Yahaya Idris, Abuja.
As part of measures to assist the FCT Administration in the battle against the spread of COVID-19 pandemic Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has donated an ambulance to assist the Administration to flatten the curve in the territory.
Presenting the ambulance to FCT Administration, the Ag. Director General of SEC, Ms. Mary Uduk, observed that since the country recorded its COVID-19 index case in February this year, the number of affected persons has been on the increase, leading to emergency situations and in some cases, death.
Uduk, further noted that in view of the devastation of the virus, the Nigerian capital market community, led by the Securities and Exchange Commission, in April this year, set up the Capital Market Support Committee on COVID-19, to among other things mobilize the necessary resources and coordinate all efforts required in the battle against the pandemic.
“While we acknowledge the various on-going efforts to combat this pandemic, both from the government and organised private sectors, the capital market recognizes the need to lend its support towards strengthening the available response mechanisms as well as ameilorating the burdens on those affected.
“The committee has been mobilizing financial support and other resources from capital market participants and stakeholders for the purpose of providing medical and protective supplies as well as other palliatives”, she added.
Uduk, revealed that the committee has studied relevant data on the pandemic and has identified critical areas of interventions, just as she revealed that in the first phase of the execution of this initiative, the centres with relatively high number of cases, including the FCT have been prioritized.
While receiving the ambulance on behalf of FCT Administration, Minister of State FCT, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, identified the donation as an essential facility , stressing that the ambulance would serve the Administration beyond COVID-19 pandemic.
According to her, “today we have among us the great leadership of the Securities and Exchange Commission. We appreciate so much because a gift remains a gift, but big gift makes the difference.
“We have received many gifts, but definitely we all know that ambulance will continue to last beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. This remains an essential commodity in the fight against the pandemic. For quick responses we need the ambulance, for efficiency we also need the ambulance. We will use it to move our patients from one place to the other with ease”.
