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Diphtheria: Six States Account For 97% Of Cases -NPHCDA
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has said six states account for staggering 97 percent of all reported diphtheria cases in the country.
The agency’s Director General, Dr Faisal Shuaib,who disclosed this yesterday, at the Diphtheria Outbreak Response Press Conference, in Abuja, named the states as Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Borno, Kaduna and Bauchi.
Emphasising that the six states were bearing the brunt of the disease in the country, Dr Shuaib said Kano alone carries the weight of over 84per cent of these cases, making it the epicenter of the outbreak.
While regretting that Diphtheria, a preventable disease, has cast a dark shadow over communities, particularly impacting children who he described as “our most vulnerable citizens”, Dr Shuaib said the agency had launched rapid and comprehensive vaccination campaigns across the affected regions.
“These campaigns have been meticulously planned and executed, with a laser focus on the epicenter of the outbreak.
“Kano, as the epicenter of this outbreak, has been at the forefront of our vaccination efforts. Working with the state governments, we implemented rounds 1 and 2 of the vaccination campaign in five high-burden local government areas in February and April 2023 respectively.
“Subsequently, round 3 was integrated with routine immunisation intensification, further bolstering our response. An additional eight LGAs in Kano underwent reactive vaccination exercises in the last week of August,”he explained.
Speaking further, he said:”Today, we stand united in the face of a public health challenge that demands our unwavering attention and swift action.
“Diphtheria, a preventable disease, has cast a dark shadow over our communities, particularly impacting our most vulnerable citizens, our beloved children.
“As we confront this crisis head-on, let me share with you the vital role of vaccination in our battle against this formidable foe.
“In this ongoing outbreak, you have heard that some states have been affected, with Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Borno, Kaduna, and Bauchi bearing the brunt, accounting for a staggering 97per cent of all reported cases. Kano alone carries the weight of over 84per cent of these cases, making it the epicenter of this outbreak. The burden falls disproportionately on our young, with over 73per cent of cases occurring in children aged 1 to 14 years.
Alarmingly, only about 18% of those affected had received any vaccinations.
“As you may be aware, on the 19th of September 2023, the Honourable Coordinating Minister of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (FMOH&SW), Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, set up a national emergency task team for higher level coordination of outbreak response efforts. This includes ensuring optimal collaboration of all relevant stakeholders such as political, religious and traditional leaders. He also requested that Governors of the affected states should promptly release counterpart funds to ensure availability of operational resources to compliment the Federal Government’s contributions.
“The cohesive response of the Federal Government, Subnational levels and Partners is a vibrant reflection of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s aspiration for Nigerians as eloquently captured in his renewed Hope agenda and his commitment to provide quality health care for all Nigerian irrespective of where they live, their ethnicity or religion. The Diphtheria outbreak response is an embodiment of this ethos.
“Vaccination has long been humanity’s armor against deadly diseases, and Diphtheria is no exception. The Federal Government recognizes the power of vaccines in safeguarding public health, and our response to this outbreak centers around the belief that vaccination is our most formidable weapon. We have two vaccines at our disposal: the Pentavalent vaccine, administered to children aged 6 weeks to 4 years, and the Tetanus-diphtheria (Td) vaccine, provided to children aged above 4 years to 14 years.”
According to him, “Beyond Kano, we expanded our response to include Kaduna, Katsina, Bauchi, and Yobe in our Phase One response. These states engaged, trained, and executed vaccination campaigns in 25 high-burden LGAs within their borders with the commencement of reactive vaccination in August 2023. Borno State also conducted reactive vaccination exercises in four LGAs during the same period.”
While saying it was crucial to note that routine vaccination continues daily at all government facilities across the nation, the NPHCDA boss explained that the “reactive vaccination exercises just serves as an additional layer of effort, a testament to the commitment of the Federal Government and our partners to curb the spread of this infection.”
He said:”For the Phase One response conducted in August, 2023, significant numbers were reached. In Kano State alone, 476,962 children received Td Vaccines, while 28,700 children received Penta vaccines. For other states, Katsina, had 313,615 children vaccinated with Penta vaccines and 421,045 with Td vaccines; Bauchi, vaccinated 162,840 children with Penta and 257,075 with Td vaccines; Kaduna, reached 174,857 children with Penta and 245,805 with Td vaccines. Yobe, vaccinated 82,601 children with Penta and 207,418 with Td vaccines. These figures do not include the daily routine vaccination efforts ongoing in these states.
“As of September 23rd, 2023, we commenced the Phase 2 Round 1 Diphtheria outbreak response in seven of the high-burden states. Yobe began on September 23rd, followed by Kano on September 30th. Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Kaduna, and Katsina are poised to commence on October 7th, 2023.
“Vacination is not merely about administering shots and needles; it is about building trust and fostering community engagement. We acknowledge that our vaccination success hinges on the active participation and trust of our communities. Our dedicated teams have been on the ground, tirelessly engaging communities, answering questions and addressing concerns.
