Nigeria has received one million doses of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine from Greece
The Foreign Minister of Greece, Nikos Dendias said that the donation was part of Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis contribution to the fight against COVID-19.
Mr Dendias made this known at an event that also saw the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
According to him, Greece sees the donation as an obligation towards the COVID-19 challenge.
“We believe that we have an obligation towards the world to contribute as much as we can to address this challenge. Because we believe that unless the whole world is safe, no one is safe,” Mr Dendias said.
He confirmed that the MoU would boost the bilateral relations between both countries.
“The signatures on the bilateral cooperation is a significant step, but many agreements are on the pipeline. We would maybe be able to conclude them soon. Trade, tourism, maritime, sports, energy, lots and lots to do,” he said.
The Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs also pledged his country’s commitment to training Nigeria’s military and air force to combat terrorism and insecurity in the country.
Mr Dendias explained that Greece as a part of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will be happy to cooperate with Nigeria especially on the freedom of navigation.
The Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama while responding, said that the MoU signed was centred on bilateral issues to promote trade, market access for Nigerian agricultural products, tourism and migration.
“We’ve discussed how we can put emphasis on regular legal migration and also to benefit from some of the recent agreements to be signed by Greece and other countries in the areas of migration,” Mr Onyeama said.
He appreciated the Greek government for the one million vaccine donation to Nigeria for the fight against COVID.
“COVID-19 is a global challenge and I think by this gesture, the Greek government is showing that they see covid as a global challenge and the response to covid as a global responsibility.”
Mr Onyeama added that the cooperation would span to a multilateral level to include the United Nations and other multilateral organizations.
