Bauchi State government says it has received nothing less than the sum of N43.9 million naira from United Bank of Africa (UBA), First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and other citizens as donations in its effort to curtail the spread of Coronavirus in the state.
Alh. Baba Tela, the Deputy Governor of Bauchi State disclosed this in a news conference in Bauchi on Thursday.
He said the reason why the state government went to some private sectors to seek their support was because, ‘government alone can not sustain the expenditure in the normal course of business of governance and at the same time take up expenditure to control this kind of scourge’.
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Breaking down the donations, the deputy governor said “UBA donated the sum of N28.5 million naira, FCMB donated the sum of N10 million Naira, Alhaji Garba Noma, donated the sum of N2.5 million naira to the state government as their commitment to wage war against the deadly virus in the state.
“Others who donated money to the state government includes: Alh. Dan-asabe Ibunu with N1 million, Alh. Maishanu with N1 million, the Body of Bauchi Lawyers of Conscience (BOBALAC) donated N500,000 and Hon. Musa Nakwada, representing Bogoro Local Government in the State House of Assembly who donated his one month salary of N476,000,” Tela said.
He further revealed that Alh. Yakubu Shafa, a business man in the state also pledged to donate relief materials consisting of beds, mattresses, sanitizers and other consumables totaling about N20 million naira.
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He added that, himself, the Chief of Staff to the State Governor, Mr Salihu Ladan and Alh. Mohammad Baba, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) have all pledged to donate their three months salaries.
The deputy governor who said that their target was to get as much of donations as they could, called on all well meaning Nigerians to key in to helping the state to fight the virus by donating whatever they can afford.
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(PHOTO: File)
