Group of Activists raise concern about overfilled Mortuaries due to State Govt’s stringent burial protocols
…Urge Governor Wike to relax burial directives so that people can bury and decongest mortuaries.
BY IBRAHIM BAKARE
A Concern group of Activists in Rivers State has expressed concern over the piling up of corpses in various mortuaries across the State that have outstripped their accommodation capacity due to delay in securing approvals from government for burials.
At a management meeting held by the Covid-19 Situation Room of the Activists on June 23, in Port Harcourt, to review the implementation of Covid-19 protocols in state faulted the policy announced by State Government directing that anybody who wants to organize burial or other ceremonies must first get approval from the Governor will delay burials.
The Activists argued that the Governor will be too busy to have chance attend to such approval requests as a result of the busy schedules of the office.
” What is expected is that the Government should workout guidelines on how burial and other ceremonies should be conducted in line with National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, rules instead of asking bereaved families whose deceased are still in the mortuaries to come and apply for clearance before burial”.
The group urged that the Government should do well to publish and publicize all guidelines on newspapers, social media, news bulletins and on leaflets in the streets.
The Situation Rooms draws government’s attention to the influx of persons, most notably northern youths, into the state despite inter-state boundary closures that are in place. This portends dangers to the state as the status of the persons who are being smuggled into the state are not known.
The group’s Situation Room in a statement jointly signed Stevyn Obodoekwe Chairman Sebastian Kpalap, Co- Chair Karl Chinedu Uchegbu Spokesperson,Green Isaac Secretary Prince Ekpere, Co-Secretary ,Vivian Bellownu, Convener commended the decontamination of public places embarked upon by the state government.
“We however call on the government to fast track the exercise and extend same to all the markets that are still shut down. The meeting expressed worries over the continued closure of the markets, which have been closed for over 3 months. Many commodities may have expired or spoiled, while rents paid are wasting. The continued closure of the markets, which are sources of survival and livelihood for many families, have push such families into immense suffering, hardship and economic crisis.
They urged the Government should save the people from the hunger pandemic, which the closure of the markets has brought to many families by opening the markets without further delays.
Members of the group emphasized that government should do all within its powers to reopen the markets so traders whose only sources of livelihood come from there so that they will be able to get back on their feet, feed their families and pay for their rent.
The group should advocate that mechanisms should however be put in place to ensure that such markets are not over-crowded. There should be provisions of sanitizers, running water and personnel who will monitor compliance of the protocols at all the entrances to the markets.
The group’s situation room notes that, while the lockdown of the markets may have helped in containing the community transmission of the virus, it has further given birth to mushroom markets across almost all the major streets in Port-Harcourt which could end up in spreading the virus, thereby defeating the essence of the closure of the markets.
The Situation Room calls on the Police authority to stop incessant arrest and harassment of citizens because of facemask even when they are walking alone on the street as against wearing.
