The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says the insinuation in certain quarters that Nigeria is going cap in hand seeking donations for COVID-19 vaccines is incorrect.
The minister disclosed this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday.
According to him, Nigeria is expecting a large number in batches of doses of COVID-19 vaccine brands in a few weeks, which are being paid for.
The minister said some of the vaccines were procured through the African Union (AU) which had signed a COVID-19 vaccine procurement agreement for 400 million doses for member-states funded with loans from AFREXIMBANK.
“It is not correct that we are going cap in hand relying on donations, vaccines are not like bread that you can go to a shop and buy.
“There is what is called vaccine rationalisation. Even those countries that have the vaccines are not ready to sell.
The minister recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in June approved N83.56 billion to purchase 30 million doses of the vaccines.
He said there was a lot of cooperation between the Federal Government and various research institutes for the development of locally made vaccines.
“Don’t forget that Nigeria is the first country in Africa that did the sequencing of this virus a long time ago.
“We will be very proud to have our own home-made vaccines and that is why we are giving support to all our various research institutes to have a breakthrough on this.
The minister recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in June approved N83.56 billion to purchase 30 million doses of the vaccines.
He said there was a lot of cooperation between the Federal Government and various research institutes for the development of locally made vaccines.
“Don’t forget that Nigeria is the first country in Africa that did the sequencing of this virus a long time ago.
“We will be very proud to have our own home-made vaccines and that is why we are giving support to all our various research institutes to have a breakthrough on this.
