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By Amaechi Agbo

A total of three hundred and fifty thousand naira (N350, 000) only is up for grab in the 7th edition of the World Polio Para-soccer tournament holding in Abuja, bestchoicesports.com.ng

The tournament which is organised to create awareness on the urgent need to eradicate polio in the society and to mark this year’s World Polio Day, will end on Thursday, October 24, 2019.

The tournament which features teams from across the states in the country will see the overall best team go home with two hundred thousand naira (N200, 000.00) only. The 1st runner-up will pocket one hundred thousand naira (N100, 000.00) only while the 2nd runner-up will smile home with fifty thousand naira (N50, 000.00) only.

A Board Member of the Niveria Para-soccer Federation of Nigeria, and Secretary, technical committee, Mansur Abdullahi, told our correspondent that the tournament is geared towards creating awareness for the 2019 World Polio Day which holds on 24th of October each year as well as the need for parents to make their children available for immunisation against polio and other child killer diseases.

“The essence of the tournament is to create awareness about this years World Polio Day. World Polio Day is marked globally on 24th of October every year to create awareness on the need for individuals, ogarnisations, countries and corporate entities to join hand in the fight against polio in the world.

“Back here in Nigeria, we have been playing this tournament for past seven years and we are grateful for what it has been able to do,”he said.

In the matches played Monday, Bauchi lost 2-0 to Kaduna; Katsina defeated Sokoto 6-1 tje same scoreline Kano state recorded against Gombe while Borno lost 3-2 to Nasarawa state.

In the fixtures today, Zamafara will take on Bauchi, Sokoto will battle Borno, while Nasarawa will trade tackles with Katsina. All the natches are played at Old Parade Ground, Abuja

World Polio Day was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis. Use of this inactivated poliovirus vaccine and subsequent widespread use of the oral poliovirus, developed by Albert Sabin, led to the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988. As of 2013, GPEI had reduced polio worldwide by 99%.
Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective vaccines. Polio can be prevented through immunization. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, almost always protects a child for life. The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection by immunizing every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free.

The theme of this year’s edition is ‘Keep Polio at Zero.’