overnight curfew from 8pm to 6am. This means all movements are will be prohibited during this period except essential services;
    There will be a ban on non-essential inter-state passenger travels until further notice;
    There will be partial and controlled interstate movement of goods and services will be allowed to allow for the movement of goods and services from producers to consumers; and
    We will strictly ensure the mandatory use of face masks or coverings in public in addition to maintaining physical distancing and personal hygiene. Furthermore, the restrictions of on social and religious gathers shall remain in place. State Governments, corporate organisations and philanthropists are encouraged to support the production of cloth masks for citizens.Please follow and like us:
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  • COVID-19: Lagos Medical Personnel will be taken to Kano says Aliyu as PTF Reacts to Ganduje’s Allegations

    The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 said it has deployed seventeen of it’s members to help tame the Covid-19 and other health crisis in Kano State.

    The Nigeria’s National Coordinator of the PTF on Covid-19 Dr Sani Aliyu disclosed this Monday afternoon in an interview with the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC Hausa). Aliyu who was responding to the accusations of the Kano state government of negligence said his team has been working round the clock to ensure that testing centres are been activated in Kano.

    The Kano state government had on Monday morning disclosed to the BBC Hausa of the demands they made to the Federal Government on health facilities but are yet to be given any response.

    The PTF Covid-19 Coordinator also said that some of the medical personnel sent to Lagos will be redeployed to Kano. “…we have seventeen of our members already in Kano….and we have concluded all modalities to begin testing and proper treatments of patients in the state….. you will notice there are plenty of health personnel in Lagos, some of them will be taken to Kano…. we also hard meetings with the UN…. within the shortest period of time, testing will start in Kano. “Aliyu said.

    However, dismissed estwhile Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme Professor Usman Yusuf did not agree with the PTF coordinator. “it is pure politics, they can’t be playing politics with lives of kano people….” Usman told BBC Hausa. Asked why he said its politics since it is the same APC government in Kano and in the national level, Usman said “it is politics within themselves”. “….no one has the time to do this kind of their politics…. I have lost three of my colleagues who are professors and two other professors are still lying sick in Kano…. They are lying, no medical personnel have been sent to Kano, all hospitals are closing because they are not equipped…. Even in the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, the doctors have packed up because their are no facilities.

    Kano state is the worst affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic after Lagos in Nigeria.

  • Just in: Kwankwaso writes Buhari on mass deaths in Kano, begs FG to take urgent action

    Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso writes Buhari:
    His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR

    President Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Federal Republic of NigeriaAso Rock Villa,

    State House, Abuja.

    COVID-19 AND THE RISING INCIDENCES OF MYSTEROUS DEATHS IN KANO STATE: A CALL ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOR URGENT ACTION TO SAVE LIVES

    May I start by conveying my heartfelt condolence over the death of 32 Nigerians including Mr. President’s Chief of Staff, Malam Abba Kyari following their infection with the deadly coronavirus; may the souls of our departed countrymen rest in peace and may those who are tested positive for coronavirus have a speedy recovery.

    Mr. President, I feel obliged to write this letter to you for five reasons: one is the very scary rise in the number of people that are mysteriously dying in Kano every day since the commencement of the fight against Covid-19 and the eventual lockdown of the state; two is the uncoordinated and unprofessional manner in which the fight against the disease in Kano state is being waged and the attendant and unprecedented mistrust of the government by the governed; three is the near absence of cooperation and coordination between the state and the federal government on the covid-19 response; four is the frightening reality of the tendency of the present health emergency (which has already placed unbearable financial burden on both the citizens and the nation) to metamorphose into a security emergency; and five, is to offer some suggestions in the overall interest of the good people of Kano State and the success of the national effort against the covid-19 pandemic.

