COVID-19: Health minister says Buhari will determine when to lift lockdown

Minister of health, Osagie Ehanire

 The minister of health, Osagie Ehanire, has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari will determine when it is appropriate to lift the lockdown which was imposed in Lagos, Ogun state and Abuja to check the spread of COVID-19.

Ehanire told Channels TV on Sunday, April 26, that the COVID-19 task force will give Buhari the facts about the pandemic which will enable the president to take a decision on whether to lift the lockdown or not.

“The President will make that announcement in his own time. We will give him the facts, he will consider the facts and make his own announcements using his own wisdom,” the minister said.

“What happens is that every country, you balance the medical and the health-related benefits from the economic-related benefits because you have an economy you don’t want to kill and you also have the health side that you don’t want to destroy,” he said.

President Buhari had on May 29 declared lockdown in the three states to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

Two weeks after the expiration, the president extended the lockdown on April 13 for another two weeks.

Meanwhile, the lockdown imposed in Kaduna state to contain the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for another 30 days by Governor Nasir El-Rufai.

The Kaduna state government disclosed on Saturday, April 26, that the governor took the decision based on the recommendation of the state standing committee on COVID-19.

Muyiwa Adekeye, a spokesperson to the governor in a statement noted that the extension of the lockdown was effective from April 26.

According to the new 30-day extension, the two-day window during which the restriction of movement is relaxed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays has been reduced to only one day.