The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has flagged off the distribution of relief materials including fast speed intervention vessels, ventilators, ambulances, cash donations and personal protective equipment (PPEs) to the Federal and State governments towards the fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria.
At the flag off ceremony, which held in Lagos on Monday, the agency handed over two intervention vessels, three ventilators, one ambulance, oxygen concentrators, 300 PPEs and N20 million to officials of Lagos State Government.
The Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, said the agency had also finalised arrangement to disinfect Apapa in order to ensure that the environment is kept clean and free from the deadly virus.
“We are here to flag off the distribution of some of the relief materials including ventilators, testing materials, PPEs, ambulances and fire brigade machines that would be used to spray chemicals to reduce the virus.
“In distributing these materials, we looked at the six geopolitical zones, Apart from Lagos in the South-West; we are going to give to Anambra in the South-East; Maiduguri in the North-East; Kaduna in the North-West; Kwara in North-Central and the FCT, Abuja,” he said.
On the donation of vessels to coastal states in the country, he said, “We are a regulatory agency and we take the issue of the coastal communities seriously. Most of the people in the coastal communities do come to the hinterland from time to time, and in the event of any outbreak, the authorities should be able to use the fast intervention vessels on the waterway to move the patient.”
Jamoh stated that each ventilator cost the agency about N15 million.
Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Rabiu Olowo, who received the donation on behalf of the Lagos State Government, thanked NIMASA for the kind gesture.
He promised that the State Government would make judicious use of the equipment as well as the cash donation.
“As you are aware, Lagos is the epicentre of this pandemic that everyone is fighting across the globe. We have seen the response of the state to this, so this donation will go a long way in supporting and complementing the effort towards fighting this pandemic,” he said.
Recall that NIMASA had pledged to give out medical equipment including 20 ventilators, 60 beds, 20-patient ICU monitors, 20 oxygen concentrator, 10 infusion pump, 10 syringe pump, 20 oxygen-giving set, 10 suction machine and 100 set of PPEs to enhance the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria.
As at the time of filing this report on Monday, Nigeria had recorded 232 coronavirus cases, according to the NCDC. 31 patients had recovered and discharged while five had died.