Imo workers, residents decry Uzodinma’s order on closure of markets

Civil servants and residents of Imo State have expressed displeasure over Governor Hope Uzodinma’s order to close major markets and directing workers from 45 years old to stay at home.
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, who was accompanied by some commissioners and Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser, Oguwike Nwachuku, disclosed the governor’s directive after the maiden post-Executive Council (EXCO) media briefing.
Emelumba urged the residents to stock pile their food items and other essential needs between Thursday and Friday, as the closure takes effect on Saturday, March 28, 2020 in a bid to contain Coronavirus if it spreads to the state.
But most workers and residents, who spoke to journalists, decried the move, especially as it was coming without payment of February and March salaries.
They wondered how they could buy food items and other personal needs that would sustain them during the indefinite closure and stay-at-home period without their salaries.
A resident, Chief Awolowo Nkwodede faulted the order, insisting that workers should have money on them. He flayed the closure, adding, “Asking people to stay at home and closing markets without salaries is inhuman and unfair.”
A former Chairman of the Imo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Fidel Onyeneke, said he was not against government’s directive, but workers should be paid and even given palliative pay because of the pandemic and its safety measures.
However, Emelumba said the state government has procured 27 ambulances and provided screening centres in the 27 council areas, in addition to the planned establishment of specialist hospitals in various locations, stressing that government was engaging religious leaders to ensure that public and private schools were closed by Friday.