Weeks into the coronavirus crisis, the Federal Government has finally decided to meet with indigenous manufacturers to discuss local production of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
The government says this is part of efforts to curtail COVID-19.
Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, spoke when he featured on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum on Friday.
He disclosed that Minister of State for Health, Olorunnibe Mamora, and the Minister of Trade and Investments, Adeniyi Adebayo, would meet with the manufacturers.
The minister said there was shortage of the equipment and the government was ready to partner local manufacturers of medical equipment.
“PPE is in short supply globally, and we want to see how we can start manufacturing them locally. All over the world, people are making masks locally because there is a short supply of masks.
“Those we got from Jack Ma have been shared to the states. We call them starter packs, and they contain masks and test kits. We have given them to states according to their needs.
“Naturally, Lagos got more because it is the epicentre of the virus. We are trying to source the PPE more locally, but one thing about PPE is that if you don’t get it right, you may lose more lives,” he said.
Citizens have been urging the Buhari administration to meet local players to work on mass production of PPE.
Nigeria currently has 190 cases of coronavirus.
More than 50,000 people have been killed worldwide in three months.
