An Africa-based social enterprise, Oxygen Hub, on Tuesday, commissioned an oxygen plant in Orozo, Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, to close the gap in oxygen supply demand in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Mr Effeson Michael, said the daily 700 cubic-metre capacity plant was going to cut the cost of the essential commodity needed in treatment of some life-threatening health issues by over 50 per cent.
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He said despite numerous challenges being faced in setting up the medical industry across the African continent, the company was able to procure high quality equipment, and would also provide other logistical support to some of its value chain.
He said, “We started it in Kenya last week, here we are in Nigeria this week, and we will proceed to Ethiopia in the coming two weeks. The company aims to reach out to about 80 markets within the African continent.”
Temi Giwa, the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lifebank, a local partnering company in the project, said the plant’s commissioning would make an impact in meeting the oxygen demand in the country, noting that it would save a lot of lives.
She stated that the location was strategically chosen in order to make it closer to people from other states in the North Central that had sometimes been cut away by vehicular traffic to or from Abuja where about five different plants already existed.
In his goodwill message, the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NDCD), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, delivered by Dr Ifeanyi Abali from the agency, said the effort would also make a good impact on other health challenges.