…..promises to combat the scourge of Polio in Gombe despite the N
119B debt profile he inherited.
Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has volunteered to serve as the champion of the wild polio eradication campaign in the North east geo political zone.This was made known to Justthinkingaloud90.blogspot.com by Mr. Ismaila Uba Misilli, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor.
The Governor made the commitment during a meeting with the leadership of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, comprising of the Country Director, Dr. Paulins Basinga, Deputy Country Director for Health Caroline Appiah and her counterpart for Policy and Advocacy, Tijjani Mohammed in Abuja.
The Governor expressed concern that over 60, 000 children are still not covered by immunization due to insurgency in the North east. As he has also undertaken to convene a conference of all the six governors of the zone to discuss the strategy of ending the scourge.
He noted that insufficient coverage is capable of undermining the eradication campaign thereby leading to a derived polio infection in the region.
Governor Yahaya, assured the Bill and Melinda Gates delegation that he will personally and directly be involved during the flag off of polio immunization in Gombe as a demonstration of his commitment to ending the wild polio virus in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
He lauded development partners and donor agencies for their interventions in various areas and assured of his administration’s readiness to strengthen the already existing partnership with BMG.
He said as a new Governor, he has come with new zeal and passion to address socio-economic problems and other developmental challenges in the state.
The Governor said despite the huge debt burden of over 119 billion Naira he inherited from his predecessor, he will strive hard to prioritise the critical sectors and ensue that the state is well repositioned in terms of progress, development and prosperity.
He also assured of his commitment to prioritise the counterpart funding element of the partnership between Gombe State and development partners in order to attract developmental programmes and projects that have direct bearing on the people.
Earlier, the Country Director of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Paulins Basinga said the global humanitarian body has been working in Gombe State for the past 10 years in areas of Health, Education, Agriculture and human capital development among others.
He noted with appreciation the uncommon demonstration of vigour and commitment by Governor Inuwa Yahaya since assumption of power and assured that BMG is desirous of renewing and strenthening its partnership with Gombe State on all facets of human endeavour.
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