Facts On Nigeria’s N10.6 Billion Budget For Covid-19 Vaccine Distribution

A new document detailing a total of N10.6 Billion budgeted for the efficient distribution of the recently acquired Covid-19 vaccine has made the rounds in the news recently.

The document titled, ‘Estimated Budget for States Rollout of COVID-19 Vaccines (end-to-end),’ was reportedly exclusively obtained by The Punch.

While the document in question was not revealed, the news agency revealed that the document was presented to the 36 governors during a meeting between representatives of the Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Governors Forum on Thursday, February 4, 2021.

Detailed Transportation Budget Breakdown

• Kano, a Northwest state, with 44 local governments will receive ₦685.4 million for vaccine transportation, which is the highest, followed by Lagos, a Southwest state and the epicentre of the pandemic.

• Lagos State will receive ₦558.6 million and N476 million would be spent for the distribution of Covid-19 vaccine doses in the President’s home state of Katsina while N396.3m will be spent in Oyo State.

• Bayelsa, which has just eight local government areas, has the lowest budget for vaccine transportation which is N121million.

• The total amount of money earmarked for the transportation of vaccine, procurement of Personal Protective Equipment, AEFI kits and sensitisation is summed up at N12.7bn which includes, the budgeted cost for transportation of the vaccine (₦10.6 billion), procurement of PPE (₦1.4 billion) and AEFI kits (₦373 million).

Federal Government Response

The federal government of Nigeria has debunked media report claiming that not less than N10.6 billion had been earmarked for the transportation of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.

The Executive Director of the NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, described the quoted figure as incredulous, explaining that the responsibility of distribution of vaccines across the country had been taken over by the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID).

According to him, CACOVID had offered to take up the responsibility of the logistics distribution by providing an aircraft to move vaccines from Abuja to states with airports, as well as vans for further dispatch from airports to areas without airports.

“I mean, I’m hearing from you for the first time. It doesn’t make any sense that on the one hand, we’ve communicated very clearly to Nigerians that the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), a private sector initiative, has provided a cargo plane that will help deliver the vaccines from Abuja to all states that have functional airports.

“For those that do not have functional airports, there is a delivery van that will convey the vaccines from those airports to the states without functionality.

“I do not see how that is going to cost N10 billion. So there is no truth in that. That information. So there’s no truth in that information.

“The truth is what I have told you, which is that CACOVID has taken up the responsibility of delivering the vaccines from Abuja to the states.

“The only cost we’re going to incur is the cost of delivering the vaccines from any airport to nearby states that don’t have functional airports. Clearly, that cannot be N10.6 billion”, he said.

When asked the actual cost budgeted for the distribution, he said “you can do the math on the back of an envelope and you know that it cannot be anything close to a billion naira right.

“So I believe that CACOVID has already identified that cost as something they are going to take off. I do not know how much it’s going to cost them, but that is something that they have already identified as a cost they will bear and we’re working together with them.”