Oct 1, 2021

President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration shall invest more to support our pharmaceutical and research agencies to come up with ideas for locally developed vaccines.

The resident disclosed this in his independence day address to the nation on Friday.

According to him, “I have directed the Ministries of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Health, Education and Science and Technology to work with Nigerian and International pharmaceutical companies and research organisations to enhance Nigeria’s domestic pharmaceutical capacity”.

“​Already, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority is raising a $200 million fund for this initiative that will complement the Central Bank of Nigeria’s ongoing N85 billion Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme to support local researchers in the development of vaccines and drugs to combat communicable and non-communicable diseases, including COVID-19″.

“​Similarly, on our approach to food security, I am proud to announce Nigeria has commenced its journey to pharmaceutical independence”.

“This journey, which will take years to achieve but will ultimately result in Nigerian based companies developing the Active Pharmaceutical substances and competence needed for us to make our own drugs and vaccines.”