Evacuated from abroad? CBN, NNPC will feed, accommodate you during quarantine

CBN, NNPC to undertake the task as CSR

Nigeria’s central and bank and the state-owned oil company, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC will team up to fund the feeding and accommodation of all those avecauted from overseas during their compulsory 14-day quarantine.

The Federal Government said the CBN and NNPC will shoulder the cost as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, disclosed this plan on Monday during the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

He said the gesture was made possible by the co-operation of the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and the NNPC GMD, Mele Kyari.

The minister explained that the MFA had imposed advance payment of feeding and hotel bills on evacuees because the FG had no source of funding.

He said: “After getting all the barrage from all around the world including that we were somehow conspiring with hotels to fleece Nigerians and make money for ourselves and other kinds of accusations, we continue diverse to find the way through.

Also, read LOCKDOWN: Nigeria extends gradual easing by 2 weeks, Kano full lockdown continues

“They say that two heads are better than one. The Honourable Minister of Environment, Dr Mahmoud Abubakar, called me on Friday and suggested that why not try NNPC and CBN. They have corporate social responsibility funding and I told him I will do that immediately.

“I got in touch with the governor of the CBN and he generously agreed. He said the amount I was talking about is over a billion naira because we have over 4000 Nigerians out there and if over 3000 of them comes back, the cost of feeding and accommodation is over a billion naira that we don’t have. He said he was ready to share the cost with the NNPC.

“I spoke with the GMD of NNPC and he said he was going to consult and thanks be to God today (Monday), he got back to me and he said he was going to meet with the governor of CBN and together, they will fund this portion, a very important one, the feeding and accommodation of the evacuees.”