COVID-19:Abdulrazaq Extends Lockdown As Kwara Gets New Cases

Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara has extended the lockdown imposed on the state by another 14 days, to further prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Naija News understands that the governor made the announcement on Thursday the state recorded two new cases of COVID-19. The governor also flagged-off of biometric registration of transporters who are slated to receive soft loans to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Speaking of the extension of the lockdown by another 14 days, Mr. AbdulRazaq said it was in accordance with the position of the Federal Government and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) as the state recorded two new cases of COVID-19 early Thursday, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 11.

The governor added that the two new cases were contacts of the previously confirmed cases.

“The lockdown for another two weeks is to reduce the number of cases. As you can see, Kano is going up; Lagos is going up. Even in Kwara, we have two more new cases.

“So there is the need for boundaries to be locked down. Essentially, each state has different policies on lockdown but we want to ensure that people are not moving across boundaries to transmit the virus,” he said.

According to the governor, the internal restriction on vehicular movements in the state remains in force, while government will step up measures to gradually lift the restrictions and rejuvenate the economy, including the mandatory use of face masks.

Mr AbdulRazaq said that the face masks would be mass-produced by indigenous tailors, who, he said, had already been briefed.

The governor added that about N100 million would be disbursed as non-interest loans to 20,000 transporters after the ongoing enumeration across the state.

He said the soft loan was under the Kwara State Social Investment Programme (KWASSIP), whose components included conditional cash transfer to the aged (Owo Arugbo), ‘market moni’ for petty traders and K-power targeting the youth and the unskilled segments of the society.