Jigawa State

By Muhammad Aminu

The ECWA Eye Hospital (EEH) Kano and Christoffel Blinden Mission (CBM) Global will offer a comprehensive and inclusive eye health (CIEH) programme targeting residents of Kano and Jigawa States.

Thousands of individuals are billed to benefit from the programme that will run for four consecutive years in the selected states.

The Chief Medical Director, EEH, Dr Atima Mayor, who disclosed this at the launch of the project in Kano, said that the project was born out of efforts to tackle visual impairment and break the circle of poverty in the states.

According to Dr Mayor, the project, which is supported by CMB UK and Australia, has over 80000 other beneficiaries who will benefit from different tests and services within the timeframe for the project.

He further explained that issues of disability, especially visual impairment and poverty among persons with disabilities, have been affecting the quality of life.

“North West has the highest number of blindness. As population increases, it’s expected that the number of blindness will also shoot up hence the need to act,” he said.

He called on the two states to collaborate with ECWA to continue with the project even after this 4-year intervention project to ensure the efforts is sustained to tackle the challenge in the States.

The CMD further explained that Kaduna and Katsina States, which were initially part of the project, were temporarily put on hold until the security situation improves before the project can be expanded to the states.

In his address, EEH Administrator STEPHEN NUBOBGA who was represented by CMB Project Coordinator Phillip Ode noted that between September 1, 2022, to August 2026, the project targets over 90,000 beneficiaries in the project in the selected states.

“500 children will be operated on for cataracts, 1000 adults, 250 children with glaucoma and other major surgeries, 400 adults with glaucoma, 250 other children with minor surgeries and 50 retinoblastomas.

“2000 individuals for spectacles, 5000 for refraction, and  80, 000 others for free eye screening,” he disclosed.

In her earlier opening remark, CBM Global Country Director, Ms Ekaete Umoh, said that the historic project launched is aimed at targeting individuals in hard-to-reach areas in the selected states to help persons with visual challenges and break the cycle of poverty in their ranks.

She said that CMB Global is concerned with the rising cases of visual impairment in Nigeria, specifically North West Nigeria, where there is a high concentration of visually impaired persons.

“As the prevalence of blindness in Nigeria is 4.2%, it is estimated that 4.25 million adults aged 40 years and above have moderate to severe visual impairment or blindness.

” Available statistics show that 28.6% (14 million of all adults living in the North West Nigeria have a visual impairment. As a result, the majority are unable to work, are excluded from many community activities and require additional support, which impacts on their families and trapped them in the cycle of poverty,” he stressed.

According to Nububga, 100 persons living with disabilities (PWDs) will be empowered with means of livelihood as a component of the project.

Representatives of the Federal Ministry of Health, Kano and Jigawa States, as well as the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), commended the donors and partners for working together to address the issue.

Also speaking, the royal father of the day, Alh Mohammed Bashir Mahe, commended the EEH and CMB for helping the needy in society, adding that traditional institutions are always ready to support such a noble cause.

By Muhammad Abubakar

The news of the severe flooding in Jigawa State is depressing and alarming. I initially thought the report had reached every nook and cranny of the country. But the reverse is, unfortunately, the case. I was amazed to realize that the news has not gone very far in the country. Worse still, it is said that the state governor himself is currently out of the state.

I recently checked a couple of our local media sites to know more about the ongoing flooding, only to find out that; most of the news updates there have nothing to do with this deplorable disaster currently ravaging the state. It’s heartbreaking how many on-and off-line news outlets pay only lukewarm attention to this issue, although it should be discussed more than any other.

Jigawa State has never experienced such an alluvial disaster in its history. Many houses and villages collapsed; properties submerged; roads, bridges and farmlands were washed away, and crops ruined. Some have become orphans all due to this flooding!

The situation has reached the extent that the people of the affected areas can no longer move into their towns or travel out of the villages because their roads are not motorable. Also, thousands of people in the affected communities have been displaced. Canoes capsized. Lives were lost. Almost anywhere in the state has been negatively affected.

The most affected areas include Gumel, Mallam Madori, Auyo, Kaugama and Kafin Hausa local government areas. The flood has not only stopped here, but it also touched almost every part of the state. But yet, no tangible action has been taken on that by the government.

The federal government should therefore join hands with the state government to do the needful; deliver food, clothes, drugs and other useful items to the victims. May God, the omnipotent and omnipresent, end all the hardships we are going through in this country and the world.

