Covid-19: VSF Distributes Food Items, PPE To Kano, Katsina

The Victims Support Fund (VSF) Emergency Task Force on COVID-19 says it has distributed food items and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to more than 900 households in Katsina and Kano States.
The Spokesman for the task force, Mr Alkasim Abdulkadir, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
Abdulkadir said the items distributed included rice, beans, maize, vegetable oil, salt, hand sanitizer, standard surgical face masks, reusable face mask, hazmat suits, goggles, boots and latex gloves.
He said that the items and equipment were distributed to support national effort against COVID-19 pandemic.
Abdulkadir said that with this distribution, VSF was in its third phase of its intervention in Kano and Katsina States.
He expressed the task force concern about the inaccurate information in the public domain on its operations.
“In the interest of transparency the actual number of households that received food items in Katsina State is 4,222 while Kano State is 5,102,” he said.
He said that Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) received 50 per cent of the food items while the state governments received 50 per cent.
Abdulkadir said that each beneficiary state and CSOs were to distribute those items to the vulnerable people in the communities.
“The VSF Emergency Task Force on COVID-19 commenced the third Phase of its intervention on Nov. 19 in Abuja.
“It has proceeded to four North Central states which are Benue, Plateau, Niger and Kaduna, and three North West states – Katsina, Kano, and Zamfara.
“This third phase was necessitated due to the pervasiveness of the coronavirus and hardship across the country,’’ he said.
Abdulkadir said that VSF emergency task force on COVID-19 remained committed to working with indigenous CSOs and state governments to provide food and PPE’s in underprivileged and disadvantaged communities.
He quoted the Chairperson of the task force, Mrs Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, as saying that VSF considered it imperative to support the governments and civil society groups involved in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
Akerele-Ogunsiji said that the Task Force on COVID-19 was an emergency response team inaugurated by the Chairman of the Victims Support Fund, Retired Gen. TY Danjuma to provide palliatives to displaced persons and the vulnerable.
She said that it also provided institutional support to government agencies supporting the national effort to fight COVID 19.
She said that the total cost of the third phase of the COVID-19 intervention was N1billion.
Akerele-Ogunsiji also said that the task force had successfully carried out the first and second phases of the COVID- 19 intervention in April and June.
The chairperson said that VSF COVID-19 task force in continuation of its mandate would distribute rice, beans, maize, vegetable oil, salt, and PPE to 40,886 households nationwide.