Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state has disclosed the reasons why Nigerian governors decided to stop people from other states from entering their states.
According to the governor, this will help in curbing interstate spread of the novel coronavirus. The governor also said the boundaries closures will enhance the ability for governments to effectively handle contact tracing.
The governor disclosed this in a post on his Instagram page.
“Yesterday, all governors in Nigeria held a virtual meeting where we all shared measures adopted in our individual states to contain the spread of the coronavirus. “We jointly decided to close our interstate borders across the country for two initial weeks in a bid to curb the interstate spread of the virus and enhance our ability to better handle contact tracing.
“This, however, tallies with the earlier decision and stance of the Ogun state government to keep all our interstate and international borders shut, except to essential services,” the governor wrote.
Governors of the 36 states of the federation on Wednesday, April 22, “unanimously” agreed to impose an inter-state lockdown in the country over the next two weeks to check the state-to-state spread of COVID-19. The governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) reached the agreement after receiving a briefing from the governors of Lagos, Bauchi, Oyo and Ogun states who shared their experiences and lessons from the fight against COVID-19.
A communique issued by the NGF chairman and governor of Ekiti state, Kayode Fayemi, at the end of the virtual meeting said only essential services would be permitted. The state governors called for the decentralization of the COVID-19 response, saying it is the best chance of nipping the spread of the virus in communities.
They also raised a serious concern over the rising spread of the virus among health workers and resolved to work with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to ensure that health workers are “adequately” provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) and are “constantly” trained on the use of protective gears.
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