Government’s agencies frustrating institutions’ efforts at producing COVID-19 Vaccine ─Afe Babalola

*The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology is working assiduously to bring all research institutions and universities to a roundtable interaction which shall help build a knowledge economy in Nigeria ─Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister for Science and Technology

*But ‘when we asked for accelerated action, we were rebuffed and they queried us on why we were in a hurry and added that, after all, it takes four years in America to get such approval,’ says Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, Founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

As other academic institutions and other research institutes in the country are accusing the authorities of frustrating genuine efforts at manufacturing the much needed drug locally, the Federal Government of Nigeria yet has said it will partner with the Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, FCT, for production of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.

Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Honourable Minister for Science and Technology, gave the assurance while receiving in audience Prof. Osman Aras, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, in his office Monday, March 8, in Abuja, FCT.

The Minister commended Nile University of Nigeria for working in collaboration with other research institutions in the country to come up with COVID-19 vaccine, The Nation report said.

Onu said his ministry was interested in moving the economy away from commodities to knowledge-based in line with the main thrust of President Muhammadu Buhari”s administration.

The ministry, he stated, is working assiduously to bring all research institutions and universities to a round table interaction which shall help build a knowledge economy.

“We have the human capital to do it, and this is where the university system is of critical importance,” he said.

However, despite the Onu’s latest assurance of partnering with the country’s research institutes and universities to produce the COVID-19 Vaccine, Aare (Chief) Afe Babalola, SAN, Founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), in Ekiti State, Monday rather urged the Federal Government to grant necessary approval to Nigerian universities to begin production of COVID-19 vaccines.

The legal luminary, who spoke yesterday in Ado-Ekiti at ABUAD’s 8th convocation ceremony for the 2019/2020 academic session, accused the Federal Government’s agencies of frustrating the institution’s efforts at manufacturing COVID-19 drugs since 2020.

Aare Babalola said: “When we asked for accelerated action, we were rebuffed and they queried us on why we were in a hurry and added that, after all, it takes four years in America to get such approval.”

According to him, “of course, that was not correct because other countries like America, England and India have worked on it and got an answer within a year.”

The Nigerian universities have the required manpower and intellectual properties to develop potent drugs and vaccines that would help treat Coronavirus pandemic, he noted.

The foremost legal icon pointed out that government agencies had wholesomely contributed to the woes befalling the country’s health and the education sectors in the country.

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