As part of efforts to contribute to the global effort of polio eradication, the Rotary Club of Ikeja South has collaborated with Old English Superstores and Indoor Design Concepts Limited.
The partnership was announced during a ceremony where End Polio donation boxes were launched at Old English Superstores, GRA, Ikeja.
In his welcome address, President, Rotary Club of Ikeja of Ikeja South, Rtn Michael Effiong James told members and the general public that the End Polio Project is a battle that must be won, noting that as far as there is still one case of polio in the world, then the disease is still a major threat.
According to him, the desire to end polio forever prompted the club to team up with Old English Superstores and IDCL to raise funds to support the work being carried out by Rotary International in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Rtn James revealed that while Old English Superstores has offered its facilities in GRA, Ikeja, Omole Phase 1 and Isolo, IDCL has agreed to design and produce the boxes and create branding materials to promote the initiative.
He thanked the two organisations and called on other corporate organisations to deploy their CSR budgets to worthy causes like this.
In his remarks, special guest at the gathering and District Governor, Rotary International District 9110, Rtn Jide Akeredolu applauded the initiative of making end polio donations boxes available for all to contribute to the End Polio campaign.
He went down memory lane, giving a vivid description of how Rotary International has worked since 1985 when there were 350,000 cases of polio worldwide to today where only few cases of the wild polio virus are found in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“A few weeks ago, we celebrated freedom from the wild polio virus in Nigeria but we must not lose our guard. The work goes on. We should remain vigilant and keep the advocacy on so that the government and all stakeholders will be on their toes,” Rtn. Akeredolu said.
He also tasked non Rotarians to key into the project, saying that though a lot has been done, a lot more needs to be done to kick polio out of planet earth forever.
