Nigeria on Sunday announced the signing of an agreement with Cuba on vaccine production, technology transfer, contract manufacturing and commercialization of Cuban biopharmaceutical products in the West African country.

A deal was announced by Nigeria's Ambassador to Cuba, Benaoyagha Okoyen, who added in a statement that the two countries also agreed to partner in other areas.

"The Embassy of Nigeria in Havana, through the leadership of the Ambassador played a significant role in taking the Nigerian delegation through the different stages of their participation in the conference, including the coordination of several relevant side meetings," the statement read in part.

The deal is a big boost for Nigeria's efforts to bolster its preparedness for health crises.

In February, the West African nation was also among six African countries selected by the World Health Organization (WHO) to receive the tools needed to produce messenger RNA vaccines in Africa. The others were Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia.

Under the plan, the six countries will receive training and technical know-how on how to produce this type of vaccine from the global mRNA technology transfer hub in Cape Town, South Africa, which was established last year.