Companies belonging to Total in Nigeria, made up of units in both the upstream and downstream sectors of Nigeria’s oil industry, have boosted the fight against the Ebola Virus Disease in the country with the donation of five brand new vehicles to the cause.
The vans, of the Ford Pick-up specifications and with electronic fueling cards, have been handed over to the Ebola Emergency Operation Centre, Yaba, Lagos.
The company said the donation of the vans is part of its support to complement efforts by the Federal Government and a number of state governments to curb the spread of the disease in the country.
Deputy managing director of the firm, Charles Ngoka, represented the managing Director of Total E&P Nigeria Limited, Elisabeth Proust, at the event, saying as corporate citizens, the Total Companies in Nigeria had opted to be part of the efforts to fight EVD.
“This prompted the companies to send representations to this centre earlier this month. The recommendations submitted necessitated the decision to do something urgently.
“This is why the Total Companies in Nigeria decided to provide these vehicles as a means of mobility for this centre because of the obvious need to transport cases from wherever they are in this vast state to the centre and back to their homes after treatment,” Ngoka noted.
In the same vein, managing director of Total Nigeria Plc, Alexis Vovk, disclosed that with the electronic fuel cards, the centre could refuel the vehicles at any Total filling station nationwide.
Project Director of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Prof. Abdulsalami Nasidi, thanked Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria for the donation, stating that the pick-up vans would enhance their movement and speed of response to investigating suspected cases of infection before isolation.
“I’m pleased to receive these brand new vehicles on behalf of the Federal Government. I thank Total Companies in Nigeria for this kind gesture, which comes at a time we are facing a national emergency on the Ebola Virus. “Before now, we have had to rely on hiring taxis and deploying private vehicles, with the attendant impact on our activities. We will put the vehicles to good use to improve our operations,” Nasidi said.
