Ubale carrying his daughter, Hafsat, after immunization in Bunkure on Saturday

By Maduabuchi Nmeribeh/Kano

Dan Jumai Ubale, a native of Kofar Yamma in Bunkure Local Government Area, Kano, created a beautiful scene in Bunkure on Saturday, during the flagging off of the June 2025 National Immunisation Plus Days (NIPDs) Campaign, in Kano state.

The occasion which was holding simultaneously across the 44 Local Government Areas of Kano state was chaired by the state Deputy Governor, Comrade Aminu Abdulsalam, who is also the chairman of the State Task Force Committee on Immunization and Primary Healthcare, and attended by numerous development partners, including representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), National Primary Healthcare Board, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Ubale, shortly after the programme, during the demonstration of the kick-off immunisation campaign,  rushed home and brought forward his two-year-old daughter, Hafsat Musbahu, for immediate immunisation. He was accompanied by his wife, Hajiya Sahura Balarabe.

Ubale told our Correspondent that he was motivated by the emotional and encouraging speeches of the Deputy Governor and that of the Chief of UNICEF Field Office, Kano, Mr. Rahama Rihood Mohammed Farah, during the programme.

Before now, Ubale and his wife belonged to those schools of thought who believed polio vaccination was not only harmful, but a ploy designed by the Western world to reduce the population of Africans. But the Saturday programme at Bunkure changed his perception, and he became very much aware that the vaccine was made to protect children from the dangerous polio meningitis.

“Before now, I never subscribed to the fact that the polio vaccine is good for our children. I had always thought that it was the white man’s ploy to reduce the population of we Africans. But now I know better, after listening to the UNICEF Chief and the Deputy Governor, I have become aware that the polio vaccine is good for our children. I have to rush back home to get my child immunised immediately, because I do not want her to die or be deformed.  I want her to be protected from the polio virus because I have come to understand that the polio virus can paralyse or even kill the child,” Ubale told our Correspondent.

In his remarks during the flagging off, the Deputy Governor, who doubles as the chairman of  the State  Taskforce on Immunisation and Primary Healthcare, noted that it

surprised him when some people reject polio vaccination because it is brought from the Western world, and they feel it is contaminated. “Then I ask, the paracetamol and the paracetamol they freely take, where do they come from and who manufactured them? So, it is high time we had a rethink and begin to embrace polio vaccination, which is not harmful from all indications.”

The Deputy Governor further stated that, “We are flagging off polio vaccination in the 44 Local Government Areas. Bunkure was selected because it was one of the three Local Government Areas where we recorded cases of polio virus in Kano state this year. We selected Bunkure so that we can come here to sensitise you, to mobilise you, to wake you up to the realities on the ground;  so that you will understand that there is polio virus here, and there is a need to fight the virus. We are not taking this fight against polio for granted; we are doing everything possible to steadily fight against the polio virus in Kano state.

“We, therefore, call on all the Local Government chairmen, the District Heads, the Councillors and other opinion leaders to do everything possible to ensure that they administer these vaccines to all our children. We will monitor the exercise here in Bunkure and across all other Local Government Areas to ensure that this vaccination exercise is a success. We will ensure that these vaccines are seriously utilised. I want to appeal to the mothers and everybody concerned to ensure that their children partake in this vaccination exercise.”

In his address, the Chief of UNICEF Field Office, Kano, Mr. Rahama Rihood Mohammed Farah, advised all residents to embrace the polio vaccination for the well-being of their children, and also to protect posterity. He said, “If we can eradicate polio in Kano, we can eradicate polio in other places. Let me also take this opportunity to deeply appreciate the commitment of the Kano state government and the Local Government chairmen for their unrelenting efforts. Let us make sure that every child in Kano State receives the vaccine. UNICEF will continue to participate in the supervision of the polio vaccination,  and  UNICEF will continue to provide logistics and financial support for the vaccination.”

The state Commissioner of Health, Dr. Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Pharm. Aminu Bashir urged parents to always make their children available for the polio vaccination. According to him,  “This is the second round of polio being conducted this year in June 2025. Warawa, Kano Municipal and Bunkure are part of the 13 Local Government Areas in Nigeria found with polio in 2025. That is why we are flagging off this campaign in Bunkure. I wish us success in all our efforts.”

Our Correspondent reports that the National Immunisation Plus Days exercise is scheduled to take place between 14 and 17 June 2025.