The whole world is facing an unprecedented turmoil due to COVID-19 pandemic, it is no joke, people we know are dying, though there is hope.
But the unguarded and misleading utterances from some senior citizens of Rivers State are cable of undermining the efforts of the state government in curbing the virus. Some of these senior citizens are elder statesmen and revered religious leaders.
It is quite unfortunate that, some people that we respect and look up to are pushing misleading narratives that is counter productive to the fight against the pandemic. When the ordinary citizens hear these public figures say some of these things, they begin to be cynical and recalcitrant to the genuine efforts of Rivers State Government.
The most ridiculous assertion is when they say, governors are concocting figures of confirmed cases in their respective states just to get money from the federal government. This is ludicrously flabbergasting, because states don’t bring out these numbers unilaterally; it is the responsibility of NCDC, which is a federal agency to do that.
Take my home state, Rivers, for instance, we have lost billions of naira from internally generated revenue due to the lockdown, how much can FG give to Rivers State that would make up for the losses? Well, I can’t speak for other states in terms of the accuracy of the numbers coming out of there, but here in Rivers State, Gov. Nyesom Wike is doing everything humanly possible to ensure that the numbers decline so that the state can get back on its feet again. He cannot in any way manipulate the figures just to get crumbs from the federal government that exists only in the figment of the imagination of the peddlers of such beer parlour bunkum.
In as much as I want the federal government and other relevant agencies handling the issue of COVID-19 to be more transparent and communicate properly to the people, I can’t support the propagation of falsehoods in any guise. Please stay safe.
