The presidency has warned that continuous violation of safety guidelines issued by the Federal Government to curtail the spread of covid-19 may lead to another round of lockdown.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement revealed that the Buhari administration is reluctant to lock down the country because many citizens will not have food on the table without venturing out for their day-to-day business.
“The Buhari administration is most reluctant to lock down the country and continues to emphasize the non-pharmaceutical measures and the only way to avert lockdowns is to observe these measures as put in place by the Presidential Task Force,” Shehu wrote.
“Nigerians have come a long way from the dreaded lockdown and the administration is unhappy about any prospects of bringing it back as many citizens will not have food on the table without venturing out on a day-to-day business.”
He said the COVID-19 pandemic is a threat to the population and the national economy.
“Protecting public health is one of the sacred duties of any responsible government and the administration will not abdicate that responsibility.”
He appealed to Nigerians to give their maximum cooperation for the success of the policy.
Since early December, there has been an upscale in reported cases and deaths from COVID-19 as the country experiences the second wave of the pandemic.
As of Monday evening, the number of people infected with COVID-19 stood at 131,918, with 24,036 active cases. While 106,275 have been discharged, 1,607 deaths have been recorded. In total, 1,302,410 have been tested across the country.
