Though persistent high risk HPV infection is a necessary cause for cervical cancer, there are few studies in African populations. We previously reported the point prevalence of hrHPV infection to be 25% among HIV+ and HIV- women attending cervical cancer screening in Nigeria. Here we report on persistence of hrHPV infections in this population. One thousand participants presenting at our cervical cancer screening program were enrolled between April and August 2013 and are being followed up. We present results for 278 women who had HPV testing at baseline and returned for a scheduled follow up visit. Demographics and risk factor information was collected using questionnaires. Roche Linear Array HPV Genotyping Test was used to determine HPV infection from ectocervical cell samples collected at baseline and follow up visits. The duration between first and second HPV testing was 10.5 +/- 5.4 (mean +/-SD) months. Of the 68 participants who had hrHPV at baseline, 49 were re-tested and 10% (5/49) had persistent infection. Of these, 60% (3/5) had type specific persistence (same genotypes present at baseline were present at follow up) and 40% (2/5) had group specific persistence. All participants (5/5) with persistent hrHPV infection were HIV+. Testing of additional participants' samples are continuing and updated results will be presented at the conference. Although this study is limited by the sample size, hrHPV persistence rates in the population sampled is similar to that reported from other populations. Further studies on larger populations are required to elucidate the risk factors of persistent high risk HPV infection among Nigerian women.