Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said the COVID-19 pandemic offered an opportunity for the Nigerian people and government to have a reset in critical sectors of the economy and social services.
Osinbajo said this on Thursday at a virtual launch of the Nigeria Solidarity Support Fund, an initiative of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, the Global Citizen and other partners.
Osinbajo, who joined the event from his office, said the establishment of the Fund would support “the creation of a stronger, more resilient, more inclusive political economy and healthcare system.
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“This is a creative, forward-looking and thoughtful response to what is perhaps the most profound global and domestic challenge to health and the economy in human history.”
He said “there are several initiatives in place now to attempt an effective response to the COVID-19 disaster.”
He added there was the drive to re-engineer and rethink our healthcare delivery systems.
“This, by itself, is a massive undertaking that will involve the states, local governments and the private healthcare community.
“I was excited to hear that Global Citizen already has in mind, a project to build healthcare centres across every local government in Nigeria.
“In the past few years, I’m sure those of you familiar with the activities of government probably note there’s been quite a bit of effort around creating a Social Investment Programme.
“The precise purpose of that is not just to provide safety nets for several of the vulnerable and poor in our midst, but more importantly to provide jobs, provide credit to several informal traders, smallholder farmers, several others in our economic value chain who are usually ignored or untouched by several other credit facilities and other economic initiatives of the government.”
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