UPDATE 1-Nigeria working on type and quantity of COVID-19 vaccines to procure, minister says

(Adds details, background)
By Chijioke Ohuocha
ABUJA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Nigeria is working on what type
and quantity of COVID-19 vaccines to procure and will make
financial provision for them in its 2021 budget, Finance
Minister Zainab Ahmed said on Tuesday.
Africa's most populous nation has not been as hard-hit by
the pandemic as others on the continent, such as South Africa,
but it is in the grip of a second wave of infections.
Nigerian authorities have previously said the country is
working with the COVAX programme backed by the World Health
Organization and expects to receive its first doses in
January. Ahmed said the finance and health ministries should finalize
an amount to allocate to vaccine procurement within the next two
weeks. She said ministers also held talks with lawmakers about
budgeting measures.
"We agreed that the effort needed to be done so that we have
clarity as to whether the provisions to the budget will be
adequate or we have to make additional provisions by way of a
special supplementary budget to make more provisions for
COVID-19 vaccinations," she said.
She said lawmakers were "committed" to a "very quick"
supplementary budget for additional spending on COVID-19 if that
was needed.
Nigeria expects to receive COVID-19 vaccine donations that
will cover 20% of its population and then procure additional 50%
of its vaccine requirement to achieve herd immunity, the
country's budget head said.
The donations will include all types of vaccines, Ben
Akabueze, director general of the Budget office, told a virtual
conference during the 2021 budget presentation.
As of Tuesday, Nigeria had 101,3314 confirmed cases and
1,361 deaths.