Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River state, says hunger will
be the next deadly virus if the livelihoods of citizens are not guaranteed
during the lockdown.
President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, extended the lockdown
in Lagos, Ogun, and the federal capital territory (FCT) by two weeks to contain
the spread of coronavirus in the country.
But in a statement in Calabar, the state capital, by
Christian Ita, special adviser to Ayade on media and publicity, the governor
said as the federal government is making effort to protect the lives of
citizens, their means of livelihood should also be sustained.
“Protecting lives without protecting livelihoods of
Nigerians will spell doom for the nation after COVID-19 as hunger will be the
next deadly virus. Globally, hunger and hunger-related diseases like
kwashiorkor and tuberculosis kill about 8.4 million people every year and so
there is more pandemic when it comes to hunger,” Ayade said.
“So, we will do all we can to curtail the pandemic from
spreading to our state and protect lives too, but protection of lives without
the protection of livelihoods is a complete imbalance. There must be a holy
matrimony between protection of lives and protection of livelihoods.
“Some of our brothers and sisters depend on daily work. If
you carry blocks for a living, the day you are stopped from going to work,
there will be no money to feed the children.
“We are preparing ourselves for the post coronavirus era
when the planting season is just coming with the onset of the rains.
“We have prepared ourselves to be the biggest rice producers
in the country with the Ogoja rice mill which is the most professional and the
first vitaminized rice mill in Africa, and is currently undergoing a dry test
and by May we should be ready to start milling.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com