The Victims Support Fund (VSF) Task Force on COVID-19 on Tuesday donated Information Technology (IT) equipment to Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) to boost its service delivery in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Chairperson of the task force, Mrs Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, who presented the equipment in Abuja, said that VSF considered it imperative to support the ministry as the epicentre carrying out the pandemic action plan of the Federal Government.
Akerele-Ogunsiji said that VSF provided technical equipment to the ministry and promised to renovate elevators to aid movement in and out of the ministry.
She said “we are also providing support for the development and management of the national pandemic action plan, providing support for the secretariat; paying for zoom meetings, subscriptions and covering the cost of Wi-Fi.”
According to her, health is not just about providing drugs; the quality of human capacity determines the success that the ministry will achieve in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
She added that “as part of our activities today, we are providing technical equipment to the ministry of health, we are also renovating the elevators within the ministry because of the increase in the number of staff that come in and go out on daily basis.
“In the very beginning, we made sure that our interventions align with Federal Government response strategy and also ensure that we are enhancing what we are learning from the government.”
She said that VSF had at the two phases of the interventions distributed a unit each of 10 kg bags of rice, beans, maize, garri, four litres of vegetable oil, 2kgs of salt and medicals to 12 states.
She added that the next phase of the intervention would be to provide WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) facilities in schools to support and encourage the gradual reopening of schools as well as the safety of children.
She said that the intervention was crucial to the health of the children, especially the nursery, primary and secondary schools, saying that “we want children to be able to wash their hands regularly.
“We are going to donate hand sanitisers, wrist band hand sanitisers that children can press and constantly sanitise their hands, we are equally going to support teachers.
“We know that education is important, and we cannot stall the education of children, but what we must do as responsible organisation is to set in motion things that will guarantee the health and safety of children.”
She further said that the exercise was to mitigate the hardship that Nigerians, particularly the vulnerable, were experiencing at this period of the pandemic.
According to her, VSF is committed to sustaining efforts in the global fight against the devastating Coronavirus pandemic.
She reiterated the fund’s commitment to continue to work to provide succour to victims of insurgency and armed conflicts in Nigeria, especially in the areas of livelihood, recovery, education, protection, infrastructure development, as well as research and peacebuilding.
The taskforce chairperson said that VSF had so far reached out to relevant stakeholders with medical consumables, WASH facilities and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in a bid to curtail the spread of the virus.
She said that the fund was also working with the vulnerable, institutions and agencies supporting the government as part of its contribution to national efforts in the fight
against COVID-19.
She noted that the Chairman of VSF, Retired Gen. T.Y. Danjuma, inaugurated the VSF Task Force on COVID-19 to provide palliatives to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and other vulnerable groups around the country.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, while responding, appreciated VSF for the donation and encouragement toward the fight against the pandemic.
Ehanire noted that the support would help the ministry toward attending to the tasks assigned to it.
He said “we are still concerned about the impact of reopening schools, so we are getting ourselves ready for the effect that will follow.
“So, the journey is not yet over at all, and we are very grateful to have groups and organisations that give us the support and confidence that we are not working alone.” (NAN)