Gombe
UNICEF, Gombe Intensify Polio Fight as 900,000 Children Targeted in Vaccination Drive
UNICEF, Gombe Intensify Polio Fight as 900,000 Children Targeted in Vaccination Drive
By Auwal Ahmad, Gombe
The ongoing Immunisation Plus Days campaign in Gombe State has gathered momentum, with UNICEF and state health officials expressing optimism that the exercise will record wider coverage and bring the state closer to a polio-free status.
Speaking with journalists shortly after an evening review meeting in Gombe, the Chief of UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, Dr. Nuzhat Rafique, described the 2026 campaign as critical to Nigeria’s final push to eradicate polio.
She said Gombe State had shown strong commitment to the campaign, noting that the state government and its health team were working intensively to ensure that no eligible child was left behind.
According to her, the five-day exercise began with flag-off activities at both the state and local government levels, followed by outreach to communities considered hard-to-reach and underserved.
“This campaign is very important because Nigeria must completely get rid of polio. Gombe is doing its best and trying very hard to reach that status,” she said.
Dr. Rafique commended Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya and the state health leadership for what she described as unwavering commitment, adding that the daily review meetings were helping partners to track progress and quickly address challenges.
She said the level of community involvement, social mobilisation, and training of health personnel had been encouraging, with traditional rulers and emirs taking visible ownership of the campaign.
According to her, many of the flag-off ceremonies were held in palaces of traditional rulers, a development she said had strengthened trust and local participation.
“Traditional leaders are not just supporting this campaign, they are owning it and leading it alongside the government and partners,” she added.
Dr. Rafique disclosed that UNICEF had provided more than 965,000 doses of oral polio vaccine to support the exercise in Gombe, while the state had put in place the necessary cold chain and distribution system to preserve the vaccines and move them to vaccination teams across the local government areas.
She said the campaign was targeting about 900,000 children, while also paying special attention to more than 50,000 zero-dose children — children who have never received routine immunisation.
She stressed that reaching such children remained one of the most important goals of the campaign.
“Zero-dose children are a very important concern for all of us. We need to reach every one of them, and that is why UNICEF, WHO and the government are working together very closely,” she said.
On reports of discrepancies observed by monitors in the field between expected standards and what some vaccinators were doing, Dr. Rafique said such observations were not unusual in large public health campaigns.
She explained that UNICEF and its partners deliberately set very high standards for quality and accountability, which often meant that supervisors were expected to identify gaps and correct them quickly.
“Gombe is doing a very good job, but there is always room for improvement. That is why we go to the field, review what is happening and discuss how to improve coverage and quality,” she said.
Although she declined to give a final figure for children vaccinated so far, she said early reports showed that over 60 per cent of daily targets were being met, while cautioning that final figures would only become clearer after all delayed field data had been collated.
She noted that she had personally visited communities in Funakaye, Dukku and Akko during the campaign and observed strong commitment from frontline workers and local leaders.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Abdulrahaman Shu’aibu, said the state had carried out extensive advocacy and mobilisation ahead of the campaign.
He said the sensitisation effort covered the state, local government and ward levels, and involved traditional rulers, religious leaders, women groups and youth organisations.
According to him, the strategy was designed to reduce vaccine rejection and improve acceptance across communities.
He, however, admitted that despite the widespread engagement, some pockets of resistance still existed in parts of the state.
Dr. Shu’aibu said health authorities would continue to rely on trusted community voices to overcome such resistance and reassure parents about the safety and importance of vaccination.
“It is not only in Gombe; across the country, there are still some pockets of non-compliance. What we do is continue to sensitise people and work with community and religious leaders who have the trust of the people,” he said.
He added that years of sustained advocacy had already begun to yield results, with routine immunisation coverage improving across several antigens in the state.
On the composition of vaccination teams, the executive secretary explained that each team consisted of three personnel selected from within their local communities to ensure familiarity, trust and easier access to households.
He said the team members were trained before deployment and also received daily refresher sessions at take-off points to improve their performance throughout the exercise.
“Sometimes there are training gaps, but what we do is provide daily refresher training to keep them updated and improve their delivery in the field,” he said.
Dr. Shu’aibu expressed confidence that the 2026 campaign would surpass previous performance levels, saying health officials were targeting more than 95 per cent coverage by the end of the exercise.
He also appealed to parents and caregivers to present all eligible children between 0 and 59 months for vaccination, insisting that the oral polio vaccine was safe, effective and free of charge.
He said some of the resistance encountered in communities was being addressed through direct engagement with religious leaders, councillors and other respected local figures invited to participate in evening review meetings.
According to him, these influencers often help break down mistrust and encourage parents to cooperate with health workers.
At Dawaki Ajiya, one of the communities visited during the exercise, a mother of five, Jamila Jibrin Chiroma, said she had allowed all her children to be vaccinated because she believed immunisation was important for their health and protection against disease.
Her decision reflects the growing acceptance that health officials say is necessary if Gombe is to eliminate polio transmission and protect every child from preventable illness.
The campaign continues across the state with health teams moving from house to house, while supervisors and partners monitor compliance, resolve challenges and intensify efforts in settlements yet to be fully covered.
By Auwal Ahmad Umar
The Gombe State Government and civil society organisations have renewed their commitment to promoting citizen participation, transparency and accountability in the state’s budget and development processes.
Director of Budget Muhammad Adamu, who represented the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, stated this while speaking during the presentation of the 2025 Citizens’ Accountability Report to civil society organisations and community leaders across the Gombe North and Gombe South Senatorial Districts on Wednesday.
