COVID-19: Cititrust supports NGO to procure PPE for health workers -

Cititrust Holdings Plc has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting both public and private initiatives in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic with the donation of one million naira for the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline health care workers.

The cheque was handed over to a non-governmental organisation, Health Emergency Initiative (HEI) at the company’s corporate headquarters in Lagos, on Tuesday, June 2.

HEI, a recipient of Best Supporting NGO Award by Lagos State Health Service Commission, partners the Federal Road Safety Corps, Lagos State Ambulance Service, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency and other relevant agencies to ensure that critically injured accident victims receive prompt life-saving care in public health institutions.

Speaking during the occasion, Yemi Adefisan, Group Chief Executive of the company, said Cititrust Group had earlier donated food items to Lagos and Osun state governments, and cash to the CBN COVID-19 account.

Adefisan said the current gesture was Cititrust’s contribution to an emergency trust fund set up by HEI to provide much needed PPE for frontline health workers in Lagos State.

Also speaking at the event, chairman of Cititrust COVID-19 Response Committee, Mr. Kunle Adewole, said the company was proud to work with credible organisations like HEI in ensuring that critical needs of frontline health workers are promptly met.

According to him, records show that the organisation has donated PPE to LUTH, LASUTH, FMC Ebute Metta, FRSC and IDH, Yaba, “hence, Cititrust has no doubt that donated funds will be judiciously utilised”.

He said the company would continue to “explore other areas of critical needs in the COVID-19 response and healthcare sector in general with a view to rendering its corporate support”.

In his own comments, Paschal Achunine, the Founder/Executive Director of HEI, thanked the management of Cititrust for its “unrelenting support for the social well-being of Nigerians”.

He disclosed that other services offered by HEI include assisting indigent patients in public hospitals, particularly children, who could have died of infections like malaria, sepsis, typhoid fever, pneumonia, tetanus, diarrhea, cholera, among others.

According to Achunine, over 485 patients have benefited from HEI’s intervention, including 210 children across 27 hospitals in Lagos State.

He used the occasion to solicit support of other corporate entities and individuals for the organisation.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.