    Permit me Mr. President to draw your attention to the spike in mystery deaths among the aged population in Kano State in the last couple of weeks. Hundreds of funerals have been recorded in all the cemeteries of the eight metropolitan local governments alone. Looking at the pattern elsewhere in the world where senior citizens with preexisting conditions were the main fatalities of the novel coronavirus, we are concerned that the inability to conduct tests in the state to determine the status of these senior citizens might be responsible for their death. We are even more concerned that if sincere and efficient machinery is not urgently put in place to understand and mitigate against this, more lives of innocent senior citizens will be lost.

    At present, and to all intent and purposes, the state has practically no Covid-19 response committee. What was hitherto, working as a covid-19 committee was a contraption of cronies that are both unqualified and incompetent. As such they kowtow to the whims of politicians without any regards to professional healthcare considerations. The committee technically disbanded itself when majority of the members were tested positive for Covid-19.

    I should inform Mr. President that since the announcement of the positive results of the members of the committee, no test was ever conducted in the entire state again. This is very frightening as neither asymptomatic nor active cases are being identified and isolated, as such carriers of this dreaded virus are all about and spreading it and causing untimely death of especially our senior citizens.

    The stoppage of the tests coupled with series of revelations from within the isolation centre in Kano together with the state persistence in asking for financial assistance from the central government has deepened the already existing mistrust of the government by the governed. This lack of trust seriously jeopardizes the battle against coronavirus especially if it were to be led by the state.

    Mr. President in times of crisis like this, we require a robust and unifying leadership that will assure the citizens that it understands and shares its concerns; but unfortunately, the State Government is even denying that there is an unusual surge in the number of deaths in the state. This denial has also cultivated mistrust and doubt on the part of the citizens as the state government have failed to provide the desired leadership required at a critical time like this.

    Mr. President everywhere in the world, the fight against pandemic is being spearheaded and superintended by central governments. The W.H.O. and such other global bodies, for example, have no business liaising with states on matters of global pandemic. But right from the first recorded case in Kano, the state government was in a tug of war with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the federal agency vested with the responsibility of coordinating the fight against the disease. This is very counter-productive to the people of the state and a serious impediment to the success of the nation in the fight against the disease. Especially given the fact that as at today, the NCDC COVID-19 test centre at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) has closed down ‘due to lack of reagents’.

    Kano is the most populous state in the country and Kano city is one of the biggest in Africa. Experts have expressed concern that if the Kano situation is not handled professionally, sincerely, efficiently and competently, we have the tendency of becoming the epicenter of this disease in Africa in a matter of months. Every sincere leader should be concerned about this. Everything that ought to have been in place: from advocacy and awareness campaign to sensitize the public, to the provision of support (material, medical and emotional) to the citizens is conspicuously absent in Kano.

    Mr. President, in a state like Kano where large majority of its inhabitants earned their living from the informal sector and where big chunk of its citizens live below poverty line, there is no gainsaying that sustaining the lockdown in Kano demands that people are not left hungry. Any support in this regard should not be made on partisan basis. At the moment, the state government palliatives are being distributed based on political patronage (4 persons in each polling unit of 500 persons). This is grossly inadequate. A hungry and angry population cannot be kept in lockdown for too long!

    Mr. President, these concerns are what prompted me to write to you to proffer some suggestions that might go a long way to help in the fight against the virus in Kano State. It is my prayer that Mr. President consider the following:

    1. The situation in the state should not be seen by Mr. President as a state government matter that should be left to the state. The lives of tens of millions of Nigerians living in Kano state is at stake, as such the central government should be seen to be actively involved in caring for, and saving their lives. There is need for empathy;

    2. The federal government should take over the responsibility of rapid response on coronavirus in the state; 3.

    The State Government should be made to constitute a proper State Taskforce on COVID-19 with members selected base on their professionalism and competence;

    4. At least five additional test centres should be established with 10 other sample collection centres across the State;

    5. The Taskforce should designate trained medical personnel in all cemeteries across the state that will collect records of all deaths. While another team of medical personnel follow up with inquiry of the cause of death. Furthermore, those that attended to the sick and those that prepared the dead body for burial should also be identified, isolated and contact traced for testing;

