Okonjo-Iweala Decries Low Rate of COVID-19 Vaccination in Nigeria

*Says Nigeria should be producing — not relying on developed
countries for COVID vaccine

Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has lamented the low rate of COVID-19
vaccination in Nigeria and Africa, in general. Okonjo-Iweala said
to fill the wide immunisation gap, WTO was ramping up vaccines’
production, with a target of 11 billion doses by the end of this
year, way beyond the present output level of 3.8 billion.

Speaking at the National Diaspora Day 2021, organised by the
Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), with the theme,
“Diaspora Integration for National Peace and Development,”
Okonjo-Iweala said the vaccines production volume had been
increasing, with the figure in June growing by 1.1 billion,
representing a 45 per cent increase from May production.

However, the former Nigerian finance minister said, “The bad
news is that most of those doses ended up in the developed
countries and the vaccine inequity continues and that is why we are
trying to work with them (vaccines producers) to change the
story.”

She explained, “Right now, one of the things I am trying to do
since we are in the pandemic and you know all the numbers we are
struggling with, when you have so many people vaccinated in
developed countries and only a small percentage in Africa or
developing countries and the issue is how do we improve the vaccine
productions so we can get more?

“How do we even shift the production to African countries? The
WTO has the job of monitoring export restrictions and trade
facilitation measures, and what I am trying to do is to leverage
that, to actually work with companies; to persuade them that ‘if we
work with you to monitor supply chains, remove export restrictions,
will you invest in our country?’

“Just a few days ago, last Thursday, we had a conference with
manufacturers of vaccines, all the CEOs of the major companies were
there; from Moderna to Pfizer to AstraZeneca, J& J; the Chinese
ones also. And the idea is supporting them to invest in Africa,
including in Nigeria. I just want to say the president set up a
taskforce headed by the Minister of Health to look at the issue of
how we manufacture our own vaccines. All of us from the diaspora
are there to see how we can help support the country to do better.
From a personal point of view as well as WTO point of view, these
are some of the things we are doing.”

The WTO director general also revealed that the organisation was
working with the International Trade Centre to support women to
upgrade the quality of their products so that they could enter the
international market.

She said, “I met with a group of women from Oyo State who were
making Shea butter and they could not export their products to US
or Europe because it didn’t meet the standards. The WTO and the ITC
worked with them to upgrade the quality; NAFDAC approved it and
they have been able to export. This is another area we have been
helping the small and medium scale business.”

Okonjo-Iweala commended Nigerians in the diaspora for
contributing billions of dollars to the country’s economy, which
had been helping in sustaining the economy. She said this had
helped people in rural areas to send their children to school, take
care of their health, and run businesses.

The former minister stated, “Wherever you are in the diaspora,
there is nowhere like home. I think what you need to think about
is, what can I do to make things better, wherever you are, either
creating employment or business or civil society organisation,
helping to support what the local government is trying to do.”
In her opening remarks, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, NIDCOM,
Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said necessary measures were being put in
place to ensure that Nigerians in diaspora were allowed to vote in
the on-going constitutional review.

Dabiri-Erewa said, “As part of the mandate of NIDCOM, the
leadership and team of the Commission is putting its best at
ensuing that the issue of diaspora voting tops the agenda of the
current constitution review by the National Assembly. I assure you
that both Committees on Diaspora and our Civil Society
Organisations are strongly supporting diaspora voting to be
actualised in Nigeria in the shortest time possible, especially
with the contributions of the Nigerians in diaspora to national
development.”

In his keynote address, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs,
Ambassador Zubairu Dada, assured that the federal government would
constantly strive to create an enabling environment for the
diaspora population through policies meant to guarantee their
safety and wellbeing. Dada said government had adopted the National
Diaspora Policy 2021 (NDP) and its Action Plans.

According to him, the National Diaspora Policy 2021 aims to
provide a comprehensive and supporting framework for facilitating
diaspora engagement in national development, empowering the
diaspora to contribute effectively, and maximising the value of
diaspora contributions to Nigeria’s development.

WTO Foresees 11 Billion COVID-19 Vaccines
Production

Meanwhile, WTO has expressed optimism that the production of
COVID-19 vaccines could rise from the current output level of 3.8
billion to 11 billion by the end of this year. This was disclosed
by the spokesperson of the global trade body, Mr. Keith Rockwell,
during a virtual press conference he hosted from Geneva,
Switzerland, at the weekend.

