Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Garbai, the Shehu of Borno, on Tuesday promised to mobilise his subjects to take part in the on-going Immunisation Plus Days (IPDs) against polio.
Garbai made the promise at the flag -off of the Borno IPDs in Bama, headquarters of Bama Local Government Council .
“I want to say without fear of contradiction, that the Borno State Traditional Rulers Council has resolved to do its best in mobilising parents for the immunisation exercise.
“We are going to commission traditional rulers in all the? wards, villages, clans and other heads to mobilise parents and guardians in their areas to present their children for the immunisation exercise,''
Garbai said the involvement of traditional rulers had helped greatly in ensuring mass mobilisation of parents in? immunisation exercises in recent times.
“In recent times, traditional rulers have played great roles in sensitising parents on the need to present their children for the polio immunisation.
“I want to renew the call on parents to come out en- masse and present their children for the exercise, because it is only through immunisation that we can wipe out polio and safeguard the future of our children.''
Garbai said the issue of safety of the polio vaccine had long been addressed.
“The idea of saying that the vaccine was unsafe had been found to be untrue long ago, so it is not an issue now.
“Scientists have attested that the vaccine is very safe as it has helped countries like India wipe out polio in their countries, we must follow? suit,? if we want to safeguard the future of our children.''
Mrs Salam Anas-Kolo, the Commissioner of? Health, said the state was among those believed to still harbour the wild polio virus.
“Last month we recorded a wild polio case in a two- year- old girl in Konduga Local Government Areas. The little girl had one of her limp partially paralysed by the virus.
“Out of the 52 new cases recently recorded, Borno has about nine cases from five local government areas, 12 other LGAs in the state are at risk.''
Anas-Kolo said that with the successful eradication of polio in India, only Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan were left with the virus in the world. (NAN)