COVID-19: Households, Local clubs to benefit from Samuel Eto’o Fils’ Aid Package

By Boris Esono Nwenfor

Former captain of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon Samuel Eto’o has said he will provide fifty thousand households with supplies to help support efforts against the coronavirus in his home country. Local footballers who are facing hardship will also be assisted financially.

The distribution exercise will target areas hard hit by the coronavirus in the country such as Douala, Yaounde, Buea, and Baffoussam. The exercise begins Friday, April 16, in Douala.

His gestures come as Cameroonian footballers in the country have been urged to do more in providing help to Cameroonians battling the coronavirus in the country.

The four-time African footballer of the year through his foundation, Fundación Privada Samuel Eto’o in collaboration with a host of institutions amongst which are the Kadji Group, Utopia, BETOO and Twist Night Club Group made public their intentions to join the fight in a release published on Wednesday evening.

The initiative also includes the foundation partnering with BETOO to produce 50 000 washable masks obeying the standard quality and protection required. Those masks are mainly intended for the taxi driver and motorcycle taxi which represents one of the most exposed sociopolitical categories after the medical staff. These masks will be given to the Union representatives for distribution to their respective members.

The humanitarian support from the initiative will equally target professional footballers from across 44 local clubs in Cameroon. The Samuel Eto’o Foundation in association with sports management agency UTOPIA and the company BETOO will support professional football players who have lost their wages due to this health crisis imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Health protection kits and foodstuffs will be provided through the FECAFOOT to 1000 players involving the 44 clubs that make up the different championships for men’s Ligue1 and 2 and the Women’s Ligue 1.

 “The Samuel Eto’o Foundation wishes to precise that this action aims to further support to Cameroonian citizens from a health perspective than food. The primary objective is to slow the progress of the pandemic," a communiqué read in part.

“Our action … will be articulated on one hand around a mass and field awareness in favour of the "regular handwashing with soap and water" and on the other hand with distribution of handwashing kits which include potable water, bleach, soap, as well as support with foodstuffs such as rice, salt, for the benefit of at least fifty thousand households of the poorest strata of the Cameroonian population of Buea, Douala, Yaounde, and Baffoussam.”

The Samuel Eto’o Foundation has meanwhile called on Cameroonians to respect the prescribed rules to stop the spread of the coronavirus. In that light, He is calling for a common vigilance, unstoppable solidarity, and a sense of responsibility for everyone. "It is at the cost of all these common efforts and sacrifice that we will defeat this pandemic,” Samuel Eto’o noted.

Samuel Eto’o is well known for his humanitarian gestures in his home country and across the world. All these efforts are geared towards stopping the spread of the coronavirus so that people can resume their normal activities.

Back in March, Indomitable Lions player Christian Bassagog, who plays in China, made available FCFA 10 million to help Cameroonians stranded in China.