President Buhari issues a challenge to universities to develop COVID-19 vaccine

President Muhammadu Buhari has challenged Nigerian universities to step up their research in order to develop a COVID-19 vaccine to combat the country’s dreaded virus.

The challenge was issued by the President, who was represented by the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, at the 5th and 6th combined convocation of the Federal University Dutsin-Ma (FUDMA) on Saturday.

He explained that Nigerian universities were supposed to be centers for scientific and technological discoveries, inventions, the formation of values and character, and drivers of societal development.

The president went on to say that developing the vaccine would strengthen Nigerians’ immune systems against the virus.

He also stated that his administration was still committed to addressing the challenges of long-term funding for research, capacity building, and job creation.

“You all know that the COVID-19 pandemic began its devastating effect on the education sub-sectors in the year 2020, leading to the destruction of universities’ academic activities,” he says.

“As a result, I urge and encourage universities to accelerate their research in order to develop a more potent vaccine to fortify our immune system against this dreaded virus.”

He also charged the universities with investigating available opportunities, such as research collaboration with allied industries and development partners, in order to generate additional revenue streams.

According to the President, this will help his economic diversification efforts.

He did, however, state that the federal government is committed to combating and defeating all acts of criminality across the country in order for meaningful development to thrive.

“Our security is a collective responsibility; we must work with the government to provide useful information to security agents to enable proactive mitigation of any of these occurrences,” he added.

Because of the country’s current security challenges, the University’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Armaya’u Hamisu-Bichi, has urged the federal government to dig trenches around the institution’s main campus.