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TITUS ALLI, Abuja
Nigerian government Monday ended weeks of dilly dallying, with the closure of its land borders in addition to the suspension of international flights into the country effective 12 midnight to begin a total lock down.
Nigeria with this, joined the likes of Italy, Spain and others who have locked down to curb the spread of the ravaging Corona virus.
The latest developments in Nigeria are part of measures geared to curb the spread of the deadly Coronavirus that is ravaging global economy and deaths of many nationals.
The Nigerian government also put a lid in activities including the weekly cabinet meeting as well as the Council of State meeting, schedule for Thursday, this week.
The announcement by the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force PTF-COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha, signaled strong response to curtailing the further spread of the deadly virus in Nigeria
The SGF also directed federal Civil servants who are not on essential services to stay at home to reduce chances of wider spread following increasing number of cases in Nigeria which has risen to 36 cases and one fatality which occurred on Sunday.
Ahead of the Federal government decision is Lagos, the state with the highest incident cases which last week announced closure of its schools and asked its workforce to stay home, a decision which other states have emulated.
The increase in the number of cases came despite government efforts to strengthen its focus on testing, detection and containment through contact aimed at minimizing the possibility of community spread,
The move is also coming on the heels of earlier tweets by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari warning against allowing workers to continue to report for work while their children have been stopped from going to school over the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The SGF said President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the suspension of the weekly FEC meetings until further notice; as well as the indefinite postponement of the meeting of the Council of State scheduled for Thursday 26th March, 2020;
According to him, “all land borders that have been hitherto under partial closure shall now be closed for human traffic for four weeks effective, 23rd March, 2020;
He also directed all federal Civil servants to stay at home, In order to protect Federal Civil and Public Servants, adding that “ a circular to be issued by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation HCSF) shall direct on actions to be taken immediately;
“If and when the need arises, any national assets required for use in the response to COVID-19 shall be mobilized and deployed;
“Federal Government, is at the highest level, engaging with State Governors in order to ensure a collaborative and effective response to COVID-19 Pandemic.
The PTF directed all Abuja and Lagos residents to stay at home, avoid mass congregation of any kind as well as non- essential outings, until further advice is given.
National President of the NIGERIA Union of Journalists , Chris Isiguzo, had earlier called on the Federal Government to take drastic steps to minimize the spread of Covid 19 across the country. Specifically the Federal Government should emulate Lagos and few other states that have asked certain categories of workers to stay at home for two weeks.
The Union, had while expressing unhappiness that the Federal Government is not doing enough in this regard, called for the immediate closing down of the Federal Secretariat Abuja and other offices since majority of these workers commute daily to work using public transportation.
According to the Union, “There is also an urgent need for more awareness especially in the rural areas while more Isolation centres and testing kits should be provided in the FCT and in all states of the Federation. And these should be without prejudice to the efforts of respective State Governments”.
Already, several measures are being lined up to tackle the attendant economic slowdown in the wake of the pandemic.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from last week has announced list of palliative to cushion the effects of hardship on the citizenry brought by the deadly virus.
These are N1 trillion loans in addition to N100 billion facility to equip operators in the health sector and another N50 billion for the informal and the formal sector.
In addition is a World Bank $750 million grants for on lending to states to complement the declining monthly allocation.
BADEJO ADEMUYIWA has 23 years experience as a Finance Writer, specialising in Insurance and Investigative Reporting.
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