COVID-19: Lukman calls for extension of lockdown

- An APC chieftain, Salihu Lukman, has called on the federal government to extend the COVID-19 lockdown nationwide

- Lukman said a national lockdown was necessary for the country not to throw away the gains achieved in fighting COVID-19

- The politician who is the DG of the APC governors forum said Nigerians are focused on the palliatives than social distancing

The director-general of the Progressives Governors Forum, Salihu Mohammed Lukman, has called on the federal government to extend the COVID-19 lockdown nationwide.

Appraising the success of the two weeks lockdown at the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun states by President Muhammadu Buhari, Lukman expressed disappointment over the attitude of certain state governors.

According to him, a national lockdown was necessary for the country not to throw away the gains achieved by its proactive measure of the last two weeks.

In a statement sent to journalists on Saturday, April 11, the All Progressives Congress chieftain also expressed concern over the perceived distrust by the National Assembly towards federal agencies and committees saddled with the task of mitigating the effect of the lockdown announced by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He noted that rather than take government appeal on social distancing and proactive measures of lockdown seriously, Nigerians are focused on the palliatives.

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“With the number of cases spreading to more states and also on the increase within states, the possibility of extending the lockdown to other states could be high.

“Again with the number of cases in Osun, Edo, Oyo, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Kaduna, Delta, Enugu, Ekiti, Rivers, Benue, Katsina and Ondo states respectively now being 20, 12, 11, 8, 5, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1 and 1, these are ready candidates for the extension of the lockdown to cover these states.

“Assuming the number of cases is to be the determinant of whether the lockdown will be extended beyond April 14, 2020, will that be sufficient to contain the spread?

“Given that after the lockdown of Abuja, Lagos and Ogun, more states recorded new cases, wouldn’t this be indicative of the need to have a national lockdown?” he queried.

Recall that the federal government had hinted that it may extend the lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun state to prevent the spread of coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Chairman of the task force and secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Mustapha, recently stated that with what is happening in other countries, it could be easily deduced what the decision of the president would be on the lockdown.

Mustapha said the team had briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on the assessment of the nation’s response so far, adding that more evaluation of the process continues.

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Source: Legit.ng