COVID-19: OAU donates relief materials to Ife

The authority of Obafemi Awolowo University has donated food items to Ife Development Board to support the community’s effort to cushion the effect of restriction of movement on its residents.

The university said the gesture was aimed at reducing the suffering of the teeming Ife populace as a result of the economic effect of the ravaging coronavirus on individual and nations.

A statement issued by the university’s Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju, stated that the Vice-Chancellor of the Institution, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede while handing over the food items on Thursday to the President of Ife Development Board, Comrade Lawrence Awowoyin, at Ooni’s Palace, Ile-Ife, said the institution deems it fit to support government effort to alleviate the suffering of the people.

He also commended Ooni for the fatherly role he has always played to the University, saying he had done enough to support the University community, even during this COVID-19 pandemic.

The Vice-Chancellor added that the University thought it is also important to fully support the efforts of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja 11, towards curtailing the pandemic in the country.

According to him:”We are aware of the fact that the lockdown has denied members of the community the opportunity to go about their normal daily activities, thereby negatively affecting their means of livelihood.

We, however, take solace in the fact that since the advent of the Coronavirus disease in Nigeria and Osun State, there is no single cause of COVID-19 in Ile-Ife and it’s environs.

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“It is our prayer that this no-case situation remains so in the entire Ife Community.”

He appealed to Nigerians to stay in their homes and observe social distancing as well as obey the guidelines released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

In his response, the President of IDB, Comrade Lawrence Awowoyin, commended the OAU management for their good gesture.

Awowoyin said that if an individual helped, at least, one person in providing succour, the pain of the vulnerable would be eliminated considerably, if not totally.

He commended the management for their commitment and willingness to provide the desired support for the proper and effective distribution of the relief materials to the citizens of the ancient city of Ile-Ife.

Items distributed by OAU included: 179 packs of 5kg Garri and Seven and half bags of 50kg Garri.

Others are: 200 packs of OAU bottled water; One cow, 500 loaves of OAU bread and 200 bottles of 250ml Ifetizer (hand sanitiser). All the items donated to the Ife community are produced by the University.

Source: VANGUARD News