The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami has inaugurated a committee to distribute Palliatives to Nigerians to cushion the effect of COVID-19.
Speaking during the inauguration on Thursday, 8th October, 2020 in Abuja, Pantami said the distribution of these palliatives is in recognition of his Ministry’s need to support each other to ease the economic hardship that a number of people experienced as a result of COVID-19 which is in line with Ministerial Policies releases from time to time.Â
“The socio economic impact of COVID-19 has led to an inability of individuals and businesses to meet their needs due to constrained resources, a negative impact on employment and a sense of uncertainty, amongst others, Pantami said.
The Minister also said that the distribution of these palliatives will improve the indices of well-being and will put a smile on the faces of many Nigerians, encouraging them as the country seek to forge ahead in spite of COVID-19.Â
The palliatives provided by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Galaxy Backbone Ltd, Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (NigComSat) and Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST) includes: 4 Ambulances fully equipped with ICU gadgets; 9000 bottles of hand sanitizers; 7,500 pieces of face masks; deployment of ICT Infrastructure to meet the specific needs of the NCDC and stakeholders, e.g. customized application to help contain the virus spread and provision of 100 laptops; 120 infrared thermometers; food items to relevant communities in form of 3 trailer loads of rice; support in the distribution of emergency supplies; provision of dedicated satellite channel on the NIGCOMSAT Direct-to-Home platform for wider information dissemination; 20 sets of Personal Protective Equipment; and ICT gadgets to support virtual meetings in Federal Public Institutions.
Also a Ministerial Committee on Palliatives was set up with membership from all the parastatals being supervised by the Ministry under the co-chair of Professor Adeolu Akande and Dr Abuabakar Saidu while the members include: Professor Suleiman Mohammed, Usman Malah; Hadiza Baloni; Nasiru Suleiman; Mr Franklin Alao; Babagana Bashir; Linus Gubbi; Mohammed Aminu; Amb. Splendour A. Agbonkpolo; Dr Kalli Zannah and Isyaku Gwamna.
