Important Things President Buhari Said During The National Broadcast

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday evening addressed Nigerians on the lockdown imposed on Lagos and Ogun States as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Mr Buhari during the broadcast extended the lockdown in place by two extra weeks.

Below are the highlights of the speech which was aired on Monday:

– Matter Of Life And Death

“This is not a joke. It is a matter of life and death. Mosques in Makkah and Madina have been closed. The Pope celebrated Mass on an empty St. Peter’s Square. The famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris held Easter Mass with less than 10 people. India, Italy and France are in complete lockdown. Other countries are in the process of following suit. We cannot be lax.”

“I will, therefore take this opportunity to urge you all to notify the relevant authorities if you or your loved ones develop any symptoms. I will also ask our health care professionals to redouble their efforts to identify all suspected cases, bring them into care and prevent transmission to others.”

– 92% Of COVID-19 Contacts Traced

“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.”

– Expansion of Conditional Cash Transfer Social Register to 3.6 Million Households

“I have also directed that the current social register be expanded from 2.6 million households to 3.6 million households in the next two weeks. This means we will support an additional one million homes with our social investment programs. A technical committee is working on this and will submit a report to me by the end of this week.”

 – Training Of 7, 000 Health Workers

“We also trained over 7,000 Healthcare workers on infection prevention and control while deploying NCDC teams to 19 states of the federation.”

– 1,000 Bed Capacity In Lagos And Abuja Isolation Centres

“Lagos and Abuja today have the capacity to admit some 1,000 patients each across several treatment centers.”

 – Ministries To Develop Comprehensive Economic Policy.

“To ensure our economy adapts to this new reality, I am directing the Ministers of Industry, Trade and Investment, Communication and Digital Economy, Science and Technology, Transportation, Aviation, Interior, Health, Works and Housing, Labour and Employment and Education to jointly develop a comprehensive policy for a “Nigerian economy functioning with COVID-19”