Muhammad Abubakar wrote from Jos, Plateau State, via muhammadabubakar01002@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Aminu

Commuters plying Gwaram-Basirka road in Jigawa state are advised to take alternate routes to their various destinations.

This development followed a bridge collapse along the way due to a heavy downpour the previous night.

The Jigawa state Police Public Relations Officer, Lawan Shiisu, stated this in a terse statement on Sunday in Dutse.

“On 28/08/2022, as a result of downpour over the night, a culvert under Gwaram/ Basirka Road, precisely at Rabadi village in Gwaram LGA of Jigawa State, has been washed away.

“In view of this, road users should seek alternative or use the diversion created by the authority.”

Residents protested earlier this year on the same road that links that part of Jigawa with its neighbouring Bauchi State when a collapsed bridge led to its closure.

By Muhammad Aminu 

Police in Jigawa State have arrested two suspected kidnappers following a raid at the kidnappers’ hideout in Nisan Marke Settlement in Ringim Local Government Area.

The Police, in collaboration with a vigilante group, acting on earlier received intelligence information, carried out the raid successful.

Police spokesperson in Dutse, DSP Lawan Shiisu, said operatives from Ringim Area Command in conjunction with a local vigilante group led by Ringim Divisional Police Officer (DPO), SP Shehu Hamdullahi, acted on credible and actionable intelligence and conducted the operation at the identified suspected kidnapper’s hideout.

He noted that one 45-year-old Muhammad Sama’ila of Madari village in Warawa LGA of Kano State was reported to have been wounded all over his body while fleeing from the suspects.

He explained: “On receipt of the information, a team of Policemen swung into action, visited the scene of the crime and conveyed the victim to the hospital.

“While at the hospital, after regaining his consciousness, the victim revealed that he was Kidnapped on Tuesday 22nd, August 2022, at about 0130hrs from Madari Village in Warawa LGA of Kano State and taken to Nisan Marke Herdsmen.”

He added that when he attempted to escape from the abductors, he was attacked by one of the kidnappers and inflicted injuries on his body.

He said: “On the same date at about 0850hrs, a team of Policemen stormed the Area, where one of the kidnappers named Abdurrazaq Musa, 40 years of Gurgunna village, Babura LGA, Jigawa State was arrested, and the phone that belongs to the victim which was used for ransom negotiation was recovered in his possession.

“Furthermore, one Hassana Jimau, age 30 years of Nisan Marke village, was also arrested at about 1230hrs.

“During interrogation, both the suspects confessed to having abducted the victim with eight other gang members while the effort to trace their accomplices is on top gear.”

According to him, the suspects have been handed over to the team of the anti-kidnapping section of Kano State Police Command for discreet investigation and necessary action.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Idris Jere, the Nigeria Immigration Department’s (NIS) interim comptroller general (CG), has stated that the service is now seeking to hire an additional 5,000 officers.

This, according to Mr Jere, was made to help the NIS fill a manpower shortage, he said while answering questions from reporters in Dutse on Saturday.

“With regards to inadequate personnel in the NIS, as you know, we’ve just concluded recruitment into the service, and we’re training those recruits now.

“As you’re also aware, the government has placed embargo on recruitment, but lifted that on security agencies, because security is key.

“So, we’ve written to the President and I’m very sure we will get approval to recruit about 5,000 more personnel into the NIS,” Mr Jere said.

He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari had received a memorandum from Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola, who expressed his readiness to grant the request.

The CG travelled to Jigawa to visit hospitalized personnel and offer condolences to the family of one of its officers, who was slain on August 9 by suspected bandits.

The personnel were attacked at one of the Immigration Service’s bases in the state’s Birniwa Local Government Area, which is along the Birniwa-Galadi axis.

By Nura Jibo

A year ago, I analysed climate disaster scenarios that happened within one week, which affected the entire world virtually. I then narrowed and streamlined my analysis by including some flood flashpoints in Nigeria, including Hadejia, Ringim and Auyo in Jigawa State.

Some office sit-tight professors, including one architect who resided in the UK for a long time, responded to my take with archaic and obsolete climate data. They vehemently descended on my double-decker analysis like wounded lions! But I forgive them because lots of them have lost touch and are never up-to-date with what is happening in the climate change world.

