The Federal Government will draw up a supplementary budget in March to cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccinations, for which no provision was made in the 2021 finance bill adopted in December, finance minister Zainab Ahmed said on Thursday.
The government has said it plans to inoculate 40% of Nigeria’s 200 million people this year and another 30% in 2022. The country, Africa’s most populous, has been hit by a second wave of infections in recent weeks.
“There will be a supplementary budget, the first one will be in March relating to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ahmed was quoted by Reuters as telling reporters, without giving any indication of its size.
Noting that the cost of buying and distributing vaccines was not included in the 13.6 trillion naira ($35.70 billion) 2021 budget, she said ministers were working with health authorities on a plan to be approved by the president and then lawmakers.
“We are already releasing money to the health authority to start operation in the first batch of vaccines that is going to arrive the country in one week,” Ahmed said after meeting President Muhammadu Buhari.
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