The National Economic Council (NEC) Thursday identified poor funding as one of the major challenges of immunization in the country.
This was disclosed by Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state at the end of the council meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The governor said the council expressed concern that lack of release of counterpart funds by local governments is one of the key problems in achieving successful routine immunization and insecurity in parts of the of country.
The governor said the Minister of Health in his presentation requested the National Economic Council to: “Convey the meeting of the Presidential Task Force on Immunization; Sustainability of political oversight by the political class; Establishment and re-activation of State Task Force on immunizations; Quarterly release of appropriated funds for Routine Immunization and other Primary Health Care Activities; Timely release of funds by the states and LGAs for immunization campaigns.”
Also speaking, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state said NEC Committee on Export Promotion led by Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa state presented its report to the council.
“The report is sequel to the Zero Oil Plan, envisioned in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) which is developed by the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC),” he said.
He said the committee told the council that it has designed an implementation plan for project implementation; harmonized Export Development Plan submitted by states; identified projects based on the implementation plan and states submissions; and set-up Templates and Schematics for Domestic Export Warehouse and Anchor Programme for Exporters.
He said the committee also conducted capacity-building programme on Strategic Products in the Zero Oil Plan in Kaduna, Benue, Ondo, Edo and Imo States.
He said the products are palm oil, soya beans and ginger, stressing that companies have been identified for the Domestic Export Warehouse and Aggregation Centre for exportable products.
