…Calls for
Regional COVID-19 Intervention Fun Establishment
The five governors of the South East of Nigeria have been advised to
take more drastic steps to safeguard the region by closing all their
state borders.
Worried by the plight of ordinary citizens in the region, the group also
called for the establishment of a regional COVID-19 intervention fund,
where all sons and daughters of South East extraction could donate funds
to provide succour to the residents of the region during the lockdown
and equip hospitals.
The President and National Coordinator of the pan-South East pressure
group, Chief Willy Ezugwu who made the appeal in a statement on Sunday
said it has been very expedient that the governors close the borders to
avert major calamity waiting to happen if there is a community outbreak
of the dreaded Coronavirus disease in the east.
“Following the upsurge of confirmed COVID-19 cases, particularly in the
north, a total lockdown of eastern borders has become very necessary to
keep the South East region safer and ensure that Coronavirus disease
does not spread any further in the states.
“For those who are yet to take the pandemic seriously, the death of the
Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari should have driven home to
fact that COVID-19 is not a respecter of class or personality. Both the
poor and the rich have died from the disease.
“We are at war with a global pandemic that has claimed lives in their
thousands even in countries with sophisticated health system.
“In every war situation, drastic measures only are taken with a view to
coming out triumphant.
“We commend all efforts the governors have taken so far to curtail the
spread of the dreaded disease in the region.
“It’s cheering to receive the news that Enugu State Government has
successfully managed the cases in the state and have discharged all
patients.
“Imo State have been able to remain free from the pandemic, just as
Abia, Ebonyi and Anambra states have done exceptionally well.
“However, it’s said that prevention is better than cure. In view of the
present realities, one of the most needful preventive measures at this
moment is a total closure of all eastern states borders with other
states”, SERG stated.
On establishment of regional intervention fund to provide cushion the
effects of the COVID-19 lockdown in the South East states, the SERG
reminded “the governors in the region that it has become most expedient
now that the federal government tactically excluded the South East from
any meaningful palliatives disbursement.
“The reality is that the South East region is an abandoned geographical
area by the federal government, with little or no attention paid to the
people of the zone.
“Our hospital lack the capacity to handle high number of infections and
through the regional pool funds, the South East can begin to equip
hospitals in the zone ahead of any eventuality.
“When established, we urge all sons and daughters of the South East
extraction with means, both at home and abroad, to donate generously to
the fund to assist governments in the zone to overcome the Coronavirus
pandemic”, the group pleaded.