Prof. Oyewole Tomori, a virologist, has urged the Federal Government to focus on policy development, consistency, and long-term sustainability after the World Health Organization (WHO) recently named Nigeria among five other countries for COVID-19 vaccine production certification.
Tomori, who is a consultant to WHO on COVID-19, expressed delight that Nigeria had been named after all of his efforts on Arise TV’s Morning Show yesterday, but insisted that the government must be consistent. He also demanded that the government increase its research expenditures.
He said: “This is the best news for us so far in this country. We see the development as a catalyst to move us forward in the area of financing, skills training, regulatory, and also in the area of technology transfer to get us to where we ought to be. Apart from COVID and other issues, if it’s around or not by the time we secure approval, no problem, but we would have gotten the platform to deal with other diseases. We have done well this time as regards how we controlled COVID-19.
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“One of the centres we have there at Yaba is so strategically placed. The University of Lagos is down the road and the National Institute of Medical Research is on the other side of the road and NAFDAC is in the middle. Though we are not limited to these, bringing all of these together, we are building for ultra-research centres. As I said, this is the beginning of greatness for us in this country but it is okay as it is.
“The beginning is not the end of the story. It is when we do the needful. The government just continues to do its bit, we as scientist, we would do our bit and the people should play their part too because you can’t take them out of all these and we should prove to them that when we are producing, we should produce the best of what we can do. To tell them that we will never produce anything that will hurt anybody in this country. We need consistency in our policies, and sustainability is also very important. My worry is not WHO, but home.
“Changing government shouldn’t affect anything. The next government should come in and do better than the previous. We are racing, every other country is watching this country if we are going to make it. South Africa is ahead of us but we want to be the next and we can do it if we have the cooperation, the government that is consistent in its policies, or we have people that are committed more than our self-interest.”
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Speaking on the N10 billion intervention fund, Tomori lauded the government, said it would attract other investors.
“The N10 billion is only an addition and a catalyst. It will encourage people from outside who want to assist to show that the government is serious. If an outsider has seen that the government has put in N20 billion, then they will be more convinced and confident and they too can put their money into it. Everything we have been doing on that vaccine has been stalled because of the fracas. It shouldn’t have happened.
“When we say the government has the will, the will is the talk and commitment is the work. Political will without commitment is nothing and that’s where we are in this country. The next government coming must match their will with commitment. Until we do that, we will be the last in this country. Different stakeholders came together to achieve this job and together we must continue along that line,” he said.
Meanwhile, lending his voice to improving for a better Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) treatment, Tomori still maintained on investment in health research.
“Nothing is impossible. Like I was talking about the creation of the different stakeholders and research. It just requires putting money and resources into research. We have the resources but the only problem is the enabling environment. To let our resources function well, it needs money, electricity and all.
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“Those who benefit from research are those who have invested in it. I will say again that consistency and sustainability are what we need to teach our government, to make them know that it’s not just coming up with a promise every four years and we forget it and we will be waiting for another lie in the next four years. This country is great, we have the people, but we are just unfortunate to have leadership problem,” he said.
