The decision came in response to the non-appearance of ministry officials at the investigative hearing conducted by PAC.

The motion to mandate the refund was initiated by Bassey Akiba, a Labour Party member from Cross River State, during the committee’s sitting at the National Assembly.

PAC had invited 59 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies for an investigative hearing on the alleged mismanagement of funds designated to combat the global health pandemic.

The hearing, initially scheduled for January 17, was moved to Thursday to express solidarity with the government and people of Oyo State after an explosion in the state capital, Ibadan.

Despite multiple invitations extended to the Ministry, its officials failed to attend the hearing. Committee Chairman Bamidele Salam expressed dissatisfaction with the Ministry’s non-compliance, stating, N75 billion Naira was appropriated to them.

The former Permanent Secretary and the current Permanent Secretary are affected by this motion to refund the sum of N75 billion back to the Federal Government as COVID-19 intervention funds, which as far as we are concerned, has not been expended.

The committee also directed the Federal Ministry of Health to return N10 billion earmarked for the production of COVID-19 vaccines, which remained unutilized.

Unlike the Trade Ministry, the Health Ministry sent a representative, Permanent Secretary Daju Kachallom, who explained that the funds were with the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

The committee emphasized the need for the money to be returned, allowing the Ministry to reapply to the National Assembly if the funds are still required.

In a parallel development, the committee instructed Salihijo Ahmed, Director General of the Rural Electrification Agency, to submit detailed documents outlining the utilization of the agency’s COVID-19 Intervention funds.

Dr. Bassey Okposen, the Director of Disease Control and Immunization at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), announced this accomplishment during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Nigeria had set an ambitious goal to fully vaccinate 70% of its eligible population by December 2022, and it has now successfully reached this target.

Dr. Okposen highlighted that 80% of eligible individuals in the country have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 17.5 million people are fully vaccinated, having received additional COVID-19 booster doses.

As of October 1, Nigeria has administered a total of 132,212,099 vaccine doses. Six states in the country have achieved a remarkable 100% vaccination rate among their target populations, and these states include Nasarawa, Jigawa, Osun, Kaduna, Kano, and Adamawa.

This milestone represents a significant step in Nigeria’s efforts to combat the ongoing pandemic and protect the health and well-being of its citizens.

The commitment to public health and the success of the vaccination campaign have exceeded expectations, demonstrating the nation’s determination to control the spread of the virus and mitigate the devastating impacts of COVID-19.

Vaccinating 70% of the population is a crucial milestone known as achieving herd immunity, which is essential for controlling the spread of the virus within a population.

Herd immunity occurs when a large proportion of the community becomes immune to a disease through vaccination or prior infection, creating a barrier that hinders the virus’s easy transmission.

This not only protects those who are vaccinated but also offers indirect protection to individuals who cannot receive the vaccine due to medical conditions or other factors.

While achieving a 70% vaccination rate is a significant achievement, it does not mark the end of the pandemic. The virus can still circulate among unvaccinated individuals, and new variants may emerge, necessitating ongoing monitoring and potential updates to vaccination strategies.

Dr. Okposen emphasized the importance of continued adherence to public health measures, such as mask-wearing for individuals with comorbidities, good hygiene practices, and maintaining social distancing, even with high vaccination rates.

The success in achieving this vaccination milestone is attributed to various strategies, including SCALES 3.0 (Service delivery, Communication, Accountability, Logistics, Electronic management of immunization data, and supportive supervision), and the integration of COVID-19 vaccination into routine immunization programs.

As of October 31, 2023, Nigeria has conducted over 5,708,974 COVID-19 tests, with 266,675 confirmed cases and 259,953 recoveries. Currently, there are 3,567 active cases, and the country has reported 3,155 COVID-19-related deaths.

Nigeria’s vaccination journey began on March 2, 2021, when the country received its first batch of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. Since then, seven vaccines have been approved for use in Nigeria, with three of them undergoing clinical trials.

The approved vaccines in Nigeria are Moderna (Spikevax), Pfizer/BioNTech (Comirnaty), Gamaleya (Sputnik V), Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) (Jcovden), Oxford/AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria), Serum Institute of India (Covishield), and Sinopharm (Covilo).

