Nigeria will be certified polio free by June 2023 - Rotary governor

The District 9125 Governor, Rotary International, Dr. Victor Onukwugha Wednesday said that by June 2023 Nigeria will be certified as polio-free.

Speaking at the event of the groundbreaking of Sir Emeka Offor Rotary Hall at Abuja Rotary centre in FCT, Onukwugha said “This district just like all other Rotary district has been involved in eradication of polio, we have wiped it out in Nigeria by God’s grace and by June 2023 we will be certified a polio-free country and continent. But until the last patient is cured, we will not rest, even when we don’t have it in Nigeria anymore and beyond."

“Even in eradicating it in Nigeria, we conduct post surveillance and continue to do immunization to ensure that it does not come back again”.

On the issue of Coronavirus, he said Nigeria has not taken positive actions on the said disease and called for stringent border monitoring.

“We have not been too positive in taking actions; we must have to look at our borders again but for Rotary international, we can’t do anything because Rotary international has a way of certifying diseases. Disease control is one of our areas of focus and as that we work with center for disease control, WHO, UNICEF and UNO, so whatever they certify we will take it from there”.

Onukwugha further added that the Abuja Rotary centre will give Nigeria the leverage to bring Rotary international head office to the country.

“In accordance with Rotary international, in the next 3 years, the head office for the zone we belong to will leave Zorach to Africa, and if it comes to Africa it will be a straight fight between South Africa and Nigeria and in Nigeria, we have no facility to host that, what we are we doing today is setting a stage for that competition."

“God willing in the next 2 to 3 years, we would have a world-class unbeatable Rotary centre and with our status in Africa as the most populated country, doing great things in Rotary, the only thing that will deny us that is this facility, so we set the ball rolling today thanks to sir, Emeka Ofor”.

Also speaking, the Founder of Sir. Emeka Offor Foundation, Sir Dr. Emeka Offor said “Rotary is built on friendship and fellowship, through continuous engagement and cross-fertilization of ideas we should, therefore, have a place of our own where we can always congregate and bring out ideas that will touch the lives of our communities”.

He expressed his fulfilment that what started as a pledge on his side is not just a reality now, but a dream come true.