By Landing Colley
The Turkish Corporation and Coordination Agency – TIKA, has donated 7,500 facemasks to five regional councils as part of efforts to fight coronavirus in the country.
The councils included Base, Kantaur, Janjanbureh, Mansakonko, Kerewan and they all received 1,500 facemasks each.
Turkish Ambassador to The Gambia Tolga Bermek said at the presentation ceremony that “the pandemic has affected the daily life and the economic as well being of the people and international solidarity and cooperation is needed more in other to take covid-19 pandemic.”
Mehmet Akif Eyigun, TIKA’s country representative said: “TIKA has implemented three covid-19 projects since the report of first case in The Gambia and this face masks project is the fourth one which is all geared towards complementing the effort of government in fight against the pandemic.”
He said the facemasks were locally made saying “one very important component of this project is creation of employment for young tailors in The Gambia.”
He expressed that the donated materials will go a long way curbing the spread of the coronavirus in the country.
Landing B. Sanneh, chairperson of the association of local government, thanked TIKA for its continuous support to the country and assured that the government will continue its cooperation with the agency.
“I am sure this protective material will go a long way in fight against covid-19 as we all know that prevention is better that cure,” he said. He therefore urged other partners to emulate TIKA in supporting the country.
This project entails the production of 20,000 washable and reusable face masks in collaboration with ABM Covid-19 Gambia.
