The District Governor of Rotary International District 9111, Rotarian Bukola Bakare, has urged parents to ensure their children receive polio vaccines, stressing that no child should suffer paralysis from a vaccine-preventable disease.
Bakare made the call in a statement on Saturday to commemorate the day, urging governments at all levels, community leaders and Nigerians to support efforts to protect every child against polio.
This is as Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the 2026 World Polio Day.
“It is heartbreaking that in this day and age, a child can still become paralysed because of polio. We have vaccines that can prevent this suffering, so why should any child have to go through it?” she said.
World Polio Day, observed annually on October 24, raises awareness of the importance of polio vaccination in protecting children against the disease and highlights global efforts to eradicate poliomyelitis.
The theme for this year’s commemoration is “A Chance for Reflection and a Reminder to Reach Every Last Child.”
Polio is a potentially life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus.
According to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the best way for parents to protect their children against polio is to ensure they receive complete and timely immunisation with both the oral polio vaccine and the inactivated polio vaccine.
Bakare, a mother and grandmother, urged parents to vaccinate their children, stressing the need to protect them from irreversible paralysis.
She recalled that Nigeria was certified free of wild poliovirus in 2020 but warned against complacency, noting that outbreaks of variant poliovirus continued to pose a threat.
“We celebrated when Nigeria was declared free of wild poliovirus, and rightly so. It was the result of years of hard work by health workers, volunteers, government agencies, Rotary members and many other organisations.
“But we must understand that being certified free of wild poliovirus does not mean we should stop vaccinating our children. The danger has not completely disappeared,” she said.
Bakare said Rotary International began its polio eradication efforts in 1979 and launched its PolioPlus initiative in 1985, adding that members had contributed time and resources to vaccination campaigns, public education and fundraising for more than four decades.
The Rotarian commended the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the Gates Foundation, government health agencies and other partners for supporting vaccination programmes worldwide.
