THE Nigeria Institute of Medical Research, NIMR, Lagos, has said that not less than 51 million Nigerians, equivalent to 30 percent of the population, tested positive to the malaria parasite in 2015, even as the latest World Health Organisation, WHO, survey shows that the highest number of cases occurred in the North West and North Central zones of the country.

THe Federal Government has been called upon to enact new and effective policies against the menace of obstetic fistula, a complication caused by prolonged labour, that contributes to maternal mortality and morbidity in the country. An obstetric fistula is an abnormal hole between the bladder or rectum and the birth canal, characterised by continuous and uncontrollable leakage of urine or faeces following childbirth. It occurs mostly as a result of prolonged labour during childbirth.

BOMADI — THE alleged abandonment of the proposed State Polytechnic, Bomadi in headquarters of Bomadi Local Government Area, Delta State is now causing disquiet in the Ijaw speaking enclave. According to the natives, the proposed polytechnic, which is one of the higher institutions established in different parts of the state for the educational advancement of Deltans by the immediate past administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, would have not only served the riverine communities of the state but also accelerated the socio-economic development of the host community.

BILLE — THE people of the oil rich Bille Kingdom in Degema Local Government Area, Rivers State have vowed to retrace their steps by embracing their traditional occupation of fishing, which in the past brought them fame and honour.

NSIT UBIUM — IN a bid to check the activities of illegal sand miners, the Akwa Ibom State government, weekend, impounded ten pieces of dredging equipment being used in Nsit Ubium and Etinan Local Government Areas of the state. It also clamped down on six sand mining companies operating in the council areas and ordered the arrest of their proprietors while others involved in the business abandoned their sites on sighting the government team led by the state Commissioner for Works, Mr. Ephraim Inyang-Eyen.

The Federal Government has said it would pay subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, from the recoveries made in the first quarter of 2016.

This is contained in the latest Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, template released in Abuja, yesterday.

FOLLOWING the continuous killing spree by suspected Fulani herdsmen, the National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Otunba Gani Adams, has called for the creation of state police to curb the menace across the nation.

GOING through Douglas Anele’s piece: ‘An unbeliever’s interpretation of Easter’ in the Sunday Vanguard of April 10 2016,one is left with one conclusion and that is; Christianity is truly a religion of peace, instead he would by now be hiding in a hole, shielding himself from the fatwa sentence that surely would have befallen him. Luckily for him, he knows the court to play his game because he cannot try it with every religion.

FORMER militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, has begun fasting and prayers in his hideout for God’s intervention in his present travails.

The enforcement teams of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, sealed the business premises of 10 companies that defaulted in remitting their taxes to the Federal Government.