BACKGROUNDS: Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) was first reported in Nigeria on February 27, 2020 and from then till date, it has spread to all States of Federation. As at 11PM on Sunday, September 13, 2020, there are 56,256 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria with 1,082 deaths as well as 2,207 in Rivers State with 59 deaths respectively. While many Nigerians and Rivers people still do not believe that COVID-19 is real, the government at both the State and Federal levels put in place measures, restrictions, regulations and rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19.In the process of enforcing these regulations by security agents, the rights of some Nigerians and the indigenous peoples of Rivers State are abuses and violated with other human rights violations perpetrated by other individuals and non-state actors within the period of COVID-19 especially in the nine (9) Niger Delta States monitored by ADVOCACY CENTRE. It is against these backgrounds that Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC) with support from Land is Life USA has been carrying out sensitization campaigns, creating awareness on COVID-19 preventive measures and distributing free face masks and other materials to the people in some local government areas in Rivers State.

ADVOCACY CENTRE has also been monitoring and reporting human rights violations and abuses within the context of COVID-19 in Akwa-Ibom, Abia, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers States through its “One Million Volunteers Network of Human
Rights Defenders and Promoters in the Niger Delta” launched on December 10, 2019. The report of this human rights violations and abuses has been collated and ready for presentation to the South-South Zonal Office of the National Human Rights Commission in Port Harcourt with a view of demanding and getting justice for victims.

Join the Executive Director of ADVOCACY CENTRE, Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface on WISH, 99.5FM Port Harcourt from 11:30AM today, Monday, September 14, 2020 as we discuss this and related issues. #coronavirus #COVID19PH #covid19 #CoronavirusPandemic #COVID2019 #coronavirusupdate