Shettima: Why There is Fresh Polio in Borno ...'Polio outbreak embarrassing to me'

 Shettima: Why There is Fresh Polio Virus in Borno

...'Polio outbreak embarrassing to me'

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State today explained reasons for fresh cases of polio in the state, blaming it on impossibility of accessing communities to administer polio preventive vaccines from December 2013 to the beginning of 2016.

The governor spoke in Mainok village in Kaga Local Government Area shortly before launching a one million dollar  food and farming aide donated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which targets the distribution of food items and funding of farming activities which would benefit 40,000 victims of the Boko Haram insurgency being resettled to their communities.

Shettima was reacting for the first time since two cases of polio were declared in the state last week, a development that many saw as a major setback in Nigeria’s successful fight against polio.

According to the governor, "‎Back in November 2013, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation even awarded the state for being the most committed to fighting polio in the North-east despite our insurgency. It is however unfortunate that last week, fresh cases of polio were identified in the state.

“While this is officially painful and personally embarrassing to me as an award winner in polio eradication, the basis of the recent outbreak of polio is largely due to the unimaginable condition we found ourselves. I have seen one commentator saying Borno State was dragging the country backward on polio eradication.

“From December 2013 to the end of 2015, we had hundred of communities in 20 local government areas seized by Boko Haram terrorists; many roads were practically under their command; citizens, including young children, wondered for months around the deserts and forests scampering for safety in the wake of attacks by the terrorists on their communities; thousands of citizens were trapped in communities around the Sambisa Forest around the shores of the Lake Chad and around territories being administered by Boko Haram; thousands, including pregnant women and children, were held captive by Boko Haram while hundreds of children were even born in captivity.

“Everyone can bear testimony that it was impossible for the government to sustain its wide reach in polio immunisation under such atmosphere of war. Now, under the current administration, most communities have been freed and this made it possible to diagnose the health of the children held captive and those hitherto trapped.

“We all know that a problem identified is a problem half solved. Our communities are mostly free and this makes room for a critical round of aggressive polio eradication campaign in the state. Unlike before, we don't envisage the killing of health workers administering polio and other preventive vaccines in most of our communities which they couldn't access since 2014. The tide has now changed. In the past, our people were those running but today, it is the Boko Haram members that are on the run."