Lockdown: Group Urges Obiano To Review Implementation Strategy

The Anambra Civil Society Network (ANCSONET) has urged  Governor Willie Obiano to review the implementation strategy and palliative measures designed to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.
Mr Chris Azor,  the State Chairman of the group, made the call in an interview with reporters in Onitsha, yesterday.
Azor said  the implementation of the latest restrictions had become more intensive and obstructive, such that workers on essential services, who were exempted, had challenges performing their duties.
According to him, security agents, especially the police, which earlier announced their determination to fully carry out the directives, had a field day stopping and arresting citizens, journalists and health professionals.
“As civil society, we urge the governor to review the implementation process and strategy without compromising safety standards and wellbeing of the citizens,” he said.
Azor also expressed concern that citizens have had difficultied accessing palliatives and support from government to cushion the effects of the lockdown.
The state government constituted a COVID-19 pandemic committee with the mandate, among other things, to distribute 200 bags of rice to the elderly in the 181 communities.

“However, we observed that these palliatives are very slow in coming, even as the citizens see it as a mere drop of water in the bucket, considering the huge population of the state,” Azor noted.
The chairman further appealed to the state government to allow foodstuff sellers to move their commodities in vehicles to the areas designated for them in a bid to fumigate the markets.
“Worse still, just yesterday came a directive that all the markets will relocate to improvised spaces across the state.
“The reason given by agents of the state government is that the markets are undergoing fumigation against the virus, but it has been quite challenging for these traders to relocate their wares without vehicles, with the current lockdown directive,” he said.