Following the warning given to Nigerians by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to steer clear of some states over the hike in COVID-19 cases, the Kogi state government has accused the agency of deliberately peddling falsehood to scare investors from the state.
The Punch reports that the state commissioner for information and communication, Kingsley Fanwo, stated this in reaction to the warning against visiting Kogi and four other states as it had been unable to confirm the level of spread of COVID-19 in the states.
It was gathered that the commissioner on Tuesday, February 2, said the government believed that the intention of NCDC was to drive away investors from the state.
He said:
“Despite their unreliable figures, Kogi emerged as the preferred investment destination of Nigeria in the last quarter of 2020. They felt embarrassed and the best way to hit back is to create a picture of the health crisis in the state.”
Fanwo noted that Kogi was the first state to procure face masks in thousands and distributed to all the councils, as well as the first to set up a team to combat the spread of the virus.
The commissioner added:
“We set up isolation centres with state-of-the-art equipment. We have done sensitisation more than any other state. So if we don’t believe that COVID-19 exists, we won’t be doing all we are doing to ensure it doesn’t ravage our state.”
Fanwo further stressed that the cases reported in Kogi were fraudulent as they had given every reason to see them as people not working in the interest of public good, adding that the NCDC data was unreliable and inconsistent.
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