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Federal Government Reveals How Much Was Spent On Polio Eradication’

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25 Million Infants Missed Out On Lifesaving Vaccination - WHO/UNICEF
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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)

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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.

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“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.