Kaduna State Government in northern Nigeria has approved monthly allowance for 17,139 ward heads in its 34 chiefdoms to strengthen immunisation in their respective domains.
Commissioner for Local Government, Prof. Kabiru Mato, Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Paul Dogo, and Executive Secretary, Kaduna Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Hadiza Balarabe announced the decision to journalists in Kaduna.
Mato said the State would spend over N170 million monthly in paying each ward head N10,000 as incentive to encourage the ward heads to sustain their roles against polio.
He added that “this is an effort to strengthen routine immunisation against killer diseases.”
He explained that under the leadership of Gov. Nasir El-Rufai, the State Government had been applying state resources and support from development partners to tackle infant and maternal mortality.
“This will enhance the capacity of the primary health centres to improve health outcomes for citizens.
“Since 2015, considerable steps have been taken to expand immunisation coverage across the state to give more children what they need to avoid vaccine preventable diseases.
“The contributions of ward heads helped Kaduna State a lot as the state was declared polio-free in 2012 and since then, no new case was recorded.”
He added that the state government, with support from partners, was steadily institutionalising routine immunisation and the necessary vaccines were available all year round.
The commissioner stressed that “this allowance is a token and a form of appreciation for the roles played by ward heads in complementing government’s efforts to deliver public goods in the health and security sectors.”
