Traditional rulers responsible for polio eradication in Nigeria – Emir

The Emir of Argungu, Alhaji Sama’ila Muhammed Mera has said the efforts put into the campaign against polio by traditional rulers and government were responsible for the successes recorded in the eradication of the dreaded killer disease in the country.

“Glory be to God that for the past three years now, we have not recorded any polio outbreak. No single child has been reported to have been infected. That is the results of our persistent campaigns and advocacy,” the emir said.

He said that part of the successes recorded against the disease was because they were able to educate and enlighten many skeptics of the polio vaccine, which made them to release children to be vaccinated.

He said “We have come a long way on this campaign and most of the significant progress we made on this virus was as a result of 10 years marathon campaign across the country.

“Let me say it here again that there is no country on this earth that rejected polio vaccines. All the countries across the world are signatories to UN the agreement on the vaccination of children against the polio.”

“If you decided not to immunise your children against non-communicable diseases, that is your choice as long as the disease would not infect others. But on polio, which is communicable disease, the world cannot allow you to endanger lives of others,” he said.

“In Nigeria, we are highly mobile, travelling to many parts of the country. So, we cannot abandoned our responsibilities to protect our people as a responsible leaders,” he said.