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INTERVIEW: Why Kano can’t cope with COVID-19 outbreak–Infectious disease expert
Nazifi Dawud
In this interview with KANO FOCUS, Professor Isa Sadiq Abubakar, the Director, Centre for Infectious Disease Research, Bayero University, Kano (BUK) and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), shares his thoughts on the need to prevent the outbreak of the new coronavirus or COVID-19 in Kano state. Excerpts:
Q: It seems that here in Kano, many people doubt the existence of the COVID-19 coronavirus, what do you say to these people?
Professor Abubabar: That is a very costly mistake because it is a reality. We are lucky it started from a very far place, that is China and gradually spread to other countries. So, this thing started in December and we are living witnesses that over the last three months it has been spreading, yet it has not come to us.
But it is a reality that whether today, tomorrrow or another day, it will definitely come to us whether we like it or not. So, the best thing is that we should get out from the state of denial and do the needful.
And one thing I want you to understand is that it is a very dangerous disease that is very easily contracted and people get down with symptoms that could be life threatening because nothing is more important to our lives than the air we breath. If a disease will disallow us from breathing normally, destroy our lungs, definitely it is a very deadly disease and we must do all withing our powers to ensure that it doesn’t affect us.
Q: The COVID-19 is a disease that demands isolation and keeping distance from one another, but with the huge population in Kano and our lack of understanding of the disease, how do you think people can be convinced to abide by the rules.
Professor Abubakar: Please I want everybody who has a means to tell another person that we should keep away from each other for now. I implore everyone to do this.
Everyone should be informed that staying at home is the best way to prevent this disease from further transmission because the more we come together the more some of us will be having the disease and spread it to other people either through droplets from sneezes or coughs.
Very recently, we were informed that when a person passes out the virus during coughs or sneeze, it lasts in the air for up to eight hours. That is a very dangerous situation we are facing and so the best way is to keep staying at home.
People who have symptoms should also stay at home, rest and drink lots of fluids. They should be in a humidified room and when they have fever, they can take paracetamol to lower their temperatures and can breath fresher air than when they are out.
Q: Nigeria has one of the worst healthcare systems in the world, do you think our healthcare system can cope with the COVID-19 pandemic?
Professor Abubakar: It is a fact that even the super powers of the world have done everything humanly possible to contain this epidemic but they are being overwhelmed.
If you look at Italy, United Kingdom, United States, they are battling the disease and their medical supplies are being depleted, they are calling for help, they are helpless. What about us in the African continent, especially Nigeria that has the largest population.
In terms of human resources, we have one of the poorest indices in the world. The performance of our health system is very low and so we do not have a resilient health system. Should this problem escalate, we are going to be in a very serious crisis that people can just fold their arms and not be able to contain it.
So, we are just hoping that it shouldn’t take us to that level and the best thing is for people to prevent because the health system as I’m speaking to you everything is in scarcity. We do not have enough protective materials for the health workers to work with.
This is a disease that doesn’t have a vaccine, so we don’t have the capacity to confront this disease. We are not ready to battle this illness, so the best approach is prevention. And the best prevention approach is keeping social distance and hand-washing with soap and water, good coughing habits, wearing face masks and disposing them properly.
Question: Do you advise the Kano government to ban movement of people into the state through closure of motor parks and suspending domestic flights?
Professor Abubakar: It is up to the government to take necessary measures but what I know is that the coronavirus is a very dangerous disease and government needs to reduce the number of people coming into town.
As of now, there is a plan to screen everybody coming in but at a later time it may reach a situation where people will be stopped from coming in entirely.
Q: What category of people does the coronavirus affects the most?
Professor Abubakar: Well, it affects everybody but the people it harms the most include the elderly, people with diabetes, people with weak immunity like HIV, cancer patients, hypertensive or heart disease patients and others.
My Advice for them is to stay at home, maintain social distance and avoid any gathering while adhering to hygienic practices.
