The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has said the Ministry has commenced verification of all medical claims submitted to it for the cure of Covid-19.
The Minister disclosed this at the press briefing in Abuja on Monday.
Onu explained that while the Ministry had in March offered the sum of N36 Million to Scientists and Innovators that could find the cure for Covid-19 and Lassa fever, all submissions for the Covid-19 cure have been directed to the Academy of Science for verification as well as recommendation to the Ministry.
He however, reaffirmed that the Ministry is working hard to develop home-grown solutions to help manage the Covid-19 pandemic, assuring that encouraging results have been submitted and in no distant time, details on the submissions would be made known to the nation.
For Nigeria to have increased foreign earnings, the Minister said the country must look inwards for solutions to its problems and export same to other countries.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State in the Ministry, Barrister Mohammed Abdullahi, said the two Ministers are working to procure huge grants in order to support research and development efforts in the Science and Technology sector.
He called on the Directors and DGs of the Ministry to show more commitment in their work so as to realize the mandate of the Ministry.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Mohammed Bello Umar admonished the DGs of the Ministry’s agencies to highlight priority areas in the preparation and execution of their budget.
