 The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Instruction and Control, Professor Mujizala Adiyeh, our host, the Director-General of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Dr. Obi Antigua, the Chairman of the Institute, Dr. John Alpha, conference lecturer, Professor Joseph Fortunak, the President of the NMA, ably represented by the first Vice-President, Professor Razak Dibayu, the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Vice-Chancellor of the Usman and Food University, Professor Lawal Suleiman Bilbis, the Vice-Chancellor of the Crystal University, Professor Chinigubabalala, other professors, Professor Olawali Tomori and the medical practitioners, present honored guests, ladies and gentlemen. Dr. Adiyeh, thank you very much for the kind invitation to me on behalf of the Governing Board and the Institute of National, of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development to be here. I also thank the Honourable Ministers of Health for their leadership in supporting this platform and several others and enabling the exchange of ideas on a health system on a regular basis. And also thank you very much, Professor Fortunak, for that incredibly informative and instructive lecture. I think that just sitting down there, I almost feel that I have become quite learned in drug production. And I hope as has been so relentlessly urged upon me by the Masters of Ceremony, the Masters of Ceremony, that we'll be able to turn this theory into practice. The COVID-19 pandemic was, for me, an eye opener in five different respects. The first is how some of the wealthiest and most developed economies of the world were tragically unprepared to handle a public health crisis on the scale and uncertainty of COVID-19, whereas countries with more modest economic profiles quickly deployed a public health framework that was responsive and effective. The second eye opener for me was that people, whether they are educated or uneducated from developed or developing nations, still have to be persuaded to take precautions to prevent them from contracting a deadly disease. So the farmer in KB State, the bus conductor in Lagos, the lawyer in Abuja, the stockbroker in New York, the teacher in Manchester, UK, will argue with you that there is no point in wearing a mask. The third eye opener for me is the danger of conspiracy theories and false information, especially in a public health crisis. Millions in the US, thousands in the UK, many all over the world based on false information. Of course, here in Africa, insist that vaccines are dangerous and that there is a conspiracy to change your DNA or put the mark of the beast on you or simply insert a chip into you to track you forever, wherever you may be. And sometimes you wonder, what are you going to track for? The fourth eye opener is that when there is a global health crisis on the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic, do not expect any or much help from anyone. Every nation is on its own. The fifth eye opener for me is that despite infrastructural weaknesses, we in Nigeria have an experienced and robust public health system, people by some of the best personnel anywhere in the world, but more importantly, that we have huge opportunities for becoming a leading nation in health care. And I'll speak to this aspect of the theme of the conference, but I think it's worthwhile to mention that these eye openers should be a guide to navigating the pathway to assuring health access and its accompanying socioeconomic development beyond COVID-19. So first, perhaps we should begin by asking how well our health system responded to the pandemic. Shortly after the first COVID-19 patient in sub-Saharan Africa was identified in Nigeria, and I always prefer to just get a sense for just assess how well we did first. What is it that's working? Because we are forever lectured on what isn't working and what isn't likely to work. So I really like to start from saying, okay, so what is it working? Where are we in all of this? So after this first COVID-19 patient was discovered, a sample of the virus was sent to the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases at the Redeemer's University in Nigeria. Of course, Professor Tomori was the first Vice Chancellor of that university in Ocean State. There, a team led by Professor Christian Happy analyzed the sample and was able within 48 hours to share the very first genome sequence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 from Africa with the global science community. Few knew that we even have that capacity or that the facility existed or had even been recognized internationally before this happened. Second, we were able to scale up on testing and case management capacity quickly, activating about 120 laboratories, at least at the end of last year, from just five before the pandemic. Most of them, public laboratories. Also, we expanded the footprint of our sovereign public health response capabilities at the sub-national level and in areas where previously such capabilities did not exist at all. One reason why we have been able to manage this pandemic, I believe, better than many expected, aside from the providence of the fact that we did not have the expected rate of infections that had been predicted, is that we had an existing public health infrastructure to work with. The Ebola outbreak of 2014 and our ongoing battle with LASA fever and our successes with polio eradication helped us to at least tighten our epidemic contingency plans, strengthen our emergency coordination and sovereign capabilities, and also to help us to invest in public health laboratories. One of the key lessons we learned, I believe from our response to the Ebola outbreak, was the need to build systems, as they say, in peacetime that can be used during outbreaks. So the Nigerian Center for Disease Control, the NCDC, which was founded in 2011, was made an independent government agency in 2018. Now, this is very crucial, because as we prioritize the strengthening of our public health infrastructure in that period, in 2018, no one, of course, expected that there will be a pandemic in 2020. So as it turned out, the NCDC's independence was important in its being able to function unrestrained by bureaucracy when the pandemic struck. And of course, it was able to attract, to a good extent, its own direct funding. With the NCDC's National Public Health Reference Laboratory in Gadoa in Abuja, it's state-of-the-art equipment and world-train scientists, it is evident to me that the NCDC is one of the best-prepared and resourced facilities, at least in South Sahara and Africa. Our COVID-19 response also witnessed the setting up of locally and internationally acclaimed presidential task