Chairman of Umudike Farms Limited and Hotel De Espana
[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hief Ambrose Elofu-Dike,The Chairman of Umudike Farms Limited and Hotel De Espana,speaking to Grassroots Publishers crew yesterday said that government should look for solution to coronavirus and ensure how people would get back to work and not see total lockdown as solution to coronavirus.
Elofu-Dike said: “I must say that so far so good. Our government has been responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. At least, we’ve been able to restrict the spread even though at the moment we are having community spread. It’s no longer those flying in from abroad and so it requires a lot of enlightenment of our people. Self-distance issue is not a joke. It’s real. Wearing mask is absolutely necessary.
“So government is doing a lot in that direction but I want to tell us that it’s either we hurry up and catch up with Covid-19 and eradicate it or we know that in no distant time we have to live with the situation and try to beat it while still continuing with our lives.
“The question is for how long will this continue this way and if it continues this way, Total lockdown is not a solution to it. So Nigerian government should be looking at solution as it stands today.We should be thinking,’how do we solve this problem and get back to work?”
He said the economy should bounce back so people could earn living and not be tempted to look for ways to fend for themselves.
The business leader said: “I tell you if at the end of the day there’s no economy then it will take us a very long time to recover and if by next month nothing is done for the economy to be flowing a little, that means that a lot of people will have no job in terms of payment of salary and that necessarily puts a lot of burden on the government at all levels because when people are not paid their salaries what they resort to is something that you and I should not imagine and I pray that it doesn’t get to that.”
He said that the coronavirus pandemic was impacting negatively on businesses adding consumption was not as high as it used to be because people were under the lockdown.
The business leader said if the situation continued as it is quite a number of businesses would be unable to meet their obligations noting that the government should support the business sector.
He said the coronavirus pandemic was sufficient reason for most businesses to declare ‘force majeure’ in which they would be unable to meet their responsibilities. He has called for collaboration between different tiers of government to fight the spread of coronavirus.