Nasarawa residents defy shutdown, return to businesses

• Benue approves additional N100m to fight COVID-19
• Niger lifts ban on religious activities, opens markets
• Yobe resorts to media teaching for students

Already fed up with the total curfew imposed by the Federal Government on Abuja to contain the ravaging coronavirus (COVID-19), residents of Karu Council in Nasarawa State yesterday trooped out to various locations in Abuja, their main source of livelihood.

Hundreds of commercial motorcyclists and tricyclists took advantage of the situation to make brisk business, while security operatives who mounted checkpoints at the boundary between Nasarawa and the FCT watched helplessly.

Nevertheless, the security personnel were sighted making efforts to ensure that motorists heading to and from the FCT complied with the preventive measures put in place to check the spread of COVID-19.

But Benue State Government has released additional N100 million to the State Action Committee on COVID-19 to curb the pandemic in the state.This was part of the decisions taken yesterday at the expanded State Executive Council meeting, presided over by Governor Samuel Ortom which also had in attendance members of the COVID-19 State Action Committee.

Briefing newsmen shortly after the meeting, Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mrs. Ngunan Addingi, said out of the amount, N20 million was to be used for completion of an additional isolation centre in Makurdi.

Meanwhile, Niger State has relaxed its curfew. The curfew now holds between 2p.m. and 10p.m. Similarly, the ban on religious activities on Fridays and Sundays has been lifted.

Secretary to the State Government, Ibrahim Matene, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19, saying the measure was to enable people to stock food and other essentials.

In another vein, Yobe State has resorted to ‘radio and social mediateaching’ for senior secondary schools, after one week closure over COVID-19 that has claimed over 67,000 lives globally.

Announcing the resort to teach through radio in Damaturu yesterday, the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Dr. Muhammad Sani, disclosed that the ministry had concluded arrangements to conduct extra lessons for senior secondary students.

According to him, the extra lessons during the coronavirus lockdown were to prepare students for this year’s O’Level certificate examinations.He said the students would receive teaching through Yobe Broadcasting Corporation (YBC), Facebook Streaming and WhatsApp platforms, which most the teachers had to continue teaching during the COVID-19 crisis.