Skip to main content

Extending lockdown will be catastrophic for Nigeria- Cross River Governor

Cross River state governor, Prof. Ben Ayade has warned that any further extension of lockdown on the country in response to the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic will spell doom for the country.

He said further extension of the lockdown will give rise as to uncontrollable youth restiveness, adding that it was better to lockout than lockdown because it would be catastrophic.

The governor spoke on Wednesday in Calabar at the Industrial Park said the recruitment of 8000 youths was targeted at avoiding social tension in view of the harsh economic impact created by COVID 19.

His words: ” With prices of oil falling, locking out is far better than locking down because another two weeks of lockdown will find this country under siege by young people. There is no way you can hold down these young energies for too long.

“It is demographic, it is statistics. Sixty-Five percent of the population is below the age of 35 and the virus itself does not have penetrative force in such demography and that is what we have to recognize as a country,” he said.

Speaking further, the governor explained that the difference in climate conditions between the west and Africa was the reason the pandemic is ravaging that part of the world.

“Our demography is different from the west. Our climatic conditions are different.

“If you take the wind speed, the wind direction, sun intensity, radiation and the factors that govern the movement of a virus, ours is a situation that makes it difficult to spread with the speed it is spreading in the western world.

“So, our response strategy should reflect our environmental sensitivity. May be what COVID 19 will eventually do is to sharpen the consciousness of young people to come together.

“That will be very dangerous and so, to nip that in the bud, we have to find jobs for them because sincerely, that is the provision in the constitution. Section 14 subsection 2 says the welfare and security of the people are the primary essences of government”, he said.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hurricane Hits Texas, One Person Reported Dead

Hurricane Harvey hit Texas as a Category 4 storm on Friday, battering the coast with 130-mph winds and torrential rain. It was the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in more than a decade leaving a massive destruction, loss of electricity, wrecked buildings and has so far killed at least one person. Scroll down to see more pictures of the incident:

Kenyan Law Court dismisses case of man seeking compensation after his wife eloped with another man from hospital

  A lawsuit filed by a man seeking to be compensated by St Mary's Mission Hospital in Kenya for allowing his wife to leave the hospital with another man after giving birth, has been struck out by a law court.    The appellant had sued the St. Mary's Mission hospital at Kakamega law courts in 2020 seeking general damages from the facility on grounds that the hospital had discharged his wife and allowed her to leave with another man. After delivering and at the time of discharge, the wife of the appellant claimed he was the baby's father.   The court of appeal judges Patrick Kiage, Mumbi Ngugi and Francis Tuiyott sitting at the Kisumu Court of Appeal, empathized with the man, but disagreed that he (the appellant) be compensated by the hospital for not detaining his wife.  They upheld the lower court's judgement which added that there's no remedy that lies in the law for such grievances.   Kiage said;   "I agree that if a man takes the woman he loves to t...

Nigerian Military hands over 23 rescued children to UNICEF through Borno State

The Nigerian military has handed over 23 children who were formerly associated with Boko Haram insurgents, to UNICEF through the Borno State government.  The children were picked up during various military operations around the north-east region. Aged between 17 and 10 years, the boys and girls confessed to the military that they have been assisting the Boko Haram insurgents either as fighters or domestic helps in the camps. The Theatre Commander of a military counterinsurgency force, Abba Dikko, said the 23 children were released in line with Nigeria military’s commitment to the observance of human rights. He observed that the children and other vulnerable persons were victims who faced with the highly unstable circumstances induced by the conflict would have had little option but to fall under the thrall of the insurgents.  “We were able to identify this category of people, especially the women, the aged and children to whom it behooves our sense of duty and res...