Richard Ginika Izuora
The United States on Wednesday, May 13, revealed that it has spent $32.8m to support Nigeria’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, and expressed its determination to track the expenditure.
This was contained in a statement issued by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, who explained the country has put in place mechanisms to monitor and also ensure judicious utilisation of the financial aid provided to help Nigeria in fighting the COVID-19’pandemic.
Leonard further revealed that since the COVID-19 crisis started; the US has committed $237m to support Africa’s COVID-19 response with the global interventions amounting to $2.4bn.
She also stated there was nothing unusual with the current evacuation of American citizens in Nigeria; noting that many of them only wanted to reunite with their families having exhausted their short stay in Nigeria.
The US envoy who expressed satisfaction with the response of the Federal Government to the COVID-19 pandemic assured that more financial and technical support would be provided to the Federal Government; in the fight against COVID-19.
Apart from donating ventilators to Nigeria, she added that the US government has a very robust presence of the US Centre for Disease Control (CDS) as well as the US Aids (USAID) working closely with the Nigerian authorities; to transform the country’s COVID-19 response.
Asked on whether the US plans to support Nigeria with the COVID-19 drug; Remdesivir, which was said to have been developed in the US; she said the medication is still undergoing a lot of experimentation and clinical study.
She said the US would not hesitate to support the country with the medication after completing the requisite approval process; saying the American government was open to collaboration as; “the whole world is trying to figure out what is the most effective way of dealing with the virus.”
“We are very pleased to be making these commitments to Nigeria. We are very eager to collaborate on measures for curing, mitigating, and preventing the spread of the virus,” she said.