Rockwell also revealed that Director General of the WTO, Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had proposed a fund that would provide
technical assistance to developing countries for the implementation
of an anticipated agreement on the removal of fisheries
subsidy.

Rockwell said, “There was an important discussion on Wednesday
on the importance of ramping up production of vaccines. But what
the producers said is that for them, the biggest problem is getting
access to raw materials. This is the thing that has been hindering
them from ramping up production.

“But there is a positive feeling, which we have to wait and see
materialise, that production of dosage for the vaccines, which is
currently at 3.8 billion, could ramp up to 11 billion by the end of
the year.
“its materialisation will be good news. There was a big jump in
June and it seems production is going up in July.”

He also disclosed that fundamental disagreement still persisted
over the waiver of trade agreement for diagnostics required for the
manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines.
Rockwell said, “It is almost an ideological difference, which is a
source of frustration to the proponents of waivers that expected
text based negotiation and an agreement on the issue by the end of
this month.

“Now the commitment is to try and resolve this along with other
areas that have not been attended to because of the focus on trade
waiver. These areas are export restrictions, trade facilitation
measures and how to make compulsory licensing easier to do. All
these things are important issues.”

Rockwell disclosed that the director general also spoke on the
need to identify bottlenecks in the supply chain and how to
overcome them.

According to him, “Everyone has said that the transfer of
technology is critically important. One of the things that the
producers, especially those in developing countries, have to say on
Wednesday is that for them the most important issue is the transfer
of technology and know-how that will equip them with the right
training to produce these complex vaccines in a way that is safe
and could generate economies of scale.”

He stated that the fund being proposed by the WTO director
general would be jointly established by the body, the World Bank,
the International Foodservice Distributors Organisation (IFAD), and
the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

He said, “The director general has put forward to the membership
a fund for technical assistance for those developing and least
developed countries that might have difficulties in implementing
the terms of the agreement because many members and ministers kept
saying that they do not have the resources to be able to put
forward adequate notification, or be able to get a grip on the
circumstances of their domestic waters, because this can be
resource intensive.

“This fund is about $20 million trade facilitation fund from WTO
and involves working with other organisations like IFAD, FAO and
the World Bank. The idea is to make sure that there is no
overlapping in terms of what is done. Any fund that comes from the
WTO must be used for specific WTO’s mandate while other issues can
be dealt with by other organisations that may have more money than
we do.”

Share this:

*Says Nigeria should be producing — not relying on developed
countries for COVID vaccine

Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has lamented the low rate of COVID-19
vaccination in Nigeria and Africa, in general. Okonjo-Iweala said
to fill the wide immunisation gap, WTO was ramping up vaccines’
production, with a target of 11 billion doses by the end of this
year, way beyond the present output level of 3.8 billion.

Speaking at the National Diaspora Day 2021, organised by the
Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), with the theme,
“Diaspora Integration for National Peace and Development,”
Okonjo-Iweala said the vaccines production volume had been
increasing, with the figure in June growing by 1.1 billion,
representing a 45 per cent increase from May production.

However, the former Nigerian finance minister said, “The bad
news is that most of those doses ended up in the developed
countries and the vaccine inequity continues and that is why we are
trying to work with them (vaccines producers) to change the
story.”

She explained, “Right now, one of the things I am trying to do
since we are in the pandemic and you know all the numbers we are
struggling with, when you have so many people vaccinated in
developed countries and only a small percentage in Africa or
developing countries and the issue is how do we improve the vaccine
productions so we can get more?

“How do we even shift the production to African countries? The
WTO has the job of monitoring export restrictions and trade
facilitation measures, and what I am trying to do is to leverage
that, to actually work with companies; to persuade them that ‘if we
work with you to monitor supply chains, remove export restrictions,
will you invest in our country?’

“Just a few days ago, last Thursday, we had a conference with
manufacturers of vaccines, all the CEOs of the major companies were
there; from Moderna to Pfizer to AstraZeneca, J& J; the Chinese
ones also. And the idea is supporting them to invest in Africa,
including in Nigeria. I just want to say the president set up a
taskforce headed by the Minister of Health to look at the issue of
how we manufacture our own vaccines. All of us from the diaspora
are there to see how we can help support the country to do better.
From a personal point of view as well as WTO point of view, these
are some of the things we are doing.”

The WTO director general also revealed that the organisation was
working with the International Trade Centre to support women to
upgrade the quality of their products so that they could enter the
international market.

She said, “I met with a group of women from Oyo State who were
making Shea butter and they could not export their products to US
or Europe because it didn’t meet the standards. The WTO and the ITC
worked with them to upgrade the quality; NAFDAC approved it and
they have been able to export. This is another area we have been
helping the small and medium scale business.”

