Nigeria news : We’ve spent over N43bn to buy medical equipment, supplies, food palliatives for vulnerable Nigerians – CACOVID

The Coalition Alliance Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) says it has so far spent N43,272,562,831 on acquiring medical equipment, medical supplies, and food palliatives for vulnerable Nigerians.

The coalition made up of Bankers Committee, comprising the Central Bank of Nigeria, Deposit Money Banks, and key stakeholders in the private sector were set up in March 2020 to support the federal government in improving health institutions’ capacity in dealing with COVID-19 and providing palliatives for Nigerians.

A statement by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, at a press briefing on the bank’s response to the pandemic said the coalition received donations worth N39,646,100,039.00 billion from over 200 well-meaning Nigerians and corporate organizations.

Emefiele said the sum of N4,194,262,899 billion was spent on building Isolation Centers while N9,017,561,723 went to the procurement of medical supplies.

‘‘Medical equipment such as PCR test kits for suspected cases of COVID-19 were procured along with other required medical items at the cost of N9,017,561,723.

CACOVID provided palliatives food items to 1.7m households or 8 million Nigerians. A total of N28,767,590,517 was spent procuring these food supplies.

Emefiele claimed the palliatives were acknowledged and disbursed by various state governments who received them.

The CBN governor said the coalition has further pledged to support the Nigerian Police’s rehabilitation in the wake of the End SARS protest violence.

‘‘To further strengthen the security apparatus in the country, CACOVID has committed to providing over N100bn to procure equipment and gadgets for the Nigerian Police Force over the next 2 years, as our contribution to modernizing the Nigerian Police fully.

However, the governor appealed to the private sector to rally around CACOVID in raising funds needed for its many interventions.