In a bid to clarify issues about the imposition of new Covid-19 restrictions, the Nigerian government has come out to clear the air that there is nothing as such.
Answering questions from Newsmen on Tuesday in Lagos South-West Nigeria, the country’s Information and Culture Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the report was taken out of context.
“There are no new restrictions on Covid-19 but unfortunately this has been reported out of context.
What happened was that the Presidential Steering Committee on Covid-19 met and we embarked on the fourth phase on issuing of restriction.
What we did was to review the need to remind people of the extant regulations on Covid-19″, he said.
Curfew
The Minister said the existing curfew between 12a.m and 4a.m is still on but unfortunately Nigerians are behaving as if Covid has gone forever.
“This is the mistake that India made. They actually boasted that they have conquered Covid-19 and political campaigns started, also religious festivals started and to compound matters for them, a new variant of Covid -19 surfaced and today we have over 400,000 cases per day and about 4000 lives lost daily”, he added.
Travel restriction
Alhaji Mohammed said it is imperative for every citizen to know where the country is and where it is headed in respect of Covid-19.
“The only new thing we have introduced is on travel restriction. For example, if you are coming from Brazil, Turkey or India, as a Nigerian, you must go for a compulsory quarantine.
We haven’t changed anything from the previous ones.
“We have not opened night clubs. The regulations on social distancing, use of face mask are still in place but unfortunately people don’t obey the rules.
Nigeria has been very fortunate because we do not have the health infrastructure to handle 30,000 cases of Covid-19 a day.”
Government is saying don’t take things for granted, the Covid-19 protocols are still in place”, he said.
The Minister said the Government is still allowing people to do their businesses, travel and so other things as agreed in the previous Covid-19 restrictions.
“You can still travel by air or by road or any other means but ensure you wear your face mask; we only reiterated what was in place and emphasised the issue of compliance”, he concluded.
Nneka Ukachukwu
