By Asmau Ahmad
A former Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Professor Abdul Nasidi has urged Federal Government to commit more funds to vaccine research and production in the country.
He spoke as a panelist at the Media Week of Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) organised in collaboration with Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy (NAPHARM) in Lagos.
Prof. Nasidi as a country that prides itself as the giant of Africa, we should not be seen depending on donors for survival.
He said: “Especially our dependent for vaccine from the developed countries. As a nation, we should look inward to invest fund and build research capacity. We perform fairly well on our response to the pandemic but we can do more in all the areas of response.”
He added that the establishment of the NCDC had shown how the country could improve and prepare for public health emergency response.
“We would have given the health sector the needed attention before now but the advent of COVID-19 has drawn attention to the country’s state of health. The NCDC has been able to manage the outbreak of their disease alongside the pandemic and more money should be allocated to the nation’s health budget for optimal outcome,” he also said.
Also, Dr Obi Adigwe, Director-General of National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), said research and development was not given much attention in the country.
“There is a deeper problem that is the lack of understanding of what research and development brings to the society. We have taken research to the back seat in this country and the only way forward is to priotise and invests more in research work that will be of benefit to us as nation.
“As the D-G of NIPRD we have always grappled with funding in the institute,” he said.
