FG to end polio Dec – Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima says Nigeria is committed to eradicating variant poliovirus by the end of the year. 

This is even as one of the richest people in the world, Bill Gates, reiterated the commitment of his foundation to commit $7 billion to Africa in the next four years. 

Also, African entrepreneur, Aliko Dangote said only concrete decisions by Nigerian leaders would see them to the actualisation of the sustainable development goals. 

They spoke yesterday during a meeting attended by some governors under the auspices of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), at the Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja. 

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Recall that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had in November 2022 said it was committing $7 billion to Nigeria and other African countries over the next four years. 

The foundation said the pledge, which is up 40 per cent on the amount spent during the previous four years, will target many issues, among them hunger, disease, poverty and gender inequality. 

It was reported at the time that Nigeria will take the biggest share, promising better financing for the primary healthcare system in the country, especially on polio eradication, and to ensure that every Nigerian child is covered in the routine immunisation campaigns. 

What Shettima said 

Shettima, while speaking at the event, said Nigeria will not relent in its effort to completely halt polio by December. 

“The proposal is to provide timely domestic financing for the procurement of vaccines, which couldn’t have come sooner, to boost our industrial capacity to produce vaccines.” 

While acknowledging the threats facing Nigeria in the area of polio, he averred that Nigeria’s three dose pentavalent vaccine coverage had improved from 33% in 2016 to 57% in 2021. 

“The variant polio virus has declined in Nigeria by 84% from 2021, falling to fewer than 200 cases in 2022,” he said. 

He, therefore, commended the states that have achieved high category immunisation coverage, which is between 60% and 80% of the target demographic and the number of states has expanded from 12 to 21 states in five years. 

 “The federal government and our respective state governments are going to set in place a transparent process and structure to undo the reality of the country as one with one of the highest proportions of non-immunised infants in the world over the last decade. 

“The federal government is committed to eradicating variant poliovirus by the end of the year ensuring that every Nigerian child is covered in the routine immunisation campaigns. 

 “We are going to work together to ensure that these vaccines are made available even to zero-dose children, of which ours, at 2 million, are the highest in the world after India,” Shettima said.

The VP expressed the appreciation of the federal government to partners such as Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s Foundation and that of Bill Gates Foundation, whose empathy, he said, shone through the uncertain period in Nigeria. 

 Also in his remarks, Dangote stated that Bill Gates and himself had been partnering with both the federal and state governments for several years, supporting the efforts in eradicating polio and improving routine immunisation, nutrition and primary healthcare in the country. 

“We genuinely believe that the National Economic Council and the decisions that you will make over the next four years will determine whether Nigeria has sound economic growth, keeps its citizens happy and achieves the sustainable development goals,” he added. 

In separate remarks, the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Alhaji Abdulraman Abdulrasaq and some governors who spoke at the parley lauded the  philanthropic interventions of the Dangote and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations in critical areas including healthcare, education, agriculture and human capital development. 

According to a statement by Olusola Abiola, Director Information, Office of the Vice President, the governors expressed the readiness to further collaborate with the Dangote and Gates Foundation in the coming years. 

Health is the major focal area of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This is in addition to boosting agricultural productivity, expanding access to digital financial services, and empowering women and other marginalised populations. 

It has also supported the country to address health challenges such as family planning, maternal and new-born health in the North East, nutrition, strengthening primary health care and public health systems, among others.

It has in collaboration with partners like Gavi the Vaccine Alliance supported provision of vaccines and routine immunisation in the country. 

It has also worked closely with the Dangote Foundation, a private philanthropic organisation to address health sector challenges in Nigeria.