ActionAid canvasses lockdown of country for 14 days, vigorous awareness campaign

ActionAid Nigeria has urged the Federal Government to lockdown the country for the next 14 days to enhance efforts of the Presidential Task Force on Control of Covid-19 in combating spread of the virus.

Speaking in Abuja on the increased cases of the dreaded virus Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Mrs. Ene Obi, said with the rising cases of infected persons increasing from three to 36 within a week, Nigeria needed to be ready for the worst-case scenario and government needed to be more proactive to curb its spread.

Lamenting that social distancing and self-isolation had remained a mirage to the average Nigerian, particularly those offline and at the grassroots level, saying they were still ignorant and lacked the basic safeguarding information on symptoms and prevention of the virus.

Obi said the organization was concerned that government was not doing anything at the grassroots level, as an average woman in the market was still unaware of the contagious nature of the virus.

“They need to be aware that it is so contagious that one infected person with high exposure could infect up to 2.5 million persons within five days as stated by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire.

“We are worried that Nigeria’s level of preparedness to respond to Covid-19 is low and this further buttresses the need to re-prioritise the country’s budgetary provisions by investing more in healthcare facilities.

“Nigeria’s porous borders makes it susceptible to outbreaks and it is quite unfortunate that we still have public gathering across the country with many Nigerians still going about their businesses in packed public transport.

“Outbreaks and pandemics create an opportunity to re-evaluate the potency of our healthcare system and authenticity of our citizens database which would have eased contact tracing of the imported cases of the coronavirus,” she stated.

ActionAid Nigeria, therefore, enjoined the Federal Government to order a total lockdown of the country for the next 14 days to curtail further spread of the virus, adding that government should act swiftly by increasing the awareness on the proactive measures to prevent the spread of the virus at the grassroots level.