COVID-19 LOCKDOWN: Delta LG shuts down two churches

UGHELLI South Local Government Council Committee on Evaluation, Monitoring and Enforcement on COVID-19, Delta State, has shut down two churches for failing to comply with the lockdown order of the State Government.

The council Chairman, Dr. Richard Kofi in a statement, said as part of measures to curtail any advent of the disease in the council area, the “local government had constituted Evaluation, Monitoring and Enforcement Committees in the various

communities in partnership with the various traditional rulers and community leaders in Ughelli South Local Government Area”.

Expressing satisfaction with the level of compliance with the stay-at-home directive, he said “all the communities visited, in spite of their rural nature complied with the State Government’s directives.

“The Committee is working tirelessly with the various stakeholders in the war against coronavirus. And nothing short of victory is expected.”

Also, the Egbema and Gbaramatu and Community Development Foundation, EGCDF, has donated food items worth millions of naira to indigenes of the communities to cushion the effect the lockdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Presenting the items to the communities, Chairman, EGCDF, Comrade Jude Ebitimi Ukori, said “This is indeed a challenging time for the whole world, it is an unusual time for us in the world. So I want to challenge our people to adhere to all government orders.

“The COVID-19 is already in Nigeria, we should advise ourselves to stay at home and strictly adhere to the orders of Federal and State Governments to ensure that the virus did not cause more harm to us.

“We strongly believe that COVID-19 is a stranger and it must go out of Niger Delta”. He appealed to the Delta State Government to pay special attention to the riverine communities which he said are in difficult terrain.

Meanwhile, a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress in the State, Mr Chidi Uwabuofu has expressed fears that the lockdown could become suicidal if government at all levels fail to provide palliatives for the people.

Uwabuofu, in a statement, said “Trapping farmers in their houses without alternative mechanisms for achieving food security in Nigeria may turn the management of the outbreak of COVID-19 into catastrophe.

“It is plausible to suggest that government should ensure food security if it must order Nigerians to stay-at-home to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.

“Looking for feasible ways to combat the deadly virus, we shouldn’t copycat European antidotes, our government must consider our people’s ways of living. That being said, government must allow our farmers to continue with their farming activities with guidelines on how to maintain social distancing in their farms”