Anthony Iwuoma
The Federal Government on Friday explained that it was impossible to relax the lockdown measure put in place to stem further spread of the Coronavirus, also Covid-19 pandemic.
President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered a lockdown of Lagos and Ogun states alongside the Federal Capital Territory, for initial 14 days on March 29 to forestall the spread of Covid-19. Many states had also introduced similar measures.
Nonetheless, following rising number of people infected by the virus, the president on April 13 extended the lockdown for another 14 more days.
There, however, does not seem to be any let in the spread of Covid-19, as it has not only spread to 26 out 9f the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria now has 1,095 Covid-19 cases, with 32 dead.
But speaking through the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, on Friday at a media briefing of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 in Abuja, the Federal Government explained why it may not relax the lockdown measures yet.
Ihekweazu noted that despite the negative effects of the lockdown on the economy, it was important to be patient and endure further to ensure a safer and more conducive environment to reopen the economy.
“We will eventually exit this stage and restart our normal life but that stage is still a while to come and I ask for your endurance, support and patience. Lots of efforts are going on across the world to find new therapy, to find vaccine, ” he said.
“Everybody is pushing hard along this direction. We need unprecedented level of caution to continue carrying out the preventive measure that we have advised many times on this platform.
“Many families have not been able to bury their dead, rescheduled their marriages and baptism and everything they are doing. In a way, life is in suspense. Everyone recognises the sacrifice Nigerians have made but we really have to encourage one another to continue to a position where we can relax some of that (lockdown) but until we get to that place, we have to continue in the short term.
“We are working hard to reach a point where we can relax some of these measures but we are not there yet. We ask you to join us to continue this journey with us and amplify these messages that we are giving. We are happy to have the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress here with us today (Friday).”