Simeon Ebulu
The coronavirus pandemic has provided opportunity for Nigeria to reset critical sectors of the economy, the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has said.
Osinbajo, who spoke on Thursday in a webcast put together to announce a new funding platform, to be known as the Nigeria Solidarity Support Fund for the COVID-19 pandemic, and monitored in Lagos, said the show of solidarity and drive to find a solution to the plague will in turn lead to innovations in engineering and rethinking of our healthcare services.
He said the scope of intervention envisaged by the promoters of the scheme, will lead to job creation, saying the Federal Government owed a depth of gratitude to the NSIA for being “a credible government agency” and for the establishment of “this Global Support Fund.”
The promoters of the scheme – Global Citizen Team and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), said the proceeds from the initiative will be deployed to provide immediate and far reaching support in the fight against Covid-19.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has strained the nation’s health, social and economic systems, yet our resolve to work together to contain it remains unflinching. Against this background, we are thrilled to partner with Global Citizen in launching the Nigeria Solidarity Support Fund, as the Fund Manager,” Orji said.
Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Vice President, Global Citizen Team, Nigeria and Uche Orji, Managing Director/CEO, NSIA, said contributions to the fund was open to every Nigerian within, or in the diaspora.
Aig-Imoukhuede said the fund is also intended to be used to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19, including providing support for the most vulnerable, as well as for those with mental issues, sexual abuse and other illnesses.
He said the fund will be engaged to strengthen the domestic health system by promoting local medicine and would be used to established primary health centres for each of the 774 local governments in the country. “We must handle this issue with a system-wide approach, Aig-Imoukhuede said.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, who also featured in the webcast, said “Nigeria is facing a challenge we’ve never seen before,” saying the pandemic has added to the cost of doing business due to supply disruptions and rise in financing cost.
Chairman, NSIA board, Olajide Zeitlin,the Chairman of Global Citizen Nigeria, Babatunde Folawiyo and Michael Sheldrick, all featured in the event.
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