Nigeria to be certified polio-free this month

Minister of State for Health, Dr. Halliru Alhassan, has said Nigeria would be certified polio-free this month.

Alhassan disclosed this to newsmen in Sokoto when he reviewed some of the activities of his ministry in 2014.

The minister said no case of polio had been recorded in the country in the last six months, which qualifies Nigeria to be declared polio-free in line with global requirements.

Alhassan said: “This is because only six cases of the wild polio virus were recorded in the last six months in Kano and Jigawa States. This feat is a remarkable departure from the nearly 52 WPV cases the country recorded during the same period under review in 2013.

“With this development, we are optimistic that Nigeria will be completing the six months required to be declared polio-free by this month,” the minister said.

“The country has indeed made tremendous progress in ensuring the total eradication of polio and it would be sustained. The Federal Government would sustain these successes; we have eradicated Ebola and Guinea worm, and polio is on the verge of becoming history in Nigeria,” he said.

Alhassan expressed happiness that Nigerian was recording massive reduction in maternal mortality through the support of the Millennium Development Goals.