Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Anambra State Branch, yesterday, visited Nigerian Correctional Services in Awka and Onitsha and donated palliatives such as face masks, bags of rice, detergents and envelops to the deputies in charge of the centres for the well-being of the inmates.
In his address, the chairman of the association, ESV Chris Chukwuma Okagbue, on behalf of his members, expressed joy for carrying out the activity which is in line with the corporate social responsibility of the institute to her immediate environment.
He described the pandemic as a huge challenge to citizens, businesses and governments across the globe which poses risk to the vulnerable including compromised access to medical care, disrupted education and high increase of mental distress and commended the managements of the centres on their efforts to assure the well-being of the inmates.
According to him, “we earlier planned to cook food and come along to celebrate with the inmates of this correctional centres but due to the situation on ground which prevented us from going inside, we decided to bring it raw as you can see.
We hereby advice the general public to take the precautionary measures which include regular washing of hands with soap and water, use of alcohol based hand sanitisers, maintain social distancing, avoid going to crowded places in order to reduce the chances of being infected and rate of spreading the disease.”
He further said that the group has joined the world and entire federation in efforts to cushion the effect of the pandemic on the vulnerable in the society.
The Deputy Controller of Corrections, Nigeria Correctional Service Awka, DCC Edwin Akabueze, represented by the Welfare Officer, Henry Okafor thanked the group for adding life to the inmates, especially during the pandemic, noting that people have been restricted from going inside the centre to reduce the rate of spreading the disease, adding that the face masks will let them know about the existence of the disease in the society.
Also, the second in command, Pascal Ugwu, on behalf of the Deputy Controller of Corrections, Onitsha, DCC Vacherie Nwosu, thanked the group and prayed for God’s intervention and upliftment in their lives.
He further presented an appreciation letter to them on behalf of the management.
In his words, “the pandemic is devastating. There is a lot of paralysis just as you have observed. We are standing here because of the restriction. The charity and brotherly love is overwhelming. We appreciate your coming as a team and look forward for further collaboration.”
The eldest among the surveyors, ESV Paul Obiorah expressed his joy for the warm welcome given to them and prayed for God’s blessings and guidance upon the management.
