By Kola Adeyemi
Lokoja – A private sector-led humanitarian support organisation, Victim Support Fund (VSF) has flagged off the distribution of relief materials to 3, 000 households in Kogi State.
The beneficiaries who are mostly victims of flood disasters and communal clashes were selected across the 21 local government areas of the state.
The relief materials which are mostly food items , drugs, consumables and household items were received by the Kogi State Deputy Governor, Chief Edward Onoja.
Aside the relief items, the VSF also handed over one solar powered borehole it donated to Government Girls Secondary School, Sarkin Noma, Lokoja.
While handing over the relief items in Lokoja on Friday, the Chairperson of the VSF COVID-19 Task Force, Mrs Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsuji sympathised with all victims of disasters in the state.
She said that the donation of the items was to provide succour for the victims, saying it was also meant to complement government efforts.
According to her, the VSF intervention is also to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the people.
“COVID-19 didn’t choose where to ravage but it was all round and people were dying. So Our Charman, Gen T.Y. Danjuma decided to inaugurate a taskforce and gave us and instruction and mandate to go round Nigeria and support vulnerable Communities,” she said.
Akerele-Ogunsuji then pleaded with the state government to ensure that the items reach the intended beneficiaries who she said had been identified and verified to be real victims of disasters.
She said the donation of a solar power borehole to the Government Girls Secondary School, Sarkin Noma , Lokoja was meant to solve the age-long water problem facing the school and members of its immediate community.
The Chairperson said that the VSF had earlier donated two boreholes to Entayi Government Secondary School, Okene and Muslim Community Secondary School, Ayetoro Gbede in the state which she said will enhance hand washing and hygiene.
She appealed to the management, staff and students of the schools and communities to take proper care of the water facilities and protect them from vandals.
While receiving the relief items and the borehole, the Kogi State Deputy Governor, Chief Edward Onoja, thanked VSF for considering the people of the state for such a laudable gesture.
Onoja said that the relief materials and the water provided would go along way in providing succour and hope to the victims more so that “water is life.”
The Deputy Governor promised that the state government will ensure that the items reach the intended beneficiaries.
Also responding, the Principal of Government Girls Secondary School Sarkin Noma, Hajia Fatima Salihu, described the gesture as “apt” and “a big relief” to the school and the surrounding community.
She thanked VSF especially Gen. T.Y. Danjuma for his humanitarian services and wished him more of God’s grace to do more for the vulnerable citizens of Nigeria. (vitalnews)
