COVID-19: Kano Receives Petroleum Industry Intervention Package
By Dayo Omoogun
Kano State has become the latest beneficiary of the NNPC- coordinated Petroleum industry intervention against the COVID-19 pandemic in the Coalition’s determination to reach out to all the states in the Federation.
It will be recalled that the South-West states of Lagos, Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo, Osun and Ogun received theirs last week. Prior to the South West States, FCT, and Rivers are among states that had earlier benefitted.
The Corporation’s statement signed by the Group General Manager (Public Affairs) Dr. Kennie Obateru stated that the presentation was made over the weekend by the Hon. Minister of Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva on behalf of NNPC and its partners- Chevron Nigeria Limited (Upstream) and Bovas & Company Limited (Downstream).
At the presentation, Sylva reiterated that “despite the supply chain constraints involved in simultaneous nationwide delivery and distribution of medical items at this period, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)-led Oil and Gas Industry coalition is determined to extend the Industry intervention to all states of the federation”
Sylva praised the efforts of the Coalition: “I commend NNPC, the donor companies and other participants in this initiative for standing up to be counted at these trying times”.
The Minister explained that the contributions were outside the regular Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative routinely deployed by NNPC and the participating companies adding that they were collected in kind through a clear, well-established and transparent governance framework.
According to the release the package consisted of medical consumables, equipment and an ambulance.
The release listed the items which were received by the state governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, to include “a Toyota ambulance, two full kits ventilators, one smith RescuePac ventilator for emergency and transport, ten pulse oximeters, 10,000 nose masks and 5,000 Nitrile examination gloves.
“Others are 250 face masks, surgical splash/fluid resistance face shield, 250 N95 respiratory valve, 100 PPE overall full kits, 100 PPE shoe covers, 2,000 PPE disposable caps and 500 Medimec surgical face masks”.
Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, also disclosed that plans were underway to build permanent and sustainable medical infrastructure across the country.
“We have a plan to deliver permanent medical infrastructure to every state of the Federation and a specific intervention in the six geo-political zones. We are selecting 14 locations to construct the permanent infrastructure” Kyari said.
The state governor Abdullahi Ganduje, on his part, lauded the Oil and Gas Initiative to combat COVID-19, saying the intervention would go a long way in fighting the pandemic as well as complement the state government’s efforts.