The Nigerian Government’s announcement of the indigenous development and validation of RNA Swift, a test kit for the identification of Covid-19, has sparked mixed reactions from online users.
Kemi Filani News reports that the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu made the disclosure at a press briefing hours ago.
According to him, the “RNA Swift has amazing precision for the detection of SARS-COV-2 and would be available at a price that places it ahead of competitors in terms of sensitivity and affordability.”
According to Dr. Onu, the RNA Swift was borne out of a need in the Agricultural sector to test Nigerian farmers and labourers in the country.
He further disclosed that in the coming months, 5 Million farmers will be tested with the RNA Swift kits from the first 10 million kits to be produced.
The Minister described the development of the testing kit as “Nigeria’s gift and contribution to help Africa and the World fight the Covid-19 pandemic” adding that by encouraging Nigerian scientists and innovators, Nigeria has the capacity to find solutions to global challenges.
Below are some mixed reactions from Nigerians online:
One Lolade on Instagram wrote “A good thing but please don’t tell us you spent trillion dollars to make the kit”
Another user wrote “Our politicians have lied so much to us that I find it difficult to trust or believe them. In which Lab was this developed?”
One David wrote “Nigeria has started another scam again o”
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