BY AMOS DUNIA, IN BENIN – The Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA), on Saturday in Benin, the Edo State capital, stressed the importance of developing African solutions for the growth and development of the continent.
Executive-Director of CoDA, Ms. Souad Adon-Osman, who stated this position at a press conference preparatory to the launch the Independent Taskforce On Equitable and Universal Access to Vaccines and Vaccination in Africa, said the continent needs a multi-sectoral approach towards achieving universal access to vaccines and vaccination.
Adon-Osman said the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State will be hosting the launch of the taskforce’s initiative on vaccine and vaccination which is being led by Nigeria former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
The CoDA Executive Director said the COVID-19 pandemic provides Africa with the opportunity for structural transformation, especially one that will move countries on the continent from being producers of raw material and consumers products as well as solutions from the outside to a continent replete with home grown solutions.
This is as she emphasised the role the private sector can play in changing Africa’s current situation of depending on others.
Adon-Osman; “We need to localise our solutions. We have been hit by an unprecedented scourge. The COVID-19 pandemic crippled the whole world, but again we are coming out of the pandemic as if we were the most unprepared continent.
“We are in a situation where Cuba is going to vaccinate its people with its own vaccine. For the entire continent of Africa, seven countries are claiming to be in the race of developing a vaccine.
“In April, CoDA organised a virtual conversation in collaboration with the Africa Centre for Disease Control, the Africa Development Bank, AFREXIM and other partners. What came out of the two-day dialogue was that Africa should come up with its own solution and stop being at the receiving end of everything,” Adon-Osman said.
In his own remarks, the President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), who is representing the private sector, Mr. Ahmed Mansur, said African manufacturers are willing to play a part in moving the continent from being receivers of foreign solutions to a developer of its own products which meet global standards.
Mansur said the time has come for Africa countries to scale up their capacity to produce and industrialise adding that if the continent is in a position to produce more, it therefore has a choice to use what they produce in Africa or import.
In his words; “We can even trade more equitably. I believe this is what CoDA is talking about. The focus on vaccine is clear because now there are countries you can’t travel to if you haven’t used the vaccine they have approved.
“For members of the media in Nigeria, this is a song that even our President has been singing-that we must produce what we need and we must consume what we produce. This is basically what we need to do in Africa, across different sectors.
A report by the World Health Organisation states that less than two percent of the 690 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered to date globally have been in Africa, where most countries received vaccines only five weeks ago and in small quantities.
It states; “Forty-five African countries have received vaccines, 43 of them have begun vaccinations and nearly 13 million of the 31.6 million doses delivered so far have been administered. The pace of vaccine rollout is, however, not uniform, with 93% of the doses given in 10 countries”.
