By Tina Akannam

Dutse – Over 1.4 million children were immunized during the October National Immunization Programme  in Jigawa State, as against the target figure of about 1.3m children, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Tafida Abubakar has said.

Abubakar, who spoke with newsmen in his office, said the successes recorded were not unconnected with the re-newed commitment of all stakeholders including religious leaders and traditional rulers in the state.

The Commissioner further said that the state government in its move the eradicate some diseases also set up a task force on polio eradication with the state Deputy Governor as chairman and the Commissioner for Health serving as the secretary of the committee. Other members of the task force include representatives of  development partners and the Emir of Dutse, Alhaji Dr. Nuhu Sanusi, who served as the state committee chairman on polio eradication.

His words: “There is no doubt that we recorded so much success in this month’s exercise because of the collective determination of stakeholders to ensure that targeted children are immunized, and impressively, we exceeded our target.”