By Danjuma Attah, Gombe
The Gombe State Government in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has embarked on a rigorous supervision of vaccinators and other officials involved in carrying out the March 2026 Polio Immunization exercise across the State.
The UNICEF team, led by Dr Nuzhat Rafique, Head of Bauchi Field Office and Dr Abdulrahman Shuaibu, the Executive Secretary of the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPHCDA), both praised the exercise while speaking to Journalist shortly after a review meeting of day four of the exercise on Monday (31/03/2026).
Earlier, our correspondent observed UNICEF officials keenly supervising vaccinators to ensure data are well captured, no eligible child or household is missing, proper doses are administered and other nitty gritty of the exercise are followed.
After the review meeting, UNICEF Chief of Bauchi Field Office, Dr Nuzhat Rafique, commended the Gombe State Government for ensuring smooth running of the exercise.
She said the campaign was rigorous because it it has become so important for Nigeria to eradicate polio. “Gombe is doing it’s best, they are trying very hard to reach that status”, she pointed out.
She stated also that her team has been to many most deprived and areas noting that she is looking forward to more progress in the remaining days of the exercise.
She commended the preparation for the exercise which included traditional and community leaders who have been leading the campaign along with State Government partners.
“UNICEF has already provided 965,000 plus doses for the polio vaccines that had been adjusted, taken care by the Government in all the LGA’s and distributed.
“We have very high expectations, we set our bar very high in terms of quality of the the campaign, vaccinations, the engagement with the communities.
“Gombe State is doing a wonderful job and their vaccinators are doing a good job in the field, but you know we always find that there is room for improvement and that is what we all bring back from the field in the evening review meeting and then we know how we can improve on it.
“The GSPHCDA and the State Government have shown concern about the quality of the campaign and also ensuring that no child is left behind”, Dr Nuzhat Rafique stressed.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of the GSPHCDA, Dr Abdulrahman Shuaibu, said the agency carried out advocacy at the Wards and LGA levels involving traditional and religious leaders, women and youth groups.
He assured that sensitization of communities and leaders will not cease despite the successes in Gombe State because of the pockets of resistance still experienced.
He expressed confidence in improving their performance in the current campaign by 95 percent stressing, “so far in this round, we target around 900,000 children aged 0 to 59 months”.
End.
