Nigeria Red Cross donates relief items to the vulnerable

In Nigeria, the Red Cross in Lagos has distributed relief items to vulnerable people reeling under pressure over lockdown.

The Makoko community is one of the hardest hit as the city observes the lockdown to help curtail spread of the coronavirus.

Adebola Kolawole is the Branch Chairperson of Nigeria Red Cross. She told the Associated Press that the packages include essential food items that could feed a family of six for one-week.

“We are providing essential food items that could last a family of six for one-week and we are doing this to help relieve the tension in the land because there is so much hunger and people are suffering due to the lockdown by the government for many weeks now due to COVID-19, the coronavirus that is ravaging the globe”, Kolawole said.

Charles Ogbu is a tailor at the fabric market in Yaba. He said he has been struggling to feed his wife and five children.

“It is not been easy to be at home for the past five weeks. You know staying indoors you are bored and there is no money, the little you have got you have spent on food, there is no income, there are children in the house. In short it has been difficult. Life has been so hard, but this relief has come at the right time. I am happy”, Ogbu said.

So far, Africa’s most populous nation has reported 1,095 coronavirus cases and 32 fatalities, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

AP