Vice-President Kashim Shettima says Nigeria is prepared to collaborate with all member states of the African Union (AU) to advance health security and sovereignty across the continent.
Shettima made the remarks on Friday on the sidelines of the 39th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, stressing that Africa must reduce its dependence on external supply chains and shifting global priorities.
“Nigeria stands ready to collaborate with every member state of our Union to make health security sovereignty measurable in factories commissioned, laboratories accredited, health workers trained, counterfeit markets dismantled, and insurance coverage expanded,” he said in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Stanley Nkwocha.
“Health security is national security, and in an interconnected continent, national security is continental security.
“A virus, as we have witnessed, does not carry a passport. A counterfeit medicine does not respect a border. A pandemic does not wait for bureaucracy.”
The vice-president said Nigeria’s approach is focused on strengthening local pharmaceutical manufacturing, expanding domestic health financing, and reinforcing regulatory oversight to improve national health outcomes.
According to him, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria in December 2023 launched the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, securing over $2.2 billion in health-sector commitments anchored on measurable outcomes.
Shettima added that the country is upgrading quality-control laboratories, intensifying enforcement against substandard and falsified medicines, and streamlining regulatory processes for compliant manufacturers.
The summit also featured the formal launch of the Africa Health Security and Sovereignty Initiative, a collaboration between Nigeria and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), aimed at mobilising investment in health workforce development, community health systems, and sustainable immunisation programmes.
The initiative is expected to deepen continental cooperation and strengthen Africa’s capacity to respond to future public health emergencies.
