COVID-19: Bauchi govt makes U turn, suspends movement restriction

The State Deputy Governor, Senator Baba Tela announced this while addressing Newsmen held at the Government House Bauchi.

Senator Baba Tela said the suspension of the movement of the people followed consultation with opinion leaders, statesmen, Ulamas and clergy, the security forces, healthcare professionals and taking into cognizance of the fact that majority of the people find sustenance by the day.

He said although, borders of the state will be closed for an initial period of the 14 days effective from 6 in the evening.

The Deputy Governor enjoined citizens of the state to reciprocate the gesture by maintaining the one to one point metres spacing and avoid overcrowding.

Senator Baba Tela who is the Chairman of the Task Force Committee on COVID-19 said social distance should also be maintained in Mosques, churches, markets, wedding and other social ceremonies.

He expressed that that traders in the state have taking the advantage of the lockdown to increase the prices of their commodities and called on them to refrain from such acts.

" A crucial step in combating the pandemic is to do with managing our people, the lockdown is essentially meant to address that. One point must be made abundantly clear that this lockdown is not shutdown, it is a process that is meant to ensure social distancing in a manner that we do not, by way of congestion in markets and other densely populated areas expose ourselves to infection.

" Government having observed that no palliative measures have been introduced to cushion the effects of the lockdown, we must address the process in a manner that does not create harm or social dislocation."

The deputy governor said the state government is putting more emphasis on locking the state's borders so that unsuspecting carriers of the virus do not infiltrate or spread.

" We want to appeal to the public even we relax these measures, we urge our citizens to show greater understanding and cooperation with law enforcement agencies to help us manage this emergency.

" I wish to state that, His Excellency, the Executive Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed CON is very much concerned about the health and well being of our citizens. He has asked me to request you to continue to pray for our state to be free from the scourge of this disease."