COVID-19: VSF donates WASH facilities to schools amidst second wave

Amidst the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the Victims Support Fund (VSF) has donated Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities to schools in Federal Capital Territory.

The private sector led organisation, initially formed to assist victims of Boko Haram attacks, is led by Theophilus Danjuma, a businessman and former army chief.

Following an unprecedented spike in new COVID-19 cases across the country, the Nigerian government announced that the country has entered the second wave of the pandemic.

As part of the response to the second wave, the federal authorities ordered the immediate closure of bars, nightclubs, and restaurants across the country. The number of guests at weddings, conferences, among others has also been limited to 50 persons.

Even before the federal government’s advisory, many states like Lagos and Kaduna already introduced new rounds of restrictions to limit the spread of the virus.

The FCT authorities also issued some guidelines to caution citizens, especially during this festive period.

Donations

The schools in the FCT to benefit from the WASH projects are Government Day Secondary School (Boarding) Bwari, Government Secondary School, Kuje, and Junior Secondary School, Asokoro, Abuja.

Items donated to each school includes; a solar-powered borehole, four handwash stations, 2,000 pieces of reusable face masks, five pieces of four-litre hand sanitiser, 120 bottles of 500ml liquid hand wash, and five cartons of bleach.

Speaking at the presentation of the items on Tuesday, chairperson of its COVID-19 taskforce, Toyosi Ogunsiji, said hand-washing is the singular preventive measure against COVID-19.

She explained that the emergency intervention initiative was part of the social responsibility of the organization through the VSF Board chairperson.

She said the project is an extension of the 54 borehole facilities and 216 handwashing stations delivered by the task force.

She said the intervention will spread across 18 different states, cutting across all the six geo-political zones of the country.

“Each school is getting a solar power borehole facility like this in addition to four different units of hand washing and sanitizing boots.

”Each school is also going to be receiving 2,000 branded pieces of face masks from the VSF.

“We are giving hand sanitisers as well, we are giving handwashing soaps and tissue papers including the water for handwashing, stations and sanitising boots are directly connected from this solar power borehole and you can see the quality of what we donated and the pressure of the water,” she said.

She noted that the group aims to encourage students and teachers within public schools to keep their hands clean as part of measures to limit the spread of the virus.

She said the VSF will continue to provide succour to vulnerable Nigerians as well as institutional support to agencies involved in the fight against COVID-19.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: TY Danjuma’s NGO donates N1bn food, PPE to IDPs, vulnerable groups

Receiving the items, the Minister of the FCT, Musa Bello commended the group for supporting the fight against COVID-19.

Represented by the Acting Secretary, Education Secretariat, FCT, Leramoh Abdulrazaq, he urged all students and staff to ensure adequate use of the facilities.

He noted that delivering quality education is not the responsibility of the government alone.

He urged other Nigerians to ensure that the teachers and students have a safe environment as a corporate social responsibility.