Thoughts about the Pfizer settlement

I stumbled into your site while searching for something else. I was interested in . Obviously your position is based on 'patriotism', i.e. we must support our people even in the face of obvious fabrications. As a Nigerian, I know that it is not possible to do the kind of thing Pfizer came to do without our government's permission. How was the equipment for the trials imported? I work for an NGO and our investigations revealed that Pfizer was permitted to carry out the trials by the federal government, NAFDAC and the Kano State government. We have been in the forefront of those clamouring for an out-of-court settlement because we have seen that the case against Pfizer is not as tight as we had thought.

You seem to be convinced that because a company is rich, it should be blackmailed to part with a large slice of its profit. I can't really confirm the total amount involved in the settlement aside from the figures carried in the newspapers. US$75 million is a lot of money. That is about 13 billion Nigerian Naira – almost three times the health budget of Kano state for the whole year. Who do we blame for the meningitis epidemic killing people in the northern parts of the country this year?

As a mother and a social activist, I have seen the misery our people are exposed to every year. Our governments should wake up. The World Health Organisation came to our rescue this year but their assistance fell short of our requirements. I don't want potential helpers to have the impression that we are just a bunch of blackmailers. If there hadn't been court cases over the Trovan trials who knows, maybe we would have called on Pfizer again this year to come to our aid. I am all for the settlement. I get your point about the litigation against Shell. But there is no parallel between that and the Pfizer case.