By Maduabuchi Nmeribeh/Kano
Dan Jumai Ubale, a native of Kofar Yamma in Bunkure Local Government Area, Kano created a beautiful scene on Saturday, during the flagging off of the June 2025 National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs) Campaign, in the state.
The occasion which held simultaneously across the 44 Local Government Areas of Kano state was chaired by the state Deputy Governor, Comrade Aminu Abdulsalam Gwarzo, who is also the chairman of the State Task Force Committee on Immunization and Primary Healthcare, and attended by numerous development partners, including representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), National Primary Healthcare Board, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Ubale, shortly after the kick-off immunization campaign in Bunkure, rushed home and brought forward his two-year old daughter, Hafsat Musbahu for immediate immunization. He was accompanied by his wife, Hajiya Sahura Balarabe.
Ubale told our Correspondent that he was motivated by the emotional and encouraging speeches of the Deputy Governor and that of the Chief of UNICEF Field Office, Kano, Mr. Rahama Rihood Mohammed Farah, during the programme.
Ubale and his wife belonged to those school of thoughts who believed polio vaccination was not only harmful, but a ploy designed by the western world to reduce the population of Africans. But he said Saturday’s programme at Bunkure changed his perception, and he became aware that the vaccine was actually made to protect children from the dangerous polio meningitis.
“Before now, I never subscribed to the fact that polio vaccine is good for our children. I had always thought that it was the white man’s ploy to reduce the population of we Africans. But now I know better, after listening to the UNICEF Chief and the Deputy Governor, I became aware that the polio vaccine is good for our children. I have to rush back home to bring my child immunized immediately, because I do not want her to die or be deformed. I want her to be protected from the polio virus because I have come to understand that polio virus can paralyse or even kill the child,” Ubale told our Correspondent.
In his remarks during the flagging off, the Deputy Governor who doubles as the chairman of State Taskforce on Immunization and Primary Healthcare noted that it
surprised him when some people reject polio vaccination because it is brought from the Western world and they feel it is contaminated, “then I ask, the panadol and the paracetamol they freely take, where do they come from and who manufactured them? So, it is high time we had a rethink and begin to embrace polio vaccination which is not harmful from all indication.”
The Deputy Governor further stated that, “we are flagging off polio vaccination in the 44 Local Government Areas. Bunkure was selected because it was one of the three Local Government Areas where we recorded cases of polio virus in Kano state this year. We selected Bunkure so that we can come here to sensitize you, to mobilize you, to wake you up to the realities on ground; so that you will understand that there is polio virus here, and there is need to fight the virus. We are not taking this fight against polio forgranted, we are doing everything possible to steadily fight against polio virus in Kano state.
“We, therefore, call on all the Local Government chairmen, the District Heads, the Councillors and other opinion leaders to do everything possible to ensure that they administer this vaccines to all our children. We will monitor the exercise here in Bunkure, and across all other Local Government Areas to ensure that this vaccination exercise is a success. We will ensure that these vaccines are seriously utilized. I want to appeal to the mothers and everybody concerned to ensure that their children partake in these vaccination exercise.”
In his address, the Chief of UNICEF Field Office, Kano, Mr. Rahama Rihood Mohammed Farah, advised all residents to embrace the polio vaccination for the wellbeing of their children, and also to protect posterity. He said: “If we can eradicate polio in Kano, we can eradicate polio in other places. Let me also take this opportunity to deeply appreciate the commitment of Kano state government and the Local Government chairmen for their unrelenting efforts. Let us make sure that every child in Kano state receive the vaccine. UNICEF will continue to participate in the supervision of the polio vaccination; and UNICEF will continue to provide logistics and financial support for the vaccination.”
The state Commissioner of Health, Dr. Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Pharm. Aminu Bashir urged parents to always make their children available for the polio vaccination. According to him, “this is the second round of polio being conducted this year in June 2025. Warawa, Kano Municipal and Bunkure are part of the 13 Local Government Areas in Nigeria found with polio in 2025. That is why we are flagging off this campaign in Bunkure. I wish us success in all our efforts.”
Our Correspondent reports that the National Immunization Plus Days exercise is scheduled to take place between 14 and 17 June 2025.
