Northern Traditional Leaders urges inclusion of ward leaders in vaccination teams

By Samuel Luka, Bauchi

Traditional Leaders across Northern Nigeria have called on their state Governors to ensure they domesticate the critical issue of selecting vaccination teams with a committee of community leaders in every ward.

The Chairman of the Northern Traditional Leaders’ Committee (NTLC) on Primary Healthcare Delivery, Emir of Argungu, Alhaji Sama’ila Muhammad Mera made the call during the Committee’s combined 3rd and 4th Quarter review meeting at the government house Bauchi on Wednesday.

He said, the call was necessary to ensure that the issue of missed children due to a variety of reasons during immunization is countered.

According to the Northern Traditional Leaders, the committee should compose the teams with matured responsible adults from the ward that they trust can have access to every household and vaccinate every child as their representatives.

“Over time, we’ve developed innovations to help improve and counter challenges as and when they threaten our efforts to reach every child, every mother and every deserving citizen with a vaccine or other beneficial interventions”, he said.

The Emir stated that the ward selection committee is to be headed by the most senior traditional leader in the ward to be assisted by two additional respected community elders and a youth leader.

He explained that the innovation has shown great promise in countering bad and costly practices such as “dumping” , fake finger marking “compromise”, among others.

While thanking Governor Bala Mohammed for hosting the meeting, the Argungu Emir called on him to support the initiative and direct it to be fully implemented in Bauchi for all its inherent benefits.

Alhaji Mera who recalled that the NTLC was established in 2009 by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar and midwifed by the current Minister of Health who was then the Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), commended Governor Bala him and the traditional leaders in Bauchi for improving Primary Health Care coverage through strong partnership.

According to Alhaji Mera, the Committee was established to support government’s effort to eradicate Polio Virus in Northern Nigeria and the Nation as a whole.

The NTLC Chairman assured of their resolve as traditional leaders to prioritize the health and well-being of their subjects by supporting the efforts of the Government to build a resilient and equitable PHC system across Northern Nigeria and beyond.

The Emir commended members of the committee for their commitment to success recorded in the reduction of the numbers of infections by Circulating Variant Poliovirus type 2 (CVPV2) in the last twelve months compared to the previous year despite all challenges.