N65m hygiene products add to Nigeria Covid-19 response
The federal health ministry has taken delivery of a trailerload of hygiene products donated by Reckitt Benckiser in efforts to shore up the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, receiving donated items
The federal health ministry has taken delivery of a trailerload of hygiene products donated by Reckitt Benckiser in efforts to shore up the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Health minister Osagie Ehanire received samples of the products by Reckitt Benckisser in the ministry’s conference room at the Federal Secretariat in the Central Business District in Abuja.
The actual consignment was stocked in the back of a trailer parked on 3rd Avenue, outside the Federal Ministry of Health.
The trailer was later escorted to the ministry’s warehouse after the formal handover of the donation to the ministry.
They include 700,000 units of Dettol antiseptic liquid in 7,000 cases, 100,000 units of soap bars in 694 cases, 10,000 units of Jik in 417 cases and 1,000 full personal protective equipment.
They have a combined market value of N65 million.
The items also include face masks, face shield, goggles and 100 mobile hand wash units to be installed at locations advised by the ministry of health.
Presenting the donation, Victor Okafor, regional sales manager for Reckitt Benckiser, said, “We want to acknowledge you have taken—and the government at large—to curb Covid-19”.
Health minister Osagie Ehanire in response thanked RB for the “thought behind” the donation.
“You have been in business for five decades, which tells us you know the health history of Nigeria.”
He said coronavirus disease was zoonotic—a disease that infects both humans and animals and can be transmitted from one to the other.
“The need for hygiene cannot now be any more emphasized. What you have brought here will go a long way. We will distribute it to our agencies. We’ll take an inventory of all of it and declare it to the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19.”
Commenting on the donation, Dayanand Sriram, general manager for RB Nigeria Health, said with a purpose to “protect, heal and nurture in pursuit of a cleaner, healthier world, the firm would “continue to support the Federal and State Governments, as well as the health authorities’ efforts in the fight against COVID-19.”
“We have a critical role to play in promoting hygiene, and Dettol has been supporting the Government’s effort through its School Hygiene and New Mum’s education programmes over the past seven years,” he said.
Country manager, RB Hygiene West Africa, Asif Hashimi said, “This is a critical time, and this contribution is in line with Jik’s long term mission of helping Nigerian households maintain good hygiene and a clean environment that helps to curb the spread of infectious diseases caused by germs.”