COVID – 19: Seplat, Waltersmith donate medical supplies to Imo Govt

In line with the need at the present perilous time of global scourge, Seplat Petroleum, an independent indigenous Nigerian upstream exploration and production company and Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited have donated medical supplies to Imo State Government in support of its efforts in equipping medical staff with necessary protective gears needed to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

The items donated include high quality protective gears, motorized and knapsack sprayers. hand sanitizers, face masks, hand gloves.

While presenting the donations at the government house in Owerri, Mr. Emeka Onyeagba of Seplat and Mr. Percy Oparaji of Waltersmith stated that the sole purpose of their mission is to deliver the medical facilities to the government as part of their corporate social responsibility to their Host state.

They noted that the government is less than 3 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 Uzodimma lauded Seplat and Waltersmith for the gesture while noting that their kind donation will 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 cannot 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 Uzodimma 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.”

He added: “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 will be put to good use, noting, that Imo State as much as he knows is still recorded zero number of infected or confirmed cases.

Speaking also, 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 Governor Uzodimma 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, Prof. Maurice Iwu stated that the state is doing everything possible to prevent the spread of the virus part of which is vertical integration with the Federal Government Agencies that include the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Prof Iwu announced that equipment procurement Isolation Centres are in place with direct hotlines and relevant health institutions to determine if the suspect may need isolation.

Prof. Iwu, however, advised that ‘the best form of prevention is to stay at home and self-quarantine than to create unnecessary jeopardy amongst the people.