Rivers indigenes flay NIMASA over COVID- 19 relief distribution
A group in Rivers state under the aegis of the Rivers Peoples Alliance has condemned plans by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to deliver COVID-19 relief items to the University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital instead of the Rivers state government.
Recall that recently, the same agency delivered COVID-19 materials directly to the Lagos state government that coordinated the Lagos affairs.
Peeved by this development, the group in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Pius Okechukwu described the NIMASA action as selective because Rivers state is being controlled by an opposition party.
In the statement, the group alleged that “our state government has been in the forefront to ensure that the coronavirus scourge is contained.
“Now that the federal government wants to distribute items, it chose to ignore the state government for obvious reasons.
“Coronavirus knows no colour or race; we demand an immediate explanation why Rivers should be treated differently from Lagos.
“When it was the turn of Lagos it was express delivery via the Lagos state government, but now that it’s the turn of Rivers state, the same federal government now remembers that it’s an opposition state.
“Adopting selective approach to end a scourge that cannot differentiate between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) is not good for our democracy.”
The group further added that NIMASA should retrace its plan to handover materials to another body when there’s a democratically elected government in Rivers state.
