President Goodluck Jonathan has said that no
Nigerian should be allowed to die from HIV/
AIDS henceforth, noting that there had been no
comprehensive plan in the fight against HIV/
AIDS and its management.
Jonathan decried the continuous prevalence of
HIV/AIDS scourge in Nigeria, and flayed the
uncoordinated approach to the campaign
against the killer disease.
Speaking at the presentation of his emergency
plan for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria for 2013-2015,
organised by the Office of Chief of Staff to the
President, Mike Ogiadomhe, Jonathan said, “If
we must be able to achieve our target, we
must have management plan. I believe that we
don’t have the kind of comprehensive
management plan. All departments are just
spending but we don’t have a coordinated
plan.
“I believe that there is no coordinated plan to
bring the corporate organizations who will be
willing to contribute towards the management.
If we have this plan in place, gradually the
prevalent rate will continue to drop year by
year until we get to the level we are targeting.”
The president also said N630
billion ($4.2 billion) is
required to tackle the HIV/
AIDS pandemic between 2010 and 2015 in
Nigeria, a country where over 3.4 million
persons are living with the disease, the federal
government disclosed yesterday.
But sadly, it lamented that, only about N198.5
billion ($1.28 billion) had so far been sourced,
which falls short of the amount required for
the half-term response in the implementation
of the National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan,NSP,
within the period of 2010 and 2013, which
amounted to N126.9 billion ($820 million).
He said, “If we must successfully manage HIV,
we must have a comprehensive plan. Example:
how many of anti-retroviral drugs doses we
need as a nation for a month and for a year?
How many we need for Bayelsa State? How
many we need for Benue State, etc? How can
we fund it? What are the states’ spending?
what is the federal government spending?
“What are we getting from development
partners? The funding gap: can we collectively
procure these drugs to reduce cost? How do
we make sure that all Nigerians know
everything about HIV/AIDS to avoid new
infections or transmission?
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