COVID-19: NNPC, other oil firms donate N11bn

John Ofikhenua, Abuja

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), international oil companies (IOCs) as well as independent oil companies in the upstream and downstream sectors have donated N11billion to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as part of its support to combat the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Its Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, made this disclosure during a press briefing at the NNPC Towers in Abuja on Friday.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru.

Kyari said in recognition of the impact of coronavirus (COVID -19) on the Nigerian population and the economy, the Nigerian oil and gas industry embarked on an industry-wide collaborative initiative to support the effort to combat the pandemic and its attendant impact.

“The intervention initiative is in alignment with the ongoing Federal Government’s efforts and in collaboration with the NCDC to curb the pandemic. It is aimed at supporting our national healthcare delivery facilities and covers three key thematic areas: Provision of medical consumables; deployment of logistics and in-patient support system; and delivery of medical infrastructure. The three thematic support initiatives amount to USD30million (N11billion) and will be delivered in phases, starting now,” Mallam Kyari said.

He noted that the increasing demand for medical services, medical consumables covering testing kits, medical protective suits and ambulances to the highly impacted areas across the federation informed the intervention of the oil industry.