Nigerian Governors ‘Unanimously’ Agree To Inter-State Lockdown For 2-Weeks Over COVID-19

Nigeria’s 36 state governors have unanimously agreed to lockdown their respective states and block inter-state travels for 14 days in an audacious bid to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus from State to State.

Chairman of the governors’ forum and governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Wednesday said the governors reached the deal after receiving briefings from the governors of Lagos, Bauchi, Oyo and Ogun States who shared their experiences and lessons from the fight against COVID-19.

A communique issued by the forum at the end of the sixth COVID-19 teleconference meeting said only essential services would be permitted. State governors called for the decentralization of the COVID-19 response as the best chance of nipping the spread of the virus in communities with 26 States now affected by virus and increasing evidence of community transmission.

Members of the NGF also voiced serious concern over the rising spread of the virus among health workers and resolved to work with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to ensure that health workers are “adequately” provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) and are “constantly” trained on the use of protective gears. This followed an update from the NGF Secretariat on the number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Governors also resolved to set up COVID-19 committees at the regional level, headed by their State Commissioners of Health in order to strengthen coordinated implementation of necessary public health recommendations across States.

Regional committees, the communiqué added, will continue to interface with the State Task Force Committees on COVID-19 already established in each State.

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The NGF Chairman briefed the forum on the rapidly evolving situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and coordination efforts with the federal government, multilateral and bilateral partners, and the private sector through the Coalition against COVID-19 (CACOVID). The forum held a minute’s silence in honour of all Nigerians who had lost their lives from coronavirus, especially health workers who were in the front lines of the epidemic.

THEWILL