Rotary, on Wednesday presented President Muhammadu Buhari with its Polio Eradication Champion Award.
The last reported case of polio in Nigeria was July 24, 2014, in Kano state. Nigeria was the last country on the African continent to report active transmission of the wild polio virus.
“Progress against polio in Nigeria, while a tremendous achievement, remains fragile. The country must ensure high-quality polio campaigns and surveillance activity for at least another two years, or risk the return of this disease,” said Rotary International President K.R. Ravindran.
“President Buhari and the Nigerian government have shown they are equal to this challenge, maintaining strong commitment and public support for polio immunization in the face of zero cases.”
Shortly after taking office in July 2015, President Buhari demonstrated his personal commitment to ending polio by publically immunizing his young granddaughter.
Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) removed Nigeria from its list of polio-endemic countries after the country went one year without reporting a case of the disease.
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