Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim

In a bid to ensure the smooth conduct of the ongoing Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination, the Kano State Government has temporarily suspended the April 2025, End of month sanitation exercise.

KANO FOCUS reports that this decision was taken after careful consideration and consultation with relevant stakeholders, in an effort to allow students of Kano State to write their examination without any hitches.

In a statement issued by the Director Public Enlightenment of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Ismail Garba Gwammaja has quoted the Commissioner of Environment and Climate Change Dr. Dahiru M. Hashim saying that:

“The suspension is aimed at preventing any potential disruptions to the examination process and ensuring that candidates can sit for their exams without any hindrance.”

The Commissioner assured residents that the suspension is temporary for this month, and that the sanitation exercise will resume in its full force next month May 2025, in the state.

The Commissioner however, appeals to residents to cooperate with the authorities and understand the rationale behind this decision.

“We are committed to maintaining a clean and healthy environment, and we will work tirelessly to ensure that our sanitation activities do not conflict with other important events in the state,” the commissioner said.

While Commending the residents for their understanding and cooperation to the present administration, urged them to continue to avoid indiscriminate dumping of waste and cooperates with our sanitation staff to ensure clean and healthy environment always, and pray for the successful conduct of students who will sit for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim

The Kano State Chapter of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has inaugurated a security committee aimed at strengthening community-based responses to insecurity in the state and wider northern region.

KANO FOCUS reports that the committee was inaugurated on Tuesday at the ACF Secretariat by the Chairman of the ACF Board of Trustees in Kano State, Brigadier General Haliru Akilu (Rtd), who said the initiative was a strategic response to Nigeria’s growing security challenges.

Gen. Halliru Akilu inaugurating Gen. Idris Bello Dambazau while Dr Goni Faruk Umar is watching

Akilu described the committee as a platform for strategic engagement, grassroots intervention, and policy articulation to support formal security institutions.

“This committee is envisioned to serve as a fulcrum of strategic engagement and community-driven security intervention. It symbolizes our collective resolve to restore order and peace to our communities,” he said.

He noted that the committee draws membership from various security and paramilitary agencies including the NDLEA, Police, Hisbah, Civil Defence, FRSC, NAPTIP, and vigilante groups.

Gen. Halliru Akilu delivering his address

According to him, the committee is tasked with assessing the evolving security landscape in Kano and beyond, acting as a bridge between citizens and security agencies, and developing actionable, data-driven recommendations to promote peace, vigilance and resilience across ethnic, religious, and political divides.

General Akilu stressed that the committee must operate beyond bureaucratic routines and ensure its insights influence national policy. He also urged members to demonstrate integrity, confidentiality, and dedication.

Chairman of the committee, General Idris Bello Dambazau (Rtd), pledged to uphold the mandate of the committee with seriousness and discipline.

Gen. Idris Bello Dambazau (Rtd) granting interview to journalists

“We’re bringing the seriousness of military service into this assignment. Time in service is life. One minute can cost lives. That’s how seriously we’re taking this task,” he said, adding that the committee was set to begin work immediately.

On his part, the NDLEA Commander in Kano, Ahmed Idris, commended the synergy among security agencies in the state and expressed optimism that the ACF’s initiative would serve as a model for other states.

Cross section of members of the security committee

“In Kano, we’ve built a strong culture of collaboration. This committee reflects that spirit and the quality of its membership shows the seriousness of the ACF,” he said.

KANO FOCUS reports that the initiative comes as Kano and other northern states are facing security threats such as banditry, kidnapping, drug abuse, and youth radicalization. Observers say the ACF’s grassroots-focused approach could offer a much-needed complement to conventional security responses.

Gen. Halliru Akilu (rtd) inaugurating Gen. Idris Bello Dambazau (rtd)

Speakers at the event called for similar committees to be replicated across other states in the region, with hopes that the Kano model would become a blueprint for wider regional intervention.

Members of the security committee and ACF officials

General Akilu closed the event with a call for the committee to chart a new course for peace and security in the region, describing the inauguration as “a bold first step.”

Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged the Kano State Government to declare a state of emergency on polio and routine immunisation due to the resurgence of circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPVs) in the state.

KANO FOCUS reports that with18 polio cases recorded across nine states, including three in Kano, UNICEF Acting Chief of Field Office, Michael Banda, emphasized the need for urgent action. “Polio knows no boundaries. An outbreak anywhere threatens children everywhere,” he said.

Senior Education Manager and Officer-in-Charge, UNICEF Field Office, Kano, Michael Banda, made the revelation during a media dialogue on polio and routine immunization in Kano.

Mr Michael Banda

According to Banda, Kano accounted for three cases uncovered in Warawa, Nasarawa, and Bunkure local government areas of the state, amid zero immunization and misconceptions against the deadly infection.

cVDPV refers to a type of poliovirus that arises from the oral polio vaccine (OPV), used in the prevention of polio.

According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), on rare occasions, the weakened virus in the OPV can mutate and begin to circulate within a community, causing infections and potentially paralysis, similar to wild poliovirus.

Although Banda reminded that polio has been the leading cause of paralysis and death among children, he affirmed the disease is on the brink of eradication with vaccination of 3 billion children globally in the last 37 years.

The UNICEF boss, however, worried that the fight against polio is not over in some countries, including in Nigeria, because of low vaccination rates, thereby paving the way for polio outbreaks.

Banda explained that there is a collaboration with the Kano State Government through the Primary Health Care Management Board to broaden public knowledge on the potency of the vaccination.

He added that the media dialogue was targeted to solicit media support in raising awareness and mobilizing parents on the polio vaccination campaign in Kano ahead of World Immunization Week, beginning from 24th and 30th April 2025.

On her part, representative of Kano state Primary Healthcare Management Board, Hajiya Saadatu Ibrahim, identified challenges of hard-to-reach settlements, missing houses, zero-dose vaccination, and poor healthcare workers as major setbacks.

Hajiya Saadatu Ibrahim,

She reassured that the government has a renewed strategy to overcome the challenges, including a new method of recruiting immunization workers and the involvement of external supervisors

She said Kano State Government will immunize 4.1 million under five children.

A polio vaccination campaign is scheduled for April 24-30, 2025, coinciding with World Immunization Week. UNICEF is collaborating with the state government to raise awareness and mobilise parents.