Moreover, some hardly attend UN-COPs or even care to read or research how climate dynamics and their attendant consequences affect Mother Earth. Instead, theirs is to sit in the office, review old literature(s) (emphasis mine), and take a vantage from there. They often think this can make them appear original.

Now it is the beginning of the first week in August 2022. And the news, videos and photos that were and are sent to me on a daily basis vindicated my flood projection(s) in certain Nigerian states such as Jigawa.

For example, a childhood friend from Hadejia (name withheld) sent me a picture of a flooded market segment in Hadejia. He then said, “Nura, kaga abin nan fa daka fada akan Hadejia ina ga zai zama gaskiya“. Meaning: Nura, it appears that what you said about Hadejia(referring to my assertion on flooding in Hadejia) will be true.

I then laughed it off and let go!

The rest now lies on the residents and inhabitants of that town. They either decide to move to the highlands along Malam Madori Road and expand Hadejia along that axis, or they should continue to live with their thinking and be lost in oblivion.

Nonetheless, I sincerely commiserate with the victims of this first phase of the flood. May Allah help their situations in this country with hopeless, very unserious and dangerous politicians and political leaders.

Nura Jibo wrote via jibonura@yahoo.com.

By Muhammad Aminu

Jigawa State Government has said it would release over 1, 700, 000 bags of fertiliser for sale to farmers in the state to support this year’s rainy season farming.

This was stated by the Deputy Governor of the state, Alh Umar Namadi who assured that Jigawa State Agricultural Supply Company (JASCO) has already been ordered to commence the sale to the farmers across the state.

Alh Namadi who made the announcement when he received the emir of Dutse, Dr Nuhu Muhammadu Sanusi at the Government House said that the state government is committed to ensuring that farmers got the fertiliser on time and at affordable price this rainy season.

According to him, the agricultural sector has been active as a result of various programmes and policies introduced by the government which has resulted to poverty reduction, jobs creation and food security in the state.

The JASCO’s Managing Director, Alhaji Rabiu Khalid Maigatari, said a bag of NPK 20.10.10 would be sold at N15,000. He revealed that the company has already received the delivery of over 160 trucks which is equivalent to 4,500 metric tonnes of the commodities and distributed to over 45 stores across 27 LGAs in the State.

Farmers in the State had earlier complained of unavailability of fertiliser due to exorbitant prices in the market but find succour in the Government subsidised fertiliser for their farming activities.

By Habibu Gimba Kafin Hausa

The resent gubernatorial primary election of the All Progressive Congress in Jigawa State, which produces Deputy Governor, Alhaji Umar Namadi (Danmodi) to fly its flag, ahead of 2023 election really commendable.

Since assumption of office, Badaru’s attention has been focused on the aspects of the economy that have direct bearing on his people in terms of welfare and social uplift, not forgetting their viability and economic worth.

The state has initiated investment-friendly policies, reasons for its position as third in Nigeria in the World Bank’s latest Ease of Doing Business Report, in addition to many fruitful policies for businesses to drive and that had contributed to the state’s internally Generated Revenue and raised the state’s Gross Domestic Product from 900 billion to about 2 trillion naira, the highest ever in the history of the state. 

Before his appointment as Finance Commissioner and later promoted to the Deputy Governor, in 2015 and 2019 respectively, Umar Namadi, was a member of the state committee constituted by Governor Badaru on verification and validation of contracts as well as that of staff audits.

Also, after he assumed office as Finance Commissioner, various rankings by national and international bodies have consecutively ranked Jigawa as the most transparent State in budget transparency in Nigeria.

Umar Namadi’s achievements in office, when he was a state commissioner of finance, have made him one of the most transformative commissioners of finance sector in the history of Jigawa State. As a Chartered Accountant and Head of Economic Team, Under Umar Namadi, we have seen how Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre declared Jigawa State top among the 36 states on Budget Transparency Index 2020 ranking.

While Jigawa State continued to be at the top of the sub-index, Ondo and Kano States ranked second and third with scores of 86 and 80 respectively.

The commitments and excellent jobs of Namadi, as the chairman of the Jigawa State Investment Promotion Council, upgrade the business ecosystem of the state. This is why from 2019 to 2022 Jigawa State has been ranked as the third state with the fastest growing small and medium scale industries in the country.