    6. Since it is undeniable that there is a spike in the number of death and it is probable that these deaths are either as a result of COVID-19 or some other illness, the State Government and citizens should treat and consider all deaths as if it is caused by the virus; therefore all protocols as advised by medical experts be observed whenever death occurs;

    7. An independent Federal Government team of experts should be mandated to investigate the rise in cases of death in the elderly population across the State;

    8. Palliatives should be generous and general. The virus does not belong to any political party just as hunger and poverty are not partisan.

    Your Excellency, while commending Nigerians for their support to, and cooperation with the fight against the pandemic; we appreciate the sacrifices of our health workers and other frontline personnel providing other essential services. Let me also express my gratitude to numerous well-meaning Nigerians who are making enormous sacrifices with their wealth, skills and know how.

    Mr. President these concerns boarder on matters of life and death. The time to act on the Kano situation is now.

    Long Live the Federal Republic of NigeriaLong Live Kano State Sincerely,
    Signed

    Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso

  • COVID-19: Lagos, Kano, Benue, others order masks from Cross River

    COVID-19: Lagos, Kano, Benue, others order masks from Cross River

    As various states in Nigeria battle to contain the ravaging global pandemic, COVID-9, Lagos state government, Benue State and a Kano Business mogul, Alhaji Isiaku Rabiu, have separately placed orders for nose masks from the Cross River State Garment Factory.

    While Lagos State placed order for one million nose masks, Rabiu ordered for 100,000 pieces of the masks to assist the Kano state government contain the pandemic.

    Cross River state governor, Sir Ben Ayade who made the disclosure Monday at the Garment factory Calabar stated that production of masks has been ramped up at the factory following the orders.

    Apart from states, order organizations that have made orders for masks from the factory include construction giants, Julius Berger and DHL.

    “We have Julius Berger, a construction company that has made a massive order. Shoprite also has made a massive order. We have also received an order of one million masks from Lagos State government.
    “Alhaji Isaiaku Rabiu made an order for a hundred thousand masks for Kano state,” the governor disclosed.

    He said he was at the factory to carry out an inspection on quality control and ensure that the masks were made according to specifications.

    “As you can see, we are here at the garment factory to carry out an inspection on quality control of preparation of the masks and ensuring that by the time they finish the ironing process, it will go through a sterilization chamber which is an innovation”, Ayade said

    He disclosed that plans were under way to design military style masks for the military and para military organizations.

    According to him, the special masks will come with fitted special protection and air filtration systems.

    Ayade: “As you are all aware, Cross River State started the concept of cloth mask. So we want to use this opportunity to say we want to move into the new brand of a military mask which will have special protection and special air filtration as well as special breathing support systems to enable the military use it on a daily basis even in the face of a biological warfare ”

    The governor maintained said he has taken time to wear the mask in different combination of clothes to create awareness and to show that no matter how you dress, there is a mask that can fit with your dressing.

    “I have taken time to wear the mask in different combination of clothes not just for the purpose of wearing the mask but to create awareness on the use of the masks

    And also as a means of marketing that even if you are wearing a traditional attire, there are masks that can go with your dressing”

    “If you intend to go with a jean and a top it can still fit so whether you are young or middle aged or old, there is always a way and style that the mask will fit. And until Coronavirus is over, wearing masks has to become our way of life.”

    He expressed optimism that with the support of the federal government, Cross River State should be in a position to start exporting masks to other African countries in the near future.

    “I believe that with the support of the federal government, we should be in a position to start exporting masks to other African countries very soon.with our installed capacity at three shifts we can do close to a million masks a day and am happy the federal government is adopting wearing of nose masks as a national policy”, Ayade quipped.

