Rotary president to visit Nigeria, offers fresh $7m grant

Rotary International President, Gordon Mclnally, will be on a three-day working visit to Nigeria from Friday.

During the visit, a fresh donation of US$7 million for eradication and disease and prevention across the country will be made.

A statement by the Coordinator of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), Prof. Emmanuel Dolapo Lufadeju and the Co-coordinator, Dr. Goddy Nnadi, said Mclnally’s visit would enhance ties between the federal government and Rotary International.

The statement read in part: “This visit is to cement the already existing bond between the Federal Government of Nigeria, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and other stakeholders.

“Nigeria is the awardee of the 2nd Programme of Scale (PoS), a US$2 million US dollar grant, for the improvement of maternal and child health code-named – Together for Healthy Families in Nigeria.

“Also, recently, a new grant amounting to US$14 million was given by Rotary, through the WHO to the Government of Nigeria, to enable WHO to provide technical assistance on polio surveillance.

“The grant was also a support to avert a resurgence of wild polio as well as to eradicate the Circulating Variant Poliovirus Type 2 (CVPVD2) in the country (CVPVD2).

“Another US$7 million is to be donated by Rotary to UNICEF for eradication and disease prevention in Nigeria.”