Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim

The United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF has trained journalists on effective reporting of polio immunisation campaign schedule to commence on Saturday.

KANO FOCUS reports that the participants were selected from Kano, Jigawa and Katsina states.

Speaking at the occasion the officer in charge of UNICEF Kano office Micheal Banda, described media as partners in progress that are crucial in managing misinformation about vaccines to promote uptake for immunity against childhood killer diseases.

He said boosting routine immunization will eradicate polio and childhood killer diseases in Nigeria.

According to him, strengthening the system and making routine polio immunization a top priority is critical to child survival, as such there was an urgent need for relevant stakeholders to collaborate and ensure that children below 5 years receive all vaccines.

“UNICEF would continue to support the primary healthcare system to ensure there’s at least one functional PHC in each LGA in Kano, Katsina and the country at large” He said.

The Director General of Kano State Primary Healthcare Management Agency, Dr Muhammad Mahmoud pointed out that, the Kano state government has put modalities in place to ensure success as it has commenced a polio vaccine campaign in some selected areas.

He emphasized the need for public education and enlightenment, attributing the low immunization coverage in the last few years and non-functional primary healthcare centres as some of the major catalysts to the current situation.

“Currently in Kano, there is a global mission presence to curtail the situation and Kano state government would provide all the necessary support to achieve the desired objectives “

In his presentation titled: Polio Outbreak How Can we Ethically Engage with Affected Communities” the Social and Behaviour Change Specialist, UNICEF Kano field office Ogu Enemaku identified feedback and complaints, evidence-based advocacy and decision-making as some of the key elements of accountability to affected persons.

The state epidemiologist Dr Shehu Abdullahi stressed that the polio virus invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis within hours, saying that, it can be transmitted from one person to another mainly through the faecal-oral routine or less frequently contaminated water or food.

Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim

The Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf has sworn in four new commissioners recently cleared by the state house of Assembly.

KANO FOCUS reports that the ceremony which took place at Government House Kano on Thursday attracted party Chieftains, cabinet members, and host of others

The four new commissioners include Mustapha Rabiu Kwankwaso, Abduljabbar Garko , Shehu Aliyu Yanmedi and Adamu Aliyu Kibiya.

The New Commissioners were assigned as follows: Mustapha Rabiu Kwankwaso – Youth and Sport, Abduljabbar Garko – Land and Survey, Shehu Aliyu Yanmedi – Special Duties, Adamu Aliyu Kibiya – Commerce and Industry.

Governor Yusuf Charged the new commissioners to be dedicated and commitment to their assigned responsibilities.

Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim

A renown activist cum politician Sen. Shehu Sani said Kano People has set a pace for Nigerians to vote out non performing governments via electoral process.

KANO FOCUS reports that Comrade Sani revealed this on Wednesday night during a symposium to mark the 41st anniversary of Malam Aminu Kano’s death organised by Aminu Kano Centre of Democratic Studies, Mambayya House, Gwammaja.

He noted that poverty and hunger should not be an excuse for people to compromise their voting right with spaghetti.

Sen. Shehu Sani

He attributed the Kano political consciousness to the legacy of Malam Aminu Kano.

We’re committed to promoting Aminu Kano legacies Gov. Yusuf

Gov. Abba Kabir Yusuf said his administration would continue to keep the legacies of late Malam Aminu Kano by impacting positively on the lives of the people.

The Governor represented by the Commissioner for Information, Baba Halilu Dantiye, described Aminu Kano as a nationalist and activist who fought to the uplift and uphold the fundamental rights of common people.

Baba Halilu Dantiye

He said Aminu Kano left a legacy of social justice, equality, sincerity of purpose, good governance, and desire that every child should be educated.

Yusuf said his administration was following that footstep by prioritising education as demonstrated in the huge allocation to the sector in the 2024 budget.

He said his administration was also providing foreign scholarships to Kano State indigenes.

Yusuf expressed his government’s readiness to embrace ideas, advice, and recommendations that would enhance the well-being of the people of the state.

He commended the Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Studies, Bayero University, for the annual symposium.

CP Usaini Gumel tasks law enforcement agencies on neutrality, professionalism during elections

The Commissioner of Police in Kano State, Usaini Gumel, has urged fellow law enforcement agencies to maintain neutrality, uphold professionalism and guarantee the safety and security of citizens during elections.

“As the Commissioner of Police of the Kano Police Command, I urge fellow law enforcement agencies to maintain neutrality, uphold professionalism, and guarantee the safety and security of all citizens during elections.

Usaini Gumel,

“We must work tirelessly to prevent electoral violence, investigate electoral offences, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice,” he said.

He also said that the travails of Nigeria’s electoral process in the Fourth Republic underscored the urgent need for reforms that would strengthen democratic institutions, promote electoral integrity, and restore confidence in the electoral system.

The commissioner stated that by upholding the values of democracy and the rule of law, “we can steer our nation toward a future where the voice of the people truly shapes the course of governance.”

Presentation of Book on NEPU

He said Nigeria as a nation had made significant strides in transitioning to democratic governance,yet, the prevalence of electoral irregularities, political violence, vote-buying, and other malpractices had eroded public trust in the electoral system.

This, coupled with the phenomenon of judicial interventions in electoral disputes, Gumel said, had led to a growing perception of courts wielding more influence than voters in shaping political leadership.

“For democracy to thrive in Nigeria, it is imperative that the electoral process upholds the principles of transparency, fairness, and accountability.

“Political actors, electoral bodies, security agencies and the judiciary, all have a crucial role to play in ensuring free, fair, and credible elections that truly reflect the will of the people,” he said.

Gumel further stated that while free and fair election was the hallmark of a democratic system, election malpractices and violence had been regarded as obstacles to the consolidation of democratic institutions.

Book written on NEPU SAWABA

This, he said, made the issue of security very crucial in all the phases of the electoral process: the pre-electoral, electoral, and post-electoral phases.

He said the role of the security agencies was to safeguard the electoral environment and electoral process, and that for this reason, the security agencies were exposed to the machinations of political actors.

“To optimize the role of the security agencies, an Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) was established in Nigeria before the 2011 General Elections, which establishes the code of conduct and rules of engagement for the security agencies before, during and after elections.

MD ARTV Mustapha Adamu Indabawa and MD Radio Kano Abubakar Adamu Rano

“With this, all security men and women on electoral duty now have a common standard of reference for their actions,”the commissioner added.

Also speaking, a former national president of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Prof. Nasiru Isa Fagge said Nigerians need to be given quality education to chart a cause for national development, saying that Nigerian government has enough resources to do that.

To strengthen democracy in Nigeria, Prof. Fagge advised that electoral offices should be made unattractive and judiciary should be corrupt-free, paying emphasis to substance of cases brought before them not just technicalities.

Among the speakers during the occasion were the Vice-Chancellor Bayero University, Prof. Sagir Abbas, representative of the Emir of Kano, Wakilin Arewa, Alhaji Faruk Yola.

The banner

Prof. Williams Fawole, Senator Shehu Sani and Dr Abubakar Umar led discussion on the topic “Democracy or ‘Courtocracy’: The Travail of Nigeria’s Electoral Process in the Fourth Republic.”