The Seven-Up Bottling Company today announced a donation of 1 million bottles of their Aquafina drinking water brand and other beverages in their portfolio to the Lagos State Emergency Food Relief, as well as 1 million bottles to other states. In a statement via their social media page, the company said this donation was their means of aiding various state governments to cater for citizens in vulnerable communities during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Announcing the donation of these materials, the company also laid out more plans to support the initiatives to contain the spread of the coronavirus in Nigeria.

A key part of that plan is a sensitization campaign in partnership with celebrated Nollywood director Niyi Akinmolayan, who will be producing educational video content targeted at grassroots communities and supported by their media assets. The Nigerian Minister of Health in a recent press briefing, mentioned that they were beginning to see early signs of community transmission and hoped that the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun, and Abuja would help slow things down. This situation makes the Seven-Up media education campaign very timely especially in the grassroots.

Nigeria’s first case was recorded on February 28, 2020, with over 200 more cases since then. Given the growing numbers, the President of the Federal Republic declared a lockdown in the three states which have had the most number of cases.

According to the Managing Director of SBC, Mr. Ziad Maalouf, this is the company’s way of supporting vulnerable communities during this tough time. He further expressed his gratitude and admiration for those at the forefront in the fight against Covid-19, stating that SBC believes that we are stronger together when we take collective action to help each other stay safe.

The statement went on to remind people to follow containment measures as advised by the authorities.

So far, the virus has spread to 14 states in Nigeria, with 5 deaths recorded.