Bauchi orders closure of all schools for 5 weeks school for Ramadan fast

The Bauchi State government, through the Ministry of Education, has announced the closure of all schools in the state for five weeks in preparation for the 2025 Ramadan fast. 

The announcement is contained in the approved school calendar for the 2024-2025 academic session in the state. 

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi on Friday, Feb. 28, Mr Jalaludeen Maina, the Information Officer, Ministry of Education, said the holiday had already been incorporated in the calendar long before now. 

He explained that the closure would take effect from March 1 to April 5. 
 

Maina said the closure affected all the institutions of learning, which include all public and private primary, Junior and secondary schools, as well as higher institutions of learning in the state. 

“Yes, we are closing all our schools and this is included in our 2024-2025 approved calendar for the academic session that our students are not going to do the Ramadan fasting while in school. 

“The five-week holiday is for Ramadan fasting and immediately after the fasting, they will resume and continue with their academics,” he said. 

Some parents in the state have complained that the development would affect their children’s educational progress.

Three siblings m$rdered and stuffed in deep freezer to be buried March 8

The three siblings k!lled and their bodies stuffed inside a deep freezer in Nnewichi, in Nnewi North Local Government Area of Anambra State, will be laid to rest on Saturday, March 8.  

It was reported that the three siblings- a boy aged 5, and two girls aged 7 and 9 – were m#rd£red in their home and their bodies were stored in a deep freezer in Nnewichi, Nnewi, Anambra state, by yet-to-be-identified assailants.

The eldest of the siblings, a girl, Ejezie Chikaima Daviana, with the second daughter, Ejezie Chimziterem Dominica and the only son, Ejezie Chimdilim David, were in the house when their mother, Mrs Chikazor Ejezie, said to be a lecturer and a nurse, left home to partake in an examination on the fateful day. 

According to a burial announcement signed by the father of the deceased, Mr Udochukwu Ejezie, on Sunday, February 23, the burial mass vigil will be held simultaneously on Thursday, March 6, at St. Anslem’s Catholic Parish, Irrua, Edo State and at St. Luke’s Catholic Chaplaincy in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi from 5pm. And on Friday, March 7, 2025, there will be a vigil mass at the Ejezie’s compound in Umueze Uga, Agusta Local Government Area of Anambra State by 4pm.

The burial poster reads in part

“The Ejezie’s family of Umuokwara Umucheke Umueze Uga in Aguata LGA of Anambra State and the entire Catholic community of St. Michael’s Parish Umueze Uga, St. Luke’s Cath. Chaplaincy, NAUTH, Nnewi, St. Anslem’s Catholic Parish, Irrua Edo State, wish to announce the gruesome murder/burial of their three iblings and Martyrs who were murdered and stacked inside a deep freezer by a yet-to-be identified person.

“On Thursday, March 6, 2025, mass for the dead at St. Anslem’s Catholic Parish, Irrua Edo State. On the same day, there will be a vigil mass at St. Luke’s Catholic Chaplaincy NAUTH Nnewi by 5pm.

On Friday, March 7, 2025, there will be a vigil mass at Ejezie’s compound Umueze Uga, Anambra State by 4pm.

On Saturday, March 8, 2025, at about 7am, bodies leave Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital’s Morgue, Nnewi to their hometown, Uga. Burial mass starts by 10am at Ejezie’s Compound Umueze Uga.

On Sunday, March 9, Thanksgiving mass at St Michael’s Catholic Church, Umueze, Uga. May their immaculate souls rest in perfect peace. We invite all lovers of children to be with us in this trial moment.”

The father of the kids, Udochukwu Ejezie, further said the burial announcement was made public “to correct every speculation and misinformation already making the rounds in the social media claiming that the children have been buried”.

“We requested for the permission for us to bury the children and the police have given the family the go ahead to do so, just as the result of the autopsy is been awaited. But sadly, reports have been making the rounds in the social media that they were already buried. That is not true.

