The presidency on Wednesday tightened security around the Presidential Villa, Abuja and beefed up screening mechanism for Coronavirus, as global awareness rises.
The emergence of the dreaded virus has created global tension, including possible economic crises across every spectrum of human endeavours
The presidency had earlier deployed officials of the Center for Disease Control to screen staff and everyone visiting the State House in a bid to avert the spread of the virus.
BusinessDay checks revealed that the measures were further strengthened on Wednesday, following increased human traffic that comes with the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council FEC,
All staff, visitors including members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), who witnessed the swearing-in of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, HoS, Folasade Yemi-Esan, were first screened, given hand sanitizer before being allowed into the State House Council Chambers, Abuja.
The new HoS whose appointment was announced on Monday was sworn in by President Muhammadu Buhari before the meeting of FEC which she also participated in.
The Federal Government last week announced that it had acquired the necessary reagents to test for the presence of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) in suspected patients.
Yemi-Esan who hails from Kogi state succeeds Winifred Oyo-Ita whose retirement was approved by the President on Monday.
Findings at the Villa show that government may have stepped up measures for early detection of possible carriers of the virus following reported difficulties by an official of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control NCDC, to locate co-passengers of the Italian index case in Nigeria
BusinessDay checks also revealed that issues around infrastructure, aviation, and implementation of the 2020 budget continue to attract cabinet members’ attention at the weekly FEC meeting.
Inside Cabinet sources informed BusinessDay that efforts would continue this week to rejig strategies for implementation of the budget following the high volatility in the world crude oil market.
This followed pressures on the economy occasioned by the falling price of crude oil in the global market
The 2020 budget was predicated on crude oil bench of $57 per barrel and a daily production capacity of 2.1m barrels.