force on COVID-19. As I said, we need to set the stage. What did we get right? I think the COVID-19 Interministerial and Interagency Team, led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustafa, which coordinated the national response, set the rules and briefed the nation daily for months, really did a great job because they were then able to swiftly do what was required to at least give the semblance of some order in the way that we approached the pandemic. The task force issued and enforced COVID protocols for travel and general movement. And when the first doses of vaccines came, the task force developed certain protocols and the public health system already, which was of course used to mass vaccinations, deployed across the country in every nuke and cranny of Nigeria so that the very first eligible vaccine candidates received their vaccinations seamlessly. So going forward, what do we need to do? I think flowing from what we've heard from Professor Fortuna, I'm from the eye-opener that every nation is on her own in a global pandemic and how vaccine-rich nations at some point even bound exports in order to meet their own local needs. It is clear that we must take our destiny in our own hands. And there is great potential. Last December, the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research launched a new set of COVID-19 test kits that produced results in 57 minutes. The new kit was designed by Joseph Scheibo, a molecular virologist at the NIMR. By the end of the year, the Africa Center of Excellence in Ocean State, the one I'd referred to earlier, which first sequenced the genome of the severe respiratory syndrome, will inaugurate the biggest genomics research center in Africa. Earlier this year, the center was selected by the Broad Institute of the MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University to be a part of the prestigious scientific coalition that will help set up an early warning system to prevent and respond to future outbreaks and pandemics. In September 2020, the World Health Organization named that same center, the Africa Center in Ocean State, one of two, the other from South Africa, specialized continental reference sequencing research laboratories for emerging pathogens, including the SARS-CoV-2. Professor Happi and his team have also produced a groundbreaking rapid test certified by the US FDA. And it costs, we're told, around $3, much less than the PCR tests that of course are recommended as standard. In addition, the test does not require highly equipped laboratories that tend to be too expensive. But more remarkably, they are developing also in Nigerian anti-COVID vaccine. At least they have talked about how much it will cost and they've laid out a plan. This center, this is the Africa Center of Excellence for neglected tropical diseases and forensic biotechnology, led by Professor Waike Ibrahim. That institute has been performing mass testing in collaboration with the Cardinal State Government and the University Teaching Hospital. They established a facility where COVID-19 samples are analyzed. The facility is also part of the Nigeria CDC National Testing Centers. At the onset of the pandemic, our host institute swung into action and developed a standardized hand sanitizer and made the formula publicly accessible for mass production. And we've heard quite a bit about that already. During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, between 2014 and 2016, the first case in Nigeria was confirmed and sequenced also at the Africa Center in Ocean State. The center was also instrumental in containing the epidemic in the sub-region by the development of a 15 minute rapid diagnostic test. This method was approved by the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration. Also in 2014, the center has developed a 10 minute rapid diagnostic test for LASA fever, setting in motion the possible development of the next vaccine for the disease. There's no question at all that we must build local capacity. And I believe that we're certainly well on the way. Again, I've referred to what happened at the onset of the pandemic when host institute, the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, was able to develop this hand sanitizer and made the formula, which I think is very important, made the formula publicly accessible for mass production. The institute has also constituted and convened the National Scientific Advisory Committee, which developed and launched the phytomedicine verification and validation protocol to determine the safety, effectiveness and quality of the care claims by traditional medicine practitioners who came forward with divergent claims of care for the COVID-19. The results of Niprit's testing and verification studies on some of these products guided the world in making informed decisions and prevented the exacerbation of a bad situation. This has helped to identify the products with potential properties and has promoted the credibility and international acceptance of pharmaceutical products developed here in Nigeria. Niprit, our host, has also developed an impressive variety of pharmaceutical products from indigenous resources. And both the Niprimune and the Niprimune Plus, both of which I had the pleasure of seeing, have been found to possess reasonable properties that are able to prevent or work against COVID-19. Both products, which have been registered by NAFTA, are currently undergoing various levels of clinical studies towards approval for production for emergency use. The Niprit DG, Dr. Antigua, has assured me that by this time next year, the institute will launch three new products currently under development, at its Nanomedicine Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Centers. It is this proactive approach that we must take to the slow pace of vaccine access in Africa and, of course, Nigeria. Although we receive from help from friendly nations and the COVAX Alliance, less than 4% of our eligible population will have been vaccinated by the end of this year. There's no question that we cannot afford not to have our own vaccine production facilities. Think what would have happened to India, which has reported the most number of infections in the world after the United States, if it did not have the capacity to produce its own vaccines. Where would its 1.3 billion people find the vaccines in the emergency that they faced? Today, India has given at least one dose to 65% of its 944 million eligible adults, and the necessary two doses to 22%. They expect overall domestic vaccine production to exceed one billion doses by the end of the year, which would, of course, be more than enough for their domestic needs. Nigeria, and I know that President Tomor is very well aware of this, is in talks with the World Bank on the private lending arm and other lenders to raise about 30 million to help finance a vaccine plant. Bio-vaccines Nigeria limited, chaired by Professor Tomori. 