By Fidelis Egugbo
From the major cities to the remote villages, there are numerous Nigerians who depend solely on what each day brings to survive. They leave their houses in the morning with the strong belief that they will earn enough to sustain them for that day. They are always in our midst with what one may term zero savings; and, when no work or nothing comes their way for the day, they either beg to feed or borrow money, believing that the next day would be better, and they will then pay back. This set of persons often constitutes wonderful customers of the food vendors.
The other recognised workers too, that is, those said to be among the ‘working class’, hardly fare better. Most of them earn less than N30, 000 a month, amounting to less than N1, 000 a day. From the money, they must cater for a litany of necessities: feeding, sometimes including those of extended families, healthcare, transportation, accommodation, sundry other bills. This is why it is common to see an employee who is heavily indebted to cooperative societies, banks and others. Indeed, he keeps borrowing till retirement; and thus uses his retirement benefits to settle a mountain of accumulated debts.
To say there is poverty in Nigeria is an understatement. So capable is poverty in the land that one could literally reach out and touch it. Poverty stares everyone in the face, and one could only but imagine what the generality of people are going through with the advent of the Coronavirus, otherwise, known as COVID-19 pandemic.
One week ago, the Delta State Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa-led Central Committee on Managing and Containing the Coronavirus Pandemic in Delta, ordered the lockdown of the state from Wednesday, April 1, 2020 to check the spread of the virus.
The lockdown was for two weeks in the first instance, but with several deaths recorded as a result of the disease in neighbouring Edo State and the steady increase in number of persons infected with the virus in Nigeria, one can only hope that the lockdown would not be extended.
The United States of America has recorded 1,169 deaths from the dreaded Coronavirus in 24 hours, the highest daily death toll of any country since the outbreak in China six weeks ago. More than 70,000 people have died since the pandemic began and many more persons are expected to die from the disease, which is yet to have a definite cure other than precautionary measures such as social distancing and total lockdown. When it was ravaging China, most Americans apparently saw the disease as some distant Chinese virus and were obviously not prepared for it until the virus, which is difficult to detect among its victims till it is very late, hit America hard.
The world has become even more a global village as we can see from the COVID-19, which keeps creeping into more countries and wrecking not just their economies but killing a lot of persons. It is worse than major war situations because, there is no warfront and it is difficult to identify the enemy.
Aside being a seasoned medical doctor and astute administrator, Governor Okowa of Delta State surrounds himself with experts in different fields; a cream of world-acclaimed professionals who are also illustrious sons and daughters of Delta that are committed to getting it right for the people.
The lockdown of the state, despite the fact that it was expedient, did not happen overnight. It came in stages, with wide-flown enlightenment campaign to the extent that within 96 hours, the governor made more than four broadcasts, clearly in response to the unfolding global emergency.
We are well aware that as someone who is committed to ensuring that the people of the state have improved access to healthcare facilities, his administration instituted health insurance scheme that has ensured free healthcare for the under-five, pregnant cum nursing mothers and the vulnerable in the society. Before the lockdown, well-equipped isolation centres had been created with health professionals deployed in all the local government areas to nip in the bud any possible case of the Coronavirus.
Therefore, Deltans were adequately prepared for the lockdown as they knew that it was in their best interest to sit at home, which the lockdown necessitated. This is obvious with the level of compliance, despite the fact that there is no use of force for such to be achieved. With the lockdown, in the light of the worrisome levels of poverty in the country, and despite the people’s level of preparedness, there is bound to be people who will be more severely affected by hunger.
As a way of putting food on the tables of Deltans, Governor Okowa and members of his team have opened a food bank. Unlike the biblical period of food scarcity in Egypt where the people had to stock, no one prepared for the current situation. Yet, yours sincerely was pleasantly surprised to see a well-stocked food bank located inside the ADP (Agricultural Development Programme) premises at Ibusa, Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state on Monday, April 6, 2020 when the food bank was opened. Items ranging from different sizes of bags of rice, cartons of noodles, tubers of yam and several others were already stocked.
On the day the food bank was opened, the management of Jayta Petroleum and Commodities Nigeria Limited was seen offloading rice, noodles and tubers of yams from trucks to support the initiative of the state government.
Donating the food stuffs to the state government, the Group Managing Director of the company, Mr Emmanuel Onyenweli Akuba, stated that the food items were very important to cushion the effects of the stay-at-home order. According to him, the company appreciated different measures taken by Governor Okowa’s administration to check the spread of the Coronavirus and the company was ready to do more to assist government in catering for Deltans.
