By Dikachi Franklin, in Owerri
Seplat Petroleum Development Company and Waltersmith, two oil and gas firms with footprints in Imo State, have donated some medical items to the government of Imo State to help it curb the spread of the virus in the state.
The companies made the donations as part of efforts and commitment to their corporate social responsibility (CSR) to Imo people to enable the state government tackle the spread of coronavirus in the state.
Governor Hope Uzodimma who received the items restated his determination to nip the spread of the coronavirus in the bud.
He aopreciated and commended their kind gesture just as he stated that their kind donations would go a long way in assisting the state in the fight against the pandemic.
Uzodinma admitted that prevention and control of the disease cannot be done by government alone and urged other companies and good-spirited individuals to emulate the kind gestures of Seplat and Waltersmith in the fight against the dreaded disease.
“I want to thank you on behalf of the good people of Imo State for your show of solidarity this afternoon and also to assure you that this will go a long way to address the situation of the virus. The people of Imo are indeed challenged not only because of the paucity of funds in our state, but also the task of what is required to address this situation is also very huge,” Uzodinma said.
“We also want to invite through this medium, our brothers and sisters to understand that government alone cannot address this situation. I urge them to join people like you to make donations and contributions. Ours is to ensure that these things will get to the targets so that at the end of the day, we would have created a win-win situation for all the people,” he added.
He assured that the items would be put to good use, noting that Imo State, as much as he knows, is still recording zero number of infected or confirmed cases.
Emeka Onyeagba, who led the delegation to present the donations, said that the sole purpose of their mission was to deliver the medical facilities to the government as part of their corporate social responsibility to their host state.
He noted that the government is less than three months in office, it needs every support it could garner from both public and private sectors to combat the scourge.
Damaris Osunkwo, the commissioner for health, commended the oil companies for their donations and prompt response to partner with Imo government on the fight against the global COVID-19 health crisis, saying that the Governor Uzodinma-led government was on top of the situation and is leaving no stone unturned to keep the state safe from the pandemic.
In the same way, Maurice Iwu the chairman of the state’s COVID-19 Prevention and Control Committee, said that the state was doing everything possible to prevent the spread of the virus through vertical integration with the federal government agencies that include the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Iwu announced that equipment procurement isolation centres are in place with direct hotlines at relevant health institutions to determine if the suspect may need isolation.
“The best form of prevention is to stay home and self-quarantine than to create unnecessary jeopardy amongst the people”, Iwu said.
