Nigeria News
Federal Government Reveals How Much Was Spent On Polio Eradication’
The Chairman of the National Polioplus Committee of Rotary International Dr Tunji Funsho revealed that over $17billion was spent to eradicate polio in Nigeria.
Funsho said Rotary International alone, committed $2.2billion, and expended $298m in 15 years, to combat and eradicate the deadly wild poliovirus in Nigeria.
This is coming as Nigeria is set to join three other African countries – Cameroon, Central African Republic, and South Sudan – to get a WPV-free certification by the Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC)
He, however, said more needs to be done concerning routine immunisation, as a handful of states were still under-performing in this respect.
In an interview in Abuja, he said:
“When we’re talking about funding, we have surpassed our deadline of the year 2000; we have gone another 20 years and that has its attendant costs which has increased the cost of this effort to almost $19bn and still counting because we have not eradicated polio from the world.
“Rotary has spent at least $2.2bn out of the $17bn on polio eradication worldwide. In Nigeria alone, in the last 15 years, we have expended about $298 million on the programme and we expect that we will still need some funds.