Kano’s Yargaya COVID-19 isolation centre closed, equipment looted, watchman allegedly killed
The COVID-19 designated isolation centre at Yargaya in Kano State has been surreptitiously closed down, a Nigerian online news medium NigerianSketch, reported.
The medium said its reporters who visited the centre on Monday found it deserted, except for a single police vehicle and a few officers on parade to secure the place.
The police officers on ground refused to talk to the reporters, saying simply that they were on official duty which they cannot talk about.
The centre, well equipped with medical gadgets for the treatment and management of COVID-19 in 2020, is now locked up.
A resident of the area, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed a bizarre story behind the closure of the centre.
He said “sometime in 2021, some people started coming here to cart away some of the equipment here. They were dismantling things and taking them away in vehicles.
“Later on, some young men also started going into the premises to take other things that are left, and at a point in time, some members of the community reported the incident to the authorities.
“A watchman was brought to secure the place and that was when something terrible happened. The watchman was murdered by unknown killers. They killed the man and ran away without a trace. They still have not been apprehended.
“That explained the presence of the police personnel at the location at the moment”, he explained.
The Yargaya COVID-19 isolation centre was fully equipped by the state government in 2020, but the government has literally neglected it to decay before unknown people began to come in to cart away the equipment.
The medium said its call to the state police command spokesman was not answered or returned as of the time the report was published.
Earlier, NigerianSketch reported that that the Dangote Foundation isolation centre at Sani Abacha Stadium was no longer in use as its equipment have been taken to unknown locations without accountability. (Read report on Sani Abacha Stadium isolation centre here)
A source suggested that the equipment taken away from Sani Abacha Stadium may have been taken to Yargaya or Kwanar Dawaki centres, but NigerianSketch’s search at Yargaya failed to give an answer to the whereabouts of the equipment.
CULLED FROM NIGERIANSKETCH
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