The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has called for data-driven advocacy on tuberculosis particularly for states nationwide.
The Senior Health Adviser of the NGF Secretariat, Dr. Ahmad Abdulwahab, gave the advice in Abuja yesterday during a visit by the Stop TB Partnership high-level mission on domestic resource mobilization to end TB in Nigeria.
The delegation was led by Dr Lucica Dittu of the Stop TB Partnership Geneva.
While calling for an accountability framework that must be championed by the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP) going forward, Dr Abdulwahab also enjoined the team to come up with a clear sustainability roadmap that highlights the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders including private and public partners.
He said there is a need to streamline roles and targets on TB for state governor’s wives to ensure easy accountability.
He also commended the team for the timely advocacy saying the states were presently preparing their 2023 budgets and tuberculosis could be given due consideration.
The Director General NGF secretariat, Asishana Okauru, urged his team to expunge TB intervention programmes from the universal basic health programme and treat it with the required urgency going forward.
He said governors are committed to prioritizing the fight against TB, adding that the secretariat would push the TB agenda by the first ladies during the next induction for first ladies.
Meanwhile, the Stop TB Partnership Geneva and Stop TB Partnership Nigeria high-level mission also visited the First Lady, Dr (Mrs) Aisha Buhari.
The acting board chair, Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, Dr Queen Ogbuji, called on the First Lady to organise a first ladies’ summit on TB and use it to appreciate governor’s wives who supported her during her tenure in the fight against TB, and also encourage others to take up the fight.
Dr Chukwuma Anyaike, the National Coordinator of NTBLCP, said Nigeria is leading in TB in Africa and the world.
He called on the First Lady to support the eradication of the high rate of drug-resistant TB, especially among children.
Mrs Buhari, who was represented by her Senior Special Assistant, Dr Rukayyatu Abdulkareem Gurin, said she was committed to reinforcing her work with the state governors while partnering with other government agencies such as the National Orientation Agency and the Ministry of Health for more testing and diagnostic kits.
She said as the president of the African First Ladies Peace Mission, she is ensuring that TB is in the front burner of the association.
The leader of the high-level mission, Dr Lucica Dittu, of the Stop TB Partnership Geneva, said almost half of the population of Nigeria was neither diagnosed nor treated for TB.
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