The Capital Market Support Committee on COVID-19 (CMSCC) at the weekend presented a brand new Toyota Hiace ambulance and 1,400 cartons of bottled water to Rivers government.
Making the presentation to Prof. Princewill Chike, the state’s Health Commissioner on behalf of the committee, the Head, Port-Harcourt Zonal Office of the Head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Obi Adindu commended ongoing efforts at curtailing the pandemic across the country.
He recalled that “the Nigerian Capital Market, upon the outbreak of the pandemic set up the COVID-19 support committee which has a mandate to raise a billion Naira with which to support the country at national and sub national levels of governments.’’
The committee, he noted, had since been very busy working to meet the target, adding that “the donation we are witnessing today is actually the fourth in the series of our assets and material donations.
“The first donation happened in Abuja, the second took place in Lagos and the third in Kano.
“Today we are here in Port Harcourt, so you can see that there is national spread in the support that we are giving to the various state governments,” he said.
Adindu also said that though the capital market was currently in a low tempo season, emphasis has apparently been channeled to safety, assuring that as soon as the curve is flattened, the sector would bounce back.
“Even if the country’s economy experiences a depression as a result of the pandemic, certainly, we will definitely exit it once we’re able to professionally manage the pandemic,” Adindu said.
Receiving the items, the Health Commissioner, Prof Chinke thanked SEC for the donation, assuring that they would strengthen the fight against COVID-19 in the state.
He said that the state had from the onset of the pandemic taken delivery of several donations from corporate organisations, including a total of six ambulances, besides other medical deliverables.
“Rivers state recorded her index case on March 27, 2020, and since then over 10,000 samples have been tested with about 1,800 positive samples recorded.
“Of these, 1,800 positive cases, the state has discharged from its various treatment centres over 1,700 patients while few fatalities were also recorded,” the commissioner said, adding that the containment efforts have so far been effectively coordinated by the state government.
Photo caption: From left, Deputy Manager, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Soibim Ben-Gam; Deputy managing Director, City Code Trust Ltd (stockbrokers), Mrs. Magdalene Akikibofori; Head, Port Harcourt Zonal Office, SEC, Obi Adindu; Representative of Rivers state Gov, Rivers State Commissioner for Health, Chike Princewill and Quotation and Listening officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Port Harcourt Office, Ikenna Emebinah, during the presentation of a brand new ambulance donated to help the state government to the fight against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on behalf of the Capital Market Support committee on COVID-19 in Port Harcourt at the weekend.