Among these, Pfizer, BioNTech, and Comirnaty are approved for clinical trials. These vaccines play a crucial role in Nigeria’s comprehensive strategy to combat the pandemic and protect its population.

This crucial decision came following the adoption of a motion introduced by Representative Nyampa Zakari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Adamawa during a plenary session on Tuesday.

Representative Zakari, while presenting the motion, underscored the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in 2019.

He emphasized that the pandemic had far-reaching effects, affecting families, businesses, and economies on a global scale.

It resulted in the tragic loss of lives, widespread job losses, and the disruption of economic opportunities, impacting millions of households, both in Nigeria and worldwide.

The lawmaker pointed out that in response to the economic disruptions brought about by the pandemic, numerous programs, policies, and interventions were introduced to revitalize the economies of families, small businesses, and public corporations.

He stressed that the Nigerian government had implemented various measures, including budgetary provisions and funding from international donor agencies, to combat the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on its citizens.

Representative Zakari drew attention to the fact that significant funds, including N83.9 billion allocated in the 2020 Appropriation Act for COVID-19 response and over N100 billion as intervention funds through supplementary budgets and international donor agencies, were intended for COVID-19 palliatives.

However, reports from the Auditor-General and other sources indicated that substantial funds earmarked for COVID-19 interventions had been diverted and remained unaccounted for by different government agencies.

Concerns were raised about the potential negative economic implications and the loss of opportunities for Nigeria due to the lack of proper accountability for funds allocated for COVID-19 intervention by both the Federal Government and global donor agencies.

During the discussion, Representative Ahmed Jaha of the APC from Borno highlighted that the amount allocated for COVID-19 intervention could have been used to establish standard hospitals in all 360 federal constituencies in the country.

He also expressed concern that some of the funds had allegedly been utilized for projects unrelated to safeguarding public health, such as road construction.

In response to these concerns, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas mandated the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to carry out a thorough investigation into the expenditure of these funds and present their findings within four weeks for further legislative action.

This move represents a crucial step toward ensuring transparency and accountability in the utilization of funds designated for COVID-19 intervention.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding its potential impact, these organizations are closely observing its development.

The WHO categorized this emerging variant as a subject of surveillance due to its possession of a significant number of spike gene mutations—over 30, to be precise.

This classification was detailed in a pandemic bulletin released by the WHO on Thursday.

So far, BA.2.86 has exclusively been identified in Israel, Denmark, and the United States.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) affirmed its active monitoring of the variant. This announcement was conveyed through a message posted on the X social platform (formerly known as Twitter).

Currently, there are only four known sequences of this variant, as verified by the WHO.

While the implications of the BA.2.86 mutations remain unclear, they are under thorough evaluation by the WHO.

In the realm of Covid-19, the WHO’s ongoing surveillance encompasses more than 10 variants and their corresponding lineages.

While several nations had established robust surveillance mechanisms for the virus, many of these operations have been dismantled under the assumption that the virus is no longer as severe.

The WHO, however, has condemned this move and has called for intensified monitoring efforts instead.

In the reporting interval spanning from July 17 to August 13, the WHO recorded a detection of over 1.4 million new Covid-19 cases, alongside more than 2,300 reported deaths.

This reflects a 63 percent surge in case numbers compared to the previous 28-day period, whereas deaths have declined by 56 percent.

As of August 13, the global tally of confirmed Covid-19 cases surpassed 769 million, with over 6.9 million reported deaths. It is anticipated that the true toll might be considerably higher due to undetected cases.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of WHO, delivered this message on Monday during the annual meeting of its 194 member states in Geneva, Switzerland. He unveiled a new global initiative aimed at identifying and monitoring the most hazardous pathogens.

Addressing the World Health Assembly forum, Dr Tedros emphasized the urgency of confronting an imminent public health crisis rather than deferring it for the future.

He acknowledged that while the darkest days of the pandemic are now behind us, the potential for a doomsday variant of COVID-19 to emerge still exists, which could reset the world’s progress back to square one.

