President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday berated the United States and Europe for what he described as “unacceptable” global access to COVID-19 vaccines.

“I will take this opportunity to remind the global community that the current state of global access to COVID-19 vaccines is unacceptable. We cannot afford a situation where a handful of countries keep the global vaccine supply to themselves at the expense of other nations,” Mr Buhari said. “We must act now to accelerate equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.”

Mr Buhari, while delivering his Independence Day national broadcast on Friday, said the current state of access to COVID-19 vaccines was unacceptable.

He said the country had built its healthcare system to respond to the outbreak and spread of the deadly Delta variant of the COVID-19 vaccines.

The president also disclosed that his administration would invest more to support Nigerian pharmaceutical and research agencies to develop the local development of vaccines for COVID-19.

“Accordingly, I have directed the ministry of finance budget and national planning, health, education, science, and technology to work with Nigerian and international pharmaceutical companies and research organisations to enhance Nigeria’s domestic pharmaceutical capacity,” he further said.

His comments came a few weeks after the World Health Organisation disclosed that only 13 African countries had vaccinated more than 10 per cent of their population.

However, Nigeria was not listed amongst the countries to have vaccinated more than 10 per cent of its population.

WHO blamed the crippling vaccine supply shortage for the laggard vaccination exercise in the continent.

Nigeria, which started vaccinating its population in March after receiving the first batch of Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine, has vaccinated only 0.7 per cent of its population.