₦airaland Forum

Kaduna State Government yesterday said it had quarantined 50 people at the state’s NYSC camp for violating the ban on interstate travel and that they would be in isolation for 14 days to ensure they are COVID-19 free.

A statement issued by the Special Adviser to Governor Nasir El-Rufai on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, stated that the NYSC quarantine centre had received its first set of 27 guests on Sunday, while 23 others were brought in on Monday.

The statement warned that the federal and state quarantine orders currently in force prohibit non-essential travel and that the state would no longer offer the option of quarantine for persons travelling illegally. “With the exception of persons on essential duty, anybody attempting to enter Kaduna State will henceforth be turned back and compelled to return to their points of departure,” it was stated.

It also advised federal government employees travelling with their families and friends for non-essential reasons to shun the practice, adding that such persons ought to set an example of compliance with regulations, including the nationwide prohibition of interstate travel imposed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Federal government vehicles, identity papers and uniforms should not be used to violate state regulations or to assume immunity from regulations issued by the President,” the statement said.

The statement further reminded residents that it is a violation of the law and infectious diseases regulations for anyone to seek to evade testing or treatment, and warned that, “persons who knowingly place other people in danger of infection or avoid testing and treatment are liable to prosecution for endangering public safety.’’

The Emir of Ilorin and Chairman, Kwara State Council of Chiefs, Mai-Martaba Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, has thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing Professor Ibrahim Gambari as his new Chief of Staff.

Alhaji Sulu-Gambari in a statement signed by his Media Aide, Mallam Abdulazeez Arowona described the appointment as a great honour to the entire people of Ilorin Emirate and Kwarans at large. However, the presidency is yet to confirm the appointment. The president’s media aides and officials from the office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, declined comment on the said appointment. They asked our reporters to wait for an official statement.

Prof. Gambari will be replacing Mallam Abba Kyari, who died in April, after battling COVID-19.

Alhaji Sulu-Gambari noted that the choice of the former diplomat would be justified by his outstanding contributions, administrative experience, scholarship and excellence which he would inject into the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government towards ensuring good governance, democratic dividends as well as shared prosperity in the nation. While congratulating Professor Gambari on the new appointment, the monarch wished him a successful tenure in office even as he expressed confidence in his ability to justify the confidence reposed in him by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“He will surely bring to fore his wealth of experience as an academician, former Minister, former Diplomat, former University Chancellor, Prince of the renown Alimi dynasty, family man and community leader of high repute”.

Professor Ibrahim Gambari is the Wambai of Ilorin Emirate. He is a Nigerian scholar and diplomat.

He was Minister for External Affairs between 1984 and 1985.

Gambari was appointed by the then secretary-general of United Nations Ban Ki-moon and the chairperson of the African Union Commission as Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative for Darfur in 2010.

The Governor of Bauchi State Bala Mohammed has said 150 and not 300 people died in the last 30 days as reported in the media. It was reported that 300 people died in Azare in Bauchi State from a yet to be identified ailment.

The Governor who made the statement while addressing the press on Sunday said, “it’s 150 people that have died in the last 30 days, and not 300 people as reported in the media.” Bala also imposed a total lockdown on three Local Government Areas in the state.

He said “Total lockdown on the 3 LGAs is necessary; we just got result of about 66 cases, 42 of which were from Azare alone. And we have found out that most of the cases from Azare is as a result of community transmission; people are not adhering to guidelines in that axis, because there have been transaction going on between the people of Azare and Kano were the covid-19 pandemic is high.”

Reports over the number of deaths in Azare generated pandemonium as a former member of the House Representatives from Bauchi State, Ibrahim Mohammed Baba gave a report on it in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari requesting urgent action on what he called “massive outbreak of COVID-19 that claimed many lives in Azare”.

But the Bauchi State Deputy Governor, who is also the chairman of the state’s taskforce on COVID-19 and lassa fever, Senator Bala Tela, debunked the report of mass deaths, saying the number was exaggerated. The deputy governor who addressed newsmen at Government House in Bauchi said, “I don’t know the exact number of casualties, but what I have gathered is that about six persons died every day for a period of seven days.”

A resident of Azare, Shehu Baba Azare, said the deaths in the last two weeks was worrisome because in the Azare cemetery, 301 bodies were buried in 14 days. “The death rate in Azare is unusual because a total of 301 was registered at the cemetery within 14 days and the dead were from 60 years and above but we don’t know the cause so far,” he said.

A village heads in Azare who pleaded anonymity told Daily Trust on Sunday that the report of mass deaths was not true, saying, “What I know is that many people have died in the town but the issue of mass death is not true.”

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The Federal Government says if there is an explosion of cases of coronavirus infections, it will be left with no choice but to ask all Nigerians to go back to their homes.

Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said this in Abuja yesterday at a briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. He said initial reports on compliance with the guidelines on the implementation of the phased and gradual easing of the lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari, which took effect yesterday were not too pleasing across the country He expressed concern that corporate organisations, especially banks, flouted the NCDC’s guideline for infection prevention and control.

“When we say take responsibility this time, yes we’re addressing individuals, but we really needed to address corporate Nigeria. One of the biggest groups that we have allowed to restart business today (Monday) were banks. When you limit the number of branches that open, everybody goes to the one branch that is open; that becomes counter-productive. “We can produce all the guidelines in the world, but if organisations are not going to come up and support the implementation of these measures and help us manage the risks and focus on a risk-based approach, then our efforts might amount to little or nothing.

“Today (Monday), we might forgive a little bit because it was the first day. However, we’ll have infections because of what happened today (Monday), no doubt about that. “But what’s more important is how we can learn from the mistakes of today into tomorrow and into next tomorrow so that by Friday, hopefully they’ll have normalised some of these things.

“Yes we knew today (Monday) will be a problem because for the first time people were let out of their homes, but the challenge for us as a society is how we now organise ourselves to mitigate this risk to limit transmission from each other so that yes, we might have a few extra infections today (Monday) and tomorrow (Tuesday), but what we don’t want is an explosion of new infections. “If we do have that explosion, there will be almost no choice left for the leadership of the country than to ask all of us to go back into our homes.

“So for the benefits of having a few hours a day of coming out and reopening parts of the economy, there’s a price to pay and that price is that we organise ourselves to do this strictly,” the NCDC boss said.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and chairman of the task force, Boss Mustapha, said the PTF had been monitoring the level of compliance with some of the measures and early observations showed lack of compliance with social distancing and wearing of masks.

Orobo2Lekpa:
Is he Igbo?

Out of the 59 active cases of coronavirus in Kaduna State, 50 were found among repatriated Almajirai pupils from Kano State, the state’s Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has said.

Governor El-Rufai on Twitter announced that the state now has recorded 50 cases from the repatriated Almajirai, adding that the total number of active cases stands at 59.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Kaduna State has 66 confirmed cases of the virus out of which six people including the state governor have been treated and discharged, while one person was recently confirmed dead.

The NCDC had announced 31 confirmed cases of the virus in Kaduna on Saturday; a few hours after the Kaduna State Government confirmed 14 additional cases among Almajirai, and later confirmed another 16 positive results from the pupils.