Governors of the 36 States of the Federation, have on Wednesday, “unanimously” agreed to the implementation of an inter-State lockdown in the country, over the next two weeks, to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 from State to State.
The Governors, operating under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, reached the agreement after receiving briefing from the Governors of Lagos, Bauchi, Oyo, and Ogun States, who shared their experiences and lessons from the fight against Covid-19 so far.
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 that only essential services would be permitted.State Governors called for the decentralisation 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 the virus, and increasing evidence of community transmission.
Members of the NGF also voiced serious concern over the rising spread of the virus among health workers, and resolved to work with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, to ensure that health workers are “adequately” provided with personal protective equipment, PPE, and are “constantly” trained on the use of protective gears.
This followed an update from the NGF Secretariat, on the number of Covid-19 cases in the country.Governors also resolved to set up Covid-19 Committees at the Regional level, headed by their State Commissioners of Health, in order to strengthen coordinated 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 coordinated efforts with the Federal Government, multilateral and bilateral partners, and the private sector, through the Coalition against Covid-19.The Forum held a minute silence in honour of all Nigerians, who have lost their lives from thevcoronavirus, especially health workers, who are in the frontline of the epidemic
