Following the lifting of the lockdown directive by the Rivers State Government, residents in Port Harcourt city and Obio/Akpor local government areas flooded the streets to commence economic activities for the day.
Elan hub correspondent, Emmanuel Nwafor who toured Ikwerre road and parts of the east/west road, reported a large turn out of people in shops, markets and banks.
Security personnels were seen at some commercial banks along Ikwerre road struggling to contain the crowd from gaining entrance into the banking Hall at once.
However, the situation was not the same at some motor parks in Port Harcourt. A member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) who spoke under anonymity, blamed the subsisting ban on inter state travels for the low turnout at the park in Rumuokoro. But, residents were seen at various locations making purchase for the next phase of the lockdown.
Although there was little adherence to social distance rules, pedestrians were seen wearing face mask along the roads. Some buyers at the rumuokoro market appealed to the state governor to extend the period given to them as two days would not be enough.
You would recall that the state government announced a temporary suspension of the lockdown by two days.
Total lockdown in Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt city will recommence on Thursday May 14, 2020.
