The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari will make Lockdown announcement in his own time; adding that the presidential lockdown imposed on some states in the country, can only be reversed by the President.
Speaking on Sunday with Channels Television, Ehanire said the government had not hesitated in its efforts to fight the deadly coronavirus, COVID-19.
According to him, “the President will make that announcement in his own time. We will give him the facts, he will consider the facts and make his own announcements using his own wisdom”.
The states currently affected by the president’s directive include Lagos, Ogun and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
However, as Nigerians anxiously await President Buhari’s national broadcast, there are speculations that President Buhari will order a ban on inter-state movement as suggested by Governors.
This is coming after the President had meeting with the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, and the Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu.
The three of them held a closed-door meeting at the State House, Abuja to deliberate on different health challenges the country is facing which include, the lockdown, COVID-19 and the strange disease disturbing Kano, which has killed over 500 people in the last one week.
On the strange disease wrecking havoc in Kano, while addressing State House correspondents after the meeting, Ehanire said that his ministry had been in contact with relevant agencies and stakeholders, including Kano State Government with a view to proffering solutions to the problem, adding that the public will be further briefed on the situation of things as events take place.
He said that he and Ihekweazu briefed the president on the activities of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
Amongst others discussions they had, they also had discussion on the lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States as the restriction of movement occassioned by the disease expires Monday night.
Ehanire said they gave Buhari the summary report of the PTF and the Ministries, on health and socio-economic factors.
He further, expressed assurance at the manner at which the country had battled the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that Nigeria was defeating the fight against the outbreak as all health institutions and relevant stakeholders were working in order to stop the deadly virus.
He said: “The fight is going on very well. As I said, all countries have continued with the struggle against coronavirus, using the strategies that they have developed for their own countries.
“We have developed a strong strategy as we are working with other expert groups like the NCDC and relevant health organisations. So, we are also working with the states and the Governors.’’
Moreover, the NCDC boss, Ihekweazu, says they will continue to build up its testing strategies.
“At the moment, 14 testing centres have been activated across the country. We want to bring the test closer to every state. Everybody is working very hard to solve this problem.
“I can see that some people are already procuring Rapid Diagnostic Test Kits. They don’t work as far as we know. So, I will really recommend that we all stick to the National Strategy, build on it, support its expansion and together we will get on top of the pandemic”, he explained.