Extending lockdown ‘ll have dire consequences for economy – Ayade

Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, says any further extension of lockdown in the country in response to the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic would have dire consequences for the nation’s economy.

Ayade stated this in Calabar, the Cross River State capital that further extension of the lockdown will give rise to uncontrollable youth restiveness, adding that it was better to lockout than lockdown.

“With prices of oil falling, locking out is far better than locking down because another two weeks of lockdown will find this country under siege by young people. There is no way you can hold down these young energies for too long.

“It is demographic, it is statistics. Sixty-five per cent of the population is below the age of 35 and the virus itself does not have penetrative force in such demography and that is what we have to recognise as a country.”

The governor explained that the difference in climate conditions between the West and Africa was the reason the pandemic is ravaging that part of the world.

“Our demography is different from the west. Our climatic conditions are different. If you take the wind speed, the wind direction, sun intensity, radiation and the factors that govern the movement of a virus, ours is a situation that makes it difficult to spread with the speed it is spreading in the western world.

“So, our response strategy should reflect our environmental sensitivity. Maybe what COVID-19 will eventually do is to sharpen the consciousness of young people to come together.

The Cross River State Governor further disclosed that industries established by his administration will absorb the youths and get them engaged.

“I have to get the young people off the street; I need to get them engaged. I need to get them to survive and that is the essence of government.”

He explained that the urgency of the situation has forced his administration to slow down on major projects: “At this time, major projects have to slow down and we have to switch attention to the young people who for no fault of theirs are out of school.”