News

NPC Registers 1.1m Births in Kano

The Nigeria Population Commission (NPC) said it has captured and registered 1,109,515 births in the last 11 months across Kano State’s 44 Local Government Areas.

The Birth Registration Head of Department (HOD) in the Commission, Halima Inuwa, made this known during an interview noting that 1,035,022 births were captured digitally while 74, 493 were captured manually from January to November 2023.

She explained that the Commission is fully ready to embark on a digital registration exercise in 2024, as it has trained volunteers and supervisors who are already on the field with the support of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

According to her, digital registration in the state is currently being carried out in phases.

She said, “For the digital exercise, We started with Phase One consisting of 10 LGAs, Phase 2 consisting of 12 LGAs and currently we are in Phase 3 and 4 and some 10 and 12 LGAs, making up the 44 LGAs.

“Digital registration is easier, everything is being captured through a mobile device to the server. The most challenging task with this is network because sometimes we take the information offline, then upload it when there is a network”.

She lamented that inadequate working materials, sensitization and publicity, lack of cooperation from respondents, lack of network coverage and inadequate registration centres, especially outside Kano municipal are some of the challenges they face while carrying out the registration exercise in the state.

“Outside Kano municipal, we have between two and four registration centres in some LGAs but in the metropolitan city, we have 16 centres and some 17. The problem is outside the city.

“But we have plans of increasing more centres in 2024. We have VCM officers (volunteer staff) who go from house to house to capture those who were not captured in the hospital. Some registration birth centres are located in the LGAs Secretariat and some visit PHCs, especially on days of immunisation”, she added.

While urging parents not to neglect the importance of registering their child, especially at an early age, she further pointed out that once a child is up to 18 years old, he has to go to the headquarters for attestation and it won’t be done free of charge at that period.

The HOD also noted that just as birth registration is very important, death registration of our love ones is equally important as it helps to determine if there is an outbreak of diseases in a community or settlement as a result of the cause of death filled on the form which will be a pointer in case of where dead record is high in an area.

News

Bandits kill one, kidnap district head, eight others in Kebbi

Bandits have kidnapped Alhaji Isah Daya, the district head of Kanya under the Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State.

The bandits kidnapped the monarch and eight others when they stormed his village on Saturday, October 5, 2024.

The bandits also k!lled one and injured three persons during the attack.

The spokesperson for the State Police Command, Nafui Abubakar, who confirmed the attack, gave the name of the deceased as Sherriff Alhaji Almu.

According to the PPRO, a combined security team led by the police has launched a manhunt on the abductors of the monarch to rescue the abducted persons.

He noted that the Kebbi State Government has provided the needed logistics to tame banditry in the affected towns, particularly Kebbi South, Zuru Emirate.

The attack came a few days after bandits k!lled the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Suru Local Government Area of the state.

News

FG mobilises Julius Berger to complete N820b road projects

The Federal Government has told Julius Berger Nigeria Plc to fast-track the completion of the rehabilitation of the 82-kilometre Section II of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano dual carriageway and the construction of the Bodo-Bonny road with bridges across the Opobo Channel, Route 430 in Rivers State.

Works Minister David Umahi said the government could not continually negotiate with the contractor over the same projects.

In a statement in Abuja by his Special Adviser on Media, Uchenna Orji, during a meeting with Julius Berger, represented by its Executive Director for Projects, Benjamin Bott, and the Head of Contract Management, Omonigho Brown, the minister stressed the need for contractors handling Federal Government’s projects to exhibit corporate nationalism in price negotiation in the face of the daunting economic challenges facing the country.

Umahi said the Federal Executive Council (FEC), at its meeting on September 23, approved the re-scoping and downward review of the contracts.

He said: “We have Section II, which is 82 kilometres by two, which is the section that JBN Plc is working on.

“And so, if you check what FEC approved on September 23, FEC had approved that the total contract sum within the scope of Berger would be N740 billion. This means that if you remove N391 billion paid already, you now have about N340 billion remaining. This is the scope of their work for the 164 kilometres.”

The minister urged the contractor to mobilise for work on the four sections of the Abuja-Zaria-Kaduna-Kano project to finish the job within 14 months.

News

Police thwart plan by armed men to kidnap a foreigner in Anambra, recover four dead bodies

Police Operatives in the morning of Sunday, October 6th, 2024 thwarted the abduction/kidnapping plan of a foreigner by suspected armed secessionist members in Ogbunka village.

The Operatives courageously engaged the hoodlums in a gun battle and saved the VIP.

SP Tochukwu Ikenga, Police Public Relations Officer who disclosed this in a statement said during the gun duel, two Police Operatives who were hit by bullet escaped with the foreigner.

He added that they are stable and are currently receiving treatment in a hospital.

Meanwhile, Operations are ongoing in the area for the possible arrest of the Armed men.

Also, Police operatives attached to Nimo Police Station responded to a distress call on 6/10/2024 by 8:25 pm of a suspected cult clash at Umuka, Nawfia. The Operatives upon arriving at the scene, found four lifeless bodies of young men in a pool of blood with suspected multiple gunshot injuries lying on the road.

The victims were confirmed dead by a doctor on duty and have been deposited to the morgue.

They were later identified as one Ebuka Nwaonkwube Ekenta of Mmimi village Nawfia, Nnatuanya Junior A.K: A Starboy of Mmimi village Nawfia, Aniemena A.K.A Osama of Umuariam Village and one Ahmed Auwal.

Information from eyewitnesses and some villagers reveal that the victims are known for their nefarious activities and are always in rivalry with another cult group in the area.

Furthermore, Joint patrol with Operatives of the Special Anit Cultism Squad (SPACS) has been intensified in the area.

In another development, the Commissioner of Police *CP Nnaghe Obono Itam* has ordered
immediate investigations into the gruesome murder of a 17-year-old girl suspected of being used for ritual purpose.

The girl’s lifeless body was found in a bush at Omasi village on 6/10/2024 by 4:25 pm and she was later identified as one Chinasa Adigwe from Umueje village and her private parts were cut off in a bush at Omasi Village before Police were alerted. The body has been recovered and deposited in a morgue.

The CP while condoling with the family, friends and Community of the deceased states that the Police shall do everything possible to make sure that those behind the barbaric act are arrested and justice served.