President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday ordered the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days with effect from 11pm on Monday, March 30, 2020. This is in an effort to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
The president, who stated this in his nationwide broadcast, said the “restriction will also apply to Ogun State due to its close proximity to Lagos and the high traffic between the two states”.
He advised all citizens in these areas to stay in their homes, while travels to or from other states should be postponed.
“Based on the advice of the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC, I am directing the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days with effect from 11pm on Monday, 30th March 2020. This restriction will also apply to Ogun State due to its close proximity to Lagos and the high traffic between the two states,” Buhari said.
“All citizens in these areas are to stay in their homes. Travel to or from other states should be postponed. All businesses and offices within these locations should be fully closed during this period,” he said.
Buhari said the governors of Lagos and Ogun States and the minister of the FCT have been notified, and that heads of security and intelligence agencies have also been briefed.
“We will use this containment period to identify, trace and isolate all individuals that have come into contact with confirmed cases. We will ensure the treatment of confirmed cases while restricting further spread to other states,” he said.
Buhari, however, announced that experts offering essential services such as media, petrol station operators, electricity generation companies are exempted from the stay-at-home directive.
He also said health experts such as doctors and nurses, as well as those selling food items and medicine are exempted from the lockdown order.
“This order does not apply to hospitals and all related medical establishments as well as organisations in health care related manufacturing and distribution. Furthermore, commercial establishments such as food processing, distribution and retail companies; petroleum distribution and retail entities; power generation, transmission and distribution companies; and private security companies are also exempted,” he said.
“Although these establishments are exempted, access will be restricted and monitored. Workers in telecommunication companies, broadcasters, print and electronic media staff who can prove they are unable to work from home are also exempted.
“All seaports in Lagos shall remain operational in accordance with the guidelines I issued earlier. Vehicles and drivers conveying essential cargoes from these Ports to other parts of the country will be screened thoroughly before departure by the Ports Health Authority.
“Furthermore, all vehicles conveying food and other essential humanitarian items into these locations from other parts of the country will also be screened thoroughly before they are allowed to enter these restricted areas.
“Accordingly, the Hon. Minister of Health is hereby directed to redeploy all Port Health Authority employees previously stationed in the Lagos and Abuja Airports to key roads that serve as entry and exit points to these restricted zones,” he said.
The government also suspended movement of all passenger aircraft, both commercial and private jets. Special permits would be issued on a needs basis.
“We are fully aware that such measures will cause much hardship and inconvenience to many citizens. But this is a matter of life and death, if we look at the dreadful daily toll of deaths in Italy, France and Spain,” Buhari said.
Speaking on palliative measures, the president said he has directed that a three-month repayment moratorium for all TraderMoni, MarketMoni and FarmerMoni loans be implemented with immediate effect.
“I have also directed that a similar moratorium be given to all Federal Government funded loans issued by the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture and the Nigeria Export Import Bank,” he said.
Others include on-lending facilities using capital from international and multilateral development partners, where the president directed development financial institutions to engage these development partners and negotiate concessions to ease the pains of the borrowers.
“For the most vulnerable in our society, I have directed that the conditional cash transfers for the next two months be paid immediately. Our internally displaced persons will also receive two months of food rations in the coming weeks,” he said.
He appealed to all Nigerians to take personal responsibility to support those who are vulnerable within their communities, helping them with whatever they may need.
“As we are all aware, Lagos and Abuja have the majority of confirmed cases in Nigeria. Our focus therefore remains to urgently and drastically contain these cases, and to support other states and regions in the best way we can. Our goal is to ensure all states have the right support and manpower to respond immediately.
“So far, in Lagos and Abuja, we have recruited hundreds of ad-hoc staff to man our call centers and support our tracing and testing efforts,” he said.
Tony Ailemen & Solomon Ayado, Abuja
