After accusing the Federal Government of neglect, the Kano State Government has applauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s response to the rising cases of COVID-19 in the state.
In a statement on Tuesday through Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje commended the measures announced by the president.
Ganduje had accused the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 of overlooking the state in the fight against the deadly disease, especially after being hit by mysterious deaths in the last week.
In a nationwide broadcast on Monday night, Buhari declared a two-week total lockdown in the state as a part of efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.
According to the commissioner, the federal directive, in addition to the efforts of the state government, would hopefully go a long way in mitigating the situation.
“The ongoing comprehensive investigation on the pandemic in the state, the deployment of additional federal government manpower, material and technical resources as announced by the President to strengthen and support the state government’s efforts would equally help in extenuating the pandemic,” he said.
Garba said while the test centres being managed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in collaboration with the state government are now fully operational, the governor has assured residents that plans are underway to open three more centres, with a view to aggressively reinforcing testing and contact tracing measures to prevent the spread of the disease.
The commissioner said the enforcement of a total lockdown for a period of two weeks would help in controlling and containing the disease and also prevent the risk of further spread to neighbouring states.
He expressed government’s readiness to support security agencies in ensuring effective enforcement and called on the people to cooperate and show understanding by strictly abiding by the lockdown order.
While acknowledging that the lockdown comes at a heavy cost, the commissioner said it still remains a significant way of preventing the spread of the virus.
Garba also pleaded with the public to observe strict personal hygiene that includes regular hand washing, physical distancing, wearing of face masks in public and avoiding large gatherings.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Kano has recorded 77 positive cases and one death.
