The Federal Government has announced a two weeks extension to the ongoing eased lockdown in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun States.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, made this known during the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing on Monday.
According to Mr Mustapha, who also chairs the PTF, not much progress has been made by the nation in the fight against the dreaded disease.
The West African country has continued to grapple with the contagion; almost half of its 5959 positive cases recorded in the last fortnight.
There have been 182 fatalities along the line and 1594 recoveries.
And Mustapha believes the country isn’t yet ready to open up its economy fully.
” Ladies and gentlemen, the reality is that in spite of the modest progress made, Nigeria is not yet ready for full opening of 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 PTF, we share your pains but our future is in the hands of every Nigerian and future decisions will depend greatly on our compliance.
” Based on the recommendations of the PTF, Mr President has approved the following:
The measures, exemptions, advisories and scope of entities allowed to reopen under phase one of the eased locked down, shall be maintained across the federation for another two weeks effective from 12 00 midnight today (18th May 2020 to 1st June 2020);
intensifying efforts to “tell (communicate), trace (identify) and treat (manage)’ cases;
elevating the level of community ownership of non-pharmaceutical interventions;
Maintain the existing lockdown order in Kano for an additional two weeks;
The 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 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.
President Muhammadu Buhari had a fortnight ago declared a “phased and gradual” easing of the lockdowns.
He also ordered new nationwide measures against Covid-19, including a night-time curfew and mandatory face masks.
The move would ensure that the economy functioned “while still maintaining our aggressive response”, Mr Buhari said.
The easing only applied to Abuja, Lagos and neighbouring Ogun state, where collectively more than 25 million people were under lockdown for almost a month. Other states have introduced their own measures.
But schools will remain closed, passenger flights will remain banned, restaurants will operate only on a takeaway basis, and all cultural events are cancelled.
