National oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said 53 per cent of the US$58mn pledged as medical intervention by the oil and gas industry group in the fight against COVID-19 will be devoted to the construction of medical infrastructure across the six geopolitical zones in the country
The group’s governance committee comprising managing directors of oil companies and other Industry players, headed by Mele Kyari, NNPC group managing director, has also allocated 26 per cent of the intervention funding to the deployment of logistics and in-patient support systems and 21 per cent of the sum to provision of medical consumables across the country.
Kyari speaking on behalf of the group said 14 medical centres and two intensive care units will be built with construction starting already of 200 bed-infectious disease hospitals with in-situ laboratory in three states, Baylesa, South- South, Borno and Katisa in the North East and North Western part of the country. Plans are on ground to begin the construction in other locations.
Also to be delivered are medical consumables- respirators, protective suites and test kids as well as logistics, in-patient support systems among which are ambulances, ventilators and beddings and laboratory equipment have been delivered to 21 states and the federal capital territory.
Most states in the country Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Borno, Delta, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Jigawa, Kwara, kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Sokoto, Plateau and Rivers State as well as the Federal Capital Territory, have received medical consumables as well as logistics and in-patient support systems.
The oil industry intervention group is made up of the NNPC, Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS), Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers (DPPMA), Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) and Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG).
Under the leadership of the NNPC, the Nigerian oil and gas industry has embarked on a collaborative industry-wide intervention to recognise the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the critical sectors of the national economy.
