Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is optimistic about achieving a polio-free status in 2020, an official said on Tuesday.

Faisal Shuaib, head of the country's National Primary Health Care Development Agency, told reporters in Abuja that with the exit from the era of that disease, the hard work of frontline polio workers at all levels would eventually pay off.

A delegation of the African Regional Certification Commission of the World Health Organization (WHO) is currently in Nigeria to review the country's preparedness for polio-free certification by June 2020.

The delegation has planned two field verification visits. "The first is to the southern states from Dec. 9 to Dec. 20, and the second is to the northern states from March 2, 2020, to March 13, 2020," the official said.

"We are committed to that. I can assure you that this issue of polio is a top priority," he said further.

Faisal said the team would also be providing recommendations and feedback for further improvement of the complete national documentation.

As recently as 2012, Nigeria had accounted for more than half of all polio cases worldwide, according to WHO.

Nigeria's last polio case was recorded in August 2016, making it one of the last countries in Africa to record wild poliovirus infections. Enditem