By Chris Njoku, Owerri
As the Federal Government hinges the delay to produce Covid-19 Vaccines on its inability to procure the required technology for the production, renowned Human Rights activist Femi Falana (SAN) has challenged African governments to look inward and adequately fund their health sectors.
Falana stated this on Tuesday in a keynote address titled “Lesson of the pandemic for our collective Humanity”, which he delivered to the 2nd Directorate of General Studies (DGS) at the International Conference Humanism in the era of the pandemic at the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO).
He urged African governments not to wait “naively and irresponsibly” on those who he said might not have compassion on the poor African countries insisting that they should fund the health sector for the public good.
The activist regretted that African countries such as Nigeria as a nation was producing vaccines in the 1970s but is now unable to talk of its own vaccines against coronavirus in 2021.
“It is very sad that Nigeria with a population of more than 200 million people, only about a million persons had been vaccinated,” he noted.
The Human Rights lawyer expressed shock that with all the billions garnered by the private sector Collation Against Covid (CACOVID) last year, the federal and state governments are yet to report noticeable improvements in healthcare infrastructure.
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“Not enough molecular laboratories have been built. Ventilators are not inadequate supply in hospitals and isolation centres. Even with all the warnings that the pitiable situations in India, Brazil and Turkey are presenting to the world, Nigeria is not getting prepared for the possibility of another virulent wave with massive production of medical Oxygen and other essential materials to save lives,” he lamented.
He noted that some countries are stocking vaccines more than their urgent needs while some countries lack vaccines to save the extremely needy sections of their populations.
Falana contended that the challenges of hoarding vaccines by the developed countries beacons on Africa to prepare for future pandemics by producing its own vaccines.
He urged African governments not to wait “naively and irresponsibly” on those who he said might not have compassion on the poor African countries insisting that they should fund the health sector for the public good.
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