This came as Nigeria was classified the worst-performing country in West Africa in the global effort to combat inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Federal Government has been ordered to invest heavily in public education, health, and social protection to combat poverty, unemployment, and other inequalities.

The development, according to the Federal Government, complied with the commitment to increase COVID-19 vaccination adoption.

Dr. Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, said this at a press conference yesterday to inform Nigerians of the country’s current COVID-19 immunization status.

“The goal of this plan is to vaccinate a big number of people at significant places like federal institutions (universities, polytechnics), retail malls, religious centers, sporting events, conference centers, and markets,” he explained.

“This will require strong collaboration between NPHCDA, state governments, religious bodies, school authorities and governing bodies of malls and large sporting events.”

“As we expand the vaccination sites, we encourage all eligible Nigerians to avail themselves for vaccination.

“I am also glad to inform you that we have commenced the process of decentralizing COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria, to include private health care providers.

“This is to expand access and increase utilization of the vaccines,” he added.

“A total of 5,246,523 eligible populations have gotten at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria,” Shuaib said at the time of the briefing.

“This equates to 4.7 percent of our target demographic.”

“In Nigeria, the number of fully vaccinated eligible persons is 2,546,094, which represents 2.3 percent of our target population,” he stated.