Buhari vaccinates grandchild, says Nigeria committed to eradicating polio

President Muhammadu Buhari declared Saturday in Abuja that his Administration will do all within its powers to ensure that no Nigerian child is ever infected with polio again.

Speaking at a brief event in the Presidential Villa to mark Nigeria’s successful completion of one year without any reported case of the wild polio virus, President Buhari pledged that the Federal Government will mobilize and deploy all necessary resources to efficiently complete the task of eradicating polio from the country.

“Today, 25th of July, 2015, Nigeria has successfully completed one year without any case reported of the wild polio virus,” Femi Adesina, his spokesperson, quoted President Buhari as saying.

“Achieving this feat has placed us firmly on the path to eradicating this paralyzing disease from our land.

“I seize this opportunity to call on Governors, our traditional and religious leaders, the private sector and our mothers and fathers to redouble their efforts to ensure that every child and every new born baby is vaccinated with the polio vaccine and other life saving routine vaccines,” President Buhari said.

The President personally vaccinated one of his grandchildren against polio at the occasion to demonstrate his commitment to eradicating the virus from Nigeria as well as the safety and efficacy of the polio vaccine.

President Buhari thanked all Nigerians and foreign partners who have supported the country’s polio eradication programme in several ways.

He said he looked forward to the formal declaration of Nigeria as a polio-free country in 2017.