Ayade suspends transport agency, orders for arrest of illegal tax collectors

The Cross River State Governor, Prof Ben Ayade, has ordered the arrest of illegal tax collectors in the state.

He gave the order on Sunday while announcing the suspension of the activities of the Commercial Transport Regulatory Agency for flouting the law banning the collection of levies from taxi operators.

A statement issued by the Special Adviser Media and Publicity to the governor, Christian Ita, said, “It has been observed that in spite of Ayade’s directives as well as the provisions of the Cross River State Tax Exemption Law, agents of the Commercial Transport Regulatory Agency were still engaged in the sale of tickets to bus, taxi, okada and tricycle operators in the state.

“Consequently, His Excellency has ordered the immediate suspension of the activities of the agency in the state.”

The governor also directed security agents to arrest anybody found selling tickets or collecting any form of tax from those exempted from paying tax in the state.

“His Excellency will henceforth, not tolerate the flagrant disregard of the tax exemption law which has been in place for over three years now.

On no account will any criminal and mischievous attempt to undermine and short circuit the noble effort of the governor, be allowed,” it added.

Cross River State Medical Association warns against resumption of religious gatherings

Earlier, Governor Ben Ayade had announced the lifting of ban on religious gatherings after about two months due to COVID-19 outbreak.

The Nigerian Medical Association, Cross River State branch, has warned the state government against the opening of religious activities. The association also called for more testing of suspected persons in the state.

Governor Ben Ayade had announced the lifting of ban on religious gatherings after about two months due to COVID-19 outbreak. Ayade said he made the decision after plea from religious leaders.

Reacting to the lifting of the ban, the medical association urged the state government to review its policy, saying the guideline for the reopening of worship centres goes against the social distance guideline. The group said,

“Our concern is that the order stipulates the number of worshippers to be limited to the sitting capacity of the church/mosque.

The usual sitting capacity of most worship centres does not allow for physical distancing of at least one metre that reduces the risk of transmission of COVID-19.

We advise that this policy should be reviewed, taking into cognisance physical distancing and local peculiarities of various worship centres.”

Frowning against the low number of tests carried out in the state, the medical association said the Cross River State Government currently had no listed NCDC designated Molecular Laboratory Testing Centre in progress or completed on the NCDC Molecular Laboratory Network.

It added that the only available NCDC Laboratory catchment for Coronavirus testing for Cross River State is at Irrua, Edo State. It added,

“Irrua is about 447.9km (7h 50min) from Calabar when compared to Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, another testing centre that is 188.9km (3h 17min) from Calabar, which also shares a boundary with Cross River State.

The present situation makes sample transportation very expensive and cumbersome occasioned by restrictions in interstate movement.

We use this medium to call on NCDC to change the testing centre of Cross River State from Irrua to Abakaliki."

"Coronavirus cannot survive in Nigeria's hellfire temperature" - Ayade

Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, says the coronavirus pandemic has become a business venture, and is being used to exploit Nigeria and other African countries..

While speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Thursday, May 21, Ayade said the test method lacks responsibility and reliability. He said,

"As a professor of science, I know that we're not customising the action plan that reflects our situation and originality. As a nation, you can't just throw money in the hands of manufacturers of test reagents just because you want to test. You only test when there's a suspicion that calls for concern."

The governor, elected for a second term last year, cast further doubt on the spread of the disease in Nigeria, repeating an already-disproved claim that the novel disease cannot survive in hot weather.

"Indeed, even our own temperature here is such that when you sneeze, if a virus escapes, it's escaping into hell fire because it can't stand the temperature of 32 degrees centigrade. Sometimes in Nigeria, we do up to 42 degrees," he said.