₦airaland Forum

Governor Willie Obiano and the members of the Executive Council have approved the gradual resumption of schools in the state, IgbereTV reports.

After the approval, the Ministry of Basic Education has released the approved timetable for the completion of 2019/2020 Academic session as well as the schedule for the state examinations. A release signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Basic Education, Mr. Nwabueze Nwankwor, said Junior Secondary Schools will resume on Monday, seventh September, 2020, while boarders are to return the weekend before the date.

The third term 2019/2020 Academic session for both primary and secondary schools will begin on Monday, fourteenth September 2020 to end on twenty-third October, 2020 while boarders are expected to return the weekend before the date.The release noted that the third term is quite short and schools are expected to make maximum use of time since it had continued to teach students at home through various e-platforms including the Anambra State Teaching on Air, which it says, will continue as it kicks off a phased reopening of schools and watch the health implication.It also directs parents to provide hand sanitizers and face masks for children.

Police Arrest 55-Years-Old Woman Caught With 12 Stolen Children in Anambra (Photos)

IgbereTV reports that a 55-years-old woman, identified as Nkechi Odinye was arrested at Obosi in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra. Twelve stolen children seen in her custody was rescued by the police. Information about her whereabouts, which led to her arrest was disclosed to the police by her arrested accomplices.

A statement made available to IgbereTV by the Anambra Police Public Relations Officer, SP Haruna Mohammed, reads:..

"It would be recalled that on the 22/10/2019 following intelligence report, Police detectives attached to Anambra State Command arrested three female suspects at Nkpor market/Tarzan junction in Idemili North LGA of Anambra State.

2.Investigation revealed that the children were stolen from Gombe State by one Hauwa Musa 'f" on the 20/10/2019 and brought to her accomplices in Anambra State. Following the Public announcement by the Command on the 27/10/2019,parents of the two kids from Gombe State came to Awka and identified their children.

3. Meanwhile,the children have since reunited with their parents and suspects were handed over to Gombe State Police Command for further investigation and prosecution.

4. Consequently,upon interrogation the suspects voluntarily confessed that they usually steal the children and bring to their sponsor one Mrs Nkechi Odinye who buys the children here in Anambra State at the rate of between two hundred and four hundred thousand (#200-400,000) naira depending on their age and gender.

5.However,on the 31/8/2020,following the confession and while acting on a tip off,Police detectives attached to 3-3 Division Onitsha in Collaboration with Operatives attached to the Command Special Anti-Cult Section(SPACS) stormed the hideout of the principal suspect one Nkechi Odinye 'f' aged 55 years and effected her arrest at Obosi in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.The Suspect who evaded arrest for over three years has remained on the run,busy changing locations until her arrest.The team equally rescued twelve children of various age brackets,comprising of 8 boys and 4 girls reasonably suspected to have been stolen from different parts of the Country under her custody.The Children are presently under protective care and Investigation is still ongoing.

6.In view of the foregoing, the Commissioner of Police *CP John B.Abang,fdc* urges parents and guardians to always monitor their children and caution them against following strangers.The CP further enjoins the Public whose children were either stolen or missing to report at 3-3 Police Station Onitsha for proper identification and claim their children."

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has disclosed that the low Coronavirus cases recorded across the country is due to the decline in testing by states.

According to IgbereTV reports, this was disclosed on Monday August 31, by the Head of Disease Surveillance for the NCDC, Elsie Ilori, who noted that the low testing is due to low sample collection. He added that States like Kano, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, and FCT, had the biggest decrease in the number of samples collected in August.

She said:

“In the month of August, we had very low number of samples collected.

“In July, there were seven states with decreased samples collected, but unfortunately, in August, it increased to 32 states with decreased samples collection. In July, we had 13 states that actually collected over 1,000 samples. For August, no state met that target. That means we had zero states collecting over 1,000 samples.

“For the local government areas, in July we had 515 that collected samples and it decreased to 478 in August. We can appreciate the decrease in August.

“In August, states with the biggest increase are Abia (682), Sokoto (331), Bayelsa (314), Zamfara (55) and Yobe (12), but the numbers are not significant at all.

“In the same month, the biggest decrease in sample collection are Kano (19,108), Lagos (13,146), Oyo (4,902), Edo (3,327), and FCT (3,322). August sample collection has decreased drastically.

“Concerning where samples are being collected, in July, in Benue, Ebonyi, FCT, Lagos, Plateau, all the LGA in these states had samples collected, while only in Delta, Edo and Ogun, only one local government area did not collect samples.

“Concerning local government areas that did not collect samples, in July, Kogi had 19 out of 20 local government areas without samples collected. Also in August, no local government in Kogi collected samples. In Katsina, only 24 local government areas collected samples – Jigawa (22), Kano (20), Taraba (16).

“Even though in Lagos all the local government areas are collecting samples, the number of samples collected was quite low. So, that brought down the number of samples collected for August.”

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire on his own part said:

“Our target is to test two million Nigerians for COVID-19 and to scale up to four million persons of which we have achieved barely a quarter .

“In the past 24 hours, we recorded just 138 COVID-19 positive cases in Nigeria, one of the lowest numbers in many months, giving a total of 53,865 positive cases out of 403,347 tests conducted as of August 31, 2020.

“In the same 24-hour period, 199 persons were discharged from hospitals, giving us total successful treatment of 41,513 patients. We are beginning to see a situation where the number of those treated and discharged exceeds the number of positive cases detected. While these figures may seem reassuring, they may be deceptive, and we cannot assume that the curve is flattening, since we are yet to perfect due diligence on our side.

“With a total of 1,013 deaths recorded so far, the fatality rate has also dropped slightly to 1.88 percent, the gradual fall is possibly an indication of improvement in response and treatment strategies to contain COVID-19 and also a common global trend. As long as we still record deaths from this disease, there is no room for complacency until we meet our goal to reduce fatality rate to less than one per cent."