The Nigeria Foundation for the Support of Victims of Terrorism, ‘Victims Support Fund’ (VSF) has donated Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities worth N55million to 3 public secondary schools in Enugu State.
Mrs Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, the Chairperson of the VSF Taskforce on Coronavirus (Covid-19), said that the gesture was part of their COVID-19 intervention.
Ogunsiji stated that it would be difficult for people to adhere to the hand wash safety protocol as directed by government when they do not have such facilities, including water.
She said that as part of its third phase COVID-19 intervention, VSF designed a community based needs assessment to determine who needed what in the implementation.
The VSF Chairperson said that the organisation was currently donating WASH facilities to 54 schools in 18 states of the federation, adding that they would have covered 31 states by April 2021.
Ogunsiji said that the implementation of the project was evenly spread to touch the six geopolitical zones of the country.
“Abia and Anambra are the two other states in the South East that would benefit from the same gesture”, she said.
She reiterated that VSF had at the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic distributed food, medical consumables and protective equipment to 19 states across six geopolitical zones of the country.
Besides providing support to National Council for Women Societies, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons and others.
“Enugu and Ebonyi were some of the states that benefitted then, each benefitting state received gift items worth N120million”, she stated.
Ogunsiji appealed to the benefitting schools to put the facilities in good use, stating that they had the choice to reticulate the water in their host communities.
Prof. Uche Eze, the Enugu State Commissioner for Education, commended the organisation for its kind gesture to the state especially.
Eze promised that Enugu State government will ensure that the facilities were protected and maintained.
Mrs Uzoamaka Ani, the Principal, Government College, Agbani, one of the schools that benefitted from VSF projects, thanked the organisation for the gesture.
Ani, stated that the execution of the projects had solved their water needs.
Each of the schools got a 4000 liter solar-powered borehole, four hand wash stations and 2000 pieces of reusable face masks.
Other items received are five pieces of four liter hand sanitisers, 120 bottles of 500ml liquid hand wash and cartons of bleach.