Zainab Ahmed, Nigeria's finance minister, has said the biggest challenge facing the country's Covid-19 vaccination programme is accessing available doses. Nigeria has so far only received four million of the 43 million vaccines it has been promised by the Covax programme, according to the minister, who said the government expects to offer vaccines to 70 percent of the population by next year.
In an interview with FRANCE 24, Ahmed also defended Nigeria's recent ban on Twitter, saying it shouldn't affect the country's image in the eyes of international investors. She said the move was "not something that we take lightly", and that the government had planned talks with the social media company over the issue.
Nigeria's economy went into recession in 2020, largely due to a drop in oil prices. Ahmed is hoping for a strong upturn in growth by the end of this year, and described warnings of an increase in poverty among Nigerians as a "very disturbing development."
The government is planning to create jobs with massive new investment in public works and low-cost housing, she said. The extra spending will be funded by increasing tax revenue and improving how taxes are collected.
