*As Senate pledges to judiciously utilized Covid-19 funds
The Federal Government , on Monday, disclosed that it has enough vaccines that can cover over 70 per cent of the country’s population before the end of 2022.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, who was speaking during the opening of National COVID-19 summit which was held at Muhammadu Buhari Conference Centre in Abuja, urged Nigerians to present themselves for vaccination.
The SGF, who called on religious leaders, royal fathers and traditional leaders to encourage people within their communities on the need to be vaccinated, said the vaccines are safe and efficacious, hence it is better and safer to be vaccinated against the virus.
He said, ‘’Your Excellencies, Royal Fathers, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, we are now in the era of Vaccines and Non-Pharmaceutical Intervention (NPI) measures.
‘’We need to encourage all eligible persons to get vaccinated and keep observing the washing of hands, wearing of face masks, keep physical distance and avoid crowded areas.
“Nigeria has invested in enough vaccines that can cover over 70% of our population before the end of 2022. These vaccines are safe and efficacious, hence it is better and safer to be vaccinated against this virus, now.
Mustapha also said that the summit, tagged “Pushing Through the Last Mile to End the Pandemic and Build Back Better”, was aimed at creating the opportunity to identify successes, gaps and lessons learnt so far in Nigeria’s national response to the pandemic since March 2020 to date.
He added that the summit is also aimed at developing strategies to actualise the international commitments towards ending COVID-19 before the end of 2022.
He said, “Today, we are here to assess the level of impact of our national response and develop strategies as we push through the last mile to end the pandemic while we build back better.
“There is no gainsaying that the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, which was triggered when the index case was confirmed on the 27th of February 2020, precipitated significant disruptions to the healthcare system and socio-economic lives of Nigerians.
”Due to the evolving dynamics of COVID-19 pandemic with progressive mutations of the virus to more transmissible and deadly variants, the international community has corroborated the insinuation that the pandemic will persist for few more years.
“This understanding has impelled world leaders recently to come to a conclusion that if efforts are not renewed and aggressive measures are not taken, COVID-19 pandemic will continue to ravage humanity well longer than earlier envisaged. Hence the need to adopt an ambitious (but cautious) agenda to end the COVID-19 pandemic by the year 2022.
“Nigeria has invested in enough vaccines that can cover over 70% of our population before the end of 2022. These vaccines are safe and efficacious, hence it is better and safer to be vaccinated against this virus, now.”
Earlier, the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, said the National Assembly would provide resources in the 2022 budget for the battle against COVID-19 pandemic.
He, however said the National Assembly would ensure that the funds were prudently utilised by the relevant government agencies.
The Senate President told the participants at the summit that “in the 2022 appropriation, whatever is necessary will be provided for Nigeria to continue to fight the pandemic and beyond it.”
He said, “There is a caveat, that those who will be given those funds need to provide the kind of prudence that is necessary – the economy, the efficiency in the deployment and application of those resources.
“I will urge our Committees who have been working very hard and very closely with the PSC to ensure very strict and rigorous scrutiny and oversight of our funds in 2022 when we are able to provide them to the Federal Ministry of Health and it’s agencies.
“Members of the National Assembly and other political leaders of this country take the health of Nigerians very seriously and we will continue to be alive to our responsibility to ensure that our citizens are protected and are provided that kind of opportunity to take the vaccine.”
The Senate President also urged the relevant health authorities to do more to ensure that the vaccine hesitancy is minimised or eliminated if possible.
He commended the PSC for the great work it had done in effectively coordinating and mounting a formidable national response to this emergent global public health threat.
Lawan also paid tribute to patriotic and gallant health personnel who had sacrificed so much to fight against the pandemic stressing that Nigeria would remain indebted to them.
He said, “The 9th National Assembly, under my leadership has equally played a critical role in supporting the Executive Arm of Government to respond frontally through the passage of the Quarantine Act 2020 in order to mitigate the effects of COVID – 19 on our citizens and the economy.
“The Act provided and regulated the imposition of quarantine and made other provisions for preventing the introduction, spread, and transmission of dangerous infectious diseases in Nigeria.
“The NASS proactively reviewed the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and the 2020 national budget in order to sufficiently fund the national response to the pandemic and to provide economic stimulus packages for Nigerians.
“In addition, after meticulous scrutiny, the Assembly gave approvals for various loans requested by the Executive to fund the 2020 national budget.”
