Reps to probe death of soldiers
The House of Representatives yesterday resolved to constitute an ad hoc committee to investigate the “unwarranted massacre of over 118 soldiers of 157 Battalion by Boko Haram insurgents at Metele, Borno State.”
The ad hoc committee will also look into the alleged diversion of funds meant for the war against insurgency, just as the lawmakers urged the Nigerian Army to publish The Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development (SFPD) said it spent N30m on surveillance of maternal mortality across Northern Nigeria in 2017.
This was revealed yesterday in Abuja by the Coordinator of the Foundation, who is also the Emir of Argungu, Alhaji Samaila Muhammad Mera.
He spoke at the side-line of a one day review meeting with the Northern Traditional Leaders Committee on Primary Healthcare on Communitybased Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response in Northern Nigeria.
The emir said the surveillance was collaboration between the Foundation and the United the actual figure and names of both the fallen heroes and those missing in the attacks.
The resolution followed a motion brought under matters of urgent public importance by Chukwuka Onyema (PDP, Anambra).
The lawmakers further regretted that, with the recent happenings in the north east, all the gains and successes previously recorded in the counter-insurgency against Boko Haram, have been reversed. Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) to accelerate the reduction of maternal mortality rate in Northern Nigeria estimated at 547 per 100, 000 births by 2013 NDHS.
He said the surveillance used ward heads to track deliveries and child development up to five months in communities on monthly basis.
He said findings contradicted data by development partners on maternal deaths in the North and causes of such deaths.
He said that in 2017, malaria was recorded as the main cause of maternal death as against haemorrhage, also known as excessive bleeding, largely cited by development partners and the data were also slightly below theirs per 1000.