News Investigators/ The Embassy of Israel in Nigeria has donated 2,000 protective face masks to Nigerian medical personnel to support their ongoing efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Shimon Ben-Shoshan, Ambassador of Israel to Nigeria, while delivering the face masks to the Minister of Health, Mr Osagie Ehanire, said the items were designed in Israel and manufactured in Nigeria.
Ben-Shoshan, who is also the Permanent Representative of Israel to ECOWAS said that the items were put together by the Embassy of the State of Israel in collaboration with Skill-G, an Israeli company.
“This is something that we have been doing, even before the outbreak of COVID-19, which is using medical innovations of Israel in Nigeria.
“What we see today is another fantastic cooperation between Israeli companies and groups of companies in Nigeria in production of protective masks.
“The protective masks, which were designed in Israel and manufactured in Nigeria, were printed with 3-D Printers in Nigeria.
“What we have here is the contribution of Israel to Nigeria.
“Our goal is to donate 10,000 protective face masks to medical staff in the frontline of fighting COVID-19.
“Today, we are donating the first phase of 2,000 face masks; we wish to continue and to bring the rest as soon as possible.
“Unfortunately the production process takes time.”
According to Ben-Shoshan, the nuber of COVID-19 cases recorded in Nigeria is less than what obtains in Israel which has, so far, recorded 16,500 cases with 237 deaths since the outbreak of the disease.
He described the disease as something no one expected, adding that COVID-19 is not about Israel or Nigeria, but the world at large.
Receiving the protective face masks, Mr Ehanire expressed appreciation to the Ambassador and his team for the donation which he described as a sign of consideration and concern.
“It is something that is very handy and we will be very happy to use the face shields in all our activities because there are many situations we need this protective face masks.
“We shall start deploying the protective face masks immediately to places we have need of them.
“Our country is large and unfortunately the pandemic has spread to almost everywhere.
“We are trying to respond to calls, reporting where there are severity of the outbreak and we try to see what we can do.
“This is a part to ensure the relationship between your country and our country continues, not only in the area of health, but also in terms of technical cooperation,” Mr. Ehanire said.
Highpoint of the event was the presentation of the protective face masks and snapping of photographs of the Ambassador and the Minister.
