Vice President Kashim Shettima has said Nigeria cannot rely solely on partners to eradicate polio affecting citizens.
Senator Shettima said it was time for Nigeria and leaders at all levels to make a determined effort to ensure polio is kicked out of the country.
The Vice President stated this at the 147th National Economic Council (NEC) meeting while inaugurating the NEC Ad Hoc Committee on Polio Eradication at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to a statement from his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, Senator Shettima urged members of the committee and stakeholders to reinvigorate efforts to confront the reemergence of the disease head-on.
“If at all we have relied heavily on assistance from partners to address the devastation caused to our people by this disease, it is time to take a determined step to eradicate this disease from our people. I am confident we can do it if we work collectively and collaboratively with partners and all the stakeholders,” he said.
The Vice President discouraged short-term measures in tackling polio, urging the committee members to come up with long-term measures, including the local production of polio vaccines.
“We cannot fight this virus, Your Excellencies, by constantly responding to its recurrence, as short-term measures will always fail. We must develop a futuristic plan, and this calls for a long-term approach to containing the virus.
“It is in this regard that we must take seriously the overarching need for the local production of polio vaccines. This, I believe, will ensure that we take a long-term view of the containment of the virus and ultimately its extermination in the future.
“It is clear that we should never rest on our oars, as the virus keeps mutating and reemerging in new forms such as the new variant in Kano and Sokoto, but it is heartening that these states have taken firm action to confront the new variant,” he stated.
On his part, Chairman of the Polio Eradication ad hoc committee and Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Inuwa Yahaya, thanked the Vice President for giving members the opportunity to serve in the committee, assuring that they will do all their best to end the reemergence of polio in the country.
Governor Yahaya, who is also Chairman of the Northern State Governors Forum, assured the committee would deliver on the required results.
“On behalf of members of this committee, I would want to appreciate you for making this choice of putting up this committee that includes this membership. And going through the committee’s membership, one knows full well that it is really by design and not by accident because you want to address a critical issue, and you, indeed, picked the right people to address the issues.
“The Governors, as you said, are the prime movers, and the likes of Aliko Dangote, and, in fact, under the leadership of the Honorable Minister, this task of eradicating Polio and taking it out of Nigeria will be made easy once we are able to do the needful,” Yahaya said.