A foreign-based organisation, Peoples Health Foundation UK/Nigeria, has sought partnership with the Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO) Oshodi, Lagos on the production of COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria, Nature News gathered.
The Chief Operating Officer of the organisation, Anthony Isama, made the call on Wednesday, in a statement in Abuja. Isama urged the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 to leverage on FIIRO by paying more attention to tapping from the vast experience that Nigerians in diaspora possessed in the drive toward the vaccination of Nigerians against the virus.
He recalled that two members of the Nigerian Diaspora Community were currently making waves through their work on finding a permanent solution to the scourge abroad.
“Nigeria is lucky to have Dr Onyeama Ogbuagu, an associate professor of Medicine who specialises on infectious diseases and the lead researcher in the Pfizer’s COVID-19 trial at Yale University, USA, as the head of the team working on how to save humanity from this pandemic and other diseases.
“We are better positioned as a country if we can leverage on the experience of these professionals and explore the vast opportunities within the diaspora community globally, in partnership with FIIRO in order to solve the health challenge in the country,” he said.