By Ummi Ismaeel, Minna
Victims Support Fund (VSF), a non-governmental organisation owned by the former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd) task force on COVID-19, has distributed food items and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) worth N107.9 million to 25,000 vulnerable households in Niger State.
The VSF Task Force on COVID-19, an emergency response team, inaugurated by the Chairman of the fund, Gen. TY Danjuma provided palliatives to some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the vulnerable and as well institutional support to government agencies in support of the fight against coronavirus.
Chairperson of the Victim Support Fund, Toyosi Akerele, who distributed the items yesterday, said that the items distributed through the VSF COVID-19 Emergency Support Programme phase 3 was to cushion the sufferings of the less privileged against the pandemic.
The items distributed included; 5, 272 bags of rice, beans, maize, salt each and four litres of vegetable oil, 5, 000 surgical face masks, 20, 000 pieces of re-usable face masks and 10,000 250ml hand sanitizers.
Other items for the beneficiaries, according to Akerele, and her team included 1, 174 packets of latex hand gloves, 1,174 Hamzat brand suits, 1,174 safety boots, 1,174 google worth N107.9 million.
Niger State government will receive 50 per cent of the food items, while local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) will distribute the remaining 50 per cent directly to the IDPs and vulnerable people across the state, she said.
The third phase of distribution of food items and PPEs will cover Kano, Kastina, Zamfara, Kaduna, Niger, Plateau states and the FCT, she explained, adding that approximately 204, 330 direct beneficiaries will be reached across the six states and Abuja.
Special Adviser on Special Duties to the Niger State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Ebbo, who received the palliatives for onward distribution to the NGOs and CBOs, expressed appreciation to the VSF for the items, which according to him, will go a long way to further alleviate the sufferings of the vulnerable persons in the state.
The governor’s aide however pleaded with the organizations to extend hands of fellowship to the state government towards addressing other challenges bedeviling the state, including perennial flooding and armed banditry.
While assuring that the food items and PPEs materials will be judiciously distributed to the beneficiaries within the next one week, Ebbo also hinted that the NGOs and CBOs would be monitored to ensure that the items reached target audience.