Nigerian upstream oil exploration and production company, Seplat Petroleum and Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited have donated some medical supplies to the Imo State government to support its efforts in equipping medical staff with necessary protective gears needed to contain the Coronavirus pandemic.
The items donated included high quality protective gears, motorized and knapsack sprayers, hand sanitizers, facemasks, and hand gloves.
Presenting the donations at the Government House, Owerri, Mr Emeka Onyeagba of Seplat and Mr Percy Oparaji of Waltersmith stated 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, hence it needs every support it could garner from both public and private sectors to combat the scourge.
In appreciation, Imo State governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma thanked Seplat and Waltersmith for the gesture, noting that their kind donation would go a long way in assisting the state in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
The governor, who admitted that prevention and control of the disease could not be done by government alone, urged other companies and good-spirited citizens to emulate the kind gestures of Seplat and Waltersmith in the fight against the dreaded disease.
Governor Uzodinma said: “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 it requires to address this situation is also very huge.
“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.”
The governor 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.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Health, Dr (Mrs.) Damaris Osunkwo commended the oil companies for their donations and prompt response to partner with government in the fight against the global COVID -19 health crisis, adding that the government is on top of the situation as Uzodinma is leaving no stone unturned to keep the state safe from the pandemic.
Addressing newsmen, the Chairman of the COVID-19 Prevention and Control Committee in Imo, Prof Maurice Iwu, stated that the state was doing everything possible to prevent the spread of the virus part of which was vertical integration with the Federal Government agencies, including the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).