The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari(retd), on Monday, said the Federal Government had provided funds for the establishment of laboratories in all federal tertiary institutions and its research centres.
Speaking at the 2nd Regional Annual Scientific Conference and Induction of Elected Fellows of the West African Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science in Abuja, Buhari who was represented by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, further said the World Health Organisation helped in training Nigerian scientists, improving their capacity to conduct test and “get to where we are today.”
He said, “Our monocular laboratory assets has since then increased in both private and public sphere, while knowledge and skills to conduct testing has spread to hundreds of laboratory scientists around the country.
“This rapid and widespread expansion of their diagnostic capacity was one of the advantages and benefits that helped us to manage the COVID-19 pandemic with whatever accuracy we have talked about today and with safety that has come along with it.
“With all the assets we have, with all the training and skills we must dedicate ourselves to productivity to show that we can do more.
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“We are going into the academic sequencing research; we have taken the first step in trying to produce vaccines.
“This means that there is a lot of work to do. We are still grappling with new revelations about this virus some of which surprise us which means we still have a long way to go to use what we understand to protect ourselves.
“We must continue to be alert and provide an opportunity for our scientists to contribute to the body of knowledge on this subject and other subjects.”
In his opening remarks, Ehanire, who was represented by the Director of Hospital Services, Dr. Adebimpe Adebiyi, said, “At the onset of COVID-19, very few laboratories had the capacity to conduct molecular testing, a methodology that has overtaken traditional methods used to identify organisms.
“We could not have effectively managed the pandemic the way we did without increasing the number of laboratories that could detect COVID-19 accurately and in a safe manner.
“As of today, the government has made available funds for the establishment of molecular laboratories in all the Federal tertiary health institutions and research centres. State governments and partners have also supported laboratory strengthening in different ways.”
