The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman, Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, has said that the continuous relocation of almajiri pupils from one state to another violates the guidelines issued by President Muhammadu Buhari banning inter-state movement amidst COVID-19 crisis in the country.
The President had banned interstate movement from Monday, May 4 as part of measures to halt the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
Mustapha, who made the complaint on Monday in Abuja at the 25th joint national briefing of the committee, assured that the PTF will engage with the respective state governments on how to achieve their objectives.
“The PTF has also received reports on the level of compliance with the nationwide ban on inter-state movement.
“The objective of the ban is to slow down the spread of the virus across state boundaries.
“The determination of the government to enforce this policy is not in doubt and as we progress, we believe that proper alignment with the directives of Mr. President would be pursued.
“ There has been very noticeable relocation of Almajiris from one state to another, up until yesterday. With the ban on interstate movement, the continuation of this exercise will not be in alignment with the guidelines issued.
“The PTF shall engage with the respective state governments on how to achieve their objectives,” the SGF said.
Most northern states have been relocating Almajiri pupils to their respective States for the past weeks.
They claimed the move was to help in containing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Kano is coming good
On Kano, the SGF said the teams dispatched from Abuja have continued to work with the state structure and appreciable achievements have been recorded in improving manpower support, deploying appropriate equipment, increased testing capacity and treatment centres.
Mustapha said efforts were also on-going to upscale the training of medical personnel in Kano and neighbouring states on the management of infectious diseases and to provide them with PPEs for protection.
He also warned private hospitals to seek accreditation before taking up the management of infectious diseases.
He said the collaboration with the Kano State Government is focused on strengthening the State’s existing structures, especially for sustainability and that the results coming out from the state is a comforting indication that efforts put in place, which are being strengthened, would yield expected results.
He said the PTF has also received reports about medical facilities and doctors turning back sick patients for fear of their illnesses being COVID-19 related and appealed to these facilities especially public hospitals not to neglect treatment of other ailments because such actions have resulted in avoidable deaths.
No social distancing, facemask wearing
He noted that Monday marked the beginning of Mr. President’s directives to ease the lockdown in FCT, Lagos and Ogun states and the introduction of new measures nationwide.
He said that the PTF had been monitoring the level of compliance with some of the measures and early observations showed lack of compliance with social distancing and wearing of masks.
The SGF said: “We note particularly the chaotic scenes around the banks and other financial institutions.
“We must reiterate that the danger of infection is not over and that individual actions will contribute to the success or failure of our measures.
“ We urge citizens to minimize the risk of getting infected while trying to transact in the banks.
“We similarly urge the banks to ensure that their ATMs and online banking systems are in good order and stocked regularly to avoid convergence of customers in their premises.”
He said that the easing up is in phases and those who are permitted to open have clearly been defined, and urged Nigerians that it is still desirable to stay at home if there is no compelling reason to go out and to comply with the measures always, whether at home or not.
Mustapha said states governments and security agencies have however, been advised to enforce the measures rigidly and prosecute violators.
He added: “ I wish to at this point convey the assurances of the security forces, that the rights of Nigerians will be protected and their lives and property protected.
“Therefore, I passionately appeal to Nigerians to desist from attacking security personnel in the discharge of their duties and not recourse to taking the laws into their hands.”
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