News
Six Die In Kano Blasts
A twin blast that simultaneously rock a Catholic Church and police checkpoint in Kano metropolis yesterday claimed the lives of a soldier, a suicide bomber and four others.
The Kano State Commissioner of Police, Adelanre Shinaba told newsmen in Kano that the attack on Saint Charles’ Catholic Church located at Zungeru Road, Sabon Gari, Kano occurred shortly after the Sunday mass when an object suspected to be Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was thrown at the church from the opposite direction.
Shinaba explained that the impact left a soldier on duty dead, while four others that include a toddler, two women and a man, instantly dead.
The police commissioner disclosed that eight other worshippers sustained various degrees of injury during the attack.
He revealed that three suspects were arrested at the scene of the blast, pointing out that investigation has already commenced to ascertain their level of complicity.
In another attack, yesterday, the police boss further revealed that a 15-year old female suicide bomber blew up herself at a police nipping point leaving five personnel injured.
Shinaba said that the incident occurred at Gidan Murtala by Kofar Nassarawa overhead bridge around 1.00pm, adding that four of the affected officers have been treated and discharged.
The police boss disclosed that two suspects were also arrested in connection with the prime vehicle abandoned at Isyaku Rabiu mosque earlier in the day.
He appealed to the citizens to be extra vigilant and report suspicious movements and persons to security agents for prompt action.
Similarly, a female suicide bomber yesterday, blew herself up outside a university in Kano, after they prevented her from carrying out an attack, injuring five officers, police said.
“A female suicide bomber was isolated as she was walking towards the gate of the university,” said police spokesman, Frank Mba, adding that she had hidden the bomb under her “long black hijab”.
“Police on duty isolated her” because she was behaving strangely, Mba said.
They were about to ask a woman colleague to frisk the woman when she detonated the bomb, killing herself and injuring the five police officers, he said.
However, the Emir of Kano State, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has cancelled Eid festivities marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan next week after a deadly church bombing and a female suicide bomber’s attempt to attack a university, an official said yesterday.
A statement issued by the Emir reads: “Given the critical situation we are in, the Royal Highness, Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi) has suspended all festivities associated with the eminence, including the Durbar and other traditional events that are held during the Eid festival,” an aide to the emir, Aminu Ado Bayero, told newsmen.
Meanwhile, the Kano State chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has exempted medical doctors working in the surgery department of the Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital, Kano, from the ongoing strike following last Wednesday’s bomb blasts in the state.
This is because majority of those admitted at the hospital in the wake of the attacks suffered serious injuries.
Kano State Chairman of the association, Dr Sharfuddeen Mashi told newsmen that the decision was in line with the position of their national body which resolved that wherever a case of natural or man-made disaster occurred as in the case of a bomb blast, medical doctors in the affected area should suspend action over a specified period to save lives.
He added that similar gesture has been extended to medical doctors at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Kano, and some local government councils in the state as a result of the cholera outbreak in their areas.
“They are exempted from the industrial action so as to attend to patients until such a time when the outbreak has been brought under control”, he added.
Nonetheless, the Kano State Government has announced the outbreak of cholera in a total of 11 local government councils in the state.
Acting Director, Public Health and Disease Control in the Kano State Ministry of Health, Alhaji Tijjani Useni, at a press conference, confirmed the outbreak in the state, saying the disease had killed six persons while about 116 cases have been recorded across the state.
He said the affected local governments, located outside the metropolitan area, are Wudil, Gaya, Sumaila, Tudum Wada, Doguwa, among others.
The official said government has intensified efforts to control the outbreak, adding that they have purchased emergency drugs for the treatment and conducted a rapid assessment of the situation in the high-burden local government councils.
Similarly, five people were Killed after a bomb was thrown into the premises of St. Charles Catholic Church in Sabongari Area of Kano Sunday.
Confirming the incident, Nigeria Police public relations officer, Frank Mba, said an attacker threw the bomb into the church premises soon after the end of the church service.
Meanwhile, vigilant security agents were able to prevent an earlier bombing after noticing the suspicious move of a woman suicide bomber who attempted to detonate bomb at Kofar Nasarawa also in Kano.
According to Kano state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Magaji Musa Majiya the woman suicide bomber looked confused while asking for directions from passersby, adding that her suspicious behaviour caught the attention of the security agents.
The suicide bomber lost her life in the process.
Earlier on Sunday, the police had discovered bomb explosives at the second largest Eid prayer ground in Kano.
Vice President Kashim Shettima has arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for an official State visit at the invitation of the Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed.
Upon arrival yesterday, Shettima was received at the airport by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Dr. Gedion Timothewos, and other members of the Ethiopian and Nigerian diplomatic corps.
Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Communication, Stanley Nkwocha, revealed this in a statement he signed yesterday, titled: “VP Shettima arrives in Ethiopia for official state visit.”
During the visit, Vice President Shettima will participate in the official launch of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Programme, a flagship environmental initiative.
The programme designed to combat deforestation, enhance biodiversity, and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change targets the planting of 20 billion tree seedlings over a four-year period.
In line with strengthening bilateral ties in agriculture and industrial development, the Vice President will also embark on a strategic tour of key industrial zones and integrated agricultural facilities across selected regions of Ethiopia.
News
RSG Tasks Farmers On N4bn Agric Loan ….As RAAMP Takes Sensitization Campaign To Four LGs In Rivers
The Rivers State Government has called on the people of the state especially farmers to access the ?4billion agricultural loans made available by the State and domiciled in the Bank of Industry.
