Nigeria: Sokoto Shuts Down School Over Cholera Outbreak
The Sokoto State government has shutdown Government Girls Secondary School, Mabera following the suspected outbreak of Gastro Astrisis also known as cholera which has led to the death of two persons in the school.
According to the commissioner for Science and Technology, Hon Kulu Haruma, 70 students were affected, with two deaths recorded so far.
Kuhu Haruma while addressing journalists on the development said 20 of the affected girls are however still at the isolation centre.
Haruma said, “Up to 70 students were affected by the disease at GGSS and we informed the governor immediately and he directed a high powered team from the Ministry of health, which worked nonstop for 24 hours and we now have only 20 left in the isolation centre.
“We are aware that one of the girls from Rabah died while being rushed to the hospital because of the high diarrhoea. We equally lost another girl from Bodinga this morning, making the total deaths so far recorded two”.
She further explained that the 20 students on isolation would remain in the school until they were stabilized.
On whether the incident was connected to over population or not, the commissioner said an outbreak is a natural phenomenon that population cannot say to be the determinant of.
In a related development, Sokoto State has placed a 6am to 4pm movement restriction on the state as local government election holds today.
The movement restriction order according to the state commissioner of police (CP), Kola Okunlola, was to allow for a hitch free election across the 23 local government areas of the state.
Speaking at a stakeholder meeting cum peace accord signing between the 10 participating political parties at the Sultan Maccido Institute for Qu’ranic and General Studies, Okunlola said the movement restriction order was geared towards sustaining the peace in the state.
“There will be movement restriction between 6am and 4pm when voting is expected to conclude for counting. Security agencies will be deployed across all polling units and I expect all party chairmen to control and advise their followers against any act of violence as the law is no respecter of anyone found violating orders,” he said.
The CP who said the police would remain impartial like always, added however, they would not hesitate to be hard on anyone trying to cause violence before, during and after the local government election.
Speaking before the 10 political parties signed the peace accord, vice-chancellor of Sokoto State University, Prof. Sani Dangoggo, lauded the degree of level playing ground set for all the participating parties, as well as the seemingly enviable atmosphere that is enjoyed by all in the state, adding that he was very optimistic that the local government election would be peaceful, free and fair.
On his part, the state INEC resident electoral commissioner, Sadiq Abubakar, represented by the head, political parties and monitoring, Ahmed Musa, admonished all contestants and political parties to embrace the spirit of sportsmanship as it’s a call to service determine by the vote of the people.
The State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) chairman, Alhaji Aliyu Suleiman, said the commission had made adequate arrangement to ensure a smooth conduct of the election.
by Leadership.
