The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) said it has donated N3 million for the procurements of food and essential items for patients of the Coronavirus across six South-West states, Kwara and Kogi.
National Coordinator of OPC and the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, disclosed this in a statement by his Media Adviser, Mr. Kehinde Aderemi, on Wednesday in Lagos.
He said that the gesture was aimed at supporting the governors of the states in their efforts against the ravaging virus as well as enhance better treatment of patients at various isolation centres.
The OPC leader noted the organisation’s action became imperative after the initial intervention by the sister organisation in Diaspora, the Oodua Progressive Union (OPU), which donated funds and food items.
He said: “We are all aware of the present situation in the country and as a socio-cultural group, and a non-governmental organisation, we have contributed that huge amount of money for food and for the procurement of other essential items for victims of COVID-19 at this trying period.
“Our group has demonstrated a strong desire to impact the lives of our people and also cater for the needs of all our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, especially, in the South-West, Kwara and Kogi.
“Each of our members made the contributions as sacrifice for our people and also for our race at this difficult moment.
“It is not as if we are rich, we did it for posterity and that is the reason for raising the funds for the palliative.
“The intention is to extend our hands of generosity to patients of COVID-19. This is to cushion the effect of the ‘stay-at- home’ order of the Federal and state governments.”
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The Aare Onakakanfo stated that the second phase of the palliative was intended to keep faith with the ideology of the group.
He said the group noted that in the wake of the global pandemic, the Nigerian economy and that of the entire world stagnanted, which led to the idea of putting in place various palliative measures.
“It all began when members of OPU across all the 87 countries in the world contributed over N5 million for palliative for victims of COVID-19. That gesture came at a time when the lockdown was at its peak .
“The funds were meant for the procurement of essential items, such as food items and other necessities for the patients that have been receiving treatments at the isolation centres across the six states, Kwara and Kogi states.
“So, the feedback we got from the first phase of the palliative was remarkable and it was the success that led to the second phase with the OPC contributing voluntarily across board to make the sacrifice,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Yoruba leader expressed concern over the rise in the number of infected persons across the world.
According to him, despite the efforts being made by the various governments at easing the lockdown in some states, the numbers of COVID-19 cases were still rising by the day.
He, therefore, urged the government at all levels to look inward, by using the traditional remedy to curtail the spread of the deadly disease as it has been done in Madagascar.
