Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, NLNG, has handed over a 10-bed Holding Centre, which it donated to the Bonny Zonal Hospital as part of support to its host community to fight the spread of COVID-19.
The handover is coming closely on the heels of the donation of two vehicles, medical and other materials to the Rivers State Government in Port Harcourt.
The company had earlier revealed that it was committing to N1billion in various interventions in the State.
Handing over the facility to the Hospital, NLNG’s Managing Director, Mr. Tony Attah, said the sustained resolve to actualise NLNG’s vision of “helping to build a better Nigeria” continues to inspire the company’s passion to establish a healthy society.
“This has been the thrust of all of NLNG’s socio-economic intervention programmes in the community and I am happy to note that our efforts are well received and are impacting Bonny and our other host communities positively.”
Receiving the facility, Rivers State Commissioner of Health, Prof. Princewill Chike, said that the Holding Centre will be efficiently managed to promote good health and secure the safety of residents of Bonny Local Government Area.
Chike said just as the Bonny Community Health Insurance Programme (BCHIP), a partnership between NLNG and the State Government, is already doing.
“NLNG has consistently proven to be a reliable development partner through its numerous corporate social responsibility initiatives which have had direct bearing on the well-being of the masses.
“Only recently, the company demonstrated once again that it is a friend to Rivers State by its donation of medical equipment worth over $500,000 dollars to the State Government to manage the coronavirus pandemic.
“The Company also pledged an intervention at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital worth $1Million.”
Other items donated by NLNG for use on Bonny Island include one oxygen bank consisting of 5 bull nose cylinders, 10 drip stands, 10,000 one-fit N95 health care particulate respirator and surgical masks, 25,000 surgical masks,
Others, include 50,000 nitrile gloves, 12,500 hooded coveralls with boots, 70 respirators, 5 suction machines, 3 single air conditioners for consulting rooms, 5 split air conditioners for wards, wall mounted hand sanitizers and 10 patient monitors.
Attah who was represented by the company’s Manager, Community Relations,Godson Dienye, emphasised that its contribution to the fight against the pandemic is in line with its vision of “helping to build a better Nigeria.”
NLNG ‘s other programs to boost the healthy well-being of people on Bonny Island include the Bonny Malaria Eradication Programme instituted in 2019 to cut malaria-related mortality among women and children under-five to zero and make Bonny Island Nigeria’s first malaria-free zone.