Nigeria is so close to interrupting the spread of polio, but the successes may be undone by the 2015 general elections, as the country usually records setback in the fight against polio in the year before general elections, Chairman of the Expert Review Committee on Polio Eradication in Nigeria, Dr Wale Tomori, has said.
Tomori, who is also President of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences, said the greatest challenge to the polio programme in 2014 will be the preparations for the 2015 elections, as “the election is the only thing that matters. Every election year since 2003 has been characterised by abandonment of good governance, and subsequently accompanied by a surge in polio cases.”
He said: “So far in 2014, there has been only one wild polio case in the country, reported from Gaya LGA, Kano state, with onset on February 1. Between January and September 2012, Nigeria reported 101 cases of polio in 13 states and 70 LGAs, compared to 49 cases in nine states and 26 LGAs for the same period in 2013. Except for Kano state, no polio cases have been reported in most parts of the northwestern states in the last year.
“We are so close to victory. In 2010, Nigeria recorded only 48 cases of polio, but because we did not press victory to the end, we recorded 95 cases in 2011 and 130 cases in 2012. We continue to suffer as one of only three nations that have never stopped the transmission of polio.
“We must not allow the 2015 election to set Nigeria back in the race to eradicate polio. It is important for all stakeholders to ensure that the polio eradication programme is not neglected. We must engage the press, civil society organisations, parents, and academics to call governments’ attention to health in general and polio eradication in particular.”
