FEC approves $150m World Bank loan for polio eradication in Nigeria

Polio eradication received a major boost when the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday in Abuja approved $150 million credit facility from the World Bank to aid federal government’s effort in fighting the scourge.

Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s minister of finance, told journalists at the end of the FEC meeting, that the proposed credit facility from the World Bank would be the third additional financing that would build upon substantial past investments.

Previous investments had paid off because Nigeria is on the verge of polio eradication, however, the objective of the project is to further assist the federal government of Nigeria with the facility as part of global polio eradication moves, said the minister.

She said Nigeria had accomplished and sustained at least 80 percent coverage on oral polio vaccine (OPV) immunization in every state of the country and consequently improved routine immunization.

According to Adeosun, the project would be implemented in 12 lagging states including Adamawa, Bayelsa, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara. She added that the project would be coordinated by National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) at the federal level.

Polio eradication had received lots of attention with the World Health Organization (WHO) in many forums reiterating commitment in eradicating polio, promoting health through the life course, combating communicable and non-communicable diseases, and supporting universal health coverage through government’s primary healthcare revitalization agenda over the next biennium.

“For 2018-2019 biennium, WHO will prioritize health systems strengthening within the context of primary health care and universal health coverage, polio eradication, scale up priority interventions through the life-course and promote partnerships in alignment with national, regional and global priorities,” said WHO.