Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State has explained why he has not ordered a complete lockdown of the state as is the case in many other states or countries.
Speaking in Calabar, capital of the state, the governor said protecting lives without protecting livelihoods of Nigerians will spell doom for the nation after COVID-19 as hunger will be the next deadly virus.
“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.
He said it was for that reason that he was opposed to a total lockdown of the state, preferring instead to allow people to carry out their businesses once protected with the appropriate nose mask.
“Globally, hunger and hunger-related diseases like kwashiorkor and tuberculosis kill about 8.4million 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,” he added.
