Why Shell, others should support Rivers Govt in battle against COVID-19, says Royal Father
• As fear grips Rumuomasi residents
The traditional head of Rumuomasi, host community of the corporate head office the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, HRH Nyema Nwunor has asked the oil giants to support the Rivers State government in its fight against the dreaded COVID-19.
The royal father has also urged residents of Rumuomasi , the Port Harcourt community where a COVID 19 patient was said to have lived before his eventual death, to be careful and to adhere all the prescribed rules of social distancing and hand washing.
Nwunor spoke in a telephone interview with TNN on Sunday. His position came amidst fears in parts of Port Harcourt, that the virus may have spread and affected other residents of the city.
Between Saturday and Sunday, there were speculations that the dead COVID 19 patient and the manager of his hotel actually had contacts with some persons in two clinics in Rumuomasi recently.
The viral message compelled the management of one of the clinics which was mentioned in the viral message, to issue a message explaining what took place when the Rumuomasi index case visited their hospital.
The traditional ruler told TNN that various strategies have been adopted in the last few days, to sensitize the people on preventive measures to be adopted to avoid contracting the virus. He charged the people to avoid crowded places.
He also said it was necessary for Shell and other corporate organisations to provide support to the state government, noting that the government alone could not handle the challenge of containing the spread of the virus.
Recall that the state governor, Nyesom Wike had recently threatened to deal with companies in the state that were not supportive of the government’s efforts in fighting the virus.
