A former governor of Anambra, Mr Peter Obi says Nigeria doesn’t need
\nmore than N150 billion to procure COVID-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n
Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, said in December 2020 that the
\nfederal government needs about N400 billion for COVID-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n
According to Ehanire, N400 billion would be required to vaccinate 70
\npercent of Nigeria’s over 200 million population, at $8 per person.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the issue when he featured on ARISE Television on Tuesday,
\nObi said there are issues of transparency regarding the procurement of
\nvaccines.<\/p>\n
“The ex-governor said Nigeria would not have needed to spend so much in
\nprocuring vaccines if its National Vaccine Production Facility was
\noperational.<\/p>\n
“The issue of vaccine is one that I feel a sense of pain. Nigeria as a
\ncountry in 1940 established what we called National Vaccine Production
\nFacility domiciled in Yaba, and that was able to produce virtually all
\nthe vaccines we used in the days of smallpox, yellow fever, and that
\nfacility was shut down in 1991 to be refurbished and upgraded, there was
\nnothing wrong with it,” Obi said.<\/p>\n
“And till today that has been the case deliberately so that people can
\nimport vaccines and sell to the government.<\/p>\n
“Now I hear that we are looking for N400bn. Well, I am at loss. Our
\nbudget this year for health is N547bn. I don’t know if they are going to
\ntake this vaccine procurement from it, because if they do, we are left
\nwith N147bn.<\/p>\n
“For the vaccine procurement also, we need to have transparency in the
\nprocurement. Today, vaccine in India costs between $2 25 cents to $3.
\nThat is an average of $2.75 and if you say you are going to use N400
\nbillion, that is about $1bn. If you divide $1bn by $2.75cents each, that
\nis about 350 million doses which is far in excess of what we need.<\/p>\n
“World Health Organisation said if you can inject 70 percent of your
\npopulation, that’s it. 70 percent of Nigeria is about 140 million so we
\nare actually looking for 140 million doses. Considering that some other
\npeople are going to give us some free, we actually don’t need more than
\n120 million. But even if we’re buying 140 million, we just need about
\nthree hundred and eighty-something million dollars which is about N150bn
\nto buy it.<\/p>\n
“If they have a N400bn budget to buy the vaccine, my suggestion, they
\ndon’t need to award contracts in this vaccine, let them just call Serum
\ninstitute in India and plead with them. I am sure they will even give us
\ndiscount. If they want I can go for the negotiation. It won’t cost more
\nthan $2 each.”<\/p>\n
A former governor of Anambra, Mr Peter Obi says Nigeria doesn’t need more than N150 billion to procure COVID-19 vaccines. Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, said in December 2020 that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n