Mukhtar Yahya Usman
Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Commission, PCACC, has launched a mobile application, developed for receiving information from whistle-blowers.
KANO FOCUS reports that the application, ‘Shawarata’ was launched at the commemoration ceremony of International Anti-corruption Day, held at Coronation Hall, Kano state government house on Saturday.
Speaking at the event, the Chairman of the Commission, Muhuyi Magaji Rimin-Gado, said the application was part of the agency’s resolve to employ technology to check the excesses of corrupt practices in the state.
Rimin-Gado said the event was a strategy to enlighten the public on the dangers of corruption, which according to him, has negatively affected all strata of development in the country.
“Part of our resolve to strengthen the fight against corruption and check the excesses of corrupt practices in the state is the introduction of technology by our agency.
“This is why we have developed a mobile app for receiving opinions, views, and suggestions from members of the public.
“This event is key to the fight against corruption as it enlightens the public about the dangers of corruption. Corruption has affected all strata of development,” he said.
In his presentation, Sadiq Yaya, PCACC’s Head of ICT, said the app is a platform where information could be received from members of the public.
According to him, the platform contains features to upload videos and pictures by a user, adding that it is user-friendly and fast.
He explained that the platform had also provided a feature to keep information providers anonymous by providing options for the anonymity of the user.
Yaya disclosed that the app has recorded 20 downloads so far, urging the general public to download it to provide suggestions, opinions, and other information to the commission.
In his remarks, the state governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf said his administration had zero tolerance for corruption, which is why it had soft far recorded some giant strides.
According to Yusuf, represented by his deputy, Comrade Aminu Abdulsalam, the state government has recorded achievements so far as a result of blocking leakages since the inception of the administration.
He explained that the administration has resumed payment of salaries to civil servants without illegal deductions as it was done by the immediate past government.
He added that public properties illegally acquired by individuals in the immediate past government have been recovered and put to public use, citing Hasiya Bayero Paediatric Hospital.
He said the government had also prioritized the creation of Anti-Corruption units in government agencies.
Governor Yusuf described the Kano anti-graft agency as “one of the best, if not the best in the country”.
Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim
The Kano State Government has said that it has blocked leakages and fraudulent siphons of the public treasury, saying in just a few months in office, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has saved billions of Naira.
KANO FOCUS reports that the Government alluded that hundreds of leakages had led to the misuse of public funds by those in authority, while institutions, government offices, and the general well-being of the public suffered neglect.
Delivering an address at the commemoration of the 2023 International Anti-Corruption Day, Saturday, hosted by the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC), the State Governor Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, represented by his Deputy Governor Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo says the government has zero tolerance for corruption.
The Deputy Governor, who represented Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf at the event, explained that some of the giant strides taken by the state government towards ensuring a better life for the people of the state are evidence of the fact that it does not tolerate corruption.
He explained that the regime has resumed payment of salaries to civil servants without unnecessary deductions introduced by the immediate past regime.
He added that public properties illegally acquired by individuals in the immediate past regime have been recovered and put to public use, giving an example of the Hasiya Bayero Paediatric Hospital.
He said the government has also prioritized the creation of Anti-Corruption units in government agencies while ensuring it pays pensions and gratuities of retirees neglected by the immediate past regime worth N6 billion.
In his opening address, the chairman of the Kano anti-graft agency, Muhyi Magaji Rimingado described the agency as the most vibrant subnational anti-graft agency in the country.
Muhyi Rimin Gado hints that as of today the State Anti Graft office has become a source of inspiration with many other State Governors seeking technical advice on how to create and sustain their own.
He explained that the day is commemorated with the view of mobilizing the public towards fighting corruption.
Headlines
Kano guber tussle: Tinubu, APC using judiciary to destabilise the northern commercial center, Arewa coalition
Aminu Abdullahi
A pan Arewa movement known as Northern Coalition Youths Movement Initiative (NYMI) has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led administration and the ruling All progressives Congress (APC) of an hidden agenda to destabilize the Northern commercial nerve center in order to weaken the economy of the region.
