CoronavirusCulture & TraditionNewsNigeriaAdamawa Constitutes Traditional Advisory Council on COVID-19

Adamawa state government has inaugurated an advisory committee consisting of 21 traditional rulers and traditional council secretaries from the 21 local government areas of the state with a view of stemming the spread of the Coronavirus disease.

During one-Day sensitization and awareness meeting for traditional rulers, supported by state Primary Health Care Development Agency, UNICEF, NCDC, and WHO, officials of the state government charged the traditional rulers to improve on the efforts of sensitizing their subjects on the need to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols to help in maintaining the successes the state has so far recorded in fighting the spread of the disease.

In his remarks,  Adamawa state commissioner of Health who was represented by Dr. John Stephen appreciates the traditional rulers for the role they played in ensuring that Nigeria is certified polio-free as well as curbing the spread of the Coronavirus disease.

” There is no intervention that can succeed without the community. It is a key ingredient in the success of every intervention and this is what has been missed by a lot of projects in the past that couldn’t make impacts.

”There is no way we can make a meaningful impact without engaging our royal fathers, community leaders, religious leaders who are the key players at the community level, more especially on COVID-19. And that is why I want to emphasize the importance of this particular sensitization,” he said.

The honorable commissioner reiterates the damage caused by COVID-19 globally and how it has changed man’s daily activities while regretting the fact that ” a lot of people do not believe that COVID-19 is real”.

He congratulations the team in Adamawa state for the successes registered so far.

The Executive Chairman of the Adamawa State Primary Health care Development Agency, Dr Suleiman Bashir in his remark said the meeting is to further re-echo the commitment of the agency that the present reality requires extraordinary measures, particularly in containing either the spread or the consequence of COVID-19.

” We want to identify with this gathering and thank our royal fathers who have in one year or the other contributed to passing key messages that will help in either preventing the contraction of this virus or even mitigating the consequences where it has manifested itself,” he said.

A representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Hauwa Hassan who is UNICEF’s Communication for Development (C4D) specialist from Bauchi field office says UNICEF has been supporting Adamawa state in several interventions and is poised to maintaining the tempo.

Hauwa in her remark said ” We in UNICEF know how critical the role of the royal fathers are and that is why we have asked for your graciousness to be in this meeting to thank everyone of you for all the contributions that you have made in tackling not only COVID but also polio and malaria.

” This is an opportunity for us today to discuss COVID-19 and to be able to inaugurate an advisory council to ensure that sensitization and awareness are done in relation to COVID-19. ”

Some participants at the meeting appreciated the organisers and development partners for the enlightenment while describing it as timely.

Several presentations were made by representatives of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Adamawa state COVID-19 Containment Committee on the use of Personal Protective Equipment, adherence to safety protocols, dangers of the disease, and preventive measures.