COVID-19: Governor Ortom tasks Benue Citizens on Immune System Boosting Foods

BY OSBERT TOR-NAJIME, MAKURDI – With COVID-19 cases on the rise in Benue state, Governor Samuel Ortom has urged the people of the state to eat foods that are rich in iron and zinc in order to boost their immune system with a to prepare their bodies to help fight COVID-19.
Ortom, who gave the advice on Tuesday while receiving 1,296 pieces of 500mls of alcohol based hand sanitizers produced by the State ministry of Science, Energy and Technology in collaboration with the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT) expressed concern over the astronomical increase in the number of infected persons in the state.

He noted that the figure of infected persons in the State now stands at almost 250, adding that with the pandemic now in the phase of community transmission, it is advisable that all citizens adhere strictly to the preventive standards set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The Governor noted that necessity is a child of invention saying that the pandemic has made it possible for the ministry to produce hand sanitizers at a cheaper rate and therefore assured that his administration would support the initiative through patronage.
Ortom urged council chairmen in the state to collaborate with the ministry to make the commodity available to people at the grassroots.
He said; “People should not to be ashamed of making their status public in case they tested positive for the virus. Many people, who had tested positive recovered after observing the protocols and taken medication”.
Governor Ortom noted that although the pandemic has brought a lot of hardship to people the world over, it had also brought its positive sides, saying that; “one of which is the reduction in capital flight as a bane on Nigeria’s economy””.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Science, Energy and Technology, Dr. Oyinowa Godwin while presenting the hand sanitizers, commended Governor Ortom for granting the ministry’s request to produce the sanitizers, stressing that the collaboration with NARICT yielded positive result.