The North East Development Commission (NEDC) on Tuesday donated a Covid -19 and infectious disease laboratory to Taraba state government.
The managing director of the commission, Alhaji Mohammed Alkali, while donating the items said that the laboratory was to reduce avoidable complications associated with delayed diagnosis and treatment of the Covid-19 disease.
Alkali, during the handing over of the facility at the Taraba State Specialists Hospital said that the Commission had provided medical consumables for mitigation of the spread of the disease to the state during the peak of Covid-19.
He stressed that the Commission was also donating 10,000 stocks of assorted drugs and medical consumables for Primary Health Care facilities across the 16 local government areas in the state.
He explainedthat other Covid-19 preventive items would be distributed to schools, National Union of Road Transport Workers and security agencies in the state.
He noted that the commission would use the opportunity to distribute agricultural inputs and to be further distributed to the three senatorial zones in the state.
He listed some of the inputs to include ten tractors, 28 disc plough for tractors and ten boom sprayers.
Others include ten planters, 18 three wheel tractors, 1,500 bags of improved rice seeds and 4,500 bags of fertilisers.
He highlighted that these inputs are aimed at boosting food production in the zone.
He further announced that the commission has established Education Endowment Fund (EEF).
He added that the commission had already set aside N6 Billion for the fund, adding that the fund would focus on training in Education, Health and Agriculture.
“The commission has made provision of 10,000 blankets to public boarding schools in the state. 60,000 exercise books would be distributed to public schools while 20,000 exercise books would be distributed to private schools in the state by the commission” he said.
He expressed the determination of the commission in intervening in all areas of challenges within the North East Zone.
The DG who lauded governor Gov. Darius Ishaku for supporting the commission in achieving its objectives in the state commiserated with the state over the recent flood disaster which affected some communities in the state.
He promised that the commission would provide emergency relief materials to the victims of the disaster after a comprehensive report that would be made available to the commission by the state.
In his address, Gov. Ishaku commended the commission for it’s intervention in the state.
He urged the commission to consult with the state in the area of project location in the state.
He expressed the determination of his administration in supporting the commission to achieve the task it was meant for.
The governor, while commissioning the Covid-19 and other infectios disease laboratory, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for initiating and the establishment of the NEDC.
Blueprint reports that the Commission earlier, graduated 331 participants of its first and second sets of it’s ICT scheme for Taraba.
