It was a total lockdown at Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State as residents complied with the State Government’s Stay at Home Order.
Major Markets, business centres and shops within the various communities where closed as major roads were seen virtually empty with residents opting to stay in their various homes in compliance with the mandatory holiday occasioned by the Delta State Government’s determination to curb the spread of the deadly corona virus also known as COVID-19.
cshowcasenews.com in company of the Executive Chairman of Oshimili North Local Government, Hon. Louis Ndukwe who led a team of COVID-19 officials of the Local Government was at Ebu, Illah, Ukala, Akwukwu-igbo, Atuma, Ugbolu and Ibuzo communities, where the level of compliance with the state government’s directives was commendable
In an interview, Hon. Louis Ndukwu commended residents of the Council area for complying with the state Government’s Stay-At- Home Order, saying that their total obedience to the COVID-19 instructions was a pleasant departure from the past.
Hon. Ndukwe expressed surprise and gratitude at the people’s cooperation and said that they are beginning to understand what it means when Government is concerned about a certain situation.
“We usually are not a people who take things by the first instruction, but to my greatest surprise today the compliance was impressive and I think this change that I have seen means we now understand what it means when government is concerned about a certain situation.
“Kudos to Nigerians, Kudos to Deltans, Kudos to Oshimili northerners. I just want to tell them that I am grateful, am happy with their level of compliance. Usually, we are not expecting a 100% compliance today, whatever we have seen today we are going to be improving upon by tomorrow,” the Council boss stated, saying that the cosmopolitan nature of Ibuzo was responsible for the little hitch experienced at the community.
Hon. Ndukwe called on the people of Ibuzo specifically to improve on their compliance level, stressing that COVID-19 is real and highly infectious, even as he expressed happiness on the total shutdown of the Ibuzo main market with the opening of a market extension at the OMU Boys Secondary school located at the centre of the town where he noted that the three metre social distance perimeter would be able to be achieved by buyers and sellers in the market extension.
“Hopefully with what the committee is strategically going to put in place tomorrow, it will lower the level of confusion that we saw today because to observe a social distance, we needed a three metre gap and they seem not to understand what it means,” Ndukwu stated while justifying the opening of a market extension for the Ibuzo community.
“If you should shut down the entire market system in Ibuzo without the extension, it means that there will be no food in Ibuzo and that is not the idea of what the State Government is talking about.
“The greatest of my happiness is the shutting down of the Main Market, the ashaeke Market. It is a very big and busy market where we could not have been able to achieve social distancing. I love the corporation I got, we did not have any hiccup on that and hopefully we will get better tomorrow at the extension already allocated at the premises of the secondary school,” the council boss assured.
While re-assuring the people of the Local Government area on the determination of the State Government to meet their basic needs in this critical time, Hon. Ndukwe revealed that the state government is putting something together for the benefit of residents, saying that whatever it is would surely be made available to them once it gets to the Local Government area.
“I am away that the State Government is putting something together for our people. Whatever it is, when it comes, for sure will get to them. It is an assurance and from our own meager end, we are touching lives, we are attending to those within the purview of our ability. We are doing the best we can.
“so am happy and grateful and at the same time assuring residents of Oshimili North that with the way things are going, COVID-19 will be a thing of the past after 14 days. By then we would have ascertained that it is not in our communities because those who may have had the symptoms would have overcome them after the said 14 days,” the Executive Chairman concluded.
