One would think as an essential service provider and manufacturer of medical equipment, you’ll be exempted from the lock down?įor garment manufacturers, we haven’t received and exemption letter. We have reached out to them by way of a letter, and we are aware that importation is being done.” “We are surprised that the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) hasn’t reached out to us. We have to stay isolated if we are going to be producing these items and also distributing them in a safe manner. We have to put in safety measures to make sure that people don’t go out, for instance, to get food. We have a building that is within the factory premises. We have to put a safety measure in place. We have some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who have reached out to us, but as I said, the primary constraint is distribution, logistics, and to make sure that our staffs are safe. So what sort of orders have you got, as you say you’ve got a couple of orders? But now that there is a lock down, distribution is going to be a problem for us. Before the lock-down, we did some production that was a social campaign that we distributed for free. We’ve had people asking us if we can produce for them. So we’ve had a couple of demands but distribution has also been a problem. What’s the state of the availability of personal protection equipment in Nigeria now? The textile polypropylene is used to make the surgical mask, and then for the face mask, we have the fabric available. We do not produce the N-95 but we produce the cloth masks and surgical masks because we have supplied for the fabrics that we use in doing that. We produce personal protective gear like overalls, face masks, and surgical masks. Tell us about your company and what sort of medical protective equipment you actually make.
The Chief Executive Officer of Fashion Spaces Garment Factory (SGFA), Aisha Abubakar-Achonu, whose company manufactures surgical masks, gowns and other medical equipment, fields questions on Nigeria’s preparedness for the pandemic and why the economy has long been dependent on importation and empowering other economies.
0 kommentar(er)