Dr Tedros stated, “The risk of another variant emerging, leading to fresh waves of disease and fatalities, persists. Additionally, there is a looming danger of a novel pathogen emerging with even greater lethal potential.”

Although specific diseases were not mentioned, the UN agency’s list of imminent threats includes “Disease X,” a term used to describe a devastating pathogen that has not yet been identified.

These comments by Dr Tedros come several weeks after WHO declared that COVID-19 no longer posed a public health emergency of international concern.

Instead, the virus is now recognized as an established and ongoing health issue that demands continuous attention and management.

At its 15th meeting on Thursday, the international health regulations emergency committee of the world health organization, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus, decided to implement the measure.

“Yesterday, the Emergency Committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern. I’ve accepted that advice. It’s therefore with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency,” Ghebreyesus said.

COVID was deemed a public health emergency of worldwide concern by WHO on January 20, 2020.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is an infectious disease known as COVID-19.

The majority of virus-infected individuals will experience a mild to severe respiratory disease and will recover without the need for special care. However, some people will get serious illnesses and need to see a doctor. Serious sickness is more likely to strike older persons and those with underlying medical illnesses including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or chronic respiratory diseases.

It, however, noted that for the country to achieve herd immunity, about 70 to 90 per cent of the population needs to be immune to a disease, either by contracting the disease and recovering or by getting a protective vaccine.

This is just as experts blamed misinformation as a critical element in the hesitancy witnessed in the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.

They spoke at the End of Project knowledge-sharing event for the Accelerating Equitable Access, Acceptance and Uptake of COVID-19 Vaccines (ACCESS) Project in Abuja on Tuesday.

The event was organised by Pathfinder International with support from the MacArthur Foundation.

According to the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaibu, only 60 per cent of the targeted population for COVID-19 vaccination had taken the full jabs in the country.

Shuaibu, who was represented by the State Immunisation Officer, FCT, Dr. Nicholas Okoli: “We all know that for us to attain herd immunity, a significant number of the population must have been vaccinated.

“Our target is to vaccinate every eligible person, 18 years and above, in Nigeria. That translates to about 70 per cent of the population. But as I speak to you now, we are still short of that 70 per cent.

“Today, we’re just about 60.1 per cent as against our target of 70 per cent. Though, this 60.1 per cent is nationwide, but if you come down to different states, we have those who are still at 54 per cent, some are at 60 per cent and others 70 per cent.  Some states have also surpassed this 70 per cent target.

“State like Nasarawa State have gone up 100 per cent.  However, as a nation, we must get to 70 per cent  before we can get to beat our chest and say yes, we have attended immunity. In FCT, we are recording about 50 per cent vaccination.”

On her part, the Country Director, Pathfinder International, Dr. Amina Dorayi, warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is still around.

She, however, urged critical stakeholders to sustain the observance of COVID-19 protocols in the country to conquer the variants.

Dorayi said: “Actually, it’s something that we should still be worried about. COVID-19 is still with us. I know that in the last couple of weeks, there was another wave of flu or viral like symptoms and for those that were encouraged to go and take the COVID-19 test, quite a number of them still came out positive.

“But the good thing is that because of herd immunity, the symptoms are not as very fatal as they used to be in the beginning. But still, it doesn’t stop us from continuing to protect ourselves, especially through trying to reduce infections, hand washing and the basic principles of being able to take preventive measures around COVID and every other viral disease.”

She explained that the ACCESS project was aimed at addressing vaccine hesitancy, building trust, and ensuing equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in Kano, Kaduna, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

On how the project accelerated the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in the three states, Dorayi said: “We worked with religious leaders, community leaders and community resource persons to actually share or disseminate the correct information about COVID-19 to the community”

According to her, Pathfinder international implemented the project in collaboration with Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN), Nigerian Interfaith Action Association (NIFAA), Vaccine Network for Disease Control (VNDC), and Sapphital Learning Limited.

Other experts who spoke at the event include; the Technical Chairperson of Kano State Emirate Councils Committee on Health, Dr Sha’awa Saidu; the Amir of Muslim Students Society of Nigeria Abuja, Esq.