  • Mysterious VIP deaths: Why Buhari cannot visit Kano now – APC

    Mysterious VIP deaths: Why Buhari cannot visit Kano now – APC

    The ruling party, All Progressives Congress, APC on Monday reacted to calls by main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP asking President Muhammadu Buhari to do on the spot assessment of the incessant deaths of prominent and non-prominent Kano indigenes and residents.

    According to a statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, said: “This is yet another infantile and desperate attempt by the opposition party to play petty politics with a serious matter of national and international importance.

    “The latest baseless accusation by the PDP that the APC-led government has not lived up to its responsibility of protecting the people of Kano State against the backdrop of some deaths recorded in the state is a case in point.

    “This allegation is not only baseless, but very irresponsible. It is false in its entirety. Shockingly, while all well-meaning organisations, home and abroad, and individuals are putting in positive shifts to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has rather chosen to dance on the graves of the unfortunate Nigerians that have been killed by the disease.

    “PDP has this rare opportunity to stand up to be counted by making positive contributions to end the scourge, but this opposition party thinks this is the time to politicise Coronavirus cases and deaths, particularly in Kano State.

    “We invite the PDP to borrow a leaf from the patriotic efforts being made by the cross-party platform, the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, who has kept politics aside and joined the President Buhari government in jointly, proactively and frontally combating the pandemic which is currently a threat to our very existence. The PDP must understand that only the living can play politics.

    “The APC would, once again, refresh the memory of the PDP, since the party appears irredeemably lost in its present, unenviable state of idleness and irrelevance.

    “Weeks before the pandemic hit Nigeria, this administration had started taking practical steps in preparation for it. The PDP may claim to be unaware, but emergency operations centres have been established in states to serve as coordination platforms and are networked to a national incident coordination centre.

    “Many states are now better equipped and prepared to coordinate within and across their borders in combating the coronavirus. From just about four testing laboratory centres, NCDC has 15 testing centres as at today with testing capacity increasing to over 3000 daily from just a few hundreds weeks ago.”

    “While it is clear that no single country, including the advanced nations, boasts adequate capacity to respond at once to this pandemic, and are all working hard to scale up capacity to contain the spread of COVID-19 and in the same vein making efforts to find a cure for it, the APC-led government has not been found wanting in protecting the lives of all Nigerians, except for PDP that is incurably irrational.

    “Nigeria has received commendations from bodies like the World Health Organisation, WHO, the European Union. The Presidents of West African countries under the aegis of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government have appointed President Muhammadu Buhari as Champion of the COVID-19 response.

    “Our successes achieved so far in our Coronavirus response happened without the insidious prodding of the PDP.

    “When the PDP held a rally in Oyo State in a most irresponsible manner and against public outcry, at a period the Corvid-19 cases had already been recorded in Nigeria, perhaps it was a deliberate effort by the opposition party to jeopardise the lives of the people of this country.

    “It is not surprising that the Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, who was making a joke of the pandemic got no cautionary words from PDP.

    “We may never know the damage caused by the ill-advised rally held by PDP in Oyo State. But it suits the opposition party to attack the Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje to score cheap political points.

    “To make the matter worse, quite unfortunately, the PDP is asking President Buhari to embark on a state visit to Kano. The opposition party believes that there should be a Presidential movement to anywhere in this country at this period, least of a densely populated city like Kano.

    “Have they suddenly forgotten what it means to have the President visit Kano State at a period like this that requires social distancing and when much of the country is under a lockdown order?

    “We urge the PDP to come clean on why it is asking the President to embark on a state visit now. Nigerians should ask PDP if it is praying that the whole of Kano and, indeed, Nigeria be swarming with COVID-19 cases and corpses in order to fit into its known and unpatriotic wishes against our beloved country.”

  • BREAKING: Three Kano COVID-19 patients abscond from their homes, switch-off mobile phones

    BREAKING: Three Kano COVID-19 patients abscond from their homes, switch-off mobile phones

    Three COVID-19 patients are on the run in Kano.