He has been doing everything possible to bring in key players to make Jigawa State a top destination for investment in Nigeria. This singular effort brought about 70 local and foreign investors who show their interest to invest in Jigawa, with a potential of providing 60,000 jobs opportunities, where about 17 of such opportunities have been actualized and are worth 1.2 million dollars.

In a bid to take his responsibilities, as the Chairman Governing Board of Invest Jigawa, the Deputy Governor led the members of the agency to hold a roundtable discussion numerous times. This has been to discuss opportunities to network with top government leaders and captains of industry.

Danmodi is loved by Jigawa people and compatriots outside the State. He has the education, charisma and experience to pilot Jigawa State to the Promised Land.

As the Chairman of Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASI), Jigawa State Chapter, a successful businessman and a private sector inclined, Namadi will provide enabling environment for international and domestic investors to improve our economy, through the pursuit of policies that guarantee economic growth, and ensure sustained progress in the improvement of basic human development indicators.

A well-recognized business tycoon, Namadi will continue to provide all the necessary support to boost small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Jigawa as part of his effort for ease of doing business reforms. He has been saying that the responsibility of any government is to provide facilities that would improve economic activities of its people. If he is elected as the governor of Jigawa State, Danmodi will demonstrate his readiness to reposition the state’s economy to a growth trajectory where the economy will work for all of us.

His running mate, Engineer Aminu Usman Gumel, is a competent, dedicated and a focused commissioner. Under him, we have seen how the State Government embarked on massive road constructions and rehabilitations. Almost all the road projects, totaling around 716.5kms inherited by Badaru’s administration, have been completed while an additional 878.15km of regional, township and feeder roads awarded by Governor Badaru’s led administration are at different stages of completion. All these happened while he was the works and transport Commissioner for 8 blessed years.

Alhaji Umar Namadi is person who understands Badaru’s policies and programmes and their impacts on the people. If Jigawa people vote Umar Namadi to be their elected governor in 2023 general election, the welfare and future of Jigawa people will always remain his focal point.

By Muhammad Sabiu

A 28-year-old Shu’aibu Adamu, who was found guilty of killing his wife, has been sentenced to death by hanging by the Jigawa State High Court in Dutse.

According to Section 221(b) of the Penal Code, the crime of culpable homicide is punishable, said the presiding judge, Hon. Justice Ahmed Muhammad Abubakar.

Justice Ahmed stated in his ruling that the prosecution’s case was proven beyond a reasonable doubt by the testimony of four witnesses.

The court determined the accused to have committed the crime, which carries the death penalty.

Justice Ahmad sentenced him to death by hanging.

The prosecution’s attorney had informed the court that the event occurred on June 24, 2018, in Warwade Town, Dutse Local Government Area of Jigawa State, when the convict and his wife, Sahura Umar, 20, of the same locality, quarrelled.

By Muhammad Aminu 

The police have arrested a middle-aged man for deceiving Muslim worshippers and demolishing mosques in the name of reconstruction in Jigawa State.

The man who is reported to have deceived many villagers and communities in remote areas of Jigawa State local governments directed demolition and stole roofing zinc from at least 14 mosques in the state.

The suspect is expected to appear in a Magistrate Court in the Kiyawa Local Government Area of Jigawa on Thursday.

A spokesman for Jigawa State Magistrate Courts, Abbas Wangara, said the man is being prosecuted for demolition and stealing properties of mosques.

The police confirmed that the suspect was arrested in Konake village of Kiyawa Local Government Area but did not disclose his identity.

Residents of Konake village said the suspect paid for the removal of roofing, doors and windows before he disappeared with the items without a trace. 

At least fourteen mosques were affected by his deceitful philanthropic gesture of trying to renovate and upgrade the mosques in Taura, Kiyawa and Jahun Local Government Areas of Jigawa State.

The village head of Konake, Malam Hussaini Iliyasu, explained that the man had earlier told them that an Arab-based NGO would construct a new mosque for the village hence the demolition of the existing one.

“After the removal of the roofing, he gathered zinc, windows, doors and borehole and moved them away. He even paid for the carpenter to remove the roof and the demolition of the outer part of the mosque,” the village head said.

Residents of Konake said they were hinted that he was sighted in a neighbouring village trying to replicate his trick against unsuspecting worshippers, which enabled them to inform the police.

Some residents of the affected villages confirmed that they now pray in their houses whenever it is raining because of his despicable acts on their mosques.