Governors of the 36 States of the federation on Wednesday “unanimously” endorsed to the implementation of an inter-State lockdown in the country over the next two weeks to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic virus from State to State.
The governors, regulating under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), entered the agreement after receiving briefing from the Governors of Lagos, Bauchi, Oyo and Ogun States who conveyed their experiences and lessons from the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
A communiqe issued by the NGF chairman and governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, at the end of the sixth COVID-19 teleconference meeting said only crucial services would be authorized.
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 over 25 States now affected by the spread of COVID-19 and rising evidence of community transmission.
Members of the NGF also voiced significant problem over the soaring spread of the virus among health workers and decided to work with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to guarantee that health workers are “adequately” empowered with personal protective equipment (PPE) and are “constantly” educated on the use of protective gears.
This came after an update from the NGF Secretariat on the number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
The Governors also decided to set up COVID-19 committees at the regional level, headed by their State Commissioners of Health in order to strengthen collaborative implementation of necessary public health recommendations across States.
Regional committees, the communique added, will continue to interface with the State Task Force Committees on COVID-19 already established in each State.
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.
The NGF also congratulated the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, who after nearly four weeks of testing positive and observing very strict medical rule, has now received two consecutive negative test results for the coronavirus.
Members also expressed their condolence to President Muhammadu Buhari and the people of Borno State on the passing of the Chief of Staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari, who died on April 17, 2020 in the line of duty to the country.
It would be recalled that President Buhari currently imposed lockdown in only the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Ogun States to curtail the spread of the novel pandemic coronavirus.
Some of the States have taken similar measures to fight the deadly virus but there is no nationwide lockdown from the federal government.
Health experts say the country may be heading towards the need for nationwide lockdown to stop the virus.
