The Rotary International Foundation has announced that the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mark Maloney, will visit Nigeria on January 15 for advocacy and enlightenment on the activities of the foundation in Nigeria, including the symbolic polio immunisation of children.
This was disclosed by the past Governor of District 9127 and the Chairman of the Trustee Chairman’s Visit to Nigeria Committee, Dr Victor C. Onukwugha, at the pre-visit briefing in Abuja.
Onukwugha also added that Maloney will use the opportunity of the visit to Nigeria to meet President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to discuss the programmes of the foundation in Nigeria.
“Maloney will leave Abuja for Lagos on January 18 and will leave the southwest state on January 20 for a visit to Accra, Ghana. The visit to Nigeria is the first of its kind and important to Rotarians in particular and Nigerians in general.”
While speaking further, Onukwugha said the Rotary International Foundation single-handedly sponsored the research into polio vaccines for the first time, with Afghanistan and Pakistan being the only two countries that are not polio-free in the world.
He stressed that Nigeria is the greatest beneficiary of the Rotary Foundation, as Nigeria had more cases of polio than other countries before the donation of funds by the Rotary Foundation for the eradication of polio in Nigeria, with Nigeria being certified polio-free in 2020, after the eradication of polio in Nigeria in 2016.
“Rotary Foundation created the Programme of Scale, and Nigeria benefitted from the two million dollars donated for maternal and child care. On the 15th of January, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Rotary International Foundation, Mark Maloney, will visit Nigeria. There will be no activity on this day. He will be in Abuja from the 15th to the 18th before leaving for Lagos on the 18th.
“On the 16th, while in Abuja, we will start with symbolic polio immunisation. We will go to IDP camps here in Abuja, and then there will be a town hall meeting. There will be serious advocacy at the town hall meeting, which will be interactive, beyond the symbolic immunisation, so the visit of Mr Maloney is very important to us.
“A visit to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be on the 17th as he will brief the president on the programmes the foundation has in Nigeria. The two million dollars in the Programme of Scale will equally be explained. As you know, the Rotary Foundation has been the engine room of Rotary clubs, covering over 200 countries of the world. We are very excited that the Chairman of the Board of Trustees is visiting us for the first time in the history of the Rotary International Foundation.
“Nigeria has been the greatest beneficiary of Rotary International Foundation interventions. We have a lot of donors who are not Rotarians, including Sir Emeka Offor, Aliko Dangote, and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, among others, who have donated funds to the Rotary International Foundation. This is because they are sure once they donate, the money will be used judiciously. Rotary International Foundation is adjudged the best NGO in the world.”
Other Rotarians who attended the pre-event briefing included the District Governor Elect, Dame Princess Joy Okoro, and the Mobilisation Chair for the Mental Health Committee, Rotarian Ibe Onyebuchi.
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