Nigeria won’t be polio-free in 2015, says expert

The Chairman, Experts Review Committee on polio eradication, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, has said contrary to reports Nigeria will not be free of the virus in 2015.

According to him, Nigeria can only be certified polio-free in 2018 “if the country does not record any new case of polio this year.”


He expressed this pessimism during the 29th meeting of the ERC on Polio and Routine Immunization, held at Rockview Royale Hotel, Abuja.

Quoting the World Health Organisation regulation, Tomori said, “For you to be totally free of polio, would take three years before we can be certified polio free. Polio transmission is just a step in the way; polio eradication is what we are looking for to make sure that there are no new cases of polio in the next three years.

“The wild polio which we recorded last year (2014) is an issue we need to pay attention to by making sure that this country is totally free of either of the two types of viruses. The job is not finished; there is the need for more funds, because it is even more difficult in the last stage. To rid this country of polio, funding must not only be sustained but improved.

“The activities we have done so far in this year’s surveillance and making sure they get to the children must be intensified. This country took care of Ebola by doing aggressive surveillance and with aggressive vaccination of our children, we can get rid of polio in Nigeria.”

At the event, the Executive Director of the National Primary Health care Development Agency, Dr. Ado Muhammad, said a comparison between Nigeria with other polio endemic countries would reveal significant progress.

He said, “As of the last count, Afghanistan reported about 32 cases of polio virus. Pakistan reported about 297 cases of polio virus and Nigeria reported six cases of polio virus. The whole world is looking up to Nigeria to exist as polio-free endemic nation. This is not just by chance but by the hand work of the Ministry of Health and through the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan. It is the same polio infrastructure that is used to eradicate Ebola.

“In 2014, Nigeria has made an unprecedented progress that is highly commendable globally by all stakeholders by reducing cases of polio virus to six cases and when compared with 2013, it is about 89 per cent reduction in Nigeria. The last case of polio virus in Nigeria was reported in July 2014, making it six months without the incidence of polio virus in Nigeria. What it means is that no child has been paralysed as a result of polio virus in Nigeria in six months.

“For the very first time in this country, routine immunization is working well. We have been able to move routine immunization coverage from 52 per cent two years ago to 91 per cent national average coverage by the end of 2015. What it means is that 91 per cent of children are eligible. This is because Mr. President has supported the health sector to make sure that vaccines are made available in every Primary Health Care Centre in Nigeria.”