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Nigerian Rotarian and adventurer Olatunji Emmanuel Okedeyi has completed his transcontinental cycling expedition to raise awareness of polio eradication. He arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, on Tuesday.
He received a warm reception from fellow Rotarians after weeks on the road.
Okedeyi embarked on the #EmmaRidesForZeroPolio campaign in May, starting in the United Kingdom and cycling thousands of kilometres across Europe and West Africa to raise awareness and funds for polio vaccines and support for people living with the disease.
His arrival in Lagos marked the successful completion of the campaign, which took him through France, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin before entering Nigeria.
Okedeyi used the journey to advocate for global polio eradication and to appeal for public donations to support vaccination efforts.
Nigeria has made significant progress against polio over the past decade, but the disease has not been completely eliminated.
The country’s biggest milestone came in August 2020, when the WHO certified the African Region, including Nigeria, free of indigenous wild poliovirus (WPV) after four years without a reported case. Nigeria’s last case of wild poliovirus was recorded in 2016 in Borno State.
However, Nigeria is still battling the circulating variant, poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2). This is a different form of the virus that can emerge in communities with low immunisation coverage.
Okedeyi described polio as a global concern. According to him, “Until polio is eradicated worldwide, none of us is safe.”
