- The minister of health, Isaac Adewole,
said Nigeria need about $1 billion for
meningitis vaccines
- The minister urged traditional rulers to
sensitize their people
- He also urged them to shun corruption as
this can affect the fight against the
outbreak
The minister of health, Isaac Adewole,
has revealed that the death toll of those
affected by the meningitis outbreak has
risen to 489.
Premium Times reports that the
minister also said 4,637 cases of
cerebrospinal meningitis were recorded
across the country by Monday.
The minister gave this number during
an emergency meeting of northern state
governors and traditional rulers on
Tuesday, April 11 convened by the
Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III.

He said with Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina,
Niger and Kebbi states most affected as
171 were confirmed to be the Type C
meningitis.
The minister said the federal
government would need about $1
billion to procure vaccine to deal with
the outbreak in the most affected areas.
“Federal needed $1,087 billion to procure
vaccines and administer on some 21
million persons against the meningitis in
the affected states,”
He said the federal government has
tackled the outbreak in 26 states so far
in collaboration with state government
and the international community.
Adewole also charged traditional rulers
to be more proactive especially in
sensitising people about hygiene and the
new to stop overcrowding.

He also called on them to tackle
corruption which might be a problem.
“You must stop corruption, when funds
are released, utilise the funds properly by
tracking and proper monitoring.”
Abdulazeez Yari who is the chairman of
the Nigerian governors’ forum said his
state, Zamfara, was badly affected due
to lack of information and sensitisation
but since it received 45,000 doses of
vaccines,no new case had been detected
in the last three days.