Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has disclosed that Nigeria is in talks with the World Bank’s private lending arm and other lenders to raise about $30 million to help finance a vaccine plant, known as Biovaccines Nigeria Ltd.
Fourty-nine percent of the company is owned by the federal government, while the remainig held by May & Baker Nigeria Plc.
Osinbajo disclosed this at the International Conference on Health Access Beyond COVID-19, in Abuja on Monday.
In a statement by his media aide, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo said there are plans to begin construction of the plant in the first quarter of next year.
He said one of the eye openers from the COVID-19 pandemic was that “despite infrastructural weaknesses we have an experienced and robust public health system, peopled by some of the best personnel in the world, but more importantly (is) the huge opportunities for becoming a leading nation in healthcare.”
While expressing the belief that Nigeria is well on the way to getting
the job done, Osinbajo said the country must take its destiny in its hands to build local capacities that will ensure healthcare access to the people, and take advantage of the opportunity to become a leading nation in healthcare.
