Coronavirus Pandemic
A Non-Government Organisation (NGO), Victims Support Fund (VSF) task force on COVID-19, has donated foodstuff and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) worth N119 million to the Plateau State Government for distribution to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the vulnerable in the state.
Mrs. Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, the Chairperson of the task force, handed over the palliatives to Plateau Government on Sunday in Jos.
Akerele-Ogunsiji said that the gesture was the third phase of the interventions by the VSF task force on COVID-19 to IDPs and the vulnerable in the society.
She said the task force on COVID-19 was an emergency response team inaugurated by the Chairman of the Victims Support Fund, retired Gen. TY Danjuma.
She also said that the body was meant to provide palliatives to IDPs and vulnerable as well as to support government agencies in their efforts to fight COVID-19.
“The Taskforce had successfully carried out the first and second phases of the COVID-19 intervention in April and June 2020 in the North-East, South-South, southeast, and South-West.
“On Nov. 19, 2020, we commenced the third phase of distribution of food items and the PPE in seven other states in the North-West, North-Central, and the FCT at the cost of N1 billion,” the chairperson said.
The items donated, according to her, include: bags of rice, beans, maize, vegetable oil, salt, and PPE meant for 40,886 households and approximately 204,330 direct beneficiaries across seven states.
The states, she said, were: Kano, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Plateau, Benue and FCT.
Akerele-Ogunsiji said that the State Governments would receive 50 percent of the food items, while local Civil Society Organizations (CSO’s) would distribute 50 percent of the items directly to IDPs and vulnerable people.
She said the task force was also working closely with Federal and State Government Agencies involved in the fight against the COVID- 19 pandemic.
“We are doing that through collaboration with the National Commission for Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) to target IDPs and refugees with hygiene kits, children’s blankets, and food items.
“We are also working with the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS) to target vulnerable women,” she said.
In his remarks, Gov. Simon Lalong who was accompanied by the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Dame Pauline Tallen, commended the chairman of VSF, Gen. Danjuma for the gesture.
Lalong said that the intervention came at the right time after what was donated by the Federal Government was carted away by hoodlums during the EndSARS protest in the state.
He promised that the distribution exercise would be transparent to ensure that the items got to the people that actually needed them.
Tallen in her remarks lauded Danjuma for coming to the aid of the vulnerable and the needy at the appropriate time. (NAN)
– Nov. 23, 2020 @ 9:19 GMT |
Tags: COVID-19: VSF donates foodstuff PPE worth N119m to Plateau State