This is as the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) of Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), a World Bank project, took its sensitization campaign to Opobo/Nkoro, Andoni, Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor local government areas.
The campaign was aimed at enlightening community dwellers and other stakeholders in the various local government areas on the RAAMP project implementation and programme activities.
The Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Maurice Ogolo, said this at Opobo town, Ngo, Port Harcourt City and Rumuodumanya, headquarters of the four local government areas respectively, during the sensitization campaign.
Ogolo said apart from the ?4billion, the government has also made available fertilizers and other farm inputs to farmers in the various local government areas.
The Permanent Secretary who is the Chairman, State Steering Committee for the project, said RAAMP will construct roads that will connect farms to markets to enable farmers and fishermen sell their farms produce and fishes.
He also said rural roads would be constructed to farms and fishing settlements, and warned against any act that will lead to the cancellation of the projects in the four local government areas.
According to him, the World Bank and Federal Government which are the financiers of the programme will not condone such acts like kidnapping, marching ground and other acts inimical to the successful implementation of the projects in their respective areas.
At PHALGA, Ogolo asserted that the city will benefit in the areas of roads and bridge construction.
He noted that RAAMP was thriving in both the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; Lagos and other states in the country, stressing that the project should also be given the seriousness it deserves in Rivers State.
Speaking at Opobo town, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, the project coordinator, RAAMP, Mr.Joshua Kpakol, said the programme would reduce poverty in the state.
According to him, both fishermen and farmers will maximally benefit from the programme.
At Ngo which is the headquarters of Andoni Local Government Area, Kpakol said roads will be constructed to all remote fishing settlements.
He said Rivers State is lucky to be among the states implementing the project, and stressed the need for the people to embrace it.
Meanwhile, Kpakol said at PHALGA that RAAMP is a project that will transform the lives of farmers, traders and other stakeholders in the area.
He urged the stakeholders to spread the information to their various communities.
However, some of the stakeholders at Opobo town complained about the destruction of their farms by bulls allegedly owed by traditional rulers in the area, as well as incessant stealing of their canoes at waterfronts.
At Ngo, Archbishop Elkanah Hanson, founder of El-Shaddai Church, commended the World Bank and the Federal Government for bringing the projects to Andoni.
He stressed the need for the construction of roads to fishing settlements in the area.
Also, a former Commissioner for Agriculture in the state and Okan Ama of Ekede, HRH King Gad Harry, noted that storage facilities have become necessary for a successful agricultural programme.
Harry also stressed the need for the programme to be made sustainable.
In their separate speeches, the administrators of Andoni and Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Areas, pledged their readiness to support the programme.
At Port Harcourt City, the Administrator, Dr Arthur Kalagbor, represented by the Head of Local Government Administration, Port Harcourt City, Mr Clifford Paul, said the city would support the implementation of the programme in the area.
Also, the administrator of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Dr Clifford Ndu Walter, represented by Mr Michael Elenwo, pledged to support the programme in his local government area.
Among dignitaries at the Obio/Akpor stakeholders engagement is the chairman, Rivers State Traditional Rulers Council and paramount ruler of Apara Kingdom, HRM Eze Chike Wodo, amongst others.
John Bibor
President Bola Tinubu has ordered the commencement of personnel audit and skill gap analysis across all cadres of federal civil servants.
The president gave this directive in Abuja, yesterday, while speaking at the International Civil Service Conference, reaffirming his resolve to achieve efficiency and professional service delivery in the civil service.
“I have authorized the comprehensive personnel audit and skill gap analysis across the federal civil service to deepen capacity. I urge all responsible stakeholders to prioritize timely completion of this critical exercise, to begin implementing targeted reforms, to realize the full benefit of a more agile, competent and responsive civil service,” the president announced.
Tinubu further directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to prioritise data integrity and sovereignty in national interest.
He called for the capture, protection and strategic publication of public sector data in line with the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023.
“We must let our data speak for us. We must publish verified data assets within Nigeria and share them internationally recognized as fruitful. This will allow global benchmarking organisation to track our progress in real time and help us strengthen our position on the world stage. This will preserve privacy and uphold data sovereignty,” Tinubu added.
President Tinubu hailed the federal civil service as the “engine” driving his Renewed Hope Agenda, and the vehicle for delivering sustainable national development.
He submitted that the roles of civil servants remain indispensable in modern governance, declaring that in the face of a fast-evolving digital and economic landscape, the civil service must remain agile, future-ready, and results-driven.
“This maiden conference is a bold step toward redefining governance in an era of rapid transformation. An innovative Civil Service ensures we meet today’s needs and overcome tomorrow’s challenges.
“It captures our collective ambition to reimagine and reposition the civil service. In today’s rapid, evolving world of technology, innovation remains critical in ensuring that the civil service is dynamic, digital” the President said.
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack in her welcome address told the President that his presence and strong words of commendation at the conference has renewed the morale and mandate of public servants across the country.
Walson-Jack described Tinubu as the backbone of driving transformation in the Nigerian civil service, and noted that the takeaways from past study tours undertaken to understudy the civil service in Singapore, the UK and US under her leadership, is already yielding multiplier effects.
Walson-Jack assured Tinubu that her office, in collaboration with reform-minded stakeholders, will not relent in accelerating the implementation of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan, FCSSIP 25.
She affirmed that digitalisation, performance management, and continuous learning remain key pillars in strengthening accountability, transparency, and service delivery across MDAs.
Walson-Jack reaffirmed that the civil service is determined to exceed expectations by embedding a culture of innovation, ethical leadership, and citizen-centred governance in the heart of public administration.