See the full address by His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the extension of COVID- 19 pandemic lockdown at the State House, Abuja:
- Fellow Nigerians
- In my address on Sunday, 29th March 2020, I asked the residents of Lagos and Ogun States as well as the Federal Capital Territory to stay at home for an initial period of fourteen days starting from Monday, 30th March 2020.
- Many State Governments also introduced similar restrictions.
- As your democratically elected leaders, we made this very difficult decision knowing full well it will severely disrupt your livelihoods and bring undue hardship to you, your loved ones and your communities.
- However, such sacrifices are needed to limit the spread of COVID-19 in our country. They were necessary to save lives.
- Our objective was and still remains, to contain the spread of the Coronavirus and to provide space, time and resources for aggressive and collective action.
- The level of compliance to the COVID-19 guidelines issued has been generally good across the country. I wish to thank you all most sincerely for the great sacrifice you are making for each other at this critical time.
- I will take this opportunity to recognise the massive support from our traditional rulers, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) during this pandemic.
- I also acknowledge the support and contributions received from public-spirited individuals, the business community and our international partners and friends.
- I must also thank the media houses, celebrities and other public figures for the great work they are doing in sensitizing our citizens on hygienic practices, social distancing, and issues associated with social gatherings.
- As a result of the overwhelming support and cooperation received, we were able to achieve a lot during these 14 days of initial lockdown.
- We implemented comprehensive public health measures that intensified our case identification, testing, isolation and contact tracing capabilities.
- To date, we have identified 92% of all identified contacts while doubling the number of testing laboratories in the country and raising our testing capacity to 1,500 tests per day.
- We also trained over 7,000 Healthcare workers on infection prevention and control while deploying NCDC teams to 19 states of the federation.
- Logos and Abuja today have the capacity to admit some 1,000 patients each across several treatment centers.
- Many State Governments have also made provisions for isolation wards and treatment centers. We will also build similar centers near our airports and land borders.
- Using our resources and those provided through donations, we will adequately equip and man these centers in the coming weeks. Already, health care workers across all the treatment centers have been provided with the personal protective equipment that they need to safely carry out the care they provide.
- Our hope and prayers are that we do not have to use all these centers. But we will be ready for all eventualities.
- At this point, I must recognize the incredible work being done by our healthcare workers and volunteers across the country especially in frontline areas of Lagos and Ogun States as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
- You are our heroes and as a nation, we will forever remain grateful for your sacrifice during this very difficult time. More measures to motivate our health care workers are being introduced which we will announce in the coming weeks.
- As a nation, we are on the right track to win the fight against COVID-19.
- However, I remain concerned about the increase in a number of confirmed cases and deaths being reported across the world and in Nigeria specifically.
- On 30th March 2020, when we started our lockdown in conforming with medical and scientific advice, the total number of confirmed cases across the world was over 780,000.
- Yesterday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases globally was over one million, eight hundred and fifty thousand. This figure is more than double in two weeks!
- In the last fourteen days alone, over 70,000 people have died due to this disease.
- In the same period, we have seen the health system of even the most developed nations being overwhelmed by this virus.
- Here in Nigeria, we had 131 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in 12 States on 30th March 2020. We had two fatalities then.
- This morning, Nigeria had 323 confirmed cases in twenty States. Unfortunately, we now have ten fatalities. Lagos State remains the center and accounts for 54% of the confirmed cases in Nigeria. When combined with the FCT, the two locations represent over 71% of the confirmed cases in Nigeria.
- Most of our efforts will continue to focus on these two locations.
- The majority of the confirmed cases in Lagos and the FCT are individuals with recent international travel history or those that came into contact with returnees from international trips.
- By closing our airports and land borders and putting strict conditions for seaport activities, we have reduced the impact of external factors on our country. However, the increase in the number of States with positive cases is alarming.
- The National Centre for Disease Control has informed me that, a large proportion of new infections are now occurring in our communities, through person-to-person contacts. So we must pay attention to the danger of close contact between person to person.
- At this point, I will remind all Nigerians to continue to take responsibility for the recommended measures to prevent transmission, including maintaining physical distancing, good personal hygiene and staying at home.
- In addition, I have signed the Quarantine Order in this regard and additional regulations to provide clarity in respect of the control measures for the COVID-19 pandemic which will be released soon.
- The public health response to COVID-19 is built on our ability to detect, test and admit cases as well as trace all their contacts. While I note some appreciable progress, we can achieve a lot more.
