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Singer Mr Dutch makes food donations in Lagos, Abuja, others

Nigerian Afro-cyborg singer, Bright Ukpabi, better known as Mr Dutch has joined hundreds of well-to-do Nigerians and celebrities in bringing succour to thousands of underprivileged Nigerians in terms of food palliatives to cushion the hardship of the Coronavirus pandemic occasioned by the lockdown imposed by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The“Keys to My Heart” crooner…

Nigerian Afro-cyborg singer, Bright Ukpabi, better known as Mr Dutch has joined hundreds of well-to-do Nigerians and celebrities in bringing succour to thousands of underprivileged Nigerians in terms of food palliatives to cushion the hardship of the Coronavirus pandemic occasioned by the lockdown imposed by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The“Keys to My Heart” crooner was able to achieve this through his programme tagged “COVID-19 Food Relief Programme” under the aegis of his foundation, Mr Dutch Foundation and has visited four States of the federation, namely, Lagos State, Imo State, Edo State and the Federal Capital Territory. His “COVID-19 Food Relief Programme” fed thousands in both Island and Mainland areas of Lagos, Owerri, Benin and Abuja.

Explaining how he was able to do it, he said, “We have been able to feed more than 50 thousand people, although we were not really counting numbers of people in some locations, we reached out to 2 thousand people, some places were about 1 thousand while some locations were 5 hundred people. We went to different areas and States, distributing food, sometimes, we collaborate with restaurants to make the food and distribute to people every day, we get the restaurants, send money to them, they prepare the food and package it while the volunteers take it and distribute to people.”

The singer revealed he did not achieve all by himself, he said he had a lot of help from sponsors who contributed money to the course and volunteers to make the mission possible while also observing all the rules of the lockdown.

He explained, “When I posted online I saw a lot of people who wanted to volunteer but we needed sponsors first before volunteers. We also didn’t want to go against the government policy of staying at home and social distancing. We just organised volunteers and avoided any mistakes. If you watch our video you would see that we observed social distancing between people and between us.”

The “Antidote” crooner also explained how he was able to set off the programme in four different States almost at the same time.

“I wasn’t physically present in all the locations so what I did was, to post online and request for sponsors and volunteers, some people sponsored with cash while some living in the States volunteered and distributed food, wearing our vest and polo, confirming we are an NGO so the police allow them to distribute it to people in the street. Although I didn’t participate in all the locations, I organized volunteers from different States and our representatives in those States did the follow-up,” he said.

In the event of an extension of the lockdown, Mr Dutch has promised to continue to feed the poor and maintained there are plans to reach out to more states of the nation.

“We are looking forward to reaching out to Abia State, Ogun State, Benue State and the other States of Nigeria,” he said.

This is not the first time the singer is reaching out to the less-fortunate people in society. He was reported to have responded to the distress call of an old widow who declared in a viral video that she could sleep with any man for N500 hundred as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. He gave the woman a lump sum of money and the evidence could be seen on his Instagram page.

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