Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr Bill Gates, Chairman Dangote Foundation, Alhaji Aliko Dangote as well as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have lauded the progress made by the Yobe State Government in covering more children for routine immunization over the last six months.

Gates and Dangote spoke via video-conference during an end of year tripartite review meeting held in Damaturu on Monday as part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two foundations and the government of Yobe State on Routine Immunization (RI).

“It is encouraging to see improved results on Routine Immunization over the last four rounds… Yobe State has shown the greatest improvement among all the six participating states. I give you a plus to that”, Mr Gates said.

Mr Gates commended Governor Ibrahim Gaidam for the commitment of his administration, urging him to sustain the tempo and not to allow incoming political activities affect the progress that has been made.

The co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation added that participating local governments in Yobe State are doing well on best practice and urged them to continue to do more.

“There is some good news on polio. The wild polio virus has not been seen in Nigeria for some time. But the type 2 which was seen in Jigawa state threatens to put all of our work in jeopardy. We need to pay significant attention to this”, he said.

Gates urged Governor Gaidam to ensure that Yobe State meets its 2019 counterpart fund commitment before the end of 2018 to ensure the sustainability of the routine immunization effort.

Alhaji Dangote, who was represented by the Managing Director, Dangote Companies, Zuwaira Yusuf, also commended the ‘solid progress’ made in Yobe state, saying the progress has ensured that more lives are being saved in the state.

Dangote, however, called on the state government to do more work on community engagement and bring on board more community leaders to be part of the ongoing effort.

The UNICEF described Yobe state as a “shining star” in the pack while commenting on the progress that the state is making.

UNICEF’s Chief of Field for Borno and Yobe States, Mr Geoffrey Ljumba, observed that the progress Yobe has made happened because routine immunization was integrated into the larger scheme of primary healthcare development.

“This is the way to go”, he said, urging other states to ensure that routine immunization is part of the larger mix of primary healthcare.