•Buratai
honours soldiers, cholera threatens IDPs
The Borno
government yesterday said the Boko Haram Islamist group destroyed 19 general
hospitals and 248 primary health care (PHC) centres during the eight years’
insurgency in the state. It also stated that the period witnessed the exodus of
medical personnel.
The
Commissioner of Health, Dr. Haruna Mshelia, told newsmen yesterday in Maiduguri
at an event to mark the state’s council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists
(NUJ) Press Week.According to him, the insurgents’ target was the health sector
housing over 1,500 workers.
Meanwhile,
the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, has decorated 65
troops of the 151 Task Force Battalion and 21 Brigade of the Nigerian Army
serving in Operation Lafiya Dole for their bravery.
The
beneficiaries were acknowledged for their selfless service in the course of the
anti-insurgency fight in the North East, especially in two occasions where
soldiers were ambushed in two separate occasions.
According to
a statement by the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Headquarters 7
Division, Lt. Col. Kingsley Samuel, the COAS described soldiering as a call to
national service.
Also, 79,
837 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are at the risk of contracting cholera
in view of the flooding in parts of the north.The Borno State Emergency
Management Agency (SEMA), which confirmed the fear yesterday to The Guardian in
Maiduguri, said the camp had been submerged following a three-hour downpour at
the weekend.
“I cannot
tell give you the exact casualties, but our fears were that the flood may cause
outbreak of water-borne diseases like cholera. Water points have been
contaminated by flood,” an official, who craved anonymity, said.He added that
the flood had sacked over 14,000 settlements, which according to him, lacked
drainage
0 Comments