The Victims Support Fund (VSF), says it has budgeted about N3.3 billion for COVID-19 interventions targeting about one million indigent and vulnerable households in the country.
The Chairperson, VSF Task Force on COVID-19, Mrs Tosoyi Akerele-Ogunsuji, said this while presenting a donation of food items and medical kits to Kano State Government on Saturday in Kano.
Akerele-Ogunsuji said the fund spent N1.8 billion in the first phase of its COVID-19 intervention through the provision of food and other relief materials, adding that N832 million was spent under the second phase of the programme.
She said that about N1.3 billion was expected to be spent in the third phase of the intervention, which will end in December.
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“The total amount will be around N3.3 billion. It includes the money spent on the provision of 54 solar powered boreholes installed in schools across 18 states in the six geo-political zones of the county.
“The VSF is also donating 60, 000 pieces of COVID-19 rapid test kits to support opening of the orientation camps of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the coming weeks.
“We are targeting indigent and vulnerables households in the country, that is very important to us, and by the time we have done this intervention we will have over one million individuals who have been touched by the VSF interventions,” she said.
According to her, the VSF COVID-19 task force has a mandate of providing food and medical items and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to medical workers as well as indigent and vulnerable households in the country.
Akerele-Ogunsoji said the fund has so far provided support in 16 of the 30 states captured in the programme, adding that the states were selected across the six geo-political zones of the country.
She said that Kano State was the 16th state to benefit from the VSF intervention adding that food items, medical supplies and PPEs worth N110.5 million were handed over to the State Government for onward distribution to deserving households.
She listed the items to include rice, beans, vegetable oil, salt, facemasks, gloves, hand sanitisers, goggles, boots and safety cloth for health workers to be able to reach thousands of households in the state.
“Kano State is important becuase it is the hub of the economy; hugely populated, we are also aware of the unfortunate incident following the massive outbreak of COVID-19. We are here to show soliderity,” she said.
Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje lauded the VSF forthegesture, saying that the donation would go a long way in cushioning the sufferings of families affected by the pandemic.
Ganduje, represented by Dr Ibrahim Tsanyawa, the state’s Commissioner for Health, said the government has distributed COVID-19 palliatives to over 300,000 households in the state, since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.
He said the government in collaboration with the Federal Government has established five molecular laboratories for enhanced detection and management of COVID-19 cases to curb spread of the pandemic.
The governor assured that the donation would be judiciously distributed to the targeted group.