Group lament loss of N50m donkey skin, accuse govt agents of harassment
The reported 12 deaths and 101 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Anambra state in the latest update of statistics released by the Nigerian Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC) have taken the state to the drawing board, as governor Willie Obiano has mapped out strategies to meet the target of 4,425 tests per week or 115, 974 tests for the state from July to December this year.
To meet this national average target set by the Nigerian Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC), the government plans to appropriate the best out of the successfully established major testing facility at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Teaching Hospital, Amaku, Awka, in addition to deployment of considerable number of specialists to collect samples from the populace.
Governor Obiano, had, in a state-wide broadcast said, “However, our efforts will be in vain without the cooperation of our people. It may be interesting to note that from the testing expectations distributed to every state of the federation by the NCDC, Anambra State is expected to have done a total of 115, 974 tests in the next six months.
“Details of the figure shows that Anambra must do a total of 4,425 tests per week to meet the national average. Ndi Anambra, with our new molecular lab, we can surpass that figure. But we must work together to surpass it. That is why I am appealing to all the traditional rulers and all the leaders of the church as well opinion leaders to assist the state in creating more awareness on the need for people to go for tests.
He further announced that the state has conducted 590 tests out of 618 samples, and expressed happiness that a total of 77 people have successfully recovered from Covid-19 through a careful management by the special Covid-19 medical team.
Obiano while calling for effective compliance to guidelines, early testing and treatment, said, “Ndi Anambra, the experience we have gained from managing the pandemic shows that early case detection and management play a major role in patients’ survival of Covid-19. Available data shows that all the patients who submitted to our call for early testing and treatment by our team survived the pandemic.
Meanwhile, members of Dried Meat Preservers Traders Association of Nigeria (DMPTA) in Onitsha Anambra State, yesterday, alleged harassment by unidentified agents claiming to be working for the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS) under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
They urged the Federal Government to intervene and save their business from collapse.
Addressing a joint Press Conference at their headquarters in Onitsha, Chairman of Onitsha chapter, Ikechukwu Aniude in company of his counterparts, Hamza Ahmed (Sokoto State), Sani Ahmed (Gombe State), Kadiri Abubakar (Borno State) and Alhaja Yawa Idi (Oyo State)
They alleged that NAQS agents from Enugu and security operatives have been seizing their goods, while extorting various amounts of money from them.
Aniude alleged that the agents seized over 1, 600 pieces of donkey skin worth over N50m already processed for sale, from their processing camp in Yauri, Kebbi State on June 26, 2020.
“Apart from seizing our goods, they have been extorting between N200,000 to N800,000 from us with the allegation that we are illegal exporters, with threats to jail our members if we refuse to comply with them.
“We are not into exporting business, our business is registered with Corporate the Affairs Commission (CAC). We process donkey skin and sell within the country, we want the Federal Government to intervene and tell us what we are doing wrong,” Aniude added.
Also speaking, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the association, Ogbonna Nwabueze, said the business has existed even before the Nigerian Civil War, adding that some of them inherited it from their fore fathers.
He wondered why suddenly in 2018, they started to harass, intimidate and extort different sums of money from them, insisting that the agents have refused to properly identity themselves.
