Solomon Ogunji, commissioner for Environment, Abia State has appealed to residents of the state to abide by all instructions from the Nigeria Centre for Decease Control (NCDC), to stay safe and prevent Coronavirus pandemic from spreading in the state.
Ogunji in an interaction with the media on Tuesday at the Aba Town Hall, during the fumigation of Aba metropolis, expressed disaffection over the carefree attitude of residents towards the Coronavirus pandemic.
According to him, “I am shocked that some people are still saying that there is nothing like COVID-19.
“Abia residents should please observe NCDC guidelines of social distancing, covering of nose with masks, refusal to go to crowded areas, especially markets. Let them shutdown the markets and buy things from neighborhood shops, so that they can stay safe.
“It is better to be alive than to die and leave your family for which you have been struggling to cater for,” he advised.
The Ministry fumigated all public places, including markets, motor parks and bus stops in the commercial city of Aba.
The exercise, which is one of the precautionary measures put in place by the Abia state government to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the state, began in Umuahia, the state capital on Monday and is expected to move to other parts of the state from Wednesday.
Ogunji observed that the exercise will be of immense benefit to the state, as its effect will go beyond curbing the spread of the Covid-19.
He assured that the fumigation process from henceforth will become a routine practice in Abia, even after Covid-19.
In his words: “This is the second phase of the exercise. The first phase was in Umuahia on Monday. From Wednesday, we’ll fumigate the remaining Local Government Areas of the state.
“We have the capacity, equipment and personnel to touch the whole state. We’re using the state fire service trucks completely powered with over 70,000 litres of chemicals.
“This will help to prevent Covid-19 and other diseases, like malaria and keep our environment safe after Covid-19. We shall sustain this, because we have the equipment and manpower.
“I want our people to know that Covid-19 is real and let everyone stay safe by obeying the necessary directives,” he declared.
Chinagozi Adindu, executive secretary, Abia State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, described the fumigation process as a double-barrel activity, because it is for disinfection and disinfestation of the entire environment.
“Disinfection will help us to ensure that we get rid of viruses and some other pathogenic microorganisms in the environment. And then disinfestations will help us get rid of some other vectors, varmine insects and some other diseases of public health importance.
“So, we are doing this in the entire state. We have here a combined team of ministry of environment, ministry of health, Abia State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, local government health officers and the Fire Department.
“All of us are here; we are working assiduously to ensure that we do this fumigation in public places, markets, schools, banks, churches and even on the streets to make sure that we get rid of this virus,” Adindu said.
He explained that the exercise is expected to last for three days as they have 200 trained environmental health officers that are handling the assignment, together with three water tankers from the State Fire Service, which will help in speeding up the process.
