Nigerian Govt To Spend N10.6 Billion To Transport COVID-19 Vaccine To 36 States, FCT

Nigerian Government, through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, has budgeted the sum of N10.6bn to transport COVID-19 vaccine to the 36 states and the 774 local government areas as well as the Federal Capital Territory and the six area councils.

Also, about N1.4bn was set aside for the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment while N373m was earmarked for the purchase of Adverse Events Following Immunisation kits otherwise known as AEFI kits.

This is according to a document obtained by Saturday PUNCH on Friday, which was presented to the 36 governors during a meeting between representatives of the Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Governors Forum on Thursday.

The document titled, ‘Estimated Budget for States Rollout of COVID-19 Vaccines (end-to-end),’ showed that Kano State, which has 44 local government areas, has the highest budget for transportation at N685.4m while N558.6m will be spent on distributing the vaccines to Lagos State, which is the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.

About N476m would be spent on distributing vaccines in the President’s home state of Katsina while N396.3m will be spent in Oyo State.

Bayelsa, which has just eight local government areas, has the lowest budget for vaccine transportation which is N121m.

The total amount of money earmarked for the transportation of vaccine, procurement of Personal Protective Equipment, AEFI kits and sensitisation was summed up at N12.7bn.

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, on December 22, 2020 told the Senate that the Federal Government would need about N400bn to vaccinate 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population.

The Senate leadership subsequently asked Ehanire to bring a budget while they promised to give it quick consideration.

However, it was learnt that as of Friday, no supplementary budget had been sent to the National Assembly.

PUNCH