SGF: Okonjo-Iweala was on everyone’s necks to ensure Nigeria got COVID-19 vaccine

Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), says Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), ensured Nigeria got its supply of COVID-19 vaccines.

Mustapha said the WTO director-general, who is also the chair of the board of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, has been consistent in promoting the economic development of the country.

He spoke on Tuesday when Okonjo-Iweala paid a courtesy visit to the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19.

On March 2, Nigeria received about four million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX facility, a partnership between GAVI and other international agencies.

Mustapha, who is the PTF chairman, said: “Our vaccines have arrived. And I want to take this opportunity to truly thank you for your efforts as chair of GAVI, in ensuring because I kept getting reports that you are on everybody’s necks to ensure that Nigeria got its supplies. You see that is the benefit that we stand to derive as a country when you have one of your own in a particular position and we want to thank you for that.”

The SGF also noted that the election of Okonjo-Iweala as WTO DG will benefit the country immensely.

He said: “We are very, very confident that your election into this office will bring a lot of good goodwill to Nigeria. And it would help us advance the cost of development in this country. I’m quick to say that this is one of our finest moments internationally because of the positions that Nigeria holds at the international level. On the global level, we have you. We have Hajia Amina Mohammed, who is the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations.

“At the continental level, particularly in the areas of finance and economy, we have the president of the African Development Bank; we have the president of the AfroExim Bank. So Nigeria, as a matter of fact, controls how money is spent or raised on the continent of Africa. And we also have at the AU for the first time, a commissioner who was elected of recent. And I believe, with all these resourceful persons holding these very strategic offices, you bring your wealth of experiences to bear in helping us back at home, recalibrate our entire developmental efforts.”