COVID-19: FCT Minister lauds NNPC-led oil and gas industry coalition’s initiatives

Donates land for state-of-the-art health facility

Commends NNPC GMD

Impressed with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)-led support for the nation’s COVID-19 fight, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCT), Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, has offered land to NNPC and its partners for their project.

NNPC-led Oil and Gas Industry Coalition had pledged to build a world-class medical facility in the FCT.

Specifically, the minister commended the leadership of NNPC for rallying the Oil and Gas Industry to support the nation in the current health and COVID-19 triggered economic crisis.

Speaking at the NNPC Towers during a courtesy call on NNPC Group Managing Director, Malam Mele Kyari, the minister said he was impressed with the quality of interventions from the NNPC-led Oil and Gas Industry Coalition.

Bello, who also commended the GMD for his sterling performance since assumption of office, said the FCT Administration had been holding discussions with the NNPC Medical team on the possibility of developing a healthcare facility in Abuja for the benefit of all residents and other Nigerians.

He said the visit was in furtherance of the discussions with the NNPC medical team and to formally present offer of a parcel of land to NNPC and its partners to build one of the permanent medical facilities pledged by the coalition.

Bello said: “We have already identified a location, because within the Abuja Master Plan we have a Medical City Development Project which is in Phase 2 of the City on the Southern Sector.

“We have been able to allocate a suitable piece of land there for the NNPC and its partners. I have no doubt whatsoever, based on your antecedent as an astute corporate manager, that you are the right partner to execute this project.’’

The Minister who presented a copy of the site offered for the proposed NNPC Medical facility to the GMD said: “We acknowledge the efforts of NNPC as a catalyst for development in Abuja and we felt that if an institution like NNPC is willing to set up a medical facility, we should give it maximum support”.

Bello, who also visited the 70-bed NNPC Medical facility in Utako which is being upgraded as part of the corporation’s investment in the healthcare sector in the Federal Capital Territory, expressed satisfaction with the quality of work and assured of its inclusion on the list of hospitals certified to handle COVID-19 patients should the pandemic persist.

Responding, Kyari said that NNPC as a responsible and proactive corporate citizen had initiated the idea of establishing a state-of-the-art medical facility in the nation’s capital city even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“NNPC’s aspiration is to build infrastructure that would outlive the COVID-19 pandemic and capable of bringing real-time value to Nigerians,’’ he said in a statement by Dr Kennie Obateru, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, and obtained by Persecondnews.

Kyari thanked the FCT Minister for “graciously allocating land for the proposed health facility.’’