Polio, that debilitating illness that has crippled thousands of Nigerian children, is on its way to being confined to history in the country. This July, Nigeria attained the milestone of two years without polio, one of the key steps towards finally getting rid of the virus before the certification as a polio-free country. This progress dates back to July 24, 2014, when the last case of polio was reported in a 16 months old boy from Sumaila Local Government in Kano State. It is a no mean achievement because stopping polio will save hundreds of thousands of children in our country from lifelong paralysis or death.
From the bitter experience of 2012 when the country appeared to be losing the battle against the virus, there has been a steady progress which climaxed with the stoppage of transmission of the wild polio virus. This important milestone in the polio programme is therefore a signal toward eradication. And the heroes of these achievements are the ‘armies’ of vaccinators, community mobilisers, traditional and religious leaders, parents and caregivers who have supported polio and other immunisation efforts for more than a decade, despite the challenges in implementation. We must salute their doggedness.