EU Expresses Concern Over Outbreak Of Wild Polio Virus

The European Union on Tuesday expressed its concern over the latest outbreak of wild polio virus in Nigeria.

The Kaduna State Government recently recorded 10 cases of wild polio virus in Birnin Gwari, Ikara, Igabi, Kubau and Zaria Local Government Areas of the state.

The Head of the EU Delegation to Nigeria, Dr David Macrae, raised the concern at a forum with reporters in Abuja on the operations of the EU in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.

Macrae who expressed the union’s determination to support the immunisation process in Northern Nigeria, to curb the spread of the disease, noted that there was need for access to portable water in the affected areas.

The envoy said the EU in collaboration with UNICEF had spent 30 million Euro (about six billion naira) on maternal health services in the Northern states of the federation.

He explained that the union had supported the Federal Government’s fight against corruption to the tune of 35 million Euro through the National Planning Commission.

Macrae said that the union in collaboration with the World Bank was financing a project known as Improved Public Finance Management in nine states in Nigeria at a cost of 10 million Euro per state.

He listed the states as Anambra, Cross River, Kano, Yobe, Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers and Edo.

The envoy said that the body also supported the Federal Government’s amnesty programme to the tune 200 millon Euro.