The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to end Polio in Nigeria, saying that it would not allow any new outbreak with the appreciable progress in the interruption of the transmission of the wild polio virus in the country.
Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole made this known in Abuja on Wednesday 10th February, 2016 while meeting with Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio eradication chaired by the Prof. Oyewale Tomori, President, Nigeria Academy of Science.
In July 2015, World Health Organization (WHO) removed Nigeria from Polio endemic country after 15 months without single case of the polio virus in the country. It is expected that if Nigeria sustains the momentum, by 2017 it would be certified a polio free country.
Prof. Adewole said federal government was committed to release resources for the success of the polio eradication. “With respect to funding even though we will not boast of taking care of all your needs but we would certainly do our best, we are quite committed. Once we get approval, we will give you priority because it would be a shame to us if we have one single outbreak, I describe the Lassa outbreak as embarrassment it would become a shame if we have further outbreak of polio virus.”
“We are proud of you, we would continue to support you, you made us proud so the only thing we can do is to continue to play our role as a nation and with the support of Mr. President and international backing, we have no option than to succeed in the final eradication” ,he added
The Minister appreciated members of the committee for making the country proud. “let me thank you and our partners particularly outside the country, because we really value your support and we would love to see more in the health sector”.
Earlier, the chairman of the committee Prof. Oyewale Tomori said that the committee would not relent in its effort to ensure that Nigeria is polio free 2017.
“We are doing all we can to prevent polio coming back to our country” he said