Muhammad Sarki; the Director of Disease Control in Kano state, Dr Imam Wada Bello; and the Kaduna State Immunization Officer, Mal. Ibrahim Adamu.

They were unanimous in a advocating for increased funding, engagement with community influencers and provision of access to quality health services as solutions to the hinderances against the COVID-19 vaccine uptake.

The Director General of the Organisation, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus disclosed this at a virtual media briefing on Friday, March 17

Recall that COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020, when there were fewer than 100 reported cases of COVID-19 outside China, and also no reported deaths outside the Communist country

A public health emergency of international concern is the highest level of alarm that the WHO can sound under international law.

During the briefing, the WHO chief said there were now almost seven million reported deaths from COVID-19, although the actual number of deaths was much higher.

“We are certainly in a much better position now than we have been at any time during the pandemic. It’s very pleasing to see that for the first time, the weekly number of reported deaths in the past four weeks has been lower than when we first used the word ‘pandemic’ three years ago.I am confident that this year we will be able to say that COVID-19 is over as a public health emergency of international concern.We are not there yet. Last week, there were still more than five thousand reported deaths. That’s five thousand too many for a disease that can be prevented and treated. Even as we become increasingly hopeful about the end of the pandemic, the question of how it began remains unanswered,” he said.

Ghebreyesus urged China to be ‘transparent’ in sharing COVID-19 data in efforts to determine the disease’s origins.

Experts say for a country to achieve herd immunity, about 70 to 90 per cent of the population needs to be immune to a disease, either by contracting the disease and recovering or by getting a protective vaccine. This reaches what the World Health Organisation calls the herd immunity threshold.

Nigeria is the third country in West Africa to receive its first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility on March 2, 2021, and began vaccinating frontline health care workers, the highest-priority recipients, in Abuja on March 5, followed by strategic leaders on March 8.

Checks by our correspondent showed that Nigeria is yet to fully vaccinate 70 per cent of the total eligible persons targeted for COVID-19 vaccination, two years after the commencement of its COVID-19 vaccination.

This is despite efforts made by the Federal Government to ensure that the vaccines would cover over 70 per cent of its population before the end of 2022

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, had said in 2021 that Nigeria would cover over 70 per cent of the country’s population before the end of 2022.

However, data obtained from the official social media platforms of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency showed that only 68,781,471 of the total eligible persons targeted for COVID-19 vaccination, representing 59.3 per cent, had been vaccinated as of March 1, 2023.

Also, only 11,791,111 of the total eligible persons targeted for COVID-19 vaccination have been partially vaccinated, which is 11.0 per cent.

Meanwhile, Seychelles, Rwanda, Liberia, and Mauritius have fully vaccinated 70 per cent of their populations against COVID-19, with Morocco and Cape Verde coming closer to reaching this same milestone.

The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, said the apathy towards COVID-19 vaccination in the country was largely due to rumours, misinformation, and disinformation.

The WHO also acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic is probably at a transition point.

In a press statement issued on Monday after the 14th meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, held on January 27.

The committee agreed that COVID-19 remains a dangerous infectious disease with the capacity to cause substantial damage to health and health systems.

The WHO temporarily recommended that states parties maintain momentum for COVID-19 vaccination to achieve 100 per cent coverage of high-priority groups.

“States Parties should plan for integration of COVID-19 vaccination into part of life-course immunisation programmes. Regular data collection and reporting on vaccine coverage should include both primary and booster doses.

“Improve reporting of SARS-CoV-2 surveillance data to WHO. Better data are needed to: detect, assess, and monitor emerging variants; identify significant changes to COVID-19 epidemiology; and understand the burden of COVID-19 in all regions.

“States Parties are recommended to use an integrated approach to respiratory infectious disease surveillance that leverages the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response system.

“Surveillance should incorporate information from representative sentinel populations, event-based surveillance, human wastewater surveillance, sero-surveillance, and animal-human-environmental surveillance,” it added.

So far, over 13 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, with 89 per cent of health workers and 81 per cent of older adults (over 60 years) having completed the primary series.