Even though he grew up knowing himself as a polio survivor – the predicament he has been managing for 48 years – Mr Bashir Idris isn’t deterred from reflecting on his unpleasant experience at every slight opportunity.
Born hale and hearty five decades ago, Idris’ dream of becoming a Soldier was cut short when he contacted the polio disease at the tender age of two.
“I was told I contacted polio when I was just two years old, now I’m 50 years old, meaning I have been battling with this condition for 48 years, how I wish there was an awareness campaign about polio immunization like this then, I love to be a Soldier or medical Doctor, now I am a Carpenter, but in everything we give thanks to almighty Allah”, Idris explained.
Sitting on bare floor and smiling beckoningly to get the attention of crowd who came to catch a glimpse of the just concluded rally of polio immunization plus days at Agadasawa, Yola and Madatai settlements in Kano Municipal Area Council, members of Journalist Against Polio (JAP) observed the 50 years old Idris’ conspicuous enthusiasm to share his experience so as to serve as deterrent to other parents.
When approached for comment, Idris energetically narrated how his several attempts to marry a Woman of his choice without polio disease hit a brick wall as seven women rejected his marriage proposal due to the polio stigmatization and their belief that the disease is hereditary, hence they were skeptical about giving the green light to his proposal.
“I attempted to marry a woman without polio disease on several occasions, about seven ladies ran away because of stigmatization. Then, they believed if they marry a polio survivor, there is the possibility of them giving birth to a child with polio disease (smiling), now we thank God that such myth is fading away, but that doesn’t change the fact that polio did not allow me to marry a woman of my choice” he spoke further.
Idris is however urging Parents and Guardians in Kano to release their wards of less than five years for Polio Immunization so as to spare them of such avoidable lifetime bitter experience.
We Don’t Want Our Members to Increase Anymore – Chairman Polio Survivors
Meanwhile, the dream of most organizations is to increase their membership base, but on the flip side, the reverse is the case for the Polio Survivors Association as its mandate is to get rid of new members to avoid the spread of the highly tasking and challenging virus.
“We decided to join this rally to tell the general public about the challenges we are facing and the need for them to embrace polio vaccine for their wards so that they will not end up like us, enough is enough, we don’t want our members to increase anymore” Yahaya A Yahaya, Chairman of Polio Survivors Association in Kano Municipal posited.
Yahaya lamented how his members are being segregated and marginalized even when they are qualified for a certain position in the society due to their difficulty.
“I was a three years old when I got polio disease, how I wish they gave me polio vaccine then because being a cripple person is not easy in Nigeria, we are being marginalized anywhere we go, no equal opportunity, you know contacting polio disease is a lifetime experience that you wouldn’t wish your enemy” he stated.
Speaking with JAP Correspondents at the rally conducted simultaneously in four zones including Bichi, Gwale, Tofa and Nasarawa, the Nasarawa Zonal Health Educator, Haladu Muhammed said the essence of the campaign was to draw the residents’ attention to the importance of the polio immunization considering the fact that some settlements in the affected zones experienced a pocket of noncompliance during the last Immunization Plus Days (IPDs) which was conducted in this year January.
Nigeria Must Not Relax Despite Polio Free Status – Official
On his part, a Local Immunization Officer of Nasarawa Local Government Area, Sani Abdul Sani Mai Nagge described the turn out of the exercise as very impressive. He assured that the targeted population of 165,085 in the LGA will be immunized during the four days campaign.
“Of course, the immunization of the target population is achievable because before the implementation of this house to house, we had conducted 2 days DOPV, going from one street to another, for example, motor parks, markets, busy streets, we used to visit them before this four days campaign and during the period, we immunized over 50, 000 children and we have over 237 teams going from one house to another and there are 108 special teams visiting markets, schools and other strategic places, so we can easily cover the targeted population”
Nigeria was certified polio free in July 2020, asked why the need for the continued polio immunization exercise after attaining the feat, Sani Mai Nagge however said “after the declaration of polio free in Nigeria, even you yourself, can you tell me how many children were born from that time to now and how many were supposed to be vaccinated? We must not relax just like that and allow the virus to resurface again in the country”
Kano State Government is targeting over three million under five years old children for special immunization this month, with over 3.9 million doses of polio vaccines, the move aimed at ensuring that every child in the State is safe against the virus.
