Covid-19 Second Wave: RSG Tasks Media On Public Enlightenment

Worried by the spike of the second wave of Covid-19 infections across the country, the Rivers State Government has called for massive media enlightenment campaign to avoid the spread of the pandemic in the state.
The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, said this at a meeting with some media executives in his office in Port Harcourt.
Nsirim said the campaign was necessary to change the wrong perception of some segments of the society towards the existence of Covid-19.
The commissioner regretted that some people still believe that Covid-19 does not exist, and was purely government propaganda to make money.
“It is obvious that there is need to intensify campaign because there are people who believe it is government propaganda. Some people believe it is government propaganda to make money.”
Nsirim urged the media executives to generate conversations and ensure that the content of their programmes include Covid-19 messages with a view of enlightening the public on the existence of the pandemic and how to avoid it.
According to him, Covid-19 messages should be factored into every programme content to drive home the point that the pandemic is real, as more people will be exposed to it, if nothing is done urgently to check its spread.
The commissioner, who declared that Covid-19 was real, also regretted that many people still don’t wear face masks while regular hand washing with soap and running water was not being observed.a
“We need to drive the message that Covid-19 is real. We must join hands to check its spread”, he said.
He also advised media executives to get health practitioners and experts to talk on the virus as it would go a long way in creating awareness and check its spread in the state.
Nsirim said Rivers State still remains number one state in the country in the fight against the virus as well as in the distribution of palliatives, and expressed the hope that working together with the media, those still in denial of the existence of the disease would understand that Covid-19 was real.