BUA procures 1m doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be delivered next week

BUA Group has announced it purchased one million doses of Astra Zeneca Covid-19 vaccines to be distributed in Nigeria.

In a tweet on Monday, the group said the vaccines would be delivered next week.

It would be the first set of vaccines to be delivered since the onset of the pandemic.

The one million doses are “fully paid for”, the group added, as part of its corporate social responsibility.

“BUA commits to purchasing 5 million doses through the same arrangement in partnership with CACOVID/Afrexim Bank.”

BUA Group is one of the largest privately-owned conglomerates, with diversified interests in mining, manufacturing, food and agriculture.

In a statement, founder of BUA, Abdul Samad Rabiu, thanked the president of the Afrexim Bank, Benedict Oramah, for making the purchase possible and the Nigerian Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, for coordinating the process through the CACOVID Private Sector partnership.

“BUA decided to secure these 1million vaccines by paying the full amount for the vaccines today because these vaccines became available only last week through AFREXIM.

“We expect the vaccines to be delivered within the next 14 days and hope priority will be given to our frontline workers who have committed their lives to managing the pandemic.

“In addition to this, BUA is committing to purchase 5 million doses for Nigeria as soon as they become available through this same arrangement,” Rabiu added.