The Northern Traditional Leaders have expressed their displeasure over what they described as being sidelined by the government with regards to covid-19 vaccine education.
Emir of Argungu, Alhaji Samaila Muhammed Mera disclosed this to newsmen at the fourth quarter Northern Traditional Leaders Committee (NTLC) review meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, December 16, 2021.
TheFact Nigeria recalled that traditional leaders in the country were instrumental to the eradication of wild polio virus from the country.
Alhaji Mera explained that there had not been constant communication between them and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) as it should.
He said for instance, they had not held any other meeting since the last quarter meeting in September.
The Royal father reiterated that they were instrumental in eradicating the wild polio virus and therefore could do the same for covid-19, however, they lacked adequate information on covid-19 vaccination thus, could not effectively educate and mobilise their loyals to take it.
He further informed his audience that the NTLC would continue to be a dependable ally for as long as the development partners were prepared to work with them and also called on the government to ensure timely funding for the NPHCDA in order to eradicate public health threats from the county.
Meanwhile, Executive Director NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib stated that the number of people who received the covid-19 vaccination had increased astronomically since the commencement of mass vaccination.
He said: “In relation to the COVID-19 Vaccination, we have so far vaccinated over 8 million eligible Nigerians against COVID-19.
“Although this figure is still far from our target of vaccinating 112 million eligible persons for Nigeria to attain herd immunity, we have seen a significant improvement on our figures since the implementation of mass vaccination campaign.
“We do not need to start a fresh war against OMICRON. It is just a variant of the COVID virus that can be handled if we all comply and take all recommended doses of the vaccines, while continuing to observe protective measure such as wearing of face mask, regular washing of our hand and social distancing to protect ourselves”, he said.
