Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday offered over N234million in research grants to five beneficiaries under its Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme (HSRDIS).
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said while a healthy and safe workplace was necessary for continuous economic growth as well as stability of the financial system, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragilities of Nigeria‘s healthcare delivery system.
Emefiele, who described healthcare as the bedrock of the development of any nation deserving adequate funding for its research and development, said working with the Federal Government, the CBN has decided to look inwards and provide for ourselves.
“That was the main reason why CBN set up the Body of Experts, chaired by Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), to steer the HSRDIS. Emphasis on research and development in developed countries has helped in the development of COVID-19 vaccines:.
He said over 200 proposals were received out of which 68 had been graded and the best five were eventually picked, just as he assured that the scheme would provide grants to enable research and development activities into vaccines, drugs and herbal medicines for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.
Emefiele urged corporate institutions to collaborate with the CBN to fund research and development for the good of all Nigerians, while admonishing the recipients to make judicious use of the grants.
The recipients of the grants were Professor of Epidemiology, Olufemi Babalola, who got a grant of N50million, Professor of Microbiology, Ikechukwu Okoli, of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, who also got N50 million grant, and Dr Garba Bubah of Jigawa State Polytechnic, who received a N42.1million grant.
Others are, Dr John Ogedengbe of the University of Abuja, and Dr Otega Ejofodomi, an Electrical Engineering lecturer at the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Delta State, who were offered N50million and N42.4 million grants respectively.
In a goodwill message, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, commended the CBN for providing support to the health sector especially with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He noted that HSRDIS was part of the apex bank‘s policy response to COVID-19 pandemic. “COVID-19 came with adverse and negative effects, but it has also provided an opportunity for us to transform our healthcare delivery system. This HSRDIS by the CBN will translate to establishing formidable institutions so that when we are confronted with another pandemic, future generations will benefit from those institutions. I appreciate the CBN governor and his management team for this initiative. It could not have come at a better time than now”.
Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, remarked at the occasion that research and development was integral in finding solution to health challenges, noting that the CBN intervention came at the right time to provide the needed funding to boost healthcare research and development in Nigeria.
“New vaccines, drugs and other diagnostics are needed to create a healthy world. Research and development has a multiplier effect. It not only saves and improves lives, but also creates cost-saving economic growth and enhances global security”.
