Nelson Ugwuagbo

Hisbah uncovers HIV patients, pregnant women among intending couples at Kano mass wedding

The Hisbah Board in Kano has uncovered health conditions among intended couples, including HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B, and those carrying an early pregnancy ahead of the consummation of a sponsored mass wedding in the state.

Hisbah’s spokesperson, Lawan Ibrahim Fagge, told The Guardian that most of those found with the conditions realised their status for the first time after they were subjected to medical tests.

The state government re-introduced the mass wedding initiative with 3,600 men and women selected to benefit from government funding to set up their marital homes.

N800 million was budgeted for the mass wedding as part of palliatives by the government.

The Director General of the Board, Barrister Abba Sufi, had told journalists plans to sponsor a bill that mandates pre-marital screening to determine the health status of couples.

According to him, the laws will allow anyone with diseases like HIV and other conditions to be advised appropriately, while those with other ailments that could be treated will be placed on medication immediately.

“The discovery has proven the importance of pre-marital screening, which has made it essential for us not to take things for granted. For instance, what we discovered during the screen is because we mandated it.

“Only God knows the number of children that are going to be born as sickle cell patients, and so many diseases will also be transmitted among people,” he said.

Sufi added that in Islam, it was forbidden for pregnant women to get married, adding that so far, the board had completed the screening of 1,600 people from the 44 local government areas of the state.

Suspected armed robbers on Friday engaged men of the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, in a gun duel while robbing a hotel in the Sagamu area of Ogun State.

One Police Inspector and two security guards were shot by the armed robbers, according to a statement by the Ogun State Police Command.
The injured policeman and the guards were rushed to the Olabisi Onabanjo Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) in Sagamu, where they are reportedly responding to treatment.

The police spokesperson in Ogun State, Omolola Odutola, said in the statement that the Sagamu Area Command had received a distress call at about 1:00 am “that armed hoodlums were operating at Remo Majestic Hotel in Sagamu”.

Based on the report, Odutola said a combined team of policemen were mobilised to the scene.

“Immediately the hoodlums sighted the policemen, they opened sporadic firing while the policemen engaged the hoodlums,” she explained.

According to her, “two of the hoodlums were fatally wounded while others escaped into a nearby bush with bullet wounds”.

Odutola disclosed further that “two locally made single-barrelled guns, four unexpended cartridges, 13 expended cartridges, one big scissors, 10 Android phones, one Java phone, a white Toyota Venza Car with registration number BWR 123DD Abuja were among items recovered at the scene of crime”.

She added that the suspected armed robbers had earlier mingled with lodgers before launching the attacks.

The Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alamutu Abiodun, ordered an immediate manhunt for the two fleeing suspects, the statement added.

Gombe State University is set to honour Abdullahi Usman, popularly known as Engineer Hadi, during its combined convocation ceremony.

Usman is a 71-year-old self-taught engineer who has built a helicopter, water powered stove, among several other inventions.

Other prominent personalities to be honoured include the Vice President of Nigeria; Kashim Shettima, former Secretary to Government of the Federation; Boss Mustapha, Professor Idris Mohammed, former board chairman of TETFUND; Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, former Finance Minister; Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, former ECOMOG General Commander late Timothy Shelpidi.

Announcing this during a media briefing at the council chamber, Vice Chancellor of GSU, Aliyu El-Nafaty, noted that the individuals have distinguished themselves in their various fields, noting that their efforts have been outstanding in the development of the school.

On the choice of Usman, he said “the self-made scientist and innovator, comes from a humble background as he trained himself into innovating electronics/electrical appliances that addresses the challenges we face today, especially energy. He invented cooking stoves that us water and generating plants that generate energy up to 7.5KVA without the use of any fuel and many other gadgets.”

Speaking further, El-Nafaty, disclosed that Shettima, Mustapha, Ibrahim-Imam, Ahmed, Shelpidi would be conferred honorary degrees.

While Professor Mohammed would be bestowed with Emeritus Professor of Infectious Disease and Immunology, following his contributions in the control of HIV/AIDS, Meningitis epidemics, adding that he is the first to be so honoured.

A non-governmental organisation (NGO), FOMAF Project 70, yesterday awarded scholarships to 18 indigent students in Lagos State.

The scholarship, an initiative of InterGuide Academy, gave certificates to the indigent students at a ceremony held in Lagos to the admiration of their parents and guardians.

The coordinator of the project, Judith Rhodes-Vivour, said that the beneficiaries were drawn from different areas in the state.

The breakdown of the beneficiaries indicated that eight of them were undergraduates, an additional eight in Junior Secondary School (JSS) and another two in the Senior Secondary School (SSS).

Speaking at the event, the Founder of FOMAF Project 70, Dr. Gbenga Olowo, said that the beneficiaries were dear to him.

Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, has organised a training programme for women farmers on how to mitigate the effects of climate change on agricultural practice.

The university also provided non- cash revolving facilities for the 90 women farmers that participated in the programme, held at the institution’s International Conference Centre in Ilorin, the state capital.

The institution organised the training programme in collaboration with Olayinka Yusuf of the Gender and Responsible Artificial Intelligence Network (GRAIN).

One of the resource persons at the training programme tagged, “Artificial Intelligence For Women In Agriculture (AI4WIA),” Dr Olatunji Yusuf of the Agricultural Economy Department of KWASU, said the university organised the programme to train the women farmers on artificial intelligence needed to mitigate the effects of climate change on agricultural production.

“Agriculture in Africa is rain- dependent and rain has become erratic because of change in weather. Therefore, there is the need for adequate planning to mitigate the effects of erratic rainfall due to climate change on agricultural production.

“This is the main reason why our university deemed it fit to inculcate artificial intelligence in our women farmers to enable them farm effectively. Our focus is on women farmers because of the role they play in the family and community,” Yusuf explained.