August 2, 2013 by Friday Olokor, Abuja.
A presidential committee, set up to map out measures to deal with the scourge of polio, has listed Yobe and Borno states as constituting 50 per cent of reported cases of polio in Nigeria.
Chairman of Nigeria National Polio plus Committee, Mr. Abdulrahman Funsho, stated this during a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja while unveiling the International President of Rotary Club, Mr. Gary Huang, a Chinese national, based in Taiwan.
He attributed the setback in achieving earlier targets of polio eradication in Nigeria to non-compliance because of different traditional beliefs and cultural factors, which, he said, were also fuelled by a few individuals and groups as a result of ignorance.
Funsho said, “A total of $325m has been contributed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with an additional $1.4bn to bridge the funding gap needed to eradicate polio globally.”
According to him, with more funding accruing to the committee to fight the scourge, the government was on course as a result of the new strategic plan it had put in place to see the end of polio in Nigeria by 2014.
He said, “Currently, there is a strategic plan that has been put in place and that strategic plan envisages that by the end of 2014, we will see the end of the last polio cases.
“There are local challenges that we have, which have become a big challenge to the polio eradication initiative: areas where you have non-compliance because of different beliefs and taboos and these are fuelled by a few individuals and groups, partly out of ignorance.”
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