As the race to develop a vaccine for Covid-19 cure intensifies around the world, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, says the country’s apex bank “is developing a framework” through which it can provide financial support to achieve a Nigerian made vaccine.
The CBN’s support for a local vaccine was coming on the back of mixed reactions that had trailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval for the airlifting of Madagascar’s herbal remedy–COVID-19 Organics from Guinea Bissau.
“Needless to state that if we are to wait for foreign countries to develop their own vaccines, we will be the last in the queue to receive curative remedies for our teeming population,” Emefiele said this at the unveiling of the THISDAY Dome testing, tracing, and treatment centre on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said the framework will involve grants and long term facilities that will be provided to “researchers, science institutions and biotechnology firms to develop the Nigerian Vaccine.”
Emefiele said the CBN recently launched an N100bn healthcare intervention fund.
Read also: Researchers Predict Covid-19 End Date In US, UK, Spain, Globally
“Practitioners in the Pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors will be able to access finance at a single-digit rate through this fund,” he explained.
In a bid to cushion the effects of the pandemic on the Nigerian economy, the CBN has implemented several initiatives such as the provision of one trillion naira facility for firms operating in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, Emefiele said.
“We are also working with financial institutions to enable the continuous flow of credit to viable businesses while putting in place provisions such as moratoriums and restructuring of existing loans under CBN intervention funds, that have been provided to businesses,” he added.
