By Umar Yakubu
The Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development has called for stronger collaboration among traditional and religious leaders to support the fight against polio in Bauchi State.
The foundation made the call in an activity report on the IE-Walkthrough coordination and feedback meetings conducted across the state in September 2026.
The Sultan Foundation has been supporting the state in strengthening the engagement of traditional and religious leaders in polio eradication activities.
The exercise focused on providing feedback on the IE-Walkthrough micro-planning exercise earlier conducted across the state.
The activity commenced with a coordination meeting held on September 3, 2026, in Bauchi, attended by the 20 Emirate focal persons, 20 Field Officers, officials of the Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Board and other partners.
The meeting was chaired by the Emir of Dass,p Alhaji Usman Bilyaminu Othman.
The second phase involved visits to the 20 Local Government Areas of the state, where District Heads, Village Heads, religious leaders, heads of faith-based organisations and LGA health teams participated in the meetings.
The planning and micro-feedback meetings were conducted between September 5 and 14, 2026.
However, the meetings scheduled for Kirfi and Alkaleri Local Government Areas could not be held due to communication gaps, which resulted in poor attendance.
According to the report, the exercise recorded increased support and ownership from traditional and religious leaders in identifying settlements, facilitating access to communities, supporting field teams and addressing non-compliance.
The leaders also expressed their commitment to continue supporting health activities and promised to support campaign flag-offs at the Emirate and District levels.
They further promised to ensure the participation of District Heads during Emergency Response Monitoring activities at the Local Government level.
The report identified the active participation of District Heads, advocacy visits to the Emirs of Dass, Toro and Giade, as well as engagements with the Chairman of Ningi Local Government and the Deputy Chairmen of Jama’are and Warji, as some of the good practices recorded.
However, the report listed poor communication with participants in Kirfi and Alkaleri, competing programmes by some Local Government health authorities, limited knowledge of the ODK application among some traditional leaders and the lack of Android phones among most District Heads for reporting activities as challenges.
The foundation therefore recommended regular sensitisation and feedback meetings with traditional and religious leaders, training of Field Officers and Emirate focal persons on activity reporting, provision of Android phones for reporting and continued logistical support during each campaign.
The foundation said strengthening the participation of traditional and religious leaders remained essential to improving community engagement and supporting polio eradication efforts across Bauchi State.
Speaking during the engagements in the various Local Government Areas visited, the Team Leader and Programme Adviser of the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development, Alhaji Aminu Dan Malam, explained the purpose of the visit to the participants.
He urged the participants to make good use of the issues discussed and the information shared during the engagements.
Dan Malam also appreciated the participants for their contributions and encouraged them to continue supporting the initiative.
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