* From L-R : CSR Chairman, NANTA, Lovelyn Victor-Ekpo, Vice President , Lagos Zone, NANTA, Mr. Yinka Folami and Group Corporate Affairs Manager, MMA, Mikail Mumuni displaying one of the face masks at MMA2,Lagos shortly after the meeting today.
… To Give Palliatives To 250 Families Within Its Headquarters Augusts 21
The National Association of Nigerian Travel Agency (NANTA) as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) today distributed 1,500 facemasks to aviation frontline workers, passengers and other persons operating businesses at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2(MMA2), Lagos, a private terminal operated by Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL),
This is just as the body also disclosed that it would distribute palliatives to about 250 families the vicinity of NANTA’s head office on August 21.
At 9.30 am, a team of NANTA officials led by the Vice President, NANTA Lagos Zone, Yinka Folami and the Chairperson CSR Committee, Ima Victor-Ekpo arrived the MMA2 Terminal to a warm welcome by officials of the terminal led by the Lead Receiver, Group Head, Human Resources, Mr. Ola Azeez and Group Head, Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Mikail Mumuni, after which the NANTA’s officials were ushered in for a parley with the MMA2 team.
Speaking during a meeting with MMA2 team, the Vice President, NANTA Lagos Zone, Yinka Folami said that COVID-19 has forced a health, social, and economic challenge on the world and that people are compelled to embrace the consequences with the conviction that it would overcome and that the world would heal.
Folami added to this end and in support of the above efforts , NANTA, through the Lagos Zone, set up a CSR Committee to provide relief to families within the vicinity of her headquarters in Lagos (Ikorodu Road) and to support the COVID- 19 Safety Protocols by distributing 1500 face masks to aviation frontline workers in the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria((FAAN), the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority( NCAA), International Air Transport Association(IATA), Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited(BASL), Immigrations, airport/airline check-in personnel, and travelling passengers) on the association’s target date.
“There is a commercial, health and socio challenge with the Covid-19 pandemic. There are there challenges like this, particularly in the warm spirit of Nigeria; it is a time to show compassion. Even though, our businesses as a travel agency have been severely affected, you all know that travel agencies are in the frontline of casualty; commercial. We still thought that it is good to show compassion.
“We have done two things as NANTA through the Lagos zone. The first thing is that we have given out food items as relief to about 250 people within the vicinity of our head office. Also, because we understand that as travel agents, we have the priority to restore confidence in local and international travels, it is imperative for us to support protocols that encourage safety. We produced a minimum of 1,500 face masks for aviation frontline workers. We have just chosen MMA 2 protocols as our first point of call. We are giving to the management so that they can distribute to workers.
“From here, we intend to go to IATA, NCAA, immigration and all the local and international airlines. We will give them packages for distribution to their frontline workers.
“The mask that we produced is carefully stored. It is easy on you, the fabric is light and it passed the durability test. It is a good case towards curing the challenges that have been imposed on us by this pandemic. We are assuring passengers that the world will heal and the world will fly again.”
On the campaign NANTA is involved in, Folami said, “During this lockdown, we haven’t rested; we have had over 15 webinars, which focused on the education of our members especially on what the protocols entail. This is an opportunity for us to act as consultant to the travelling public. So, we have armed ourselves with enough knowledge. As the international airspace is opened now, we are all eager to go to work. We are not going to only sell tickets, but also provide consulting services to the travelling public.”
He stated that the association had also set up a training academy that would focus on continuous education of its members that would impact members with professionalism and they will in turn impact the travelling public and that it be a continuous process of education.
On NANA’s readiness for international travel, Folami said, “We are prepared to return. We have assurances that the airports will open from August 29 and of course, we don’t expect all the airlines to resume immediately, but it will be in phases depending on their schedules. Part of the things we are doing now is to help reassure consumer confidence and encourage them to travel and ensure there is more demands for travel. Also, we have no choice than to be ready, anyway. For about five months, we have practically been doing nothing.”
Speaking during the meeting, Group Corporate Affairs Manager, MMA, Mikail Mumuni, commended the association for the face mask distributed to frontline aviation workers and the travelling public through MMA2 terminal.
According to him, “This is a very kind gesture and it is in line with the federal government’s policy of ensuring that those who fly through our airports and all Nigerian airports do so safely and they are assured that when they fly they will not contact COVID-19.”
He continued, “Passengers can be rest assured that they are safe to fly and the aviation industry is gradually coming back to normalcy. Passengers’ cooperation as regards COVID-19 protocols has been amazingly positive. We on our part ensure that all the COVID-19 protocols are complied with and we are getting maximum cooperation from passengers,”
On her part, Chairperson CSR Committee, Lagos Zone, NANTA Ima Victor-Ekpo, said the association through the Lagos Zone, established a CSR Committee to provide relief to families within the vicinity of her headquarters in Lagos (Ikorodu Road) and to support the COVID 19 Safety Protocols by distributing 1500 face-masks to aviation frontline workers.
According to Victor-Ekpo, “We like to seize the opportunity to applaud the control and containment interventions by the federal government in response to the outbreak of COVID 19 and the tireless participation of several concerned agencies and organizations in enforcing and monitoring safe return to travel normalcy.”
Those present at the NANTA/MMA2 meeting includes : the BOT Chairman , Mr. Adedayo Adeola, Vice President , Lagos Zone, Mr. Yinka Folami, Executive Secretary, Mr Sylvester Olobor , CSR Chairman, Ima Lovelyn Victor-Ekpo and Secretary ,Bukola Aliu while on the MMA2 team, we have : Group Corporate Affairs Manager, MMA, Mikail Mumuni, Lead Receiver, Group Head, Human Resources, Mr. Ola Azeez , Head of Aeronautical, Mr Raph Uchegbu , Safety Manager,Mr. Charles Arogume and Head of Marketing , Mr Tony Awe.
