Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, at the weekend, declared that the Federal Government has committed $58 million (about N21 billion) as intervention initiative to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

23 per cent of this amount was earmarked for the construction of medical infrastructure across the six geo-political zones, he said.

Sylva gave the figures at the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a permanent 150 to 200-bed emergency and infectious disease medical centre by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) / Seplat joint venture at Imo State University Teaching Hospital, Orlu, Imo State.

The minister said the action was taken to support the national healthcare delivery as well as to strengthen the national resolve to combating the dreadful impact of the pandemic.

“The intervention initiative is in alignment with the ongoing Federal Government’s supportive efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic through the Presidential Taskforce on Covid-19. We discovered key kinetic areas – provision of medical consumables, employment of logistics and in-patient support system and delivery of medical infrastructure,” Sylva said.