As the world battles with Coronavirus, Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has asked Nigerians to brace up for the socio – economic effects of the disease.
The Governor, who made the call at a quarterly session with the media in Asaba on Thursday, said the virus had made the price of oil in the international market to tumble and had also caused many industries to close shop.
He said unless urgent steps were taken to check the effects of the disease, many states in the country might not be able to pay workers salaries.
The Governor prayed that the situation would not be as bad as it was in 2015 when the country was “technically in recession.”
Okowa said, “now that we have mass production of oil which constitutes our economy, mostly due to the fact that our oil is not being sold and oil prices have also gone down, it is obvious that each and every one of us, our states and the nation will have challenges even with execution of budgets for the year.
He thanked the media for their support for his administration by reporting the activities of government to the people and promised that government would continue to do its best even under trying conditions.
The Governor disclosed that the government’s peace and security efforts had been successful, saying “we are doing our best but, we have continued to have issues with farmers/herdsmen clashes and unfortunately even when we are doing our best, we have continued to experience kidnapping.
Okowa recalled that the South-South Governors had decided on the need to have a regional security outfit that would work with the security agencies to ensure that the oil rich region was properly secured, among other shared interests.
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