By Muhammad Amaan
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has commended traditional rulers in Northern Nigeria for their active roles in the fight against polio in the country.
UNICEF Nigeria representative, Cristian Munduate, gave the appraisal in Bauchi on Wednesday during the quarterly review meeting of the Northern Traditional Leaders’ Committee on PHC Delivery.
Represented by Shamina Sharmin from UNICEF Abuja office, Munduate commended the royal fathers for, “being a significant part of writing the unique story of Nigeria in the fight to eradicate the wild polio virus and now, in the critical war against outbreaks.
“The vital roles the traditional leaders are playing in the polio response, routine immunisation and primary health care cannot be underestimated.
“This is especially when it comes to raising awareness and encouraging the use of healthcare services which is especially important for vulnerable populations like women and children.
“Combating polio requires collaborative efforts, involving the government agencies, international organisations, local communities and other stakeholders” she said.
Munduate called for more collaborations with all stakeholders to overcome the challenges, stop the nomadic movement, low routine immunisation coverage and ultimately achieve zero dose and polio free Nigeria.
The UNICEF boss called on the traditional leaders to continue to do more to strengthen the routine immunisation and kick polio completely out of Nigeria.
“UNICEF is committed and dedicated to implementing approaches in close coordination with other stakeholders.
The stakeholders include the ministry of health, National Primary Health Care Development Agencies to effectively affect vaccination related behaviour change in individuals and communities,” she said.
Also, speaking, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Saad III, lauded Governor Bala Mohammed for hosting the meeting.
He also thanked the development partners like Bill and Melinda Gate foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation, WHO, UNICEF, Rotary, and among others.
“We appreciate your contributions. We can’t do it alone without your support and that of the state governors in the North in particular.
“We will continue to work for the people of Nigeria and the people of the North in general,” he said.
In his address, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, explained that President Bola Tinubu was clear in his vision for the country to be better than it was.
“To be prosperous into the future and at the core of that prosperity, good health begets hope because without health, there is no hope.
“It’s the consequences of that that he unveiled a specific transformational agenda just a year ago and all the 36 governors of this country signed a compact and 17 development partners also signed a compact with the federal government.
“This is to focus on improving the health of our population and the governor of Bauchi did that and we are joining hands with all the 36 state governors and FCT to expand the services that will reach our population,” he said
According to him, there are 8,800 primary healthcare facilities that are now being reached on a regular basis with quarterly disbursement of resources through the basic care provision fund.
He said about 4,000 primary healthcare centres all over Nigeria were in the process of being revitalised with the support of the federal government.
In his speech, Governor Mohammed appreciated the Sultan of Sokoto for the invaluable roles he has been playing in primary healthcare development.
He said his government would continue to recognise and cherish the role he played in mobilising traditional leaders to create awareness in the community.
The governor also commended all the development partners for their continued support toward the improvement of health conditions of the people of Nigeria.