“We have undertaken a comprehensive approach that includes disseminating public health advisories through media engagement and webinars, developing and distributing Diphtheria Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) materials, coordinating stakeholders’ meetings for risk communication and community engagement. Our tireless teams continue to conduct sensitization campaigns targeting health workers, opinion leaders, traditional and religious leaders, schools and community members. We are excited about the collaboration that the media has provided in order to increase awareness on the outbreak and encourage Nigerians to seek the protection of the vaccines.
“While we are firmly focused on controlling the Diphtheria outbreak, our vision extends beyond the immediate crisis. We are committed to strengthening our healthcare systems, ensuring the consistent availability of vaccines, and enhancing our capacity to respond to future outbreaks. The Federal Government continues to collaborate with Gavi, the vaccine alliance and our development partners as efforts are in full swing to expedite the procurement and delivery of more vaccines to combat this outbreak.”
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Drug Party: NDLEA Arrests Over 100 Suspects At Lagos Night Club
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) yesterday arrested over 100 suspects at Proxy Night club located at No. 7, Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, where a drug party was going on.
Spokesman of the Agency, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this yesterday, said the suspects arrested include the owner of the club, Mike EzeNwalieNwogu, alias Pretty Mike, who was taken into custody for screening.
“Cartons of illicit substances, including Loud and laughing gas, were recovered from suspects at the party and the club’s store,” Babafemi said.
The raid followed intelligence about the drug party. NDLEA operatives who were embedded in the party between 11 pm on Saturday, 25th October, however, disrupted the gathering at 3 am on Sunday, 26th October, in line with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
Similarly, NDLEA said a total of 70 parcels of cocaine factory packed in walls of cocoa butter formula body cream containers heading to London, United Kingdom, were uncovered at the export shed of the MurtalaMuhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, with three suspects arrested in a series of follow-up operations across Lagos.
According to the statement, “The cocaine consignments weighing 3.60 kilograms were discovered on 14th October 2025 during examination of cargoes packaged as personal effects going to London, UK on an Air Peace flight.
“A cargo agent, Lawal Mustapha Olakunle, who presented the consignment for airfreight, was promptly arrested while investigations stretching into two weeks led to the arrest of two principal suspects linked to the attempt to export the concealed Class A drug to the UK.
“In a follow up operation on 18th October, a female healthcare worker OgunmuyideTaiwo Deborah was arrested following which Mutiu Adebayo Adebiyi, the Chief Executive Officer of a travel agency, MutiuAdebiyi& Co, was arrested at his 23 LadokeAkintola Street, Ikeja GRA Lagos office on Monday 20 th October”.
In a similar development, an attempt by a 35-year-old Lesotho national, Lemena Mark, to export 103.59 grams of methamphetamine concealed in a diabeta herbs coffee tea pack to the Philippines on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from the AkanuIbiam International Airport (AIIA) Enugu on Wednesday, 22nd October, was thwarted by NDLEA officers who arrested him and recovered the illicit drug.
No fewer than 21,950 capsules of tramadol 250mg concealed inside a 100-litre water heater were recovered from a suspect, Umar Abubakar, 40, who was arrested by NDLEA operatives at Bode Saadu, Morro local government area of Kwara state, following credible intelligence on Tuesday, 21st October.
In Taraba, the duo of Auwal Musa, 26, and SalihuBala, 22, were arrested on Tuesday, 21st October, with 450,000 pills of tramadol and Exol-5 at Dan-anacha checkpoint while conveying the consignment in a truck loaded with building materials from Onitsha, Anambra state, to Mubi, Adamawa state.
Also, NDLEA officers on patrol along the Okene/Lokoja highway, Kogi state, seized 162.200kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, from a truck on Friday, 24th October. Operatives in Nasarawa state on Wednesday, 22nd October, recovered 128kg of the same psychoactive substance from a suspect, Abubakar Muhammad, 55, in the Keffi area of the state.
A mother of two, Oyonumoh Glory Effiong, who is a major distributor of Canadian and California Loud, both strong strains of cannabis, in Lekki, Ajah, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and VGC areas of Lagos, has been arrested by NDLEA operatives on Friday, 17th October, during a raid at her Lekki home, where 500 grams of the illicit substances were recovered.
In the Ikorodu area of Lagos, NDLEA officers on Thursday, 23rd October, raided the home of a suspect, OgunyaboAdenigbigbe, at Solomade estate, where 275 litres of skuchies, a new psychoactive substance produced with black currant drink, cannabis and opioids, were recovered.
A 75-year-old grandpa, EchenduOnuoka, was arrested on Wednesday, 22nd October, at Ovum village, Obingwa LGA, Abia state, with 4.7kg skunk seized from him, while a 60-year-old grandma, Aukana John, was nabbed with 225 grams of the same substance at Apanta village, in the same LGA.
While a 150kg skunk was recovered during a raid operation at Lot camp, IkunAkoko, Ondo state, two suspects: Bashir Mohammad, 50, and Samini Ahmed Tijjani, 35, were nabbed with 234.5kg of the same substance at Yan aya ,Saminaka in Lere LGA, Kaduna on Friday, 24th October, just as another set of suspects: IsahUsman, 50, and Salvation Okoler, 18, were arrested with 8,600 pills of tramadol 225mg and rohypnol along Abuja/Kaduna highway.
