Germany commits N12.7b to fight polio

Germany has signed an agreement to support polio eradication efforts in Nigeria with €29.9 million (that’s around N12.7 billion). Deputy head of mission for Germany in Nigeria, Regine Hess, signed for her country at a ceremony in Abuja, while foreign affairs ministers Geoffrey Onyeama and executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, […]

Germany has signed an agreement to support polio eradication efforts in Nigeria with €29.9 million (that’s around N12.7 billion).

Deputy head of mission for Germany in Nigeria, Regine Hess, signed for her country at a ceremony in Abuja, while foreign affairs ministers Geoffrey Onyeama and executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib, signed for Nigeria.

The latest agreement is the ninth financial support from Germany to shore up efforts in polio eradication.

Onyeama commended Germany’s support in polio eradication, noting “age-long, warm relationship” between both countries and their leaders.

Hess said Germany hoped Nigeria would soon become a polio-free nation.

Only three countries still record infections around the world. Nigeria’s two-year streak with a new infection was set back after the disease emerged in communities newly liberated from Boko Haram where health care services have not reached at the height of the insurgency.

It has since then marked a fresh year without a new infection on record.

Reacting to the agreement signed, Shuaib highlighted Nigeria’s committme to the fight against polio over time and commended continued international support.

So far, the Nigerian government commitment to polio has dropped in naira numbers in the past two years: from N9.8 billion in 2016 to N4.2 billion in 2017, and an allocation of N4.1 billion in 2018.