 It really is a special pleasure to be here today to represent Mr. President at this watershed event marking a major milestone in our public healthcare delivery system. I bring you the president's very warm greetings and his commendations to the of health and his team and all the collaborating development partners in a few months Nigeria and indeed the African continent will be formally God willing declared polio free by the World Health Organization. Our routine immunization program has also improved from 33% in 2016 and to 50% as measured in the 2016 National Demographic Health Survey. Mr. President has also repeatedly asserted that his vision of taking 10 million Nigerians out of poverty every year in the next 10 years depends so clearly on the quantum leap that we must make in our human capacity development attainments especially healthcare. This is why this integrated medical outreach program is a crucial feature of our overall human capacity development efforts. But despite our best efforts there is a significant gap in bringing public health services to vulnerable populations especially in the rural areas, in the mountainous areas, in the riverine areas, in the peri-urban and other difficult to reach areas in the country. So this attempt to take basic healthcare services, health education, basic surgeries and screening for diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, tuberculosis, HIV, AIDS and cancer to these underserved and difficult to reach areas is an eminently sensible and practical plan. Not only does it provide free health services to communities that have never in the past enjoyed these sorts of services but it also provides our public health institutions with invaluable disease identification opportunities and outreach lessons. So today here in Buwari we flag off the conduct of the first round of the integrated medical outreach program IMO for the enriched underserved and vulnerable communities in 409 selected local government areas in the 36 states of the federation including the federal capital territory. The IMO intervention is aimed at strengthening and sealing of access and scaling of access to routine immunization and other primary healthcare services in selected low performing LGA's. The first round of the IMO implementation we are told is planned for between the 23rd to the 27th of March in the selected 409 LGA's in the 36th of the federation and the second round is planned for the 20th to the 24th of April 2020. The third round we are told is planned for the 1st to the 5th of June 2020. Nigerians and all other nationals residing within the country are really encouraged to take their children and especially children under the age of two years to the nearest health facilities for screening and administration of all due antigens. The federal government of Nigeria maintains a policy of providing immunization services free to all against all vaccine preventable diseases. All other age groups are also encouraged to visit designated medical outreach centers and we have one per senatorial district during the five days of the IMO implementation for basic general medical and even surgical consultations and some operations. The federal government is fully responsible for providing the required immunization vaccines in collaboration with our global partners to ensure consistent and sustainable availability of life-saving vaccines for all eligible children in Nigeria. Who would ensure in the next couple of months that growth of virus and human papilloma virus vaccines are introduced into the national immunization shuttle to prevent childhood and to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in women. It is the firm commitment of the federal government of Nigeria that no child or individual should be without access to life-saving vaccines and primary health care services. Public health care in a popular developing country will always have its peculiar challenges but therein also lies the immense opportunities. The challenge of providing services on scale both in terms of cost and human resources is one but it's a surmountable challenge. We must and we're determined to take advantage of all that innovation and technology will provide us. There's no way ladies and gentlemen that one can speak today about health care without a mention of the coronavirus threat. Our robust proactive preventive efforts have been widely praised and we must commend again the honorable minister of health and his team and all our public health institutions and our development partners for their diligence and commitment to fighting and ensuring that we do not have the kinds of experiences that other nations are having concerning the pandemic but the threat is not over and as you know only a few days ago Mr. President directed that a readiness review be undertaken covering both the economy and the health care services and that report has been submitted to him. We are also examining the readiness of our health care facilities for whatever eventualities may arise. Meanwhile just as the Honourable Minister of Health has advised we urge all Nigeria advisories offered by the Honourable Minister of Health and the World Health Organization including frequent hand washing and social distancing as much as possible. I think that is the Honourable Minister of Health who advised that we should be elbowing ourselves and the namaste instead of handshakes. Let me include again congratulate the Honourable Minister of Health and the Honourable Minister of State for Health and your team for your farsightedness and hard work on this program. Our appreciation also goes to the immunization stakeholders, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, CDC, the AFNET, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Aligo Dangote Foundation, GAVI, Solina Health, CHI and IVAC and also the professional bodies, the Nigerian Medical Association, the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and the Community Health Practitioners Association of Nigeria for all of their technical support and for all the effort they've made towards improving the planning and implementation of this intervention. So on behalf of Mr. President, His Excellency, President Mohamed Iqohari, it is my very special pleasure and privilege to formally launch the conduct of the first round of the Integrated Medical Outfit Program IMOC in Nigeria. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.