By  OLASUNKANMI AKONI

IKEJA – Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has said the state will partner its Ogun counterpart and other states to embark on cross- border polio eradication campaign initiative.

Fashola, who gave this hint, yesterday, while inauguration a 19-man polio eradication and routine immunisation committee  at Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, said the government will commence the partnership with Ogun State which is the closest border state.

He said: “I and Governor Ibikunle Amosun will be leading the cross-border immunisation and sensitisation to ensure that whatever gains made by each of the states is not set back by migration, and I know that this plan will escalate the process of immunisation within the state.

“I urge other states to embrace this cross-border initiative so that by 2015, Nigeria will be polio-free. I am very confident that if we put all our resources, we can deliver a polio-free Nigeria in a short time.”

The governor said this was the next phase of the  government’s plan to eradicate polio completely from Lagos State.

On the committee on polio eradication, Fashola said the government knew that immunisation within the state was not enough to eradicate polio from the state, if the result of polio cases in the country in the last one year was analysed.

He said: “High polio cases were recorded in the country in the last one year which signals to us that we must redouble our effort to ensure that as people move freely to and from the state, the government effort is not rendered useless by wide polio virus.