Bill Gates, Dangote foundations laud Yobe on child-killer diseases

Stakeholders, including Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Mr. Bill Gates and Chairman of Dangote Foundation Alhaji Aliko Dangote, have commended the Yobe State Government on progress made in the fight against polio and other child killer diseases.

This came at the maiden midyear review meeting of the progress being made in strengthening Routine Immunization in Yobe State following the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in January 2016 between the Yobe State Government and the Bill & Melinda Gates and Dangote Foundations. The meeting took place yesterday in Damaturu.

The meeting, which was joined through live video feed by Mr. Gates from Seattle in the United States and Mr. Dangote from Miami also in the US, observed that 15 of Yobe’s 17 local government areas were significantly covered during the period under review and urged that the two remaining local governments of Gujba and Gulani which could not be reached at the height of the Boko Haram insurgency be reached now that security has been restored in the two local government areas.

Governor the meeting Ibrahim Gaidam that the Yobe told State Government is committed to the partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates and Dangote Foundations to ending polio and countering all the nine child killer diseases in the stateand pledged to continue to do everything necessary to support and retrofit the state’s health system.

He said the state will widen the scope of ongoing support for the Routine Immunization Programme to ensure robust data quality management and will continue to monitor the phased implementation of the community engagement strategy using traditional structures.

Mr. Bill Gates and Alhaji Aliko Dangote as well as the UNICEF Country Representative Ms Jean Gough also commended the Yobe State Government for the progress made despite the security and fiscal challenges that Yobe faced and urged the state government to sustain the tempo to meet the 2017 target of countering all the nine child killer diseases not just in Yobe State but in the country as a whole.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote particularly pledged to support the Yobe State Government in rebuilding and restoring all the healthcare infrastructure that have been destroyed in Gujba and Gulani Local Government areas when they fell under the control of Boko Haram insurgents before they were liberated by the Nigerian army.