Releases N9.8bn to tackle scourge
By Ezrel Tabiowo and Taiye Odewale
Abuja
Against the backdrop of fresh outbreak of polio myelitis in Nigeria, the federal government is seeking $125 million loan from the World Bank for provision of enough vaccines against the epidemic and other communicable diseases.
This is even as the federal government had released the N9.8billion budgeted for that purpose in the 2016 budget to the Ministry of health.
Making the disclosure yesterday before the Senate Committee on Primary Health Care and Communicable Diseases, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said the loan facility became imperative as a result of the expensiveness of vaccines against polio virus and those of other communicable diseases.
He explained that $60million out of the $125 million loan facility would be used for vaccination against polio alone in six rounds while the remaining $65 million would be used for preventive vaccination against outbreak of any other communicable diseases.
“Since the polio vaccine is quite expensive, Nigeria plans on obtaining a $125m loan facility from World Bank, $ 60m will go to polio while the remaining $65 million would be used for procurement of vaccines against possible outbreak of any other communicable disease. You should expect that the borrowing plan will come through you,” he said.
According to him, any case of polio is considered as an epidemic, which made the two recent cases in Borno – Jere and Gwoza – to be considered as an emergency situation not only within the affected areas but in the entire country and countries bordering it around the place of outbreak.
He disclosed that comprehensive curtailment plan against the epidemic had been put in place by his Ministry out of which 800, 000, children under the age of five in five local government of Borno state, had been immunised against the polio virus.
Round two of the curtailment plan against the epidemic according to him, is the immunisation of children under the age of five currently going on in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba and Gombe states.
He added that Round three of the immunisation exercise would cover 18 out of the 19 states in the North while round five of the exercise would cover the entire country, before going back for another round of immunisation of children in Jere, Gwoza, Maiduguri Municipality, Bama and Mafa local governments as round six.
On Lassa fever, the Minister told the committee that his ministry was on top of the situation despite an incident recorded recently in Asaba, Delta state, assuring Nigerians not to panic over possible outbreak of the Zika virus.
According to him, Zika has been with us for a long time since 1954 without any serious incident.
