Hijab Controversy: Kwara govt finally reopens schools

The Kwara State Government has reopened the 10 schools in Ilorin shut last month over the use of hijab by Muslim female students.

This was disclosed in a statement by the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Kemi Adeosun, on Tuesday night.

Mrs Adeosun said the schools would reopen on Wednesday, March 17.

“The government is convinced that its policy to allow willing Muslim schoolgirls to wear their hijaab (face covering) in public schools will lead to sustainable peace and communal harmony anchored on mutual respect and understanding.

“This path to mutual respect, understanding, and peace with regards to hijaab had long been adopted in all of the northern Nigeria and many states in the Southwest such as Lagos, Osun, Ekiti, and Oyo States.

“As the students resume normal classes, the government took special notice of the plight of those of them preparing for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and hereby directs affected schools to hold at least two-hour extra lesson for all the intending candidates after school hours daily.”

Anambra Govt: inoculation’s benefits outweigh risks

ANAMBRA State government has declared that AstraZeneca COVID -19 vaccine benefits outweigh its risks, urging residents to get themselves vaccinated against the dreaded pandemic.

Commissioner for Health Dr. Vincent Okpala, who spoke yesterday in Awka, allayed fears over the perceived harmful tendencies of the vaccine, saying the benefits could not be compared with the risks involved.

Okpala spoke with reporters on COVID-19 vaccine introduction organised by the State COVID-19 Action Team in collaboration with the State Primary Health Development Agency.

He said: “It is no longer news that on March 2nd, Nigeria took delivery of an estimated 4 million doses of the Oxford/Astra Zeneca COVID-19 Vaccine, out of which Anambra State received 78,810 doses.

“The vaccine we have received is the product of a rigorous scientific process. And has been certified as safe by multiple agencies abroad.

“What we’ve done in our response to the pandemic is to carefully follow the guidelines of WHO which has set the pace and NCDC.”

“As of today, they said the benefits of receiving the vaccines outweigh the risk of not receiving it. That means we’re good to go.

Call-up system makes impacts, cuts off N100m daily bribe

There are indications that the newly introduced electronic call-up system for truck access to the seaports may have started yielding results.

Stakeholders told Vanguard Maritime Report that indiscriminate packing of trucks along the Apapa roads as well as extortion of truck drivers have reduced drastically.

They also hinted that the gang of security and ports operatives perpetrating the extortions may be losing about N100 million daily due to this development.

Speaking to Vanguard Maritime Report in Lagos, the Chief Operating Officer of the Transit Truck Park Limited, Mr. Dayo Adeboye, said the electronic call-up system was meant to eradicate the issue of extortion and reduce cost of cargo delivery.

He stated: “The system was designed to deal with extortion. The implementation is in three phases, and it is mainly to tackle extortion. One is development of physical infrastructure, stakeholders’ management and collaboration and deployment of technology.

“The only reason extortion takes place is because trucks park on the road and they pay security agents to allow them park on the road and from there, they hustle their way into the ports. So everybody is using different means to access the ports and that is what is causing the congestion.

“What the project is trying to do is gate all the trucks and then schedule them according to what stakeholders in the port can use every hour. When this is done, all the roads will be free of traffic and even on the common user roads within the ports.

“With the e-call-up system, immediately your ticket is printed, that means you have a parking lot in an holding bay. So you are moving from point to point, you are not on the road, so why would anybody ask you for money. That is how we plan to stop the extortion and Lagos State is suppose to  bring enforcement, no parking, no stopping, no truck is allowed to stop on the road you have to enter one of the holding bays.

Murder of Fasoranti’s daughter: Five more suspects arrested by Police SWAT

Five more suspected killers of Mrs Funke Olakunri, 58-year-old daughter of the national leader of the Pan Yoruba Socio-Political Group, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, have been arrested by the police.

Recall that the deceased was gruesomely murdered in July, 12, 2019 by suspected kidnappers along the Ore-Lagos highway.

The suspects include Lawal Mazaje, 40, from Felele, Kogi State; Adamu Adamu, 50, from Jada in Adamawa State; Mohammed Usman, 26, from Illela, Sokoto State and Auwal Abubakar, 25, from Shinkafi, Zamfara State.

Four suspects had earlier been arrested by the police, in connection with the murder case and had been arraigned before the court .

They include Muhammed Shehu, 26, Mazaje Lawal, 40, Adamu Adamu, 60 and Awalu Abubakar, 25

They were arraigned on three count charge of conspiracy to kill, murder and kidnapping at an Akure High Court presided over by Justice Bode Adegbehingbe.

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