KANO FOCUS reports that this was disclosed in an elaborate world press conference at Arewa House in Kaduna state on Saturday.
The secretary general of the movement, Comrade Ibrahim Mohammed Inuwa, pointed to series of moves being made by the government to undermine the region using judiciary to subvert the people’s mandate in Kano, Plateau and Zamfara.
He said, in recent times, they have observed with dismay, how the much esteemed judiciary has become the lapdog to the executive arm of government which they said is expected to check as an independent entity.
“Gone are the days when judges dish out logical judgments that are acceptable to the litigants in any disputes. It is however sad that the administration of Pres. Bola Tinubu and APC has resorted to using the judiciary to snatch what it has lost at the ballot.
“Under the APC, the votes of the people no longer count, this is because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has become an extended part of the ruling party. In a bid to do the bidding of the APC.
“Judiciary has now become the rubber stamp to the massive scale of electoral robbery in the country. Where the INEC fails to award victories to APC candidate, the same courts are the avenue where the victories of the opposition parties are now only arrested but also stolen and given to the APC.
“Nigerians are living witnesses to what is going on in the Court of Appeal with respect to the governorship poll in Kano, Plateau and Zamfara States where the opposition parties have won the state at the ballot box and the attempt by the Federal Government to snatch these states from the winning political parties.
“What is even more embarrassing is the case of Kano where the Court of Appeal is still finding it hard to defend its verdict on the election which many have come to see as very ignoble and horrible. The fact that the verdict is tainted was further shown aa the NNPP try to secure the certified true copy of the judgment revealed the underhand dealings that must have happened with the document revealing contradictory outcomes.
While some paragraphs upheld the election of Gov Abba Kabir Yusuf of the NNPP as duly elected.
“The embarrassment created by the nasty scenario is yet to abate as we address you as the action has further put the judiciary in the negative spot in the minds of right thinking Nigerians who have lost faith in that vital arm of the government.
“The most laughable verdict also is the issue of internal affairs of each political parties which is clearly enshrined in our electoral act and which the supreme court has long settled, yet that is the issue the same judiciary is using to upturn Kano’s mandates which was freely given to NNPP”,
The coalition accused the Tinubu’s government of waging war against leading political lights from the region in a bid to destroy or whittle down their relevance before the poll.
He said the coalition has been monitoring the development for some time, he however urged leaders in the North to live up to their responsibility of protecting the interest of their region.
He added “We wish to draw the attention of the people of the North to an ongoing sinister plot by Pres. Tinubu and the ruling All progressives Congress APC to politically decimate the North and render it impotent ahead of the forthcoming 2027 general election.
“The coalition lamented the fate of the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufa’i in the hands of the current government despite the support it gave to President Bola Tinubu during the electioneering campaign.
“One individual whose support and assistance to the emergence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufa’i who worked on his colleagues in the North to sway victory for President Tinubu.
“What did he get in return? The former governor was rubbished by the government when his nomination was rejected by the Senate during confirmation allegedly on spurious claims of not scaling security screening,” the group wrote.
They also listed those who have been humiliated by the current government include, Senators Danjuma Goje, Abdulazeez Yari.
The statement further reads that “The former Zamfara State Governor was subsequently rubbish by the government when he tried to become the Senate President of the country. He was hounded and cowed to submission by the agents of the government and the state.”
Not done, they added that “Another Northerner who has also been humiliated since coming into being of this governmen
Anti-corruptions Day: PCACC launches mobile app to fight corruption
How we saved billions of public funds by blocking leakages – Gov Yusuf
Kano guber tussle: Tinubu, APC using judiciary to destabilise the northern commercial center, Arewa coalition
𝗞𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝟭: 𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲
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