49% of the company is owned by the Nigerian government, but the balance held by May and Baker Nigeria PLC. And they have plans to begin construction of a plant, I believe in the first quarter of next year. The plant, which is supposed to be located in Ota in Auguste, will initially, we're told, fail and finish, which I'm also told means importing the raw materials for the vaccines and then packaging it for distribution. Some South African companies are already involved in doing exactly that. I believe Aspen Pharmacare and Bio-Vac Institute operate similar facilities. Full manufacturing, we're told, is expected to follow in the coming months or years. I'm not entirely certain why. So it's evident that the way forward is more funding for healthcare and research, for innovators and to develop solutions in pharmaceuticals and medical consumables. And I want to say that after some of the discussion that I held with Dr. Adigui about what to do and how to go about this, I think that I'm more than inspired, especially regarding not just the potential, but exactly how the how-to of getting the kinds of support that the pharmaceutical industry and especially our research agencies would require. To date, our administration has established the healthcare sector intervention fund facility, which has disbursed about 76.98 billion, that's about $185 million, to finance the acquisition and installation of critical medical care equipment, as well as the expansion of production lines in various pharmaceutical companies across the country. The CBN is also supporting a number of research and development initiatives in the health sector. In all, I believe the CBN has disbursed a total of $233 billion in grants that these have been disbursed to various companies. But I also want us to note what the president said in his Independence Day speech, and I believe that a reference was made to that by Dr. Adigui earlier, when he asked the question rhetorically, he said, should another pandemic arise in the future? Where will Nigeria be? Will Nigeria be ready? Should we have another pandemic in the future? What will Nigeria do? Will we be ready? He then committed to supporting pharmaceutical and research agencies to develop and manufacture vaccines locally. The president also reiterated his directive to the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, and also the ministries of Science and Technology, Science Technology and Innovation, to work with Nigerian and international pharmaceutical companies and research organizations to enhance Nigeria's domestic pharmaceutical capacity. And I believe that those meetings have to be held, those collaborations have to take place, and the Ministry, of course, has already been directed to go ahead and look at the funding implications. He also noted that the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority is raising $200 million, and this fund is for this initiative that will complement what the Central Bank of Nigeria has done and also our 85 billion health sector research and development intervention. This is to support local researchers in the development of vaccines and drugs to combat communicable and non-communicable diseases, including COVID-19. In our Economic Sustainability Plan, designed to mitigate and take advantage of the consequences of the pandemic, one of the cross-cutting issues identified for action was the development of Nigeria's capacity to become Africa's hub for the manufacture of generic drugs. And I think that Professor Fortunak's very informative lecture has really taken us through how that can be done and what the real advantages are. Today, as we've heard, China and India, India in distant second, lead the manufacture of generics. Both have large populations, like Nigeria. In fact, I believe they're number one and two in the world in terms of population. Nigeria will become the fourth largest nation in population by 2050. So there is a strong case for at least being self-sufficient in basic drugs and net exporters of generic drugs. This will, of course, be private sector-led with an enabling environment in terms of availability of long-term credit, facilitating intellectual property negotiations with drug patent owners, et cetera. I think it's very important to always bear in mind. And this is a frustration, I believe, that those who have to deal with when you're dealing with bureaucracy, almost invariably, how it sounds when it is announced is not how it works out in implementation. And we've just got to learn, and those of us who have to get things done just have to learn that you can't get frustrated, you know. Part of the business of getting this thing done is going through those frustrations, sometimes deception, sometimes people who want to be corrupt, who want to pocket money. There are all manner of obstacles on the way. But I think that we must never lose sight of the fact that these solutions that we're talking about are solutions that will affect us individually, collectively as a community, and as a nation. Those who have a different plan and purpose, those who want to subvert these very important plans, are people, they're Nigerians like you and I, it is important that those who want to get things done also mount the exact resistance and make sure that we get it done. There's no point throwing up arms in the air and say, this is Nigerian. No, it just won't work. There's every reason why we should get this done. And many of these things are within our reach. And in my view, we should not lose, no one should lose hope or think that, oh, it can be done here in Nigeria. It will be done, trust me, in this country. As I close, I think it's important to say that our healthcare system, our healthcare system of our dreams, as I've said, is ahead of us. We know what we want and what is possible. We have the men and women with the required expertise. What we need is more diligent and focused management. And only recently, the president established the Healthcare Reform Committee, which have the privilege of chairing. That may well be at least one of the vehicles for ensuring that we're able to get some of our dreams come true. Once more, let me commend Dr. Adewey, the DG of Niprit, and the innovative and hardworking team at the Institute for their groundbreaking work, despite the limited resources, and for this particular initiative. Well done, indeed. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Now, it now is my very special pleasure and privilege to officially declare this conference open. Thank you.