From Dan Amasingha, Minna

The disappearance of 11-year-old Christabel Albert after she left home for a birthday celebration has ended in tragedy, with the Niger State Police Command confirming her death and the arrest of a 26 year-old church security guard in connection with the incident.

Christabel reportedly left her home in Suleja on September 19 to attend a relative’s birthday celebration within the area but did not return.

The following day, the alarm was raised over her disappearance.

According to the Niger State Police Command, a report was lodged at the ‘A’ Division, Suleja, at about 12:30pm on September 20.

Later that evening, a pastor of the Apostolic Church in Suleja reported the discovery of a body inside a well located within the church premises.

Police operatives, assisted by officials of the local government welfare department, recovered the body and took it to the General Hospital, Suleja, for examination.

The body was subsequently identified as that of the missing child.

As investigators began piecing together the circumstances surrounding Christabel’s death, suspicion fell on Godwin Dauda, a 26-year-old security guard attached to the church.

The police said Dauda became a person of interest after information emerged suggesting his possible connection with the incident and his disappearance from the church premises shortly afterwards.

He was eventually arrested on September 23 at about 8pm in the Kuje area of the Federal Capital Territory, where he had reportedly fled to.

The police said the suspect, during interrogation, confessed to luring Christabel into his security room on September 19, where he sexually assaulted her and suffocated her by blocking her mouth and nose.

He reportedly told investigators that the child died in the process, after which he disposed off her body in the well in an attempt to conceal the incident before fleeing the area.

The Command, however, stressed that the investigation was still ongoing and that the full circumstances surrounding the child’s death were yet to be established.

Dauda has since been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Minna, for further interrogation and prosecution.

In a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, urged members of the public to disregard unverified accounts circulating on social media concerning the incident.

He said the Command remained committed to transparency, accountability, protection of vulnerable persons and ensuring that justice was served.

For Christabel’s family, however, the investigation comes after the devastating loss of a child whose ordinary outing for a family celebration ended in tragedy.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has solicited international partners’ support for establishing vaccine manufacturing facilities in the country.

The NAFDAC Director-General, Prof.

Adeyeye was speaking at the 8th Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers Expo in Lagos.

The expo was organised by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, PMG-MAN, in collaboration with PGE Expo PVT Limited.

Adeyeye acknowledged international partners’ continued support to NAFDAC trajectory at the event jointly organised by PMG-MAN and PGE Expo PVT Ltd.

She said their contributions would be immensely appreciated toward fill-and-finish modular vaccine manufacturing, adding that NAFDAC had met eight of nine functions required for medicines and vaccines benchmarking requirements overall.

“We want to call on our international partners that have been of tremendous help. Without them we would not have been here, while urging support for vaccine manufacturing in Nigeria. “

The director-general said Nigeria had all it took to attain Vaccine Lot Releases Maturity Level Four, aside from local vaccine manufacturing, adding that estimated costs would not be excessive if eventually successfully.

“To get Lot Release-Maturity Level Four, we have figured it out in a way we have estimated. It’s not going to cost too much.

“NAFDAC used to manufacture vaccines and it’s high time we go back to that era and regain that capacity nationwide,” she added.

Adeyeye commended President Bola Tinubu for the 2024 Executive Order, which she noted brought life to NAFDAC’s persistent clamour for incentives for local pharmaceutical manufacturers nationwide over time.

She noted that the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare and Minister of State for Health bought into the rationale for incentives, partly leading to unlocking the value chain initiative.

According to her, the journey started with the Good Manufacturing Practice Roadmap, during which NAFDAC inspectors conducted compliance audits of over 165 companies across the country for eight months continuously nationwide.

She said the initiative, funded by USAID and executed by the United States Pharmacopeia, helped ensure manufacturers produced quality products, improving positive patient health outcomes during treatment without failure ultimately.

Adeyeye stated further that data showed imports under ‘Five plus Five’ and the Ceiling Initiative decreased by 70 per cent from 2021 to 2025, as manufacturers took up the challenge fully themselves.

She said NAFDAC’s improving staff competence, laboratory recognition and successful re-benchmarking also strengthened the agency, adding that NAFDAC became the first agency in Sub Saharan Africa to be re-benchmarked successfully again.

The Chairman of PMG-MAN, Oluwatosin Jolayemi, said the expo brought manufacturers, regulators, investors and development partners together, calling for the extension of the executive order beyond March 2027, deadline period industry.

Jolayemi noted that medicine security and pharmaceutical sovereignty required policy consistency, investment, capability development and a predictable operating environment, adding that 132 companies from several countries participated in the expo overall.(NAN)

From Ifeanyichukwu Nwannah, Gusau

Over one hundred residents, persons with disabilities, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and other vulnerable groups in Zamfara State have been empowered with skills and cash by the International Organization for Migration IOM, for self-reliance.

The recipients expressed gratitude to the organization for empowering them with skills training and one hundred and forty four thousand Naira training allowances as part of activities marking the 30th anniversary of the creation of Zamfara State.

The beneficiaries, who participated in various skills acquisition programmes, expressed optimism that the intervention would enable them to improve their livelihoods and become self-reliant.

The distribution ceremony, held at the Gusau Local Government Secretariat, brought together traditional rulers, community leaders and other stakeholders.

The intervention forms part of the livelihoods and climate mitigation component of the Conflict Prevention, Crisis Response and Resilience (CPCRR), Programme, funded by the European Union Foreign Policy Instruments and being implemented in Katsina and Zamfara States in collaboration with Mercy Corps and the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).

Speaking on behalf of the traditional leaders, the Chairman of the Community Peace and Resilience Committee (CPCRR), and District Head of Madawaki Ward, Alhaji Dahiru Shehu, described the intervention as timely and impactful.

He said that empowering vulnerable women, IDPs and persons with disabilities would help reduce street begging and encourage self-reliance.

“When you empower fourty women in a community, it is like empowering hundreds, because they can multiply the capital into income-generating activities,” he said.

The District Head who was represented by Surajo Labbo, commended Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, for his partnership with IOM in line with his commitment to providing people with opportunities to earn a living.

Dahiru Shehu also expressed appreciation to IOM for bringing numerous developmental programmes to the State as part of its contributions towards sustaining peace and stability in communities.

Earlier, a representative of IOM said the initiative was part of the organisation’s commitment to improving economic standards among women, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.

“We have trained 104 beneficiaries in various trades, including tailoring, cosmetics production, briquette making, soap making, carpentry and handicrafts, to improve their living conditions in their respective communities”

 “The sum of one hundred and forty four thousand Naira is for the two-month training allowances,” he said.

He explained that the beneficiaries would soon be provided with equipment and machines according to the trades they had learned during the training.