Governors disown Bello for rejecting Covid-19 vaccines
Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja
Nigerian governors have disowned their Kogi State colleague, Yahaya Bello, for rejecting the COVID-19 vaccines.
The Nigerian government has said it is expecting at least 100,000 doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine by the end of January through the COVAX co-financing public-private facility.
Governor Bello, while discouraging the use of COVID-19 vaccines, had claimed that the jabs were meant to kill people.
Rising from their 24th teleconference on Wednesday, the state helmsmen, under the banner of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), described Bello’s remark as “an ill-fated pronouncement.”
In a communiqué signed by the Chairman of the NGF and governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, they said: “On the ill-fated pronouncement made by a member of the forum regarding the Covid-19 vaccine in a national daily, the forum totally and categorically dissociated itself from the statement,
emphasizing that the Forum will continue to be informed and guided by science and will ensure that every decision it takes retains public and professional trust and is not compromised by conflicts of interest.”
The forum received briefings from medical experts on the country’s preparedness for the procurement and administration of COVID-19 vaccines and the level of collaboration required from all stakeholders, including the federal and state governments as well as the private sector.
Following the presentations, the NGF set up an advisory committee composed of a team of experts led by a leading virologist and former Vice-Chancellor of Redeemers University, Professor Oyewale Tomori.
It is to advise governors on the procurement and administration of coronavirus vaccines.
Fayemi said the governors at the meeting also received a briefing from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
He said the governors were told the vaccines would be administered in four phases, based on their type and availability, initially for frontline health workers, then the aged (55yrs and above), persons with underlying medical conditions and other target groups.
Speaking while addressing a crowd, Bello had doubted the authenticity of the vaccine, saying there was no cure for HIV and many other diseases troubling mankind.
“Vaccines are being produced in less than one year of COVID-19. There is no vaccine yet for HIV, malaria, cancer, headache and for several other diseases that are killing us.
They want to use the (COVID-19) vaccines to introduce the disease that will kill you and us. God forbid,” he said.
“We should draw our minds back to what happened in Kano during the Pfizer polio vaccines that crippled and killed our children. We have learned our lessons.
“If they say they are taking the vaccines in the public allow them take their vaccines. Don’t say I said you should not take it but if you want to take it open your eyes before you take the vaccines.”
The Forum also received a presentation from the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu and the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, on the Sustainable Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (SUWASH) results-based financing programme for states.
The communiqué read in part, “The programme has become necessary given the state of the sector which has contributed to 73% of Nigeria’s total burden of enteric infections and over 255,000 preventable deaths in the country each year.
“State governors consequently committed to increasing budgetary allocation to the sector with the collaboration of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the World Bank through the US$640 million investment finance and US$60 million technical assistance component which together will support and incentivize infrastructure investments and strengthen government policies and institutions in the WASH sector.
“A presentation was made by Dr. Sarah Alade, Special Adviser to the President on Finance and Economy, on the development of the Nigeria Agenda 2050 and the Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) which will succeed Vision 20:2020 and the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017 – 2020.
State Governors committed to supporting the development of the national plan by providing technical inputs which will ensure that the plan is inclusive, comprehensive, and reflective of the component development plans of each State in the country.
State submissions will be made by 10th February 2021, and will underpin the use of credible data, social development, and economic diversification.”
