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Ekiti to prosecute food items donors defying social distancing order

By Ayodele Afolabi (Ado-Ekiti) and Adaku Onyenucheya (Lagos)
08 May 2020   |   4:10 am
The Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has warned non-governmental organisations, corporate bodies and individuals engaging in philanthropic gestures against disobeying the social distancing order meant to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the state.

The Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has warned non-governmental organisations, corporate bodies and individuals engaging in philanthropic gestures against disobeying the social distancing order meant to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the state.

He said that though the government was appreciative of the kind gestures of organisations and bodies supporting the state to distribute palliatives to the poor under the lockdown, nobody would be spared from prosecution if caught in the web of disobedience.

This was contained in a statement in Ado-Ekiti yesterday by the state’s Commissioner for Information, Mr. Muyiwa Olumilua, disowning groups fingered in the act of disobeying social distancing under the guise of palliative distribution.

Fayemi said those who had been distributing food items against the ethics of social distancing directive in recent time were not agents of government as being suggested in some quarters.

He, therefore, urged the NGOs, well-meaning citizens, philanthropists and associations that have plans of supporting the people with palliatives to ensure compliance with the government ban on large gathering.

“They must pay adequate attention to basic personal protective materials such as gloves, facemasks and maintaining social distancing to avoid spreading the virus unconsciously,” he said.

Meanwhile, Promasidor Nigeria Limited and Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries have reached out respectively to the Ekiti State government as well as hospitals, pharmacies and local communities in Lagos and Ogun State with donation of protective items and relief packages.

Specifically, Promasidor, a food & dairy company, donated N200 million cash for the exclusive purchase of equipment and the setting up of isolation centres through the Nigeria Private Sector Coalition against COVID-19 (CACOVID). It also donated some of its products worth over N80 million to Lagos and Ekiti state governments.

Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, represented by the Special Adviser on Investment, Mr. Akintunde Oyebode, thanked the firm for the anti-COVID support and described its $5 million investment valued at N2 billion to reactivate the moribund Ikun Dairy Farm as a major catalyst that would turn around the fortunes of the state when operational.

Besides, Emzor donated protective items, such as facemasks, alcohol-based sanitisers and drugs, among other items, to Kupa Medical and Isolo General Hospitals, as well as the front-line workers (including the Police, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Federal Road Safety Commission and Lagos State Neighborhood Corps), while it also gave food palliatives to the government of Lagos and Ogun, as well as communities in both states.
 
According to the company’s Group Business Manager in charge of Lagos and Ogun states, Chinyere Kelvin, the programme comprises series of interventions.

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