The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)-led Oil & Gas Industry Intervention Initiative on COVID-19 began at the weekend, the third phase of their support programme with the ground breaking ceremony for a permanent Emergency and Infectious Diseases Hospital for the South-South region in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
A statement by NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, said the event flagged-off the plan by the intervention group to deliver lasting medical infrastructure across the six-geopolitical zones in the country.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, who spoke at the event, affirmed that the project is part of the Nigerian Oil Industry Coalition initiative led by the NNPC, to support the nation’s efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
He reiterated that the oil industry is contributing about N21billion worth of support provided through internal procurement processes of contributing companies.
Sylva said that Bayelsa State was considered a suitable site for the project given its pioneering role in the history of oil and gas in the country and its current contribution of about 40 per cent to onshore crude oil output.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, who spoke through the corporation’s Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), who is also the coordinator of the initiative in the petroleum industry, Mr. Bala Wunti, disclosed that the corporation is working with its Joint Venture partners across the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream sectors to support the Health Sector.
He said the NNPC-led intervention has allocated the N21billion-worth of support to various International Oil Companies, Indigenous operators with Joint Venture stakes across the oil sector.
He explained that the infectious diseases hospital to be sited on a 1,586 square metre-space would serve as zonal isolation centre for COVID-19 and would serve as a referral hospital for communicable diseases after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Managing Director, Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Mr Lorenzo Fiorillo, stated at the event that the outbreak of COVID-19 disease has put a lot of strain on healthcare systems and personnel globally.
Fiorillo, who spoke through the Head of Community Relations of NAOC, Mr. Macwon Jitubo, said the company remains sympathetic to help navigate the threat posed by COVID-19 pandemic, which he explained had resulted in millions of deaths worldwide.
He said the project being delivered in Bayelsa State would engender a valuable medical asset to the South South region of the country.
The Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, who earlier applauded Sylva for attracting the project to the State, performed the ground-breaking ceremony in company of other dignitaries including Minister of State for Education, Mr Chukwuemaka Nwajiobi, who represented the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and Secretary to Government of Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha at the occasion.