The European Union (EU) has donated €50 million to Nigeria to fight coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which has resulted to the death of at least ten people in the country.

The donation was announced when the President Muhammadu Buhari, received in the presence the EU Delegation at the Council Chambers, State House, Abuja on Tuesday, April 14th, 2020.

The Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, disclosed this via a tweet.

Adesina said the Head of the EU delegation at the event, Amb Ketil Karlsen, who announced the donation, also praised the president for extending lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun.

Karlsen was quoted as describing Buhari’s address to the nation on Monday, April 13th as “powerful”, adding that the president took necessary and bold measures.

Adesina tweeted,

EU gives Nigeria a grant of 50 million Euro to fight COVID-19.

The Personal Assistant on New Media to the President, Bashir Ahmad, also said,

The European Union has donated a grant of €50 million to the Federal Government, their contribution to Nigeria’s fight against #COVID19, the Head of EU delegation, Amb. Ketil Karlsen announces the donation at a meeting with President @MBuhari today in Abuja.

Recall that on Monday, April 13th, Buhari announced the extension of the lockdown order in the Federal capital Territory, Lagos State and Ogun State, as part of measures to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.

The extension was after an initial lockdown order Buhari declared on March 31st, 2020 elapsed.

In a nationwide live broadcast on Monday, April 13th, the president extended the lockdown by another fourteen (14) days, saying the decision was a difficult one for his administration.

Buhari said the initial lockdown helped the country in its ongoing battle against the deadly disease.

After the President’s address, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed twenty new cases of coronavirus in Nigeria.

The NCDC said,

20 new cases of #COVID-19 have been reported as follows: 13 in Lagos, two in Edo, two in Kano, two in Ogun and one in Ondo.

As of 09:50 pm on the 13th April, there are 343 confirmed cases of #COVID-19 reported in Nigeria. 91 have been discharged with 10 deaths.

Currently, Lagos has 189 new cases, FCT- 56, Osun- 20, Edo- 16, Oyo- 11, Ogun – nine, Bauchi – six, Kaduna – six, Akwa Ibom – five, Katsina – five, Delta – three, Enugu – two, Ekiti – two, Rivers – two, Kwara – four, Ondo – three, Benue – one, Niger – one, Anambra – one and Kano – three.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.