NMEP Applauds Abia On Reduced Malaria Prevalence
The National Malaria

The National Malaria Elimination Programme has applauded the Abia government for reducing malaria prevalence from 16.5 per cent in 2024 to 11.5 per cent in 2025.

The information commissioner, Okey Kanu, disclosed this on Monday while briefing journalists on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting, in Umuahia.

Mr Kanu said that the commendation came during an advocacy visit by the NMEP delegation led by its national coordinator, Nnenna Ogbulafor.

“The team congratulated Abia state for the reduction in prevalence of malaria from 16.5 per cent in 2024 to 11.5 per cent in 2025,” he said.

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Mr Kanu said that the programme also announced plans to distribute three million insecticide-treated mosquito nets across the state in September 2026. He disclosed that the health ministry had established a biomedical unit for maintenance and repair of medical equipment in government-owned hospitals.

According to him, the initiative is aimed at preventing equipment downtime and improving healthcare delivery.

“A hands-on training programme is ongoing for biomedical engineers and ministry staff on equipment maintenance,” he said.

Mr Kanu said that the training was organised in collaboration with MedShare USA and CPR USA Engineers, while the programme which was inaugurated on May 12 would end on May 22.

Mr Kanu added that some General Hospitals under construction or renovation across the state were nearing completion. The commissioner said that the Obingwa General Hospital and Arochukwu General Hospital would be commissioned during the present administration’s third anniversary celebrations.

He also disclosed that 15 primary health centres currently being equipped would be functional and inaugurated within the same period. Mr Kanu said four additional PHCs had also been selected for onboarding into the Digital Health Project.

Governor Otti

On disease surveillance, he assured residents that there was no confirmed case of any epidemic disease in Abia. He advised residents to maintain personal and environmental hygiene, while avoiding contact with rodents.

Mr Kanu urged members of the public to seek medical attention whenever they felt unwell. He also said there were no confirmed cases of COVID-19, Lassa fever, Mpox, diphtheria, yellow fever, cholera or rabies.

Atiku Tells Tinubu: Stop Governing By Obituary Statements, Prevent K1llings

Atiku Abubakar says the Bola Tinubu administration has a knack for issuing “empty threats” and “obituary statements” in response to killings and abductions across the country.

Abubakar was reacting to the recent abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Ogbomoso, Oyo state, and the “brutal killing of innocent Nigerians in Katsina state, including a pregnant woman”.

On Friday, suspected terrorists attacked Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; Community Grammar School, Esiele; and LA Primary School in Ogbomoso, all in Oriire LGA of Oyo state.

The Oyo police command said two people were killed during the attack on the schools. At least 45 schoolchildren, a principal and teachers were reportedly abducted during the incident.

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Similarly, according to Reuters, gunmen on Sunday killed at least 10 people, including women and children, during an attack on a rural community in Katsina state.

Residents said the attackers burnt down homes and looted livestock.

In a statement issued by Phrank Shaibu, his senior special assistant on public communication, the former vice-president condemned the attacks, describing them as “further proof that Nigeria is bleeding under a government that has reduced leadership to post-tragedy press statements”.

Abubakar said the continued bloodshed across the country is not merely a breakdown of security “but a frightening collapse of leadership at the highest level”.

“At a time when armed criminals are abducting schoolchildren, slaughtering innocent citizens, and turning communities into graveyards, President Tinubu’s response remains the same tired ritual: condemn the killings, threaten that the perpetrators will face the ‘full wrath of the law,’ and then wait for the next massacre,” the statement added.

“Nigerians have heard this script too many times. It has become painfully predictable and utterly meaningless. President Tinubu must stop governing by obituary statements.

“Enough of the recycled outrage. Enough of the empty threats. Nigerians are dying, and this government keeps responding with press releases.”

Abubakar argued that a president who only finds his voice after blood has been spilled is not leading but presiding over failure.

“The horrifying abduction in Ogbomoso and the gruesome killings in Katsina are not isolated incidents,” he said.

“They are part of a grim national pattern in which criminals operate with terrifying confidence because they no longer fear the Nigerian state.”

According to him, “when terrorists can invade schools, abduct children and teachers, butcher pregnant women, sack entire communities, and disappear without consequence, it is because the authority of the state has collapsed”.

Reacting to the Oyo incident, Tinubu on Monday said the bandits behind the Ogbomoso school abduction would face the full wrath of the law.

In a statement by Bayo Onanuga, his special adviser on information and strategy, the president assured that the federal government would collaborate with the Oyo state government to rescue the victims.

However, Abubakar criticised the president’s response, asking, “What comfort is ‘the full wrath of the law’ to families already burying their loved ones?”

“What solace is another presidential statement to parents now terrified that sending their children to school may be a death sentence?” he queried.

“Even more disturbing are reports suggesting deliberate attempts to suppress images and documentation of these atrocities from reaching the Nigerian public.”

Atiku, Tinubu

Abubakar maintained that “if the government is indeed more interested in censoring evidence of mass killings than in preventing the killings themselves, then that is not merely incompetence, but cruelty of the highest order”.

According to him, no serious government hides the blood of its citizens to protect political optics.

“A government that cannot protect the living but seeks to censor evidence of their deaths has lost every moral right to govern,” he said.

“This is no longer just a security failure. It is a moral failure. A leadership failure. A national disgrace.”

He said Nigerians deserve more than performative outrage and ceremonial condolences.

“They deserve a government that can protect lives, defend communities, and act before tragedy strikes — not one that merely reacts after the damage is done,” he said.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain called for the immediate rescue of all abducted victims in Oyo state, urgent and decisive security action across vulnerable communities, and a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s “increasingly ineffective security architecture”.

U.S. Issues Security Alert In Nigeria Over Military Airstrikes On ISIS

The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria has issued a security alert to its staff and American citizens over airstrikes against ISIS in North-East Nigeria.

“In light of the U.S.-Nigeria military action on May 16, the U.S. Mission in Nigeria informs U.S. citizens that U.S. Embassy and Consulate personnel have been reminded to exercise personal awareness and to consider limiting unnecessary travel,” the security advisory stated.

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It added, “The U.S. Mission in Nigeria reminds U.S. citizens to maintain a high level of personal awareness, avoid predictable routines, and take general security precautions.”

More airstrikes launched in the North-East followed the killing of ISIS’s top commander Abu-Bilal al-Minuki. The U.S. Africa Command announced this on Monday. USAFRICOM killed Mr. Al-Minuki on Friday.

“On May 17, 2026, U.S. Africa Command, in coordination with the Government of Nigeria, conducted additional kinetic strikes against ISIS in Northeastern Nigeria.

“Intelligence confirmed the targets were ISIS militants. Complete assessments are ongoing. No U.S. or Nigerian forces were harmed. The removal of these terrorists diminishes the group’s capacity to plan attacks that threaten the safety and security of the U.S. and our partners.

“AFRICOM remains committed to leveraging specialised U.S. capabilities in support of our partners to defeat shared security threats,” a statement on Monday said.

US Government To Sanction 12 Northern Governors

On Friday, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. military, in collaboration with Nigerian forces, eliminated Mr Al-Minuki.

Mr Al-Mainuki, 44, is a Nigerian born in Mainok, Borno. The U.S. designated him a specially designated global terrorist on June 8, 2023.

President Bola Tinubu commended the United States of America and the Nigerian security forces for the operation on Saturday.