By Angela Onwuzoo
The Lagos State Government has urged all landlords in the state to support its ongoing efforts in the fight against polio by giving unrestricted access to polio eradication officers to enter their compounds and administer anti-polio vaccines on their children so as to protect them against the killer disease.
The state Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, made the appeal in Alausa, recently, while receiving the Incident Manager, National Polio Operation Centre, Dr. Usman Adamu, who paid him a courtesy call, to reflect on the sudden outbreak of the disease around Makoko, Itire and Maracana Canals in the state and the need to take urgent action to stop the killer disease from spreading into other parts of the state.
Hamzat also enjoined operators of private primary schools in the state to do likewise, revealing that the state government had concluded plan to issue an Executive Order that would compel them to give unrestricted access to polio eradication officers to enter their premises and administer the vaccines on their wards.
According to him, administering vaccines on pupils in public schools alone will not solve the problem as pupils in both private and public schools are products of the same community, as they play together and relate after the school hours.
He urged parents and all operators of private primary schools in the state to cooperate with the state government in its efforts at eradicating polio completely from the state.
The deputy governor noted that the state would take every necessary step to prevent the two recorded cases in Makoko, Itire and Maracana Canals from spreading to other parts of the state, adding that the Executive Order would be given soon, as recommended by the team of the visiting World Health Organisation.
He noted that the Executive Order, when issued, would also cover gated streets in every parts of the state, urging all landlords and members of the various Community Development Associations to join hands with government by ensuring that gates were opened to allow easy access to polio officers to do their job.
Assuring of government’s commitments to the fight against polio, Hamzat said one of the six pillars of development strategy of the present administration was Health and Environment.
To ensure that the exercise gets to the grassroots, the deputy governor said all chairmen of the 57 Local Government Areas in the state would be carried along and enlightened to mobilise their communities for the exercise and educate them on the importance of regular vaccination for the eradication of the disease in our communities.
“Just be very assured of the state government’s commitments to this fight against polio; we are of the opinion that the health sector should get it right and we must ensure that the polio exercise agenda is achieved in the interest of our children,” he said.
Briefing the deputy governor on the purpose of the visit, Dr. Uthman Adamu told him that it was necessary to give an update on the status of the ongoing polio eradication and routine immunisation exercise in the state.
Adamu said that it was worrisome that Nigeria is one of the three countries in the world that had not completely eradicated polio in spite of its consequences on the growing health of the children.
He expressed concern over the incidence of two cases of polio in Makoko, Itire and Maraccana Canals, stressing that the sudden outbreak in those communities necessitated the need for the ongoing immunisation exercise in the state so as to prevent further outbreak.
While urging government to intensify campaign on the enlightenment of the citizenry on the danger of polio and the need to get children of 0-5 years vaccinated against the dreadful disease, he commended the state government for setting up a special Task Force on polio eradication chaired by the deputy governor.
He also lauded the state government for approving funds for the next round of immunisation in the state, promising that his team would work assiduously to ensure that the exercise recorded significant success.