Bukola Afeni
The Federal Government said it will continue to expand vaccine storage capacity at the national level in Nigeria.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, stated this at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Abuja Hub at the National Strategic Cold Store, Abuja.
He added that the ground-breaking ceremony is marking the commencement of the Abuja hub.
“This is one of the three mega stores planned for Abuja, Lagos, and Kano, for massively continuously increasing population coupled with the introduction of new and essential vaccines.
” It requires that we have sufficient storage space for vaccines and injection materials for efficient implementation of the immunization programme. The supply chain challenges highlighted by the COVID-19 vaccination effort also underlines the need for a massive expansion of storage space which will confer a measure of resilience in the system”, he said.
He acknowledged GAVI’s support in funding the construction of two of the three megastores. Abuja and Kano hubs are therefore much appreciated.
The Executive Director of NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, disclosed that the funding for the Abuja and Kano Hub is being provided by the Gavi Alliance within the country’s Health System strengthening (HSS) support.
“We acknowledge the technical support of the UNICEF Supply Division in reviewing the designs of the Hubs as well as in the provision of procurement services support. Today marks a significant milestone in the journey towards the achievement of our shared objective”, he added.
He noted that the country’s supply chain system redesign is progressing satisfactorily.
” We have the strong political support from the highest level of government and the untiring support of implementing and donor partners.”
The Executive Director said the procurement processes for the engagement of competent vendors for the Kano Hub project have commenced,
“We expect to break ground on that project too in a short while. The deployment of the eLMIS system is ongoing as expected”, he added.
