COVID19: Ethiopian Airlines Deliver Supplies from Jack Ma to Nigeria

An Ethiopian Airlines Freighter arrived on Tuesday at Lagos Airport International Airport, by 3.20 PM on Tuesday, 24 March 2020, to deliver Medical Supplies from the Jack Ma Foundation—the supplies are a part of a donation promised to Africa by Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma, to aid the efforts against COVID19.

The airline said it is pleased to deliver these much needed critical medical supplies and equipment which help in the global fight against the 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 coordination of the process,” Firihiewot Mekonnen, General Manager, Ethiopian Airlines, Nigeria said.

These donations will be coming in, less than 24 hours after the federal government reversed its decision to ban cargo flights from coming into the country.

According to reports, on 22nd March 2020, an Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight loaded with a large batch of medical supplies, for COVID19 detection and treatment, from the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation donated to Africa departed from Guangzhou, China and landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The flight carried 5.4 million face masks, kits for 1.08 million detection tests, 40,000 sets of protective clothing and 60,000 sets of protective face shields.

The supplies will be transported on and distributed throughout the rest of the continent.

The remaining shipments of medical supplies are expected to reach Addis Ababa and be distributed to more African nations over the next few weeks.

A statement released by the airline says, “As an indigenous and pioneer Pan African airline, Ethiopian Airlines has stood together with Africans at all times for the last seven decades. Ethiopian has supported Africans in good and challenging times. In this unprecedented global pandemic, Ethiopian will continue its commitment for African people to help them fight and win this invisible enemy.

READ MORE: COVID19: Jack Ma Announces Donation of Test Kits and Masks to Countries in Africa

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.”