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Other Members Contributed – CACOVID Blasts BUA Over Vaccines Payment Claims

CACOVID

The private sector-led coalition against COVID-19 (CACOVID) says payment for AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines for Nigeria was not done by BUA group alone.

There has been a face-off between BUA and CACOVID regarding the issue of payment for vaccine. The development has been tinged with accusation and counter accusations, engendering an unpleasant impasse that could threaten the country’s fragile hope of accessing vaccines in good time.

IT ALL BEGAN ON TUESDAY.

BUA, a member of CACOVID, had said on Tuesday that it secured the vaccines through AfreximBank by “paying the full amount”, adding that the vaccines should be delivered to the country next week.

CACOVID had, in a swift rebuttal, however, disproved BUA’s claim of securing the vaccines. It said it was practically impossible for BUA to have singlehandedly secured the doses.

It noted that the purchase of the vaccine cannot be done by individuals or companies, but only through the federal government.

Replying to CACOVID, BUA said some members of the coalition are irked and embittered by the strides it has taken to ensure the provision of vaccine for Nigerians.

It warned the coalition to refrain from playing politics with Nigerian lives.

The group asserted that Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, announced at a meeting that CACOVID had been given the opportunity through the Afrexim platform to access and pay for one million doses of vaccine, provided payment was made on Monday or Tuesday.

It claimed that while other CACOVID members decline the offer, BUA took it upon itself to offer the donation to secure the vaccine, making a payment of $3.4 million, which is N1.3 billion, to the CBN.

CACOVID INSISTS PAYMENT WAS FROM JOINT ACCOUNT

Speaking on ARISE TV on Tuesday, Zouera Youssofou, CACOVID coordinator, confirmed that payment was indeed made for the vaccines, but it is not from from a person or company.

He said BUA’s claim that it had brought vaccine into the country was false.

She disclosed that the payment for the vaccines was taken from a pool of funds donated by different CACOVID members.

“In that call, President Oramah was telling us the model of how the vaccine task force was working with AU,” she said.

“He also told us that there was an extra 1 million doses that we could get if we confirmed that we wanted those doses immediately by February 8. And so we agreed that we would bring it to the meeting the very next day which happened.

“What is important to note is that Afreximbank, after that call, already secured those doses for Nigeria because they had the confirmation from both the CBN, Aliko Dangote and Herbert Wigwe that they would pay for these million doses.

“Nobody is disputing a transfer into Central Bank’s account. The challenge is a claim that one company has brought vaccines into Nigeria because that is not factual.”

IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE 1M VACCINES NEXT WEEK

Youssofou further said it is not possible for all the one million doses to arrive in Nigeria by next week.

She added that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) was yet to give approval for the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria.

“It is not possible to have one million doses of vaccine dumped into Nigeria in one day.