Moses Ofodeme
The Federal Government, on Monday, extended the gradual ease of lockdown by another two weeks.
The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, disclosed this at the daily briefing of the task force in Abuja.
The President Muhammadu Buhari had on April 27, announced a “phased and gradual easing” of the lockdown in Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun states, while declaring a nationwide curfew with effect from May 4.
He also ordered a ban on all inter-state movements.
Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said in spite of the modest progress made, Nigeria was not yet ready to fully open the economy “and tough decisions have to be taken for the good of the greater majority.”
He said, “Any relaxation will only portend grave danger for our populace.
“Advisedly, the current phase of eased restriction will be maintained for another two weeks during which stricter enforcement and persuasion measures will be pursued.
“The two weeks extension of Phase One of the eased restriction is also to enable other segments of the economy to prepare adequately for compliance with the guidelines, preparatory to reopening in the coming weeks.”
For the avoidance of doubt, the SGF added that “Mr President has approved the following: (i) The measures, exemptions, advisories, and scope of entities allowed to reopen under phase one of the eased locked down, shall be q@t today (18th May 2020 to 1st June 2020);
“(ii) intensifying efforts to ‘tell (communicate), trace (identify) and treat (manage)’ cases;
“(iii) elevating the level of community ownership of non-pharmaceutical interventions;
“(iv)Maintain the existing lockdown order in Kano for an additional two weeks;
“(v)Imposition of precision lockdown in states, or in metropolitan/high-burden LGAs, that are reporting a rapidly increasing number of cases, when the need arises. This would be complemented with the provision of palliatives and continued re-evaluation of the impact of the interventions; and
“(vi) Aggressive scale-up of efforts to ensure that communities are informed, engaged and participating in the response with enhanced public awareness in high-risk states.”