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Tony John, Port Harcourt
The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim, has called on religious leaders and the media in the state to contribute towards the prevention of the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the state.
Nsirim made the call as part of an awareness and sensitisation campaign for stakeholder groups to be fully involved in either preventing the virus from spreading into the state, or containing its spread should the need arise.
He urged both religious leaders and the media to be involved in the campaign to fight the spread of the virus.
The commissioner noted that the need to work collectively against the novel Coronavirus is imperative given the declaration of the World Health Organisation (WHO) of the disease as a pandemic.
Nsirim urged the religious groups to take the message of the roles expected of them to their congregation.
“The whole essence is to bring everyone on board because when something has been declared a pandemic by the WHO it is a serious issue. So all hands must be on deck,” he declared.
“As you get the message today, it is important that you pass the message to people around you. For the religious leaders, we are expecting that in their various churches and mosques they begin to pass this prevention messages”, he said.
The commissioner explained that the position of Rivers as a commercial hub makes it vulnerable to the virus. Hence, the need for all to be aware of preventive measures for public safety.
“Why this is important is that Rivers State is a commercial corridor. Rivers State is like the commercial hub of Nigeria with the international airport, the seaports, and of course, the thriving hydrocarbon industry, which is the major revenue earner for Nigeria. You expect that a lot of people from all works of life would come into Rivers State.
“So, if we have the influx of people coming from all parts of the world to Rivers State, it is important that those who are living and doing business in Rivers State also begin to adopt preventive measures, if perchance they come in contact with people from other parts of the world”, he said.
To the media, he said: “We understand quite clearly the pivotal role you are supposed to play in information dissemination. As a major stakeholder group, it is important that we call you to buy into the sensitisation programme. Without the media, we cannot achieve much. That is why I am quite excited that the ‘who is who’ in the media industry are all here to hear what we want to say.
“This is a call for collective action. It is a call for social responsibility, and we want to invite you to please collaborate with the Rivers State Government to ensure that all those living and doing business in Rivers State get the prevention message, and ensure that Coronavirus doesn’t have a place in River State.”
Emphasising on the importance of religious leaders in the campaign against the virus, the Commissioner for Health, Prof Princewil Chike, explained the impact of the Coronavirus as a pandemic.
He noted that given the position of religious leaders in society, they stand a better chance of passing on the message of prevention to their followers.
“If all the religious leaders follow the (prevention) steps, the chances of infection will be greatly reduced,” he noted.
Also speaking, the Director, Public Health and Disease Control, Rivers State Ministry of Health, Dr Golden Owhondah, emphasised on the various steps required to prevent contracting the virus.
The State Executive Council, under the leadership of Nyesom Wike, appointed a five-man committee to carry out an aggressive awareness and sensitisation campaign on the Coronavirus, shortly after the WHO declared the disease a pandemic on March 11.
