An oil servicing company, Grafen Integrated Oilfield Services, has distributed palliatives to persons with disabilities(PWDs) to cushion the effect of the lockdown caused by COVID -19 pandemic in the state.
The Managing Director of the company, Mr Iniobong Esuene, donating the food items in Eket Local Government Area, Wednesday, said the gesture was geared toward aiding PWDs who are most vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The items donated included rice, beans, noodles, garri (cassava flakes) and other provisions.
Esuene said Grafen Services as an indigenous company would always rise to the occasion, to contribute their quota in times like this as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to the people.
“As an indigenous oil firm, we will always contribute our quota to the building of our society and will also carter for the well-being of the people especially physically challenged in times like this,” Esuene said.
He said that the fight against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the society should be collective, as organisations and government cannot do it all to satisfy the people.
Reacting on the gesture, Mr Ekanem Willie, the Vice Chairman of the constituted Eket Action Committee on COVID-19 expressed the committee’s appreciation to the oil firm for thinking of PWDs at a time of this pandemic.
Willie stressed that the oil firm was the first oil servicing company, operating within the shores of Eket, to provide palliatives to physically challenged, to cushion the effect of the lockdown caused by the pandemic.
He charged the beneficiaries of the palliatives to adhere strictly to the laid down protocol of social distancing, consistent washing of hands with soap and water or sanitisers, while also giving them hope that the pandemic would be a thing of the past.
Reacting on behalf of the beneficiaries, the President of the physically challenged, Mr Imoh Johnson, thanked the oil servicing company for thinking in their direction and not playing politics with the distribution of the palliatives.
Johnson said there was need for organisations to emulate the gesture of Grafen Integrated Oilfield Services toward ameliorating the sufferings of the people as a result of the lockdown caused by the Coronavirus.
“This food items will help to ameliorate the suffering of the people as a result of the lockdown caused by the Coronavirus pandemic ravaging the country,” Johnson said.
