Pascal Arogorn Ibe
The Federal Government , through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency , has budgeted the sum of N 10. 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 five area councils .
Also , about N 1. 4bn was set aside for the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment while N 373m 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 N 685. 4m while N 558. 6m will be spent on distributing the vaccines to Lagos State , which is the epicentre of the COVID – 19 pandemic.
About N 476m would be spent on distributing vaccines in the President ’ s home state of Katsina while N 396. 3m will be spent in Oyo State .
Bayelsa , which has just eight local government areas, has the lowest budget for vaccine transportation which is N 121m .
The total amount of money earmarked for the transportation of vaccine , procurement of Personal Protective Equipment, AEFI kits and sensitisation was summed up at N 12. 7bn .
The Minister of Health , Dr Osagie Ehanire , on December 22, 2020 told the Senate that the Federal Government would need about N 400bn 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.
THE PUNCH
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