President Muhammadu Buhari has extended the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun States and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT by 14 days.
President Buhari gave the directive on Monday night in a special broadcast to the nation on the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
He noted that the cases in the FCT and Lagos State represent over 71% of the confirmed cases in Nigeria.
“Lagos State remains the center and accounts for 54% of the confirmed cases in Nigeria. When combined with the FCT, the two locations represent over 71% of the combined cases in Nigeria,” President Buhari said.
The President expressed concern about the increase in the number of confirmed cases and deaths in Nigeria and the world, insisting however, that the nation is on the right track to win the fight against COVID-19.
President Muhammadu Buhari expressed happiness with the work being done by the health care workers and volunteers across the country especially in the Frontline areas of Lagos and Ogun States as well as the FCT.
” You are our heroes and as a nation, we will forever remain grateful for your sacrifice during this very difficult time,” he said.
The Nigerian leader commended the members of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 for their hard work, the legislators for their support and donations and the state Governors for aligning their policies and actions to those of the federal government.
He acknowledged the difficulties experienced by Nigerians especially those who earn a daily wage adding that the government announced palliative measures to ease the pains of the restrictive policies.
The President directed the expansion of the social register from 2.6 million households to 3.6 million households in the next two weeks.
“This means we will support an additional one million homes with our social investment programmes.”
The Nigerian President appealed to Nigerians to follow the instructions on social distancing, warning that “the irresponsibility of a few can lead to the death of many.”
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