By Eben Enasco Kingsley, Benin City

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has appealed to parents and guardians in the state to make it a habit to immunize their babies at the appropriate time when they are born in order to avert preventable diseases and secure their future.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State.

Governor Oshiomhole gave this admonition while flagging off the first round  of the 2016 National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs) in Benin City on Friday.

Oshiomhole said, “I am really delighted to be here and I want to appreciate first and foremost, our development partners, including the representative of the Federal Government, the Zonal Director, the World Health Organization and all the others who are not only extending a helping hand but encouraging us to sustain what we have already started and also taking time out to travel from Abuja to this great city of Benin to be part of this. We want to appreciate your interest and we assure you that we value this partnership, and as you can see from the faces of the young women and the very beautiful children, they appreciate all of these efforts.

“I am happy to observe that whereas I assumed duty at Osadebey Avenue on the 12th of November, 2008, one year later, from 2009, there has been no reported case of polio in Edo State. I like to claim that credit because our people need to know that when the past government was here, we had polio, and under this new government, we have no polio.”

Oshiomhole declared, “I want to join those who have spoken to appeal to our mothers and indeed the fathers to ensure that they do everything possible to take advantage of this exercise, to make it a habit once the baby is born, at the appropriate time, they should ensure the child is immunized so that we can prevent vaccine-preventable diseases.”

He assured, “We will continue to sustain our commitment to providing certain levels of free medical care to our young ones up to the age of 5. We are committed to that because the future of our
country demands that we have healthy citizens, and whether we are building schools or roads or hospital, we need children who will grow up to be adults to benefit from those infrastructure that we are developing. Who knows, one of these children may grow up to become the future governor or the wife of the future governor. So it is important that we look after them.”

Speaking earlier, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Aihanuwa Eregie who welcomed Governor Adams Oshiomhole and his wife Mrs. Iara Oshiomhole as well as other development partners to the ceremony said, “It is the first round of the National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs) scheduled for this year and it is put in place to enhance the survival of our children.

“May I inform the Governor that the National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs) is intended to consolidate on the gains so far made in our collective drive to eradicate polio. In the last NIPDs held in 2015, the State recorded 93% oral polio coverage and so far this year, we have achieved 83% coverage for routine immunization. It is also on record that the country has not recorded any case of the wild polio virus since July, 2014, and Nigeria has since been removed from the list of countries endemic for polio. While this is cheering, we must remain alert so that Nigeria achieves the polio free certification. Therefore, during this exercise, more attention would be focused on the missed children in the community so as to ensure that no child is left unimmunized.”

She said, “I am using this opportunity to appeal to our parents, caregivers and mothers to embrace this programme by ensuring that all children aged 0– 59 months old are immunized. This is because the continuous increase in the number of unimmunized children will predispose the LGAs and States to outbreak of vaccine preventable diseases. This is why during this exercise, vaccinators would move from house to house to administer Oral Polio Vaccine
(OPV) to children.

All health centres would be open to give the other antigens to the children.”

The highpoint of the ceremony was the administering of polio vaccines on babies by Governor Adams Oshiomhole and his wife, Mrs. Iara Oshiomhole.