*Nigerian President, Buhari
As the first two weeks lockdown declared by Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari to contain the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) comes to an end on Monday April 13, 2020, Buhari has urged Nigerians to comply with the restrictions in order to defeat the COVID-19 while promising more interventions for vulnerable citizens.
In a statement by Mr. Garba Shehu, spokesperson on Saturday, Buhari expressed appreciation to all Nigerians for their patience, resolve and determination to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic by obeying the lockdown order and advised Nigerians to continue to stay at home, which is an indication that the lockdown order will be extended beyond the 14 days.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as of the time of filing this report, over 300 cases of the infection have been recorded in Nigeria. Buhari entreated Nigerians not to waiver in complying with the lockdown order which aims at allowing citizens to observe social distancing to break the cycle of transmission of the novel virus. He asked Nigerians “to observe restrictions on movement where they are in place and follow the instructions of our scientists and medical advisers: stay home, wash your hands, save lives.
He added, “All that the government is asking you to endure is because there is no known way of defeating this pandemic (yet). There is no vaccine. And that means there are choices to be made…We cannot expect others to come to our assistance. No one is coming to defeat this virus for us…We cannot wait for others. We can only depend on ourselves. And so we must — and we will — end this outbreak ourselves as Nigerians, together.”