    The Coordinator of Kano Taskforce on COVID 19, Dr Tijjani Hussain, confirmed the development on Monday.

    He said the three coronavirus patients disappeared from their respective houses and have been unreachable.

    According to him, the patients have switched off their phones with their homes deserted.

    He said that they must have relocated elsewhere, stating that the Task Force was in search of them.

    “We are collaborating with security agents to track them and bring them to the isolation centre,” Hussain said in an interview with The Nation.

    Kano has 77 confirmed cases with three recorded death.

    Details shortly…

  • Covid-19: ‘Situation in Kano scary, Buhari-led govt has abandoned us,’ Ganduje finally opens up

    Covid-19: ‘Situation in Kano scary, Buhari-led govt has abandoned us,’ Ganduje finally opens up

    The Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has accused the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 of neglecting the state in its current efforts against the coronavirus pandemic.

    Ganduje made the disclosure his displeasure in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service on Monday.

    He said, “We are in a serious problem. I can tell you the situation is really bad and scary. Because what we solely rely upon in fighting the disease is the testing centre.

    “There is also a shortage of sample collection equipment. It is not common equipment that you can go and buy in the market. Those whose samples were collected are still waiting to know their fate.

    “The problem (is) with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. Even its Director-General was in Kano. He spent a night here but we have not heard from him again. The Minister of Health is also aware that the laboratory is not functioning.

    “There is a serious problem. We have been complaining that Kano needs more than one testing centre, right from the beginning of this (pandemic).”

    When asked whether the state was not getting any support from Federal Government agencies in the fight against COVID-19, the governor said, “Sincerely speaking, we are not getting deserved attention. If these equipment (testing centres) are under our control, we will do our best to make sure it works properly. But we are not getting the needed support and co-operation from the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.”

    According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control as of Sunday night, 77 of the 1273 total cases recorded in the country were reported in Kano.

    The state Health Ministry said there has not been any recovery yet, adding that there has only been one confirmed COVID-19 death in the state.

  • Kano records two new COVID-19 deaths

    The Kano State Ministry of Health confirmed the death of two COVID-19 patients in the state, bringing the total deaths to three.

    This was announced by the Ministry on its Twitter handle on Monday.

    According to the ministry, so far the state has 77 confirmed cases of Covid-19, while no discharge was made yet.

    “As at 12:15pm, 27th, April, 2020, Kano State has recorded an additional 2 deaths of COVID-19.” according to the ministry.

  • Buhari mourns as DSS DG loses mother in Kano

    Buhari mourns as DSS DG loses mother in Kano

    Hajiya Kareematu Abubakar Bichi, the mother of the Director-General of the Department of States Services, DSS, Yusuf Magaji Bichi, is dead.

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday commiserated with Bichi, the DG of DSS, on the death of his mother Hajiya Kareematu Abubakar Bichi.

    In a tribute to the late community leader and matriarch, who died at the age of 96 in Bichi, Kano State, the President said: “I am deeply anguished by the passing away of Hajiya Kareematu, an important family and community leader. She will be remembered for her untiring efforts to unite the family and promote peace in her community.”

    The President prays that Almighty Allah will receive Hajiya Bichi’s soul and grant the deceased family and friends the fortitude to bear the loss.

  • Investigate mysterious deaths in Kano now, PDP cautions Buhari

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately wade in and arrest the situation of alleged mysterious deaths in Kano.

    The party, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan in Abuja on Sunday, also demanded an immediate investigation into the circumstances leading to reported umber of deaths in the state within the last one week.

    Ologbondiyan said that the PDP’s call was predicated on conflicting reports emanating from Kano State on the cause of the sudden deaths, particularly at a time when the nation was battling with the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

    He described the situation as a frightening development, calling for presidential visit to the state to identity with the people.

    “Our party holds that the situation in Kano demands an immediate presidential visit and investigation at the very high level.

    “The development deserves an utmost presidential attention,” he said.