Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, confirmed this at a State House briefing in Abuja on Thursday.

Shuaib said, once the President and Vice President receive the vaccine, this will boost the confidence of Nigerians to receive the doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine.

Shuaib said, “The next step in the vaccination programme given that we’ve now received the vaccines is a launch that will be taking place at the National Hospital tomorrow (Friday). The time scheduled for that launch is 10am. The launch will be conducted by the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

“The plan is to vaccinate the frontline health workers that work in the treatment centre of the National Hospital. Those will be the first people just like we’ve communicated that frontline health workers will be the first people to take the vaccine.

“After that, the plan is to vaccinate Mr President, Mr Vice-President and strategic leaders on Saturday. Again, we are hopeful that when Nigerians see leaders like Mr President and Mr Vice-President take the vaccine; it will increase their confidence around the safety of the vaccines

“As you are well aware that even before the vaccine arrived Nigeria, there is a lot of hesitancy. It is a global phenomenon. Vaccine hesitancy is similar no matter where you are, you have to provide the right information and to those people who have questions, we cannot dismiss their cynicism.

“It is our responsibility as public health workers not to only offer the vaccine but do the extra work in terms of providing the resources that are needed and to convince people that these vaccines are safe.”

It was established after the violence and destruction that trailed the End SARS protest.

Citibank Nigeria Chairman, Yemi Cardoso heads the eight-member Board.

Recall that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had constituted the team early this month after singing an Executive Order to restore lost assets in the State.

The Trust Fund will oversee the government’s recovery process.

According to the Vice President, the FBN Trustees headed by Kunle Awojobi will oversee the body for transparency.

It will comprise five members from the private sector, two members from the public sector and one member from the international aid community.

The Trust Fund will get a detailed cost of restructuring and rebuilding of destroyed assets.

The team will also advise the state on the most critical assets to prioritise and identify emergency response service critically needed

The approval is part of measures aimed at containing the security situation in the country.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday titled “FG approves N13bn for take-off of community policing in Nigeria.”

Akande said, based on the approval, the National Economic Council at its virtual meeting on Thursday and chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, resolved that the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Kayode Fayemi; with two other governors, meet with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to coordinate the proper utilisation of the funding of the initiative.

The statement read, “The National Economic Council Ad-hoc Committee on Security and Policing had made a presentation on its assignment to the council, noting that engagement with key stakeholders on the operationalisation of community policing in the country was ongoing.

“The presentation was made by Governor Kayode Fayemi, who is also the Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum.

“Other reports received by council at today’s meeting included reports on the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country; flood disaster risk management in Nigeria for 2020, and the issue of compensation payments regarding federal highway projects across the country.

“Responding to two presentations on the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria: one by NEC’s Adhoc committee interfacing with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, and the other by Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, the state governors commended the efforts and commitment of the Federal Government in containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting states’ response capacity through various interventions.

“The NCDC report indicates that the positivity rate has fallen from 19.7% in June to 13.7% in August 2020, while number of states with testing laboratories increased from two to 32, including the FCT.”

Other highlights of the meeting, according to the statements are that Ahmed reported to the council that the as of August 18, 2020 the balance on Excess Crude Account was $72,408,119.44; Stabilisation Fund Account was N44, 207, 377,110.34; and the Natural Resources Development Fund Account was N144, 047, 195, 020.54.