At the Seme border area of Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, 22nd October nabbed Jacob Ojugbele with 55kg skunk at Ashipa area of Badagry, while AmusaOluwabukola was arrested with 121.3 litres of skuchies at ItogaBadagry.
In Zamfara state, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Gummi-Anka road on Monday, 20th October arrested a suspect, Abubakar Ibrahim, 30, in possession of an AK-47 rifle and 1,746 assorted calibres of ammunition, for AK-47 and GPMG rifles while moving them from Sokoto to Bagega forest, Anka LGA, Zamfara. Both the suspect and the exhibits have since been handed over to the appropriate security agency for further investigation.
With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities, among others, in the past week.
These include: WADA sensitization lecture to students and staff of Asabari Grammar School, IluwaIsaleOke, Saki West LGA, Oyo; Government Day Girls Secondary School, BirninKebbi, Kebbi; St. Mark’s College, Nsude, Enugu; Kusaki Secondary School, Gboko North, Benue; Government Day Secondary School, Serti- Baruwa, Gashaka LGA, Taraba; Police Children School 2, Port Harcourt, Rivers and Hajara Ahmad International School, Tudun Wada, Kano state, among others.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Kwara, Abia, Nasarawa, Kogi, Ondo, Anambra, Taraba, Kaduna, Seme and Zamfara Commands for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed BubaMarwa (Rtd) urged them and their colleagues across the country to continue the Agency’s balanced approach to drug control efforts.
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SERAP Demands NNPCL Account For Oil Revenues, Threatens Legal Action
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), BayoOjulari, to provide a detailed account of oil revenues reportedly flagged by the Auditor-General of the Federation in the 2022 annual report.
The report, published on September 9, 2025, raised questions over the management of multi-billion-naira transactions, including over N22 billion, $49 million, £14 million, and €5 million in oil-related revenue, handled by the national oil company.
In a letter dated October 25, 2025, and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director, KolawoleOluwadare, the organisation called on Ojulari to ensure transparency by identifying those responsible for any unaccounted funds and forwarding the findings to the appropriate anti-corruption agencies.
“These findings raise serious concerns about transparency and accountability in the management of public resources,” SERAP said.
The group urged the NNPCL to recover any unremitted or misapplied funds and return them to the national treasury, stressing that proper management of oil revenues was crucial for national development.
“The allegations, if not promptly and transparently addressed, could undermine public confidence and economic stability,” SERAP stated.
According to the organisation, the Auditor-General’s report drew attention to issues such as irregular payments, uncompleted projects, and documentation lapses relating to oil sector transactions.
SERAP argued that corruption and financial mismanagement in the oil sector had long hindered Nigeria’s ability to channel its vast petroleum wealth into improved public services.
“Despite the country’s enormous oil resources, citizens continue to face hardship due to a lack of accountability and transparency in revenue management,” the statement noted.
The organisation maintained that if the flagged funds were properly accounted for, more resources could be made available for sectors such as education, healthcare, and social welfare.
It added that the NNPCL must take proactive steps to comply with audit recommendations, including closing identified loopholes and enhancing oversight on contract execution.
SERAP also warned that it would take legal action should the NNPCL fail to respond within seven days.
“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and publication of this letter.
“If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel compliance in the public interest,” the organisation said.
The group cited Section 15(5) of the Nigerian Constitution, which mandates public institutions to prevent corrupt practices and abuse of power.
News
N’Assembly Committee Approves New State ForS’East
The Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Constitution Review has approved the creation of an additional state in the South-East geo-political zone.
According to a statement by the media unit of the committee, the resolution was reached on Saturday at a two-day retreat in Lagos, where it reviewed 55 proposals for state creation across the country.
The session, chaired by the Deputy Senate President, BarauJibrin, and co-chaired by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, resolved that, in the spirit of fairness and equity, the Federal Government should create another state for the region.
Kalu, who joined other lawmakers to champion additional state creation for the region, argued that a new state would give the people a sense of belonging.
When created, the South-East will be at par with the South-South, South-West, North-Central, and North-East zones, each having six states.
The South-East is the only geo-political zone with five states comprising Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo.
The North-West comprises seven states: Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Jigawa.
According to the statement, Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) moved a motion for the creation of the new state, which was seconded by Ibrahim Isiaka (Ifo/Ewekoro, Ogun State) at the retreat.
“The motion received the unanimous support of committee members and was adopted,” the statement read in part.
Similarly, the committee also established a sub-committee to consider the creation of additional states and local government areas across all six geo-political zones, noting that a total of 278 proposals were submitted for review.
Speaking at the event, Jibrin urged members to rally support among their colleagues at the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly to ensure the resolutions sail through during voting.
“We need to strengthen what we have started so that all parts of the country will key into this process.
“By the time we get to the actual voting, we should already have the buy-in of all stakeholders—from both chambers and the state Houses of Assembly,” the Deputy Senate President was quoted as saying.
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