President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday urged the 11 states and other stakeholders involved in polio eradication in Nigeria to maintain the current tempo to enable the country to obtain full polio-free certification in 2017.
The President gave the directive when he held a meeting with the stakeholders at the state House Abuja.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Linus Awute, told the State House Press Corps that the stakeholders had a consensus on what they must do to be able to cherish the gains already made.
“There are specific directives by Mr President. One, we have to sustain this tempo that has led us thus far after 17 years and how to do that is clearly developed in the template upon which we are going to work in collaboration with the state governments.”
He said that Nigeria, at present, did not have any polio case but that the situation must be monitored through a two-year period, adding that the routine immunization would be intensified.
The permanent secretary said that the outcome of the meeting was the understanding that in cherishing the gains of arresting polio transmission, the stakeholders needed to interface and further determine what should be the collective endeavour to obtain country certification.
Awute said that a strong advocacy group, which was the pillar behind the successes and governors of the 11 former endemic states, came for the interface with President Buhari.
The WHO Representative in Nigeria, Rui Gama Vaz, said the stakeholders were impressed with the commitment of the Buhari administration to eradicate polio completely in Nigeria by 2017.
“Mr President also assured that all of efforts to ensure that all the resources that are needed to increase this gain will be taken in consideration.
“He also highlighted the importance of using polio to continue to strengthen all health systems in this country.
“So, we express, as WHO, on behalf of different partners how happy we are that this is only a milestone.”
On his part, the Katsina Governor, Aminu Masari, said that the governors had pledged commitment to the fight against polio by ensuring that all religious or cultural misgivings against the routine immunization were eliminated.
Masari said there was engagement at the state and local government level which involved the religious leaders who initially kicked against the immunisation.
“The problem came from some religious misconception about polio. Now we are lucky that entirely the Ulama and religious leaders have accepted that this is a preventable and curative disease.
“Really we do not have those traditional and religious beliefs that hindered the progress of the immunization programme before.
“There is commitment on the part of the religious leaders and community leaders that made the last reported case on polio to be long ago.”
Bauchi Governor Mohammed Abubakar corroborated governor Masari, saying that Nigeria had celebrated more than a full year of non-prevalence of polio.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Ado Mohammed, said Nigeria had attained a major milestone in the eradication of polio by being polio free for more than 13 months.
He said that the team work among the health ministry, its agencies and stakeholders was the reason for the achievement.