NSIA, Global Citizen Set Up Nigeria Solidarity Support Fund To Fight COVID-19

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and the Global Citizen have set up the Nigeria Solidarity Support Fund to fight COVID-19 and they plan to raise millions of dollars.

At a virtual conference on Thursday, the partners disclosed that the Nigeria Solidarity Support Fund was focused on providing immediate and long-term support in the fight against the pandemic.

The NSIA was established to drive sustained economic development in Nigeria through enhancing the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure, and providing stabilisation support in times of economic crisis.  

The Global Citizen is the world’s largest movement of action takers and impact makers dedicated to ending extreme poverty by 2030.

The Managing Director, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Uche Orji, said, “The COVID- 19 pandemic has placed an unprecedented health, social and economic stress on our nation. We are thrilled to partner with Global Citizen in launching the Nigeria Solidarity Support Fund, as the Fund Manager.” 

Orji said that the Solidarity Fund would  enable the expansion of primary healthcare, through improving access, building capacity, and enhancing the resilience of the nation’s health delivery, especially in rural and underserved communities.

“In outlining NSIA’s infrastructure investment strategy, we took a long-term approach to intervening in the healthcare sector. Our goal has been to create model tertiary healthcare facilities designed and equipped to international standards to reduce the foreign exchange burden of medical tourism and develop domestic expertise in tertiary healthcare. 

“We have had some successes on this front notably through our 3 flagship projects: the Cancer Centre at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and Advanced Diagnostic Centres at Federal Medical Centre Umuahia (FMCU) and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH),” he added. 

While NSIA is the Fund Manager, the Global Citizen Nigeria, will raise funds through a virtual  concert that will take place soon. The concert will feature musicians like Patoranking and others.

The Global.Citizen recently, through a global concert, raised $127. 9 million for coronavirus response efforts.

The Chairman of Global Citizen Nigeria, Tunde Folawiyo, noted that, “Global Citizen will mobilize Nigerians, Nigerians in the diaspora, our global partners, together with the philanthropic and private sectors in our nation’s fight against COVID-19.”

He added that the Fund  was aimed at rebuilding towards a more responsive and a resilient Nigeria post coronavirus crisis.

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, the Vice Chairman of Global Citizen Nigeria, said that the efforts of the partnership would go beyond the healthcare sector.

According to him, the Fund will be directed towards supporting the most vulnerable, strengthening the domestic healthcare systems, expanding access to rural and community focused universal healthcare and re-skilling and re-tooling for Nigeria’s renaissance post COVID-19.

The Global Citizen through its partners and  with high-level advocacy efforts, has been able to exert commitments and policy announcements from world leaders valued at over $48 billion (N17.328 trillion), which is targeted at 2.25 billion people across the globe by 2030.

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