Director General of the 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; and prayed for a quick eradication of the Pandemic.
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, during the last lap of the Bureau’s distribution of palliatives for the vulnerable in line with its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to cushion the harsh effects of the Federal Government’s Lockdown order.
He said the harsh effects of the Lockdown were excruciating, hence the Bureau decided to reach out to the less privileged in the Federal Capital and noted that though the food items made up of 300 bags of assorted food types may 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 criterion set up for the distribution of the items, preference would be given to widows and single mothers who were targeted to get 60 percent of the items and the remaining 40 percent to the vulnerable in the area.
The Esu Dakachi Gbaupe, Chief Danjuma Gajere while receiving the Director General, Management and other staff of the BPE, expressed happiness for the kind gesture. He said that the community was experiencing hardship as result of the Lockdown and the food donation by the Bureau 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, the Director General, Mr. Alex A. Okoh had presented a widow, Mrs. Adesetu Abdul of Asokoro Extension, Abuja with a pack of food items and a cash donation hurriedly put together by the Management and staff of the Bureau present.
According to a statement by BPE Head of Public Communications, Amina Othman, 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 offices 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.
