COVID-19: GOVERNOR EMMANUEL IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK





When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, the promise by God was for them to head to the Promised Land, Canaan: a land filled with abundance of milk and honey. But having gotten stocked in wilderness, hope was lost, dreams were shattered, dissatisfaction came in and the children of Israel had rebelled against their leader, Moses.

Questions began to come in from left, right, centre and behind: "Has God brought us out of Egypt to destroyed in wilderness?" This was one of the questions that were constantly thrown at Moses, the great prophet of all time.

At this time, Moses even with his depth of faith and reliance in God, was put in a very devastated condition. Because he had believed in God above any other thing. He understood that just as God had sworn to deliver the land of Canaan unto the Israelites, there was nothing on earth that could change God's plan for His people. So he summoned twelve elders representing the twelve tribes in Israel. He sent them to go and make findings about Canaan which was few kilometers away from the wilderness they had settled in.

Having assessed the land, two out of the twelve elders brought a different analysis about Canaan. While the other twelve had postulated that Canaan is inhabited by the strongest people on earth and thus, the Israelites would be totally consumed if they go near it, Caleb and Joshua maintained that already, God has delivered the land to the children of Israel, so they should rise and take possession. It takes people with an extraordinary eyes to see what mere mortal eyes cannot see.

For some months now, there have been an outbreak of a deadly disease in the world. While in some countries, this disease known as the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has left thousands of people on hospital beds, in some other countries, they are consistently recording great number of deaths in a daily basis.

The disease which spreads beyond human imaginations, has caused great fear amongst people across the globe who have soon adopted precautionary measures to help curb the virus, but in Akwa Ibom State, the case is turning out to be different. Some people because of political differences have decided to hide under the canopy of the saga to lampoon the governor, Government and some Government appointees who have come out to stage a fight against the spread of this deadly virus.

Initially, they were incessantly criticizing the governor for not shutting down Akwa Ibom State, but they refused to ask themselves, what were the measures put in place to ease life after shutting down the State as at when they clamoured.

Just as Caleb, Gov. Udom Emmanuel is having a diverse perspective about this COVID-19. Though being dangerous and spreads faster than any other thing, he believes the virus cannot get into the State and of such, no Akwa Ibom child will be infected by the virus. This courage the governor has gotten from Psalms 91:4-10 and 2Chronicles 7:4 respectively.

Though he has trusted in God for the protection of his people against COVID-19, the governor has ordered a total shut down of all borders. This, no one can have entry in or out of the State through water or land. He has also instructed that the State owned airline, Ibom Air suspends flight operations with effect from Friday 27 March at 12midnight.

Schools have been ordered to shut down. In every parks, banks, supermarkets, etc, the governor has made provision for sanitizers and thermometer for an immediate test of body temperatures. These measures are to guarantee the safety of people within the State and with these, there's no way the virus can enter or hide in the State.

The State Government has also made provisions for sophisticated medical equipments for the isolated center of the virus in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area. This is to say that Government is ready to tackle the virus if peradventure it finds its way to the State.

The naysayers and enemies of the State have been wailing that the government is not ready to combat COVID-19. They went as far as telling the world that there's no equipment in any of the hospitals in the State to help in this regards. But yesterday, the State Government proved them wrong by intimating the people how prepared its prepared for this pandemic. The Government since January had acquired some ventilators for the Ibom Specialty Hospital, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital and some other Hospitals in the State. A total of 19 ventilators were recorded during the inspection yesterday. This is beyond the number of ventilators available in Abuja and Lagos put together. So who said that the State is not prepared for this COVID-19 pandemic?

The Government have also made provisions for ambulance with ventilators. This is to help in conveying patients who've been tested positive to COVID-19 from the Disease Isolation centre at Ikot Ekpene to either the isolation wards in Ibom Specialty Hospital, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital or any other Hospitals in Uyo. With this level of preparations, it would be totally insane for someone to speak ill of the Government.

The efficient preparations thus far is not to say that the virus would come into the State. The truth is that, the center must be well equipped for references and to fulfill all righteousness but for COVID-19, Akwa Ibom State is a no way.

Government workers are to work from home from Monday, 30 March and to make their stay at home comfortable and less stressed, the governor has approved the payment of workers for the month of March. This is unprecedented at a time like this.

Having said and done all of these, one could possibly postulate that like Caleb and Joshua, Gov. Udom Emmanuel is on the right track. Therefore, it's baseless and inconsequential for politically induced souls to throw tantrums at him because of Coronavirus. We need to human at a time like this therefore, politicizing this pandemic would be entirely inhumane and ridiculous.

Umani Uwemedimo is a Public Affairs Analyst, writes from Uyo.