The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has celebrated Nigeria’s removal by the World Health Organization (WHO), from the list of polio-endemic countries, following the fact that there has been no single reported case of wild polio virus in the country since July 2014.
The party said the feat did not come by chance, but through a concerted fight against the virus by the former President Goodluck Jonathan PDP-led administration, with the support of the Nigerian people and non-governmental agencies.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement on Tuesday, said the party is happy to note that polio was eradicated in Nigeria by its government as promised by former President Jonathan, who had at the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Australia, pledged that his administration would end the polio challenge in three years’ time, a target which was met in 2014, when the last case was recorded.
The opposition party recalled that its government in 2012 declared polio a national health emergency resulting in the establishment of Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication (PTFoPE), which effectively coordinated strategic efforts at all levels of health administration, at the national, state and local government levels, through special Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) across the country.
The party also celebrated the commitment of health workers at all levels, state governments, volunteers, community and faith based organizations, the media and other critical stakeholders for their efforts in tackling the health challenge.
In the same vein, it thanked various non-governmental bodies including, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, Rotary International, the World Health Organization (WHO), among others for their support towards the eradication of polio in Nigeria.
The PDP, therefore, urged the Federal Government and all relevant health institutions in the country to ensure the effective utilization of policies and programmes mechanisms already in existence to guarantee that there is no resurgence of polio in the country.
