The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has appreciated Christian faithful across the state for complying with the directive of maintaining social distance during church service to check the spread of the novel Coronavirus.
Addressing journalists after he led the Task Force on Enforcement of the Ban on Public and Religious Gatherings to monitor compliance, yesterday, Wike said that the churches ensured that each service had about 50 worshippers as agreed during the meeting at Government House, Port Harcourt.
Wike, accompanied by the service commanders, monitored compliance at the Saint Thomas’ Anglican Church, Mile Two, Diobu; Saint John’s Anglican Church, Rumueme Deanery; Saint Peter’s Anglican Church, Rumuepirikom Deanery; Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Rumuapara District; and Abundant Life Evangel Mission Cathedral.
They also monitored compliance at the Saint Andrew’s Anglican Church, Rumuobiokani; Saint Michael’s Anglican Church, Rumuomasi Deanery; the Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim, Mount of Grace, Elekahia; Saint Barnabas’ Anglican Church, Elekahia Archdeaconry; and Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Diobu.
The team moved through Corpus Christi Catholic Cathedral, Port Harcourt; Living Faith Church, Kaduna Street, D-Line; and churches on Aggrey Road in Port Harcourt.
All the churches visited had running water, soap and hand sanitizers to disinfect worshipers before and after service.
Wike said, “The compliance is very much appreciated, except for two churches that did not completely comply: Saint Thomas’ Anglican Church and Holy Trinity, Rumuapara. I have told the pastors that I don’t want to shutdown the two churches.
“In all, we are satisfied with the total compliance. That shows that the people appreciate what we are talking about. For us, the safety of our people remains key. We are happy today.
“For the two churches that failed to comply, we will review the situation and take action. As you can see, we went to different churches.”
It would be recalled that the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike met with religious leaders at the Government House, Port Harcourt where it was resolved that no church service should exceed 50 persons.
He said “This is a trying period. The state government owes the society a responsibility to protect lives and property.
“This is an interface to inform you of the measures that the State Government is taking.”
He urged the churches to ensure social distancing of about 50 persons who worship at a particular time.
The governor advised all religious groups to spread out their worship time to admit fewer people per time.
Earlier in a statement by the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, the Rivers State Government had dismissed claims that the government banned church services in the state, clarifying that the government only directed churches to ensure that they adhere to 50 worshippers at every church service in order not to fall foul of the social distancing rule.
Similarly, the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance in respect of the state government’s directive on the closure of markets, saying that the state government is committed to checking the spread of Coronavirus in the state.
Speaking, last Saturday, after leading the state Task Force on Enforcement of the Ban on Public and Religious Gatherings to monitor compliance with the directive of the state government, Wike urged Rivers people to make sacrifices to ensure that the virus is contained.
He said: “We are satisfied with the level of compliance, even though there are those who thought that the closure of markets will not take effect from the first day.
“We will also go out tomorrow. After tomorrow, we will know if we will apply more stringent measures on Monday.
“What we are doing is to protect the lives of our people. Some people may talk about the inconvenience, but you must be alive to talk about food.
“This is the time everyone must make sacrifices. This disease affects the entire population. Whatever measures we bring out is to curtail the spread of this deadly virus.
“Today, we have gone round and we are happy with what we have seen. We will review tomorrow whether the churches are complying with what we agreed on.”
Wike said that his administration is taking very tough measures because Port Harcourt is a hub that attracts people from across the globe.
He said: “Port Harcourt is a hub where you have the oil companies and the rest of them. We have two seaports. It is a place where people like to come and do business.
“We think that the measures that we have put in place have checkmated the spread of the virus.
“While we pray to God for his intervention, we will continue to do our best to protect our people.”
The Rivers State governor stated that the state government will consider palliatives in the next phase of intervention, noting that the focus for now is to check the spread.
“When you talk of palliative, you are aware that the Federal Government gave Lagos State N10billion as support. And so many people in Lagos have also made various donations.
“But in this state, we have not received a dime from any person. For the time being, people should make the sacrifice.
“The issue of palliative will be in the second phase,” he said.
Meanwhile, the “Rivers State Government has opened the following COVID-19 Support Accounts: Rivers State Government COVID-19 Support Account: Access Bank Account No.:1384199858 and Zenith Bank Account No.: 1017227518.
“Interested individuals and organisations wishing to support the efforts of the government are advised to direct their contributions to the two accounts.”

