President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed Nigeria’s readiness to become a global hub for manufacturing and distribution of vaccine and biological pharmaceuticals to support initiatives to keep mankind safe.
The President, who made the expression in Seoul, South Korea, also called for the speedy take-off of local production of mRNA vaccines, after the World Health Organisation, WHO, selected Nigeria as one of six African countries to receive the technology needed to produce the vaccines.
Addressing the World Bio Summit 2022, the President pledged commitment to global response to known or emerging pathogens, including the global vaccine assurance ecosystem and equitable access for all.
He told the meeting, jointly convened by the Government of South Korea and WHO, to discuss the future of vaccines and Bio-Health across the globe, that Nigeria would continue to explore bilateral, multilateral and other opportunities for cutting-edge technology as a centre of excellence for vaccine manufacturing and distribution.
Noting that ongoing conversations on the future of vaccines tend to support the decentralisation of capacity to produce essential materials to respond globally to pandemics, President Buhari expressed Nigeria’s preference for a global warehousing and supply chain strategy to attend to the needs of most countries.
The President, declared that Nigeria was ready and able to offer herself for the initiative, due to her strategic geographical location, strength of economy and market size derived from a population of over two hundred and fourteen million people.
He explained that Nigeria’s comparative advantage was also supported from her experience in human and animal vaccine production record since 1924, when colonial authorities produced WHO-certified smallpox, yellow fever, and anti-rabies vaccines locally, adding that a technology that has been improved upon and being used in Jos, Plateau State.
He said the high quality of current academic and research work and potential in Nigeria was also note-worthy.
President Buhari reaffirmed Nigeria’s position on equitable distribution of vaccines, citing lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic and the unpleasant experiences of developing countries.
Describing the global response to the pandemic as discriminatory, the President demanded that the world must not allow the serious public health failure to happen again.
President Buhari also recounted the efforts by his administration to mitigate the impact and curtail the spread of the virus in the country, highlighting that the positive exploits by the country were recognized and commended by the global health body.
Commending the role of WHO on its support, the President noted that the global health body continuously advocated for the equitable sharing of vaccines through the COVAX Facility, and for sharing of technology through bilateral and multilateral agreements through the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool.
President Buhari told the summit, attended by Chief Executive Officers of Global Vaccines and Biologics Companies that undoubtedly, the global outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic had jolted the collective consciousness of world leaders and the need to chart a better future.
On Nigeria’s quest to revive local vaccine production, the President recounted that the Federal Government had ratified a Joint Venture Agreement with a leading Nigerian Pharma Company for a Public Private Enterprise.
He recalled that when WHO announced Nigeria as one of six African countries to receive technology to produce mRNA vaccines, in February 2022, Biovaccine Ltd. facilitated the participation of Nigerian scientists in the ongoing vaccine production workforce training in Seoul, from June 2022, supported by the Korean Government.
As one of the six African countries selected to be the first on the continent to receive the technology needed to produce local mRNA vaccines from the WHO scheme, the President declared that Nigeria was taking steps to provide the needed infrastructure and requisite funding necessary for the implementation of this noble initiative.
Bello Wakili
