COVID-19 palliative: Ebonyi shares 2 sachets of noodles, 5kg bag of rice

The Ebonyi State Government has flagged off the distribution of its palliatives to cushion the effect of COVID-19 pandemic to residents in the state.

The palliatives were shared at the existing polling units in the state.

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The exercise took place in Amuzu Community Secondary School in Ezza South Local government Area of the states.

The deputy governor of the state, Dr.Kelechi Igwe, was in charge of the distribution.

The distribution was, however, stopped after some hours.

Addressing journalists at the end of the monitoring, the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Kenneth Ugbala, said: “The reason his Excellency, the Deputy Governor, said that the sharing of the palliatives should stop but continue tomorrow was because the items arrived some of the council headquarters very late.

“Again, we got information that some hoodlums have already positioned themselves in some areas to hijack the palliative.

“So, the exercise will continue today [Sunday],” he said.

Our correspondent, who was at Amuzu Community Secondary School, observed that items shared were two sachets of noodles and a 5Kg bag of rice to each beneficiary.

Also shared was a sachet of tomato puree, 50 Cl of bottled groundnut oil per person and a packet of cube sugar which was shared by two persons in the centre.

The distribution of palliatives will also continue today Sunday in the other two senatorial zones of the state.

Ebonyi to reopen schools in August

Ebonyi state government says schools will reopen in the state between August and September.

The State Governor, David Umahi, stated this during the virtual Executive Council Meeting in Abakaliki, the state capital.

He said the reopening of schools will be done in phases.

He said: “The public should note that Ebonyi State will reopen her schools immediately, not in the month of July, we have to start the process that will lead us probably to reopen our schools between August and September.”

“And the process will be, the king David academy will be starting first, I am directing that all the coordinators, the chairmen of all the 13 LGAs, traditional rulers, town union presidents, should use local people to clear all the secondary schools, primarily schools. They should clear that, it has been happening before, everything is not government.”

“So let us get them cleared when we do that I want Commissioner for Education, SSA Higher education, to note very specially that this is the time to develop e-syllables, starting with the teachers, this is the opportunity to develop e- learning that we have been talking about,” he added.

The Governor said the government will train the teachers and students on COVID-19 protocols before the schools resume adding that the teachers will also undergo COVID-19 tests.

“Reopening of schools will start with cleaning of the schools, and every school we clean, we will fumigate it, and then do random test on the teachers. We will also deploy health workers to mount awareness within the communities where the school is situated.”

“When school start we will have trained personnel to teach the children on Covid-19 protocols at least for the first one week.

“This covid is real and we need to be very careful. It is not just to start school and all that, even if Nigerians should miss one academic year and stay alive, it is worth it. The essence of everything we are doing is life, and we wouldn’t want our children to start school without proper awareness.”