The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called on the federal government to provide the much-needed support for the nation’s private sector to enable operators in the sector to invest heavily in the manufacture of vaccines that would meet domestic and export needs.
Making the call today, Thursday, in Lagos, at a press briefing on the management of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the newly-elected President of the chamber, Asiwaju Michael Olawale-Cole, argued that with the right environment, investors in this part of the globe would be able to invest substantially in vaccine production, thereby earning substantial foreign exchange from such venture.
The LCCI’s boss also urged the government at all tiers to declare a state of emergency for COVID-19 administration by making the vaccines easily available and accessible to more Nigerians.
Olawale-Cole argued that it had become imperative for government to wade in, going by the negligible number of Nigerians that had so far taken the vaccine.
“Only about 3% of the overall population of eligible persons are fully vaccinated. This is a far cry from the expected. If we fail to plan, we are planning to fail. Hence both government and citizens alike must ensure that this percentage increase drastically in the next few months,” he stated.
Olawale-Cole also called on the federal government to develop and deploy strategies on how to get more citizens vaccinated; while also stressing the need for both the supply and demand-side challenges to vaccination to be addressed.
“On the supply side, there is a need to have constructive engagement directly with vaccine manufacturers, and indirectly through the COVAX facility. On the demand side, there is a need to continuously educate citizens on the safety of vaccines, and the importance of being vaccinated,” he added.
Olawale-Cole also called for stricter legislation on vaccination card racketeering, adding that any trace of such fake vaccination certificates to Nigeria would continue to damage the nation’s reputation, globally.
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