Rotary president wants Nigeria to sustain polio status

• Immunises Abuja children

President, Rotary International Ravi Ravidran, yesterday urged Nigeria to sustain the polio-free status it has attained in the last one and a half years. He commended the country’s resilience and passion in using the experiences learnt to tackle threats to public health.

Ravidran, who personally immunised some children in Abuja against the disease, later visited President Muhammadu Buhari, also urged Nigeria to remain vigilant and steadfast by ensuring that polio does not come back to the country.

He said he look forward to seeing Nigeria getting the polio-free certification from World Health Organization (WHO) next year, noting that only Afghanistan and Pakistan are remaining on the polio endemic nations’ list.

Ravidran told newsmen: “that at the moment, we have no polio case in Nigeria, which is a big achievement,’ noting however that ‘the battle is not won yet. We have to continue, we have to keep the same efforts for more one and a half years, making a three-year period that we would be certified free.”

He warned that as the nation was on the way to success, we must continue to work with the same vigilance. We must continue to keep our eyes and ears open with the same surveillance and make sure that it does not creep back to Nigeria again.”

On what Rotary would focus attention on after polio, he pleaded for understanding to finish the task at hand before unrolling other plans. “

Ravidran later commissioned the Polio House, which would strengthen Nigeria’s polio status and boost routine immunization.

According to him, “This is a classic example of example, if every government follows the example of the president, who personally immunized his grand child, it would set example for the rest of the population.”