Wike berates NCDC, FG for failure to build testing lab in Rivers

TRACKING___• Unveils border task force as oil worker tests positive for COVID-19
• Okiros donate 4,000 face masks to Rivers police

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has faulted the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for building coronavirus laboratories in Lagos, Ogun and Kano states and failing to building one in the oil-rich state.

He said the country does not need the kind of politics the Federal Government and its agencies were playing at this time when coronavirus was ravaging the world.

Wike stated this yesterday when the new Commissioner of Police (CP), Joseph Mukan visited him at the Government House, Port Harcourt.

“There must be a collaboration to fight the coronavirus pandemic. NCDC is building laboratories in Lagos, Ogun and Kano, without building any in Rivers State. This is a state that is exposed to several foreign and local visitors with no single Federal intervention.

“When oil companies write to change crew, we insist on knowing their coronavirus status. If they continue to politicise COVID-19, Nigeria will suffer it,” he said.

Speaking, Mukan commended the Rivers State Government for providing the right support and logistics for security agencies to secure the state.

“The logistics on ground is like what is in Lagos. All logistics supports are on ground. My predecessor has laid a solid foundation, but I will surpass that. I will lead by example and carry all my men along,” he said

Wike inaugurated the state’s task force on border closure as an oil worker tested positive for COVID-19.

The task force would also monitor complicity of security agencies allegedly collecting bribe to allow people unrestrained access into the state.

Citing the latest case of the oil worker, he lamented that most of the new cases of the virus in the state were people who sneaked into the state, having been allowed in by security agencies.

He urged the task force to work as if they were struggling to save their own lives and those of the Rivers people, adding that this was necessary because the state was being sabotaged from all fronts.

Meanwhile, the children of former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mike Mbama Okiro and the Spanish Kingdom Apartments and Suites have donated 4000 face-masks to the Rivers State Police Command to fight COVID-19.

Onyeka Ogbatu, who presented the items on behalf of the children to CP Mukan, noted that it was part of their contribution to protect and boost the morale of the command’s officers and men.