Headlines
Woman, 4 girls die in pit while excavating sand in Kano
By Abubakar Abdulkadir Dangambo.
A woman and four children died in Dauni village of Minjibir local government area of Kano state while excavating sand following the collapse of the tunnel from which they were conducting the activity.
KANO FOCUS reports that the accident occurred on Thursday.
Spokesperson of the Kano State Fire Service, Malam Sai’idu Mohammed, identified the victims as Sa’ida Lawwali, 32, Dije Shu’aibu, 8; Hadiza Shu’aibu, 12; Nana Idris, 12; and Wasila Nuhu, 13.
He added that a 5 -year old boy Ibrahim Shuaibu was rescued from the site with injuries along with other survivors.
Mr Mohammed said most of the survivors sustained serious injuries in the accident and are currently receiving treatment.
According to him, the accident occurred on Thursday at about 2.45 pm at Ramin Farar Kasa in the village when the victims were excavating white sand used for make-up powder.
“We received a distress call on Thursday afternoon from Dauni village through one Malam Danlami Murtala at about 02:45 pm that a heap of sand has trapped six people, who were digging sand.
“Upon receiving the information, we quickly dispatched our firemen and a fire engine to the scene of the incident. We made frantic efforts to rescue the victims but we were only able to successfully rescue the little boy of about four years old, who was found alive,” Mr Mohammed told reporters.
He said bodies of the victims have been handed over to the village head of Dauni, Alhaji Bello Rabi’u for burial.
A resident of the area, Zakari Ya’u Sanbauna said the victims usually visited the site to extract a particular variety of sand that is used to produce makeup powder for women.
“They usually take the sand to Kano city, they are very popular in the village, this is a sad incident for us because it has never happened before,” Mr Sanbauna added.
Another resident Abdulkadir Hassan, called on government to regulate sand excavation and mining activities in the area through training on safety standards.
Headlines
Ramadan: Dangote feeds 10,000 people daily in Kano
Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim
The richest man in Africa, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, through Aliko Dangote Foundation, in his efforts to assist the populace, during Ramadan has launched the distribution of free meals to no fewer than 10,000 fasting Muslims in Kano.
KANO FOCUS reports that the spokesperson of the foundation, Samira Sanusi, revealed this in a statement made available to journalists on Monday in Kano.
She stated that the gesture was also extended by distributing one million bags of rice, worth over N13 billion across the 36 states of the federation and Abuja to alleviate hunger in the country.
Mrs Sanusi added that this was also aimed to ease hardship for millions of Nigerians amidst economic challenges in the country.
She further disclosed that in addition to the distribution of 20,000 loaves of bread daily to Kano residents and 15,000 daily to Lagos residents, a feeding gesture that started and sustained since 2020 during the COVID.
She explained that the Ramadan free cooked meal includes jollof rice, white rice and stew, jollof spaghetti, yam, beans with chicken and beef, packed with a bottle of water and drink for each person
According to her, the packed meals are distributed at Juma’at mosques, streets, prisons, orphanages, remand homes, and other places in Kano City and its environs.
The statement however disclosed that a beneficiary of the meal, Musa Maikatako, resident of Tarauni, expressed appreciation for the gesture, which he said had helped him break his fast with ease.
Maikatako hinted that the free meal would ameliorate the suffering of a lot of people who might break their fasts with only water, without food, considering the economic hardship faced by Nigerians.
“I cannot explain how happy I am. This meal will go a long way in assisting poor people like me to have something to at least break our fast with some solid food to eat.
“I know a lot of people in this state who could break their fast with water only. So this meal is a great relief,” he said.
While expressing happiness, Maikatako showed appreciation to Dangote Foundation for the gesture, praying to God to increase his wealth and continue to bless his business.
While another beneficiary, Hajiya Inna Tukur, expressed delight in the distribution of the meal, which, according to her, Aliko Dangote Foundation, has come to her aid.
She said; that she was elated to have been given such delicious food for free in the current hardship.
Hsjiya Tukur noted; “In this hardship, when we find it difficult to eat even two times a day, but out of the blue moon, somebody presented this delicious food to me, it is highly incredible.
“I have nothing to say but to say a big thank you to you and Aliko Dangote. I pray to God to bless you more and more”.
