The COVID-19 designated isolation centre at Yargaya in Kano State has been surreptitiously closed down, reports authoritatively gathered.
Our 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 centre, well equipped with medical gadgets for the treatment and management of COVID-19 in 2020, is now locked up, even though state government has not officially announced its closure.
A resident of the area, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed a bizarre story behind the closure of the centre.
(Nigerian Sketch)
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.
A call to the state police command spokesman was not answered or returned as of the time this report was published.
Earlier, it was reported that that the Dangote Foundation-sponsored isolation centre at Sani Abacha Stadium was no longer in use as its equipment have been taken to unknown locations without accountability.
A source suggested that the equipment taken away from Sani Abacha Stadium may have been taken to Yargaya or Kwanar Dawaki centres, but a search at Yargaya failed to give an answer to the whereabouts of the equipment.
Further reports will follow after the Kwanar Dawaki visit.
