President Muhammadu Buhari has eased the lockdown order that has been in place in FCT Abuja, Lagos and Ogun state with effect from Monday, 4th May, 2020.
The lockdown was imposed since March 29th as part of measures to arrest the spread of COVID-19 global pandemic that is threatening the whole world.
Buhari made the declaration during his national broadcast yesterday saying, he has approved the gradual easing of the total lockdown to allow some sectors of the economy to return to operation.
In his statement:
“I have approved the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos and Ogun state effective from Monday 4th May 2020.
“However, this will be followed strictly with aggressive reinforcement of testing and contact tracing measures while allowing the restoration of some economic and business activities in certain sectors.”
Meanwhile, Mr Buhari revealed the new nationwide measures henceforth to be adopted.
“There will be an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am.
This means all movements will be prohibited during this period except for essential services,” he said.
The President stated that he has banned all non-essential inter-state travels of passengers until further notice, saying essential goods and services can move where necessary across the state while on partial lockdown.
He reiterated that “We will strictly ensure the mandatory use of face masks or coverings in public in addition to maintaining physical distancing and personal hygiene.
“Furthermore, the restrictions on social and religious gatherings shall remain in place.
“State Governments, corporate organisations and philanthropists are encouraged to support the production of cloth masks for citizens,” Buhari added.
President Buhari earlier declared a lockdown order in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun states during the end of March initially for two weeks.
Subsequently, he extended the lockdown by another two weeks to further observe as the case was been monitored in the country.
As at last night about 10 pm, Nigeria has confirmed cases of coronavirus toll as 1276 since the index case that broke out in March.