The Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has reacted to the arrival of the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria.
Nigeria on Tuesday, received 3.94 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility, Naija News reports.
The NAFDAC-approved Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines arrived in the country around noon on Tuesday, via an Emirates airline.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, the National Coordinator of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, and the Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib were at Abuja International airport to receive the vaccines.
Reacting to the news, Okonjo-Iweala, a former Minister of Finance in Nigeria described it as great news.
She tweeted: “Great news: Arrival of the first batch of vaccines in Abuja, Nigeria. Congratulations COVAX.”
Great news: Arrival of the first batch of vaccines in Abuja, Nigeria. Congratulations COVAX @Gavi @WHO @UNICEF @NphcdaNG @NCDCgov
— Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (@NOIweala) March 2, 2021
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has said that some Nigerians are benefiting from kidnapping and that they need to be brought to justice
Speaking on the floor of the Senate after the new service chiefs were confirmed on Tuesday, Lawan said banditry has become a lucrative industry in the country.
He, however, lamented that kidnapping without a trace is not acceptable, urging the new service chiefs to rescue the country from criminals.
He said: “A situation whereby a group of people will go to a school and take over 300 students away on motorcycles is not accepted.
“Kidnapping without a trace — it is not acceptable. Something has to give because, apparently, this is becoming an industry. Some people are benefiting from this and we have to unravel who these people are, and fight bandits and insurgents until we rescue our country.”