Dangote Donates N200million to Federal Government to help fight coronavirus.
Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has donated N200 million to support federal government’s effort in containing the spread of coronavirus in Nigeria.
He made the donation through his foundation, the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF).
The chief executive officer of ADF, Zouera Youssoufou, said the donation is part of the foundation’s cardinal objective in corporate social responsibility.
She said the foundation had earmarked N124 million to support facilities that would assist prevent, assess and respond to health events at points of entry to ensure national health security.
Youssoufou said other areas the foundation is supporting include surveillance and epidemiology, where facilities worth N36 million will be provided to support government’s effort.
She added that foundation would also donate N48 million for case management and training of health workers.
The CEO said the foundation committed about N1 billion to the fight against Ebola virus, another deadly disease that took the lives of over 11,000 persons in Africa.
She said the foundation supported the federal government’s Ebola containment efforts through investments that built resilience and strengthened Nigeria’s health system in a manner expected to endure beyond Ebola crisis.
Speaking at the event, Kathleen Whimp, World Bank operations manager, identified four thematic areas to tackling the spread of coronavirus.
She said the areas include regular communication with the public, contact tracing, training of volunteers and international co-operations.
In his remark, John Oladejo, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) director of health emergency preparedness and response, highlighted challenges involved in containing the virus to include fake news, inadequate isolation centres, among others.
“Inadequate isolation centres, contact tracing, training of volunteers, international cooperation, fake news and panic, were some of the challenges facing COVID-19 outbreak in the country,” he said.
Buhari thanks Dangote
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday hailed the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) for donating the sum of N200 million to assist in combating the influx of coronavirus into thcountry.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday by Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), Femi Adesina, the president recalled that the organisation had in the past donated N1 billion to tackle Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Africa, commending such public-spiritedness to other well-to-do individuals and groups.
The statement quoted Buhari as saying: “Hand in hand, standing shoulder to shoulder, we can confront our challenges as a country. This is a path for us all to follow as a people.”
The president reiterated his earlier charge that Nigerians should take the necessary hygiene precautions, rather than panic about coronavirus, after the discovery of the index case in the country last week.
He assured that governments, at various levels, were poised to ensure that the country and its people remained safe from the virus, “which is spreading rapidly in many parts of the world.”
Nigeria recorded its first case of the disease on Friday, following the arrival of an Italian businessman from Milan, which has the highest rate of the infection in Europe.
The patient is presently undergoing treatment at the Infectious Disease hospital in Yaba, Lagos and health authorities say he is “responding to treatment”
Partly culled from the Cable and Nigerian Tribune
