CITY NEWS Gunmen shoot 2 on Abaji farm FCTA to hand over UN House soon
UNICEF, WHO donate meningitis drugs, machine to FCT
Some men suspected to be herders shot and injured two persons in the early hours of yesterday at Yewuni village in Abaji Area Council of the FCT.
One of those shot told our reporter at the hospital where he was receiving treatment that the incident happened at about 3:34 a.m.
He said he and one of his The Federal Capital Territory has received 1,000 doses of drugs for the treatment of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) and three test machines.
The Executive Secretary of the Primary Health Care Development Board, Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed, said the drugs and machines were donated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation brothers heard cows lowing on their farm and when they went there they saw the animals eating cassava in the farm.
He alleged that the herders removed cassava tubers and fed them to their cows.
“So it was when we were moving closer to them after we summoned courage to chase them out of the farm, that one of them shot at me and my brother,” he said. (WHO) respectively.
Dr. Mohammed urged residents to be calm as the situation was under control adding that the drugs would be distributed to all general hospitals in the territory.
“We will distribute the drugs to all the general hospitals and teaching hospitals. We are not going to distribute them to the primary healthcare centres because we assume that anybody that shows the symptoms of meningitis should be referred to the
He said the herders, who were many, had guns but fled from the scene abandoning their cows.
He said some residents who heard sound of the gunshots came and took them to Abaji General Hospital.
Our reporter also learnt that a herder was injured in a reprisal attack in the area.
“Some youths who got wind of the incident went and attacked a Fulani camp in general hospitals,” he said.
He also said the three machines used in detecting meningitis stereotype in order to determine its type have been given to Maitama General Hospital, Jabi Medical Referral Centre and University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada.
Dr. Mohammed added that there are now 10 suspected cases with six deaths recorded in the territory. Four suspected cases occurred in Abuja Municipal Area Council the area, leaving one herder injured,” he added.
When contacted, the Abaji Divisional Police Officer (DPO), CSP David Kolo, confirmed the incident.
City News has learnt that a ministerial committee visited the palace of the Ona of Abaji, Alhaji Adamu Baba Yunusa, on Wednesday, in order to see how to resolve farmers and herders clashes in the council. (AMAC), three in Bwari; two in Abaji and one in Kuje Area councils.
He said the board’s effort at vaccinating all communities in the territory was hampered by shortage of vaccines, though there were moves to get adequate doses from the National Primary Health Care Board.
He urged residents to be calm, adding that all the 22 Internally Displaced Camps in the territory have been vaccinated. The FCT Administration has promised to complete and handover the United Nations House, Abuja, before its next anniversary.
The FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, gave this assurance yesterday at the signing ceremony of the FCTA/UN 2017 Annual Work Plan in Abuja.
Bello expressed optimism that the house would be completed and handed over before the next anniversary of the United Nations.
He described the signing ceremony as a very important milestone in the relationship between the FCT Administration and the United Nations.
The minister promised that adequate budgetary provisions would be made in the 2017 budget to accelerate realisation of set targets and bridge the deficiency gaps in performance in the previous years.
“It’s something we take seriously and we are actually looking towards creating a small unit in my office headed by somebody senior enough that coordinates all our relationships with the various UN agencies to ease decisions.
“Somebody from my office will always be part of it so that we can fast-track the process based on your recommendation,” he said.