Meanwhile, Mrs Sanusi noted that apart from the 4-year-old free bread distribution, according to Mrs Sanusi, feeding of the needy in Kano has been quietly going on for over 30 years by Aliko Dangote.
Dangote has been doing this from his mother’s residence in Koki and from various cooking locations.
She then stated; ” This feeding program feeds 10,000 Kano residents daily with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, a unique feat that has been in existence for over 30 years”.
Headlines
Undersea cable cuts: services to be restored soon, says NCC
Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has assured that Internet services will be restored soon, as operators of the damaged undersea cables have commenced repairs.
KANO FOCUS recalled that in the early hours of Thursday, there were reports of a combination of cable cuts, resulting in equipment faults on the major undersea cables along the West African Coast, which negatively impacted data and fixed telecom services in several countries of West Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Cote de Ivoire, among others.
The cuts occurred somewhere in Cote de’Ivoire and Senegal, with an attendant disruption in Portugal.
Cable companies – West African Cable System (WACS) and African Coast to Europe (ACE) in the West Coast route from Europe have experienced faults while SAT3 and MainOne have downtime.
Similar undersea cables providing traffic from Europe to the East Coast of Africa, like Seacom, Europe India Gateway (EIG), Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE1), are said to have been cut at some point around the Red Sea, resulting in degradation of services across on the routes.
Huge volumes of data are transported across continents by underwater cables, which are an essential component of internet connectivity infrastructure. They could, however, be harmed by things like unintentional cuts, natural disasters, or technological failures. The functioning of governments, corporations, and individual consumers can all be severely impacted by disruptions to these connections.
In Nigeria and other West African countries, Internet access and speed have experienced disruptions in the networks of service providers in the affected countries, of which banks and telecoms companies were mostly affected.
However, the NCC, in a press statement sent to KANO FOCUS, said operators of the cables have commenced repairs already, and services were gradually being restored.
They have promised to work round the clock to ensure that services are restored to the affected countries within the shortest possible time, the Commission assured.
Headlines
Women’s Day: BUK, CITAD celebrate with policy brief presentation, book launch
Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim
The Center for Gender Studies (CGS), Bayero University Kano (BUK) and Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) Wednesday celebrated the 2024 International Women’s Day with public presentation of policy brief and book launch.
KANO FOCUS reports that the event was held at New Campus, Bayero University, Kano.
Speaking at the occasion, the Director Center for Gender Studies (CGS), Dr Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad appealed to people to support women to attain their fullest potential.
According to her, supporting women in all aspects would go a long way in developing their life, family and society to achieve their desired objectives.
She pointed out that, the center is a knowledge based for the improvement of the situation of men, women and girls by analyzing their specific problems, needs and interest.
“It is a multidisciplinary in nature and the center works with other centers, various departments in the University for teaching, research and training of students and members of the society on issues related to gender,” she said.
Dr Ahmad hinted that, the 2024 International women’s day celebration was marked with a book launch on perspectives on gender digital marginality in Nigeria.
In her presentation titled: The imperative of mainstreaming gender for national development, a lecturer with the department of public law BUK, and a former Nigerian Ambassador to Romania, Ambassador Safiya Nuhu explained that, a research by world bank found out that only 47% of Nigerian women are represented in the work force.
She enumerated some of the benefits of empowering women to include economic, social, poverty reduction, improved health and education, peace and security, as well as achievement of sustainable development
In her keynote address,chairperson of the occasion who doubles as the executive director Adolescent health and information projects (AHIP), Hajiya Mairo Bello advised women to build their personal assets and skills.
She decried over lack of resilience by some women where they are often relegated to the back for being afraid to be labelled as educated.
The gender technical officer CITAD, Hajiya Zainab Aminu pointed out that the center trained 25 women on gender digital analysis.
She said the policy recommends that government ICT related agencies and civil society organisations should come up with digital inclusion agenda, develop and implement organisation gender policy as well as champion gender equality and collaborate with legislators to advance the five gender bills proposed to the 10th assembly.
Some of the participants who spoke to KANO FOCUS Professor Sulaiman Yar’adua, Dr. Auwal Halilu, Maryam Ibrahim and Fatima mahmud described the event as apt.