The medical supplies donated to Nigeria by China’s richest man, Jack Ma, to assist in the fight against the coronavirus have arrived Lagos.
The supplies arrived at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos around 3:20 pm on Tuesday through an aircraft operated by Ethiopian Airlines.
The medical supplies arrived two days after their expected delivery.
It was learnt that the supplies would be conveyed to Abuja by the Nigerian Air Force, where the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health is expected to receive them.
Nigeria had just lifted the embargo on cargo flights coming into the country.
The flight left Guangzhou, China on March 22, and stopped over at Addis Ababa in Ethiopia before proceeding to Lagos.
Contained in it are 5.4 million face masks, about 1.08 million test kits, 40,000 sets of protective gears and 60,000 face shields donated to Africa by the Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundations.
Ethiopian Airlines General Manager, Firihiewot Mekonnen, said the airline was honoured to deliver the supplies in the fight against COVID-19.
“We appreciate the donation of the Jack Ma Foundation and the generosity of Jack Ma. We admire Abiy Ahmed, our Prime Minister, for his initiative and organization of the entire process,” he said.
“As an indigenous and pioneer Pan African airline, Ethiopian Airlines has stood together with Africans at all times for the last seven decades. Ethiopian Airlines has supported Africans in good and challenging times.
“In this unprecedented global pandemic, Ethiopian Airlines will continue its commitment for African people to help them fight and win this invisible enemy.
“Today, we are very happy to deliver these medical supplies to the Government and people of Nigeria. Ethiopian Airlines has always stood by Nigeria in times of good and bad. Since we started flying to Lagos we have not stopped our flights even when Abuja airport was closed we were the only international airline that flew to Kaduna.”
