By Elizabeth Chukwuma
President Muhammadu Buhari is a happy man. The Katsina state born Nigerian President source of happiness was the response of Nigerian and corporate Organisations, particular, the banks to the clarion call for relief material and financial support w in tackling the Wuhan , Hebei Province, of the Peoples Republic of China coronavirus disease which had become pandemic .
From the onset of the outbreak of the deadly sickness and the index case involving an Italian in the country, the government had made appeal to wealthy Nigerians and Corporate Organisations through a Committee to support both materially and Financially inckling the sickness.
In doing so, the government had set up several Committees to Coordinate to handle various aspects of the Health crisis including Fund raising and canvassing for relief materials to stop the spread of the Contagious sickness. Going by the report by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, the number of confirmed cases had hit 70, out of the 400,000 people that had had contacted it all over the world with over 15,00 deaths.
Note one of the Presidential Committees, according to a ministry of Health sources which has a mandate to raise funds and material support to contain the spread of the sickness are not leaving anything to chance. The Committee, a source disclosed had reached out to some well meaning Nigerians and Corporate Organisations for help because of the lean financial resources available the government to handle the Health crisis alone .
Investigations by The Value News shows that the response had been very encourage as both individuals and Corporate organistaions s had teamed up with the government in tackling the spread of the global sickness in the country.
Going by the report of the Committee, the President may have come to understand that Nigerians and indeed, Corporate Organisations , particular, the Financial Institutions have not turned their back on the government to handle the Health crisis being its Corporate Social Responsibility. Take for instance, the United Bank For Africa, UBA plc, under the close watch of Kingsley Uzoka, had donated $14 million or N5 billion, going by the current exchange rate of N380.00 to a United States dollar, COVID 19 Relief to Nigeria and other African countries , that the bank had an established presence.
There were said to be other donors including individuals . One of them was Olusegun Obasanjo, a retired Army General and a former President, who on Friday, March 27, 2020, had donated his former residence at the Presidential Hilltop, Abeokuta, Ogun state, for use as an Isolation centre for the victims of the Coronavirus disease. Kehinde Akinyemi, the Media Assistant to the former President said the 32-room facility had been handed over to the state government for immediate possession.
Another person whose donation of N50 million, had earlier been made public was Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2019, general elections. His son was among the victims of the disease but quarantined in Lagos.
Dangote Group of Companies, according to the Committee, donated n200 million for the Health cchallenge . also Femi Otedola, a billionaire businessman was said to have responded to the Presidential appeal for relief material and financial support to tackle the sickness. Financial Institutions such as Aceess, Zenith and Gurantee trust Banks, popular GTB were said to have taken a cue from UBA plc to heed to government appeal for support.
. Access, one of the fastest growing Commercial banks in the country, was said to have donated 100 bed ICU to the government in order to accommodate the Coronavirus, victims. The donation was said to have been made on behalf of the bank by Herbert Wigwe a Chevening Scholar, and the Managing Director, while Segun Agbaje, the Managing Director of GTB, handed over the bank donation of 100 bed ICU to the Committee while Jim Ovia, the Managing Director of Zenith Bank made the bank donation of 100 beds ICU, to help in the accommodation problem of the victims as well. Rabiu of BUA Group made the Group was said to have made an undisclosed donation to the C19 Fund raising Committee, which close sources said run into millions of naira.
Many had expected First Bank, one of the old generations bank in the country, described as being among the big five to have joined the league of UBA, which had donated N5 billion COVID 19 relief to Nigeria and 20 other countries in the African Continent and other banks in tackling the spread of the sickness in the country to make financial and relief materials contribution but it failed to do so.
It was said to have partnered with Innovative Technology firms and the United Nations, UN, to provide other services towards containing the spread of the sickness in the country. That much was confirmed by the President. The bank had partnered with the Innovative Technology Companies in order to provide e-learning solutions at least for one million Children under the” Keep Engaged, keep them Safe Initiative’’, a project, an insider said runs into millions of naira.
It is also on records that multi-millionaire, Folorunsho Alakija, donated relief materials worth about N100 million, Jack Ma, a Chine billionare donated Medical items worth billions of naira to the government to help in tackling the dreaded sickness in the country while AERO Contractors, an indigenous Airline , was said to have taken up the full responsibility of making available its Aircrafts and Pilots to move the donated medical materilals and other items across the country. This appears to have removed much pressure from the Committee Coordinating the COVID 19 because of its lean financial resources.
It is instructive to that that why developing countries including Nigeria are looking for financial and relief materials support from individuals and Corporate Organisations donor to stem the spread of the sickness , the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, appear to have put fear on them when it declared “”based on our reassessment for growth for 2020 and 2021, the world economy had entered into recession which requires massive funding to help the developing nations including Nigeria’’.
Kristaina Gergieva, Managing Director , IMF, who could not hide his feelings had said that even if the over 90 countries that had been affected by the sickness including China, Italy, Spain, South Korea, Germany and the United Kingdom, UK, and the United States succeed in containing the virus, and prevent theliquidity problems from becoming a solvency issue, there is no hope in sight of economic growth in 2021. This is bad news to the developing country, particular, Nigeria, which depend on Crude Oil sales as its major source of revenue. The IMF Managing Director may be right as Oil price had dropped to about $30 per barrel in the International Oil market. There are fears that it might drop further as the International Shipping Companies not coming to the Oil producing countries to lift the cargo as a result of the Corobavirus disease and there is nothing the Oil Cartel, the Organisation of the Oil Exporting Countries, OPEC, could do about it. ‘’It is a already a bad case’’, a World Bank official said.
