N10.6bn COVID-19 Vaccine Logistics Cost Claim Is False — FG

The federal government has debunked media report claiming that
not less than N10.6 billion had been earmarked for the
transportation of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.

A national daily Not Nairalaw had on Saturday, in its
report, claimed to have cited a document put together by the
National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), and
presented to the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), which set the
budget for the logistics distribution of vaccines to the states and
council areas at N10.6 billion.

However, reacting to the said report on Saturday, the Executive
Director of the NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, described the quoted
figure as incredulous, explaining that the responsibility of
distribution of vaccines across the country had been taken over by
the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID).

According to him, CACOVID had offered to take up the
responsibility of the logistics distribution by providing an
aircraft to move vaccines from Abuja to states with airports, as
well as vans for further dispatch from airports to areas without
airports.

“I mean, I’m hearing from you for the first time. It doesn’t
make any sense that on the one hand, we’ve communicated very
clearly to Nigerians that the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID),
a private sector initiative, has provided a cargo plane that will
help deliver the vaccines from Abuja to all states that have
functional airports.

“For those that do not have functional airports, there is a
delivery van that will convey the vaccines from those airports to
the states without functionality.

“I do not see how that is going to cost N10 billion. So there is
no truth in that. That information. So there’s no truth in that
information.

“The truth is what I have told you, which is that CACOVID has
taken up the responsibility of delivering the vaccines from Abuja
to the states.

“The only cost we’re going to incur is the cost of delivering
the vaccines from any airport to nearby states that don’t have
functional airports. Clearly that cannot be N10.6 billion”, he
said.

When asked what the actual cost would be, he said “you can do
the math on the back of an envelope and you know that it cannot be
anything close to a billion naira right?.

“So I believe that CACOVID has already identified that cost as
something they are going to take off. I do not know how much it’s
going to cost them, but that is something that they have already
identified as a cost they will bear and we’re working together with
them.

“So it is not correct to say that the federal government is
going to be expending N10.6 billion to transport vaccines to the
state. That is incredulous”, he said.

On the latest development on the 100,000 doses of Pfizer
vaccines, the NPHCDA boss said “So what happened was that there was
a committee that met at global level, and took the decision that it
made more sense for Nigeria to get 16 million doses of AstraZeneca
vaccines rather than 100,000 doses of Pfizer.

“Hundred thousand doses of Pfizer is a drop in the ocean and
given that the AstraZeneca vaccine is more suited to our cold chain
environments; from +2 to +8 °C.

“Not only do we have the necessary coldchain equipment, but also
our health workers have the capacity to manage vaccines of that
temperature. So it just makes sense that we should get vaccines
that are more suited to Nigeria,” he said.

The federal government has debunked media report claiming that
not less than N10.6 billion had been earmarked for the
transportation of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.

A national daily Not Nairalaw had on Saturday, in its
report, claimed to have cited a document put together by the
National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), and
presented to the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), which set the
budget for the logistics distribution of vaccines to the states and
council areas at N10.6 billion.

However, reacting to the said report on Saturday, the Executive
Director of the NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, described the quoted
figure as incredulous, explaining that the responsibility of
distribution of vaccines across the country had been taken over by
the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID).

According to him, CACOVID had offered to take up the
responsibility of the logistics distribution by providing an
aircraft to move vaccines from Abuja to states with airports, as
well as vans for further dispatch from airports to areas without
airports.

“I mean, I’m hearing from you for the first time. It doesn’t
make any sense that on the one hand, we’ve communicated very
clearly to Nigerians that the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID),
a private sector initiative, has provided a cargo plane that will
help deliver the vaccines from Abuja to all states that have
functional airports.

“For those that do not have functional airports, there is a
delivery van that will convey the vaccines from those airports to
the states without functionality.

“I do not see how that is going to cost N10 billion. So there is
no truth in that. That information. So there’s no truth in that
information.

“The truth is what I have told you, which is that CACOVID has
taken up the responsibility of delivering the vaccines from Abuja
to the states.

“The only cost we’re going to incur is the cost of delivering
the vaccines from any airport to nearby states that don’t have
functional airports. Clearly that cannot be N10.6 billion”, he
said.

When asked what the actual cost would be, he said “you can do
the math on the back of an envelope and you know that it cannot be
anything close to a billion naira right?.

“So I believe that CACOVID has already identified that cost as
something they are going to take off. I do not know how much it’s
going to cost them, but that is something that they have already
identified as a cost they will bear and we’re working together with
them.

“So it is not correct to say that the federal government is
going to be expending N10.6 billion to transport vaccines to the
state. That is incredulous”, he said.

On the latest development on the 100,000 doses of Pfizer
vaccines, the NPHCDA boss said “So what happened was that there was
a committee that met at global level, and took the decision that it
made more sense for Nigeria to get 16 million doses of AstraZeneca
vaccines rather than 100,000 doses of Pfizer.

“Hundred thousand doses of Pfizer is a drop in the ocean and
given that the AstraZeneca vaccine is more suited to our cold chain
environments; from +2 to +8 °C.

“Not only do we have the necessary coldchain equipment, but also
our health workers have the capacity to manage vaccines of that
temperature. So it just makes sense that we should get vaccines
that are more suited to Nigeria,” he said.