The Honourable Minister of Health Osagie Ehanire has expressed the gratitude of the Federal Government of Nigeria to the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, H.E Simon Ben-Soshan who led Officials of the Embassy to the Ministry to donate a first instalment of 2,000 protective facemasks to Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Health given the fact that the situation of COVID-19 pandemic as it is in Israel is worse than what Nigeria is faced with.
The Israeli Ambassador, H.E Simon Ben-Soshan had earlier reported to the gathering of officials of the Federal Ministry of Health that the situation of COVID-19 in Israel is such that “16, 500 COVID-19 positive cases are recorded with 239 deaths from Corona.”
H.E. Simon Ben-Soshan said his country planned a donation of 10, 000 of such face masks printed with 3D to “medical staff who are in the frontline in Nigeria” and that the initial figures of 2,000 brought to the Federal Ministry of Health today, Thursday, 7th May, 2020 were designed in Israel but produced in Nigeria by a Nigerian-Israeli Company – Skill-G Nigeria. The Israeli Ambassador proudly announced that “the production of the face masks were produced in Nigeria by Nigeria engineers”, but regretted that the State of Israel would have love to donate all the planned 10, 000 at once but that the production of technique is such that only 100 of such masks could be produced per day.
Ambassador Simon Ben-Soshan made reference to the fact that notwithstanding the fact that Israeli Embassy in Nigeria evacuated some of its citizens from Nigeria in the wake of the pandemic’s index case, “only the women and the aged” he said, leaving the boys and the men behind who have been working and donated dozens of thousands of packages with food items and relief materials to Nigerians from the beginning of the lockdown, where they were needed the most.
In response, Dr. Osagie Ehnire who gave a rundown of the COVID-19 situation to the visiting Israeli delegation, the achievements so far in the most ravaged areas of Nigeria and the challenges expressed delight at receiving the donations from the Embassy promising that the equipment will be deployed immediately. The Honourable Minister however expressed his regrets and conveyed the condolences of the Federal Government of Nigeria to the State of Israel for the lives lost to the pandemic.
Signed:
Grace Anyanwu, Principal Executive Officer (Information)
For: The Director of Information,
Federal Ministry of Health.
Thursday, 7th May, 2020.
