Jigawa Targets 1.5m Children In Polio Vaccination Exercise

The Jigawa State government has concluded arrangements to launch a polio vaccination exercise aimed at reaching 1.5 million children.

The executive secretary of the State Primary Healthcare Board, Dr. Shehu Sambo, revealed this during a media dialogue facilitated by UNICEF in preparation for the campaign.

Represented by the agency’s Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Mr. Zakariyya Sale Shehu, the executive secretary stated that the vaccination exercise will be conducted from November 29, to December 2, 2025, across all 27 local government areas of the state.

He noted that the state has received its allocation of the vaccine from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency and that all necessary arrangements have been made to distribute the vaccines to each local government according to population demands.

“We have already recruited ad-hoc staff and formed them into teams under the supervision and coordination of state and local government officials, as is our standard practice,” he said.

“Besides the teams that will go house-to-house to administer the vaccine to children from 0 to 5 years old, we have also stationed rapid response teams for any emergencies, while all necessary mechanisms have been put in place for monitoring and tracking coverage.”

“We have equally engaged community leaders, civil societies, and volunteers for the exercise. This media dialogue is also organized to remind the media of their role in public enlightenment and in generating demand for the success of the exercise.”

Speaking at the media dialogue, the Chief of UNICEF Field Office in Kano, Mr. R Ahama Rihood Mohammed Farah, said a total of over 42 million children are targeted for the first and second phases of the 2025 polio immunization campaign in Nigeria.

He noted that Jigawa is among the states in the first batch and assured the state of UNICEF’s continued support and collaboration to ensure no child is omitted from the exercise.