Bill Gates visit Nigeria as he kick starts his polio eradication projects.

The former world richest man, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, visited Nigeria on his plans to kick out polio from the country. He was welcome in Aso Rock by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Bill Gate express his utmost joy and pleasure for the country and how it has fought a good fight against the deadly disease.

He commended the little effort that the government has put into strategies to eradicate the disease.

Bill Gate said that his visitation to Nigeria is to fight against polio.

Bill Gates said that if Nigeria capitalizes on commitments and efforts made by the local, state and federal governments, it can
eradicate polio and kick it out once and for all.

Mr. Gates stress more about his visitation to Nigeria, that he has come to learn more about the national immunization efforts and the country’s strategy to put an end to polio, a disease that still inflicts  severe disability on Nigerian children.


During a press conference in Abuja, Gates applauded the renewed resolve he saw firsthand, and expressed optimism that leaders at all levels of government in the country will help to create more strategies and solutions to protect Nigerian children from polio and other vaccine preventable diseases.

While in Nigeria, Bill Gates observed the efforts of vaccination teams during a nationwide immunization against the deadly disease.

In Northern part of the country, where the polio virus is on a high circulatory rate, Bill Gates met with government officials, traditional and religious leaders.
He also met with mothers, traditional birth attendants, and representatives of a Muslim women’s association to discuss their personal experiences with immunization and ideas for achieving polio eradication.

The Gates Foundation also unanimously agreed a $25 million agreement with the World Bank to support the purchase of more than 100 million doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) in the country as part of it's plan to kick out polio from Nigeria.

The agreement stipulates that the Gates Foundation will relief the loan the Nigeria owes the World Bank in order to support the Nigerian government on polio eradication efforts.

Buy down of the loan is triggered when Nigeria achieves certain polio program milestones within the next three years, such as attaining 80 percent vaccine coverage in the 36 states.
Rotary International and the United Nation Foundation have also used this innovative financing mechanism for vaccine purchase in Nigeria.

With this new agreement and support, the Gates Foundation has donated more than $700 million to polio eradication efforts worldwide. The foundation is actively and effectively working with development partners to meet the program’s ongoing financial demands.