The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced an additional $10.6 million in development assistance to continue support for the goals outlined in a 2021 Development Objectives Assistance Agreement signed between the U.S. and Nigerian governments.
The U.S’ agency stated that most of the new funding would be used to finance the Nigerian government’s efforts aimed at increasing COVID-19 vaccination to reach 600,000 people a day target.
The funding assistance is expected to help the USAID in deepening its support for all levels of government to meet their vaccination targets in the country.
In addition, the funds will also support integrating COVID-19 vaccinations into routine immunization and primary health care systems, state level data collection and analytics, health worker training, and expansion of vaccination access points at the community level.
Speaking on the funding support, USAID Mission Director, Anne Patterson, said: “Given the significant progress Nigeria has made, we are pleased to provide more funds to improve COVID-19 vaccine delivery services.
“These new funds will deepen our support for all levels of government to meet their vaccination targets”, she added.
The latest funding support increases the total U.S. assistance to the Nigerian people to $179 million under the five-year $2.1 billion Development Objectives Assistance Agreement signed between USAID and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning as affirmed by the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, during his visit to Nigeria in November 2021.