Adamu said the report reflected the government’s commitment to transparent, accountable and responsive governance, describing it as an important tool for building public confidence and strengthening the relationship between government and citizens. He urged participants to ask questions, make constructive contributions and provide feedback capable of improving public resource management and service delivery.
The engagement, organised by the Gombe State Civil Society Network (GONET), brought together government officials, civil society organisations, community leaders, youth representatives and members of the media to deliberate on budget accountability and citizens’ participation in governance.
Chairman of GONET, Ambassador Ibrahim Yusuf, said continuous engagement with citizens was improving accountability and communication between government and communities. He said the network was promoting constructive dialogue rather than simply blaming government, by providing citizens with information about policies, budgets and development projects.
Yusuf explained that GONET also serves as a platform for citizens to communicate their needs and priorities to government, creating a two-way engagement that has contributed to the inclusion of some community-driven projects in government budgets.
He said GONET would sustain its engagement with communities until information gaps and misconceptions between citizens and government were substantially reduced.
Also speaking, youth advocate from Billiri Local Government Area, Joy Haida, described citizen participation in budgeting and development planning as crucial to strengthening cooperation between communities and government.
Haida said the 2025 Citizens’ Accountability Report showed that some issues raised by citizens had been reflected in ongoing infrastructure projects, including road construction. She, however, called for effective implementation of identified projects across communities, stressing that successful delivery would boost public confidence and promote inclusive development.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Ward Development Committee (WDC) in Bare Local Government Area, Muhammad Jonh Tarasu, urged the Gombe State Government and GONET to take citizen engagement on the budget directly to grassroots communities across the state.
Tarasu said taking the engagement to the grassroots would empower citizens, community leaders and WDCs to understand government budgets, monitor projects and demand accountability.
He commended GONET for its efforts and called for wider participation to strengthen government-community relations, improve transparency and enhance service delivery and development across Gombe State.
By Auwal Ahmad Umar
Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has reconstituted the state Committee on the Preservation of Museums and Monuments, in a move aimed at protecting the state’s historical sites and cultural heritage.
The development was announced in a statement signed by Ismaila Uba Misilli, Director-General, Press Affairs, Government House, Gombe, on behalf of the state government.
The Secretary to the State Government, Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi, said the governor approved the new composition of the committee to strengthen efforts to preserve historical records, monuments and other cultural assets across the state.
The Emir of Gombe, Abubakar Shehu Abubakar III, CFR, will chair the committee, while the Commissioner for Information, Strategy and Culture will serve as deputy chairman.
Other members are the Gombe State Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), the Director-General of Gombe Media Corporation, elder statesman Yaya Hammari, also known as Wazirin Yeriman Gombe, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Special Duties, Yakubu Sarma, historian Usman Isa Ya’u, and Abdulfatah Aliyu, Dan Amar Kaltungo.
The Head of the Civil Service, Muazu Shehu, will serve as secretary.
Mr Njodi said the composition reflected the administration’s recognition of the importance of preserving the heritage that defines the identity and collective memory of Gombe residents.
“The committee is expected to ensure that important historical landmarks and cultural assets are not allowed to disappear with time, but are properly preserved and handed down to future generations,” Mr Njodi said.
The initiative is also expected to support greater awareness of Gombe’s historical and cultural resources and encourage their protection for educational, cultural and tourism purposes.
The government said the appointments take immediate effect.
By Auwal Ahmad Umar
Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has approved N54.8 million for the conduct of mock and special entrance examinations and another N118.7 million for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) across the state.
The approvals are part of a series of interventions by the state government aimed at strengthening the education sector, supporting tertiary institutions and improving socio-economic infrastructure across Gombe State.
The state Commissioner for Information, Moses Kiari, disclosed this while outlining recent approvals by the government.
According to him, the N54.8 million approved for the mock and special entrance examinations would facilitate the effective conduct of the examinations and ensure that eligible students have the opportunity to participate under proper and coordinated arrangements.
Mr Kiari said the intervention reflected the administration’s commitment to maintaining a credible education system and ensuring that students were not disadvantaged by inadequate funding for essential examination activities.
The governor also approved N118.7 million for the conduct of the Basic Education Certificate Examination across the state.
The commissioner described the BECE as an important component of the basic education system, serving as a major assessment at the end of the basic education cycle.
He said the funding would support the effective administration of the examination while contributing to efforts to improve the quality, credibility and accessibility of basic education in the state.
Beyond basic education, Mr Kiari said the governor had approved N148.76 million as the Consolidated Academic Staff Allowance (CATA) for academic staff of Gombe State University.
He said the intervention was intended to support lecturers in discharging their teaching, research and other academic responsibilities.
According to him, investment in the welfare and professional development of academic staff remained an important part of the government’s human capital development agenda.
The government also approved the relocation of Tudun Hatsi Market to Tukuru, with N200 million earmarked by the state government for infrastructure associated with the relocation.
An additional N60 million was approved by the Gombe Local Government for the exercise.
Mr Kiari said the relocation was aimed at improving urban planning, traffic management and the orderly conduct of commercial activities while creating a safer and more conducive environment for traders and residents.
He added that the exercise would also provide an opportunity to preserve a historic mosque as a state monument.
The commissioner said the compensation provision demonstrated the government’s consideration for the interests and livelihoods of people affected by development projects.
He said the various approvals reflected the administration’s commitment to strengthening public institutions, improving service delivery and investing in human capital.
The government reiterated its commitment to implementing programmes that directly improve the lives of residents and deploying public resources responsibly to achieve sustainable development across Gombe State.
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