The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA) has revealed that Nigeria has recorded a 95% decline in the incidence of Circulating Variant Polio Virus type 2 cases (cVPV2) between 2021 and 2023.

This was made known on Tuesday by Faisal Shuaib, the Executive Director of the agency, in Abuja during the 40th Expert Review Committee (ERC) meeting on polio and routine immunization.

In his statement, he said that since 2016, the country had not recorded any case of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) adding that progress had been recorded in the reduction of the number of circulating variant polio virus cases.

“This variant polio viruses are a different type of polio viruses that have mutated from the type of virus that we know. As you are aware viruses have the ability to change their nature. This is what we are dealing with right now. But we have also seen progress since 2021 when we reported over 1,028 reports of circulating variant polio viruses in their environment,” he said.

Earlier, he had highlighted the successful move by the country to reduce the spread of cVPV2 cases from 30 states in 2021 to just four states in 2023. However, just 16 local government areas have been identified to be affected in the four states.

He said, “Of the 57 reports that we have received of CVPV2 this year, 51 are from Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina and Sokoto states.”

Country Director, World Health Organisation, Walter Kazadi Mulombo, said with continued commitment and effort, Nigeria can become polio-free and it would be a major achievement for the country and for the world.