Drinking joint operators defy Enugu government ban, open for businesses

• Anambra residents yet to comply with directives

Various drinking joints and spots in Enugu State yesterday remained open in apparent defiance to the order of the state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. Also, commercial cab operators and tricycles, whose activities were restricted on the number of passengers they should convey at a given time, had continued to violate the order, even as government is yet to kick-start its enforcement.

Yesterday, the schools, majority of which are writing their second term examinations, refused to open to students while government workers restricted from going to work remained at home.

The development was not so with drinking joints operators who opened for businesses.One of the joint operators, who pleaded anonymity, faulted government’s directive, saying that since the markets have been asked to open “by observing highest hygiene practices, government should have also asked us to keep our businesses open but to ensure we put in place measures to improve hygiene.

Also, Anambra State residents are yet to comply with Governor Willie Obiano’s directives to avoid public gatherings. The Guardian reporter, who went round the state capital and environs, observed that there was no strict compliance with the directives on measures against the pandemic Coronavirus.

Reacting to the development, yesterday, the National Coordinator , RealLife Living Foundation (an NGO), in Awka, Amechi Okeke, blamed the failure on what he called greed on part of the health workers and care-givers, saying that the materials are being sold at unaffordable prices.