We want to urge all those spreading this misinformation in the social media to restrain caution and respect the wishes of the family as we mourn our de@d,” Ejezie added

No arrest has been made so far in connection with the killing. The police have however conducted an autopsy and a result is being awaited.

Abia community discovers 30 bodies of suspected ritu@l k!lling victims

 

Over 30 bodies of victims of suspected ritu@l k!llings have been found in the past year in the Imo River in the Oriendu autonomous community, Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State. 

The traditional ruler of the community, HRH Eze Philip Ajomiwe, disclosed this to journalists in his palace after the body of another woman was found. 

Eze Ajomiwe said: “The bodies, like the recent one, are either completely naked and without their private parts or in a bag. There have also been cases of two decomposing bodies seen beside the NNPC pipeline. 

“The victims are mostly young girls. The ritualists from Imo usually come at night to dump the bodies of their victims inside the Imo River, and in the morning, we wake to see them.” 

The monarch expressed concern that the situation was getting out of hand and had created fear in and around the community. He added that no arrests have been made yet. 

He stated that efforts by the community’s vigilante group to arrest the suspects had failed, too, because the group was not as equipped as the suspects were said to be. 

“So, we’re appealing to the state government to empower the vigilante group with the necessary logistics and the wherewithal to enable it to match the suspects,” he said. 

He said that his complaints about the situation to security agents had been unsuccessful, noting that the latest was a letter to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly on February 7. 

“We have reported even to the DSS, and they came here and held a meeting with us. We need the Government’s intervention to apprehend those behind this atrocity.”

India bans drugs blamed for opioid crisis in Nigeria and other countries

 

India has banned the manufacture and export of the highly addictive opioids tapentadol and carisoprodol after an investigative report exposed their role in a growing drug crisis in West Africa.

The move comes after a BBC investigation revealed that Mumbai-based Aveo Pharmaceuticals was illegally exporting the drug combination to countries including Nigeria, Ghana, and Ivory Coast.

Secretly recorded footage showed an Aveo director admitting the drugs were "very harmful" but profitable. Following the revelation, authorities raided the company’s factory, seizing its stock.

The Indian health ministry announced on Sunday that it had initiated the process to revoke export and manufacturing licenses for the combination, calling the drugs a serious health risk. The ministry also suspended all operations by Aveo after an audit conducted by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and the Maharashtra state regulatory authority.

“Approximately 1.3 crore tablets and 26 batches of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients of tapentadol and carisoprodol were detained to prevent further distribution of these potentially dangerous drugs,” the ministry said in a statement.

India’s Food and Drugs Administration vowed stricter monitoring to prevent future illegal exports and protect the country’s pharmaceutical industry. The Drugs Controller General, Dr Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, stated that permission to manufacture and export the combination had been withdrawn due to its high potential for abuse and harmful effects.

Authorities say the combination of tapentadol, a potent opioid, and carisoprodol, an addictive muscle relaxant, is already banned for medical use in India due to its severe health risks, including breathing difficulties, seizures, and fatal overdoses.

Despite this, the drugs have been flooding West African markets, particularly Nigeria, where an estimated four million people abuse opioids. The World Health Organization estimates that 100,000 people in Africa die annually due to "falsified or substandard" medications.

The BBC investigation found that Aveo and its sister company, Westfin International, had shipped millions of these pills to West Africa, where they were openly sold on the streets. In a secretly recorded exchange, Aveo director Vinod Sharma acknowledged the dangers of the pills, stating, “This is very harmful to the health,” before admitting, “Nowadays, this is business.”

When an undercover BBC operative posed as an African businessman and suggested selling the pills to Nigerian teenagers, Sharma replied, “OK.” He also explained that taking two or three pills at once would allow users to "relax" and get "high."

In response to the allegations, Aveo Pharmaceuticals issued a statement rejecting the claims as "entirely baseless and without merit," insisting that the company had always adhered to regulations.

However, the national drug regulator clarified that while tapentadol and carisoprodol are individually approved in India, their combination is not. Officials emphasized that several companies in India were producing similar illegal combinations and that legal action was being pursued against them.