By Chimezie Godfrey
The Cross River governor, Ben Ayade has warned that protecting lives of the people without livelihood would spell doom after the fight against coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic.
The Governor in a statement on Monday, cautioned that hunger could be the next deadly virus if government at all levels failed to protect both lives and livelihoods.
“Globally, hunger and hunger-related diseases like kwashiorkor and tuberculosis kill about 8.4 million people every year and so there is more pandemic when it comes to hunger.
“So we will do all we can to curtail the pandemic from spreading to our state and protect lives too but protection of lives without the protection of livelihoods is a complete imbalance. There must be a holy matrimony between protection of lives and protection of livelihoods.
“Some of our brothers and sisters depend on daily work. If you carry blocks for a living, the day you are stopped from going to work there will be no money to feed the children,” he stated.
Ayade noted that it was for that reason that he is opposed to a total lockdown of the state, preferring instead to allow people carry out their businesses once protected with the appropriate nose mask.
He stressed that COVID-19 will not stop his administration from focusing on its Agro-industrialization drive adding that the state owned ultra modern Rice seeds and seedling factory was unrelenting in producing rice seedlings at this time.
Ayade hinted that Cross River was ready not only to feed its citizens but also the entire nation during and after the COVID-19 lockdown.
“For us as a State we are preparing ourselves for the post coronavirus era when the planting season is just coming with the onset of the rains.
“We have prepared ourselves to be the biggest rice producers in the country with the Ogoja rice mill which is the most professional and the first vitaminized rice mill in Africa, and is currently under going a dry test and by May we should be ready to start milling,” he said.
