Sultan Urges Parents To Allow Their Wards Get Polio Immunization

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar 111, has appealed to parents in the North to allow their children to be immunised with the polio vaccine.

Speaking in Sokoto on Sunday at the launching of audio and video songs on polio, organised by the Rima FM Listeners Friendship Association, the Sultan represented by the Emir of Argungu, Alhaji Sama’ila Mera, said intensive researches had been conducted on the vaccine and it was found to be very safe.

“We wouldn’t have accepted it if the vaccine is not safe. NAFDAC also certifies all the batches of the vaccine imported into the country,” he said.

In his speech Gov. Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State commended the association for the gesture.

“The effort will help in further sensitising Nigerians on the dangers of polio and the need to eradicate it,” the governor, who was represented by the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Arzika Tureta, said.

Wamakko, who also noted the efforts of the Northern Traditional Leaders Committee, NTLC, on Polio and Routine Immunisation, urged the group to sustain the tempo.

The Minister of State for Health, Dr Ali Pate who spoke through Alhaji Ado Abdullahi, reiterated Federal Government’s commitment to wiping out polio from the country.

Pate, however, cautioned against politicising the campaign against polio by some Nigerians and commended NTLC for its sustained efforts.

Dr Ado Mohammed, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency NPHCDA, expressed delight that no polio case had been recorded in the state this year.

Mohammed, who spoke through Shehu Abdulganiyu, said the agency was making frantic efforts together with all the stakeholders to fully eradicate polio from Nigeria.

The Chairman of the association, Alhaji Nasiru Labaran, explained that the songs were produced with a view to further sensitizing Nigerians on the dangers of polio.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the association conferred on Wamakko a merit award for his contributions to the success of the association’s activities.

Other recipients of awards at the occasion were the Sultan, Pate and the chairmen of Silame, Yabo, Tureta and Rabah Local Governments, among others.