In the face of huge global demand, the management of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA has donated 20 ventilators to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
The Agency’s Director General, Dr. Bashir Jamoh who made this known in Lagos recently also announced the donation of a total sum of N50 million to fight the virus in the country; with N30 million going to the Federal Government Committee on COVID-19 Intervention and N20 million to aid the Lagos State Government’s effort to control the spread of the virus.
Equally, NIMASA has volunteered its 6 fast intervention vessels to be committed to facilitate transport logistics support in the maritime sector, just as volunteers from the Agency will be deployed to join first responders from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Lagos and other states in managing the spread of the pandemic.
The ventilators are equipments that assist patients in breathing, a process sometimes referred to as artificial respiration, which are basically needed at this time to help fight the disease.
Jamoh stated that: “the coronavirus pandemic is upon humanity. It came suddenly upon a virtually unprepared world and demands drastic actions from all and sundry to contain the virus and salvage our common humanity. We are concerned about the effect of the pandemic on the socio-economic life of the country, especially at a time NIMASA, Nigeria’s maritime industry regulator, is driving a Blue Economy campaign, to make maritime a key part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic diversification agenda.”
The Agency has also volunteered four fully equipped brand new ambulances, four Hilux trucks and four 36 seater coaster buses to support and facilitate land-based logistics in the Federal capital Territory, Lagos, Delta, Rivers, Cross River and Kaduna States.