By Daniel Njienue, News/comments, April 26, 2020
LAGOS-The world economy has come to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with many countries implementing stay-at-home or social distancing policies to curtail the spread of the virus. On 27 February 2020 Nigeria recorded its first case of COVID-19 and since then, the number of cases has increased drastically with 30% of recoveries.
Some of the beneficiaries carrying their food items
At the date of writing, more than five billion people worldwide had been asked to work from home due to the pandemic, with the World Health Organisation reporting more than 2.79 million cases and over 196,000 deaths due to COVID-19 complications.
JAKIN NGO Boss, Mrs. Adebiyi preparing to direct a beneficiary for his palliative
Even before the outbreak, the outlook for the world economy—and especially developing countries like Nigeria—was fragile, as global GDP growth was estimated to be only 2.5 percent in 2020. While many developing countries have recorded relatively fewer cases—Nigeria currently has 1182 confirmed cases and 36 deaths while 222 recoveries, as of this writing—the weak capacity of health care systems in these countries is likely to exacerbate the pandemic and its impact on their economies.
Meanwhile, most illustrious wealthy Nigerians, private establishment and Non-Government Organizations have taken to heart to look into the welfare of the vulnerable (s) in the country amidst the total lockdown order by the Federal government which has crippled businesses and also restriction of individuals from accessing their business places.
Items being given outDuring the weekend, it was a commendable gesture when JAKIN NGO COVID-19 food relief programme collection centre, sponsored majorly by foreign partners were given out . These relief items, however, has put smiles on the faces of one thousand households targeted at 3000 members Pre-identified and enrolled vulnerable families from Sogunro, Oko Agbon, Pedro, Olowolagba and other low income communities concentrated within and around Iwaya in mainland local government area of Lagos State.
On the queue to collect food items
The event which started by 9am and ended by 2pm with the help of community volunteers, Man O War, Nicnax Granola and JAKIN N.G.O team in order to ensure that social distancing rules were not exempted in the course of delivery of the relief materials. Some of the social distancing rules enforced by the team include the following; Use hand sanitizer, then collect a nose mask at the gate, lineup on the marked white line on the ground with your slip at the collection centre, confirm your slip at the entrance, sit down in the chair carefully placed on the marked white lines, collect your food relief package according to your household pre -enrolment data in the register, exit quietly! Some of the items given out include a mini bag of rice and beans, others were , garri, spaghetti, noodles, semovita, and wheat, done in phases-Friday and Saturday last week.
observing social distancingMeanwhile, Mrs. Olubukola Adebiyi, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Jakin, has expressed the NGO gratitude to the foreign donors while noting that the NGO will continue to be the hope of the hopeless. “Many thanks to our community volunteers, Man O War, Nicnax Granola and JAKIN N.G.O team for making the 3rd edition of JAKIN N.G.O COVID-19 food relief program a remarkable success'”
Mrs. Adebiyi however stated that the relief materials for the vulnerable households were of three edition, sponsored not only by the NGO but other partners earlier mentioned, she concluded.
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