'Nigeria might be declared Polio virus free by 2017,' Health minister says

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February 15, 2016 1:06 PM

During a meeting with the Expert Review Committee (ERC) in Abuja, health minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole, cited that the federal government is working towards complete eradication of the Polio virus in Nigeria.

'Nigeria might be declared Polio virus free,' Health minister says

During a meeting with the Expert Review Committee (ERC) in Abuja, health minister,

He further stated that having another Polio outbreak would be very shameful to the country, and that hopefully Nigeria would be declared Polio free by 2017.

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"With respect to funding even though we will not boast of taking care of all your needs but we will certainly do our best. 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," Adewole said.

"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.

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Nigeria was removed from the Polio virus endemic list in July 2015 by WHO after no new case was recorded in 15 months.

If no new Polio virus case is recorded by 2017, Nigeria would be declared a Polio virus free nation.

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