By Akanimo Kufre (The New Diplomat’s A/Ibom|C/River Correspondent)
Lagos State government is among the states in the country that have placed orders for face masks produced by the Cross River State Garment factory, Governor Ben Ayade said on Monday.
According to him, Kano, Benue states and some corporate organisations have also placed orders for the massively produced masks in the state.
Ayade who made the disclosure Monday at the Garment factory Calabar stated that production of masks has been ramped up at the factory following the orders.
Apart from states, organizations that have made orders for masks from the factory include construction giants, Julius Berger, JBN, and DHL.
“We have Julius Berge, a construction company that has made a massive order. Shoprite also has made a massive order. We have also received an order of one million masks from Lagos State government.”
A Kano business mogul, Alhaji Isiaku Rabiu, has separately placed orders for nose masks from the Cross River State Garment Factory. Rabiu ordered for 1,000 pieces of the masks to assist the Kano state government contain the pandemic.
The Governor said he was at the factory to carry out an inspection on quality control and ensure that the masks were made according to specifications.
Though earlier criticized on the enforcement of face mask to curb the spread of COVID 19, the Cross River State Governor has received many accolades for visionary principle adopted to contain the dreaded virus.
As at today, Cross River State is one of the the 3 States in the country yet to record confirmed cases of COVID 19 despite being surrounded by states infected with virus.
According to the Cross River State commissioner for health, Dr Betta Edu, Cross River from onset of the pandemic was prepared to produce masks for other States to protect their citizens.
The New Diplomat however, asked about the efficacy of the Cross River State produced nose masks and Dr Edu said: “These masks have three layers including a filter. If you sneeze or cough, droplets are contained within the mask. They don’t fall on surfaces, they don’t go from one person to the other.”
The governor and professor of microbiology disclosed that plans were under way to design military style masks for the military and para military organizations.
According to him, the special masks will come with fitted special protection and air filtration systems.
“As you are all aware, Cross River State started the concept of cloth mask. So we want to use this opportunity to say we want to move into the new brand of a military mask which will have special protection and special air filtration as well as special breathing support systems to enable the military use it on a daily basis even in the face of a biological warfare.” Gov Ayade said.
The governor maintained that he has taken time to wear the mask in different combination of clothes to create awareness and to show that no matter how you dress, there is a mask that can fit with your dressing.
“And also as a means of marketing that even if you are wearing a traditional attire, there are masks that can go with your dressing.”
Gov Ayade also expressed optimism that with the support of the federal government, Cross River State should be in a position to start exporting masks to other African countries in the near future.
“I believe that with the support of the federal government, we should be in a position to start exporting masks to other African countries very soon.with our installed capacity at three shifts we can do close to a million masks a day and am happy the federal government is adopting wearing of nose masks as a national policy”, Ayade said.
