COVID-19 palliatives should concern all–BPE boss

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The Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A. Okoh has said that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) plaguing Nigeria and other nations across the globe should be the concern of all just as he prayed for a quick eradication of the pandemic disease.

Okoh stated this at the Palace of Esu Dakachi Gbaupe, Chief Danjuma Gajere, in the Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Tuesday.

Amina Tukur Othman, Head, Public Communications who disclosed this in a statement in Abuja said the BPE boss made the call during the last lap of the Bureau’s distribution of palliatives for the vulnerable.

According to her, the gesture is line with BPE’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), to cushion the harsh effects of the Federal Government’s Lockdown order.

Okoh said the harsh effects of the Lockdown were excruciating, hence the Bureau decided to reach out to the less privileged in the Federal Capital.

He noted that though the food items, made up of 300 bags of assorted food might not reach all the targeted beneficiaries, the gesture was the Bureau’s modest way of identifying with them.

While stressing that the gesture was initiated and supported solely by the management and staff of the Bureau, the Director General appealed to the beneficiaries to conduct themselves orderly while receiving the items.

He reiterated that in line with the criterial set up for the distribution of the items, preference would be given to widows and single mothers who were targeted to get 60 per cent of the items and the remaining 40 per cent to the vulnerable in the area.

Receiving the items, the Esu Dakachi Gbaupe, Chief Danjuma Gajere, while receiving thanked the management of the Organisation the Director and expressed happiness for the kind gesture.

The traditional ruler who noted that that the community was experiencing hardship as result of the lockdown, said the gesture was “timely and God-sent.”

He prayed God to protect the BPE team with their families against the Pandemic, adding that “Since you have remembered us (the Community) at this hour of need, so will God protect you and your family against the ravaging Pandemic”.

Meanwhile, before the BPE’s team’s departure for the last lap of the donation, Okoh had presented a widow,Mrs. Adesetu Abdul of Asokoro Extension, Abuja with a pack of food items and a cash donation, put together by the Management and staff of the Bureau present.

The widow, a mother of four, had watched on a national Television, the distribution of food items by the Bureau during one of its outings to the beneficiaries and immediately stormed the television house and asked to be linked with the Bureau.
The Director-General, on hearing the news, requested the widow to visit the office of the Bureau to receive a bag of food items.

With Tuesday’s donation, the Bureau has successfully distributed food items to 1,200 households in the FCT to mitigate the hardships occasioned by the lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.