Akuba said, “We have been following the activities of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa since the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic and we are proud of him; he has given the people hope and proven to them that their welfare is uppermost in his mind.
“As a company that identifies with his ideals, we have come to donate these food items to ensure that Deltans are not hungry within the period of the lockdown, and we assure you that we will be watching as events unfold and will make more donations when the need arises, to assist the needy as it is part of the corporate social responsibilities of our company to assist people in need.”
Receiving the donations on behalf of the state government, the Commissioner, Bureau for Special Duties in the state, Mr Mofe Pirah, thanked the management of Jayta Petroleum and Commodities Nigeria Limited for donating the food items to the state government.
Mr. Pirah expressed confidence that with the opening of the Food Bank more Deltans, including corporate organisations, would make donations. He assured that Okowa-led administration has taken proactive steps to ensure that the food was well distributed to get to every household especially the poor in the state.
Earlier that Monday, the governor had met with an enlarged meeting of the committee to check the spread of the coronavirus. The meeting which took place at Government House, Asaba had in attendance, some chairmen of local governments.
Briefing newsmen after the closed-door meeting that lasted about one hour, the Commissioner for Information in the state, Mr Charles Aniagwu said, “About six days ago, effective lockdown was initiated in our state to check the spread of COVID-19; and, at an enlarged meeting of the committee presided by the Chairman, who is our Governor, Deltans were praised for the level of compliance and understanding that the lockdown was the best option to check the spread of the virus.
“Deltans were urged to continue with the cooperation as the situation calls for a lot of sacrifice, and His Excellency commended Deltans for their sacrifice and the patience and, as a way to cushion the effects of the lockdown, a food bank has been set up and committees will be set up at the local government, ward and unit levels to ensure that the food gets to everybody.
“All political appointees in the State will also sacrifice one month subvention as part of their contribution towards ameliorating the effects of the pandemic.”
The Commissioner, Bureau for Special Duties, Mr Mofe Pirah, in his contribution during the briefing, said, “what every home needs now is food and we have been receiving food items and different donations from individuals and corporate organisations at our food bank in Ibusa. Food will get to the needy, people who cannot make purchase, but we should be patient and know that the lockdown will soon come to an end.
“At today’s meeting, government sympathized with the family of the victim of the unfortunate incident in Warri and called for calm as the law will take its course.”
With the spread of the virus in Edo State, there was need for Delta to be concerned and the Chairman, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in the state, Hon. Constantine Ikpokpo recalled that the lockdown began in the state about a week ago and said that the only solution to the virus currently was to check its spread.
“We still have some pockets of people who wander out of their homes during this lockdown; although our Governor has never advocated for the use of force, we appeal to all Deltans to obey instructions.
“We are expanding the market hours to between 8am and 2pm; same is applicable to petrol stations because our Governor is concerned about the welfare of Deltans and he is working to ensure that, in spite of the fact that the situation was not caused by anybody, the effects will not be so much. People at the border towns of Alifekede, Mbiri, Ologbo and Idumuje Ugboko should be vigilant so that visitors will not come through there and put all of us at risk.
“Deltans should be vigilant and report any person who entered the country recently and any case of extortion should be reported immediately because, the government is very proactive and citizens have a lot of roles to play for us to be safe.”
The prayer is for Deltans to religiously abide by the rules of regular handwash with soap, social distancing or, possibly, avoiding every social event and move out of their houses only when such is unavoidable, and report any unusual feeling to the phone numbers that have been provided because, the best prevention is not to have any incident.
While all the medical personnel are on alert, there is no need for panic because if everybody stays at home and no one is entering or leaving the state, the Coronavirus will be checked. Again, with the palliative measure of taking food to every household, there will be no need for people to leave their houses.
Imagine a government declaring two weeks public holiday and bringing food to your home! Such was unimaginable few weeks ago but due to the humanistic approach of the government to tackling issues, such has become a reality.
All that is required now is prayers from Deltans and for them to play safe at all times, bearing in mind that COVID-19 is no longer ‘the Chinese virus’, certainly not a virus that is restricted to Lagos State, but a virus that is in our neighborhoods and all hands must be on deck to check its spread.
God bless Delta State and may He protect us all for Him to take the thanks at the end of the pandemic, because if it can be stopped in China where it was first discovered in December, 2019, it can be stopped in any country. And, Delta State is taken appreciate steps in that direction.
Fidelis Egugbo is a Special Assistant, Media, to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State
