Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A brand new Toyota Hiace ambulance vehicle and 1,400 cartoons of bottled water have been donated to the Rivers State government.
The donation was made by the Capital Market Support Committee on COVID-19 (CMSCC) to help the government combat the spread of the virus in the state.
Presenting the items to the government recently, the Head of Port Harcourt zonal office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Obi Adindu, stated that, “The Nigerian capital market, upon outbreak of the pandemic, set up the COVID-19 support committee which has a mandate to raise a billion Naira with which to support the country at national and sub national levels of governments.”
He informed the state’s Commissioner for Health, Prof. Princewill Chike, that the committee had since been very busy garnering funds from the capital market community.
“The donation we are witnessing today is actually the fourth in the series of our assets and material donations.
“The first donation happened in Abuja, the second took place in Lagos and the third in Kano.
“Today we are here in Port Harcourt, so you can see that there is national spread in the support that we are giving to the various state governments,” he said.
Adindu, who commended the Rivers government for containing the COVID-19 pandemic, said though the capital market was currently in a low tempo season, its emphasis had apparently been channelled to safety.
He said that as soon as the curve was flattened, the sector would bounce back.
“Even if the country’s economy experiences a depression as a result of the pandemic, certainly, we will definitely exit it once we’re able to professionally manage the pandemic,” Mr Adindu said.
Receiving the items, the Health Commissioner thanked SEC for the donation, adding that the items would strengthen the fight against COVID-19 in the state.
He said that the state had since the onset of the pandemic taken delivery of several donations from corporate organisations, saying that a total of six ambulances as well as other medical deliverables had been received.
“Rivers state recorded her index case on March 27, 2020 and since then over 10, 000 samples have been tested with about 1, 800 positive samples recorded.
“Out of these 1, 800 positive cases, the state have discharged from its various treatment centres over 1, 700 patients while few fatalities were also recorded,” the commissioner said.
He also said the containment efforts on COVID-19 had so far been effectively coordinated by the state government.
