TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari says it will be difficult for any country to be on prolonged lockdown, while awaiting the development of a coronavirus vaccine.

Speaking during a nationwide broadcast on Monday evening, the president said the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and the federal capital territory will ease gradually from Monday, but will be “followed strictly with aggressive reinforcement of testing and contact tracing measures.”

He had imposed a two-week lockdown on March 30 and extended it by another two weeks on April 13.

In his broadcast, the president acknowledged that the lockdown has had adverse effects on the lives of citizens, and as such, there was need for review.

“Fellow Nigerians, for the past four weeks, most parts of our country have been under either federal government or state government lockdowns. As I mentioned earlier, these steps were necessary and overall, have contributed to slowing down the spread of COVID-19 in our country,” he said.

“However, such lockdowns have also come at a very heavy economic cost. Many of our citizens have lost their means of livelihood. Many businesses have shut down. No country can afford the full impact of a sustained lockdown while awaiting the development of vaccines.

“Furthermore, new nationwide measures are to be introduced as follows; there will be an overnight curfew from 8pm to 6am. This means all movements will be prohibited during this period except for essential services; there will be a ban on non-essential inter-state passenger travel until further notice; partial and controlled interstate movement of goods and services will be allowed for the movement of goods and services from producers to consumers.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun States shall remain in place until these new ones come into effect on Monday, 4th May 2020.”

There are currently 1,273 cases of COVID-19 in the country.