The Rivers State Government has kick-started the decontamination of public places as part of measures to keep the state safe from coronavirus.
Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike who flagged off the programme at Government House, Port Harcourt, said with the commencement of the exercise, all public places in the state will be decontaminated.
In a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Paulinus Nsirim, the governor restated his administration’s commitment to the protection of the lives of everyone living and doing business in the state.
”I have always said that the lives of Rivers people and those living and doing business in the state is paramount. Part of the reason why markets are still shut is because we have not decontaminated them.
“As we decontaminate the markets, particularly the ones in Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt Local Government Area, traders will undertake to abide by all relevant protocols because we are talking about the lives of people.
“All public and private schools will be decontaminated before schools open. Churches and motor parks will also be decontaminated,” he stated.
The Governor reiterated that coronavirus is real and that people who denied its existence have started believing due to the number of persons that had died.
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He warned that government will not allow recalcitrant persons who refuse to obey government advisories to infect law abiding citizens with the virus.
“This issue of COVID- 19 is real and government will not hesitate to seal up and prosecute owners of banks, shopping malls, restaurants, shops, business places or offices that fail to enforce social distancing and the wearing of face masks in their premises,” he said.
He urged the Decontamination Team not to compromise standards but to put in their best to ensure that the entire state is decontaminated.
In his speech, the Sole Administrator of the Rivers State Waste Management Agency, Bro. Felix Obuah, said the Decontamination Team made up of medical and environmental experts was put in place in line with the governor’s directives to decontaminate public places in the state.
The Leader of the Decontamination Team, Dr. Ian Abraham Gobo, pledged that the team will carry out the exercise with utmost dedication.
He commended the Governor for putting Rivers people first in his fight against COVID-19, adding that the decontamination of the state will give the people a new lease of live when normal business activities resume.