Okonjo-Iweala commended Nigerians in the diaspora for
contributing billions of dollars to the country’s economy, which
had been helping in sustaining the economy. She said this had
helped people in rural areas to send their children to school, take
care of their health, and run businesses.

The former minister stated, “Wherever you are in the diaspora,
there is nowhere like home. I think what you need to think about
is, what can I do to make things better, wherever you are, either
creating employment or business or civil society organisation,
helping to support what the local government is trying to do.”
In her opening remarks, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, NIDCOM,
Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said necessary measures were being put in
place to ensure that Nigerians in diaspora were allowed to vote in
the on-going constitutional review.

Dabiri-Erewa said, “As part of the mandate of NIDCOM, the
leadership and team of the Commission is putting its best at
ensuing that the issue of diaspora voting tops the agenda of the
current constitution review by the National Assembly. I assure you
that both Committees on Diaspora and our Civil Society
Organisations are strongly supporting diaspora voting to be
actualised in Nigeria in the shortest time possible, especially
with the contributions of the Nigerians in diaspora to national
development.”

In his keynote address, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs,
Ambassador Zubairu Dada, assured that the federal government would
constantly strive to create an enabling environment for the
diaspora population through policies meant to guarantee their
safety and wellbeing. Dada said government had adopted the National
Diaspora Policy 2021 (NDP) and its Action Plans.

According to him, the National Diaspora Policy 2021 aims to
provide a comprehensive and supporting framework for facilitating
diaspora engagement in national development, empowering the
diaspora to contribute effectively, and maximising the value of
diaspora contributions to Nigeria’s development.

WTO Foresees 11 Billion COVID-19 Vaccines
Production

Meanwhile, WTO has expressed optimism that the production of
COVID-19 vaccines could rise from the current output level of 3.8
billion to 11 billion by the end of this year. This was disclosed
by the spokesperson of the global trade body, Mr. Keith Rockwell,
during a virtual press conference he hosted from Geneva,
Switzerland, at the weekend.

Rockwell also revealed that Director General of the WTO, Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had proposed a fund that would provide
technical assistance to developing countries for the implementation
of an anticipated agreement on the removal of fisheries
subsidy.

Rockwell said, “There was an important discussion on Wednesday
on the importance of ramping up production of vaccines. But what
the producers said is that for them, the biggest problem is getting
access to raw materials. This is the thing that has been hindering
them from ramping up production.

“But there is a positive feeling, which we have to wait and see
materialise, that production of dosage for the vaccines, which is
currently at 3.8 billion, could ramp up to 11 billion by the end of
the year.
“its materialisation will be good news. There was a big jump in
June and it seems production is going up in July.”

He also disclosed that fundamental disagreement still persisted
over the waiver of trade agreement for diagnostics required for the
manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines.
Rockwell said, “It is almost an ideological difference, which is a
source of frustration to the proponents of waivers that expected
text based negotiation and an agreement on the issue by the end of
this month.

“Now the commitment is to try and resolve this along with other
areas that have not been attended to because of the focus on trade
waiver. These areas are export restrictions, trade facilitation
measures and how to make compulsory licensing easier to do. All
these things are important issues.”

Rockwell disclosed that the director general also spoke on the
need to identify bottlenecks in the supply chain and how to
overcome them.

According to him, “Everyone has said that the transfer of
technology is critically important. One of the things that the
producers, especially those in developing countries, have to say on
Wednesday is that for them the most important issue is the transfer
of technology and know-how that will equip them with the right
training to produce these complex vaccines in a way that is safe
and could generate economies of scale.”

He stated that the fund being proposed by the WTO director
general would be jointly established by the body, the World Bank,
the International Foodservice Distributors Organisation (IFAD), and
the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

He said, “The director general has put forward to the membership
a fund for technical assistance for those developing and least
developed countries that might have difficulties in implementing
the terms of the agreement because many members and ministers kept
saying that they do not have the resources to be able to put
forward adequate notification, or be able to get a grip on the
circumstances of their domestic waters, because this can be
resource intensive.

“This fund is about $20 million trade facilitation fund from WTO
and involves working with other organisations like IFAD, FAO and
the World Bank. The idea is to make sure that there is no
overlapping in terms of what is done. Any fund that comes from the
WTO must be used for specific WTO’s mandate while other issues can
be dealt with by other organisations that may have more money than
we do.”

Share this: