Buhari approves N10 billion to Lagos to tackle coronavirus

Nigerian President Muhammdu Buhari has approved the immediate release of a 10 billion Naira grant to Lagos State.

Buhari said the grant will enable the state to increase its capacity to control and contain the outbreak, while also supporting other States with capacity-building.

Nigeria, as at 9:20 pm on Thursday has 65 confirmed cases of coronavirus, 44 of which were recorded in Lagos.

“Lagos State…remains the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak in Nigeria,” Buhari said on Thursday evening.

Buhari is also releasing a 5 billion Naira special intervention fund to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

NCDC has been at the forefront of the coronavirus pandemic, collating numbers and responding to suspected cases of the virus.

“The immediate release of a 5 billion Naira special intervention fund to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control to equip, expand and provide personnel to its facilities and laboratories across the country,” Buhari said.

Apart from th Nigerian govrnment support, wealthy Nigerians and organizations, including banks, have also donated billions of Naira to help fund medical centers and provide essential materials necessary to curtail the spread of coronavirus in the country.

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) announced Thursday a donation of 5 billion Naira (about $13 million) to provide beds for isolation centers, intensive care unit facilities and direct access to medical advice to up to 450,000 citizens every day.

Femi Otedola, Abdulsamad Rabiu, Herbert Wigwe, Segun Agbaje and Aliko Dangote, all contributed 1 billion Naira (about $2.7 million) each to support the government in curtailing the pandemic in Nigeria.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has saluted the public-spiritedness of wealthy Nigerians and organizations for standing up to be counted in the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic,” reads a statement released Friday by Femi Adesina, the special adviser to the president on media and publicity.