Nigerian scientists and researchers were not able to win the sum of N36 million offered by the Federal Government as reward for discovering cures for COVID-19 and Lassa Fever, checks by Daily Post have revealed.
The prize was announced on February 13, 2020, by then Minister of Science and Technology (now Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology), Dr Ogbonnaya Onu.
However, checks by Daily Post revealed that, as of Tuesday, 21 November, 2023 – more than three years after – nobody has been able to claim the cash prize.
Announcing the cash prize, Onu had said, “I challenge all Nigerian scientists to go out and find cures for coronavirus and Lassa fever. Any scientist that is able to do this will be given N36 million.”
“There is nothing that we want to do that we can’t do. Nigeria will be making contributions to the world,” he added.
At the time the minister dangled the cash prize before Nigerian scientists, coronavirus had not spread beyond China, where about a thousand deaths have been recorded.
Less than a month after the cash prize was announced, on March 1, 2020, a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Maurice Iwu, at a meeting with Onu at the headquarters of the Ministry in Abuja, unveiled what he described as a potential cure for COVID-19.
Noting that a Non-Clinical Evaluation Agreement was signed between the research group and the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, an agency of the US government, on February 27, 2020, Iwu appealed to the Federal Government and Nigerians to support the group to develop its potential cure into a drug. He said the only factor hindering the development of the drug is finance.
In his response to Iwu’s presentation, Onu advised the research group to make its discoveries available to a team set up by the Federal Government to test potential cures and medical innovations.
The minister added that the N36 million cash prize which the Federal Government offered to any Nigerian that discovers cures for coronavirus and Lassa Fever was meant to motivate scientists in the country.
Subsequently, in May 2020, the minister disclosed that following the announcement of the cash prize, a committee has been set up to look into claims by some Nigerians who are insisting that they have found the cure for the COVID-19 disease.
“You will recall that on 13th February, 2020, I challenged Nigerian scientists to find a cure for the COVID-19 disease, and pledged a financial reward of N36 million.
“Since then, many institutions and individuals have written to us claiming their research results and natural products can cure the COVID-19.
“Accordingly, a committee comprising Fellows of the Nigerian Academy of Science will help us review these claims,” Onu said on May 14, 2020.
That was the last that was heard about the cash prize.
Iwu’s attempt is the most publicised among efforts made by Nigerian researchers and scientists to develop a cure for COVID-19.
Apparently, Iwu and his research group did not succeed in producing the cure as, by the time COVID-19 spread across the world, Nigeria had to rely on vaccines imported from abroad to curb the spread of the disease.
Not much was heard of efforts by Nigerian scientists to claim the N36 million by finding a cure for Lassa Fever, a more localised and, arguably, deadlier disease.
There is still no certain cure for Lassa Fever, a seasonal disease that usually breaks out in parts of Nigeria during the dry season, with most infections resulting in death.
N36 million cash prize unclaimed, forgotten
After three years, Nigerian scientists were not able to collect the N36 million cash prize.
Sources in the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology informed Daily Post that the cash prize was not won by any scientist.
Checks also further revealed that the N36 million cash prize has been forgotten, with the departure of the former minister, Ogbonnaya Onu, who championed the project.
The exit of the former administration, headed by Muhammadu Buhari, who was the President when the prize was announced, also indicates that the matter has been overtaken by events, and consigned to history.
