Following the first reported case of COVID-19 in Kano State, the Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), has urged Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to immediately order a total lockdown to prevent spread and possible deaths in the state.
The Executive Director of CHRICED, Dr. Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, made the appeal on Saturday while reacting to the COVID-19 reported case in Kano.
He said in a statement that contrary to the directives to citizens to desist from large gatherings, many citizens were carrying on as if the preventative measures do not matter.
He regretted that there is no visible effort on the part of the government to enforce its own orders and directives to the citizens non-compliance to observe social distancing to prevent or mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 in Kano.
He said, “Large social gatherings including weddings, naming ceremonies, and congregational prayers have continued with active participation of some government’s key officials; and with no understanding of the disastrous consequences these could hold for public health in Kano State.
“Also, across many play grounds, youths continue to engage in daily games of football, even though the rest of the world has put a stop to sporting activities due to the ravages caused by this COVID-19 pandemic. The transport services, particularly the tricycle (Keke) riders continue to violates the social distance order by overloading passengers.
“These trends portend very serious implications for public health and safety in Kano State, the most populous state in Nigeria, which could have a higher burden to cope with should preventive measures be undermined and allowed to fail,” Zikirullahi said.
He said that while the state government’s effort to mobilize both financial and material resources in readiness for containment efforts, is commendable, they are concerned that these efforts could be easily undermined, if teeming numbers of citizens refuse to do the needful by strictly following stay-at-home orders and social distancing directives.
He said, “It appears the majority of Kano citizens have dismissed the possibility of the COVID-19 outbreak in the state, and have merely taken the stay-at-home orders as an extended holiday by engaging in normal socializing, in defiance of laid down protocols. With multiple media reports recently indicating the death of a man who was in self-isolation in Gwammaja area, the need for utmost vigilance, cannot be over emphasized.”
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
