The wife of Bauchi State Governor, Hajiya Aisha Mohammed, has expressed the state government’s commitment to partner stakeholders to ensure every child is vaccinated against polio.
She said this in Bauchi on Saturday during an event organised by Rotary Club International to celebrate the 2021 World Polio Day.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that World Polio Day is annually celebrated around the globe on Oct. 24 to create awareness on the way polio is contracted, its complications, as well as ways of controlling it.
The governor’s wife, who addressed polio survivors and Rotary International officials, said “as we commemorate this important day today, the government reaffirms its unwavering commitment to continue working with partners in the space of global polio eradication initiative.”
Represented by Mrs Asmau Giade, the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mohammed said “this is to ensure that every child is vaccinated.
“With regards to Bauchi, the state has not recorded any type of wild polio virus since September 2013.
“The state has also been achieving 95 per cent benchmark in supplementary immunisations since 2012.
“These are very important indicators in maintaining the polio virus-free status of the state.”
She called on every family to make sure that the polio immunisation was given to children at infancy and administered as scheduled.
Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, the Executive Director, Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (BSPHCDA), thanked the wife of the governor for addressing the gathering.
Represented by Mr Dahiru Mahmood, the Director, Disease Control and Immunisation, BSPHDA, Mohammed said that the agency would continue to partner organisations and the office of the wife of the governor to create awareness on the importance of the polio vaccine.
“We hope Her Excellency will continue to support this activity so that the awareness will be created as well as continuous mobilisation of all and sundry on the importance of immunisation, which is the main way of stopping the spread of the disease,” he said.
Mobi Nonso, the President of Rotary Club, Bauchi Central, explained that the group had been an advocate of keeping polio at zero level.
He added that even though Africa and Nigeria had been certified polio-free, the organisation would not rest on its oars.
“We will continue advocacy, forming partnerships with state governments, Primary Healthcare Development Agencies, WHO, UNICEF and other well meaning partners to keep polio at zero level.
“What we are doing here today is to create awareness that this situation can be averted and treated. We are here to create awareness that this vaccine is necessary and all we are asking is for people to accept this vaccine.”
NAN reports that the celebration was marked with a procession of polio survivors, officials of Rotary International, police and journalists from Bauchi Emir’s palace to the state Government House.
(NAN)