The Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq says more measures will be taken to curtail the spread of Coronavirus in the state and nationwide.
Kwara currently has no confirmed case but the government has set up various preventive and safety mechanisms, including establishing and equipping an Isolation centre, to tackle the virus as Nigeria records more confirmed cases in at least four states and the capital city Abuja.
Governor AbdulRazaq told reporters late on Monday that COVID-19 may be treated as a national security issue which requires the support and understanding of every citizen to stamp out.
“We will be announcing further measures this week in containing the spread of the virus. We also expect the Nigerian government to come up with further measures. This may entail further restrictions on the movement of people in the interest of public health and security.
“It is a national security situation now which everybody should understand,” Governor AbdulRazaq said, a day after he directed civil servants to work from home and called for social distancing in the state.
“We will take more measures this week to make sure our people sit at home. The civil servants will sit at home, their children will be at home. Please take care of your kids; don’t roam about. It is also the time to clean your environment and ensure that your community is clean,” the Governor explained.
He said the newly created isolation centre would be extended in the coming weeks to accommodate around 100 patients at a go while Kwara works with Abuja on the ongoing efforts to establish zonal test centres with the capacity to screen blood samples for COVID-19.
The Governor commended the Commissioner for Health, Dr Raji Razaq and his team for the efforts to prepare Kwara for any outbreak, saying ”the state is also strengthening the capacity of its personnel to deal with the emergency.”
“Work is going on to extend this (isolation) centre. We are looking at extending it to accommodate about 100 patients and that should be ready in the next couple of weeks,” he told reporters shortly after inspecting the Kwara State Infectious Disease Centre at Sobi Specialist Hospital, Alagbado, Ilorin.
He disclosed that at the last National Economic Council meeting in Abuja, state governors proposed that each state should have one (laboratory to test samples of patients for any outbreak of diseases).
However he said; ”There are challenges with the resources, let’s look at having zonal centres before state centres.
“It is not just (about) doing an ordinary blood test. Yes you can have the equipment but the reagents are not easy to come by. They are very expensive. So, we are waiting for the Federal Ministry of Health to see what they can accommodate. Right now we send blood samples to Lagos. We are hoping that capacity will be built by the federal government so that we can first have zonal centres before we have state centres which will surely come;” he explained further.
Meanwhile, the governor has assured civil servants of prompt payment of salaries despite the work-from-home directive, and thanked the traditional as well as religious leaders for their cooperation so far in the campaign to fight the virus.
He added; “At present, we have no cases in Kwara. So far so good, let us keep on praying (and acting right). I will also like to use this opportunity to thank the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, for calling the (Muslim community) together and suspending Jum’ah prayers in Kwara State.”
He thanked the Emir for being proactive and appreciated the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for taking similar measures explaining that; “We are all in this together. Everyone should please standby for further directives from the government.”
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Raji Razaq and the state’s Director of Public Health, Dr Oluwatosin Fakayode had taken the Governor round the newly equipped facility designated to handle infectious diseases in the state.
Dr Fakayode disclosed that the ministry of health has built the capacity of some officials to handle any case of Coronavirus while simulation/drilling exercise would begin immediately for the health officials to be on high alert.
