The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has come out to reaffirm its commitment towards ending Tuberculosis (TB) in Nigeria by 2030.

The governors recently gave the commitment in a statement by NGF Chairman and Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State in Abuja in commemoration of the 2021 World Tuberculosis Day.

According to him, tuberculosis is an airborne disease that has affected millions of people regardless of socio-economic status, and it must be fought against.

He added that despite being preventable and curable, it has remained the deadliest infectious disease globally, therefore the government must act fast.

His words, “Though it is preventable and curable, it has remained the deadliest infectious disease globally.”

“Currently, Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest burden of TB, ranking first in Africa and sixth globally.”

“It is estimated that about 18 Nigerians die of TB everyday which translates to 432 people monthly and 157,000 yearly.”

“Therefore, in accordance with the theme of this year’s World TB Day – “The Clock is Ticking”, we reaffirm our commitment to work with other stakeholders to end TB in our respective states.”

“We also call on the Federal Government to provide necessary support to the states to be able to domesticate and achieve the targets and commitments made at the United Nations high-level meeting on tuberculosis held in 2018.”

“These targets and commitments expect that by 2022, we will be back on track in our efforts to ensure we are able to end TB by 2030.”

“Today, the NGF joins the rest of the world to commemorate the World Tuberculosis Day,”

“It also help to renew our commitment to accelerate efforts at the national, state, local government and community levels to eradicate TB in Nigeria.”