An approval of $400 million has been made by the Board of Directors of the World Bank for Nigeria as additional financing from the International Development Association (IDA) to provide upfront financing for safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine acquisition and deployment in the country.
This was made public by the World Bank in a statement issued and signed by its Senior External Affairs Officer, Mansir Nasir on Friday.
According to the statement, the development will be implemented as part of the COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Project.
The World Bank stated: “Government of Nigeria today received approval from The World Bank Board of Directors for a $400 million credit in additional financing from the International Development Association (IDA)to provide upfront financing for safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine acquisition and deployment within the country. This will be implemented as part of the COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Project.
“Building on the Government’s plan to break the chain of local transmission of COVID-19 and limit the spread of the virus, the original COVID-19 Response program will be expanded to enable equitable access to purchase affordable COVID-19 vaccines for 18 percent (40 million) of Nigeria’s population and support effective vaccine deployment to 50 percent (110 million) of its citizens.”
The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri said, “As the Nigerian Government continues to tackle the effect of a third wave of the global pandemic, it is crucial it continues to vaccinate its citizens in addition to the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions to avoid the dreadful consequences of another lockdown that left in its wake an economic toll the country is still grappling with.
“This additional funding would ensure that the Nigerian Government has the necessary financial resources to keep its vaccination drive going. This would mean that Nigerians will have increased access to the COVID-19 vaccination.”