The Rivers State Government says it has intensified efforts in tracing those who had contacts with the 19-year-old female model that tested positive for the novel Coronavirus in the state in a bid to prevent more persons from contracting the disease.
The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, and Chairman of the state Inter-Ministerial Committee on COVID-19, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, stated this during a live radio programme in Port Harcourt, last Saturday, and monitored by The Tide.
Nsirim also clarified that the state government did not ban church programmes but emphasised that government only directed religious leaders to scale down their activities and observe social distancing.
He explained that as a proactive leader, Governor Nyesom Wike did not wait for Coronavirus to hit the state before he set up a five-man inter-ministerial committee to mobilize and enlighten Rivers people on the pandemic.
“We did that with the media and developed Radio and Television jingles, and set up billboards. We distributed handbills, had stakeholders’ engagements with relevant stakeholder groups to ensure that these messages got to the grassroots before we had the news of the pandemic hitting Rivers State.
“Now, His Excellency does not want this Coronavirus to spread. That is why he has also introduced all the painful measures of border closure, market closure, to ensure that social distancing is appreciated by the people living and doing business in Rivers State.
“Now, for the index case that has been recorded, government has ensured that contact tracing is going on and to make sure that it doesn’t spread to other people living and doing business in Rivers State.
“I try to explain to people who have been calling me everybody in Rivers State, now is vulnerable because of the index case that we have. The young lady that came into Port Harcourt came in a flight with some people. Those people are scattered all over this state now.
“The lady stays somewhere with her parents and siblings. They have had contact with people. You don’t know who they have had contact with, and the governor, in his wisdom, is saying ‘let’s restrict movement so that we can do what it takes within our powers to ensure this thing is contained’.
“I can assure you that the relevant authorities and those who are given the mandate to tackle this epidemic are doing their best, having full cooperation of those that are involved in the contact tracing, and I believe very strongly that the cooperation they are getting will help us to tackle this pandemic here.
“The treatment centre is fully functional, and the index patient is doing very well. So, now, it behoves all those living and doing business in Rivers State, to comply with the various measures that have been put in place, including security agencies who will be manning the various border posts to ensure that the restriction order is actually implemented to the letter.
“The governor has also set up a 12-man task force headed by himself, because it is something he takes dear to heart as a patriot. He doesn’t want to delegate this responsibility. He set up a 12-man task force he is heading, has all the service commanders, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Attorney General of the State and Commissioner for Justice, the Commissioner for Health and myself as secretary, as one that will go round and ensure compliance.
“All commissioners and special advisers have been directed to move to their various local government areas, be part of the enlightenment drive, and to also ensure and enforce all the directives up to the ward level. That is where we are as a state right now, and we believe strongly that with the cooperation of all those living and doing business in Rivers State, we will overcome this challenge,” the commissioner said.
On the perceived misunderstanding concerning church activities, Nsirim reiterated that the state Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, only directed that the number of persons for every service should be reduced.
“Government cannot ban churches from holding their programmes. His Excellency is a peoples’ leader. Before a pronouncement was made on this matter, all the religious leaders were called to Government House for an interaction. At that forum, the pros and cons of everything were weighed, and the decision was that for smaller churches, let the services not go beyond 50 persons per session.
“For the bigger ones, a 100 or so that we can maintain social distancing in these churches,” he stated, adding that “churches must provide places where people can wash their hands and possibly provide sanitizers and equipment to check temperature of those entering the church”.
On alleged reports that people were being allowed into the state despite the Executive Order by the governor for the closure of all land and sea borders, Nsirim said, “That information has filtered in and government is investigating. The governor cannot be at the border posts.
“This is a responsibility that he has delegated to the security agencies to handle. So, it will be quite unfortunate if there is a compromise at the borders,” Nsirim said, noting that appropriate punishment will be meted out to anyone found culpable in sabotaging government directives.

By: Dennis Naku

The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has confirmed the index positive case of Coronavirus in the state, declaring that the state government has commenced contact tracing of all those she had contact with.
Wike also announced that all markets in the state are to remain closed from Saturday, March28, 2020.
The governor also directed that all civil servants from Grade Level 1 – 10 are to remain at home from today until further notice.
In a broadcast, yesterday, Wike said: “It is, however, unfortunate that despite all the preventive measures we put in place, our state has recorded a positive case as confirmed by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
“The positive case is a 19-year-old female model from Edo State who resides in Port Harcourt. Her travel history reveals that she travelled to France, Italy and Greece before returning to Port Harcourt on March16, 2020. ”On arrival to Port Harcourt, she was asymptomatic and commenced self-isolation in her family house before her samples were collected and sent to the Reference Laboratory, Irruan in Edo State.”
The governor added: “The patient is presently being managed at the State Treatment Centre and she is doing excellently well.
“As it is in normal established practice, intensive line listing and contact tracing of all those she came in contact with has commenced in full force.
“In addition, samples have been collected from high risk contacts for further evaluations while decontamination process has also commenced.
“As the State Chief Executive, I want to sincerely thank this young lady for her patriotic spirit which aided health officials to get relevant information in this direction.
‘May I, therefore, urge you all to remain calm because there is no cause for alarm. The state government is fully prepared to ensure that the incident is contained to avoid further spread.”
Wike outlined additional measures to check the spread of Coronavirus in the state.
He said: “All civil servants from Grade Levels 1 – 10 are to remain at home from Friday, March 27 until further notice.
“All markets in the state, no matter how small, are to remain closed with effect from Saturday, March 28, 2020.
“All local government chairmen are to head task forces in their various local government areas that will ensure that markets remain closed. Council chairmen are empowered to confiscate the goods of defaulters.
“All commissioners and special advisers are to monitor the compliance of the above directives in their various local government areas.
“Security agencies have also been directed to enforce all the decisions taken by the security council.”
Wike said that the state government cannot relax the measures as requested by some organisations.
He said: “After our announcement about border closure, we have received requests from the following companies, Nigeria LNG Limited, Total E&P Nigeria Limited, International Breweries PLC, Oilserve Limited and Nigerian Gas Company to the effect that government should relax the measures because of their activities.
“Government cannot grant their requests now because the protection of human life is more important than any other thing, and we shall do everything necessary to fulfill our obligation in this direction.
“However, we shall review our restrictions concerning their activities when we are fully convinced that it will be reasonable to do so. Let me reiterate that we have taken these painful decisions because we cannot afford to lose any life in this state.
“It is very important at this stage that all citizens continue to practice hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette and social distancing to keep our dear state safe.”
Wike pleaded with Rivers people to continue to cooperate with the state government for the containment of Coronavirus.