The Rivers State Government has reassured its commitment to the fight against Coronavirus, just as schools in the state reopen, today.
\nThis followed the distribution of non-pharmaceutical and safety materials to over 500 public secondary schools in the state by the government.
\nAddressing principals during the distribution, the state Commissioner for Education, Prof Kaniye Ebeku, said that the Rivers State Government was concerned about the safety of students as schools reopen.
\nHe said that the distribution of the materials ahead of schools\u2019 reopening was part of government\u2019s efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the state.
\nEbeku urged the principals to ensure proper use of the items, warning that schools that contravene Covid-19 guidelines would be sanctioned.
\nHe said, \u201cThe distribution of Covid-19 non-pharmaceutical and sanitary materials demonstrates the commitment of His Excellency, Governor Nyesom Wike, to the fight against Covid-19.
\n\u201cWe are looking forward eagerly for students to return to schools on Monday (today), and my candid advice to all of them is to ensure full compliance with Covid-19 protocols.
\n\u201cIf any head of school does not enforce Covid-19 protocols as enacted and explained to them, the consequences will be disastrous for such a person because any person who seeks to compromise the health of the society and flouts the directives of the state government will not be condoned\u201d.
\nAlso speaking, Chairman of the seven-man State Executive Council Task Force on the Enforcement of Covid-19 Protocols in schools, Amb Desmond Akawor, advised the principals to enforce compliance of all directives in their various schools.
\nAkawor said, \u201cWe have all agreed that the schools should reopen. Some of us that will be going to your schools are just to confirm whether certain things that are to come from government are in place.
\n\u201cPlease, whatever that is made available, take them, and go back to your schools, and ensure that the students comply with all the protocols.
\n\u201cLet us ensure that continuously, this crusade is carried out to the grassroots so that our people will know. Once you are protected and your brother is protected, it cannot spread\u201d Akawor explained.
\nOn his part, the state Commissioner for Health, Prof Princewill Chike, sensitized the principals on the dangers of any contact with the virus, warning that spread of the virus would be easy, if there was laxity among the people.
\nChike admonished the principals not to live in denial of the existence of the virus, explaining that response to the Covid-19 guidelines impedes the spread.
\nHe said, \u201cWhatever you believe, for the sake of the students, teachers and those under you, do not say, \u2018Covid-19 does not exist\u2019.
\n\u201cCovid-19 is an assault on mankind. We are all at risk, and that risk is that your age is there and it is not a good sign. The effects of this virus may not fully be seen today. What we see around the world is a tip of the iceberg.
\n\u201cTell the children that the virus has no friend, does not respect age, height or religion. The pandemic is all over the world, and we are praying that another wave does not come around.
\n\u201cIf we come to any school, and your people are not wearing masks, I will take your picture, and I will send it to the governor. Be rest assured that we will send you out because you are a problem to every other person\u201d, he warned.
\nSpeaking on behalf of principals of public schools, President, Rivers State Chapter of All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools, Mr. Austin Iroegbu, thanked the state government for the gesture.
\nAustin said, \u201cWe want to sincerely thank the governor for providing these materials we are seeing today.
\n\u201cThis is not the first time the government is providing materials like this. When we were about starting the West African School Certificate Examinations (WASCE), materials for Covid-19 were provided for senior secondary schools. Now, we want to reopen, more materials are now being brought for senior and junior secondary schools.
\n\u201cThere are only very few states which have done what our government is doing today. We want to say \u2018thank you very much\u2019, and God bless everyone that has made this possible\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By:\u00a0Susan Serekara-Nwikhana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Rivers State Government has reassured its commitment to the fight against Coronavirus, just as schools in the state reopen, today. This followed the distribution of non-pharmaceutical and safety materials to over 500 public secondary schools in the state by the government. Addressing principals during the distribution, the state Commissioner for Education, Prof Kaniye Ebeku, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-242736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=242736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/242745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=242736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=242736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=242736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}