On Bello’s act of benevolence

By Oladapo Sofowora

Retired Army Colonel, Sanni Bello, might have left the helms of power as a former military administrator of old Kano State, his impact is widely felt across board as a captain of industry.

Apart from controlling a large stake of Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited (“MESL”), operators of the Kainji and Jebba Hydropower Plants in Niger State, he also has his hands on many pies of business chains litters across the country.

To cushion the effect of the current COVID-19 pandemic, The University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH) and the Minna Isolation Centre in Niger State being the front-line institutions dealing with the pandemic have received his medical and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) donation.

Through his company, Bello donated over N500 million worth of Medical and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nigeria.

The Chairman of the MESL, Colonel Bello said, he has fully equipped a 50-bed isolation Centre in Minna, Niger State, which includes; medical equipment such as ventilators, ECG machines, hematology analyzers, x-ray machines, and PPE, adding that, they have provided some other critical equipment for use in the isolation ward of the UATH, including X-Ray machines, digitizers, personal protective equipment (PPE), CT scans, and 350KVA generator to make certain of constant power supply.

According to him, nine rooms at the newly constructed Trauma Centre within the Teaching Hospital were furnished to provide accommodation for doctors and nurses, who are unable to return home to their families due to their job as the frontline of providing medical services to COVID-19 patients.

However, the Managing Director of the MESL, Engr. Lamu Audu who delivered that donation on behalf of Colonel Sanni Bello and his company divulged that the donation was a demonstration of the firm’s goodwill and Corporate Social Responsibility.

He further added that; the company would foot hotel bills of all health workers who were accommodated in a hotel to enable them to concentrate on the battle against the pandemic in their various hospitals.

“We zeroed in on the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital because of the frontline role it plays in the battle against the Coronavirus. We will also be intervening in other states, and all these, through its Corporate Social Responsibility vehicle, Mainstream Foundation.”