Covid-19: Avoid another lock-down, Civil Society Situation Room tells Enugu Residents
The Labour/Civil Society Situation Room on Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Enugu State has appealed to residents of the state to avoid another round of lockdown due to the rising cases of the infection in the area.
The group made the appeal on Friday in Enugu North Local Government Area during its ongoing awareness visits to the 17 local councils.
The Chairman, Technical Committee of the group, Mr Ezekiel Omeh, said that he was worried that the increasing cases of COVID-19 infection in the state could trigger another lockdown.
Omeh, who is the chairman of National Association of Nurses and Midwives in Enugu, said that residents of the state seemed to have taken the ease of the lockdown for granted.
He appealed to residents of the state to take responsibility for their actions and keep to all safety protocols recommended by the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC).
“There is great danger with the way the virus is spreading in the state and there are chances that COVID-19 will stay with us longer than expected if we continue the way we are going.
“We are now witnessing community transmission in the state and anybody is a suspect. We should avoid another round of lockdown by keeping safe.
“We are going round to encourage our leaders in the local councils to take responsibility because the problem we have is non-compliance to safety guidelines,” Omeh said.
Meanwhile, the Primary Health Care (PHC) Coordinator in the council, Mr Callistus Eneh, said that health workers in the various councils were not motivated due to non-payment of their hazard allowance.
Eneh said that while their colleagues at the state level had received their allowances, they had continued to be denied theirs.
He said that as part of the front line workers in the COVID-19 regime, it was unfair to segregate against them.
He said that such ill treatment had knocked down the morale of PHC workers in the state.
Eneh said that the PHC workers had been moving round the rural communities in the state to create awareness about the scourge.
Responding, the Deputy Chairman, Enugu North Local Government Area, Mr Ambrose Ozougwu, said that the council had done its best to contain the spread of the scourge.
Ozougwu said that the state government had been helpful by providing them with the needed assistance including palliative items.
He said that the council had set up a COVID-19 taskforce to ensure compliance with safety regulations.
Also, the President, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Chief Kenneth said that the government had already initiated processes that would lead to the payment of hazard allowances of the PHC workers.
