Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State
By Raymond Gukas, Jos
The global ongoing measures put in place to control the spread of Coronavirus disease, popularity known as COVID-19 by the governments may not be yielding the desired results but one thing is certain that the fight to contain the disease is by all standards genuine.
Governments across the universe are busy adopting suitable approaches to minimize the spread, but one unique measure remains that of Plateau State, north-central Nigeria giving its location and the friendly weather is suitable for tourists
The state governor, Simon Bako Lalong has not hidden his concern on the devastation the disease is inflicting on the populace since it broke out, but it was evident that the efforts of the government has faced some sort of sabotage from either the enforcers of various measures or from motorists who defied the initial lockdown order by moving all manner of people around.
The state had at a point, maintain a zero case infection record, but as at Tuesday, 22nd July, 2020; the number of confirmed laboratory cases stood at 762, admissions 395 while 349 were discharged with 18 deaths so far.
The attitude of the people has not helped matters either and that has led the government to introduce stricter and stiffer measures with no much impact perhaps, due to shortage of man power to adequately police social and event centres.
The only period the state government was criticized for its action on COVID-19 was during one of the lockdown the governor declared which coincided with the Christian’s Easter period, where that action almost took a religious coloration.
However, wise counsel was at play when it was realized that at that period, there was a likelihood of influx of people from across the country who might have found a safe haven in Jos, the capital city to relax during the festival with their COVID-19 status unknown.
A furious Governor Lalong was at a loss when the first case of infection was announced. His worry stem from how the index case came to be, especially when the state had been under total lockdown. At the time, the various states had adopted the lockdown, but each had a different period to relax the lockdown to enable the people restock food items in particular, before another lockdown and during such, some people pay less attention to the dangers the disease poses by travelling outside their areas of domicile.
It was at a time of such relaxation, that the first index case was recorded and the victim was said to have come to the state from Kano, where a number of mysterious deaths were being reported then.
Before now, the state was privileged to be among the few that has a designated testing centre and samples from across some northern states was being collated and that equally placed the state at a vantage point as traffic to the testing centre was high with anxiety mounting.
Also, the state government had undertook the furmigaation of selected public areas within Jos, the capital city and environs as well as the other local government areas before any case was reported and it was hoping to consolidate on this, but the growing number of infections kept rising from across the country and eventually into the state.
Apart from this, markets and some public places were placed on ban in order to avoid overcrowding and substantial compliance was observed as the enforcers of the government action confirmed.
But as it is today, the state is confronted with myriad of non-compliance public as the final lifting of the lockdown has made social life to bounce back in full force.
The youthful population have ignored the consequences of COVID-19 as most social centres play host to all classes of young men and women; some, who don’t wear the precautionary face masks that is now made mandatory.
So, it was not surprising that the government; after realizing this, notified the public of its earlier order on ban to social centres.
This followed the continuous spread of the COVID-19 virus across the state, as the government said that the ban on operation of nightclubs , bars, burial, weddings and others was in force to curtail the dreaded virus.
Moving round the city, it was observed that most bars in the state still operate without observing any of the laiddown COVID 19 protocols as the state recorded 52 new cases of COVID-19 in a single day within last week.
The Commissioner for Information and Communication, Dan Manjang who confirmed this expressed displeasure over the flagrant disregard of the ban by some bars and night clubs who are still operating without minding the consequences.
According to him, “It is rather sad that some bars still operate” but when contacted, the Public Relations officer of the Plateau Police Command ASP Ubah Ogaba, said “our men are on ground and are carrying out enforcement of the ban” order.
But a Non Governmental Organization, The Dayyabu Garga Foundation called on the public to be more aware and take seriously the rising case of the COVID-19 in the State and Nigeria as a whole, èas a result of the daily confirmation of the cases and rapid rise among citizens.
In a statement signed by the Foundation’s Chairman/Founder Dr Dayyabu Yusuf Garga, it cautioned citizens on the increasing non adherence to the safety protocols issued by relevant authorities which has seen people living their lives largely in defiance of such safety measures.
Mindful of the current challenges facing citizens in respect of means of livelihood, the foundation stressed that it has become necessary to remind people of the increasing dangers of COVID-19 which no doubt is still a global pandemic.
It commended the State Government’s directive to its workforce to go for compulsory testing of the virus.
According to the foundation, early detection of the virus enables one recover faster from the virus and also guards against transmission which has been seen to be at an alarming rate in the country, and stressed that COVID-19 is not a death sentence as been feared by many because the recovery rate far outweighs the casualties hence the need to visit designated health centers to access testing and management.
The Foundation, therefore calls for an aggressive approach of the testing açross the seventeen local government areas of the state as the directive has shown Government’s genuine desire to address the situation, even as it also called on citizens to apart from having access to the. testing, activate proper hygiene as a way to protect themselves.
The fight against COVID-19 is therefore, on course and it only requires that all hands must be on deck to succeed.
