COVID-19: Delta takes steps to reignite economy

The Delta state government on Thursday said it has taken steps to grow the economy of the state amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu disclosed this in Asaba, while briefing newsmen on some of the decisions taken by the government to rejig the state’s economy.

He said part of the decision was to ask contractors handling various road projects to return to site and also to ensure that projects do not suffer on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aniagwu noted that the state was desirous to open up the economy for growth despite fighting the pandemic which had slowed down economic activities.

He further said the state had also taken the decision to reopen worship centres, but advised that appropriate social distancing and respiratory hygiene must be maintained at all times.

“The issues of COVID-19 and the challenges it possess to our economy and other economies of the world dominated public discussions, and to that extent, it has greatly impacted development particularly on infrastructure and also our social behaviours.

“But, as a government, we have examined the need for us to make progress even as we continue to take steps to fight the pandemic.

“We are very much determined to continue to work with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and sustain our efforts at curbing the spread of the virus in our state,” the commissioner reiterated.

He emphasised that the state was determined to ensure that different protocols of regular washing of hands, use of sanitisers, wearing of face masks, maintaining social distancing and good respiratory hygiene were adhered to by residents of the state.

“As a government, we have taken certain decisions with a view to ensuring that our development plans are not jeopardised entirely and to that extent, we have asked that contractors, particularly those involved in road construction should go back to site now that the rains are not disturbing yet.

“The commissioner for works is already moving round and has been able to inform us that a number of the contractors are busy at their different sites because we don’t want to suspend development because of COVID-19.

“From the last time we issued some directives on partial relaxation of the lockdown, we have taken steps to ensure that religious places of worship including Christians and Muslims can worship without having a congregation that can jeopardise the interest of our people.

“We have now removed the ceiling on 100, 50 or 20 worshippers, but if they must congregate, they must observe proper social distancing in their places of worship whether it is in the church or in the mosque.

“We do not want where people will gather and cluster, and because we need to have as many people to worship God and also pray, we have allowed the Christians to hold as much as three services in a week in this case we have approved Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

“Muslims were they need to worship will also observe social distancing, but in the case of the upcoming Muslim festival they have on their own elected to worship from home as they cannot guarantee appropriate social distancing during the festival.

“They have asked their members to pray from home for the state and trhe country,” Aniagwu stated

He said the idea of putting on face masks to evade security officials isn’t ideal and urged all to ensure that they wear face masks once they are in public places.

“We will continue to ensure that our people are safe from this particular virus and this is why we urge those wearing face masks to know that they are not wearing it for any policeman, but to protect themselves and their neighbours.

“We are still very much interested in enforcing the federal government’s directive on border crossing and border control, and so anybody that doesn’t belong to those that are exempted are not encouraged to come in and make things difficult for us,” he said.

He advised those operating private hospitals to ensure that they are cautious and professional in dealing with patients who approach them, so that the state can reduce the incidences of having medical personnel contracting the virus and then jeopardising the interest of government.

He explained that the state’s fatality from COVID-19 was a bit high because a number of them were quite old and have some prevailing ailments called comobidity in medical parlance.