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We’re Always Ready To Provide Technical Support – UNICEF

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The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Bauchi Field Office has assured that it was always ready to provide technical support in advancing the education sector in the state.

Dr Rane Tushar, the Chief of Field Office, UNICEF, made the assurance in Bauchi on Saturday at a 2-day validation and dissemination meeting of of State Education Strategic Plan (SESP) and State Education Strategic Operation Plan (SESOP) organized by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with UNICEF.

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Tushar, who was represented by the Education Officer, UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, Mr Raphael Aiyedipe, also reiterated UNICEF’s commitment to supporting education planning that would further improve standard and quality service delivery in the education sector.

READ ALSO: Niger Gov Under Fire For Ordering Security Aides To Slap Cleric

According to him, the importance of strategic planning in achieving the set objectives in improving effective education systems in the country could not be overemphasized.

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He added that a well thought out plan would result in easy operation which would further improve learning in schools and charged the participants to ensure they do their best to get accurate data to feature in the SESP and SESOP validation and dissemination.

READ ALSO: Pandemonium As Police Stray Bullet Kills Betting Agent

Also speaking, the State Commissioner for Education, Dr Jamila Dahiru commended UNICEF for supporting the state to improve the education sector.

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She stressed that the various interventions by UNICEF had helped in the reform of the education sector particularly since the inception of the present administration.

She also stressed the importance of the meeting which she said would focus on the validation and dissemination of the SESP and SESOP that would be implemented for the next few years.

Dahiru called on relevant agencies participating in the meeting to ensure that accurate data was used where necessary so that implementation of the plan would be made easy.

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She commended the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), Ondo for the facilitation of the meeting, adding that the result would be a guide in the implementation of the reforms in the education sector.

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India Issues Health Alert After Spike In ‘brain-eating’ Amoeba Deaths

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India has issued a health alert after infections and deaths caused by a rare water-borne “brain-eating” amoeba doubled compared to last year in the southern state of Kerala.

Numbers are still tiny but Altaf Ali, a doctor who is part of a government task force to arrest the spread, told AFP that officials were “conducting tests on a large scale across the state to detect and treat cases”.

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Officials reported 19 deaths and 72 infections of the Naegleria fowleri amoeba this year, including nine deaths and 24 cases in September alone.

READ ALSO:India Test-fires Ballistic Missile, Capable Of Reaching All Of China

Last year, the amoeba killed nine people out of 36 reported cases.

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The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says it is often called a “brain-eating amoeba” because it can “infect the brain and destroy brain tissue”.

If the amoeba reaches the brain, it can cause an infection that kills over 95 per cent of those affected.

Infections are “very rare but nearly always fatal”, the CDC notes.

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READ ALSO:Indian Man Gets Death Sentence For Burning Wife Alive Over Skin Colour

The amoeba lives in warm lakes and rivers and is contracted by contaminated water entering the nose. It does not spread from person to person.

The World Health Organisation says that symptoms include headache, fever and vomiting, which rapidly progresses to “seizures, altered mental status, hallucinations, and coma”.

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“It’s worrying that new cases this year have emerged from across the state, as opposed to specific pockets in the past,” Ali said.

Since 1962, nearly 500 cases have been reported worldwide, mostly in the United States, India, Pakistan, and Australia.

AFP

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Gunmen On Motorbikes Kill 22 At Baptism Ceremony In Niger

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Gunmen on motorbikes shot dead 22 villagers in western Niger, most attending a baptism ceremony, local media and other sources said Tuesday.

The shootings happened on Monday in the Tillaberi region, near Burkina Faso and Mali, where jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group (IS) are active.

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A resident of the area told AFP that 15 people were killed first at a baptism ceremony in Takoubatt village.

The attackers then went to the outskirts of Takoubatt where they killed seven other people,” said the resident, who requested anonymity for security reasons.

READ ALSO:Two Nigerians Face Jail Terms In Liberia’s Piracy Trial

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Local media outlet Elmaestro TV reported a “gruesome death toll of 22 innocent people cowardly killed without reason or justification”.

“Once again, the Tillaberi region has been struck by barbarism, plunging innocent families into mourning and despair,” Nigerien human rights campaigner Maikoul Zodi said on social media.

Niger’s military leaders, who came to power two years ago in a coup, have struggled to contain jihadist groups in Tillaberi, despite maintaining a large army presence there.

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Around 20 soldiers were killed in the region last week.

READ ALSO:Nigerian Jailed In US Over $6m Inheritance Fraud

Human Rights Watch has urged Niger authorities to “do more to protect” civilians against deadly attacks.

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The rights monitoring group estimates that the Islamic State group has “summarily executed” more than 127 villagers and Muslim worshippers in Tillaberi in five attacks since March.

Meanwhile, the NGO ACLED, which tracks conflict victims worldwide, says around 1,800 people have been killed in attacks in Niger since October 2024 — three-quarters of them in Tillaberi.

Niger and its neighbours, Burkina Faso and Mali, also ruled by military coup leaders who claim to pursue a sovereignist policy, have expelled the French and American armies that were fighting alongside them against jihadism.

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Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy

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Serbian prosecutors filed an updated indictment on Tuesday against 13 people, including a former minister, over a fatal railway station roof collapse that has triggered a wave of anti-government protests.

The prosecution said all those indicted, among them former construction minister Goran Vesic, face charges of “serious crimes against public safety” over the tragedy that killed 16 people last November.

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“The indictment proposes that the Higher Court in Novi Sad order custody for all the defendants,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The roof collapse at the newly renovated station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, became a symbol of entrenched corruption and sparked almost daily protests.

READ ALSO:FG Panel Indicts AFN In Ofili’s Paris Olympics Omission

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Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad initially filed an indictment at the end of December, but judges returned it in April, requesting more information.

The accused were released or placed under house arrest following the decision.

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The prosecutor’s office said it had complied with the judge’s request and had now completed the supplementary investigation.

READ ALSO:NDLEA Arrests Indian Businessman, 3 Others Over Alleged Trafficking Of N3.9bn Tramadol

The prosecutor specialising in organised crime and corruption in Belgrade is leading a separate, independent investigation into the tragedy.

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That investigation is focused on 13 people, including Vesic and another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, who headed the Construction Ministry before him.

In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched a third, separate investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds for the station’s reconstruction.

AFP

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