Valentine Ozigbo, a Nigerian business leader and philanthropist, has paid tribute to Nigerian workers, describing them as resilient and dogged, even amid trying conditions.
Ozigbo, immediate past president and group chief executive officer of Transcorp Plc, in a press statement signed by Izuchukwu Oraelosi, on Friday, May 1, 2020, praised Nigerian workers for continuing to give their best to the nation even when they hardly got paid living wages.
He called on the federal and state governments to pay the workers what was commensurate with their efforts at a time when inflation had made their salaries almost worthless.
Mr. Ozigbo, while acknowledging the difficulties brought about on governments by the coronavirus pandemic, however, urged them to find ways of paying the new minimum wage to workers, even if it meant cutting the cost of governance where necessary.
The respected business mogul charged workers to, on their part, keep the flag flying to ensure that the wheel of governance was continuously oiled.
He expressed the hope that things could only get better for the workers whom he charged to be patient and understanding.
Uncommon Generosity: Valentine Ozigbo Distributes N20 Million COVID-19 Relief
Mr. Valentine Ozigbo has donated relief, health, and educations materials worth over N20 million in Anambra State as part of his intervention to provide support to the vulnerable affected by COVID-19 pandemic.
In partnership with his foundation, the Chineto Ozigbo Foundation, the respected business leader has distributed thousands of bags of rice, thousands of free bottles of hand sanitisers, face masks, and educational materials in over 60 communities in his home state.
In a video statement, published on his official Instagram and Twitter handles on Wednesday, April 15, 20 20, Mr. Ozigbo called for the display of “an uncommon generosity” during this uncertain time by the well-meaning in the country.
“These dark #COVID days call for uncommon generosity especially, towards the most vulnerable among us from Nigeria,” he wrote.
In the new 2-minute video, Ozigbo, who is the immediate past President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp Plc, articulated three things that governments and individuals leading the social interventions during the coronavirus pandemic need to prioritise.
“The three things, I believe, we should prioritise during the #COVID-19 lockdown are food and water, security, and power,” he said in the video.
“Through my foundation @chinetoozigbofoundation, I have made interventions worth more than N20 million providing thousands of bags of rice, thousands of hand sanitizers, face masks, and education materials,” he wrote on social media.
“Through these programmes and our participation in other COVID-19 intervention projects, we have are touching lives of over 100,000 people in my home state of Anambra.
“I call on the well-meaning in Anambra and across Nigeria to be more generous and help those who need help at this difficult time,” he said.
He, also, called on well-meaning individuals in Anambra and across Nigeria to be more generous and help those who needed help at this difficult time, noting that the government could not “do it alone”.
COVID-19 is a global pandemic in which two million people have been infected. Authorities have confirmed 373 patients in the country and eleven deaths. Several states, including Anambra, Lagos, Delta, Ekiti, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Kaduna are under lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.
